Video

Music and Art

Disco:

Feels like I’m in Love by Kelly Marie

This song by Kelly Marie falls into the Disco genre because it has a strong beat that is electric.  The specific video that I link to is actually one that takes place during the day time, but there is also another recording in which she is at a Disco club singing the song.  Disco has some of its roots in African American song and dance, which is shown with her backup dancers who are constantly keeping the beat throughout the song.  In terms of technology, the song does have the electric repeated beat, but the sound that is similar to a train, a bit of a choo-choo sound, is an electric whistle. 

Nineties

Lightening Crashes by Live

This is a moody and angst filled ballad, similar to many other songs in the 90’s and in the category of Nineties.  An element of this song and technology is the electric guitar that is present in the song, particularly in the early portion of the song, and the layering of the instruments over the voices.  In terms of the technology with the song, it is also similar to others throughout the 90’s in that it has a narrative portion and an understated action of the band singing and not playing their instruments, or minimally playing their instruments.

Girl Power

I Kissed a Girl by Jill Sobule

Jill Sobule certainly is an artist who falls under the girl power genere, especially through the themes of her songs, such as “I kissed a girl” and “Karen by night,” with the later not having a music video to reference to.  The theme of the song is non-traditional roles of women, which mirrors many of the other girl power songs.  The element that stands out with regards to technology is actually the video itself.  It is a high end production and it features Fabio, a very well known star in the 1990’s.  The video was in 1995, prior to any of the present day songs about kissing girls, and when LGBT elements in any mainstream song was a bit taboo.  Jill Sobule has a high end production video, with major stars, highlighting a lesbian type romance between two individuals.  The full meaning of the song is certainly communicated using video technology.  The strength of Sobule as the singer is also shown in her power guitar solo which also uses electric guitar like others in the genre.

Electro-Clash

Shoes by Liam Sullivan

This is a song that is an early YouTube video that is interesting because it ties together the sounds of Electro-Clash, but in the capacity of someone who is not a singer, but more of a satire artist.  It’s Electro-Clash because it is a heavy techno beat, but it has some talkative narrative in between the different rifts.  There is a point in which the refrain is a screeching electric “F*you” that is played over and over again, which has been synthesed.  It’s actually really unique in that it ties in technology because it is one of the earlier videos on YouTube and has millions and millions of views because of its longevity, which without the technology of YouTube, the video would not have existed in the first place.

Virtual

Sucks to be You by Prozzak

Prozzak is a band that emerged in the late 1990’s and has an identity that is entirely separate from its actual creators.  Prozzak fits into the genre virtual in that its singers are entirely separate from the music itself, with no one knowing who the actual people are and it taking on the identity of Milo and Simon.  Realistically, we know who the singers are, a different embodiment of singers from the Philosopher Kings, but it is a pop sound that is light hearted and has been around for a long time independent of the actual artists who are affiliated with other projects.  The second fits into the virtual element in that it is songs are through embodiments that are virtual or cartoon and has a very heavy technological aspect to the sound, such as reoccurring techno beats made mostly for a dance environment.

 

Arts and Tech

I’d like to say that my image is inspired by the work of Yves Klein, whose work can be found here.  Klein’s images are real, but not entirely whole, they give the impression of a figure or a body, but one must view them in their entirety, or if one looks at the parts it loses its entire form.  There is an element of the work of Klein that hints at a larger something “else” which, in my Xerox I feel was accomplished in some ways because it is simply a hand that is present.  I also feel like the color that is added is some what indicative of the post-war works by Warhol that I’ve seen in various places. 

Photo Film

My video is somewhat limited in its artistic rendering, but I think that it does a good job of highlighting some elements of animation. I think that it ties into strongly with the idea of the speed of photography; even though this is a video, the rending of the images, as I flip through the book, shows how images and animation had to be put together in the past.  "Photographing Time" talks about how the speed of a camera has changed over time, mostly with the time to capture an image, with some of the initial cameras taking over 30,000 seconds to capture a single image.  Although my phone is doing this process differently, it does make me think about how the individual images in the book are being flipped to show movement, with the flipping of the page influencing what is being portrayed to the viewer and at what speed it is being done.

Playing the Grid

The piece that I made was influenced by an article that I read from a blog, "The viewer and the grid" An element of the discussion is viewing the grid as a mechanical aspect, but then creating imagery that is around it.  A number of the articles that were read this week in class look at grid art, the role that it has played in computer science and how it is a way of transferring information.  However, the piece that I made is less mechanical and has elements of a grid to it, but it does have some interpretation within that grid. Referring back to some of the concepts in "The viewer and the grid", I like the notion of presenting something that is stimulating to the viewer, which is what I have tried to do in this piece.

Grid Art

21st Century Technology

Tariq Hassan

Professor Blanka Roundtree

Art 211

10 Oct. 2016

21^st Century Technology

            Geographic Information Systems or GIS is a form of technology that is all around, originally created out of the military, GIS is a combination of taking data and overlaying it with maps.  The most common use of GIS is in most people’s smart phones, ranging from Google Maps, to Yelp, where information is overlaid on a traditional map.  This paper will explore the history of GIS and look at its potential future as it becomes more widespread in everyday use. 

            GIS has multiple points of technological origination that cumulate in the product that people use and see today.  Initially, global positioning systems were developed by the military and then utilized by specialized businesses to help pinpoint the location of individuals using satellites, tracking stations, and a receiver (Rubenstein 8).  Eventually, GPS became used on a personal level in some car systems and was incorporated into today’s cell phones.  The knowledge of GPS, determining where people are precisely, allowed for a confluence of overlaying this information on a map, which is a starting point of GIS.  A GIS is a database that stores information, but then it allows for the query of data, often based on GPS, that overlays information onto the base map (Rubenstein 9).  However, the information that is stored in GIS databases have its origins pre-GPS and the computer age. 

            Dr. John Snow, not to be confused with a Game of Thrones protagonist, was a London doctor in the 1850’s.  Dr. Snow’s claim to fame was the recognition of the Broad Street pump as the source of a cholera outbreak in the SoHo district of London (Johnson 3).  Dr. Snow’s discovery was the result of a combination of technologies of his day.  Dr. Farr, a separate doctor in the mid-1800’s and in London, had begun the process of collecting and reporting mortality statics for London (Johnson 140).  Although this information gathering may not seem to be too technologically advanced, it is important to recognize that technology can be in the form of ideas and processes, which is what Dr. Farr’s behavior would fall under.  Due to Dr. Farr beginning the process of collecting data on mortality, Dr. John Snow could recognize that there was an outbreak that was isolate to the SoHo district of the city and began to investigate.  The contribution that Dr. Snow then makes is something called “The Ghost Map” (Johnson 33).  Although it seems rudimentary now, Dr. Snow’s map was revolutionary in that he charted the number of deaths at each address in the SoHo district, using Dr. Farr’s data, and a base map of the area.  Dr. Snow had created the first GIS system in his idea to overlay data on a map.   The result was Dr. Snow’s ability to recognize the geographic distribution of deaths clustered around the Broad Street Pump, allowing for the removal of the pump handle.

            Dr. Snow’s advancement of overlaying data not only relied on Dr. Farr’s data, but it also relied on a map, one of the earliest inventions in the history of mankind.  Maps themselves have a unique history and multiple re-iterations.  As recently as 2013 Simon Garfield authored a best-seller of over 400 pages simply discussing the origin of a couple of maps, identifying that maps themselves were the result of advancements in mathematics, astronomy, and exploration.  Maps also contain and have helped influence how society views the world, incorporating not only mathematical elements, but elements reflecting an interpretation of the world through religion or dominate cultures (Garfield 44).  Even the base of a modern technology like GIS has its roots in the earliest functions of civilization.

            Understanding that maps are fundamental to how humans interact with the world drives home the reality that GIS, today’s modern map, will continue evolving in the future.  Overlaying data on maps gives individuals a sense of what is around a person, but moving forward in the future, it has the possibility to data dump large amounts of information on a person in a readily accessible way.  Right now, information and GIS functions tend to be in a silo, but in the future, it may be possible to turn on one’s Google Maps and see a ten-year history of property values, crimes, or car accidents based on a few settings on one’s phone.  It also has significant ramifications for virtual reality, as the overlay of information becomes so extensive persons may find that they can take a virtual tour in greater detail, than they can now, placing themselves in the stands of a sporting event, or jogging with a friend based on the capabilities of their device.

Works Cited

Garfield, Simon. On the Map: A Mind-expanding Exploration of the Way the World Looks. New

            York, NY: Gotham, 2013. Print.

Johnson, Steven. The Ghost Map: The Story of London's Most Terrifying Epidemic--and How It

            Changed Science, Cities, and the Modern World. New York: Riverhead, 2006. Print.

Rubenstein, James. The Cultural Landscape An Introduction to Human Geography, Books a La

            Carte Edition. Boston: Pearson College Div, 2015. Print.