Response 2 – KeeganD

I feel like Wearcam and Shooting back are super interesting to talk about as their implication, the gravity of their subject, has changed enormously over the past couple of years. That subject being constant observation. In these two pieces, which we talked a good bit about in class and lab, people seek to make a point about customers being unwillingly filmed when they go to large retail stores. One of the points that got brought up in lab is just how “not a big deal” this was, and then it was expanded on by saying it’s just not a big deal “right now.” Back in the day, before we were constantly observed, and I don’t just say “filmed” for a reason, the idea of the ominous black orbs in the ceiling that take pictures of you as you go about your lives was a super weird concept. Thus, these two projects sought to question and expose this practice by turning the camera on the employees of these establishments. This worked perfectly, because the very thing that was done to prove this point, filming, also allowed these people to document the reactions, and create a project and idea that can be spread with the greater world as opposed to just a personal experiment. Some technicals are also funny to think about, such just was equipment was required to do any time of subversive filming back in the day. Some of the “wearables” from pre-2000 on wearcam.org are pretty great, and it’s interesting to think of how that wouldn’t fool the simplest, greenest employee these days. A question I want to pose for Joline however, as I may forget in class, would you consider these projects to also fit into the Hacktavism category? I feel they do, as this is a really creative and tech-savy way of tackling problems with a super creative solution in the vehicle for their message. If so, would you say that a lot of the stuff we have/will look at in this class has that sort of overlap? Should we not be thinking of these three project categories as separate types of endeavors, but more different ways to look at and tackle problems? Or..? Just a thought.

I thought these two projects were the most interesting, but maybe because I could just sink my teeth best into them. As illustrated by the fact that they also sparked some good class discussion. I did, however, look at the other projects and most of them are really confusing. They follow this theme that a lot of us have noticed in this major, and one I might call a continuation of John Carneys 102, and that’s one of just super out-there, bizarre, artsy, and generally downright abstract. Nobodyshere, as we explored in class, is a good example of this, but I think my favorite (at least in terms of illustrating this point) would be “Modern Living” by HoogerBrugge. I can understand bits and pieces of some of 85 pieces (10-95) in this collection, but even then only on their own, within their context. This is a piece I may like to have more class discussion about because I find myself really lost as to the overall message, as well as many of the individual ones. Throughout writing this I have been listening to the ominous music of #82 in the background, unintentionally, but with mild discomfort. It’s a bit unsettling as is the whole gallery and that at least makes you want to dive in an explore. I found myself viewing almost every one of the 85 pieces, despite at first being pretty turned off by the overt avant-garde feel of it. There are some that you can tell are trying to make a real point, or have some genuine, specific meaning behind them, such as the many involving cigarettes, or #77, which is clearly trying to make some comment on the natural act of gambling, (whether it be at a casino, with risky stunts to impress your dumb friends, or bold moves to try to get a girl or a job, there is a natural love of the thrill of gambling depsite its offten negative outcomes, and this piece, at least in my opinion, really makes you think on that.) But some, like #88, titled “The Black Clown” that I just can’t really get my head around. I think these are actually a little detrimental as examples, at least for me, as it makes me even more confused and unsure of what kind of project I can come up within this vein of media. I do (or at least thought I did) have a fairly clear picture of what an autobotography project entailed, a creative, way (always in a digital form?) of reflecting, exploring, and presenting aspects of our lives as we may not normally see or think about them. But as for just how to go about that, given these as examples, I’m a little lost on.

However, this is one reason I actually like our a-typical lab-the-week-after setup, because we’ll have a chance to further discuss and explore this stuff then.