Laura Dove

Visual Communication, Year 2

Across cultures worldwide, beauty plays a prominent role in society. The ‘imagination of a world beyond appearances’ (Levi Strauss, 2003, p114) is almost certainly inexistent.  In the U.K. “4 billion pounds is spent on salon treatment every year” (BBC3, The business of beauty, 14/11/11), which proves our self importance and need to change our natural body state. Most people undergo a daily routine in order to present themselves in a manner deemed suitable for the public eye, even if this only involves hair brushing – the ‘ritual’ is still in place.

(Fig.1) illustrates the bizarreness of the beauty ritual. A social pressure is created in society and whilst socialisation occurs, self regulation takes place as we conform to these man-made rules. ‘The truth is, beauty adorns everything…beauty can be “made up,”’ (Levi Strauss, 2003, p113). It is learnt that to be successful, is to have a socially suitable appearance. ‘During the past five years…thirty-three thousand American women told researchers that they would rather lose ten to fifteen  pounds than achieve any other goal.’ (Wolf, 1991, p10) So although some may agree with (fig. 1), it’s likely that they still shave their legs or ‘mutilate’ their body, which illustrates the created social pressure. Obviously not all mutilation is conformity. Some mutilate to purposely differ from the world around them, yet this wouldn’t be defined as ‘beauty’ in society.

The media holds a great authority over Western society and is an enormous control mechanism to the socially constructed idea of beauty. ‘In the cities in which we live, all of us see hundreds of publicity images every day of our lives. No other kind of image confronts us so frequently.’ (Berger, 1972, p129) This illustrates the power that the media possesses and although some influences derive from peers and family, the constant bombardment of images in society can easily communicate that people will be judged on how they look. ‘We are now so accustomed to being addressed by these images that we scarcely notice their total impact.’ (Berger, 1972, p130) We are constantly reminded visually to maintain ourselves and be beautiful. The ‘choices’ we make are slightly subconscious and the beauty ideal is usually blindly followed without question. This power produces a constant awareness of being watched and creates paranoia, meaning the individual becomes an object, rather than a person. This dehumanisation and comparison to the other is a form of ‘Panopticism’ – a term developed by Foucault.

‘Panopticism’ derived from an original building called the Panopticon. The Panopticon design was seen as the ideal institution. The circular building is mainly used in the context of a prison; the cells around the outside – brightly lit, with a control station in the centre, which cannot be seen from the cells. Similarly to the beauty world, in the Panopticon people can be recorded and measured against each other, you are always scrutinised. “…Hence the major effect of the panopticon: to induce in the inmates state of conscious and permanent visibility…” – Foucault. The socially constructed idea of beauty enables us to become ‘docile bodies’, which is created by Panopticism and the modern society surrounding us.

It is predominantly women who fall into the trap of beauty, although men (fig.2) are also affected by these socially constructed roles as the image illustrates. In other cultures around the world, there is proof to justify that beauty isn’t genetically a female hang-up, ‘Among the Nigerian Wodaabes, the women hold economic power and the tribe is obsessed with male beauty; Wodaabe men spend hours together in elaborate makeup sessions, and compete…in beauty contests judged by women.’ (Wolf, 1991, p13) This demonstrates beauty’s social construction and how easily inflicted people can be by the culture surrounding them. ‘From earliest childhood she has been taught and persuaded to survey herself continually.’ (Berger, 1972, p46) The images and advertisements seen on a daily basis continually reaffirm what it means to be a beautiful man or woman. However, it is predominantly men that produced visual culture before the 1960’s. It was produced by men and brought by men so the idea of what’s ‘beautiful’ was determined by the men who created the visual culture. ‘…the essential way of seeing women…has not changed. Women are depicted in a quite different way from men – not because the feminine is different from the masculine – but because the ‘ideal’ spectator is always assumed to be male and the image of the woman is designed to flatter him.’ (Berger, 1972, p64) Only recently have women been able to have an input; and with this input we have seen a gradual change. Therefore, it’s no surprise that people are willing to endure pain in the result of an ‘improved’ look and to meet society’s approval.

‘During the past decade…cosmetic surgery became the fastest growing medical speciality.’ (Wolf, 1991, p10)  So rather than the slight mutilation of shaving (fig.1) people are now willing to heavily disfigure their natural state in order to live up to this idea of ‘beauty’. (Fig.2) is an example of society’s pressures on the individual. ‘People worldwide experience pressure to conform to specific, often commercially created, ideals of beauty. Christopher, 22, (fig.2) examines his chest after a waxing treatment to remove hair, in a New York beauty salon.’ (Lundelin, 2010, p74) Whilst some inflict intentional harm to modify their body, others can be unintentional as discovered on BBC3’s ‘The business of beauty’. Some of the people featured on the programme desired to be beautiful so desperately that they were willing to endure extensive physical pain and risk to health in some cases. For example, one woman on the show was highly allergic to hair dye and nearly died after use. She explained after the incident how she still wanted to use the product, saying, “Atleast I’ll die with nice hair.” This illustrates the strive for beauty over pain.

Airbrushing is another aspect that affects how we view beauty and is a result of advertising. Product companies need to impose self-loathing onto people in order to keep their products selling. ‘…Beauty becomes competitive.’ (Berger, 1972, p52). Airbrushing keeps the social construction of beauty alive. Images are fed into society which are, in effect, false and made-up. ‘Dalma Heyn, editor of two women’s magazines, confirms that airbrushing age from women’s faces is routine. She observes that women’s magazines “ignore older women or pretend they don’t exist: magazines try to avoid photographs of older women,”’ (Wolf, 1991, p82). The exception for this is older celebrities – who have normally been airbrushed to that of a porcelain doll. This not only shuns a certain group, it rejects the natural ageing process that everyone goes through. Hair dyes are marketed to hide greys and wrinkle creams are repetitively sold that have no long term effect – some begin to feel ashamed of their age. People don’t aspire to age.

‘Glamour cannot exist without personal social envy being a common and widespread emotion.’ (Berger, 1972, p148) The advertisers battle to have the slimmest model with the biggest breasts/largest muscles and most flawless skin. They compete until they have no other option than to create a fake person, who reflects no one in society, yet is still desirable whilst being impossible to achieve. (Fig.3) signifies how far this ‘fake’ beauty has gone. The young female in the image is entirely computer generated; she does not represent a real woman. She was entered into the ‘Digital Miss World’ contest where she could be judged against other fake women who are composed by a combination of codes. These ‘coded women’ are made predominantly for men. When a man finds virtual beauty attractive, the pressure of beauty for women rises as they are rated next to lifeless models. When frequently harassed with artificial images it’s unsurprising that the standard of beauty in Western culture has narrowed. An example that illustrates this new ‘digital beauty’ is H&M’s online clothing range, ‘The Swedish retailer admitted that they had been using only the head of real models on their website and the rest of their bodies were computer generated.’ (http://uk.lifestyle.yahoo.com/photos/). The message that H&M are communicating to the public is that the real body doesn’t measure up to the falsely created standard for selling clothes. When walking into any high street shop, the first noticeable feature is the sleek, over exaggerated, long legged models which the clothes hang off of. This is false advertising at its best.

‘The characters…make such exaggerated femininity seem aspirational, and the celebrities they read about in fashion and gossip magazines are often women who are well known to have such chosen extreme regimes, from punishing diets to plastic surgery, to achieve an airbrushed perfection.’ (Walker, 2010, p2) The idea of beauty in a Western culture is to never be satisfied with appearance. A person influenced by beauty is always striving to achieve. Air brushed models and the bombardment of ‘fake’ images lead us to unhappiness. ‘The weight of fashion models plummeted to 23 percent below that of ordinary women, eating disorders rose exponentially, and a mass neurosis was promoted that used food and weight to strip women of that sense of control.’ (Wolf, 1991, p11) With these underweight role models and ideas of beauty persistently in Western culture, combined with the lack of diversity, the feeling of worthlessness and constant striving to achieve the beauty ideal takes over. ‘The sexual revolution promoted the discovery of female sexuality…which for the first time in women’s history artificially links a commodified “beauty” directly and explicitly to sexuality-’ (Wolf, 1991, p11)

‘Capitalism survives by forcing the majority, whom it exploits, to define their own interests as narrowly as possible…it is being achieved by imposing a false standard of what is and what is not desirable’ (Berger, 1972, p154) Beauty is a myth and oppresses us. Self absorption and the need to be obsessed with appearances restrict interest in the significant issues of society. Theorist Theodor Adorno claims that we live in a standardised culture where we are constantly presented with false needs. Beauty effects peoples true needs, contentment and free will.

‘”Beauty’ is a currency system like the gold standard. Like any economy, it is determined by politics,’ (Wolf, 1991, p12). The effects of socially constructed beauty can be destructive. They lead to a world of selfishness and vanity where appearances matter before personality. In a society that judges people based on how they look; constant adjustment occurs to match fake and digitally enhanced models. Although there are significant differences for what it means to be a beautiful man or woman, both genders naturally conform. Advertisers and the surrounding society make distinct gender divisions meaning beauty can be a trap rather than a choice. Though some recognise the destructive elements of the constructed beauty, most still have hang-ups and conform to this invented, commercially driven notion.

Figure 1

Figure 2

Figure 3

Laura Dove

Visual Communication, Year 2

Books:

Lundelin, K (2010), World Press Photo 10, London, Thames & Hudson

Levi Strauss, D (2003), Between the eyes, New York, Aperture Foundation

Walker, N (2010), Living Dolls, London, Virago Press

Berger, J (1972), Ways of seeing, London, Penguin Books

Gauntlett, D (2008), Media, gender and Identity, New York, Routledge

Wolf, N (1991), The Beauty Myth, London, Vintage

Websites:

 (2011), Controversial fashion and beauty ads http://uk.lifestyle.yahoo.com/photos/controversial-fashion-and-beauty-ads-of-2011-1324573486-slideshow/hmfakemodelswebsite-photo-1324572809.html (28/12/11)

Fflokes, B, (2011), Male model fronts campaign for push-up bras http://uk.lifestyle.yahoo.com/male-model-fronts-campaign-for-push-up-bras.html (14/12/11)

Ffolkes, B, (2012), Is this the perfect woman? http://uk.lifestyle.yahoo.com/the-perfect-woman.html (6/01/12)

(2011), Wodaabe, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wodaabe (25/01/12)

Gauntlett, D, Theodor Adorno, http://www.theory.org.uk/ctr-ador.htm (26/01/12)

TV:

BBC3, Skin deep, The Business of Beauty, episode 1,2,3, (14,21,28/11/11)

Lectures:

Miles, R, Lecture 1 - Panopticism, (14/10/11) Studio Theatre, Blenheim Walk, Leeds College of Art

Clarke, H, Lecture 2 – The Gaze in the Media, (21/10/11) Studio Theatre, Blenheim Walk, Leeds College of Art

Images:

Figure 1, (2011) http://rajasa.tumblr.com/post/8178291412/beauty-slightly-mutilating-the-natural-state-of, (29/10/11)

Figure 2, Lundelin, K (2010), World Press Photo 10, London, Thames & Hudson (p74)

Figure 3, The age of virtual beauty, http://www.lifeinitaly.com/beauty/virtual-beauty.asp, (14/12/11)

Reaffirmed identity of a ‘traveller’.

This double page spread is from a magazine named ‘Gap year’. The imagery in the article is really strong compared to the others. It represents an invasion of culture which is seen as a completely acceptable and aspiring activity to take part in. It’s interesting to see the stereotypical ‘white, middle class, male’ next to an image of a Peruvian woman. The particularly striking feature is that these two images have been sectioned between them. It is a separate glimpse into each of their worlds - rather than an image of them both together.

In terms of otherness, the article symbolises the Western domination and curiosity. The readers of the article will confirm their own identity and need to travel. They see themselves as cultural, exciting beings as they have the ability to venture into these areas of the world. However, the people in the areas they’re visiting don’t necessarily have these same opportunities - creating a natural divide between the two groups, where the Westerner’s become Voyeurs of the way others live. Identity can be reaffirmed when (in this example) the Peruvian Lady is viewed. An assumption is made that because a Westerners life is different, it must therefore be superior or more advanced. “Their images adorn the walls of hundreds of thousands of backpackers now safely home.” (First paragraph) The use of ‘safely home’ confirms they have viewed another culture, invaded, then returned back to their normal, pleasant life - whilst the Peruvian people are a constant attraction. This stabalises the identity of the Western traveller whilst spectating the other.

“…this question of ‘difference and ‘otherness’ has come to play an increasingly significant role…’difference’ is ambivalent. It can be both positive and negative. It is both necessary for the production of meaning, the formation of language and culture, for social identities and a subjective sense of the self as a sexed subject - and at the same time, it is threatening, a site of danger, of negative feelings, of splitting, hostility and aggression towards the ‘other’.” - Hall, Stuart (1997)

Whilst the article doesn’t necessarily portray the Peruvian woman in a negative light, she is made distinctly different. Throughout the entire magazine, the ‘traveller’ is always a white male or female. The ‘others’ are different cultures and are regularly shown as separate to the traveller.

Our understanding and aesthetics of the built environment around us is linked to design, form and structure.

The Caryatid Porch of the Erechtheion, Athens, 421–407 BC

Where does our understanding of space originate from?

•       Minimalism:

                Body, object, space, 1960s

•       Gender and Space:

                The feminist critique of gendered space, 1970s

•       Postmodernism:

Changing status of space and experience: ‘non-place’, global and collective space, 1980s onwards

Carl Andre, Equivalent VIII, 1966

Minimalist art became popular around the 60s. It aimed to reduce art to its purest form – whether that is a sculpture, painting etc. Minimalist art was frequently geometric and abstract.

Bruce Nauman green light corridor

Art shifted from being about the piece, to the experience. The space a work is in correlates with the theme of the piece. The artist interprets the space, not the piece. People were encouraged to explore this green, suffocating corridor.

Robert Smithson, Spiral Jetty, 1970

Art not only affected it’s space, but it moved out of the gallery into our surrounding world. Land art was created where is was something that existed rather than being confined to a small space.

Rebecca Horn, Scratching Both Walls at Once, 1974-5 

Performance art explored the bodies relationship to space. Having the artist involved in the piece created more of an intimate experience.

‘As far as bodily space is concerned, it is clear that there is a knowledge of place which is reducible to a sort of co-existence with that place, and which is not simply nothing, even though it cannot be conveyed by a description or even by the mute reference of a gesture.’

Merleau-Ponty, Phenomenology of Perception, p.121.

Anthony Gormley, installation White Cube Gallery

Gormley created a direct reaction to the confinement of the white wall gallery. There is a feeling of being lost created by the numerous figures dotted around the space.

Louise Bourgeois, Spider, 1997

By creating giant, familiar objects, the space is changed instantly as it is not an experience which is ever visited outside a gallery space, Suddenly something we see as small and insignificant comes to life.

Anthony Vidler suggests that the uncanny or the ‘unhomely’ is ‘embodied in a feeling of alienation as a dichotomy to the security of the home and a feeling of estrangement or homesickness’

Louise Bourgeoise – Femme Maison

‘Psychoanalysis is a theory of the human mind, a therapy for mental distress, an instrument of research and a profession. A complex intellectual, medical and sociological phenomenon’

Psychoanalysis was founded by Freud.

Psychoanalysis explores your unconscious, in particular your sexuality and development, the structure of the mind and dreams/surrealism. Freud used hypnosis as a form of treatment to his patients until 1896. He would get the patient to recall a moment that the particular symptom occurred and re-experience the emotion – then it would disappear.

•       Neurosis: ‘A psychogenic affection in which symptoms are the symbolic expression of a psychical conflict whose origins lie in the subject’s childhood history.’

•       Catharsis: ‘A Greek word meaning purification or purging’ – seeking therapeutic affect

Freud concluded from his studies that if sexual desires are repressed then they could cause neurotic symptoms. This led him into researching and discovering sexuality, development and fantasy further.

Salvador Dali – Lobster telephone

Dali believed that his 3d objects could lead to emerging hidden desires. According to the Tate Gallery; ‘Lobsters and telephones had strong sexual connotations for him, and he drew a close analogy between food and sex.’

Paula Rego – The Family

This piece suggests the violence behind play and how it’s not always friendly. The man looks as though he’s returned home from work to be manhandled by his daughter and wife. The action of the piece is ambiguous yet alluring.

Freud identifies 3 stages which children go through when exploring their bodies and growing up. 1. The oral; 2. The anal; and 3. The phallic stages of development. He suggests that our early childhood is highly emotional, sexual and allows us to form attachments. Freud explored the notion of the phallic stage explaining that the boy fears castration after seeing his mother’s genitals with no penis, and the girl tries to compensate for not having a penis.

Louise Bourgeoise – Filette

Louise’s work has a huge fascination with psychoanalysis. This piece originates from her feelings in childhood of her dad cheating on her mother with the nanny and the frustration she felt towards him.

The repression of socially unacceptable norms creates your unconscious. The conscious mind is trained and varies between the surrounding world and internal instincts. The Id is said to be the oldest part of the mind, with a dark, inaccessible part of our personality.

Freuds conception of the human psyche

The mirror stage describes the process you go through and the realisation that you are a living being by being in contact with your surroundings. You form an identity for yourself as you are able to see yourself and compare to others.

The surrealist movement helped to popularise the Freudian theories. They experimented with ‘Automatism’ which involved spontaneously writing without censorship of thoughts – focussing on the importance of the dream world.

René Magritte, The Reckless Sleeper, 1928 

 These dreamt symbols are linked with Freudian terminology. This symbolises unease and disorientation -  an unawareness of the unconscious.

Salvador Dali’s Dream Sequence for Alfred Hitchcock’s film Spellbound  1945 

What is Feminism?

‘The advocacy of women’s rights on the ground of the equality of the sexes.’

These issue of Women’s rights became apparent during the French and American revolution in the late 18^th century. In Britain it was the suffragette movement which helped push for equality and make a significant political change. Ultimately, feminism is the fight for equality between men and women and challenging the institutions and ideologies.

•          First wave feminism:

                19^th and 20^th Century

•          Second wave feminism:

                Late 20^th Century (1960s-1980s)

•          Third wave feminism:1980s- today?

•          1918- women over the age of 30 given the vote.

•          1928- women win the vote on equal terms with men.

•          First woman allowed entry to Oxford University- 1920 

Feminist theory argues that women artists have been ignored and effectively ‘written out’ of art history. The feminist critic aims to increase the amount of women artists as well as criticising the sexist nature of our culture.

Titan, Venus of Urbino 1538

Edouard Manet, Olympia, 1865

These two pieces, although similar at first glance, portray completely different messages. Manet’s piece was not popular at the time as it revealed a truth. Most renaissance art was seen as a fantasy. She’s not seen as the typical idea of beauty, therefore making it uncomfortable to look at. She is receiving a gift from another male- which shows she is desired by others and we have no control over this. She is the realistic love goddess of maternity. They both have animals present in the photographs. The dog is seen as a man’s best friend, always doting on you. The cat is seen as independent, showing the woman’s status and relationship.

Jo Spence, Beyond the Family Album, 1980

This piece is a modern take on the previous two. Spence explores the idea of what it means to be a woman by looking at the sexual differences between men and women.

Hannah Wilke: S.O.S.Starification Object Series

Here, Wilke has made tiny chewing gum sculptures and stuck them to her body, then photographing herself. She posed in ‘pin up’ type poses to show the contrast in our culture.

Eleanor Antin -  sculpture

Antin crash dieted for 37 days and photographed the transformation of her body. The female nude is one of the most classic subjects in art and the beauty ideal was created by men. Here we see the progress of Antin sculpting her own body – similarly to how the body is so easily adjustable when painting or editing images.

Judy Chicago – the dinner party

Each plate on the table commemorates a famous woman artist in history – mostly based around the form of the vulva and butterfly formations.

Mary Kelly – Post Partum Document

This piece sparked controversy originally as Kelly was using dirty nappy liners. The piece analyses the mother and child relationship. Whilst also documenting the stages of growing up – i.e. speech and writing.

Guerilla girls

The GG’s were a huge part of the art feminist movement. They were actively involved with changing the lives for women artists. They formed in New York in 1980 and wanted to expose discrimination to the art world. They hid their identity by wearing guerrilla masks and using names of deceases women artists.

Tracey Emin, My Bed

The bed represents a nervous breakdown with empty cigarette packets and alcohol bottles surrounding the bed. She shares a personal space – revealing her imperfectness and impurities to everyone. She shares this intimacy with the viewer.

Sarah Lucas, Self portrait with fried eggs

Lucas’ gaze challenges the viewer to think about her in a suggestive manner with humorous undertones.

Post feminism:

- represents a shift in feminism since 1968

- We are not dealing with simply one perspective – but many.

- Reaction to second wave feminism

- More of a focus on diversity and identity

WACK! Art and the feminist revolution

This is the first exhibition to examine and survey the legality of feminist art – it focused on the crucial period of when the majority of feminist activism and art making occurred internationally.

The catalogue covers became issues of debate as the message being communicated was often received differently.

Conclusions – Feminism is a response to society and culture. It aims to highlight gender as a social construct and to illuminate the practises that have shaped the role of women. It is a theoretical sense and set of ideas for understanding society. Feminist art offers us a way forward of understanding the meanings that underpin the art world.

Damien Hirst – The physical impossibility of death in the mind of someone living, 1991

The impact on the piece to the viewer is more significant. In 2005, the piece cost £6000 to buy yet was worth millions. The shark isn’t even the original as it deteriorated.

“…it is also about the nasty, the unpalatable” – Michael Glover – In comparison to everything being beautiful.

Michael Landy – Breakdown

The artist destroyed every possession he’d ever owned, including his birth certificate. Each item was placed onto a conveyer belt and went through a grinder. Landy intended on showing how we consume in society. What happens to your identity when all these items have been annihilated?

Carl Andre – Equivalent VIII, 1966

Art can be there to shock and evoke reaction.

Marcel Duchamp – Fountain 1917

First object to be displayed rather than paintings. It was seen as a plain piece of plumbing yet marks a shift into the readymade form. Art changed from painting to concept – art as an ‘idea’. Duchamps piece was an anti-art gesture, mocking the art world in some senses.  He submitted fountain to the first exhibition named ‘R.Mutt’. As he was on the hanging committee, he wanted to stay anonymous.

Bruce Nauman – Self portrait as a fountain, 1966

The introduction of performance was brought into art.

Sherrie Levine – Fountain after Marcel Duchamp, 1991

Playing with the idea of value within art

Barnett Newman - who’s afraid of red yellow and blue

Artwork can be reduced to basic colours. People started producing art for art’s sake. – Abstract expressionism

Clement Greenburg promoted the work of modernist painters – there were two approaches to art making:

- Greenbergism modernism – High over low culture, abstract, art for art’s sake

- Duchampism – readymade, performance, a move away from the visual to the conceptual

Joseph Kosuth ‘One and three chairs’

After Duchamp, art turned conceptual. Using art to analyse what art can be.

Robert Rauschenberg – Erased de Kooning, 1953

Playing with the idea of art being a ‘brand’, something he has destroyed and made his own – yet still holding the significance that it is Koonings original work

Pilgrim 1960

The combination of object and painting as he has attached a chair to the canvas

In conceptual art, there is more emphasis on the ‘thinking process’. Ideas and concepts are given priority over the visual or ‘refinal’.

Conceptualism:

1)      A challenge to the ‘visual’ and status of object

2)      Systems, series and structures as concepts for art

3)      Analytical art – language and statements

4)      Institutional critique and museum intervention

Piero Manzoni – merda d’artista, 1961

We are unaware of what is actually inside the can.

Hans Haacke, Manhattan real estate holdings

This piece is interested in challenging the expectations of art.

The young british artists –

Tracey Emin, I’ve got it all, 2000

Art is seen as more of a profession – with people becoming high profile figures in the art world and having lots of money. YBA’s  emerged in the 90s. Many artists rose to fame after their work appeared in an exhibition named ‘Freeze’, which was organised by Damien Hirst whilst he was a student at Goldsmiths.

Mark Quinn, Self portrait 1991

He made a casting of himself using his own blood. The YBA’s became part of the main stream and the controversy as they grew.

Art is now much more interdisciplinary, with many different practises. Art is quite often interactive and relates to its social context.

We have left postmodernism and there is a debate around where the art world stands now – ‘altermodern’

The city was born in modernism. The city was a new experience for everyone.

In Georg Simmel’s Metropolis and mental life, Simmel describes the individual as being swallowed up into technology. Lewis Hine sums up the fragility of the human body in comparison to the mammoth surrounding structures.

Lewis Sullivan, Guaranty Building

‘form follows function’. The great fire in Chicago rids the traditional buildings and made way for skyscrapers. Skyscrapers represent upwardly mobile – a city of dream and business opportunity.

Paul Strand and Charles Sheeler represent the city of manhattan in modernist times in their film. The city is seen as a hub for transport. Ferries bring in immigrants and there is a large concentration of bodies. People are the cogs of the city – the driving force, yet small and insignificant in comparison to the sky scrapers.

‘Fordism’ describes the manufacturing system whereby production is made more efficient by producing many low cost goods – mass production. There is a constant cycle and feeding of the machine. It is self perpetuating as the workers are paid to then buy the products they have helped produce.

Margaret Bourke, 1929

This image describes a time where a stock market crash was being experienced. There was a constant promise of a greater future which lead to a crash and burn – the great depression.

The city is often viewed from a high viewpoint in cinema and photography which creates a detached viewpoint. The dramatic angles created were a new experience.

Flaneur – A character in literature or art who surveys cities in a leisurely manner. He (usually male – Flaneuse is the female) is separate from the crowds and slightly away from the action. In many circumstances, the photographer is the flaneur. Susan Sontag describes this as the “armed version of the solitary walker”.

The woman is not presented as having the same opportunity in the city – often presented as a prostitute or ‘bag lady’.

Sophie Calle – Suite Venitienne 1980

Calle follows a person who she’s just met. She provides written texts and photography about them and cheats a fictitious love story.

“Calle went to Venice to follow a man she had met at a party, phoned hundreds of hotels until she found out where he was staying, and then persuaded a woman who lived opposite to let her photograph his comings and goings from her window. The result was a book called Suite Vénitienne, published in 1979.”

Cindy Sherman – untitled film stills

The woman is presented as lost and threatened by the streets. We appear to recognise these feminine characters from films.

Weegee – Arthur Felig

Felig’s images document the underworld and hidden city. From having a police radio in his car – he could arrive at the scene before the emergency services. His images were shocking and revealed a dark side to this city of opportunity.

Phillip Lorca di Corcia – Individual in the crowd

Many of this series were captured so perfectly – often looking like film stills. Di Corcia would use small hidden lights to illuminate the figure. In this rare circumstance, the subject realised that he was being photographed and objected to this. It was dismissed however as it was for ‘arts sake’.

Joel Meyerowitz – Broadway and the West 46^th street

This piece illustrates the confusion in the city. There is no focal point to the piece and our experience of looking is similar to what is happening. He offers an eye level piece of confusion.

Mobile phone images are now a huge availability. In the 9/11 London bombings, the footage was uploaded hours later. This adds to the constant fear of terrorism. Cities have increased in surveillance. The city may be seen as a place of constant threat rather than a place to be observed.

‘The work of art in the age of mechanical reproduction’ - 1936

Walter Benjamin was one of the greatest thinkers from the Frankfurt school. The institute had to flee to new york after a critical analysis of capitalism in society. They questionned how the public let fascist governments get into power and just accept it.

‘The ancient craft of the beautiful’

The mechanical forces of production have changed the notion of art. ‘…useful for the formulation of revolutionary demands in the politics of art.’ It is moving away from the previous ‘elitist’ idea of art - which is even more relevant in the digital age as we can see this on the internet. Because of the change in situation, you set your own rules and opinions for art - whereas in a gallery, the social rules are set for you.

‘In principal the work of art has always been reproductible’

Guttenberg Press 1440

Knowledge from books was passed down and available to the masses - not just the elite. The original, unproduced piece was seen as unique.

The Mona Lisa was seen as a ‘masterpiece’, yet it can now be seen on the internet and in books. We are able to make our own personal readings from the influence and opinions of others. The mona lisa has also been reproduced on t-shirts, plates, postcards etc. This doesn’t change the fact that there is an original piece which is worth millions, which people travel miles to view in the Louvre - like a religious experience. The authority of the work is diminished as you are able to make a decision for yourself. Mass production allows you to take artwork away from the ‘temple of culture’ and the preprescribed rituals. The internet has changed our relationship to the world.

Mongrel Project - This is an example of someone who hacked into the Tate website and changed the pre exisiting images to images of cyphylis - which many artists used to get. This challenges the control of culture.

The internet has given us the ability to create our own reading by comparing against others. Newer technologies have helped us to understand ourselves and the world better.