oliver

oliver
12 years, 6 months ago

CATEGORIES:
art, photography, communication, design

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Jason and i are working on posters for this year LOVE:CONFLICT:IMAGINATION Memefest theme. Posters are conceptualized around the relation between the three words. We will try to create a open narration, that can be interpreted and reinterpreted by the viewer. Still we are providing a framework of reference to this years festival guidelines. We are experimenting with photography this time.

Here is one. I like it a lot. It was taken at Australia's Gold Coast resort. Where natural beauty and human culture meet: in conflict.

oliver
12 years, 7 months ago

CATEGORIES:
society, culture, communication, community

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0

Advertising, besides it many problematic dimensions can still be used as a media, a vehicle for communicating beneficial messages. A tricky thing and a slippery terrain, indeed. What i mean with beneficial messages is the concept of embedding a communication surplus, that works beyond the signifying regimes of the brand. For example: a product- that in itself is not harmful can be advertised in a manner that communicates values which are good. People might be interested in the product and connect that with the brand. Others might only read the good message and not necessarily connect that with the product or brand. This is kind of a cognitive gift. Not many advertisements achieve that level of sophistication.

Here is a interesting case. Levis re framing the perception of work and workers with their "Wa are all workers" campaign. Hmm, skepticism at least should be used when approaching such a campaign. Good? Bad? Cooptation?


I leave it to you to make this conclusions.

http://www.processedworld.com/carlsson/nowtopian/work-and-the-economy/everybodys-work-is-equally-important

oliver
12 years, 7 months ago

CATEGORIES:
art, society

0

0

One of the best music videos and songs from the nineties, Cursed Female plays with the body, sex, mind and soul. It's about LOVE:CONFLICT:IMAGINATION too. Check it out!

oliver
12 years, 7 months ago

CATEGORIES:
culture, communication, activism, community

1

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Food speaks about culture, ideology, aesthetics, politics and of course power.
Exactly power is the topic this wonderful project deals with. Conflict kitchen from Pittsburgh serves only food from Countries, America is in conflict with. This is a strong message this folks are communicating to their community. The whole process is organized around human experience and contact. People can talk, discuss, engage with each other and eat food.

Special dinners are organized, like the one with a live Skype video streaming between Pittsburgh and Tehran, where people ate same food and talked.

Congratulations for this project!

More here: http://www.kubidehkitchen.com/

oliver
12 years, 7 months ago

CATEGORIES:
activism, education, design, community

0

3

I have been working on this project with my studio for almost a year now. It is a completely new field for me- fashion. But what we are trying to do here is to change the very logic of the fashion business. Open source, participation, community education and peer to peer economic models are probably the main key words. Here is a nice video about the thoughts of our workshop participants, who have created the first Openwear open source collection.

In spring 2010 EDUfashion project invited 8 craftsmen and designers to take part ro the creation of the first Openwear Collaborative Collection. This video contains some impressions and conversations going on during those days.

The codes of the collection will be released under Creative Commons License and the member of Openwear Community will be able to download them, produce and sell the garments under Openwear collective brand.

More here: www.openwear.org and here: www.edufashion.org

oliver
12 years, 8 months ago

CATEGORIES:
theory, communication, education, design

0

1

I have started to be interested in mapping projects long ago. The first really inspiring project i saw some 8 years ago was the ongoing "mapping of power structures" project dome by Bureau d' etudes and Memefest collaborator Brian Holmes. Here is one example of this fantastic work: http://bureaudetudes.org/files/2010/01/wordlgov2005.pdf

This was also something, that fascinated me: Skitter graph, which combines research snap shots of world wide internet usage, animating it in to a global techno political spectacle of unseen proportions.

Due to a long lost friend of mine i got lately a bit more interested in global security and peace issues. Here again, a powerful mapping project: http://backspace.com/notes/2010/09/beirut-mapping-security.php#more

Where i want to arrive with this is actually the question of mapping radical/ socially responsive communication. How can we do that? What kind of visual language should we use? Which power relations could we and should we visualize if we focus on the process and effect of communication?

And what is the use of such visualization? I have a few answers to that in my pocket, but for now, i'll leave you with that.

In any case, this is one of the projects i'd really like to do in the future. If anyone's interested- let me know.

oliver
12 years, 8 months ago

CATEGORIES:
art, theory, activism, critique

0

1

Bourriaud defined the approach of relational art or relational aesthetics simply as: "a set of artistic practices which take as their theoretical and practical point of departure the whole of human relations and their social context, rather than an independent and private space."

There is many interesting points in his book and i recommend it. It's a good and relevant book. However, i am skeptical about the subversive effects Burriaud claims this art has in relation to everyday social practice.

The interesting part to me is relational art's correlation to socially responsive communication. Both act on the level of social relations. The main difference however is the context of production and representation.

This excellent documentary shows the many different effects today's art scene generates. In certain moments it gets pretty absurd. Like when artists claim they are not part of something they are being associated with by prominent art critics and curators...

There is definitely a weight of relevance to the whole thing about relational art. But what exactly is it?