HW 21 - Art Project 1

Transformation

Poladroid (looks more like "photograhphy" now...)

1. Is your art a hammer or a mirror? Why?

Looking at the photos that I took, I think it is both a hammer and a mirror. But of course, mirror comes first. Many of the ideas are based on the unit and I believe it really did reflect our perceptions and how we view the world. Therefore, it makes my photos a mirror that shows how people acts in the world towards digitalization. Then, rather the photos are a hammer or not, I think it is not really for me to decide. But to me, I think somehow it did send out some messages to the others regardless whether it is strong enough to shape the others, it is not really for me to say or to judge on.

2. Does your art make you fink and theel? What are some of your own reactions to your art?

At first, when I was jotting down ideas about how to set the scenes up and do some shootings, I think that part went very well. Especially after I went to the library to look at many photos from different sources, I got more ideas of making the art project to happen with some confidents. But when I actually want to get started to do the actual work, there are many difficulties that keeps happening to me (fail to make fake blood, lack of professional scenes and props…etc.) which it bothers me a lot to a point that I am close to give up on it. When I am done and try to edit all the photos, it gets even more frustrated because I realized the first picture that I took is totally unrelated to “digital”. But I decided to upload it because I think it is the similar idea that now a day many things that we used are just a representation of reality and we are not very interacting with the actual reality. So I think somehow it is relevant to the digital unit if people look at it as a metaphorical perspective. Overall, it turned out to be something else that I did not expect to make, and my reactions towards my art is simply a disappointment. Not only that I do not like it, it also leads me to see my weakness in many ways.

3. What was the most interesting aspect of your making of the art?

The most interesting aspect of making the art is to imagine and face the reality. Before making the actual product, all the images and the art piece in mind is pretty satisfying, and I still do believe my ideas are pretty good while i was dreaming. But what is more interesting and upsetting, is that I am lack of the strength to make it happen. I realized that not only that I am imagining too much for being childish, I am unable to put everything together to form my imagination into the actual art piece. I totally lack of the strength to bring out what is in my mind to real life and I have found another weakness in me while doing this art project. I should have learned that people should not expect too much and live through their imagination, and I should know that there is a gag between hallucination and reality. Anyway, this art project is awakening. Not towards the others, but to myself personally.

Knowing there was a chance to do something more than just typing words and upload it as a post, it is very excited. I actually enjoy doing this type of assignments more than the others, and it is way more challenging than I thought it is. Although it did not meet my own standard, I am glad that I saw my own failure. So now I learned.

This is not COOL! :(

Few Notes for Who May Want to Know:

• the photo with the flower and perfume, it is really just a picture that tries to send out the message that people actually prefer something that can help them to alienate from the reality more than interacting with the reality (although it is flower vs. perfume, you can also look at the flower as people hanging out and chatting, and the perfume as a cell phone talking through air)
• the photo with 2 usb port, this picture is trying to bring out the message that people now a day no longer need to remember things and the usb will actually enlarge their memories when they insert the usb into the port
• the camera lens in the eye is probably the most obvious one, what is really saying was that people use their cameras to capture the meaningful moments instead of witnessed and enjoy it with their own eyes first, what is more important is to show off what is being captured, not what they really see
• the reflection one is the one that I do not like the most, but what I am trying to do is to make a person who look at the mirror and found their own reflection that it is not really themselves, but a person's identity that got taken and replaced by various of brands
• the last one is one of the picture that is on my dislike list, but what it is trying to portray is that in order for a person to live, it is not really from eating but from the charge of the computers, we need the computers to keep us alive

If I did succeed in bringing out these messages above

without typing this long description but through the images,

then the photos are considered ART to me.