Kino Eye and Metaphors on vision seem to question human perception and suggests that we try to see without thinking or editing what we see, but to picture our eye as a camera and to observe what we see as real- "allow so called hallucination to enter the realm of perception"..."accept day dreams or night dreams, as you would so-called real scenes, even allowing that the abstractions which move so dynamically when closed eyelids are pressed are actually perceived."
Friday, January 21, 2011
response to readings
From reading the preface to Expanded Cinema I was then inspired to read the introduction which gave me a greater sense of what this book was about. From a philosophical standpoint I took from it that people need to start working together to make the world a more sustainable and practical place to live for everyone rather than getting all worked up over money and other short term goals which don't matter in the long run. Because the Universe is our home and it is a place that is constantly changing and moving and we know almost nothing about it. This seems like a really positive notion to me.
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ReplyDeleteI found Metaphors on Vision by Stan Brakhage to be one of the more interesting and stimulating readings for this week. Trying to imagine what it must be like for an infant to view the world as shapes and colors that hold no inherent meaning is impossible for anyone who has developed associated meanings for the shapes he/she sees. The closest I might personally be able to manage is to view the world without glasses or contacts. I do not do this often because I have no depth perception. The world looks like a mass of blurred colors. But even with so much distortion, I am not simply viewing the world as indiscernible color. I know the difference between a table shape, a person shape, a dog shape. I wonder if this is simply because I do not typically remove my contacts in an unfamiliar environment. Although I feel that even in an unfamiliar environment I would still form preconceived notions (right or wrong) about my surroundings. Even then the unclear colors and shapes would represent something to me.
ReplyDeleteI have often wanted to try drawing what I see without my contacts. Unfortunately this might be close to impossible for me. It would take a ridiculous amount of self control to not squint and try to recognize what I was seeing, and as soon as I formed some sort of opinion on the object I was drawing, my memory of what this object looks like would undoubtedly be reflected in my work
I, too, rather liked what Stan Brakhage said in Metaphors on Vision about how many colors does a baby see in a field of grass when it does not know the what "green" is. It reminded me of that story "Plato's Cave" where if a grown man sees his own shadow for the first time, what will he make of it? How would one conceive an object unknown to them in their own time and space. Would a chair overpower the negative space it creates, or vice versa?
ReplyDeleteI'm able to connect Dziga Vertov's writings from Kino-Eye to Brakhage's message in the part where it talks about how, in order to allow ourselves to somewhat revert back to the untrained eyes we used to have, we can look at something in parts or in different perspectives as opposed to as a whole or from a simple spectator's point of view. This is what expands our "consciousness" as Youngblood puts it.
I know this is all only a single part of what we're learning about in expanded cinema, but this has greatly helped me to understand more about what its purpose is.
"For the first time in history we'll soon be free enough to discover who we are," states Gene Younglood in his Preface to 'Expanded Cinema', which insinuates that technology will help humanity realize itself and ultimately reach beyond itself to attain a higher consciousness where the perception of reality is shattered from the mind and anything is possible. So, as Youngblood states, technology, cinema to more specific, is serving as a nervous system for humanity, as if a neural net is being constructed in the human brain that links us to our new evolutionary path, the Paleocybernetic Age. To Youngblood this means, a new and more efficient way of communicating ideas which are beyond our comprehension and a way of using technology that is no longer an emphasis on entertainment and commerce. As Norman Brown states, "Life becomes art when there's no difference between what we are and what we do."
ReplyDeleteI found the Futurist Manifesto interesting. Speed is described as the new beauty. This helps me see why our successors would hate us at first, since the face-paced life our society lives has brought us fast food, lost us close social connections, and invaded our privacy. The idea of completely scrapping old ways of life to explore the new, knocking down the walls of old perspectives, would allow new views to expand consciousness, as Youngblood says. I think that’s why an outsider’s opinion can be helpful, getting a new view unfamiliar with the restrictions of the way you edit what you see.
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ReplyDelete"Paleocybernetic, combining the primitive potential associated with Paleolithic and the transcendental integrities of "practical utopianism" associated with Cybernetic." Gene Youngblood uses this term to describe cultural evolution, which in terms of growth and development of society from 1970 to present day is extremely profound. It would seem that Youngbloods vision of the future was actualized via the internet. Dziga Vertov states that "more perfect than the human eye, for the exploration of the chaos of visual phenomenon that fills space...kino-eye lives and moves in time and space...we cannot improve the making of our eyes, but we can endlessly perfect the camera." His perception of the camera extends beyond the bond he has between man and machine, but rather acknowledges that our own eyes will deteriorate over time unlike the camera and its lens, the eye, that will only be perfected over time. I found this article to be very relatable as my own work tends to be about perception and the way we, as people, view the world whether it be through the lens of a camera, an open window, or our own eyes.
ReplyDeleteI found Youngblood's "Expanded Cinema" interesting and compelling. How cinema is constantly changing and evolving to allow us as viewers to experience more then what realty shows in our own eyes. Allowing us to view the world in another perspective or viewpoint. "When we say expanded cinema we actually mean expanded consciousness." We open our minds to new ways and possibilities that were not able to do in the past. New technology has given rise for further inter-thought of who we are and why we are.
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