Task 1: Panopticism (Re-worked)

Choose an example of one aspect of contemporary culture that is, in your opinion, panoptic. Write an explanation of this, in approximately 200-300 words, employing key Foucauldian language, such as 'Docile Bodies' or 'self-regulation, and using no less than 5 quotes from the text 'Panopticism' in Thomas, J. (2000) 'Reading Images', NY, Palgrave McMillan.

To ensure a factory runs continually with a high rate of work and no coalitions, a factory operates using a system in order to ensure each factory worker's behaviour conforms to the desired behaviours of the factory manager. This is based on the Panopticon model of how modern society organises it's knowledge, it's power, it's surveillance of bodies and it's training of bodies; a system of 'permanent registration.' (Foucault, 1977) The form of power imposed by the factory manager enables the factory workers to become 'docile bodies' who are 'self-monitoring', 'self-correcting' and 'obedient' through systems in place, such as workers timesheets and an open work place. 'Hence the major effect of the Panopticon: to induce in the inmate a state of conscious and permanent visibility thats assures the automatic functioning of power.' (Foucault, 1977) However, it is the 'discipline' which 'brings into play its power.' (Foucault, 1977) The workers themselves hold internalised mental control rather than having physical control imposed on them by the factory manager; in a conscious state the workers will behave in the way in which they think the factory manager wants them to. This demonstrates 'the penetration of regulation into even the smallest details of everyday life.' (Foucault, 1977) The open plan factory layout is key within this structure and uses the rules of the Panopticon model; thus ensuring that each person can be seen by the factory manager but not know when they will be seen; the power in the factory is 'visible and unverifiable' (Foucault, 1977). The power status between the factory worker and that of the manager ensures the workers are highly productive as they are aware they could be watched at any given time, this is the 'utopia of a perfectly governed city.' (Foucault, 1977) whereby a 'guarantee of order' (Foucault, 1977) emerges. The factory manager is a constant reminder of power to the workers which results in the worker being 'caught up in a power situation of which they are themselves the bearer.' (Foucault, 1977) However, power is not a thing or a capacity people have, it is a relation between different individuals which can only exist when it is being exercised. 'A real subjection is born mechanically from a fictitious relation.' (Foucault, 1977)

 

 

References 

 

Michel Foucault, 1977. Discipline and punish: The birth of the prison. First American Edition Edition. Pantheon Books.

Portfolio Task4: The Gaze (Re-Visited)

‘according to usage and conventions which are at last being questioned but have by no means been overcome - men act and women appear. Men look at women. Women watch themselves being looked at’ (Berger 1972, 45, 47)

Alexandre Cabanel, ‘Birth of Venus’, 1863

Berger’s above quote is clearly demonstrated through Alexandre Cabanel’s ‘Birth of Venus’ painting, 1863. Berger insinuates that men and women hold different roles within society; he alludes that male figures haves higher social presence than women. Men are valued by the amount of power they hold, whereas a woman’s presence signifies what can or cannot be done to her. Cabanel, a male, has painted the female body in a way that allows the (male) viewer to enjoy looking at it. The body is presented to you surrounded by ideological apparatus to give the notion that she is ‘The Goddess of Love.’ Her hand is raised across her face to cover it; this positioning also suggests that she may have just awaken from sleep or is just about to sleep. The gaze the viewer places upon the woman is not returned by the female figure, this allows the viewer to objectively view the woman without being seen. There is no dialogue apparent. 'The nude reveals how women have been seen and judged as sights.' (Grange, 2005. p5) A sense of being appreciated by men replaces her own sense of being; she acknowledges this role and presents herself as the subject. This gives way for people (men) to look without anyone ever knowing; it is only when a gaze is returned that you are forced to look at someone as a subject not an object. This is a subsequent example of men looking at women and women becoming objectified; the target of someone else's gaze.

 

Sophie Dahl, Opium, 2000

The gaze is concerned with power. At the core is a male fantasy of domination over women, she is there to be taken. 'Her nakedness is not an expression of her own feelings but that of the male viewer.' (Grange, 2005. p5) These social ideologies of men are then played out to society. We live in a culture where these images of women are played out over and over again to the extent where it becomes the norm for men to view these images of woman. It is a visual reminder to men that women always take the submissive role in society and that men are dominant figures. This recent image of Sophie Dahl for the Opium ad campaign illustrates the degree of sexual inequality which is still present within our society today. This unequal relationship allows males to continue to view the woman with power over her. As with the oil painting, the gaze is not returned by the woman and the body is positioned in a suggestive manor.

Common to both these images is the sense of the woman being watched and the gaze not being returned, making it acceptable for the (male) viewer to look upon her as and when they wish. Nevertheless, Berger makes the following distinction:

‘To be naked is to be oneself. To be nude is to be seen naked by others and yet not recognized for oneself. A naked body has to be seen as an object in order to become a nude.’ (Grange, 2005. p6)

Still today this nude can be seen in the media and is predominately there for the male viewer to enjoy.


References

Ashley la Grange, 2005. Basic Critical Theory for Photographers. 1 Edition. Focal Press.

Portfolio Task5: Hyperreaility (Re-worked)

http://jezebel.com/5426296/photoshop-of-horrors-hall-of-shame-2000+2009/gallery/1

http://www.photography-colleges.org/celebrity-photo-shopping-revealed-16-pics-of-celebrity-photoshop-blunders/ 

Hyperreality is a condition where reality is replaced by simulacrum. Simulacra is the current stage of simulation; it is a representation of the real. One form of hyperreality is a magazine cover showcasing celebrities which look picture perfect. These images of 'perfection' derive from other equally false representations, for example Hollywood ladies, thus developing the idea of beauty which is then copied to the extent that it is presented upon glossy magazine covers. The cover designs portray celebrities to have perfect shiny hair, flawless skin and amazing figures, although this often is not the case and it is the use of photo enhancing software which aids the production of these images. These enhanced images then become simulacrum of the real person; they do not actually look like this but this is the image of the person that is portrayed to the real world. Due to this perceived image, the person featured may even be passed in the street without the realization that they have previously been seen on a magazine cover. This media manipulation that is believed to be real then leads people to want to look a certain way, be a certain person, have the perfect lifestyle. People become insecure about their own features, believing there ears are too big, nose is not the correct shape, breasts are too small and will consequently turn to drastic measures, such as surgery, to change what they see as imperfections in a strive to become a copy of the person they see on the magazine covers; closer to the hyperreality. The reality of what a real person looks like directly juxtaposes the images on magazine cover designs. These perfect images that people measure themselves against are not reality but instead hyperreality. Thus proving that 'We live in a world where there is more and more information, and less and less meaning.' (Baudrillard, 1994, p. 79). Reality is far from the world of hyperreality and can very rarely be reached.

Bibliography

Jean Baudrillard, 1995. Simulacra and Simulation (The Body, In Theory: Histories of Cultural Materialism). Edition. University of Michigan Press.

Reading around 'Institutional Critique'

Institutional Critique 

The act of critiquing an institution as artistic practice, the institution usually being a museum or an art gallery. Institutional criticism began in the late 1960s when artists began to create art in response to the institutions that bought and exhibited their work. In the 1960s the art institution was often perceived as a place of ¿cultural confinement¿ and thus something to attack aesthetically, politically and theoretically. Hans Haacke is a leading exponent of Institutional critique, particularly targeting funding and donations given to museums and galleries. In 1971, the Wallraf-Richartz Museum, Cologne rejected his work Manet-Projekt 74 from one of their shows. The work was related to the museums¿ recent acquisition of Edouard Manet¿s Bunch of Asparagus and detailed the provenance of the painting and Nazi background of the donor. During the 1990s it became a fashion for critical discussions to be held by curators and directors within art galleries and museums that centred on this very subject, thereby making the institution not only the problem but also the solution. This has changed the nature of Institutional critique, something that is reflected in the art of Carey Young, who considers this dilemma.


In relation to graphic design Adbusters are an example of this. The Adbusters website is the 'institution' where the work produced showcases culture jamming...

Culture jamming graphic design will be produced as this is the type of work known to be exhibited by Adbusters.

CTS Task Tutorial

Today's tutorial has helped me see the few bits I need to change within the tasks in order for me to get the best mark possible. Best get to it........

Globalisation, Sustainability & the Media

(Video...Media as a propaganda device.)

Aims of Globalization:

//Socialist:
Desirable for collectivity ...share wealth and distribute between.

//Capitalist:
Desirable because it increases the amount of markets you can tap into and make money out of.
Restrictions on trade.

Westernisation of all cultures
We are theoretically unified
Not so much a shared culture these days ...globalisation
"McDonaldization" describes the wide range sociocultural process American socio-capitalist businesses dominate the rest of the world.
America is the dominant force upon the world at the moment.
Marshall McLuhan ...writes about how the media will change the world. New technologies extend our own senses and us a s individuals (tv allows you to see further)

GLOBAL VILLAGE: (before internet) in new communications world, it would shrink and become an integrated community where everyone knew each other ..heightened human awareness. This would make us more responsible for our actions.

Communications in the world has increased ....this has desensitized to the pain of others (footage of twin towers attach, army troops fighting)

The internet...

Centripetal forces: bringing world together in uniform global society.

Centrifugal forces: tearing the world apart with tribal wars.

CULTURAL IMPERIALISM...
Perialism creating dominance ...making everybody think in the same way
Culture present that everybody in the world is expected to live up to

Mass media is the vehicle for cultural imperialism. The global village is a simulation culture, it is not a real one.

The 'Free Market': every media operates under one hub
One company can control many channels and magazines
They control the gender of all the material they own
One voice that gets spread globally.
This reflects the American capitalist system ...powerful vehicle.
The way it is spread is unequal too ...target north America first (for reason of money making)
2. Western Europe, Japax 3.Developing economies, 4.Rest of the world

SCHILLER: this emerging power can be thought of as new emerging societies. Local cultures are destroyed in order for the new cultures to be formed.

Big Brother is an example of this ...it is desirable to be on television and become as celebrity. BB is spread through different medias across the world. Not authentic African culture it is just American culture imposed upon Africa.
The effect of this is cultural assimilation.
LATEST: skin whitening cream! They want to be fair like white colonizers.
Functions like giant system of propaganda.

The News is far from anything but factual ...it is incredibly biased.
Chomsky & Herman (1998) Propaganda Model- 5 basic filters

//Ownership (who controls them)
//Funding (how get money)
//Sourcing (how get their info)
//Flak
//Anti Communist Ideology

...stories have an agenda beneath them.

//Ownership

Rupert Murdoch....

Can influence who runs the country.

/The Sun on Sunday
/The Sun
/The Sunday Times..... (ownership list of news information goes on)

New stories are only as good as the events you are allowed to record.
Have to ask delicate/non-offensive questions to Barak O'B
Cannot see what goes on in Number 10

Most media organisations are funded by advertising (except BBC)
If they upset people who advertise with them ...they will be dropped

Business pressure groups effect the content of what they are going to say.
(US-based Global Climate Coalition GCC) -pressure any media that propose plant is dying etc.
Information spread to protect the interest of corporate capitalists.
Media is used as a form of propaganda.

Anti-Ideas ...news used to oppose ideologies that legitimises our ideologies.

Environmentalism ...in order to be able to save the planet, need to overthrow the current gov structure.

The Production and Critique of Institutions

Aim: Examine historical development of practices of institutional critique in relation to corresponding development of the modern art gallery.

Work becomes an object ...external existence. If your paid by someone else to do the work, when see products of your labour and get money for it you feel disconnected from work you have done. Sell labour for a wage.

Maintenance of class was false conciseness. Core idea of ideology ...not free to think through ourselves our position of the world.

T J Clark: Ideology ...particular social classes in conflict with one another try to naturalize situation.

Marx: social institution play important role within society
New social institutions
French Society 1796: promote core values of new french state. New public art museum. Create spaces devoted to celebration ...matched ambitions of new french republic. Development of Louvre. One of the first Art museums. Bringing individuals together and making them aware of their presence within society. Free and equal access.
Promote values of new regime: Eugene Delacroix, Liberty leading the People, 1830.

Belief in progress. Condensed French cultural life in single space. Freed from poverty.

Material circumstances generate/reproduce ideological constraints.
Social existence determines consciousness. Place in world generates our beliefs.