Read (and listen to) the following articles on place and mapping: Cresswell, Cross, Debord, Hiss, Lopate, Lippard, This American Life. Links to the articles here.
Pick one, and write a three-paragraph statement answering the following three questions (one paragraph per question), as a comment to this post.
1. Identify the article you have selected and why you chose it.
2. What are the main points of the essay?
3. How are the ideas or arguments in this article relevant to your own practice as a media artist?
The deadline is Monday, February 11, 3 PM.
68 comments:
1. The article I chose was the excerpt from Tony Hiss’s “The Experience of Place”. I chose this article for it’s interesting look into the ways in which people either ignore, or absorb their immediate surroundings; consciously or subconsciously. I was intrigued by the detailed explanation of our “survivalist” approach to observing our surroundings on a subconscious level and how it differs from what the author coined as simultaneous perception on a conscious level. It brought to mind the universal connectivity of spiritual beliefs such as Taoism and the interconnectivity of all life. The idea that it’s all there, but few people ever bother to take the time/effort to engage in it, or become aware of it’s presence.
2. By starting out with a detailed impression of the microcosm within Grand Central, I feel the author is making a statement about the incredible scope of inputs, stimuli and possible reactions one can experience if you only allow your self the opportunity to do so. The experience of simultaneous perception as a means of bringing ourselves into the interconnectivity of the world inches/feet in front of us, can allow ourselves the ability to see how certain actions and events can affect other individuals. Hiss brings this into further explanation by describing a series of architectural, or city/office planning decisions and how they have been discovered to have either a positive, or negative impact on job satisfaction, relaxation/restlessness, productivity, etc.
3. The relevance of perception and interconnectivity is something as an artist I find myself often concerned with and how their elements will affect the experience I am trying to express through the sounds I create. As someone who feels that my work is often an attempt to express the human condition (in some shape or form), it is important to keep oneself from falling into the habits that prevent us from experiencing things anew. As someone who spends most of my transportation time either on foot, bicycle, or bus, this article serves as an important reminder to keep myself in a state-of-awareness while going about my transportation route. There’s always something interesting going on.
1. I chose an artilce by Jennifer E. Cross entitled, "What is: sense of place". I chose this article because it took a deeper look at how people interpret their setting. I thought that it was interesting in that it brought to light some ideas about why and how people look at their surroundings and helps explain why what one person sees and hears may be different from what another does, even though they are in the same place.
2.The ideas of the article surround the the author's interviews with some Nevada County, CA residents about how they interpret their surroundings and how the person came to be there. The author's analysis of the interviews shows people may form their feelings about their setting from biological, ideological, spiritual, narrative, commodified, or dependent reasons. They can develop the way they look at their settings from different reasons for being there, such as having lived there your whole life, being there because of a resource like a job or school, or from having chosen the place for its similarities to your perfect place. All of these different ways and reasons for interpreting your environment will determine what you see and hear, and how you feel from it.
3. The ideas discussed in this article relate directly to a visual or audio artists in their inspirations and the things they use to form their pieces. The reasons for someone being in a particular setting will determine what they see and hear, how they feel from it, and how they may use the suroundings to create pieces that respark those feelings for others.
PAige Klone
I chose Jennifer Cross’s article “What is Sense of Place”.
1). I definitely have a biographical relationship from where I’m from. I grew up in a suburb about 10-15 minutes away from Minneapolis. Last year, I always said “I hate Minneapolis; I’m leaving as soon as I graduate”. I never took the time to look and explore the city, and see what it actually offered. I always went to the same coffee shops, the same stores, walked on the same streets, drove the same way; it was ritual after ritual for me. I decided that there was no way in hell that I was going to attend the University of Minnesota, although I knew that it was an awesome school, close to home and I would have a job and a house already for me. I wanted something new, I just had to get out of Minneapolis, it was old news for me, and I wanted something different. I’m kicking myself in the ass now for leaving. The first day I came to Milwaukee I sat in my dorm that’s on the 20th floor that overlooks the city and the lake, I sat there for a few minutes just gathering my new atmosphere, and I just started to bawl, I mean snot coming out of the nose, face turning read and sweat building up on my hands. Milwaukee wasn’t home; there were no sky lines like there was in Minneapolis. There was no more exiting off of 494 to 394 and emerging from suburb to city, that feeling when coming to the 94 exit and being face to face with the sky scrapers wasn’t there. Blaring Soul Asylum while driving through the city, and having that sense of home, was on hold, while I was in Milwaukee. There was no more Hennepin strip, no uptown, no Bryant lake bowl and no more walker center of the arts. I had no idea what street led to where; I was lost. I never thought that I would want to be in Minneapolis, I always thought that I was going to explore and live in California, than New York, than Seattle, not a bone in me wanted to relate or boast the fact that I was a Minnesotan; until I left. When I started to realize that Minneapolis wasn’t home anymore, and that it was being replaced by Milwaukee, is when I missed Minneapolis, and that everything I did fall in love with while I was living there was just a memory waiting till the summer, and that image was dangling in my mind, creating this sense of home, a true home. I started to miss Minneapolis, and wanted it and needed it, when rather last year I wanted to push it away and set myself apart from it.
2). In this article Jennifer Cross identifies different ways people connect or disconnect to place. She breaks down people’s connection in six different categories: Biographical, Spiritual, Ideological, Narrative, Commodified, dependent. She explains each connection and gives examples from people who live in California, and they explain how or how not they are connected to their space they are living in. I believe her main focus is to have her reader think about their sense of place, and where they live. Do you call where you live right now home? Why or why not? What feelings? So my belief is that this article main purpose is to make the reader think of what really is their home, and where in the world have they felt the most connected to, and why.
3). While reading this article I got this crazy idea. I was thinking about my house, and how I lived there my whole life, and that, that house, and that land was home. I know that house and that town left and right, I could tell directions of Wayzata and Plymouth Minnesota to any stranger lost on any street. I saw my house get walls knocked down, and walls put up. I saw the new paint jobs, I saw the trees we planted grow, and trees be cut down. Than I was thinking, what if there was a movie about a girl who found that her parents are selling the house she grew up in, and she tries to find a way to somehow get her parents to not sell it. But in the beginning of the movie you see her stand outside in front of this house, and like a flip book, you see this house from 20 years ago to present day, and you see all the transformations that had happened. I don’t know I can explain it in person better, but I think it would be crazy!
The reason I chose The Language of Landscape by Anne Whiston Sprirn has a lot to do with the title of the piece. In class, as we discuss our drifts around Milwaukee, we have been talking a lot about seeing places around the city that are worth seeing and turning corners we though we would never turn. This idea is to focus on seeing the typically unseen. From hearing the title I was hoping to find some perspective on these unseen places; What does the landscape have to say, what does this particular place mean to the people who, unlike me, experience it as a part of their every day life?
The Language of Landscape is about exactly those things. Anne forces us to think of these unseen places as actual landscapes and places of beauty. It troubles her that most people these days think of landscape as the equivalent to nature. Although landscape did start out as only plants and sky and water, humans have been made to adapt to their surrounds and in turn, adapt to their landscapes. To humans, landscape should no longer be just a forest or just a meadow or a cave because a vast majority of the world does not live in or near those places. Along with their skewed definition of the word ‘landscape,’ people are devaluing the actual landscape that they live in. According to Anne Spirn, people no longer view the habitats in which they live in as beautiful, original, or creative. When in actuality, they are completely the opposite. To an outsider, as the saying goes, one mans trash is another mans treasure.
This article actually makes me very excited to go out on my drift! I feel as though I have a new respect for certain places that I once would never have thought about even venturing. Replacing the term ‘city’ or ‘downtown’ with ‘landscape’ somehow makes everything seem so much more beautiful than it originally did. Art, to me, is about being able to feel something or experience something and take some portion of it back to share with the world. I believe that viewing every new place as a landscape and taking the time to listen to what it is actually saying will give me a more interesting opportunity to share with people the things that they have never been able to experience themselves either.
1. I chose the article, "What is: Sense of Place," by Jennifer E. Cross. Cross' article is very interesting in that it takes a look at a different perspective of how people connet to a specific location. I like how her article shares a variety of views of how people in the United States share or don't share a bond with a particular place/location. It's interesting how feelings about where you live or used to live can be developed, and opened up my mind of how people connect to a place differently from each other.
2. The main points of the essay was the different ways people connect to a particular location. It's about how they build a relationship between a home and just a place that they live now. In relation to that, there are also people who don't have a relationship with a particular location and are able to move place to place without a preference. In connection to people's relationships to locations, Cross further cuts it down further to the type of attachments people have to the community. Her point there is to target the way people feel about where they live to the people they interact with.
3. These ideas in the article are relevant to my own practice as a media artist because it takes things on a different perspective for me. In ways I can and cannot relate to the people in Cross' article but one thing for sure is that she has helped look at things in a broader perspective about locations and what is home. It gave me an bigger view of how people connect or don't connect to a place and how I can use that thought in my works as a media artist. People connect to people but you don't think much about how people connect to a particular place. Cross' idea of place helped me think more openly about what makes a particular place important. Thus, it will help me as a media artist to try not to overlook areas that could actually hold importance or a uniqueness about it.
1. Identify the article you have selected and why you chose it.
Honestly, I read a little bit from each of the articles but when I started reading about Will Self, I couldn’t stop reading. The article says that Self started walking after he quit drugs. It goes on to tell a wild story of something he had done on the British Prime Minister’s plane. At first that intrigued me, and then it reminded me of myself when it came to drinking. I once left a party in San Diego and walked 15 miles back to where I was staying. I guess that would be like Debord and his cheap red wine. That is truthfully why I kept on reading. His description of walking and being a part of the land was very interesting.
2. What are the main points of the essay?
I’d say that one of the most important points of the essay is where Self answers where the term, “psychogeography”, came from. He goes on to explain the term being coined by Guy Debord. Guy Debord said that people only traveled to work, to eat, and then die. He explains how Debord would avoid this by “drifting” or just plain wandering through the streets of Paris. In this way, a person would travel at a mere whim and not be directed or told where to go.
3. How are the ideas or arguments in this article relevant to your own practice as a media artist?
I believe that Self’s description of psychogeography is similar to the way I began video. He says that it has a low start up, like writing; you merely need a pencil and paper. I began video with a simple video camera and slowly evolved from that. There was no rime or reason to it, I woke up one day, drove to Palm Springs and bought a camera. I began filming immediately in the parking lot. I drove thru In & Out with my camera and then drove up to Point Vista with the brand new camera balancing on the dashboard of my pick up truck. As it turned out, I used the stock footage from that trip in at least four different films. This idea of simply beginning the process and then figuring it out later has been the cornerstone of all my productions.
1. I chose Phillip Lopate's On “The On The Aesthetics of Urban Walking and Writing” because I have always been fascinated by the concept of going for a walk. My earliest memories was my grandma taking me for walks around the neighborhood (although my deceased grandfather had done the same even earlier I hear), I must have been 5 or 6 during my first memories. As a child, there is no obvious point in going for a walk, other than to get out of the house. To this day, I find myself going for walks, at random points in the day and night, just for the sake of getting out of the house. I think walking is the most basic and intimate way we can form a relationship with our environment and that relationship is all a filmmaker needs to create meaningful experiences within films. While walks are good for fresh and clearing our minds of repetitive thoughts that can occur in an enclosed space after a while, I knew that there was more to a walk than just that. This article answered that question in a lot of ways.
2. Lopate article describes the act of walking as the most valuable tool to a writer. To walk for the sake of walking is to explore, survey, experience, and connoisseur our world. Lopate cites Rousseau's walk as "the daily fodder for our mind. Additionally, to go for a walk alone is to deal with, act out, dramatize, defend, or deplore one's solitude. Lopate sees his walks in New York City as a constant change in location determined by a complex mess of details that some etch out a sense of place. Without the grid and names of streets, the city's complexity would prove un-navigable. At certain points, recognizable landscapes can be seen down the streets and between the buildings before, but those views seem to fade in and out as you walk down the sidewalk. Lopate also considers the person who goes on walks to be the "amateur archeologist of the recently vanished past”. Lopate loves walking in crowds because of the fast paced experience of 3 second cameo's, you yourself taking on a minor character as the crowd. Walk Whitman is cited for his idea of a person or writer becoming the vacuum cleaner that sweeps up its own reality our of the "sensory overload” of the city. Finally Lopate talks about the relaxing physiology of walking, whose pattern patterns "triggers the rhythms of poetry. Initially the city was site to experience for Lopate, but overtime it becomes a blur vague blur that only needs to be analyzed for navigation. The sites and places that once amazed us become just as bland as every else, still that amazement can still come back on occasion.
3. Now that I live in a city, I have experienced the chaotic sensory overloads that ultimately render it a dull and ambiguous site. However, it is this confined mess of people, architecture, and engineering that will allow people to better relate with each other. To be a media artist become the vacuum that can reach out in that structured mess of meaningless, and suck out some real meaning of a place and to show people that there is always something more or different to life. To use a city as a medium of art is to reveal to people, the things they have been conditioned to ignore every day. I think what this article shows us that when creating art, is that the best goal is to have no goal. Just observe and experience things without anything else in mind. In time, those thoughts and experiences will create meaning because that is how the human mind works. Writers, artists, and musicians shouldn’t plan exactly what they’re going to create and how they’ll create it. They should approach their goal with open-mindedness and adapt to any new revelations they happen to encounter along the way and that is how I will approach the realm of media artistry.
-Daniel Dillig
1. I have selected Jennifer Cross' article, What is "Sense of Place?" for my first reflective response. I chose this article for two reasons: (1) it was the first article on the list of selections and (2) after the reading I was relieved that it presented ideas I was already interested in. Jennifer is not only defining a 'sense of place' in the article but explores the different properties of the human beings that live in their desired or undesired place or environment. "Sense of Place" is attempting to fasten the person to the place by way of analyzing their relationship. Jennifer breaks down the factors of living into six categories: biographical, spiritual, ideological, commodified, narrative and dependent.
2. Cross first establishes several characteristics of 'sense of place'. These definitions range from anthropology to sociology, the geography and history, and environmental psychology of the place itself and it's inhabitants. Each one crafts a tightly knit explanation for their association with 'sense of place'. Cross takes her investigation further, by separating the ideology and influences of a place into the aforementioned (6) categories. Her research stems from a community in Nevada County, California which garnered mixed results. The biographical connection of the residents was the strongest among the men and women interviewed. The remaining categories gave way to similar results although not as strong. Overall, Cross tries to convey the idea that sense of place is more than just physical attachment. Although you may be living somewhere by default there is a relationship that builds, positive or negative, between the person and place. The relationships can influence others reactions and perceptions of a place, yet the persons ability to create their own will be the true definition of their 'sense of place'.
3. For the last ten years I have been living in the same town, and the feelings that come with the place are more than influential to my actions in media arts. However, I cannot say I share or belong to any of the sections of Cross' 'sense of place', which I don't think was her point. Instead I come away from the article looking at people differently, their oblivious to some degree of their own sense of place, others very aware and gleeful of it. As an artist of sorts, I am constantly watching and examining the people and places they live, although it was never quite the exploration it should have been. Where I'm from, if you're born there, from my experience, you stay there, may not die there, but it's where you spend the greater portion of your life. From that, a great malevolence and disdain can brew behind my eyes, no doubt crossing over into my work. Cross ends on a balanced note, I'd be to critical to say general, of her concept of sense of place. I cannot help but to agree with her, as I feel in my head and through my work that it is never one thing that engages me. The attraction and intrigue lies in the combinations found within relationships between a persona and a place.
1). The article that I have selected was what is “Sense of place”? by Jennifer Cross. There were many reasons that I chose this article: there were many terms that I was familiar with prior to the readings such as anthropology, geography, sociology, ideological relationships. Another reason why I chose this article because it hit me on a personal level. My mother is a spirit coach and the way Cross talked about the six types of relationships sounded like a session my mother was teaching. The final reason why I chose this article is because I thought the idea “community attachment” was really interesting, how a persons feelings change in places and people around them.
2). I have found 3 main points in this article. The first is that “We probably have no single “sense of place”; instead. We bring to the places we live a whole set of cultural preconceptions that shape the way we respond to the place” (Cross 12). I agree with this because we do literally bring outside personifications in to fill the place that we are in. The second point that I saw are how the six relationship’s (biographical, spiritual, ideological, narrative, commodified, and dependent) are the connections with place and how many people have more then one relationship with a single place. The final point I saw the author making was the concept of “community attachment” and how a persons community attachment is made up of their experience in a certain setting along with their feelings about that place.
3).Ones sense of place is very important to my practice as a media artist. While I am filing I need to have that feeling of “right”. What I mean by this is that the shots have to be right, the sound has to be perfect, and the feeling in the air needs to be right. The patterns of impact of places give me inspiration as a film maker, if I stay in a place long enough I start to notice things that I did not see before, I start to get inspiration this is true for me if I see someplace that I have not seen before, for example when I went to London for the first time in my life, there was so much history and I got a lot of inspiration. Most importantly when I edit footage or sound I need the place that I am in to be positive and distraction free so I can complete my project to the best of my abilities.
Jon Elliott Group 1
Lopate loves walking: Walking in New York, walking in Greenwich Village, walking anywhere that walking can be transformed into “slumming” (Lopate 1). He argues that everyone has a “three-second cameo” (Lopate 3) when you walk past people walking on the streets. What can we tell about a person if they pass by: looking at you and saying hi, coughing, yelling on their cell phone, etcetera?
“Rich or poor, white or black, gay or straight, for the moment, at least, everyone in the pedestrian swirl is assigned the same human value: you are either in my way or not” (Lopate 3). I liked this best about the article beause it goes along with what type of story I might tell for my drift walk. What are the sounds a Homeless person hears when he/she walks the streets? Surely by appearance we all seem to have the same human value, but if we just open our ears we can hear that each person is extremely different in the way they roam the cement plain.
“And your energy is higher, because it’s fun to walk around in the Spring with a nip still in the air” (Lopate 7). This is when he is talking more about his walks in Greenwich Village. The entire end of the article touches on mapping. As a media artist I must be observant with all 5 senses, even when I am going out on a sound walk. Using my vision can help me put a visual story to the sound scheme. If an instructor or student happens to hear my 5 sounds for my drift walk and get a visual in their head what the story of the sounds takes you through, then I have done my job as an artist.
-Michael Curtis, Lab 4
Accidentally deleted my last comment :X
Joe Gilliland-Lloyd
1. I selected Joseph Hart’s article “A New Way Of Walking” because I was interested in the different methods of exploring an urban environment. The psychogeography scene seemed like it was filled with people ready to experience any type of wonder, and marvel at the majesty of things forgotten. It was also interesting to read about Hart’s own journey with his group, and how much uncertainty and rejecting the norm played into it. While routine can be a good thing, the article seemed to take a stance on breaking certain bad habits that don’t let us fully enjoy everything around us.
2. The main point of the essay would have to be the fundamentals of psychogeography and how to implement them. It also intertwined with the writer’s own experience on the subject. Hart seemed to constantly be expecting different types of secrets to come out of the woodwork as a product of the algorithmic walking sequence (First left, Second right, First right, repeat) and, despite how much he had to disobey his instinct and choose to follow the pattern, Hart managed to find not only increased awareness of areas he had never been, but a much larger sense of appreciation for what’s been lost.
3. I think the strongest idea that comes out of this article is the “out-of-the-box” thinking. The ability to stray from normality and formulas is an act that would benefit any artist in their respect practice. To truly create an original artwork and appreciate its process, rejecting conformity and so-called “laws” should be a goal if not an ideal. If directors had followed the specifics of camera angles and never taken an experimental approach, many famous films or shots would never have existed. If composers were to follow basic patterns and chord progressions, certain pieces would lack the luster originally associated to them. That’s why, as an avid lover and creator of various forms of media myself, it’s important to be able to break loose from the barriers, take a unique approach and ultimate create a piece of work that explores and absolves various boundaries.
I have chosen the article "Theory of the Derive" by Debord. I chose this article because it seemed to be one of the more conrete, fact-based essays on the list. The historical nature of the article is also something that appealed to me.
The essay aims to define a derive - a way of walking in which we drop our usual relation to the landscape, and instead let ourselves "be drawn by the attractions of the terrain and the encounters they find there." The author also discusses the relationship of chance to a successful derive. According to the author, "Progress means breaking through fields where chance holds sway by creating new conditions more favorable to our purposes. " The next section of the essay gives some information about average durations of a derive - ranging a day or more in theory, but often less in practice.
The ideas presented here do not directly relate to my artistic practice, but I think the ability to explore and experience familiar terrain in a different way is an important one. The ability to see things in ways other than those intended is also invaluable.
1. The article I chose is "On the Aesthetics of Urban Walking and Writing" by Phillip Lopate. I chose this article because I was able to relate to the restless feeling of walking in New York City because that was where I was during winter break. Lopate talks about that anxious sensation when you're walking through the streets of Manhattan and how you're never really in your comfort zone with the bustling flow of the city. You're constantly taking in new things, noticing new people and buildings you never saw before. When I was in New York, I remember that anxious, uncomfortable feeling and how I was never sure where I was going. When reading this article, I knew exactly what feelings he was talking about.
2. This article focuses on the act of walking, taking yourself out of your habitual routes, and learning about the people around you. Lopate says that New York City is the perfect environment for staying in one area and yet constantly encountering something new and unfamiliar. Not only do you see all the different landscapes, but while walking, you get to see all the different people that walk. Each person is a character in a story; you can watch for unique gestures, muttered words, how they walk, etc. Lopate says that "the expression worn on the street is perhaps more unconscious, therefore truer, than at work or at love". By walking among the streets, you get more of a glimpse of what a person is really thinking. Lopate goes on to tell how famous writers such as Walt Whitman and Charles Reznikoff also walked to study human behaviors in crowds. You can take what you see on the streets and create a story around it.
3. Without interesting characters, no one will want to know your story. As a filmmaker, you want your audience to find your characters interesting and entertaining. The idea of walking among people and watching their behaviors and listening to what they're saying can help you develop interesting characters for your works. By going out and actually witnessing interesting behavior from a real person helps you develop a character that you will find interesting and that, hopefully, your audience will find interesting.
1) The article I chose was "On The Aesthetics of Urban Walking and Writing". It was written by Phillip Lopate. I chose it because I related to it the most. I live in an urban area and I alot of the things that were so vividly described by Lopate. It also relates to the work that I will be doing on my drift.
2)One of the main points of the article was that walking and writing can help stimulate creativity. While we are walking we come in contact with so many sights, sounds, and situations that can help get "the wheels turning" when in need of ideas. Also, you come in contact with so many different people on walks. It can be interesting to glimpse into other peoples' lives, even if only for three seconds. Another interesting thing is that walking through the city can change one's mood. If we can capture what changed and make others feel it, that would be useful.
3)I could use street-walking as a tactic to come up with characters when I write. You come across so many different people when you walk. Also, I saw in the article that there should be a balance between being absorbed in your self and your own thoughts and being open to the environment around you.
I read the article, “A New Way of Walking” by Joseph Hart. The reason that I chose to read this article is that I like walking, but in the middle of winter, walks become about getting from point A to point B and you don’t really take the time to stop along the way and explore, talk to people that you see or take your time and just enjoy what is around you. I chose to read this article because it pulled me in through the title and got me thinking about summer walks, hoping that this would offer a new insight into the way in which we experience the world around.
This essay concentrates on a “new” way in which people are attempting to experience the urban environment. The art of urban experience is labeled psychogeography which I would best describe as psychologically releasing yourself to the world around you and letting the urban environment guide your interaction and course through it, rather than you being the person that is in complete control. Within psychogeography, artists, intellectuals and other urban adventurers lead people to question the environment, tease people by doing things such as “reverse shoplifting” and by walking in algorithms that have no end destination in mind. Hart goes on to try out an algorithmic walk in a small town and finds treasures in things along the way that the group would have never discovered had they not let the formula guide their path.
The ideas in this article are relevant to me and what I do as a media artist because the article is about getting yourself to open up and experience life from a different dynamic- one in which we as individuals are not in control, but let the environment control our exploration of the world. On a more practical level, algorithmic walking can not only help the creative process of exploring the possibilities of what we find in the world, but it can also introduces us to new visual and oratory aids that we may have never experienced before.
1. I chose Cross’s “Sense of Place” because I felt that it was something I could relate to. The other articles were interesting, but didn’t dissect the concepts of place in so many ways or from so many perspectives. Right before I read this article, I was overseas in a place I had never been before. When Cross talked about the concept of “divided rootedness” it really resonated with the trip I just took. I had never been to the place before, but somehow felt an identity there. However, upon returning home, I felt my identity here as well. It was interesting to read something about place when I had just experienced an upheaval for my own “sense of place.”
2. The main points of Cross’s essay focused on the different kinds of “sense of place” that people can feel. She breaks it down into five different (yet related) senses of place that people feel: rooted cohesiveness, divided rootedness, place alienation, relativity, and placelessness. The way that Cross develops her explanations of the senses of place all relates to the way people attach to these places, be it spiritually, physically, or as a community. By looking at all kinds of attachments that people form with places, Cross gives a broad perspective for us to explore these relationships. Looking at things socially and physically allows for more than just opinion on the subject. This in-depth read thoroughly examines the multifaceted way humans attach themselves to places.
3. Relating to the space you are in is important for any kind of artist. Feeling a sense of rooted cohesiveness with the space an artist occupies will undoubtedly yield a different product than a placelessness relation to the space the artist occupies. Producing art because one is forced to out of necessity is like living in a place one has to out of necessity. The necessity and not the spiritual connection (with the art or the space) dictates the form of the product. For myself, unless I can be in a space where I feel some sort of rooted cohesiveness or at least divided rootedness, the media art I produce will not feel authentic.
1. I chose the Science News Online article for this blog response. The reason I chose this article is because I can really relate to what Peterson is writing about. Moving into a new apartment heightened my hearing for sounds, which has long subsided. Various aspects of our the sounds that we hear everyday go unnoticed and forgotten until the sound turns sour.
2. Peterson's article deals with the harmony of the sounds we hear everyday, be it sounds from our outside community or from inside our home. He looks at noise pollution in a different sense where he states that the pollution is not solved by creating silence. The sounds we hear everyday help us identify our surroundings and how the world works. Many times, we don't notice the sound specifically until it is malfunctioned.
3. Through the use of sounds that many people can identify with there unconscious, a media artist can establish meaning or imagery without using that specific imagery. In the same respect, using a specific well known sound and distorting it creates a discourse. Sound in media has just as much meaning as visual excitement; it can be described as shocking, explosive, annoying, or about any other word you can use to describe images.
David Orawiec
1. I chose "On The Aesthetics Of Urban Walking And Writing" by Phillip Lopate. I chose this article for 2 reasons. Firstly, this article sheds some light on the lost art of walking. I think walking can open the mind up to so much more than previously thought. Also, the authors experiences walking in New York City told me a few things I maybe didnt know about my own environment. Granted, I dont live in New York, I think that all cities have something or another in common. Mostly, the feel, the presence of the city. It isnt something seen on the surface, but only can be experienced. I think this article got into the experience of walking as I picture it.
2. One of the main points of Lopate's article is that walking has so much more to offer than simply going from point A to point B. "Walking offers the chance to sample other class realities." Walking lets you get out and see the world, and see people the way they truly are. Another main point of this article is that walking gives you the opportunity to be alone, yet not alone. Lopate talks about how walking is good for thinking to yourself, yet if you crave interaction all you need to do is create one with a perfect stranger. This way you have no hard feelings, and no guilt or embarrassment, simply because you don't know the person.
3. The ideas in this article are relevant to me as a media artist because walking is a major part of my life and my inspirations. For example, walking is the major part of our projects in this class. When I go on a walk, I try to look at the environment I am walking through, not just walking with my head looking at the ground. Walking can provide sights and sounds you may not have know existed, and I think Lopate showed good intuition to this fact. He talked about going on walks in his bachelor days simply looking for the most beautiful woman he had ever seen, thats the only reason. I think that leaves myself and Lopate with something in common, the fact that we see walking as something more than just walking.
Tyler Arthur Film 116
1. I chose Tim Cresswell's "Place: a short introduction" because I have never considered understanding or analyzing the concept of "place" before. I enjoyed the way Cresswell used real-life examples to better explain his views, such as his reference to Manhattan's Lower East Side. The photograph "Giuliani Destroyed Esperanza" was powerful in that after learning the history of the situation I better understand the anger of the individual who wrote the graffiti. As Cresswell explained in the reading, the media must make the viewer/listener feel as if they are there to better understand the situation.
2. Cresswell intends to explain to the reader how space can be understood through means of location, time, and personal connection. Oftentimes we take for granted all of the historical changes which have occurred under our noses. His example of New York's Lower East Side helps us realize how one place can be a scene of violence, beauty, or political interest within a short span of time yet people don't seem to notice. Each period of the Lower East Side's history has its own emotions, sounds, and interests which distinguish it from others.
3. As media artists, we need to understand the particular soul of a place rather than just what is seen with the naked eye. A written piece, sound-scape, or visual work captures the focus of a particular media, but it is the artist's job to capture the meaning of a place trough the medium. It is the job of the media artist to assist those unable to be in a particular place by being there in their mind through use of media. Those who experienced an event should feel as if they never left, and those who could not be there must understand as though they were.
Q1.
For my first reflective response, I've decided to discuss some interesting key points Jennifer Cross brings to light, in her throughly written article, titled: What is "Sense of Place?" I choose this particular piece over the others for a number of reasons. Firstly, i enjoyed her approach toward defining such a complicated concept. I was also impressed that not only with the aid of several other social scientists, she also complied her own research from what appears to be interviews, surveying responses of one's relationship and attachment to that of their residence or community. Lastly, i felt encouraged to share my appropriate 'placement' according to my own experiences and travels.
Q2.
The Main purpose of this essay is to analytically dissect the concept of a sense of place. Cross purposed that if she were to properly discern the characteristics of a person with a sense of place, she would have to study both this person's relationship to place and community attachment. After questioning a number of residents from the County of Nevada, she concludes that there are six types of relationships a individual may have with a place. The categories include, but may not be limited to: Historical and familial(biographical),emotional, intangible(spiritual),moral & ethical(ideological), mythical(narrative), cognitive(com modified) and material(dependent) She also describes five classifications when considering community attachment. For the sake of the readers who might have read these ideas numerous times I'll be brief and paraphrase.Basically the aim behind these five particulars is simply implying that people with high sense of place or 'rootedness cohesiveness,' have a strong attachment, usually one of the first three types of relationships previously mentioned. However, if one were to have a low sense of place, or 'uncommitted placelessness,' then that person would be considered to have a weak or no type of attachment. And in between can be found the levels that lead from one to the other, respectively: rootedness divided, place alienation and relativity. All in all, she reminds us that it is important to keep in mind that the sense of place is an experience. How one might feel in one place might influence how we might think of another. Without ourselves to interpret and give meaning to a specific local, then it will remain merely a space, not a place.
Q3.
As far as i can understand, the concept of a 'sense of place' is meant to give me a greater appreciation for areas of my world that i would not otherwise give a second glance. According to the descriptions written in Cross' article i have a dependent relationship with a side of relativity, resulting in moderate attachment for any given place. Yup, that sounds about right. Yet, i don't see myself as being at a disadvantage. Personally, I'm from Puerto Rico, but was born in Florida. I've lived in about ten different towns in New Jersey and now currently reside in a little town in Wisconsin named Oconomowoc.Who would've thought? But because I've moved so many times, i feel i have no obligations to any past homes. I'm truly free to explore and discover. I will travel the world, my only true permanent home, learning and impacting future generations with my never ending growth of wisdom.
I chose the article by Jennifer Cross titled, "Sense of Place." I was interested in just by the title because at this point in my life I am trying to find where I belong or my "place", like most people my age. So this article might give me a better understnding of what a "sense of place" is.
2. The main points of this essay seem to be about the various relationships that people can develop to place. The most intriging I found to be was spiritual realtionships because they are intaginable things that can only be described as a "belonging."
3. I think these ideas work for me because I don't really feel like I have a "place" in Milwaukee because I just recently moved here. Where I will be doing my drift will be far away from everything that I have known and it will be a new expereince to hear unfamiliar sounds.
1. .I chose the excerpt from "Place" by Tim Cresswell. After reading his definition and explanation of place he really got me thinking. I guess that is why I chose to write about it. He brings up ideas about the use and understanding of the term that I really never gave much thought about. while reading it I was coming up with new and different ideas, even ones he wasn't bringing up.
2. The main point of the article was to define the term place. He brings up the idea of place just being somewhere we go (a destination). He then talks about place being a certain space, maybe a space that holds special meaning or cause a certain feeling thus making that space/place more significant than just somewhere we go. He also defines place using the idea of sense of place (ones place in life or a scale of hierarchy).
3. I have always had an interest in Native American history. I was really interested in what he said about the whites coming to this new land and picturing churches and field house (a new place for them to reside and start a new life). While the natives had a completely different view of the same space. That land was theirs, it was a sacred place that they had lived for generations.
1. I chose the article "A New Way of Walking" by Joseph Hart. I chose this article because it talked directly about the experience I would soon be embarking on. It discussed several artists who had discovered the geography of a city in an entirely new light. And they had all done so using the same methods that we discussed in class. I also chose this article for the author's description of his own experience with this "new way of walking." Hearing about someone's first hand experience made me want to get started right away.
2. The article discusses in depth the several methods of pyschogeography, a way of looking at geography that focuses on how we as human beings react to an environment when we have no preconceived notion of the places we're going. It also discusses the reason behind this practice. The idea is to get us out of our normal routine, to make us see our environment in an entirely new and exciting way. The article also briefly discusses the history of the term psychogeography and the inspiration behind todays pyschogeographers. The last part of the article is an detailed description of the author's own experience with pyschogeography, in which he set off on an algorithmic walk. This means that he and a group of others chose a starting point and a pattern to walk (in this case first left, second right, first right, repeat). This was by far the most interesting part of the article.
3. This relates to my own experiences as a media artist because it talks directly about the exact experience we're all about to embark on. The strategies discussed in the article such as algorithmic walking, using a map of another city to try to navigate the city you're in, and others, are the exact strategies discussed in class for our own walks. The practice of psychogeography is one that we will all soon be embarking on, so reading about it obviously relates to what will be experiencing. Also the fervent description of the author's walk would make any reader want to try the practice out, especially if said reader is bored with their living environment.
-Alec Beaird
Lab 2
Eric Wescott
Group 1
1. I choose the Cresswell article because the way he described a place felt the most accurate to me in both the literal language definitions and how he choose to explain what a place is.
2. I agree with the idea that a place can have several names or descriptions that can be more or less helpful in identifying/describing it. Like his example of lat/long coords for New York vs just saying New York. I also agree it is common for most people to make a place/space their own when they will be spending a significant amount of time there.
3. I think how I make a place/space my own is slightly different than most people. I generally don't spend time/money worrying about it's aesthetics. I don't care what color it is and would not waste my time changing it. I don't feel a desire to put up posters or decorate. My only real conserves does the room contain the elements to make it function. ie. if it's a bedroom it contains a bed. I don't have a strong desire to rearrange the layout unless it hinders my ability to function in the room.
1) The article, "What is 'sense of place'" by Jennifer E. Cross, takes an interesting approach in trying to discover exactly what "sense of place" means. I chose the article because it tried to narrow down and define a term that is extremely abstract and open and exceeded in doing so. By exhibiting definitions of terms which correlate to “sense of place”, as well as conducting interviews and defining subcategories within the feeling that she’s describing, Cross excelled in making me understand a term in which I normally take for granted. She breaks down why we feel the way do in and about certain places and got me to really begin to think about myself and my life and the places that are important to me because of it. Not only did she cause me to completely self-absorb about the preceding subjects, but all kidding aside she once again strengthened my view of how each of our perspectives on Earth completely varies from one another ,especially in something like “sense of place” which relies so deeply on a person’s values, upbringing, and just plain old experiences altogether.
2) The main purpose of Cross’ article is to interpret to the reader why we have certain attachments or oppositely why we have negative reactions to the places that we inhabit. She defines six categories of relationships to places that people in general have, as well as four different categories of attachment or lack thereof that people garner in certain areas of this world. Her interviews give great examples regarding each of these subcategories of sense of place such and she even goes on to analyze them and interpret what it is that the people within the categories are doing to belong there.
3) As an aspiring filmmaker with zero to little preference or certainty on what kinds of films I wish to make, Cross’ article opened my eyes to concepts within people relating to the places that live which is obviously something that concerns any work . It showed me methods of thinking about where we are in the world that have always been active in my subconscious and moved them to my conscious state. The article covered just about every personality type and how they interact with places and as I wish to write screenplays and tell different character’s stories within the films I make; this was all extremely relevant.
1. I chose the article "On The Aesthetics of Urban Walking and Writing" by Phillip Lopate mostly because it appealed to me since he was writing about his soundwalking in New York City and i've always had an affinity for NYC. It made the article more engaging because i was reading about something that appealed to me. I also found his writing style to be overall interesting and well written. I found his article a little long but it went fast since i was interested in the material.
2. the main points of the essay seem to be about walking around an urban environment to sample other class realities, observing the environment around you, writing about the soundwalking experience, etc. This article does not seem to have the emphasis on the sound aspect so much as other works we have written and the film we viewed. It primarily deals with the visual aesthetic.
3. I think the the ideas and arguments presented in this article make for a useful starting point for me as a media artist being that it introduces the reader to one perspective of the urban walk. While it didn't specifically give out strategies for rolling dice to determine a street to turn on or using another cities map; it did capture the authors zeal for the urban walk and it is a somewhat inspiring piece for for those who have to go on a long urban walk.
1. For Guy Debord's 'Theory of the Derive' I read it with an open mind, mostly because I had never heard of a derive. The fact that it's a shorter article helps, but I really wanted to know the...'theory' part of what a derive is and not the obvious, or 'dictionary' version if you will. Although Debord does write quite literally what a derive is, he also goes on to write about how it's a very mindful thing, almost like a meditation. It definately was a lot more complicated than I thought; more rules and factors are involved in completing a real derive than I thought. He mentions the tadpoles and how they are the best for a derive because they simply are not aware they are being studied for a derive nor do they have a specific routine and places to go like us humans. But then that also confuses me because right in the beginning of the article he mentions the French student and her derive of going from her house to school to piano teacher. In the end I believe this article is a good introductory of a derive and I definately plan on reading more into this to definately understand the reasoning and purpose of a derive.
2. Throughout the essay he writes of the obvious, almost you could say 'tangible' examples of a derive such as the French girl or the realists or even the tadpoles. The physical part of a derive is mentioned often. But there also seems to be the mindful part of derive. He writes 'emotionally disorient oneself' but doesn't really go beyond that. I believe that in the emotional defination, it could mean that a mindful derive is nothing more than a meditation. You stop thinking (figuratively) and lose your thoughts while walking a derive. Or maybe it could be the opposite that one could lost itself in trying to walk it's derive that their thoughts are lost. Again, I'm probably going to read more into a derive to understand the two sides of it.
3. As a media artist (or at least a wannabe media artist) I think this helps in a theoretical sense in that, like a derive, you cannot force your art, but you also can't let it be random. But that's the thing, rarely if never is a person's art random, almost like an accident. I think it is similar in that while working on a project you see yourself taking different paths and different ways, it may be accidental, it maybe not. But at the same time that's me TRYING to find a way it relates to my media practice.
. I chose the article “Theory of Derive” by Debord. I chose this article because it I had never heard of Derive and it interested me to know what it was. The article did throw me off at first only because it was very much in depth and the theory seemed to have rules to obey by rather than just going out and walking and trying to connect to your surroundings.
2.Clearly the main points of the article is what derive is and how to use it in everyday life. The main point being that when you incorporate this into your life you drop everything that you do and you let yourself be drawn to your surroundings. I think this interests me the most. He also talks about letting go in order to connect and that goes along with meditation. It was very hard to really understand this article and to pick from each main points because it is so in-depth.
3.I am not sure if these ideas are apart of my practice as a media artist yet. I have tried to create a relationship with my surroundings up north but this was on the pure fact that it is beautiful and not that I was trying to be artistic. But I feel that in the future I am going to try to incorporate this theory and the derive into my own practices.
1. I chose to read Guy Debord's "Theory of the Derive". I chose this article because it seemed to be possibly talking about something new and different from what all of the others already were, at least by looking at the titles.
2. When i thought that this article was talking about something completely different from the others, i was right and wrong at the same time. A derive is defined as: a technique of rapid passage through varied ambiences. In a way this can relate to the psychogeographical practices of many who go on these walks, or what we call drifts. This term seems to hint that these walks should be rushed or hurried. According to what we've heard in the class so far, the drift should be taken slow, we should be listening for interesting and odd noises everywhere. This main point of this essay seems to be that the notion of chance, or running in to something completely new, is something that should, and will happen during these derives. They are such a new thing that it should be expected and embraced.
3. This article relates to me as a media artist because this is just one other way that people choose to express themselves in an unusual fashion. People who go on these walks say that it liberates us from the normal day-to-day routine, and introduces us to new things that we would have definitely not seen if we had never broken away from the norm. I also think that this is a very important thing to do after reading these, and am now more excited than i previously was to go on my walk.
1. The Article I chose is Guy Debord's Theory of the Derive, in which Debord explains "one of the basic situationist practices", the derive. A derive is more or less the same thing as the drifts that we will be going on in class so I thought it would be advantageous to study it more closely for helpful hints and alternate approaches from someone how has a lot of experience with them. Also I was interested in how Debord doesn't see the derive as just a way of mapping a space/area but also as a way of mapping yourself.
2. Debord begins his article by explaining a little about the derive, a technique of rapid passage through varied ambiencesm, and their differences from just a stroll around the city. He then goes on to explain a slew of different ways derives have and can be approached, either by yourself or with someone else, for several hours or days, in a small span of of space or a wide ranging area, etc. as well as pointing out the methods he has found most successful and benficial. He also describes how through a derive you can map a space based on your own influences and impressions rather than just for navigation.
3. This article will help me any many ways not just for the drifts in this class but as a media artist in general. Debord explains various techniques to attempt while out on your drifts and the methods which he has found most successful, which alone will help me to generate ideas and new approaches while on my drift. He also explains how the derive is just as much about the person participating in it as the location itself which will help me to put my own thoughts and points of view while observing anything. Overall this article was very beneficial to not only this course but art in general.
1. The episode of This American Life, entitled "Mapping," aired on September 4th, 1998. The episode seemed to be interesting because it dealt with more than just traditional sight mapping. The acts in the episode dealt with various types of mapping that might not include mapping streets or by sight. I was intrigued by these ideas, especially the idea of mapping by sound.
2. The overall point of the episode is to bring the various stories, all involving a separate type of mapping to the listener. These include a man named Dennis Wood who made various kinds of maps of his home town, including maps of the power lines, and a map of the patterns light made by sunlight through the trees, and Toby Lester who made a mental map of the sounds in his office and how they might effect the psyche.
3. It seems that these various kinds of mapping, especially those that are somewhat non-traditional, non-sight based maps are a creative excersize in really exploring your environment. To accuratly map something, whether that be the sounds around your apartment building or the very folds of your body, you must truly explore and fully examine this environment. You must put yourself within it, and to me, that also seems to be the point of this class. Going out to really explore a space, capturing what you can from that space and then returning home to map out what you have done. In many ways our assignments in this class are exactly the same kind of undertaking as that of Toby Lester or Dennis Wood.
This response is to the article “On The Aesthetics of Urban Walking and Writing” by Phillip Lopate. I found the idea of “slumming” to “sample other class realities” very interesting. He had to take a new approach to rediscover an area that he had walked many times when he was younger. Sometimes he took everything in, and other times he ignored everything but the essential sensory information needed to walk down the sidewalk. Having only spent about a week in Manhattan myself, i can still relate to and appreciate what he wrote about experiencing on the walks, which also made this article personally appealing.
The main points of this article cover different methods of approaching an urban walk to turn the experience into writing. The author had walked the streets of Manhattan many times when younger, but left to California in his mid-twenties. In his late twenties he returned and began to rediscover the streets. He had a few different approaches for doing this. One approach was borrowed from the poet Charles Reznikoff. The idea was to “shave the walk down to an anecdote,” which meant to focus on one idea or image stolen from the streets during that walk, rather than paying attention to everything. Another was to “attend to the present moment.” This method involved taking personal stake in whatever occurred on the walk and paying attention to every detail, rather than only being an observer and collecting one anecdote. One example of this from Lopate’s walks was when he confronted a “crazy man,” who was standing in the street shouting, and said to him “Oh, shut up!”
This article relates directly to our work on drift walks. The ideas of these walks are to traverse a supposedly well known terrain and discover things we never knew were there. To this, we have to develop a plan to cover the area in a new way, one that has not been thought of by urban planners. Lopate’s ideas of how to approach an urban walk in different ways could help anyone discover new things in the streets when looking for sounds and images. It’s always been a goal of mine in my artwork to focus on something that’s often missed in the rush of everyday life. Using his ideas could help achieve that goal on the drift walks.
Jordan Steffen - Group 1
1. Identify the article you have selected and why you chose it.
For the reflective response assignment I chose On a Clear Day I can Hear Forever, by Gary Ferrington. The piece struck a chord with me (no pun intended) in that I too live in an area where if one stops and actually listens, there are dozens if not hundreds of sounds that act as a subtle unintentional symphony.
2. What are the main points of the essay?
The essay tries to convey that even background sounds or sounds that may at first seem insignificant, can actually define an area and speak volumes about what it is like to live in a particular area. Not only that, but the author, in his descriptive voice expresses fondness of all these sounds, which tells the audience that these sounds are in and of themselves beautiful and worth paying attention to.
3. How are the ideas or arguments in this article relevant to your own practice as a media artist?
The main thing that this article brought to my understanding as an artist is to not dismiss the small things, the background noise. So often living in the city there are so many noises it becomes easy to tune them out, stop paying attention, and essentially take for granted potentially remarkable sounds from being enjoyed. Often the best art comes from the things that everyone sees or hears, but most never see, or hear it with the inherent beauty it holds.
I chose to read "On the Aesthetics of Urban Walking and Writing" by Phillip Lopate. This article displays interesting aspects of walking and observation that I have never realized before. I was also struck by the poetry that Lopate included in the article from Walt Whitman and Reznikoff. Basically, the reason that I picked this article is that it seemed to be one that really could help me apply to my walking habits and especially what I need to do on my drifts to have a successful one.
Lopate does a wonderful job in expressing his own experiences of walking through Manhattan in his childhood and youthful twenties. He points out that walking is a form of entertainment and that the scenery and objects are just props for the imagination. Lopate also incorporates the idea that walking can stimulize writing. That walking calms you down and the "cadence" of your feet walking helps poetic writing. Lopate uses examples from poetry to aid his showcase of admiration for a walk. He shows that Whitman loved to be in the crowds of big cities, he became energized by walking from his surroundings. Simply, Lopate's words are really what drives home a passion for walking and that is the real message; stimulus through admiration.
I'm truly glad that I chose to read Lopate's article because I will greatly benefit from it when I go out on my drifts. The passion that I saw as I read filled me with and excited feeling. I will be sure to take notice to the different aspects of the world whenever I walk through the outdoors. Incorporating my imagination in my everyday life and not just while I try to be creative in making a piece of work. I definitely will also apply the poetic mentality as I walk the streets whenever it may be.
- Jacob Rengstorf
#1.The article I chose was, Theory of the Dérive, by Guy Debord. After reading a bit from the other articles, I found Debord's way of describing this "dérive" by far, the most interesting. I was first pulled in by this concept of psychogeography. It was weird to grasp this word and what exactly it was, and I wanted to keep reading on what Debord had to say. The relationship between an individual and its environment is a lot more intricate than one would think after reading this article. A lot of it was difficult to understand, but other bits made total sense, such as the distinction of regions by in a city based on distance(such as sound) but having nothing to do with the physicality of distance. In addition, I was totally fascinated by the fact that this was written in 1958, because it seems like it could have been written this year with its relevance to modern cities.
#2. Debord’s essay is primarily on what the dérive is and what does it consist of. He starts out by saying that this dérive is a “rapid passage through varied ambiences.” He goes on to explain that it is a bit more complicated than just a small definition. The duration of a dérive usually lasts one day and is optimal in groups of two to three people. Its spatial field can consist of merely a block or single neighborhood or even an entire city. The point of a dérive is to watch for the “attractions of the terrain and the encounters you find there.” I seem to think these encounters could be sparked by any of the senses, whether it’s a sound or a certain color, or the thickness of the air. One of the final points in the essay is that derives enable us to draw conclusions on the relationship between the environment and an individual(psychogeography) in a modern city. In summary, Debord is trying to explain that a dérive is not just a stroll in town, it is much more than that, it is a surveying of sensory and emotional feeling in a specific terrain.
#3.I don’t think this article pertains to myself so much as a media artist, but it is a great reminder to push the boundaries of what I’m used to. I think you can get great results from doing this and I think Debord would agree. Whether Debord’s goal is to emotionally distort oneself or to study the terrain, I think in doing either of these you start to examine things more closely. The fact that you are looking or listening for things that necessarily aren’t there the first time you look or listen, is inspiring as an artist and is a constant reminder to keep looking for those little details that make things great.
Film 116
Reflective Response
Jonathan Puryear
February 11, 2008
1. The article that I choose was “ Will Self: ‘Psychogeography’ and The Places That Choose You. The reason that I choose this article is I believe that what Will Self is saying is true. We as humans do not walk to see what is around us, but to just get to point A to point B. We don’t look around us to see what this world has to over us with what we see and hear, we just walk. We need to stop look and listen to are world, because it has more to over are soul then what we know!
2. The main points in this article is that we as humans do not walk just to walk anymore. We start walking to get to work, school or just to get to where we need to go. The world is much richer for are five senses then what we can ever image if we would just stop and slow down and walk.
3. How the ideas in this article are relevant to me as an media artist is that from now on I need to start seeing are world in a walking way. From now on I’m not just going to walk, but start to look and listen to the sounds of the cars, people and the sounds of the streets itself. To not take walking for granted anymore. I will slow down and enjoy what is going on around me a see the world for what it is and not just in a walking from A to B.
1)The article that I chose was from Jennifer E. Cross and it was titled "What is: Sense of Place." I am not entirely sure why I chose this article, but maybe it was the fact that it's ideas stuck out to me the most. The simple thoughts of how people perceive "place." In the article it states that everyone can and most likely will have a different perception to a certain place.
2)The article itself mainly focuses on surveys done by the author in Nevada County, California. In the surveys the author asked residents of Nevada County what their attachments to their community was. The resident's reasons for attachment varied from biological, ideological, spiritual, narrative, commodified, and dependent reasons. Which basically means they varied from things such as living in the area their whole life to being "dragged here kicking and screaming" without a choice. The author also states that are perceptions on what a place could be will also be based on our feelings toward another completly different place. For example, a person might love Milwaukee simply because he hated living in small town in Iowa.
3)I feel that this article directly affects us as media artist. Everyone in the world has a different point of veiw on things and there is nothing we can do to stop it. For example, someone who lived in the country is going to hear more detailed sounds in a big city then a person who has lived there their whole life; simply because the city resident has learned to drown out such small inconvient noises. Everyone has a different point of veiw on what they feel from a certain place.
1.) I chose A New Way of Walking, by Joseph Hart, because I loved the way he talked about algorithmic walking. Algorithmic walking is a fixed pattern of walking that allows the participant to have a new style of traveling. It also allows them to see things that they wouldn’t expect to see. I enjoyed this article because I have always been fascinated with adventures. I consider an adventure to be what Hart would call an algorithmic. I have some set patterns of walking but for the most part I’m completely free to explore.
2.) The first main point was what algorithmic walking was. Hart explained at it has a fixed pattern, to some degree. First the participant walks right, then left, then right. Or the participant uses a map of a city to walk around in a completely different city. The next main point was that algorithmic walking gave the participants a feeling that some higher force determined the walk. It gave them a sense of randomness and order that allowed them to explore and find new things. This walk helped them find significance in places that they wouldn’t normally find significant. They were able to see beauty in things not seen as beautiful, and that get passed up when we are walking during a typical day.
3.) I feel that Hart’s point of just “letting yourself go” and let the algorithmic walk help you to explore new places will help me to be a better media artist. By reading about his experiences, I am now more excited to have experiences for myself. Hart helps me to see how exciting it is to use algorithmic walks to explore new places. These walks will also help me to discover new sounds. Hopefully I will capture sounds in the most unlikely places, and find beauty in those sounds like Hart found beauty in the new places that he discovered.
1) Identify the article you have selected and why you chose it.
The article I have chosen is "On the Aesthetics of Urban Walking and Writing" by Phillip Lopate. I enjoyed reading his article because he documents how his attitude seemed to change as he grew older. He begins by descring his frequent walks around Manhattan searching for inspiration and then goes on to say that beauty should find him. I found this somewhat contradictory but after some thought I believe the author was trying to make the point that the walk was supposed to make him aware of what he had not previously seen, beautiful or not. I also like that he uses writing samples from poets like Walt Whitman to demonstrate other ways walking has been relevant subject matter.
2) What are the main points of the essay?
Lopate begins his article "On the Aesthetics of Urban Walking and Writing" by describing how walks appear in writing and what we can learn by reading about the walks of others. Lopate states, "Most written-down walks are undertaken alone." He points out that a mood change can be detected throughout writing because of the process one goes through when out on a walk. Lopate goes on to describe his many walks taken throughout the city of Manhattan. He used the walks as a way to experience a mix of different people. Lopate describes the poems of Charles Reznikoff, a fellow walker, as having, "the impression that accidental encounters with strangers or gregarious shopkeepers could be among the most nourishing experiences of city life." Towards the end of the article Lopate tells the readers that due to his family life, he walks less and less. He states, "
I resent the pressure...to find grace in the old lobbies and water towers, or piquancy in the physiognomies of my fellow citizens. " At the end I felt this statement to be really surprising. After some thought, I believe the author meant that he was putting too much pressure on himself to find beauty in everything he noticed. The point of the walk is to simply allow you to notice things that you hadn't before.
3) How are the ideas or arguments in this article relevant to your own practice as a media artist?
Often times, I do not take the time to simply go out and experience the environment around me. Lopate's discipline that he had in his early days of walking is something that I aspire to do. His frustrations with trying to "see grace" in everything he saw really taught me that the act of seeing things is the important aspect of walking. Next time I am out I will strive to notice the unnoticed.
1. I have selected the Jennifer Cross article What is "Sense of Place"? because I found the subject intriguing and discovered correlations between my own "Relationships to Place" and those brought up in the article. I thought it interesting to find that several different relationships can be responsible for creating a persons sense of place.
2. This article deals with the question of what is a sense of place, and how is it defined. To anwser this Cross split up a Sense of Place into two major groups, Relationships to place and Community Attachments. Relationships to Place also contain six sub-categories with in them, they are: Biographical, Spiritual, Ideological, Narrative, Commodified, and Dependent Relationships. Community Attachment contains four sub-categories which are: Rootedness, Place Alienation, Relativity, and Placelessness. Any combination of these categories can be made in creating a sense of place, and the positive and negative feelings that are created with one place can carry over into another.
3. As a media artist there is always an emotion with what we capture through our eyes and ears, many times we forget to think about why these sounds and images create such emotion. This article is a good tool to help focus in on what exactly this place, this sound or image make you feel and why does it make you feel that way.
1.I chose the article by Guy Debord entitled, “Theory of the Derive”. I chose this article because the ideas that it proposed. Debord uses the term Derive to describe not only a new way of walking but also a new understanding of how cities are put together. Furthermore, by understanding the geographical make-up of the city, one can begin to get out of walking patterns in which city planners may have planned you to walk.
2.First of all, Derives are open to interpretation; however, they always involve a playful-constructive behavior and awareness of psycho-geographical effects. What Debord means by this is that urban areas and cityscapes are arranged in specific ways and have streams and areas which, you may, depending on the person interpreting them, shy away from or go towards these areas. By understanding these currents inside a cities, you can break through these areas that you may shy away from. By doing so, you are out of your comfort zone and then, can begin to observe and interpret in completely unorthodox ways.
3.I believe the ideas of Derives are extremely important to media artists, especially for this project. I say this because this project involves using urban sounds and stresses being able to use these sounds in new and unique ways. Furthermore, the Derives offer its participants methods of getting out of your element. When people are out of their element they tend to observe more in-depth and look at things differently. Thus, by utilizing the methods discussed in this article, In regards to the Derive, I will be able to utilize the sounds the sounds of the city without manipulation, which will hopefully, radiate a certain authenticity, that will shine through in my work.
1) The article I decided to write about was "On The Aesthetics Of Urban Walking And Writing" by Philip Lopate, who talked about how we have lost a sense of what it truly means to walk these days. His comments on walking the streets of New York to the project we are doing has a very distinct connection. Although the cities are very different, the elements of city life remain the same, and the beauty that we take for granted every day are still there to be appreciated.
2) The main part of the article was to show that walking has a lot more to do with getting from one place to another, like driving tends to do. Walking alone can be a very great social opportunity to meet someone you have never talked to before, or even be alone for a distinct period of time. The ability to chose who you surround yourself with on every block has a very different meaning than going somewhere for utility.
3) The ideas and concepts of this article hold a relevance to our drifts because it tries to help us think of walking in a very different light. Instead of just walking to a store or a friend's house, we need to open our senses a little bit further, and not taking walking as a chore but as a privilege. We should all have a reason to go walking, whether to meet people or to take in something new, but skipping out on walks is not a way to experience life.
1. The article I chose for this reflective essay was the essay by Joseph Hart entitled “A New Way of Walking.” I chose this article because I wasn’t sure with what technique I was going to use when I did my Drift and I thought this article would help. I found this article not only very helpful in choosing my technique but also very interesting. I found myself wanting to do what the people in this article were doing, just for fun.
2. There were not many main points in this article but one main point. I found myself wanting to go out and do this as soon as I could and I think that was the main point. I think this article was trying to show people that not walking the same path every day is not a bad thing. I told us to open our mind and walk the path less traveled. The article helped us by giving us examples of people going out and doing this and techniques to help us use to walk our own paths.
3. The ideas in this article are very relevant to myself as an artist because it gives use a tool to use to help us step out of our own comfort zones and expand our way of seeing and thinking. Like it said in the article, it helps us to “break out of the machine” we call living in society. Art is all about stepping out of the box and doing something that people usually people don’t do. Visualizing something that people don’t often see in their normal, everyday lives. This article explained that very clearly.
1. Identify the article you have selected and why you chose it.
The article I chose was Phillip Lopate’s On the Aesthetics of Urban Walking and Writing. I picked this article because it connects walking with the creative mind and how with walking you find stories about the individuals around you. It provides an interesting read for those looking for ways to spark their creative mind, specifically writing. For me it provided an interesting perspective for how some writers can find inspiration, in addition to showing New York City in a different light then it is normally seen.
2. What are the main points of the essay?
The main points of the essay are focused primarily on the people seen during walks. Lopate talks about how each pedestrian encountered while walking has their own story to tell. He talks briefly about how being a pedestrian is almost like a performance art at times for the keen observer. Most of the essay concentrates on Manhattan and how the city features a unique mix of individuals. The end of the essay covers how writers are inspired by walking and writing.
3. How are the ideas or arguments in this article relevant to your own practice as a media artist?
As a media artist it helps you focus on what to look for during these walks, specifically people and the stories that their “pedestrianism” gives off. It also gives an idea as to how other artists/writers were inspired by what they spotted on their walks, giving you invaluable tales of past experiences.
Alex Scheurell
“On The Aesthetics of Urban Walking and Writing” by Phillip Lopate
I was drawn to this article because of the second paragraph, in it Lopate says, “The walk becomes a technique to deal with, act out, dramatize, defend, or deplore one's solitude. With solitude, of course, comes a danger: self-preoccupation. The literary walk inscribes the struggle between self-absorption and self-forgetting, between the poison of ego-brooding and the healing parade of sensory stimuli.”
I can identify with this statement. When I first moved to Milwaukee I didn’t know any one and, I had no idea where I was. So I walked around to get my self accustomed to my new surroundings. Moving out had some difficulties; it was the first time I had really been away from home and my parents. Moving also shook my relationship with my girlfriend we didn’t know if we were still going to be together if we lived in different cities. Living on my own, not having a job yet, being lonely and separation from every one I loved gave me a lot to think about. On my walks I didn’t just explore and observe my surrounding I began to think about my self and my situation, eventually I began to lose my self and all real sense of time and place. On more then one walk I completely forgot were I was and why I was walking around in a new place. To a small degree this can happen almost every day, I kind of think of it as a pure moment when your mind shuts off, and is only what is happening at that time, in that place, right then forgetting all of life’s troubles and accepting every thing and nothing. Then you snap out of it and realize that you just had a moment. A part you thinks wow that was nice and another thinks why did that have to stop. And that is sort of what this article is about seeing really seeing your environment to a degree that you forget about self and focus on experience, or the spectacle of the world you are in. And at the same time understanding self can happen from knowing that you forgot about your self and your life by focusing on Life as a whole. Then comes the realization that your life is a part of Life.
I think what Lopate says in this article is relevant to my life and art. It is very important to establish place in media, and to try and capture all the sensory stimulation one would have in that place. It is the job of the artist to make some one lose them selves in their art the way someone on a stroll thinking and observing does.
“On The Aesthetics of Urban Walking and Writing” by Phillip Lopate
I was drawn to this article because of the second paragraph, in it Lopate says, “The walk becomes a technique to deal with, act out, dramatize, defend, or deplore one's solitude. With solitude, of course, comes a danger: self-preoccupation. The literary walk inscribes the struggle between self-absorption and self-forgetting, between the poison of ego-brooding and the healing parade of sensory stimuli.”
I can identify with this statement. When I first moved to Milwaukee I didn’t know any one and, I had no idea where I was. So I walked around to get my self accustomed to my new surroundings. Moving out had some difficulties; it was the first time I had really been away from home and my parents. Moving also shook my relationship with my girlfriend we didn’t know if we were still going to be together if we lived in different cities. Living on my own, not having a job yet, being lonely and separation from every one I loved gave me a lot to think about. On my walks I didn’t just explore and observe my surrounding I began to think about my self and my situation, eventually I began to lose my self and all real sense of time and place. On more then one walk I completely forgot were I was and why I was walking around in a new place. To a small degree this can happen almost every day, I kind of think of it as a pure moment when your mind shuts off, and is only what is happening at that time, in that place, right then forgetting all of life’s troubles and accepting every thing and nothing. Then you snap out of it and realize that you just had a moment. A part you thinks wow that was nice and another thinks why did that have to stop. And that is sort of what this article is about seeing really seeing your environment to a degree that you forget about self and focus on experience, or the spectacle of the world you are in. And at the same time understanding self can happen from knowing that you forgot about your self and your life by focusing on Life as a whole. Then comes the realization that your life is a part of Life.
I think what Lopate says in this article is relevant to my life and art. It is very important to establish place in media, and to try and capture all the sensory stimulation one would have in that place. It is the job of the artist to make some one lose them selves in their art the way someone on a stroll thinking and observing does.
Andrew Page Group 5
1. I chose the article "On The Aesthetics of Urban Walking and Writing" by Phillip Lopate. I chose this article based upon its interesting connection between the individual (intimacy) and the inter-connectivity of the crowd (human interaction). I also found his take on the duality of artistic approach to "walking" profound; both the idea that one "walks" to deal with solitude by way of participatory voyeurism, and that a "walk" is a way to connect with the unknown sectors of the human experience.
2.Lopate begins with the discussion of why one artistically "walks" (henceforth "walking" will refer to critical and and intricate observation initiated by the artist on an intended walk.) Two reasons he gives for this are,although mentioned above, are...
1. "Walking" is a way to cease the experience of general solitude. It allows the artist to connect with a crowd without actually initiating direct contact.
2. "Walking" offers the artist a peek into another life; unknown to his/her own. It becomes a process of learning and understanding the fringes of one's surround.
Lopate goes on to describe the process of understanding undergone on a "walk". Concentration on the personal drama of the individual, character specifics, variation, the duality of crowd participation dealing with the conflicts between the individual and the crowd,emphasis on emotion, and the contemplative state of meditation wrought by repetition are all points to refine ones experience on a walk.
3. Part of my connection to this article was that the main points touched upon ideas i hold dear in my daily experience. To seek a deeper understanding of the human surround and thusly the entire human experience i find to be an important human trait that is largely ignored by most. We spend our entire lives separating ourselves from our surround when instead we should be working to become a part of it....
1. Identify the article you have selected and why you chose it.
I chose Place a Short Introduction, an article by Tim Cresswell to read for my reflective response. I chose this article because I can relate to some of the examples of place that he uses to express is view of place. For example the use of New York and the different places within New York such as the Lower East side and how the space has change over the years by immigration. This example hits home for me because my family about three generations ago came to New York from Sicily. I chose this article because I am somewhat knowledgeable about the places Cresswell writes about.
2. What are the main points of the essay?
One main point I got out of this article was that place is just a space that has connected with someone at a point in time. Place can be more than just a space too it is a memory of that space. Place can also be diverse one area such as an apartment building having many diverse apartments in them. The people living in different apartments create their own personal space within the space of the apartment building making the apartment building as a whole a diverse place. This is my example of what Cresswell’s main point of the article and his definition of place.
3. How are the ideas or arguments in this article relevant to your own practice as a media artist?
One example that Cressewll give about place is when one walks into a blank room they have a chance to put there personal touch on the space and turn it into there own place. This is the part of the article that I found most relevant to my practices as a media artist. Being a media artist is something I am new at, being in film classes in a way it is a blank space for me. Also I feel that this is what you are doing when you are filming and creating a shot you have the location or background of the scene and you get to create a storyline around it.
Max Bouril film 116
I chose the article by Jennifer E. Cross entitles What is “Sense of Place”?. I chose this because it was the first one I read and I had gathered up a fairly adequate response while reading it.
The main point of the article is to show how one chooses their environment or how one’s environment chooses them and that the relationship between the environment and the dweller within is not just a physical one. There are different types of reactions to environments both positive and negative. She breaks them down into different types of relationship bonds described as biographical (being from there) spiritual (having an undefined, unexplainable connection to a place), ideological (living in a place due to specific beliefs or traditions), narrative (living somewhere because of stories, like moving to New Orleans because of Vampires or an Elm St. because of Freddy Krueger), commodified (living in a place that has an environment that is comfortable for it accommodates one’s chosen lifestyle), dependent (like living on a farm because that is the only way one knows how to earn a living even if said person hates smelling like shit).
This is relevant to me because I tend to be inspired by my environments. I like the idea of one being possessed by an environment and how one adapts or rejects where they are. I think ultimately one has to adapt or they will be pissy and bitter and completely uninteresting. I think one must be fascinated by a place that makes them uncomfortable. I am terrified of the ocean but I would find it fascinating to be a fisherman just to see who I become once I shed my fear of drowning and sea creatures. As of now I live in Milwaukee but every other weekend I go back to my hometown which is a silent place where the streets are abandoned when the sun goes down and everything has some type of memory attached to it. I prefer Milwaukee right now because it is less depressing because the memories don’t reach back to a long forgotten time. Also I chose to live here, but I’m sure it will also start to bum me out and I’ll have to move elsewhere.
The article that I chose is "A New Way of Walking" by Joseph Hart. This article struck me because to a certain extent it reminded me of myself. The writing style was similar to my own and in some ways the personal experience is one that I share only for another reason.
In this article, Hart talks about psychogeography which is a way of understanding a places psychological meaning to a specific person or situation. He talks about his trip with some colleagues where they walk in a certain pattern around the city and discover places and landmarks that they didn't know where there.
I suppose that this idea affects me in an indirect way. I have a technique that helps me learn my surroundings better when I'm in a new place and have some free time. I have found that the best way to get to know an area is to go out and try and get lost. Then by finding your way back you gather an understanding of the surroundings both in which roads connect to which and which landmarks help you remember where you are and need to be. In doing this many places and landmarks are recognized and as an artist each of these landmarks is a potential setting for a picture or a film or a drawing or even just a place to go and listen. So while I may not be gathering my art as I am on this journey, it allows me to come back to the places of interest later.
1. Identify the article you have selected and why you chose it.
I choose the article of the interview "Will Self: On ‘Psychogeography’ and the Places That Choose You”. Among all of our reading, we are aiming to what role of the act of walking plays in our life. I am fond of this article because instead of a theory statement, a personal case towards this acting is more convincing and easier to see its efficiency, especially in an interview form. By telling Self’s experience of walking on the river mouth and published a collection of his interpretation about his walking experiences, I indeed followed his idea about how walking can do to human.
2. What are the main points of the essay?
During the interview Self explains the idea about “Psychogeography”, which is extended from the term introduced by Guy Debord, derive. He suggests that the practice of walking can make one decouple him/herself from the human geography that so defines contemporary urbanity. The first part of the word—“psycho” is about healing. Self talks about his process of epiphany from a drug dealer through clearly see the blue of a river in London urban. Then, the “geography” part comes to the next. He explains that it’s “the places choose you, rather than vice versa.” The psychogeography exercises on Self reveals a relation between a subjective self’s emotion and an objective geography.
3. How are the ideas or arguments in this article relevant to your own practice as a media artist?
The article reminds me a movie I recently watched called “The Most Distance Cause”. It is about three people leave their city and start walking along the country side and record the sound along with their walks, and which is the closest to their inner soul. Self writes journal every time after his experiences and make a collection of them, the characters in the movie record the sound around the beautiful nature they perceive. It seems like the pure of walking is eventually react back in the media. Thus, when I work on my drift what my initial aim is? To feel a simply existing but almost invisible object, by recording its sound? Or to record a sound since it gives a sense of feeling? I hope I can be more approach to the first situation.
Nick Reindl, FILM 116 LAB 3
1. Identify the article you have selected and why you chose it.
I have chose "The Theory of Derive" by Guy Debord. I picked this one because I was curious to know about the French roots that relates to our Film 116 class. One of my best friends was born in Marseilles, France and I wanted to talk to him about it and see if he had heard of it before. Also, I really liked that in the first description of derive that people drop their relations to their surroundings and their typical motives for action and allow to be drawn by attraction. I thought that this seemed crucial to understanding our project.
2. What are the main points of the essay?
I believe one of the main points of the article is to release expectations and embrace a higher understanding of urban areas and the ecology that comes with it. Derive is more than just a quick walk around, they usually took an entire day and attempted a behavioral disorientation. When you attempt the derive technique you are trying to rapidly explore the various ambiances of urban life and to construct an awareness of psychogeographical behaviors and its effects.
3. How are the ideas or arguments in this article relevant to your own practice as a media artist?
I think that this practice embodies what we are working towards in this class and what it means to be a media artist. Derive is a method that can really open your eyes to your surroundings in an urban world. The methods within Derive are constructed almost identically to what we will be doing for our Drift Projects. I think that Derives seem like they would be something that I could really enjoy studying the social morphology that we experience without ever taking notice to what is happening around us.
Dan Boville
The article I read was “sense of place” by Cross. The article discusses spaces, both natural and man made, that give off a certain “aura”. When one thinks of a place, let’s say for instance their high school, memories and emotions emerge because of the “sense of place.” These emotions can range from personal experiences of merely the cultural aspect of the place. As the article continues, “sense of place” is defined differently by many fields which are applicable. Though there are many different definitions, I feel it applies to me in this course because of our drifts. I will need to uncover “sense of place” in my drifts to better my final project.
Cross interviews a variety of people to further delve into the idea of “sense of place;” she finds that there are basically two aspects of it. Firstly there is relationship to the place at hand. There are many different attachments that induce a “sense of place,” some of which include spiritual, biographical, and ideological relationships to the place. When I first read this I imagined hometowns, and how people perceive them. People that grow up in Brooklyn for example are quite proud of their heritage (falling under the biographical category discussed above) even though people that visit may not have the same feelings towards the borough. Secondly Cross discusses Communal attachment to the place. She rates it from Rootedness Cohesive to Uncommitted Placelessness. On one part of the spectrum, people have a physical and emotional attachment to the place, and on the other end, the “sense of place” is basically void, and there is no attachment to the place. On this end of the spectrum there are neither experiences nor emotions that set this place apart from anywhere else.
I feel this article affects me in filmmaking in a number of ways. I know I have a “sense of place” for many spaces in my life. There are many cities, facilities, and places that hold sentimental value to me, and in turn I can assume most people have the same feelings. I think with filmmaking, relating with the audience is crucial in making an enjoyable piece and thinking about these characteristics will better me as a filmmaker.
1. I chose Will Self's article on Psychogeography for one reason. I saw the word heroin. Having known many people throughout my life who have done many drugs I was immediately drawn to Self's article. They are the most non linear off the wall thinkers I've met, and therefor the most intriguing to talk to. I was really curious to see what motivated Self and what brought him down his particular path.
2. There were two points in this article that seemed to stand out to me. The first being that a place chooses you and not vice versa. Any place you end up is exactly where you were meant to be even if you don't understand why. The second being that it's important to walk for the sake of walking and to take in everything about the area that surrounds you. Instead of focusing on one central thing, seek out the obscure.
3. I believe It's integral for any true media artist to understand the world around them so that they may properly represent it in there media. If I don't make the effort to seek out and understand every individual nuance a situation or location has to offer I'll never be able to portray it properly and my work will be flat.
I chose "This American Life" and the segment on "Mapping". I have been a big fan of the program for many years and I adore the flow and direction they take with each topic; being a contemporary docu/radio essay of sorts. This particular piece relates to the idea of mapping, moreover, being conscious and aware of one's surroundings to the extent and compulsion to try and define a tangible area or even an ethereal landscape by the "simple" language of mapping.
The "This American Life" program has always tried to touch on an array of ideas and facets concerning an underlying theme, as they do here. Starting off in some sort of traditional map making, concerning the political and residential awareness of potholes and street level anomalies in New York. This only sets us up to think about the "traditional" idea of map making. And the stated fact that 99.9% of maps have been created over the last hundred years. Lending the idea of maps from direction to experience, from the practical purpose of direction to an ideology of story and novel. Maps of sight, sound, touch and smell expand the idea of the road map into ones own crossword puzzle.
I am always extremely cautious when expanding definitions or in being over critical in thinking about concepts like maps. Where one has a predefined concept of what a map or art might be, and then through a idea based loosely on a strict dictionary definition we are suddenly understanding that "our" way of defining maps may be just a cultural definition. For example, the idea presented in the first act. The idea or definition of "map" moves from strict road map to novel. It moves from "how do we get there?" To "what can we find there, or what is it like there?" i.e pumpkins on porches or street light pouring through leaves. Essentially the same things by the definition of map, just seen through different lenses.I think this idea of "mapping" is interesting for those two ideas. One, the creative process in describing and documenting one's surroundings. And on the other hand creating a different image of something culturally understood in another way. Both very important concepts to any artist.
1. The article that I chose was Joseph Hart's "A New Way of Walking" which describes the idea of psycho geography. I chose this article because it deals with a person's inclination towards repetition and familiarity. I have seen this trait in myself and many others. Pyschogepgraphy breaks this familiarity and gives you something new.
2. Th main parts of this article are the introduction of psycho geography. In this article, regular walkers follow spontaneous paths that differ from their own common paths they walk every day. The point of using an algorithmic approach, the approach of taking random turns during walking , is that it will break you out of your rut. By breaking one of of their rut, they experience new sights and sounds that they would have not been familiar with if they had not followed an algorithmic pattern.
3. The main point that I found that related to my work as an artist is the idea that by breaking one's familiar path and look on life ;it increases the chances of experiencing something new. This is directly related to our first blog because in shows me that by constantly and sporadically changing the direction of my route, I will come into contact with different settings and sounds that will most likely affect and hopefully have a positive influence on my first drift
I am responding to On the Aesthetics of Urban Walking and Writing by Philip Lopate. I chose this piece because I felt a great deal of relation to Lopate’s experiences. There have been many times I have found myself walking around my own hometown, Minneapolis, observing and watching how different neighborhoods and areas relate to those within it and those who come in from other parts of the city and suburbs. It conjured in my own imagination different scenes that have played themselves out before my eyes.
Lopate speaks of walking New York City with a determination but also a certain type of aloofness about his experiences. Not forcing the city to reveal anything about itself, but always steadfastly observing in hopes of what it may be willing to surprise him with. He also relates his walking to what stage of life he was. He tells of walking with his family at the end of Sabbath to a diner, through his first marriage and its collapse. He tells of returning after a period spent in California, he returns as a bachelor with wide-open eyes to take in everything the city throws at him. He reflects on how his second marriage affected his walks, and how his literary heroes affected his perception throughout all of his walks.
This piece is particularly relevant. It directly speaks of taking in an urban landscape and seeing it in a completely different way. Lopate’s life work revolved around combing the city for new interesting dimensions, which exactly what this project is all about.
Clay Miller Lab 3
The article I chose was the “Theory of the Derive” by Debord. I chose this article because I thought it directly parallels our assignment and would therefore be useful to me in adding a little more insight about the project. I also thought the article was very interesting and was written in a rather sophisticated way. I also liked the article because it gave me more ideas about my drift that I will be doing. It encouraged me to pay attention to the abnormal and to try to stray away from my usual habbits and look at things I normally don’t pay attention to.
The article basically just explains the ins and outs of a derive, or drift. The purpose of a derive is to either explore an urban landscape or to escape from your own world emotionally. I did not know that for about the past fifty years people have been organizing themselves and actually going on these walks. I thought that was very intriguing. The article also focuses a lot on the psychological aspects of the derive. It says that “an urban neighborhood is determined…by the image that its inhabitants and those of other neighborhoods have of it.” I think that is very true and it reminded me of my sociology class and discussing ethnocentrism, which is when a group of people(ex: a country) think that they are “normal” and that all others who are different are doing things wrong and are strange.
This article is relevant to the class because it explains the history and concept of our assignment. It gave a better understanding of what it is I should be accomplishing not only for class, but also for myself. I think it is in general of interest to me as a media artist because it is a good way to detach myself from my normal lifestyle and come up with new creative ideas.
2] I chose Sounds of the Seasons my Ivars Peterson. I decided on the article before I even looked at the others after looking at the source. The face that it was from Science News Online got me interested. I had never heard of the site before, but assumed that it would be a different approach to the issue. It also didn't hurt that the author's name was Ivar and thats just plain cool.
2] I thought that Ivars' main point throughout the article was that sound is an underutilized quality in our culture. He also emphasized that when it is used, it is usually only when we hear something unpleasant. Though it doesn't say that we neglect our sense of hearing completely, just that we take it for granted. It does this by citing the fact that people who drive cars that are totally soundproof don't generally know when anything is wrong with their car or sometimes start it again because they can't hear any of the engine or road noise that they are so used to hearing.
3] I really liked this article because I felt connected with the author and his views on sound. I like to think that i pay more attention to my sonic surroundings than most other people and so it was nice to read an article that talked about it. I think that as an artist, being able to find inspiration in absolutely anything is a good thing to be able to do and so being aware of your own sonic environment is necessary to being a good sonic artist.
For my article I chose “On the Aesthetics of Urban Walking” by Phillip Lopate. This article intrigued my because it is about walking around in a densely urban setting from a writer’s perspective. I thought that an article describing walking in the city would apply very well to my work in this class.
This article functions as a narrative/history of walking in New York. Lopate talks about his first experiences growing up in the city and then goes on to describe other writers/poets that walked in the city such as Walt Whitman and Charles Reznikoff. He talks about the “mob” of people that walk the streets everyday and how they were viewed as disgusting by most artists with the exception of the “walkers”. He finishes by summing up his most recent experiences in the city. He loses some of his awe for the city when he gets married but still can find beautiful things.
This article is relevant to me because it generously describes how to interact with the crowds of people that I will encounter on my walks. Some artists felt energized by being surrounded by so much and others only wrote about tiny occurrence that really affected them. I can apply what this article summarizes to my own work.
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