Mass Media = Truth?
Time for a plug for the ongoing exhibit at Simpson's Farnham Gallery, titled "Mass Media = Truth?" It's a juried exhibition to which several artists have contributed works. From the promotional information on the exhibition:
Here's the carrot for students at Simpson to attend: Any student currently enrolled in any of my Spring 2006 courses may earn 2 extra-credit percentage points, applicable toward your final course grade, for attending the exhibition at some time prior to its closing on March 31 and then writing a 1-2 paragraph comment on the exhibition that will be posted on this blog. (Click on the "comments" button at the end of this blog item to post your comment.)
To earn your extra credit, you must post your comment no later than April 3.
Today's society has become unaware of the amount of media they are consuming on a regular basis. The exposure to media is incredibly convenient and has led to TV and media diets that become unregulated, resulting in Media Obesity and a search for truth."Reality as presented by the mass media is not a picture or reflection of 'reality,' but, rather, a constructed interpretation of reality. In the view of many representatives of post-modernism, juts about every aspect of reality seems to be considered a social construction."
Here's the carrot for students at Simpson to attend: Any student currently enrolled in any of my Spring 2006 courses may earn 2 extra-credit percentage points, applicable toward your final course grade, for attending the exhibition at some time prior to its closing on March 31 and then writing a 1-2 paragraph comment on the exhibition that will be posted on this blog. (Click on the "comments" button at the end of this blog item to post your comment.)
To earn your extra credit, you must post your comment no later than April 3.
posted by Brian Steffen | 3:23 PM
43 Comments:
"The world we think we know by way of mass media is questionable."
This quotation was taken from the first sentence of the exhibit description in Farnham and, for me, it summed up the ignorance many of us have toward our society due to the frequent alteration of reality used in media. After discussing in Ethics today the purpose of altering photos, this exhibition was interesting to view because it pondered these questions: What is the function of media? What is the function of this exhibit?
Because the pieces appear in an art gallery, some would argue that the function of the exhibition is for entertainment or aesthetic pleasure. However, after viewing it, I would argue that it may be more similar to that of a journalistic perspective, documenting the way in which media forces us to look at our society.
Angela Battle could not have portrayed the media in a more accurate account with her portrayal of media as "fluffy". It is disturbing to me, as a college student who turns to the media for an outlet to the sheltered life I live in Iowa, simply to realize that my "outlet" is often inaccurate.
A quote that I really found interesting said, in part, "It's easy to believe that what we see in the news on television, read in a newspaper, or hear on the radio is fact, but information distributed by mass media is alwasy affected by selection, context, mode of delivery, and opinion." Perhaps it is not a question of what is the truth in media, but instead a realization to the human race that life involves analization and skeptisism. In order to live fulfilling lives we need to look at things with a critical eye and think for ourselves.
When I first looked at the work in the gallery I didn't like it, however as I finished looking and started to walk way, I found myself thinking about the very issues that I think the artist was trying to address, How does media affect what we think we know?
I find that this display was something that perhapse initially doesn't get you but something that you will carry with you always.
The exhibition description of the art display really captured my attention about mass media's attempt to swing political opinions in favor of a specific party. John Stanko's piece, "Political Chess" speaks about the constant talk in the media that is manipulated by its delivery or context. As a voter in this country I feel this kind of manipulation only serves to further complicate the voting process.
The work in the gallery reminds the viewer that media can only be what we make of it. If a person looks deeper into the issues at hand the media portrays, then a realistic view can be achieved. Only by doing this can we really get useful and meaningful information from the media. The display made this abundantly clear.
Before viewing any exhibits in the Farnham Gallery, I read the posted placard in the West Room. Others have commented on its powerful words, and I found one sentence to be particularly influential. "Since the 'news' is essentially a construction, the 'reality' presented by mass media is always questionable." This meant a lot to me because it stresses our dependence on a source that will never be pure or unbiased. I felt that many pieces in the gallery showed a politically skewed image of an event, which may be the purpose of the exhibit altogether.
For this reason, I thought the most powerful piece in the exhibit was "Political Chess" because it represented both sides of politics. The board on the wall pointed out the good and bad of each candidate in the 2004 presidential election, and the pieces on the table symbolized the key figures. It gave me the sense that all politicians are pawns in life. The gallery opened my eyes to recent events in a different light than which I had previously seen them.
The Sums of All Media, a painting by Justin Nostrala, truly depicts the effects that media has on today's society. The painting is that of a Buddist prayer figure sketched in pencil. Across the middle of the figure's body is a red, outlined gun target attached to a quote which reads, "You are the Most Important Person in the World." This quote relates exactly to what we have discussed in class. More specifically, it emphasizes how selfish and concerned we are with only ourselves, and how this impacts what news we choose to really listen and respond to. As we consistantly ignore the news and media information which doesn't concern ourselves, we continue to be unaware or ignorant of issues effecting other parts of the world, our nation, and community as well. This painting visually reminded me particularly of many in the world who are negatively targeted for destruction or harm. As a college student, I admit to being very unconnected to the media, very busy, and probably so consumed with my life, that I have no idea what others in the world are facing. Nostrala's painting encourages viewers to think about how we value media's role in our society and what we should take seriously.
Walking into the gallery, a few pieces caught my eye; "Protect Me From What I Want" and "Political Chess." Protect Me was a very good depiction of what modern teenagers face daily. They want what the media tells them they want, whatever's popular at the time. I like how she blocked off the faces of the people in the last painting by using a newspaper article. It's like the media is blocking our brains from deciding what we want, instead the media is telling us what we want.
"Political Chess" was well done in the fact that it made the 2004 election black and white. It did a good job representing both sides of politics and how the media presented the election. Once again the media filled our minds up so that when it came down to the election, the people were bombarded with info about how good the candidate was, instead of the truth about the candidate. Mass media has grown farther and farther from telling us the truth, instead they're giving us their version of the truth.
Before viewing the artwork at Farnham gallery, it was recommended to me that I should focus on just one or two pieces. This was not an easy task as much of the art was eye catching. One piece that specifically spoke to me though was “War on Terror” by Justin Nostrala. The scene depicted was very dismal; completely black and gray, portraying the masses walking past a changing “billboard”. The piece portrays the current war in Iraq in a very truthful way. As the war progresses and new information is brought to the public’s attention, the media has changed the way they speak of it. As the media is really the only outlet the public has when viewing the war, they have a very powerful say in how society perceives it. The names of the war have changed from the Invasion of Iraq, to the War in Iraq, to the War on Terror, in hopes to put the war in the most positive light possible. This piece showed me how easily the public accepts what is in the news and how constructed the War on Terror is in reality.
I have always heard of the Farnum Galleries but have never had the desire to go all the way up to third floor to see what was on display. As a matter of fact, I've never been to an art gallery in general, but I may start going more frequently now. I was intrigued by these amazing abilities of putting media into pictures and still presenting a message. I have so much respect for artists, or anyone for that matter, that have such great talents in areas I lack any ability. My favorite piece was "Political Chess." I saw representation of the American people, as most are black and white on their current political view points. I also saw differences between the most popular candidates as being very distinct. Then the actual chess pieces with the names of the most popular figures from each party was unique as it was not hanging on the wall but an actual 3D replica of what the American people see.
As we have studied postmodernism and media ethics, one thing that stood out to me in postmodernism and our culture today is the individualistic nature; everyone is out to do what is best for them. That is what I took away from "You are the most important person in the world" with the silhouette of a person sitting there with their eyes closed. I also thought "To the prettiest one" was intuitive. There was so much to see and so much to think about, which is the purpose of that piece. I only stood there for about 5 minutes but I could have looked at that piece for at least an hour to see all the detail that was put into it. The different layers were just one aspect of this piece's complexity.
The exhibit in Farnham Gallery contained many interesting pieces of work. The pieces were an incoporation of both mass media and art in society. The piece that I found most interesting was the political chess. The large chess pieces were eye catching and reminded me of the way governmental figures tend to be likened to pawns in our society, with laws and ammendments resembling nothing more than an adept or, at times, conniving, chess move.
The exhibits in Farnham Gallery were emotionally attractive. They spoke not only of the media but of emotions and feelings that are put into the media that are supposed to be left out. It is sad to think that people's view of the world and the life around them are portrayed by a select few in the media.
I especially enjoyed the piece "Political Chess" by John Stanko. I thought it expressed through words the political debate in the 2004 election. By only using the two colors, the campaign looked as if "black and white," cut and dry, and the harsh sides of the political campaign.
The piece I felt emotionally attracked to was "To the Prettiest One" by Rob Stephens because it portrayed the deadly, bloody battle of the world we live in. We think we are protectect because we are Americans but there are people who risk their lives daily, who shed their sweat and blood for our freedom.
The media portrays our life and world views in the views of their own. They are able to pick and choose the pieces they use, they are able to tell the parts of the story they wish. Are we as a society really given the full information when we listen to the news? I think that the media leaves too much information out that people never consider. Too many believe everything they hear on the news.
In my opinion the Exhibition did a great job at portraying some of the serious implications of being inundated with so much mass media. We are ever increasingly becoming an On-Demand society were “substantive” news coverage is just a click away.
I believe at the forefront of this phenomenon are the 24 hour news networks like CNN, Fox, and MSNBC, which are in part to blame for this over-exposure to media-coverage which has led to this “proverbial” search for truth in mass media; I think this was especially notable during the presidential election of 2004.
The piece of art which I found most interesting was the large black and white poster sized pin up which was located in the East Gallery. It dealt with the key issue’s surrounding the presidential campaign of 2004. I Believe there were sixteen separate cubes that made up the entire work, and they were set up in a checkerboard pattern. Each cube had sayings or slogans from each of the respective campaigns, but the slogans had been distorted or switched around to portray entirely different connotations. It accurately portrayed the underlying political rhetoric which was omnipresent during the 2004 election.
I loved the art exhibit (but then again, I really enjoy that kind of art that makes you think and is a little abstract at the same time). I think it was really cool how the artwork portrayed the media in relation to what is currently going on in our world today: war.
One of my favorite pieces of artwork was “Political Chess” by John Stanko. This piece had a bunch of different newspaper clippings from major headlines arranged on the wall in black and white and in a checkerboard fashion. It really conveyed the message of how much of a back and forth battle there was between Bush and Kerry and their views on topics.
Another one of my favorite pieces was, “To the prettiest one,” by Rob Stephens. This was the red tank truck that was painted on the wall. I really liked how the red paint dried dripping down to the ground, which really hit me with the fact that people die in the current war today and when will it ever end?
All of these pieces of artwork portray the media in a different light and I think they convey their message very well.
PS - I love the pink blog Brian!!!
There was a particular piece in this exhibition that affected me. Although I mulled over several pieces, the work titled "Protect Me From What I Want" forced me to consider the effects of mass media on an individual, daily basis. It made me think of the Baudrillard quote: "Yet in their supreme egoism, everyone feels unique even as they conform and are manipulated by the media and culture industry". I'd like to think that I decided what I want from life because of some innate desire. Take for example the silhouette of two women who appeared to be showing off engagement rings. That's pretty normal. I mean, engagement rings have always been a symbol of commitment and love; a promise of marriage. I love those diamond commercials on TV where the couple looks so amazingly happy and then there's that great instrumental diddy in the background...
So I'm looking at this piece going, "When did I decide I wanted a diamond ring before I got married? When I did decide I wanted to get married, period?" What I took from the piece (and from the exhibition in general) is that maybe what I think is a normal want or desire is really just the only thing I've ever seen.
Before going to view the exhibit in Farnham Gallery I was told that the pieces were confusing and hard to understand, as well as the fact that it was more of an anti-war exhibit then anything else. While I definitely noticed the common theme of using red paint to represent the bloodshed from the war in Iraq, especially with the large painting of the tank in the West room that almost looked like it was sketched out in blood, overall I noticed the larger theme of the media and how we simply take in what we are given by our news outlets and blindly assume as the whole truth without ever questioning anything.
I really liked the presidential campaign slogans.I liked how there were many different opinions about Kerry and Bush. Here at Simpson, most students are for Kerry, so it was really intersting to see what people have said about him as well as Bush. My favorite was the tank on the wall, which I thought using the color red symbolized the blood shed and the transparent paper symbolized how people pretend that the war isn't really happening. We don't want to see something that is true, we think if we can pretend something isn't happening, that'll make things better.
While examining the pieces of art located in Farnham Gallery I came upon one that presented a clear picture and thought in my head. The piece titled: “War on Terror” put an effective idea in my mind towards the current issue regarding our involvement in Iraq. The art piece was created by Justin Nostrala.
Personally I have had negative thoughts on the war in Iraq and I can see some of my negative thoughts being aroused by seeing this piece of art. In the piece Nostrala shows several figures near a large billboard or large wall that has several writings on it. The first set of writings are all crossed out because they portray a depiction of the war that seems unncessary or wrong in the eyes of certain people. One portraying the importance of oil as well as another putting specific reference to Iraq. Beneath those is the only title not crossed out which reads War on Terror, to me this is ironic because this is frequently used by the Bush administration in their attempt to put purpose behind our efforts in the Middle East. I see this piece as an eye opener in how it appeals to the war and its changing view points.
The exhibit presented quite a variety of opinions regarding the media. One particular piece that caught my attention was "War on Terror" by Justin Nostrala. This piece shows a board with several different names for the war in Iraq with a crowd of people looking at it. At a closer inspection, all of the names for the war are crossed out except for the last one, War on Terror. The peice seems to be saying that throughout the progress of the war, the media has given it many different names. Each time that the media gives a different name to the war, the public stands around to watch, ready to accept whatever the media presents to it. The media controls our perception of the world and our surroundings.
Some of these pieces were quite interesting- Justin Nostrala was correct when he said they did not make such obvious connections to the topic. Perhaps that is just because I am not the artistic type and don't understand art as well as others.
At any rate, some of the pieces did intrigue me. Mass media are focused on us individually- they try to specifically target each of us on a personal level, which is ironic because it is MASS media.
I agree with the sentiments of the exhibit description- much of the "objectivity" we see in media is filtered and we only hear or see what that medium wishes us to. Being smart, educated, and media literate requires us to seek out less common forms of media to gain a broader perspective and opinion of the matter. Afterall, the best way to form an argument is to understand where the opposing side is coming from.
The exhibition statement posted in the gallery noted, “The degree of omnipresence achieved by widespread distribution of mass media is often assumed legitimate. The “news” is essentially a construction, and the “reality” presented by mass media is always questionable.” “Political Chess” by John Stanko accurately represented the goal of the exhibition. The collage of negative smear campaign slogans, blended with the chess pieces wasn’t about making a one-sided political statement, like most of the other pieces. As a viewer, it was difficult to look past the strong political agendas of the artists, and actually view the art objectively. However, “Political Chess” was easier to view objectively.
Media and politics are a carefully played game. Media represents the chess board, and the chess pieces are politicians moving carefully about the board to win the game. Political agendas infect every outlet of the media. We all have our own “reality” it’s either, Fox or CNN, Franken or Limbaugh. As viewers it’s important to see past political agendas and find the real story. We cannot simply be spoon fed information without proper analysis of what we are being told.
My first reaction when viewing the galleries (and usually just art in general) was, 'OK, what am I looking at here? I don't get it.' And even now, as I think back, there's still a lot I question about what I just saw. Perhaps that was the whole purpose of the exhibit; to question what we see and not take it at face value. After all, that seems to be the thing to do when it comes to mass media. Rarely do we question what is spoonfed to us or think about the greater consequences.
The one that really stood out to me was Justin Nostrala's, and while I'm drawing a blank on the title of the piece, it was a drawing of a person in a prayer-like pose, being viewed through what looks like sniper rifle. It said, "YOU are the most important person in the world" and it really summed up the entire gallery--how we are just targets the media wants to hit, and more or less, take down.
It was an eye-opening and thought provoking. I'll definitely have to check out Farnham more often.
According to the exhibit description, this was created to raise awareness of the condition of mass media in America and the impact that media conglomerates have on political/social awareness or non-awareness. Furthermore, the show was not to promote any political agenda, but hopefully incite careful analysis of mass media information. Therefore I feel the piece, "Political Chess," by John Stanko to stay true to its purpose. It features an oversized chess board where it is clear the Democrats control the black squares, whereas the Republicans are the white. This is a very unbiased piece showing both sides of the presidential election. Additionally, I believe the piece by Justin Nostrala, entitled "The Sum of All Media," to be an excellent portrayal of the media's agenda. It features a person with text saying, YOU are the most important person in the world. However, the figure appears to be in the center of a gunman's sight. I feel this piece best portrays how the media attacks society.
I found the pieces in the art gallery very interesting and it made me question the way I view the media and how it influences my life on a daily basis. The "War on Terror" piece caught my attention right off the bat. It showed many different people, but at the same time they all blended together. I guess this made me wonder what the purpose of this piece was. To me this makes me think that the media as of now is focusing more on selfish individual needs rather than focusing on a society as a whole. I found the art very fulfilling as it made me come out of my own comfort zone and think outside of the box.
Over my four years at Simpson, I've only made it to Farnham Galleries a handful of times. I really haven't been to too many art exhibits in my life, but my last visit was when I saw The Scream in Oslo, Norway at the National Gallery during May Term. I don't have a lot of art exhibit experience, I felt kind of incompetent going up there.
Going up there, I wasn't sure what to expect, but it really interested me quite a bit. My favorite piece was the one by Rob Stephens with the one with a red tank on the wall. I really wasn't sure what to get from it, but it really made me think about the continuing war in Iraq and the war on terror. A lot of them made me think about war and protesting, and what happens on a daily occurrence in this world.
I was disturbed at the raw truth of Justin Nostrala's piece entitled "War on Terror." "The War on Terror," is a strategic phrase conjured up in a time of mass confusion and anger following September 11, 2001. "Death for Oil" or "War in Iraq" are phrases which would not carry on America's vendetta/Bush's legacy long enough to support the time/money we spend in Iraq. "The War on Terror" sounds almost like a humanitarian effort or your duty as an American to secure our existence. And so, we have this chicken scratch of possible titles for Bush's campaign ending with "The War on Terror", the phrase pitched to the media for mass distribution into the minds of all Americans.
However, the Bush administration just doesn't get it. You can't have a war on terror. Terror will never ceise. It will always be existant no matter how much you fight it or who you surpress to stop it. When or if we leave Iraq the war on terror will not be over. When democracy is forced on every helpless country the war on terror will not be over. Finally, when George W. Bush leaves office, shunned by the majority of Americans, the war on terror will sadly not be over but the effects of his actions will reign for years and years to come.
Being the literary person I am, I appreciate words more than I can appreciate art. I found it hard to find meaning in a majority of the pieces, by the piece that did strike my fancy was “Untitled,” by Dan Ferro. When I first looked at the photograph, it just looked like colored blurs (in essence isn’t that what all art is?), but after gazing at it a while I made out the head and shoulders of a figure, gazing into the darkness with what seemed to be a small slant of light in the distance.
After I established what the picture was of, surprisingly I almost instantly found meaning in it. To me, the blurry figure represented humanity, and the light, media. We as people do not have the ability to be a part of many, many important events that interest and affect us, and therefore we rely on the media to relay the information for us. However, this certain slant of light is all we have, the only perspective, the only filter, and we are completely at the mercy of what the media has to say. If they withhold facts, we do not know. If they alter the truth, we do not know. In an ideal world, there would be no blackness in the photo, it would all be light, because we could have all the information we want, unadulterated. Unfortunately though, that small window is the only view we have of the world, and the media, the foggy glass we view it through.
I'll start off by saying that art is not my thing, Farnham Galleries have never really interested me. I don't understand art and I don't take the time to try to. This exhibit forced me to understand it. Not only did I understand the art, I understood that it had a purpose.
I always read the papers, look at the pictures, read the captions and take the information and run. I've never really thought about the effect it has on me. I haven't ever thought that the media truly tries to influence our opinions about ourselves, our clulture (or lack there of), our government and our own society.
This display of art made me take a step back and ask some questions. What is the information being presented and what part of the information is being twisted? How can I separate the cold hard facts from the fabricated, opinionated presentation.
I think the exhibit did exactly what it was trying to do, open the eyes of people dependent upon the media. It made the public think about and question the information the media hands out to them. It gave a different perspective for people to gather information from and to form opinions to identify the true political and social issues. Issues that the public deserve to understand. Issues that should be presented and displayed to society, not forced at naive, gullable viewers. The issues that are often inaccurately portrayed to the American people.
I'm glad I attended the exhibit and am glad that once again, Simpson College has broadened my views on yet another aspect of everyday life.
It is funny that the title would be Mass Media = Truth? When I walked into the first gallery, I was drawn to the exhibit about politics. At first I found this picture to be very true because politics are very inportant to our nation. The more I looked at the picture I realized that the mood of the picture was negative and I find that to be the truth about politics and mass media.
"To the prettiest one," by Rob Stevens was an incredible display of the war. The type of art that was used to create that picture is unbelievable, but it created a real life picture for me. There is nothing pretty about war and when you first glance at that particular picture, it is shocking, but you have to look harder and find the true meaning. The same thing goes for media, sometimes you have to look farther to find the truth.
Although some of the meaning of the artwork in the gallery was lost on me, I did notice some interesting things. I liked Jessica Rose's piece called "Protect Me From what I Want". I think it is important for people to determine what they really want and what media tells them they should want.
I also like the "Political Chess" display by John Stanko. I liked how it said our media needs to do a better job informing us in a manner that encourages to vote FOR someone rather than against someone else.
Quite a coincidence that I viewed this gallery at the same time as the blog artist to whom's blog I am posting
"You are the Most Important Person in the World."
To me, this quote sums up the whole exhibit. Living in a world where we are catered to is isolating us; we are only hear the news we want, the music we want, watch the shows we want. The media isolates us from each other and is slowly taking away all social interactions. The media warps our views of ourselves and our society in more ways than we want to recognize. This exhibit was over my head at first, but once I really started looking, I saw a lot more than perhaps I wanted to see.
I, like most, had never been to the gallery and I was not sure what to expect when I went.
The title of exhibit was "Mass Media=Truth?' I thought this was an interesting title. I thought the artists in the galley did a very good job at exposing a very important issue facing our society through their work.
Most, if not all, the pieces portrayed the mass media in a very negative light. I do not think most people realize how much "B.S." they are forced fed on a daily basis through the mass media.
This is very dangerous to our society. People cannot make informed and intelligent decisions when they are basing their decisions on altered media.
The one piece of at work in the Farnham Gallery that impacted me the most was the multiple piece titled "protect me from what I want."
At first it was hard for me to understand the piece but my interpretation was that we all want certain things but we dont really need them. This stood out to me because at this time in our country we are very focused on what we want. I may not know alot about politics but I feel like some of the reasons we are at war is because we have an agenda. We want to have our hand in everything and we want control over everything. It goes all the way down to a personal level for us.
I think having everything has grown into our culture and it's hard for us to tell the difference from need and want. For me this piece was an eye opener because we dont realize in our every day lives that we are very fortunate and we have more than we really need.
At first I did not really understand the art I saw in the exhibit in the Farnham Galleries. I walked around and around trying to make sense of it all. It wasn't until I sat down and really considered the message did it make sense to me. A photographer myself, I was drawn to the negative images and the unclear picture near it, "Untitled" by Dan Ferrow. I understood the pieces to be showing how our vision of the world is distorted through the media, which makes sense. So while I at first glance I did not have a clue, after further reflection, I saw the deeper meaning.
It was really great for me to go to the exhibit and expose myself to looking at things in a different light. I never thought that by looking at artwork it could make me think critically about issues in society in abstract ways. I really walked into the gallery not knowing what to expect at all and by the time I left it made me really want to consider a lot as to what I thought of about the newsworld. I think that in many ways the artwork spoke a lot stronger about issues than would someone just lecturing you about them because everyone interprets a picutre in a different way and it can bring a lot more to the table.
The art exibit was a fabulous way for people to truely see how the world works, outside of hearing it on the news, or through the newspaper. It's really interesting how much more you think about things when you have to think to understand their meanings. I really enjoyed it.
The best peice of art was the picture of people walking in all black to Iraq. This brings up the point that we may have perhaps made our decision to go based on our desire for their oil. It's really frightening to think about how our world really works
The piece entitled "You are the most important person in the world" was one of the most interesting to me.
I think that this piece really is representative of what media can provie for us in this day and age. You no longer have to listen to the radio for one specific song that you like and along the way hear ten that you don't. Media such as ipods, satellite radio, and the internet allow us to focus on things that are interesting to us. I think that this type of can help get anyone interested in the news. Media has come along way and I hope that it continues to change and bring new and exciting ways to view the world around us.
The sum of all media was my favorite painting at the show. I really liked this painting becuase it shows how the media, newspapers and magazines all have their "sights" set on the viewers, and how they are trying to give us what they think we want. There is also a person who seems to be praying in the piece. I wonder if the artist was also saying that religion was under attack being in the crosshairs.
I also liked the politcal chess piece. It shows items from the recent Presidental campaign as a game of chess. It shows the pros and the cons of each of the candidates. I found some of the slogans interesting and how some people hated each person. It was a comical and serious piece all at the same time. I really enjoyed these two paintings.
The art gallery displayed the medias effects on the world in an intriguing and symbolic way. As soon as i walked in i got the sense that it was media related, every facet of the gallery had something to do with the media and its effects on society. Virtually every work incorporated a square and was shaped to give the impression of a television. It was saturated with references to the media, such as NBC, the messages the media portrays, such as the Iraq war, and the possible effects on society, such as dependency. Overrall the gallery contained many negative connotations about the media. It emphasized how our lives are completely submerged in media. It also emphasized how impactful and effective it is on our lives, even if we do not even know it. It suggests that we are more passive under the influence of media.
Media. Hmm...how do I function in a media world? What role do I have in a media society? These were just some of the questions I walked away with after viewing this exhibit. I appreciated this exhibit because it is thought-provoking. It made me seriously consider what my role in media is. Do I believe everything the media portrays or do I question it? How much do I buy into what the media is telling me?
Since the exhibit allowed artists of all backgrounds and opinions, many different viewpoints were exposed. I appreciated this because I was not limited to one viewpoint, but was exposed to many. Also, the works were not limited to one idea. Media may have been at the center of exhibit, but each artist chose how they wanted to portray media, whether that be in a positive, negative or neutral aspect.
I really liked the works of the Political Chess it really got the message accross best for me. We do see it every four years the media seems to pick its candidate and then puts a spin on them to make them be in an position of checking the other candidates. Just like chess the candidates look to the media for a way to reach a checkmate on the other candidates.
The exhibit at first glance was almost overwhelming to me. There was so much to look at and there was more to each work of art than anyone could get at first glance. The wide range of issues being covered was impressive; everything from political parties to war to homosexuality.
The exhibit really opened my eyes to how much the media truly affects each and every one of us. The art piece that appeared with the person at the end of the target of a gun was very powerful. It really emphasized how we are each viewed as targets and no longer human beings. Not only that, but each piece added to the exhibit. Everything from the texture down to the title were well thought out and powerful.
All of the pieces in the gallery relayed some specific message about the Media in our society. There were a few that stuck out to me. There one piece that wwas titld, "But by then, The Monstrous Foz had already infected them..." byt Mary Lundberg. The piece was a portrayal of this distorted looking figure with a T.V. as a head. To think of the news as a monstrous fox that wants to infect us is pretty harsh, but not necessarily far from the truth. The media longs to fill our heads with, a lot of the time, mindless, numbing information.
whoops, the above message is mine.... i hit the enter button before i was done. Here it is again...
All of the pieces in the gallery relayed some specific message about the Media in our society. There were a few that stuck out to me. There one piece that was titld, "But by then, The Monstrous Foz had already infected them..." byt Mary Lundberg. The piece was a portrayal of this distorted looking figure with a T.V. as a head. To think of the news as a monstrous fox that wants to infect us is pretty harsh, but not necessarily far from the truth. The media longs to fill our heads with, a lot of the time, mindless, numbing information.
The artist, Jessica Rose, did a piece that was titled, “Protect Me From What I Want”. This piece was intriguing, because the title is somewhat true. The Media presents some kind of a false representation of what we think we want our lives to look like. What was interesting about all of these pieces was that, in essence, we all realize the negative effects that media can have on us, but it is still an active part of our lives. How do we remain individuals with thoughts of our own, while we cannot stay away from a source that is consistently telling us otherwise?
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