Lecture II//TECHNOLOGY WILL LIBERATE US.

TECHNOLOGY WILL LIBERATE US//

Lecture with Joanna Geldard

READING LIST:

//DIGITAL CURRENTS AND ART IN THE ELECTRONIC AGE, LOVEJOY
//THE WORK OF ART IN THE MECHANICAL REPRODUCTION (PENGUIN CLASSIC, ILIMINATIONS), WALTER BENJAMIN
//ART IN THE AGE OF MASS MEDIA, JOHN WALKER
//SIMULACRUM AND SIMULATIONS ,JOHN BAUDRILLARD (1981)


//Art and it's immergence with design.
Primarily looking at art to see where it is converged with design through technology.
What are possible new develops with our design practice with the aid of technology?

SUMMARY


//Techonological conditions can affect the collective consciousness.
//Technology trigger important change in cultural development.
//Walter Benjamin's essay 'The work of art in the age of mechanical reproduction' (1936) significantly evaluates the role of technology through photography as an instrument of change. (RETROSPECTIVE IMPLICATIONS OF PHOTOGRAPHY AND DESIGN, AND LOOKS FORWARD. PAST AND FUTURE REFLECTIONS. STILL AS SEMINAL WORK TODAY).


MATERIALISM//HOW IT AFFECTS THE WAY WE OPERATE AS A SOCIETY


TASK


- Draw a doodle
-  Faithfully copy this
- And again...
- And again


* Walter Benjamin claims that copying become transforms (repetitions, etc) not necessarily the same as the original- distinct. Either a work in it's own right, or an image representation of the original. His evaluations of copying are essential in art, design and media to evaluate the relationship born from this "copy" scenario.
Who is imitating, who is reproducing?
Many artists and designers who use the reproduction method, and many critically discuss the use of repitition.

*  Machine Age; Modernism


Walter Benjamin and the mechanical reproduction


* The age of technology and art.
* Parallel and specific to new developments; a duality expressing the zeitgeist (the spirit of the age is reflected in the modernist society).
* Dialectical (positions are taken over one idea) due to the copy, reproductive nature and the role of the original.
* The aura and uniqueness of art.

* Because of technology (emergence of technology) there is now such thing as "the original"- no need to think about originals and copies before the emergence of technology. It is only because of technology that we have to consider the original, it's uniqueness and the "aura"- the original remains distinctive no matter how many times it is faithfully reproduced or copied.


PHOTOGRAPHY


//The beginning of the technological relationship with art and design.
Graphic Design//RODCHENKO

The multiple viewing points through one look of the eye
JOHN BERGER//THE WAYS OF SEEING, Walter Benjamin, thought and critique of photography

1929 Man with a Movie Camera//image
The camera eye represents technological progress and it's faith in it//

KARL MARX

Maholy Nagy, 1926- series of photograms created//Spoons & Utensils. Photographic paper with objects on top, exposed to light.
Early experiments with photography and technology.

BENJAMIN- parallels, Freud and Marx (the economic of new political models- the value of a work of art, technology changes the value of a work of art)

* Photography has overturned the judgement seat of art- a fact which the discourse of modernism found hard to repress.
Consumerism can cause the value of reproductions to be changed. (Copies, reproductions add value- consumed as valuable) Distorted media and celebrity endorsement also increase value.
Marx foresaw this, he saw industrial revolution would lead to a larger consumption of art and design.

* Technology moves one thing into a different context, which alters value.

* Freud is the forerunner of Dada and Surrealism- the material aspects of technology, and what they offer us.

KINETICISM
- Capturing movement

PHOTOGRAPHY//Etienne-Joules Marey (photographer)

Chrono-photography, assess movement- the precursor to cinematography.
Measuring space, time and place in a technological age, and how we portray them.


Understanding these measures evaluate the dematerialisation of art.


Moving image moves away from form and moves into the realm of pure image- can be replicated, reproduced, and transformed.
With photography comes the dematerialisation of art and design- don't need to deal with an object at all.

RICHARD HAMILTON
(1922, collage and montage)

"Just what makes today's homes so different, so appealing?"


Collage to create image.


With technology, images and objects are ordered, coded and styled. 
This is the beginning of the development of art and design merging together.

Art images are now part of graphics, textiles, fashion and advertising because of this merge.
Design increases throughout this period within art.


KARL MARX & TECHNOLOGY


* Associated with the term technological determinism. How technological determines the economical production factors and affects social conditions.
* Logical relationship between tech and how it affects social conditions and economics.

Technology and enterprise.
A tool for progress and also alienation.

DIALECTICAL ISSUES

* Technology drives history.
* Technology and the division of labour (how labour is divided in technological, machine age- not seeing their work through from the beginning to the end- this has an effect of separating us from creativity).
* Materialist view of history (linked technology with capitalism and production).
* Technology and capitalism and production.
* Social alienation of people from aspects of their human nature as a result of capitalism.

ELECTRONIC AGE; POSTMODERNISM


POST MODERN/POST MACHINE


* Many electric works were still made with the modern aesthetic.
* Emergence of information and conceptual based works.
* The computer a natural metaphor.
* A spirit of openess and industrial techniques.
* Collaborations between art and science (emerges out of technology, flows across boundaries of distinct forms of art and design. Technology allows you to shift one idea across to another context).


COLLABORATIONS BETWEEN ARTISTIC FORMS


* Douglas Rosenberg- Falling/Falling, Video Instillation (multimedia).
The emergence of video and multimedia work through this age, itself, becomes an object.
Text projections on cloth and body- just see the silhouette. 


Deconstructivist style- material broken down through image, text and projections.
Feminist attitudes to breaking down and re-understanding the female body.

"TRUE MATERIALISM IS WHAT YOU LEARN, NOT WHAT YOU EARN"

SIMULATION AND SIMULACRUM


* It is the reflection of a profound reality.
* It masks and denatures a profound reality.
* It masks the absence of a profound reality (can become reality in it's own right).
* It has no relation to any reality whatsover; it is it's own pure simulacrum (what is virtual, and what is not? what is real, and what is understood as real).


- Claims that the copy of simulation, itself, becomes real.
- Art within art- copies and replications- is the digital work a work in it's own right?

BENJAMIN talks about society as an allusion of what is real- a structure and a system.

Fundamental innovations in thought and image which has crossed over with art and design.
In innovations where we cross dimensions.


NAM JUNE PAIK


* Innovative use of what is real/what isn't real?
* Views of panopticism- who has the position of power? The allusion of power.

JOHN WALKER AND ART AND MASS MEDIA

* Art uses mass media (1990-2000).
* Art in advertisements.
* The artist as media celebrity (Eg Andy Warhol- no longer just art, but now replicated for design purposes).

DIGITAL AGE/POST DIGITAL


MARGOT LOVEJOY; DIGITAL CURRENTS


* Digital potential leads to multimedia productions.
* Technological reduction of all images so they are addressed by the computer.
* New contexts created as a result.

THE HUMAN RACE MACHINE

* Morphing technology (utilised by FBI) examining characteristics in the human face by morphing.


MULTIMEDIA WORK


* Interactivity
* Performance
* Transdiscplinary
* Time, Space and Motion explored in art and as art
* Collaborations


HYPERREAL; REALITY BY PROXY
what is real, and how do we project with what is real?


CONCLUSION


* Art comments on the ideaology of every day life
* Art can be expressive of the progressive
* Technological tools can blue the line between art works and commercial design production (lines are blurred)

Panopticism//Seminar Notes.

Notes from our first CTS lecture of the year- reflecting upon our lecture last Thursday on Michel Foulcault's theory of Panopticism. Discussing both the theories and contemporary culture, and the role(s) Panopticism plays within it.

PANOPTICISM

* Institutions and Institutional Power

* Panopticon building was designed by Jeremy Bentham, 1791.

THE PSYCHOLOGICAL EFFECT(S) OF THE PANAPTICON

* Behaving in a way in which we believe society dictates or wants us to behave. One behaves in a way that you believe the people watching you want you to behave. Eventually no "watch" is required- it's psychologically embedded.

* PANOPTICON, explicitly were utilised for, or intended for prisons, reformeries, schools, asylums. Also used as spacial structure in lectures, theaters, schools, etc.

PANOPTIC FEATURES

* Isolation (to avoid conspiring, relation, etc)/separation.

* Invisibility/Visibility (must be permanently on view, or think they are permanently on view to the higher powers. The person viewing must always be "invisible". 

POWER

* Constantly visible but never viable. Central tower is always there as a reminder, but you cannot know for sure if you are being watched. Light, bright, visible incarceration.

CCTV

* CCTV is panoptic when visible, not voyeuristic in tendency. Often CCTV cameras are displayed as a reminder that you are being watched and recorded (though they are not always necessarily in operation).

VISIBILITY/INVISIBILITY OF POWER

* Designed to make people more productive- learn faster, work faster, get better quick, reform behaviour more efficiently. The thought that you are always being watched makes you more productive. More productive, but not necessarily for yourself.

 FOUCAULT'S DOCILE BODIES>> Modern disciplinary society to produce easily trainable people, more obidient, self-regulating bodies, self-monitoring, training themselves.

EXAMPLE OF PANOPTICISM

* Swimming pools and lifeguards- sitting up on a tall chair viewing over the public. Both health and safety conscious and panoptic- changes and controls behaviour, "no heavy petting", etc.

Modern controls are mental and pyschological, where as traditional control was physical.

Panopticism is a mental process (as we become increasingly docile)- eventually this reverts to physical control over the body.

POWER

There is no power without resistance.

Foucault stated that power is a relationship between two people/subjects.

A > B (eg the teacher has the qualification and status, therefore, students can be taught and disciplined).

HOWEVER

power is a relationship that works both ways

A > B

A < B

Power can be resisted, power has no control.

Need to let control and discipline to have it inforced. An interested dialogue and relationship between two subjects.

EXAMPLES OF PANOPTICISM

* Dictatorships (uncapability to express views from fear, opression, etc).

* House of Commons (Head speaker, television broadcasts- available for global viewing)

* Television programmes- constant reminder how our lives should be, an aspiration. Make people think and act in different way- commonly found in advertising.

* Parent/Child relationship- Self regulation, the way we should behave around them and hold control.

TASK I

PANOPTICISM

Choose an example of one aspect of contemporary culture that is, in your opinion, panoptic. Write an explanation of this, in approximately 200-300 words, employing key Foucauldian language, such as "docile bodies" or "self-regulation", and no less than five quotes from the given text 'Panopticism' (woven into text) in Thomas, J. (2000) 'Reading Images', NY, Palgrave McMillan, and effectively referencing the Harvard Referencing system.

The text is an edited chapter translated from (French) Foucault's 'discipline & punish', and, in particular, panopticism.

Consider Graphic Design links and references within your text.

PANTOPTICISM//Institutions & Institutional Power//Lecture Notes.

PANTOPTICISM

Institutions & Institutional Power//Lecture I

"Literature, art and their respective producers do no exist independently of a complex institutional framework which authories, enables, empowers, and legitamises them. This framework must be incorporated into any analysis that pretends to provide through understanding of cultural goods

and practices."

-Randal Johnson in Walker & Chaplin (1999)

Michel Foucault...

Writes about the way our society controls and disciplines it's people- particularly institutions and the power they have to control our thoughts, actions and behaviours.


Prisons, Hospitals, Universities, Social Institutions (Relationship, Families)

We shall evaluate how we as designers do not just produce individual ideas (in a vacuum) how our nature and nurture determines what we produce- our environment and society. We are produced by society, not as independents.

LECTURE AIMS


* Understand the principles of the panopticon (a metaphor of how society controls and disciplines it's citizens? An allegory for social control?).
* Understand Michel Foucault's concept of 'Disciplinary Society'.
* Consider the idea that disciplinary society is a way of making individual's 'productive' and 'useful'.
* Understand Foucault's idea of techniques of the body and 'docile' bodies.

THE PANOPTICON


Design for a building (1791)- Foucault said that this as a building has the same principles of control as our modern societies.


MICHEL FOUCAULT (1926-1984)
Philosopher and Activist- Gay Rights, Human Rights, Etc.

HIS CITED WORKS:


* Madness & Civilization (ABOUT: The Asylum, Psychiatry, Doctors)
* Discipline & Punish: The Birth of the Prison (ABOUT: The Modern Prison)

Both books survey the rise of institutions and the rise of institutional power in the West.
 
MADNESS & CIVILIZATION:
The Great Confinement (late 1600s)


'Houses of correction' to curb unemployment and idleness


Talks about the ease of "madmens" lives in the 1600's- as part of society, the "village idiot"

Around the 1600, the rise of religion, increased moral attitude for roles in society led to those unuseful for society (couldn't or wouldn't work) were stigmatized to the late 1600's "the great confinement"- house of correction were built into which all these people were moved to: The insane, inoperative in society (criminals, single mothers, poor and unemployed). People were made to work with the threats of being beaten.

Society was taking the unproductive and threaten them into work.
Soon, the houses were perceived as a mistake- they corrupted people more- the insane would make the sane ever more deviant. 

THE BIRTH OF THE ASYLUM

After houses of correction, asylums were invented to reform the insane (a seperation from the sane deviants).
Around this time the true distinction between sane and insane was formed.  
Doctors were specifically allocated to decided who was classified as sane, or not.


Inside the asylum, the inmates are controlled in different ways- they are treated like minors (children), and if they do well they're given rewards.


Foucault saw this as a really important shift in the control in society. At this point, society started to realise that it is more useful to control people mentally than physically (from the birth of the asylum)- a shift which continues to modern day.


The emergence of knowledge- biology, psychiatry, medicine, etc. These legitamise the institutions and the practice of hopsitals, doctors, etc.

People who were criminals/deviants (those judged abnormal in society) were punished in a "spectacular" way- such as stocks, the pillory (public humiliation). The reason for this punishment was to show to everyone else that whoever doesn't obey will be humiliated in the same way. Torture, humiliation and pain- they were made an example of- leaders of society are "King" and they must be obeyed.


DISCIPLINARY SOCIETY & DISCIPLINARY POWER


It was realised that there are more effective ways of keeping people under control- this is what Foucault describes as a new, modern society. Disciplinary is a technology/technique- not just aimed at showing off power, but more about controlling conduct, performance, capacities, and making one useful- controlling our thoughts and behaviours as opposed to humiliation or death.


THE PANOPTICON


Foucault's allegory of modern society and control (1791 architectural design, never built).
A round building which could have a multitude of functions- school, hospital, asylum, prison.
Each space around the outside of the building was a cell (divided by a wall) in which a prisoner would be kept- could be permanently back lit by a window at the edge of the building. In the center of the Panopticon, the observers and prison guards would sit.
A modern version has been built in Cuba, as well as Millbank Prison (the site of Tate Britain)
Institutional "gaze" (US).


The Panopticon was special, and important for Foucault because he describes it as the automatic disciplinary power.
Each prisoner in their cell can always see the central tower- they always know they are being watched, but cannot see other inmates. They never truly know if they're being watched. The central tower wasn't lit- the prisoners couldn't see if anyone was watching them- but could never verify whether they truly were.


The Panopticon internalises the in the individual the conscious state that he is always being watched (never do anything wrong, always scared being caught, etc).
The building itself allows power to function perfectly, and independently.


After a long period of time, bars aren't needed on the cells- always in fear of being watched, constant good behaviour- they would mentally control themselves. A side effect of this would be that guards weren't even required- people lived in self-control and fear.


A perfect mechanism for control- and an allegory for control in modern societies.
Physical punishment wasn't required- just mental.


PANOPTICISM


Used for asylums, reformative schools, etc.


Panopticons also had the functions of laboratories- measuring performance between inmates- controlled almost like lab rats.


ALLOWS SCRUTINY
ALLOWS SUPERVISOR TO EXPERIMENT ON SUBJECTS
AIMS TO MAKE THEM PRODUCTIVE


A modern example is the lecture theater- all focusing on the tutor/lecturer- not a great deal of interaction with other students. All aware that we can all be seen- just that knowledge makes you more productive. Physically sat here, sedate, also helps us fixed and controlled.


REFORMS PRISONERS
HELPS TREAT PATIENTS
HELPS INSTRUCT SCHOOLCHILDREN
HELPS CONFINE, BUT ALSO STUDY THE INSANE
HELPS SUPERVISE WORKERS
HELPS PUT BEGGARS AND IDLERS TO WORK


What Foucault is describing is a transformation in Western societies from a form of power imposed by a 'ruler' or 'soverign' to... A NEW MODE OF POWER CALLED 'PANOPTICISM".


The 'panopticon' is a model of how modern society organises it's knowledge, power, surveillance of bodies and it's 'training' of bodies.


PANOPTICISM is about being trained, or training oneself.
The idea you could always be caught out- and self control.


The open plan office is a panoptic example- an efficient system for the bosses of the office (communication, team building) to constantly see what people are doing- stops employees from procrastinating/wasting time. Makes you work harder without the boss actually needing to do anything- just a visible reminder of institutional power.


Tongue in cheek example of modern day is TV programme 'The Office' in which David Brent (the boss) knows he is constantly being filmed- causing him to modify his behaviour, puts on a face of being "the perfect boss" (naturally, backfiring). 

One modifying their own behaviour without being told (the way a normal citizen should behave and act) is panopticism. Behaviour is conditioned by panoptic conditions.


This is a constant day to day practice:


"DON"T TALK" in libraries- nobody has to tell you to control yourself, we have been conditioned.
Art Galleries- The rowdiest, loudest people will behave perfectly in an art gallery- what society has taught us.


Modern bars are increasingly open-plan and panoptic- reduces agressive behaviour.
Pubs change from intimate spaces to places where you know you're being watched and feel slightly less at ease. You're on display, and cannot make the space your own. Makes spaces that are far easier to control.


Panopticism is everywhere in our society- Google Maps is a contemporary form- voyeuristic and panoptic. Privacy doesn't exist. 
CCTV (the largest amount of CCTV cameras in the world are in Britain)

We are constantly reminded, in various ways, that our lives are recorder- and everything we do is recorder.
It starts to build a fear of being caught within us- leads to the idea that we act like more socially responsible, well behaved citizens.


PANOPTIC EXAMPLES

PENTONVILLE PRISON


Lecture to "juvenile delinquents".
Totally panoptic- a barrier between each student- not too far detached from standard lecture spaces.


BROTHERTON LIBRARY READING ROOM, LEEDS UNI


It's not just the design of spaces that work in a panoptic way.
There are various different mechanisms- a register for class (a record, and a panoptic sign that every day is being recorded with accessible knowledge, we can be measured against other students, etc). Fundamentally knowledge of ourselves is transferred to others.


We are all subject to panopticism.
Slight paranoia- every activity and action is logged.
If you appear inquisitive it may give an appeared evidence that you have something to hide- fear that it would be viewed as a deviant/suspicious act.


We are always being monitored by CCTV- constantly recorded and watched.
Aren't hidden- the visible reminder that they are being recorded is a far more effective panoptic method.


Often, security cameras will be visible reminders- but aren't even actively working/controlled.
We can be constantly watched through interactive media- mobile phones, computing networks, etc.
All websites can be featured and shown.
Keystrokes per minute can be timed- an assessment of how hard the student/employer is working, etc.

ETHICS/POLITICS


Why do we need proof of who we are as individuals?
A level of status- showcasing our roles in society- our inter-relationships and social interactions.
We act unnaturally- a way that institutions want us to act.
Hours are monitored for tutors/lecturers, etc. Lack of trust from institutions.

RELATIONS EVOLVE THROUGH POWER, KNOWLEDGE AND THE  BODY


A form of mental control as well as physical. 
Power relationships control our bodies- force us to do things, physical responses.
Foucault notes how this controls us to being 'docile (it won't repel) bodies'- self monitoring, self correcting, obedient bodies.


DISCIPLINARY TECHNIQUES

Cult of health in the late 20th century (particularly modern phenomena)- "eat your five a day", "exercise regularly", etc. Keeps everyone healthy, NHS bill down- but also ensures that everyone stays healthy so they can work better, harder, and more efficiently.
Pension age rise- not a compliment for living healthily and well- a punishment.


People are in constant awareness that they are on display- health, beauty, media.
No one makes you go to the gym or worry about your personal appearance- one makes oneself anxious and perform in a certain way- self-perception.


TELEVISION IS A METAPHOR FOR THE PANOPTICON


We all watch it, receive "instruction" for it.


FOUCAULT & POWER


His definition is NOT a top-down model as with Marxism (class system)- he sees it as a two-way dialogue.
Power is not a thing or a capacity people have- it is a relation between different individuals and groups, and only exists when it is being exercised.
The exercise of power relies on there being the capacity for power to be resisted.
"Where there is power there is resistance".

CULTURAL EXAMPLES

1984 (George Orwell)
Facebook (you act like a performance of yourself you'rd like everyone else to see- you monitor yourself and your identity)
Vito Acconci 'Following Piece' (1969)- Creative projects that respond to the idea of Panopticism. Stands outside galleries, and waits to follow people around the city, stalking their daily lives. 


We live in an allusion that we are controlling ourselves and our actions- we are trained and controlled, everything with more power than we indeed have.


Chris Burden- Samson (1985)
Beam of oak attached to a vice- when you move through the turnstile, the oak pushes against the gallery with increasing pressure. The more people that visit, the more chance that the institution will be destroyed.

CTS Module Briefing//Level 05.

CTS MODULE BRIEFING//LEVEL 05

CONTEXT

The Year 2 Contextual Studies programme (Lectures and Seminars) introduces you to important current methods of enquiry and theoretical issues in Art, Design and Media. The portfolio you are asked to complete would allow you to explore these issues in relation to an aspect of your subject area chosen for it's relevance to your work. As well as developing your knowledge and academic skills, the assignments within the portfolio will also prepare you for the task of producing a BA (Hons) dissertation next year. It is important to remember that work at this level is not the regurgitation of knowledge, but a critical response, citing detailed evidence in defence of detailed arguments. 

BRIEF

You will develop a portfolio of writing, which will include an essay, dissertation proposal and other activities that will evidence your engagement with and understanding of the key contextual and theoretical concepts and ideas introduced to you during the course of your level 5 academic year and that prepare you for dissertation writing at level 6. Typically, the portfolio will consist of; lecture notes, records of activities undertaken in seminars and evidence of oral contribution to seminars, a collection of different short writing tasks done in response to set activities, notes and visual records of trips, gallery visits, etc. The final task in the portfolio, and culmination of your level 5 Contextual and Theoretical Studies work, will be a 2, 000 word essay.

You will write a 2, 000 word essay on an appropriate subject that demonstrates that you have understood the nature of academic writing. In particular this essay should aim to include the following:

- A logical structure that has an introduction, a developed argument that is supported by reference to at least six different academic sources and a conclusion.

- A bibliography of at least 12 books that uses the Harvard referencing system.

- The use of Harvard conventions within the main text of the essay when using paraphrase or quoting from other authors.

To develop a detailed dissertation proposal that should identify a topic and question to be researched and that also specifies both theoretical and practical methodologies.

An over reliance on 'non-academic' internet sources should be avoided.

PLAGIARISM OF ANY KIND MUST BE AVOIDED AT ALL COSTS. AT LEVEL 5 THIS IS TAKEN VERY SERIOUSLY AND CAN RESULT IN EXCLUSION FROM THE COLLEGE.

PREPARATION/RESEARCH SUGGESTIONS

The lecture programme is designed to give you an introduction to a range of different theories and ideas which you will be expected to make notes on. Background reading will help to develop your critical awareness. Make full use of the YR 2 Critical Studies Background in your handbook and consider further references made by your tutor or included in lecture handouts. Books in the 'General' section of the Bibliography will give you an overview of some of the different approaches; use notes made from this breadth of reading to support your growing portfolio.

In the essay remember to triangulate argument with the books and journals you are using. In particular, look at www.jstor.org which is a great resource for articles in academic journals. Do not limit yourself: share sources with others and discuss ideas, in particular if you are using a blog format to evidence your portfolio.

The proposal form needs careful consideration and research, although it is only a single sheet it should be a result of much reading and consideration of the issues central to the module.

Academic and English support is available to all students, don't hesitate to seek this is you feel as if you are falling behind.

ESSAY DEADLINE FORMATIVE FEEDBACK: 23/01/12

MODULE DEADLINE: 26/03/12

ADDITIONAL NOTES

- Essay will contain coherent, considered approach to a subject (e.g, feminism, Marxism) expected within our dissertation. Interpreting our own views from text as opposed to direct quotes is regarded as primary research.

- Start linking CTS work to my Graphic Design practice for additional credit.

- Important aspects of the year's study include:

* Lecture Notes

* Exhibitions

* Seminar CTS Tasks

* Essay (2000 words)

* Independent research

* Documentation of CTS crits

* Links to practical work

ADDITIONAL RESEARCH

Research these subjects in preparation for lectures to have a basic understanding and awareness of the modules and information to be delivered:
(some lectures have not been included on this list, due to no information needed be researched)

* PANOPTICISM- 13/10/11 // Surveillance and society (Fuko, Philosopher)


* MARXISM & DESIGN ACTIVITISM- 03/11/11 // Anti-Capitalism, Karl Marx, Adbusters, Political, Left- Wing Design


* POPULAR CULTURE- 10/11/11 // Culture Vs Popular Culture, F.R Levis, Walter Benjamin


* THE GAZE IN THE MEDIA- 24/11/11 // Looking is not neutral in our society, men gaze at women... voyeurism. 


* CITIES & FILM- 01/12/11 // Theorising the city and film theory (Metropolis)


* IDENTITY- 19/01/12 // Identity theory- shift from pre to post-modern, developing good audience/market knowledge and understanding


* ENDISM AND SIMULACRUM- 26/01/12 // Hyper-reality and post modernism, Jean Baudrillard


* CENSORSHIP AND "TRUTH"- 02/02/12 // Ways to see the truth of images

* GLOBALIZATION AND DIASPORA- 09/02/12 // Globalization of the world, the dislocation of people from their homelands- slaves, Jews, etc...forcing cultures?

* AN INSTITUTIONAL CRITIQUE- 01/03/12 // Forms of visual culture that attempt to critique galleries & institutions of where they exist- critique from within. A concept- an artist that "destroys" the gallery, "anti-art".