In today's seminar we were encouraged to go to a virtual gallery and create a visual mindmap from a single piece of art that we found interesting...
Starting with the piece, 'Humans' by Christian Boltanski in the Guggenheim Bilbao, I instantly thought of the 9,11 memorial museum with their photowall of victims, where they play audio of letters and last conversations before the attack. This then led to more tragedy and the positives that can come from global horror. How people pull togther when they have to and become more of a community. I recently saw the drama Quiz that documents how a couple might have won 'Who wants to be a millionaire' by cheating. This then led to the idea of judgment and how we use social media to troll and judge everyday making memes and anonymous comments.
It also reminded me of a photo album that might be at family events celebrating lives at funerals or weddings, and the idea of captured moments that get displayed. This then led to casting walls and how people are chosen for their looks in so many things, like catwalks, films, arts etc. The collection of photos also led me to the way people make photowalls, effectively wallpapers of memories, and then feel the need to share this through yet more photos. 'Sharing' then led to the digital space and how in today's environment digital is almost all we have to exist when on lockdown. The trend of making tiktok videos and communicating and connecting through visuals on screens, rather than in person.
The final section I chose to explore was the idea of what we do with photos, and how so many people edit and adapt reality in images to make it more 'pleasing' to look at. I wanted to consider, ironically through my visuals, whether this is a good thing or not.
Overall I though it was a challenging process as my brain instantly went to people, events, TV, films and trends rather than arts and culture. I think I used this task to try and explore a different way of looking at a piece of art rather than creatively thinking of ideas. However from what I've come up with, I beleive its a starting point that could then become something more visual and conceptual.
St.
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