FINAL BLOG: WRITING A BRIEF

THE USE OF TECHNOLOGIES WITHIN VISUAL ART
Some of the contemporary art and the new resources given by technology
By Sebastian Soto




INTRODUCTION

In the latest years - in the XX century - visual arts have been suffered many transformations and changes according the pass of time. The young emergent and the great consolidated artists are all involved in the use of new alternatives within art, they are more interested in mixing new technologies with the traditional resources of classic art, creating something interesting, with more visual diversity, somethig like a new a genre that encompasses artworks created with new media technologies, including digital art, computer graphics, computer animation, virtual art, Internet art, interactive art technologies, computer robotics, and art as biotechnology.

In terms of contemporary art, many art schools and Universities now offer majors in "New Genres" or "New Media" New art often involves interaction between artist and observer.

All this is derived from the big changes that the contemporary world has suffered - the globalization, being specific, and this kind of works come from the telecommunications, mass media and digital modes of artworks, with practices ranging from conceptual to virtual art, performance to installation.

Basically, the mixing of technologies with some specialities of art, consist in make a contrast between two different kind of techniques - for example a piece of work that mix painting with video.


BODY

In our art school, this kind of works is very well used. Even thought many teachers in school, are more comfortable working and studying the classic techniques of art. Many of them like to study the classic history periods like the Renaissance, the Barroque or the Romanticism. But some other teachers they prefer to introduce new alternatives in the creation of a piece of art, making a study program that work with something more conceptual that involves more personal interpretations.

Of course, the process of making a piece of art in this cases, sometimes becomes very hard. And we, as students, must try to think over and over and over again, until find the answer to the question of the propose or the objective. And that is one of the most important things in this kind of artwork; something called "the speech", and basically is your thesis, is the theorical part that explain all about your piece of work, why did you do that, why did you use that skill, or why did you put that thing there and no in other place, for example...

The introduction of new technologies in the artworks, is not easy. You have to create something from abstract forms, you have to start with a logic and coherent idea, sometimes you may expose a problem, or a basic thesis; then, you start drawing, taking pictures, writing and continue developing your main idea in some specific ideas. From there you can experiment with different kind of materials, technologies, techniques. The process is very important, and is nice to registrate the process of creation; in some artworks of more conceptual artist is more relevant the process than the piece of work, itself!

There is a lot of posibilities with the use of technologies, and there is a very big range with you can work. You can make something just visual and bidimensional, make an "installation", in which, the place around the object or the objetcs, take an important role and is part of the art. Or put things to antoher place and make something like a performance, in which, your body is a tool.

Anyway, you have a diversity of techniques that you can use for any proposes. You just need to make the correct question, and find the answer to that.


CONCLUSION

The world is giving many things, the human being is becoming a digital being, and the Art is not excluded of this process. Technologies are all around us, since we wake up in the morning until we fall asleep at night.

Art is giving new technologies too, and new posibilities of create an artwork. The tools are out in the table, and we must use it, but in the correct way.



That's all..

Nex elections

Well, in Chile talk about politic is something very difficult, not because of your politic thinking, but because of the bad politic done here. Politicians they are always making promises, they are always talking and talking and talking, and it seems that is the only thing they can do, because people don't see the actions, and because of that nobody confide in politicians.

About next elections in Chile, I'm not registred to vote, I would, I was going to registred by myself but people and specially my grandma told me that it was something unnecessary for me, because we will have to work, we will have to study as we are doing now, and she says that we won't have a change because of a new president, she thinks that things will be as just like they are now. And well, she insist in that.

I think that now the candidates are taking care more of very superficial things; I don't know, the people who is following them, about their popularity, about the publicity in streets, more than about their plans about the country and changes, about the things that they will do in a eventual winning.

I don't have a political inclination, but I think that we need a real change in Chile, politically talking. Things are getting worse in some aspects in our society; education, health, justice, job. And solutions don't appear! We need someone who make action, and take charge of their actions too. Not a pretty face only

That's all...

Madagascar's lemurs in danger

The world need a change, a real change... now!
What are we waiting for?
That's the question... but there's no aswer

(...)

The lemur is a primate that symbolises Madagascar's unique biodiversity, but now is endangered by the deforestation in the island, and by people who think that this animal is a bussiness thing, or something you can collect as coins, or just eat like a bread, but it's not like this! People must open their eyes to the real thing that is happening nowadays with the environment.

"Lemurs' natural habitat is under threat from the accelerating deforestation. In addition, the endangered animals are being hunted for bushmeat, either to be eaten by drought-afflicted local populations or sold as a roasted delicacy in city restaurants."

What are we doing? why are we acting like this? Is this the way to find a solution? People is always talking about the problems, crisis, society, politic, economy, education, but what about the environment, and I'm specific: what about animals?

Sometimes it seems that world it's like a vicious circle. Everything is burning. It's always like that. They burn, they cut, they destroy, they steal, the kill. And if they don't stop now I'm afraid that some species will become extinct. And all because of our bad behaviour for the environment.

"This year an estimated $100m worth of hardwood has been cut down and sold, mostly to China to be turned into furniture."

What a sadness =(



New taken from www.guardian.co.uk

Correcting the classmate's blog

I chose the Camila Lampert's blog to correct and check:

Blog 3:

Well, It's really difficult FOR me to decide just one place, because I would love to visit every single part of this world, and maybe some OTHER worlds too... I think that whoever has done this world, It was made for see it. It's really important to know how other people live, to see ANOTHER cultures, so that's why I always watch this tv shows about traveling...I can't help it.

But, If someone says to me "tell me one place and I will send you there", I think I would probably choose somewhere in Latin America, somewhere like Brazil. I like it because It's a huge country with a lot to see. In some aspects I think It's very similar to our country, but, at the same time, It's very different. I would like to visit it because I think It's one of the most interesting place in South America.
I would like to know people, maybe learn some of their language, to see their traditions, the Carnival, their beaches. Also I would like to know the "favelas", to KNOW how they live, what they do for living... I know It's very dangerous, but I would go there with a lot of respect, because I imagine that they don't trust in people who COME from other countries. Although, I think that what happens in the "favelas" is not that much different FROM what happens in some "poblaciones" here in Santiago.
Also, I think I would like to know the Amazon jungle, but not so DEEPLY, because some insects and animals make me nervous, actually a lot of insects make me nervous.
I really would like to travel all the country, It's very big, so I suppose I would stay there like a month or maybe two so I can have the time to know the entire country.




Well, I agree with Camila in what she said; I would like to know some other worlds too. And yes, there's a lot of places to see and enjoy- every single part of this world is done to see. And Brazil is a very interesting country, with a lot of culture, traditions, and many things to see. People is lovely, and the country is lovely too.

The Art Faculty...

Well, I think that the Art Faculty is very special, in so many ways, I could say that is one of the faculties in the campus of the university that has a very high extension of grass in its park, so we can lay down in the grass and rest and sleep all day. But in the other hand, is one of the most decadent, and I say decadent because the infrastructure is deplorable; the building is older, a little ugly probably, and it hasn't anything like artistic, or nothing aesthetic that goes with an Art School; I mean, when it's raining the workshoops and the classrooms are all wet! How can that happens in a university! Even, when a few days ago it was raining, with a classmates we had to go to the Painting Workshop to move and remove some pieces of work and some pictures, because in a place of the classroom it was all full of water that fell from the roof!

The structure of some rooms is not the best or the one that we expect for it. But, even though we have a special feeling with the school, because it has something "magic". One of the things that make me really sad, is when I look at the back of the faculty, is a piece of land that is not used, we could take advantage of it, but it seems that no one is interested in to do it. There is something like a wharehouse, but it's almost for fall down in any moment! I've looked inside of it and it's scary, there are a ot of things, trash, tailing, thrown and forgotten things.

Another thing that I think we have to improve, is the artless in our school; I mean, it souns really ironic, but there aren’t so many artistic things in the faculty, something like sculptures, wall-paintings, interventions in the corridors, I don’t know, an instance where we as students could express and show our pieces of work. For example, that space of the back of the faculty that I mention previously, it could be like the “Park of sculptures” but it isn’t, and it’s really sad, but it like a paradox… How an art school doesn’t has art in it?
I think, that more than students, the University and authorities they have and they must to do something at respect. We can’t study in a place, where the classrooms are all raining and where the structure can fall down in the less awaited moment. And we as students, we have to do something too; we have to take the responsability and make our voice to sound, because if we don’t say anything and if we don’t do anything for it, no one’s gonna do it…

I place i'd like to visit...

Well, there are too many places that I'd like to visit. I really love to travel and visit different places and know different people, different cultures, and I really would like to travel abroad... but there's a place that is very attractive for me: Morrocan.
Morrocan is a country that I'd like to visit; I think of it as a place that I can jump from all what is happening in the world, something like a way of escape and it could be a niceful, agitated and stimulant place.
I like the arabian culture that has this country, all the places, the architecture mainly. I love the buildings, full of things, colorful. And all the markets accumulated on the streets, the people running from here to there, I think that is an alucinating place; and sometimes it becomes a duality, because I love all the movement on the cities, the velocity, the faster things, the lights, the traffic, bohemian life and the city life, but in the other hand I need to be in a place where I can find myself and feel that conection with my mind and Morrocan is like the plug with I can connect with myself... I don't know, I think Morrocan has something that I find alucinating and at the same time inspirating.
The art is one the things more attractive for me in this country; because Morrocan has developed a mosaic of artistic traditions, that includes carpets, jewerly, carveds on wood, painted boards, and a lot of things that I find amazing.
The food is what I want to concentrate on if I'm in this country, there's a traditional food called "cuscús" that is semola with lamb and vegetables.. Mmmmmh.. delicious! and the tea is the drink by excellence. I love tea.
Well, I don´t know, the only thing that I can say about Morrocan is that it's like a land of fantasy..

Two wheels in the city

Well, I chose a new related with the environment and te green living... and something that for me it's just usual: bike ride. But this new is about the cycling in the city, and it makes an analogy between cyclists and pedestrians as a plankton and an amoeba, and the difference that exist between this two, and between the bikes and the cars, putting the cars in the whale possition.

One trick that cyclists in the city develop is the ability to make a "jink" around obstacles, pedestrians and the cars. But there are some tricks for the pedestrian too; for example when you're crossing a road, you look between the flow of cars and move trough it.

The treatment is really important int his. Because if you are a cyclist or a pedestrian or a driver you have to treat the other people as you'd like people to treat you.



I chose this new because I'm a very usual cyclist, most of the time I use it and I could go everywhere on my bike, because I really love it, and it's healthy for me and for the environment. And sometimes I feel that difference between the pedestrian, the drivers and cyclist. Sometimes cars don't respect the cyclists, or sometimes the pedestrian move on the cycling paths. That's really tedious I get a bit angry but it's something that I canalize and is in that moment when I say "well, we have to learn to live together..."



Here is the link
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/green-living-blog/2009/sep/23/pedestrians-space

Blog 2: The shortest semester =P

First of all I would like to say that I'm so sorry because I didn't write this blog at the time... but I didn't knew it, I swear it, I had no idea that we started writing in this... well I have been absent in some classes so I have the responsability to go, I know it...

Well, about the topics that we could write in the blogs, mmmh I think that probably we could discuss about things related with our career, or with artistic areas or something about art, because that is our working area,and we have too many things to talk about and discuss and analyse.
A few classes before we were watching a video on TED.com and it was about the success, the fame and the happiness. We were discussing about this, and about our expectatives of life, and I really think that it is very important for us, because we are in the age that we have to make very important decisions, we have to stand up to the world on our own, and we have different points of view about life and about what we want and what we expect of it. I don't know; our personal dreams, expectations, our future, success... I mean, it sound very tedious, but it could be a divergent topic of discussion

CAMPBELL'S TOMATO SOUP

The series of Tins of soup Campbell, also known as 32 tins of soup Campbell, was produced by Andy Warhol in 1962 and it is one of his most famous works.

ANDY WARHOL

Well, I don't like to think in a "best artist", because I believe that every artist work in different ways. I really like the Andy Warhol's work, and I think of him like a very influential artist in the XX century and one of the most important in the latest years.

Andy Warhol was born in 1928. He was an american painter, printmaker and filmmaker who was a very influental figure in the birth of the Pop Art movement in the 60's and 70's. He became very famous around the world by his work as a painter, filmmaker, producer, author and a public figure who was working with a very diverse social circles that includes bohemian street people, homosexual, drug addicts, aristocrats and celebrities of Hollywood.

It was during the 60s that Warhol began to make paintings of iconic American products as Campbell's Soup Cans from the Campbell Soup Company and Coca-Cola bottles, and paintings of celebrities as Marilyn Monroe, Troy Donahue, and Elizabeth Taylor.

He founded "The Factory," his studio during these years, and point of meet between artists, writers, musicians, and underground celebrities. He began producing prints using the silkscreen method. His work became popular and controversial.

Warhol was a very polemic personage in all his life. And after his death in 1987 was object of numerous retrospective exhibitions, books, films, and documentaries. And is because of this that is considered one of the mos influential artists in the latest century.

Mi Future

Well, I would like to do a lot of things in 5 years from now. Professionaly, I would like to be working in what I'm doing now: art. I would like to be working in this, having my own workshop, or working with more people. Or maybe making a theathre course or dancing course, I would really like to do it and I’ve thougth of it since I was 16.
I don’t know where I will be living exactly but I will be living alone or with friends maybe, of that I’m sure. Probably in the downtown Santiago or near it. I don’t see myself living at 25 years old with my parents, definitively No! I would really love to travel around the world, Probably, I go to Argentina (I have some family there) and live for a time in Buenos Aires, and then… I don’t know, I don’t want to plan everything in my future!

Whatever it be…

MUSIC FOR LIFE

There are too many things that I can live without them. But there is a thing that I really can’t live without it: my MP3 player. I suffer when I don’t have it, even more if don’t have headphones… When I go on the bus, when I take a bike ride, when I go walking in the city, when I’m in classes of drawing or painting in the university, when I’m working in home, in my bedroom, sleeping, I mean; everywhere I could use it.

I didn’t buy it; I got this in a contest actually, about 2 years ago in a visit that we did in the secondary school to a university of Santiago, there they made a contest, a drawing actually, and I was the winner of the prize: an MP3 player. I was very happy, because I didn’t have one, and I needed it.

I use it everyday I can. And I feel like… I don’t know, like if I could disconnect me from the real world and connect me to another world, an own and personal world. But sometimes it’s not really good, because I can’t hear what is happening out there because I’m with a very high volume. I’m very sad when I don’t have it. Because of that I try to take it everywhere I’m going. Life is very different when I’m not listening to music, it’s so monotonous…

Silk-screen printing

Well, my favourite subject in my career this year is "Silk-screen printing" and it's a skill of engraving, useful for printing images, pictures and related to photography. Francisco Sanfuentes is the teacher of this class... and I know him because I took the draw class with him the last year, and he's a great teacher, and a nice guy - he's very compromised with what he does. Also there're two assistants in the class.
I really like this, and I like the silk-screen printing since a long time ago, when I knew and heard of it at secondary school. I remember that my art teacher show us some photos of some contemporary artists like Warhol who used the silk-scren printing on their art works, and I was very excited with the images produced with this skill of engraving, I dind't know how to use it or how to make a print, but the results... I don't know... I really liked it, and I wanted to do a print. All the colours, images and draws, I found it amazing.
This semester in school I have learned too many things, and I've learned things that I didn't know the last year, in this class for example, I learned how to make a silk-screen printing and I have made some prints... I don't really like what I've done now, but I hope to learning more and achieving more for make too many prints and images.

Hello everybody!

Hi guys, I'm Sebastian and I'm a student of this art school :B Well, I hope of this class to learn more and achieving more of the english language... I don't know what else can I write in this moment :P