Jenna Duncan

Visual Culture and Culture

Jamming

Terms Visual Culture: the

predominance of visual forms of media, communication, and information in the postmodern world.

Cyberliteracy: understanding of the characteristics of Internet communication-speed, reach, anonymity, and interactivity-in relation to ourselves, our communities, and our cultures

Culture Jamming: (sometimes guerrilla communication) is a tactic used by many anti-consumerist social movements to disrupt or subvert media cultureand its mainstream culturalinstitutions, including (but not limited to) corporate advertising.

Chapter 7 “It is crucial that children understand that the

image-saturated cyberarena not only markets products, ideas, values, and worldviews, but also influences their constructions of reality.” pg. 69

“ Noticeably, children learn a different, if not conflicting, set of values from cybermedia than from what they learn in school. For instance, most school curriculums censor violent imagery, whereas corporate American transforms violence into a computer-mediated visual spectacle that can be aesthetically pleasing and visually breathtaking.” pg. 64

Notes for a Dialogue on Art

Education in Critical TimesDipti Desai and Graeme Chalmers

“Any person concerned with curriculum must realize that he/she is engaged in a political activity.”

• James B. Macdonald (1977)

[T] he extent to which a teacher of art functions as if walking on egg shells, fearing virtually any engagement with social/political issues, that teacher is, at the ver least, lacking the professional autonomy and/or courage that the job requires.” (Charles Wielder, posted 10/09/06)

Key Points The censorship of art indicates that art is not

neutral

Although, art education has certainly changed from the 19th century, formalist notions of art that still emphasize conformity and obedience largely govern the kinds of art projects assigned in school today.

Three beliefs require a rethinking of our understanding of artmaking, viewing, and aesthetics. The beliefs are:

1. understanding that politics of images-that is the way images circulate within and across societies and construct meanings about the world in particular ways

2. aesthetics needs to be understood as relational or dialogic

Ron English

Ron English is an American contemporary

artist who explores brand imagery and

advertising. Born in Dallas, Texas, he is

known for the use of color and comic book

collage

Jorge Rodriguez-Gerada

Cuban-American Contemporary artist

Creates work in urban spaces

Founding member of the early 90s New York

culture jamming movement first with the group

Artflux

Adjusters

YOUR

TURN!

Culture Jamming ProjectFor this project you are going to create 2 original culture

jams One advertisement needs to be a juxtaposition of two

images with a specific advertisement and a image that relates

Second advertisement needs to be a critique of product where you add/alter/subtract from the image

You have the option to download getpaint.net or use the launch web app edition of Pixlr to create your images

Getpaint.net is only available for those who wish to use Windows instead of Mac

Pixlr is available to everyone

Reflective Questions

What advertisement did you

choose and why?

How did you problematize the

advertisement?

What meaning does your new

image convey in comparison to

the original?

Resources Irvine, M. (2004). Intro to visual culture. Retrieved from

http://faculty.georgetown.edu/irvinem/visualarts/IntroVisual

Culture.htmlChapter 7

Chalmers, G., & Desai, D. (2007, September 1). Notes for

a dialogue on art education in critical times. Art Education,

6-12.

What is culture jamming? (n.d.). Retrieved from

https://informationactivism.org/en/what-culture-jamming

Vincent, A. (2012, November 7). Advertising art: The 50th

smartest culture jams. Retrieved from

http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/2012/07/10/culture-

jamming-images-50best_n_1662351.html