Initially my idea was to chain people to televisions, security cameras, a mobile phone or other media technologies as a way to show the power relationship or imbalance as described in psychogeography. My artifact would show the impossible struggle, we face everyday of being free from media. The western world has become to rely on the media as a source of information and entertainment. I wanted to attempt to convey theories of the three main media models; Pluralist, Hegemonic and Marxist. Pluralists argue that the public control the media, in that we are able to choose what media’s to consume. Hegemonic theory states that it is a varying balance of control from the audience and the media. Marxists believe that media institutions dominate completely.
After reading George Orwell’s ‘1984’ over the summer, I began thinking about relationships of power. The main character uses memory as a power in small acts of defiance against the Party (totalitarian government), the reader knows he does not believe what is forced upon him, because it refuses all logic:
“The keyword here is blackwhite. Like so many Newspeak words, this word has two mutually contradictory meanings. Applied to an opponent, it means the habit of impudently claiming that black is white, in contradiction of the plain facts. Applied to a Party member, it means a loyal willingness to say that black is white when Party discipline demands this. But it means also the ability to believe that black is white, and more, to know that black is white, and to forget that one has ever believed the contrary. This demands a continuous alteration of the past, made possible by the system of thought which really embraces all the rest, and which is known in Newspeakas doublethink. Doublethink is basically the power of holding two contradictory beliefs in ones mind simultaneously, and accepting both of them.”
– Part II, chapter IX – chapter I of Goldstein’s book
In ‘1984’ Orwell describes a totalitarian governed state, and extreme image of a modern-day government in possession of complete power. Orwell wrote this as a thought provoking futuristic novel, the title was meant to imply that the story signified a possible reality to its 1949 audience. Orwell portrays a state in which government monitors and controls every aspect of human life to the extent that even having a disloyal thought is against the law.
I began by creating images of the Party (totalitarian Government) and how they are represented to the different ‘classes’ within the book. For example the ‘Proles’ (the proletariat) are ultimately the brainwashed powerless masses.
I wanted to create a ‘face’ of the Party, using televisions as eyes, radios for ears, etc. After drawing a few sketches of what I wanted it to look like, this idea seemed too weak as an image, however this novel posed many questions and thoughts I would like to explore in my other artifact ideas.
My third idea was to recreate the ‘3 Wise Monkeys’ in relation to the media. The three monkeys are originallyMizaru; covering his eyes to see no evil, Kikazaru; covering his ears to hear no evil, and Iwazaru, covering his mouth to speak no evil. Early associations of the three monkeys, are a protective reminder not to talk about the devil, in case he should appear. Today it is more commonly used to distance ones self from a bad situation or some-one turning a willing blind eye to witnessing an immoral act.
My photography series:
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See no evil – A blindfolded person reading a newspaper
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Hear no evil – Two people stood in silence with Ipod’s on
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Speak no evil – A person on a mobile phone with their mouth fixed shut
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Leave the evil – A girl lying on the ground using a laptop, the girl is blindfolded, with her mouth fixed shut and has headphones in. Another girl, away from the light of the laptop is completely untouched and is trying to communicate with her.
I wanted to show the separation from reality as we more frequently rely on the media as explained by Debord’s ‘Society of the Spectacle’, this also demonstrates Foucault’s theory of discourse in that we readily accept the ‘knowledge’ we are presented with without viewing the rest of the world.
