Ideas

I had an idea after reading the book by Judith Williamson. 

I want to show that people become part of what they are using,

Like in the respect of in the book by Judith Williamson it shows an advert by Pentax 

and they say that the product becomes part of you.

Also show that a human is influenced by advertisements. 

I want to show a human becoming part of the technology that they use. 

Because I am taking the Cyborg down the advertising route 

this would make my Cyborg a Dystopian.
I am going to focus on just cameras and equipment
 rather than lots of different types of technology. 

My audience would be photographers or camera owners. 

Minority Report

I remembered watching a film that had "Pre-cogs" that were 3 psychics who see into the future and predict murders. It has bits of cyborg type machines and mentions free will, so I watched it again to see if there was anything that could help with the cyborgs. 


My favourite part is where Tom Cruise playing John Anderton is on the run, and to prevent being found he replaces his eye with somebody else's because small little cyborg robots are coming around to scan his eyes to find him, but because he has replaced his eyes the cyborgs cant find him. This has a lot to do with identity and this is the path I want to go down with the cyborg theme. 

'In the year 2054 A.D. crime is virtually eliminated from Washington D.C. thanks to an elite law enforcing squad "Precrime". They use three gifted humans (called "Pre-Cogs") with special powers to see into the future and predict crimes beforehand. John Anderton heads Precrime and believes the system's flawlessness steadfastly. However one day the Pre-Cogs predict that Anderton will commit a murder himself in the next 36 hours. Worse, Anderton doesn't even know the victim. He decides to get to the mystery's core by finding out the 'minority report' which means the prediction of the female Pre-Cog Agatha that "might" tell a different story and prove Anderton innocent.'
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0181689/

Neil Harbisson

Neil Harbisson

Neil Harbisson (27 July 1982)^[5] is a Catalan raised, Northern Ireland born artist, musician and performer best known for his self-extended ability to hear colours and to perceive colours outside the ability of human vision.^[6] In 2004 he became the first person in the world to wear an eyeborg.^[7] The inclusion of the eyeborg on his passport photo has been claimed by some to be official recognition of Harbisson as a cyborg.^[8] Colour and the use of technology as an extension of the performer, and not as part of the performance, are the central themes in Harbisson's work. In 2010, he founded the Cyborg Foundation, an international organisation to help humans become cyborgs.^[9]

Cyborg status

In 2004, Harbisson was not allowed to renew his UK passport because his passport photo was rejected. The passport office would not allow Harbisson to appear with electronic equipment on his head. Harbisson wrote back to them insisting that the eyeborg should be considered part of his body as he had become a cyborg. Letters from his doctor, friends and his college were sent to the passport office to give him support. After weeks of correspondence Harbisson's prosthetic device was included.^[28] Harbisson states that he became a cyborg when the union between his organism and cybernetics created new neuronal tissue in his brain that allowed him to perceive color through a new sense: "It's not the union between the eyeborg and my head what converts me into a cyborg but the union between the software and my brain".^[29]

[edit]Cyborg Foundation

In 2010, Neil Harbisson and Moon Ribas created the Cyborg Foundation, an international organization to help humans become cyborgs.^[30] The foundation was created as a response to the growing amount of letters and emails received from people around the world interested in becoming a cyborg.^[31] The foundation's main aims are to extend human senses and abilities by creating and applying cybernetic extensions to the body, to promote the use of cybernetics in cultural events and to defend cyborg rights.^[32] In 2010, the foundation, based in Mataró (Barcelona), was the overall winner of the Cre@tic Awards, organized by Tecnocampus Mataró.^[33]
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neil_Harbisson

Cyborg Foundation

The Cyborg Foundation is an international organization created to help humans become cyborgs. 

The foundation’s main aims are:

· to extend human senses and abilities by creating and applying cybernetic extensions to the body

· to promote the use of cybernetics in cultural events

· to defend cyborg rights 

Current projects

Current projects include the creation of eyeborgs (cybernetic eyes to allow humans perceive light, color and shapes through sound), earborgs (cybernetic ears to allow humans perceive sound through color, shapes and light) noseborgs (cybernetic noses to allow humans perceive smell through electromagnetic signals) and fingerborgs(prosthetic fingers to allow humans take pictures with their own hand).

Awards

The foundation, created in 2010 by cyborg artists Neil Harbisson and Moon Ribas, was the overall winner of the 2010 Cre@tic Awards held at Tecnocampus Mataró (Barcelona, Spain).

http://www.harbisson.com/Cyborg_Foundation/About_us.html

Cyborg definition

I thought that if I research the meaning of cyborg it could help me in development.
Here is what I found......

cyborg

Cyborg, a compound word derived from cybernetics and organism, is a term coined by Manfred Clynes in 1960 to describe the need for mankind to artificially enhance biological functions in order to survive in the hostile environment of Space. Originally, a cyborg referred to a human being with bodily functions aided or controlled by technological devices, such as an oxygen tank, artificial heart valve or insulin pump. Over the years, the term has acquired a more general meaning, describing the dependence of human beings on technology. In this sense, cyborg can be used to characterize anyone who relies on a computer to complete their daily work.

http://whatis.techtarget.com/definition/0,,sid9_gci296606,00.html#

cyborg - a human being whose body has been taken over in whole or in part by electromechanical devices; "a cyborg is a cybernetic organism"

bionic man, bionic woman

machine - an efficient person; "the boxer was a magnificent fighting machine"

http://www.thefreedictionary.com/cyborg

Cut and Paste

To get a few ideas together,

I decided to produce a cut and paste using magazines and newspapers.

I combined the ideas of the photomontage from the artists researched 

and advertisement from the book 'Decoding Advertisement.'

I based my idea on 'Jeff Faerber's work that I had found.

I cut out signs and logos that I see in day to day life,

in town, on television or in magazines. 

I found a silhouette on the internet and used this to represent myself.

However this piece that I have created,

I believe does not show the message that I want to get across,

of that people become part of technology that they use. 

So I am going to carry on developing my ideas. 

Judith Williamson - Decoding Advertisement

I have started reading a book by Judith Williamson who examines in much detail and depth advertising with illustrations. I have found some really interesting quotes in this book about advertisement and I really want to take that route with the cyborg theme. 

Part one - Advertising work.

'We can only understand what advertisements mean by finding out how they mean, and analysing the way in which they work. What an advertisement 'says' is merely what it claims to say; it is part of the deceptive mythology of advertising to believe that an advertisement is simply a transparent vehicle for a 'message' behind it. Certainly a large part of any advertisement is this message : we are told something about a product, and asked to buy it.' pg 17

Chapter two - Signs Address Somebody

'The exchanging of meanings in ads has already been described. An object 'replaces', 'Stands for', an image or feeling; then the product 'replaces' the original object in this role, and appropriates the meaning of that image or feeling. However, this description makes it sound as though the product and object themselves perform the transaction. On the basis of the above definition that signs must mean something to us, it is clear that the meaning depends on us, its transference must also depend on our co-operation.' pg 40

'Every ad necessarily assumes a particular spectator:it projects into the space out in front of it an imaginary person composed in terms of the relationship between the elements within the ad. You move into this space as you look at the ad, and in doing so 'become' the spectator, you feel that the 'hey you' 'really did' apply to you in particular. The 'you' in ads is always transmitted plural, but we receive it as a singular.' pg 50-51

'The Pentax series - where celebriteies' Pentaxes are shown - settles for the idea that the product becomes part of you. This is more realistic and more sophisticated than ads where the product is seen as already connected with you; but it implies that you have a unique personality, extending to eccentricity, for the Pentax to become part of it all. 

Raoul Hausmann

Raoul Hausmann born in 1886 in Vienna developed a photomontage development and published his first "poster poems".  By 1920 the end of the Dada-movement was looming. Hausmann, Hoch, Heartfield, Baader and Grosz all used photomontage which became the biggest technique mainly used and associated with Dada. 

I love all of these images and the way there are lots of different images all created to make one image. 

After looking at Jeff Faerber and all of the photomontage images
 I want to combine the two ideas of photomontage and advertising. 

Websites

When we were in our Photoshop sessions were were given 3 different websites,

 that have examples of work that have been edited on Photoshop. 

The websites were;

www.sugardigital.com
www.rocketart.com
www.velsmann.net

On one of these websites I found an artist,

who I was really inspired by for my cyborg project.

His name was Jeff Faerber and the image above 

named 'Attack of the ads' was the inspiration I found.

I really like the idea of the advertisements from logos and signs and

I am going to use this image and develop my own ideas.

Hannah Hoch

Hannah Hoch a Dada artist born in 1889 was one of the original photomontage artists

The piece below is names 'Cut With The Kitchen Knife',  which was a critique on Weimar. it includes Images cut from newspapers which were to create a statement in the Dada movement about life with art.

I love the idea of Hannah Hochs using news paper images 

and words and assembling them to create a new image.

Photoshop First Practice

The original. 

My edited version.

I added a brighter sunset behind the cliffs in the background, by using the layers and putting the sunset as the behind layer and the dinosaur layer as the front layer. Then using the eraser tool, I erased the part where the cliffs are to show the layer underneath. I then added some orange colour tones to the water and some of the cliffs by using the Layer > Adjustments > Colour.

Then I adjusted the tones and shadows of the cliffs and dinosaurs so they were lighter and look more natural with the light from the sunset. The purple dinosaur was cut from another image and I added an image of the internal parts of a machine that again I set to the back layer then used the eraser tool again to show the machinery through. 

Peter Kennard Photomontage

 Peter Kennard was a London painter and drawer who worked under the influences of artists such as Picasso Francis Bacon and Sutherland. He is best known for his photomontage art that show issues like conflict and his images were used in campaigns in the 80's for the nuclear warfare. 

"The point of my work is to use easily accessible iconic images, but to render them unacceptable. To break down the image of the all-powerful missile....after breaking them, to show new possibilities emerging in the cracks and splintered fragments of the old reality."

I really like the idea of Photomontage and like the use of photo and text, colour, and drawing.

http://homepage.ntlworld.com/davepalmer/cutandpaste/kennard.html

I-Robot

I recently watched the film I-Robot which is about robots that are used as servants for humans and several public services which is set in 2035. The robot have to live by The Three Laws which are:

1. Robots do not harm or injure a human being or let a human come to harm from anybody else.
2. Robots are given orders by humans in which they must obey apart from when orders conflict with the first law.
3. Robots must protect itself but protection can not conflict with the First or Second Laws.

 Will Smith plays detective Spooner who doesn't trust these robots and hates the fast development of technology. After being in a car accident, he was saved by a robot, who Spooner thinks he should of saved a 12 year old little girl. Spooner then meets Dr Alfred Lanning who created the three laws and fits Spooner a replacement robotic arm after the accident. The film begins with Spooner investigating the death of Lanning.

I robot shows subjects about technology and the differences among robots and humans. In the film they have old robots that are no longer useful to the humans, because newer up to date robots have been created. However one of the robots has been developed further than expected and he begins to make decisions for himself without being told by a human what to do which is showing what could possibly happen at a later date in the future. 

This film shows the up and coming development and improvement in technology which is going to help me think about a direction of the cyborg theme I want to look at. 

Types of Technology

Thinking about the sort of technology hat I use everyday I have made a list.

• Camera
• Phone
• Ipod
• Radio
• Laptop
• Car 
• Wii
• Television

These are just some of the things that I use on a day to day basis.

The items listed could help me develop my ideas for the cyborg theme.

Man and Machine in perfect harmony

Here is a video from 1982 of an advert for a car

 that has a slogan of 'Man and Machine in perfect harmony.'

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p7jiTlv9wwI

Cyborg - Donna Haraway

Cyborg - Part Human Part Machine.

Donna Haraway has an article on Cyborg manifesto in which she Shows her views on what she calls "an ironic political myth" which links postmodernism with feminism which focuses on the cyborg facts which in her article says "a cybernetic organism, a hybrid of machine and organism, a creature of social reality as well as a creature of fiction."

Here is a view on her views of Cyborg

http://www.stumptuous.com/comps/cyborg.html

Terminator 2

Today I watched Terminator 2 which is all about the future and our creations and developments in technology continue to computer systems and robotics starting to react on their own behalf and will. Terminator is a cyborg sent to protect and be the hero against another cyborg the enemy T-1000.

The film highlights the differences between man and machine as well as the relationship and links between the characters are intense with the Terminator being the good guy.

The film shows issues of humans and the development of technology so that it becomes able to think for itself.  

Cyborg Brief

I have been give a new brief with ''Cyborg' as the title. This new Cyborg project with allow us to use and develop our skills in editing and manipulation software like Photoshop and possible any other software. We are to aim towards creating one A3 digital composite. To begin were were introduced to different things to link the cyborg theme together, talking about man and machine and the relationship between the two. Looking at how we have developed over time with technology and how now we rely on some sort of technology. To help us with our ideas we were shown a few books and films to look at to develop us.The books and films were ..... 

Metamorphosis, by Franz Kafka

Metropolis, Fritz Lang

The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction, by Walter Benjamin

Terminator 2,  James Cameron

 I intend to read these books and watch these films 

and hope I can address the issues and gather ideas. 

We were also given numerous artists who have the link 

between technology and people in their work.

 I will gather research on the artists given and post my research.