History of Art and Technology - Essay Example

Frame, Stage, Apparatus and Network from A Bus Window One of Oscar Wilde’s most unforgettable essays, The Decay of Lying, contains one doctrine thatshould strike both artists and audiences or spectators. In the words of Wilde himself, this is that "Life imitates Art far more than Art imitates Life.” (The Decay of Lying) He further explained that this is not due to the fact that life has an instinct to imitate. Life always aims to communicate or to express itself in the most profound way. Since it is only art that can provide the most appropriate method for this, man’s tendency is to emulate what aesthetic work has been done. This can be seen in how human beings absorb information from the systems of education that have ever existed and from the mass media from past to present. The ideas they learn may have come from the concrete practice of man’s ordinary or extraordinary pursuits, thus coming from life itself. However, there is art in the manner that the lessons are imparted to the audience or to the learner. The artists behind this are the writers, the songwriters, the film makers, the educators, and everyone else who work as mediums of every idea or mere observation. Therefore, while life imitates art, art can never be absolutely detached from life. This is because its inspiration is material. Even the strangest art works are based in the material. What makes these odd though in the senses of some is the fact that the artist has the freedom to express his interpretation of the material. Many of Vincent Van Gogh’s works of art, for example, were considered by his fellow artists and art critics of his time as eccentric and out of touch with reality. However, it was only much later that his works were appreciated. Francis Bacon, a renowned Irish artist, articulated on Van Gogh’s case “real painters do not paint things as they are...They paint them as they themselves feel them to be.” (Farr 112) The message holds true not just for painters and paintings but for all artists and works of art. Nevertheless, an artist can only create out of his subjective interpretation of what he hears, sees, touch, or even taste. His imaginations can still be bound by the realities of even the most ordinary things and situations in life. Considering the premises mentioned above, everyone sees art and is an artist at the same time even while observing the most normal day-to-day activities. There is art in people in motion, in the way they walk to work and interact when strangers and acquaintances. There is art in the way that motorists deal with traffic and communicate with each other by mere glances or by the honking of horns. There is even art in the machines and other non-human objects, in the jackhammer that is breaking the concrete pavement, or in the precision of traffic lights. However, being so ordinary, human beings tend to overlook the art in all these. For those who want to explore and discover it, devices such as cameras are needed to capture a particular image. Such mechanisms are necessary to provide one with the frame, the stage, the apparatus to capture both, and the network. However, given that the senses and the brain are mechanisms themselves necessary to capture an artwork out of seemingly ordinary objects and situations, anyone can be an artist. All that is required for him is a vehicle or another mechanism that is not exactly like the camera or the audio-video recorder, or even the basic sketchpad. Any vehicle that can enable him to produce a frame that will capture a particular stage will do. The vehicle itself becomes the apparatus for the artwork. This can certainly be achieved by an ordinary bus passenger. For a person who is travelling from one point of the city to another, the bus is a means of capturing the art work derived from the people and objects in action and interaction. The bus window can be the screen or it can be the canvass through which he sees art. It is through the bus window that develops such by infusing his subjective ideas, making a new art work as a result. Thus, he is not only a spectator but an artist too. The Bus Window as a Frame A frame is important before art can be appreciated. Everything that can be seen is basically chaotic motion of animate objects amidst an environment littered with seemingly unrelated inanimate things. Because of this, it is difficult to appreciate the art that lies in each object, animate or not. There best effort at appreciating life or reality can only lead to a generalization. In the confines of art, this can only result in abstract visual representation, noise in music, and sweeping or inconclusive statements in writing. With a frame, focus is achieved. Boundaries are made in order to isolate a particular scene or object from the rest. When this is achieved, it becomes easier for the artist to capture the essential features that make up its identity. Therefore, it can be distinguished from the other scenes and objects. According to the essay, Chaos, Territory, Art, Deleuze and the Framing of the Earth, “the frame is what establishes territory from out of the chaos that is the earth. The frame is thus the first construction, the corners, of the plane of composition.” (Grosz 19) Framing does not, however, mean enclosing only as this would signify the lack of freedom for the subject. There is actually liberation also experienced both by the subject and the artist. The artist is freed from the chaotic conditions that can create more than enough distractions to disable him from producing a work. With framing, he has the liberty to focus and interpret the subject. In fact, he can create his own perceived reality out of an object because his body itself has its own framing function. (Hansen 7) The subject, on the other hand, is detached from the bigger reality. With attention or limelight focused to it, it ceases to be merely a unit in the bigger quantity of things. It becomes a particular object of study, which is the only opportunity for its qualities to be scrutinized and appreciated. Therefore, while it is framed, it is not actually contained. A frame needs to have specific boundaries from all sides. This is the only way that it achieves what Grosz calls as territorialization. This is composed of a floor, a wall, a window or screen, and furniture. The floor is that which supports the scene or the subject. It separates the subject the thing, person, or situation from the rest on the ground that is not the subject of the art. The wall is that which sets the subject apart from the others and, thus, provides the convenience of focus of what is inside. The window or the screen, on the other hand, is that which isolates the subject of the art from the artist. This, however, does not provide total separation. The art, after all, is a product of the artist’s mind. With it, nevertheless, the artist introduces a degree of dissociation in order to give his work a life of its own. Riding a bus provides a person the experience of watching the world through a frame. The bus window allows him to watch objects in motion outside while providing him the essential features of a frame. The window projects a visual boundary; it territorializes the scenes outside. As the passenger cannot see the entire city through the window, not the skyline, and not even the whole street but only that directly outside of him. He achieves certain uniqueness in this regard because what he sees from his vantage point is different from that of others, thus making the scene or the subject of art entirely his alone. What even makes the scene more special is that it becomes subject to the passenger’s scrutiny and interpretation. The scene of men working with a jackhammer in a particular portion of the street, for example, becomes separated from the rest of the occurrences happening at the same time and in the same general location. It is framed but liberated at the same time because its distinctness becomes more apparent. This would not be possible had the passenger, with the help of the bus window, not enclose them with a frame. The bus window’s four sides can be considered as the floor walls, and ceiling. The screen is the glass that prohibits the passenger to reach out to the subject or the men working and become one with them. Because it allows him to see what is happening outside, he empathizes or bears opinions with them and becomes attached, nevertheless. The Vehicle as a Stage In a social environment, a person cannot avoid being a part of larger scenery, which existence cannot be denied because it is evident. In fact, a person’s existence is recognized because he is seen. He is identified because his existence is set apart from that of others as seen not in the difference of his appearance alone but of the individuality of his actions or mannerisms. For as long as he functions normally as a person, as a part of society or of the larger picture of what is called reality, he cannot avoid but be seen. Thus, his actions are his contributions to the landscape or to the chaos occurring in the world. He is not just a spectator or one who watches; he is also an actor, one who performs in front of many. Since he cannot detach himself from society, he must live up to what is expected of him by others. He must function accordingly not just to please his superiors but to satisfy inferiors or equals whose roles also rely on him. Jordan Crandall described it as human movements being compelled by society. He further explained that man is “caught in some kind of elaborate social choreography.” (An Actor Prepares) Therefore, he cannot avoid playing his role. He is an actor who, while lost in a chaotic play, is actually found and distinguished because of the particularity of his role. Being conscious that people are watching him perform his roles, he stages himself in order to satisfy them. Such satisfaction may be totally related to the productive work he is doing. It can be because his supervisor is watching him execute his tasks or it can be because a client is watching him or produce what is requested from him. It may also be that staging himself is only meant to entertain people or to meet their sensual demands. Therefore, he does not only perform according to people’s expectations. He attempts to act his role beyond what is normal in order to show he is special, a cut from others who may be performing the same tasks that he is doing. The essay Jennis Room: Exhibitionism and Solitude discusses how a girl goes to the extent of displaying her room for twenty-four hours, including the activities that she did in it. (Burgin 77) Many, especially the conservative types, consider it to be exhibitionism. However, everyone is actually an exhibitionist. A social beings, everyone is seen and has the opportunity to stage himself. In this age of the internet, the means for such display has multiplied. The countless sites for blogs and videos can only attest to this fact. A passenger in a bus can certainly witness an abundance of self-staging by people and objects that he passes by. The bus window becomes the stage and the actors are the people outside. They can be men delivering items to a grocer’s shop or they can be a group of kids hanging out sharing stories with each other. In a larger view, these scenes may just be insignificant specks. However, from the vantage point of a bus window, these narrate unique stories. The actors interact with fellow actors and there is communication either through actions or through actual words which is why there are stories. Conscious of the fact that they are seen or even observed, they perform not out of obligation but out of the inherent sense of rising up to the occasion. They want to create good impressions. They want to gain identities. Because of this, the passenger staring out the bus window will certainly start to get amused at how efficient the delivery is being made by the men at the grocer’s shop. He will definitely be entertained at the sight of kids talking animatedly and laughing boisterously. At the same time, subjecting the scenes to his interpretation, he will create a story out of those. He will analyze them each and then reach conclusions that may not totally be the same as those of others that have seen such scenes. Under this circumstance, the passenger regards the bus window not just as a stage where actors perform their roles. It also the stage of a play he creates out of what he sees outside. The Bus Window as an Apparatus Giorgio Agamben described apparatus as a “set of strategies of the relations of forces supporting, and supported by, certain types of knowledge.” (What is an Apparatus 2) He further explained that it is not just a single entity but a network of many elements which are correlated. A state or government apparatus, for example, refers to the institutions, the policies and laws, the mechanisms, and the material means such as computers, buildings, and weapons. While it connects all these, it also lies always in between “power relations and relations of knowledge.” (Agamben) It is clear that an apparatus is not just a machine. It is the embodiment of the relationship that binds machine’s user, the machine, and its subject. A product is created out of such relationship. It is not the machine that produces but apparatus. A work of art is obviously not just the creation of the medium. It is not even the result of the artist’s interaction with the medium. The subject of the art itself is obviously an important factor. Without it, there is nothing for the artist to recreate or to interpret and, consequently, nothing for the medium to project. Therefore, when an apparatus is said to create a work of art, it refers to the relation of the artist, his medium, and the art’s medium. The operation of the apparatus lies primarily in the human being’s readiness to use whatever medium he has to capture a subject and create art out of it. Villem Flusser explained that “the photographic apparatus lies in wait for photography; it sharpens its teeth in readiness.” (Towards a Philosophy of Photography 21) This means that the relationship referred to by apparatus is not the static existence of the three elements of artist, medium, and subject. An apparatus only becomes operative when the artist initiates to make him connect with his subject by the use of his medium. In photography, the apparatus exists and operates when the photographer seizes his camera and shoots the subject. Unlike the camera, the passenger cannot manipulate the bus to certain angles in order to acquire a more comprehensive view. This is the limitation provided by the existence of a frame. However, the bus window itself is enough to produce an image that is subject to the passenger’s elucidation. The passenger can alter the image because of his subjective explanation of what he sees though. Such alteration can, in fact, become an entirely different story once the passenger narrates what he saw to another person who was not there to see it. This only proves that apparatus is more encompassing and powerful than a machine. The bus window can indeed display an objective view but the passenger’s brain can process it in a way that favors his biases. Because of this, whatever outcome an apparatus produces may not be exactly what the medium captures. Since the human body is by itself an apparatus, what a passenger sees does not always dictate what he thinks. Nevertheless, the product of his imaginations can never be absolutely unrelated to the images he sees while looking out the bus window. It has to be hinged on the limitations and possibilities provide by the bus window as a frame. There is no way to physically alter the image offered because there is a screen, provided by the bus window’s glass and the bus itself that prohibits the passenger from doing it. The Bus Window as Part of a Network An image of a certain object does not represent the same object at all but of its past form and composition. Everything in the world changes although many of these are not always very evident. While transformation is universal, its speed and visibility are not uniform. A single object is not essentially the same even in a very short duration of time. Because of this there is no such thing as durability. An object is either in an unceasing process of growth or of decay or even of both. Thus, an “ultimately unified ‘dog’ is a sequence of closely related heirs, not an enduring unit encrusted with shifting accidents over time.” (Harman 29) This sequence is actually a network of moments, not of the same dog but of different existences of a dog. Therefore, the cliché regarding the same dog with different collar is inaccurate. It is a different collar and dog altogether. What makes things or images very temporary is the interactivity that these experience with others and within. Science has proven that matter composes atoms that interact or collide with each other. Such collision or contradiction dictates the change that is occurring internally of an object, whether it is visibly animate or not. Contradictions do not just occur internally. In fact, external conditions are more easily seen and observed. This is the reason why superficial changes are often concluded as the only transformation that occurs. The universality of change means that contradiction is universal too. In a society with clear hierarchical structures, for example, the existence of authorities, whether state, religious, or corporate, are always threatened. The unity of forces in one camp of the contradiction is the “sole form of organization that can possibly threaten entrenched, fortified power centers. (Galloway) The unity of such forces is realized through networks. A passenger of a moving bus can certainly observe the existence of such network as he passes by series of images. In fact, while riding on the bus, he also notices that he and the bust itself are part of a network. From his bus window, he sees constantly changing scenery. Such scenery or images are actually of the same locality or even street. These are the network or series of images that define what he considers as reality from his point of view. At one instance, he sees a manhole being worked on. As the bus moves forward, he sees more manholes with workers on it. He sees a network of images which leads him to a conclusion that the sewage system must be undergoing massive repairs. The bus itself is part of a network. A passenger realizes this before and after riding it. If he comes from a distant town, he might have taken a train towards the city. From the train station, he might have taken the bus towards the city’s main thoroughfares. However, since the bus does not cover the route that services the exact location he is going, he has to transfer to a cab. The bus exists as a distinct mode of transportation. Despite this uniqueness, the passenger deems it as just of the necessary elements that compose a network. Conclusion: The Operation of the Vehicle The vehicle, or the bus, is an operable mechanism that empowers the passenger to create a work of art. Although the operation begins once he commutes in it, he first experiences the initiation after he distinguishes what he sees while walking towards the bus stop. During the walk, he sees a wider and bigger view. He notices almost everything, from the sky, the people, the billboards, and the cars. However, the frameless view shows him nothing particular. As soon as he rides the bus, he enters an enclosure that denies him the chaotic view outside. He chooses a seat, usually one that can provide him with the best view, thus, the best frame too. As soon as takes his seat and gazes outside, he and the bus window subject the world to a frame and zoom in to only what the frame provides. The street and the sidewalk becomes a stage with people at it becoming actors. He can no longer avoid giving attention to performances of people and other objects. As the bus turns at corners, he manages to have another perspective of what he earlier saw. The relationship between him, the bus window, and objects of his attention becomes an apparatus. When he tries to open a conversation with a fellow passenger about what he saw, he infuses his own interpretation, making the apparatus serve his purpose. Once he arrives at a certain stop, he disembarks and then hales a cab towards another destination. He appreciates the bus as part of a network. The idea of transportation remains but modes change. Works Cited Agamben, Giorgio. What is an Apparatus and Other Essays. Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press, 2009. Burgin, Victor. Jennis Room: Exhibitionism and Solitude. Critical Inquiry, Vol. 27, No. 1. The University of Chicago Press, 2000. Crandall, Jordan. “An Actor Prepares.” 1000 Days of Theory. Ctheory.net. 10 March, 2010 Farr, Dennis, Michael Peppiatt, and Sally Yard. Francis Bacon: A Retrospective. New York, NY: Harry N. Abrams, 1999. Flusser, Villem. Towards a Philosophy of Photography. London, UK: Reaction Books, 2000. Galloway, Alexander R. “Protocol.” Theory, Culture & Society Vol. 23 (2006): 2-3. Grosz, Elizabeth. Chaos, Territory, Art. Deleuze and the Framing of the Earth. New York, NY: Columbia University Press, 2008. Hansen, Mark Boris. New Philosophy for New Media. Cambridge, MA/London: The MIT Press, 2004. Harman, Graham. Prince of Networks, Bruno Latour and Methaphysics. Victoria, Australia: Re.Press, 2009. Wilde, Oscar. The Decay of Lying: An Observation. 1891. 9 March, 2010 Read More