Metacognition: Frank Gehry Project

For the Frank Gehry project, our group had the task of building a 21st century library that reflected the worldview and philosophy of our community in the present time. Before I started sketching and brainstorming about what this building would look like, I first had to reflect and think about how people view the world today. In order to do this, I looked over the Modern Art packet and other handouts from class and kind of reminded myself of the 21st century's philosophy; that we are meaningless and essentially, nothing and that there is no way in which we can know every aspect of ourselves. After reflecting on this, I started brainstorming about what the library might look like and wanted to make sure that whatever the design turned out to be, that it wasn't the typical symmetrical two story building and that it had sort of an incomplete look to it. 

Once I established these guidelines for building, I started sketching different type of architecture for our library. I started out with one simple sketch and then after I completed it, I looked at it and decided which parts I didn't like and then erased and made revisions to it. While making these revisions, I always had the present day philosophy in the back of my mind and used that as a guide to shaping and designing our library. Also, I wanted to make sure that my sketches had a sort of inviting and appealing outlook to the people in the community and that the library had a design that completely differed from the traditional; a design that didn't look like a storehouse. 

Overall, I think that my thinking process throughout this project was fairly effective because I stuck to our rubric and compromised with my group about the final revisions. The only thing that surprised me about my thinking was the fact that I kept in mind my group members suggestions, which made the final piece a great work of compromise. The only thing that would be better would be to have the time to brainstorm and sketch together as a group, using all of our ideas and thoughts and revising them so that we came up with the best possible model. 

360 Degrees: Banksy and CCTV

First off, in order to understand this image, we must know that CCTV stands for Close Circuit Television which is a type of "television" that transmits signals to a specific place. CCTV is mainly used for surveillance in public places that need monitoring, such as schools and banks. The increased use of surveillance cameras in public areas all over the the U.S. is a major problem because it shows the type of relationship that the citizens of this country have with our government. By initiating these cameras, we are no longer allowed our privacy that has played such a major role in in the creation of our country. Being under constant surveillance takes away that Liberty and freedom that the citizens of this country thought they had. Being under constant surveillance takes away the trust between the government and the its subjects and we all know what happens to countries like this. Without trust and liberty, a nation is bound to collapse and wither away, especially a nation like ours that was specifically built off of trust. 

It is important to note how the whole slogan of this picture was taken from our pledge of allegiance to this country and transformed into a slogan that seems to capture people's attitude about our country. I mean, before "One Nation Under God" used to be motto, but whatever happened to that? Have we all lost our trust and belief in God? Maybe CCTV and technology in general has become so advanced because of us that it has sort of replaced the notion of omnipotence, omnipresence and omniscience that God used to stand for. Maybe CCTV (or technology in general) is the "God" of our time. 

On the other hand, maybe I am thinking way to pessimistically about this photograph. I mean, is it such a bad thing to be under constant surveillance? Can there actually be an upside to this notion of losing our liberty? Maybe by having the government and other agencies watching our every move we are actually better off. I mean if you really think about it, having surveillance cameras does a lot of good. For one thing, if there is a crime happening, there is full record of it and the person committing the crime would suffer for it and therefore justice would be served. I'd like to believe that by having these cameras, we have the opportunity to not only learn from our mistakes, but from others as well. 

Obviously, there are many ways of looking at this image. By looking at and understanding all of these different angles that the photograph implies one can draw a very valid conclusion about the photograph; that it represents our contemporary philosophy. This philosophy is mainly based off the fact that we are so powerful and advanced technologically, but internally, we are just untrustworthy and "meaningless" creatures. 

Connection: Atmosphere and the Status Quo

When most people think of rap, they think of big African American with lots of jewels on and baggy clothes that can't ever seem to fit them right. They think of rthyum and rhymes and lyrics that almost always talk about violence, money or sexual intercourse. Of course this is just a stereotype that people put on rap music, but this is also the status quo.

Through out the whole week, we have read several articles on how different people and enterprises tried to challenge the status quo and how exactly they did it. The status quo (or the existing conditions of things) can be challenged in different ways. For example , Stravinsky challenged it through rhythymic and harmonic dissonance whereas Martin Luther King Jr. challenged it through his adaptation of non violence.  These are not the only ways to go about challenging the status quo, as the rapper Atmosphere demonstrates perhaps one of the most influential ways.

 Atmosphere is a young white rapper that seems to completely challenge all of these mis- illusions and preconceptions that we have of this subculture. Atmosphere is a rapper that raps about real life situations and things that most rappers are afraid to touch base on. In his songs, he not only raps about the government and the pros and cons of American society, but because his lyrics are so simple and deal with (most of the time) real life situations, most people can easily relate to his songs. Atmosphere is , in my opinion, an artist that not only challenges the status quo of rap music, but one that challenges the status quo for all music. He is an artist that tells the truth and connects with his audience through the simple experience of being human and that is why he is so great.