Digital Literacies

It made me laugh to see on Flickr that Elbowtoe has done a wheatpaste of Gamma Blog.

OPEN AIR from knox on Vimeo.

People often talk about Sheffield as being ‘like a village’. Well somehow when I am on Flickr, the whole world seems like a village.

Does that mean I am a Geek?

I would go for Yoghourt everytime:

I love the rough-cut film culture; this seedy side of life thing that YouTubers seem to do so well. It is like a ritual resistance performance which is anti- hollywood / anti glam/ anti sophistication.

A lot of online humour is self parodying and understated. But I also like this film as it has a bike in it and bikes are the NEW THING as far as I am concerned.

I also love the joke people were having on Flickr with this photo here

The comments made me fall about laughing. I just lurve hanging with the kids online.

And just randomly … this was in my kitchen sink:

The National Gallery is promoting its wares (does it need to?) and is putting 40 works of art on the street . Huge reproductions on vinyl are being placed strategically (streetegically) across London. The project is called Grand Tour and is an interesting one.
What makes it OK for some art work to be shown and not others?
(Banksy’s work is now allowed in some cities.)

I presume it is a case of permissions from those who rule and those we must obey. But it is also interesting to see what might happen. Will the meanings of the art change when it is placed out there in the environment? Does streetart change when it is permitted to be there? Is it still real stretart if it has been commissioned? Is it less edgy? Does it lose credibility?

And when you put art out there on the street … where does the art end? At the edges of the artefact?

I think the meanings of art work derive partly from its provenance – the way it is used, where it has been, how people read it – even interact with it. Will people be upset if someone adds a moustache to the faces on these classical /street art works? More info about the project here.

And are these mashups?

In the meantime other art makes the journey another way … streetart is sometimes brought off the street into new places. For example there are so many people on Flickr who collect streetart images, collating and cataloguing. How does that change their meanings and their value? The currency is different I think when you bring an image to a webspace; it is partly about the creation of a new piece; partly seeing something first; even about adding to your collection.

People look at streetart differently in the new online context. The images look different when you see them on your pc screen; you experience the art differently and people have taken the shots from particular angles – cutting some bits out and focusing on others.

Certainly I have joined in with this craze of catching streetart (eyes peeled as I walk)…

I have been keen to show all kinds of stuff I have seen – people ignoring it:

People appreciating it:

and people abusing it:

But I am also interested in how LunaPark has recently launched an exhibition of her streetart photography, showing the streetart from a particular locality, in a hall in that locality. There is a reverence and a particular desire to show a full range of streetart in LunaPark’s very meticulously catalogued Flickrstream.

Thanks to Gammablog for telling me about this exhibition….

I wonder if all the people who went to the exhibition were people who love streetart. I wonder if anyone went to it, saw it, and looked for the first time at what qualities so much streetart has?

I wonder.

And what of the streetartists? Lots of them love Flickr and learn about each other’s art through that space. They have made new contacts with other artists, planned exhibitions and shown their work through Flickr. (Some have told me, but I am not revealing their ID.)

Interesting to compare bloggers with streetartists – they share a belief andor a need to say something – to put stuff out there which will be read – or ignored.

Some people detest Web 2.0 just as some detest graffitti /streetart as it has not been legitimised through the culture mangle. I blogged recently about Andrew Keen’s book the cult of the amateur…. Keen is dismissive of those who dare to raise their voices and stick their noses over the parapet. (He is scared they will be better than he is.)

Just as with bloggers there are some good streetartists and some who should practice a bit more … but who should decide the standard? Who should legitimise?

My New Apple does not seem to work as well as some of the others.

(I have been silly again. See full set here.)

Tropical
Originally uploaded by Trois Têtes (TT)

Went to Peace in the Park on Saturday. Some interesting stuff to photograph and saw a wonderful band Just Potatoes. The lead singer had the most beautiful rich Blues voice but could also belt out Waits’ Chocolate Jesus, giving a momentous performance.

(This is the singer from Just Potatoes.)

I found out about the event in several ways – all of which were to do with my ‘life online’ Firstly I took a photo last week of a a performer advertising the event – but only found out about the event after I took the shot for my Flickr stream (not yet uploaded); secondly I heard about the event on a discussion thread on Flickr; thirdly I heard about it via a contact on Ian Jones came up to me and said ‘Hi you’re DrJoolz aren’t you? I recognise you from Flickr …

So I went to an event prompted by online stuff… and when I was there I did stuff just so I could enhance my online activities… life online and off line have blurred boundaries …. and all this stuff about DrJoolz… Am I DrJoolz?? There is this thing about a textual self that I present … am I becoming it? (Or is it vice versa)

Life Online, huh? Blending Identities.

(Thanks to TT for the images.)