Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: analysis, music, noise, opinion, politics, private, public, reading
i learned about the Infernal Noise Brigade last summer and it really struck a chord with me then, and still does today. sometime last fall, the loft opened a film called battle in seattle. it deals with the protests happening in seattle on november 30th, 1999, the same time in which the INB was gearing up for its debut. while watching the film, i kept thinking about the articles i read during this class. especially the one written by jennifer whitney since it hold a first hand account of the events that lead up to and took place on that day. the director made the very smart decision to incorporate real footage from protestors and news crews, and in the background you can see the INB marching but you can definitely hear them playing. it was a really great experience to see them on the screen, and see how they really motivated the crowd. you get that sense because of the readings as well as the powerpoint presentation, but to see it for longer then a few seconds makes it very clear and unarguable.
the idea behind the Infernal Noise Brigade of being the dope propaganda is great. they are reclaiming public space and actually making them for the people. the street is their venue instead of being in some gallery or museum space. it makes it more accessible for the masses, and is also really the only setting that this could really take place. anywhere else would just be odd, since they are trying to break up the differences created between art, politics and everyday life. there shouldn’t be any kind of division between these things, because all of them happen daily and need one another to grow.
this time around i found the second article, affective composition and aesthetics: on dissolving the audience and facilitating the mob, to be much more interesting then the one written by jennifer whitney. i think its because it focuses more on the principals of political art instead of a personal account of the event. not that that isn’t interesting as well, but this one feels more insightful then it did the last time i read it.
what i found most interesting about this is the idea of performance and how it can be used in different ways. what the INB does is break down the barrier between performance and art by taking music off the stage and into the crowd. they are no longer on that pedestal, and there is no longer a focal point. instead, the crowd becomes the focal point and everyone there is involved with the action instead of passively watching, they’ve become apart of the experience. they have used the idea of the spectacle to their advantage, by doing these lively performances they draw attention the themselves and their message. “In order for political speech to cause affective resonance, conditions must exist for the audience to be able to identify with the speaker as well as possess a capacity to affect and be affected.” they help create this kind of environment.
Political art is political not just through its content, but also in the way in which it is designed to work with or against the conventional circulation of ideas, images, and relations. In other words, forms of street art are not subversive simply because of the fact that they occur in the street, but rather because they unfold relations that resist the over-coding operations of the art institution and commodity production.
i think that the INB uses this idea of political art beautifully, and can be seen just in the pure fact that they are a marching band. for many people, their first associations with the marching band comes from war time and its use to motivate solders. they have re-appropriated what a marching is and can by, by using to help revitalize those who are protesting. it is still used as a motivator, but the audience it is targeting is much different then what it used to be. also, the kinds of music they draw inspiration from is from across the world which creates a multicultural experience. by using music styles from anywhere and everywhere, it is a way of connecting people and making them apart of something bigger.
the Infernal Noise Brigade does an amazing job at incorporating the people around them into their performances. i love the idea of interrupting routine with music. but especially, i enjoy how much fun they all seem to be having. they want to provide energy for the crowd and do so not only through their music but the positive energy they exude.
Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: "end of the world", american, concern, election, politics, speech, upset
this election is going to make me loose my mind.
seriously, this sarah palin shit is totally absurd. i watched her acceptance speech and feel sick. not just because of the words coming out of her mouth, but because of her supporters. i found it on youtube, and it was posted by “ChristEndTimes,” yeah…it’s the end of the world. and then the comments listed below freak me out because it makes me feel like they have a shot of actually winning.
is middle america really this ignorant?
Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: bombs, ephemeral, monies, opinion, politics, public, walking
when the iraq war began in 2003, i was a sophmore in high school. it took me awhile to figure out where exactly i stood on the issue. my father supported the president while my mother didn’t take much of a stance either way. friends at school were mostly apathetic but a few took a firm stance against it. i decided to do my own research since i don’t believe it is acceptable to take a side without knowing as much of the facts as possible. after extensive research on a convincing reason(s) why we were entering this war that i found nothing. at least no solid answer that swayed me to take the supportive side. and that is when my political activism began, the spring semester of my junior year. i did everything i could to stay informed and attended anti-war and peace rallies whenever i could. this continued right up until my first year of college, when the news stopped becoming as important and making time to protest was becoming harder and harder. and then this assignment, as well all the readings provided, came along and served as the motivation to get going again.
i found this website: nationalpriorities.org which allows you to see how much money the country, your specific state and even town, has spent on the iraq war. the numbers are astounding and i felt like they needed to be shared. also, i drew inspiration from the ”eyes wide open” piece. i think that seeing a mass amount of anything makes people feel overwhelmed as well as forces them to deal with it. which is what i wanted to do, and hope it was accomplished.
for this piece, i took play money and wrote statistics i had found on the nationalpriorities website. i then placed them in high traffic areas that blocked the normal route someone would take. this was meant to force the person to interact with it, to decide wither to leave it or destroy it, to walk on it or over it. i did this all early in the morning as to avoid being seen, and used my lomo fish-eye camera since it is less conspicuous then an slr with a tripod. i went back later in the day to see what was left up and what was taken down and was pretty surprised with the outcomes. especially since i had no expectation of seeing anything when i returned.
though not as many people saw them as i would have liked, i’m happy to know that they were at least out in the world. that it was at least read by the person who had to pick them up and hopefully recycle them. that some sort of discussion can be had about this wasteful spending.
