Final

Web 1.0 - static/cant be changed
Web 2.0 - O' Reilly, conference       Able to be contributed to/interactive
Web 3.0 - semantic web (systems make decisions based on lots of factors/machine thinks for you)/what are our possibilities? Cloud computing (information is stored in the cloud) The shrinking of devices.

CATFISH
Open source and crowd-sourcing - tried to build a new idea for a social media (catfish)
Whither the Individual - conforming or creating individuality
Folksonomy and the Folks - Rise of amateur media.  Does the professional media's value go down and the amateur media become okay

Exit through the gift shop - anonymous and illegal art (makes it cooler and better?)
Tactical media art

Reality Entertainment Rises/associate to both films (catfish/Exit through..)

Vector Art - mathematical coordinates on a grid
anchor points - dots/actual coordinates
paths - lines connecting anchor points
stroke - line weight
fill - color inside shape

When would you choose illustrator over photoshop - used for graphic images and text/SCALABLE
vector to bitmap - Rasterizing
bitmap to vector - vectorizing

Exit Through the Gift Shop Response

                What if you were to be placed into a party setting for a comfortable and respected job and you say “hello” to your co-worker, who is accompanied by a friend. The group, including you, engages in a conversation to which you ask the co-worker’s friend, “So, what is your occupation?” The friend replies, “I am an artist.” Suppose you are a fan of art and find it fascinating so you dig deeper into the conversation and ask what kind of art they do. The friend replies back, with a small grin on their face, “I am a graffiti artist and tend to deface buildings and speak out against political ideas for the sake of art and its beauty.” What would be your individual thoughts, feelings and emotions at the time? How do you feel about beautiful and creative art that is completely illegal?

            These are the questions that circulate in your mind as you watch “Exit Through the Gift Shop” a documentary film that is shot by Thierry Guetta and directed by Banksy. Thierry Guetta has one obsession in the documentary: filming. He takes his video camera wherever he goes, whether it is a family outing, entertainment, or even the bathroom. This obsession is what actually creates the film. Guetta takes a trip to France, where he was born, and finds out that his cousin is involved with an underground movement in graffiti art. He begins to follow his cousin, “Space Invader”, around the city at night filming while “Invader” puts up his signature mosaic art. He eventually brings his cousin to Los Angeles where they meet with another graffiti artist, Shepard Fairey, and inspired by the beauty and risk; Guetta decides to make a documentary about street art.

            For Guetta to create a documentary on street art, he needed to meet different artists and film their stunts. However, there was one artist that seemed unreachable, which made Guetta pursue even harder. Banksy was the elusive artist that had been tagging buildings and signs all over the world and when Guetta heard of Banksy’s arrival in Los Angeles, he jumped at the opportunity to film him. Thierry began to follow Banksy around the country. Eventually, Banksy sparked interest in the life of Guetta and the documentary became about Thierry Guetta, directed by Banksy.

            In “Exit Through the Gift Shop”, Banksy was a shade-like figure that roamed mysteriously through cities with much to say about politics and social structure/ideas. Throughout the entire documentary and still to this day, Banksy has stayed anonymous. The posed question is: What does the anonymity of Banksy say to the audience and to the ideas behind his work? Banksy is a very entertaining character and the question of who he is, makes him that much more entertaining. There is a fixation in society, about finding out the real truths. This is the reason for conspiracies television shows, spoilers for movies, and different religions. Everyone has their own opinions and they are always looking for ways to prove their opinion into fact. This is the same idea with Banksy. Once targeted as a certain person, people will care less because there is a lack for suspicion and wonder to go only with the name “Banksy”.

            The anonymity of Banksy is also a very well thought out way to relay the thought’s of Banksy, himself. Banksy does not want to be known and praised for his art work, so he stays anonymous, showing that he does not care about fame and fortune. He even says in the documentary that he is not looking for money or a surge in popularity, when talking about his first art show in the United States. He actually talks to Thierry about a plot to drop his earnings from a building for people to catch at the bottom. Anonymity equals passion; a passion for a certain person, place, or thing that is important and is done for pure entertainment. Banksy is an ideal figure with this ideal.

Grade Update

Bitmap Image Vectorized

Recreated Vector Art

Original

Created

Vector Art Proposal

2 Questions

1.     Andrew Keen defines democratized media the ability that everyone is able to contribute something to the internet. New ideas, thoughts, comments, and styles can be produced by whoever wants to. One of his main issues with democratized media is that it is destroying culture. Having people righting rumors or creating bad art helps to diminish the culture in which we live in. Another main point is that the democratized media is ruining business for artists. Stealing art and music is very prevalent on the web and it takes away from the money that artist may gain. File sharing is a very popular idea on the web right now. Rapidshare is one of these servers.

2.     Douglas Rushkoff and Andrew Keen are both worried about social media and how it relates to society, but the different in what aspect of society they focus on. Andrew Keen is more interested in the public and how they interact with social media and Douglas Rushkoff is more concerned how the internet is ran by people as a corporation. Andrew Keen's ideas certainly speak to me more. I feel the artist's woes when they get their music ripped off of a file sharing server. It is not fair to their hard work they have put in to make the album. Also the fact that the internet is now ran by amateurs is very true. Amateurs help to make the internet an unsafe and unorganized.