Concept over Craft?

I came across an interesting article today in the guardian about artist Damien Hirst, who has recently admitted he would not be on the concept beats craft side if he was initially talented enough to be a good painter. I find it quite amusing that Hirst has made a good living out of making pieces of conceptual 'modern art' that he agree's shouldn't really be classed as 'real art' at all. I do agree that preserving a dead animal in a display box shouldnt really be classed as great art because it doesnt really involve any true talent, despite whatever "concept" Hirst has put behind the pieces of this kind. I think that alot of "modern art" these days is a bit of a charade but on the other hand I think the honest talent of the 'old master' painters has been lost in the modern day. It is a shame though that he really wants his work to be compared with the great painters of the past but he is just simply not very good at painting! I think he probably should have kept this fact to himself however, because since Hirst is never going to be the great painter he desires to be he has gained all his money and recognition through what he is now claiming to be a mere replacement for art he simply isnt talented enough to produce!

here's the link to the article: http://www.guardian.co.uk/artanddesign/jonathanjonesblog/2009/oct/26/damien-hirst-modern-art

The New Nazi's

After all the controversy on the news this week about British National Party (a political party continuosly under scrutiny for racist views) leader Nick Griffin being on the panel of the BBC show 'Question Time' I decided to watch it! The BNP believe that Britain is for the British - jobs are for British people, housing is for British people etc. but where exactly does race come into "being British" not all Britons are white, many people of black or asian race are born and are as true British as any white person, one Asian man in the audience said "I was born here, educated here, where do you want me to go?" Britain is home to many races, we are a multi-cultural, diverse nation, an inviting country...and thats whats makes us...well Britain! As Jack Straw( MP also onthe panel) said "no one is true British" - we all have backgrounds that stretch to different cultures and races whether we have grown up in Britain our whole lives or not.

Although extreamly evasive and defensive initially at the questions being thrown to him, Nick Griffin said- in relation to cultural minorities- we are "shut out in our own country" but as he also claimed on the show he is christian - isnt being a christian a minority? Its certainly not the norm these days in modern Britain. Not that there is anything wrong whatsoever with being Christian but theres absolutly nothing wrong with belonging to any other religion or race either. Nick Griffin is in another minority - a very small one with his ridiculous, fascist views. Nick Griffin was also quizzed about why he said Islam was a "wicked, viscious faith" and in responce he claimed it was because he disagree's with woman being treated as 2nd class citizens which is so hypocritical - yes its wrong to take a group of people (in this case woman) and treat them as lower group of people than another but this is exactly the kind of thing his party stands for, it might not be woman they are treating like 2nd class citizens but its people who have contributed towards making Britain the country it is today and shoukd be treated on the same level as anyone else. As Chris Huhne (MP Liberal Democrats) rightly said "all of us find ourselves in a minority" we all have different views and belong to different groups- there is no 'ideal' British citizen.

At the end of the day, there are many immigrants who come to Britain for work - and although people argue this is unfair, many immigrants work harder and appreciate jobs far more than some "indiginous" Britons who sit on their ass recieveing benefits because they simply cant be bothered to get a job - it does happen, iv seen people around me like that. I do agree that immigration control has been a bit of a shambles as of late and Labour has failed in being efficient in this area. Maybe we could implement something similar to the US green card system or have people carrying proper ID cards?

Some members of the audience and panel believe that the BNP have only gained seats in parliament this year as a result of public backlash towards current goverment problems, people have voted out of frustration as opposed to actually agreeing with their policies and I agree. The only thing that Nick Griffin said that I actually agree with was we shouldnt have put soldiers in Iraq - fighting doesnt solve anything, not really, and people are just being pointlessly killed and nothing is being resolved.

When accused of being just like a "Nazi", Griffin replied by saying "Im not a Nazi, I never have been" - a washy answer like most of his but he isnt much different from a Nazi, he is fighting against groups of people who he feels do not belong here amoungst "ordinary" Britains - whats ordinary about that view!? I dont see the point in people getting too worked up about this however, they seem to strive on people's reactions, it gives them more coverage, I wasnt even that familiar with the policies of the BNP before this week - its highly unlikely the BNP will ever have much control in the running of the British govenrment....and thank god for that!

info and links about the show can be found here :) twitter.com/bbcquestiontime

Autumn?

I was reading an article today about combating climate change on the online Guardian website and it reminded me of a conversation me and my mum had the other day. We were talking about how the seasons all seem to have blurred into each other now (we seem to miss out the majority of summer) When I was a bit younger the sun was always shining in "summer" and snow fell in winter, but now we get a few days a year that we can barely call summer and snow appears in April! I remember being taught about the seasons in primary school, we would make bright colourful pictures in the summer and snowy xmas cards in the winter. But what do we teach children now that the seasons are barely separated from one another? When does summer end and autumn begin? Afterall its a bit unfair to psych children up for a white christmas when snow doesnt come until the latter part of "spring". Obviously teaching children about the seasons its a tiny part of this global problem. We need to seriously crack down on carbon emission and other contributing factors to the global warming thats slowly but surely altering our planet for the worst. Money needs to be invested by the government if we are "to show we are serious about enabling the massive transformation to clean future we'll be in touble without" (guardian). Serious investments need to be made if we are going to save the future of the planet, not just cash investments but investments in a new ways of life, we cant continue as a global nation to use more resources that we have or give off more carbon than the world can cope with. Clearly some countires have a much larger carbon footprint that other and we do need to see bigger changes from the big offenders but when it comes down to it we all need to pull together and try and tackle this together. The sad thing is everyone knows this, everyone knows something has to be done, everyone can see that the planet is in far from perfect condition but not enough is being done. We need to "think big" not just as designers but as a whole global nation, we need some big changes to happen if we are ever going to sustain our planet for future generations and ... I want summer back!

The Guardian article can be found here: :)

http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/cif-green/2009/oct/20/combating-climate-change-funds

Tattoo

Its 3 weeks today since I got my very first tattoo. Iv been really wanting a tattoo for the past few years so I eventually picked a nice small swallow to get tattoo'ed on my right foot. I absolutly love it, although its safe to say I will not be getting any more! I thought long and hard about what I was getting and where - its easy to cover up and its nothing that has a meaning that could change. There's nothing worse than seeing someone plastered in a tattoo that you know they are gonna regret by the time they are 30! It was pretty painful to get done, Im not gonna lie...but It wasnt unbareable and actually not as bad as I expected. It was healing good for the first week, I kept it clean done everything you are "supposed" to do to keep it healing well. Its started to get itchy after this...I mean, I know they are supposed to be a little itchy in the healing process but this was unbareable - cant sleep or think kind of itchy! By the second week I had a massive rash right around the tattoo and in the following days it spread right over both legs and my other foot, the rash was very raised and looked hideous! Turns out Im allergic to my tattoo....I never even knew it was possible to be allergic to a tattoo...but of course in typical Ruth fashion im one of a small handful of people who have bad reactions to being inked! After researching tattoo allergies online I discovered that red ink is the only colour that is not yet hyopallergenic (my tattoo has the tiniest amount of red in it). Red ink also apprently contains an element of the metal nickel. Nickel is the same metal that is in cheap earrings and other nasty cheap jewellery. I dont really have any other allergies but I remember always being very sensitive to cheap earrings - they would always be extreamly irritating and I'd have to take them out. I have my ears pierced several times and have worn the same silver earrings in them for years for this reason. I never even considered this when thinking about getting a tattoo though! Its interesting that all the other colours of ink have been developed into hypoallergenic versions to stop this kind of reactions from happening - I wonder why red is the colour that still isnt developed in this way. Maybe its something I could look into at some point as a Design student. I went to the doctors about it (they are very un-sympathetic and gave me the "well its your own fault" kinda attitude- I guess they're right!) Im currently on a course of anti-biotics and anti allergy pills to help clear up the inflammed scabby mess that is my legs and feet! Its got alot better over the past few days but because my tattoo is obviously permanent, it might flare up again at any point in my life which is annoying as its really uncomfortable. So just a little warning...not only should you be careful about what you get tattoo'd on your body for life....you should make sure you're not gonna be allergic to it for life too!

Brainstorm

Mind Map Madness!

I was given an assisgnment in Design Studies to do two mind maps based around "The Tipping Point" by Malcolm Gladwell. At first I was a little worried as I had read the book a couple of months ago and wasn't sure If I would remember a great deal! As I started discussing it with friends though, it all came flooding back! I actually really enjoyed the book - I was intregued that the same general principles applies to an epidemic of shoes to an epidemic of STD's! I used Tony Buzan's mind map technique which is effecive in creating mind maps quickly that are simple in structure but also cohesive when looking back on them later. The first mind map was a basic overview of the book. I looked at each chapter and the key ideas included within them. The second mind map was to be focused on one specific chapter. I chose 'The Power of Context'. I found it so interesting that specific details in a persons surroundings, however small, can drastically shape their behaviour. The story of the 'Good Samaritan' was of paticular interest to me. The story describes an experiament conducted on a group of seminarians who were each asked individually to prepare a talk on a 'biblical theme' and walk to a nearby building to present it. Some students were asked to talk about the good samaritan story and all were given a questionnaire with related theological questions. On the walk to the building the students each passed a man 'slumped in an alley, head down, eyes closed, coughing and groaning'. The experiamentors were asked to tell some of the students leaving for the presentation that they were running a bit late and to hurry and others were told they had some time to spare. None of the other factors seemed to make any difference on the students playing the good samaritan themselves exept lateness - If the students were told they were running late they majority hurriedly passed by the victim without helping at all. I find it astonashing that compassion for helping someone in obvious distress is completely abandoned by being told you're running a little late for a presentaion, although I find myself wondering if I might have acted the same in that sitution.
I like how Gladwell gave real-life example like this throughout the book, they were all very interesting and helped greatly to show the principles of epidemics that he was discussing in real situations. It was also helpful that Gladwell picked up on earlier ideas throughout the whole book to make each principle make sense in the contexts he was describing. I really enjoyed "The Tipping Point' and I would definitly recommend it.

whale and wool

Wants to cry a little right now since I just typed a huge post and my crazy laptop decided to die before I posted it :( So gonna keep take two short and sweet! Got part two of one of our projects last week(part one was materials and i had WOOL) . We each had to pick a foodstuff out of a hat (graphics are pretty keen on getting us to do that but I like it because we all end up with something we probably wouldnt have chose oursleves - keeps it interesting!) As you can guess the foodstuff werent your everyday kind of foods, I ended up with WHALE. I wasnt overly enthusiastic about it at first because being a vegetarian im not too keen on researching into how animals are killed for food, its not normally something I would look into. Im really getting into it though and I find it so interesting that some nations are repulsed by the thought of eating whale but for example in Japan eating whale meat isnt completly uncommon and as it says in the brief "one person's delicacy, someone else's poison". It is horrible though how these beautiful animals are being killed in their thousands when their meat could be easily subsituted by beef or pork - which is readily available without affecting the existance of the animals. Im trying to cover the topis from many angles as I can in the time we have (which isnt much considering it is one of 5 briefs we have running at once!) including history, culture, nutritional information, whaling, art, packaging - to give myself plently to work from for part 3! :)