Saturday, 28 February 2009

Research

Adbusters

Based in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, Adbusters is a not-for-profit, reader-supported, 120,000-circulation magazine concerned about the erosion of our physical and cultural environments by commercial forces. Their work has been embraced by organizations like Friends of the Earth and Greenpeace, and has been featured in hundreds of alternative and mainstream newspapers, magazines, and television and radio shows around the world.


























The above images are from one of Adbusters campaigns on fashion.
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Buy Nothing Day
Suddenly, we ran out of money and, to avoid collapse, we quickly pumped liquidity back into the system. But behind our financial crisis a much more ominous crisis looms: we are running out of nature… fish, forests, fresh water, minerals, soil. What are we going to do when supplies of these vital resources run low?

There’s only one way to avoid the collapse of this human experiment of ours on Planet Earth: we have to consume less.

Buy Nothing Day UK

Put simply...
Saturday November 29h 2008 is Buy Nothing Day, It's a day where you challenge yourself to switch off from shopping and tune into life.
The rules are simple, for 24 hours you will detox from consumerism and live without shopping. Anyone can take part provided they spend a day without spending!

Buy Nothing Day is the biggest 24-hour moratorium against consumerism. People around the world will make a pact to take a break from shopping as a personal experiment or public statement and the best thing is - IT'S FREE!!!



Saturday, 21 February 2009

Negotiated Project Proposal

PHVP 2406
Research & Practice
In Still & Moving Image
Production

NEGOTIATED PROJECT PROPOSAL

Your Name……Alex Fleming…………………………………………………………………
(Please Print Clearly)

De Montfort University
Department of Imaging and Communication Design
_______________________________________

February 2009

1. What is the idea behind your project?
You need to consider and discuss the theme, topic, focus or perspective of your project and why you are interested in it.

My theme is consumerism and the focus is on marketing products, ideologies and lifestyles. I am interested in this topic as I am keen to examine the power multinational companies have over us, and our governments. I am also interested in looking at the incompatibility of consumerism with a sustainable lifestyle.

2. What do you want to achieve through this work?
Discuss your artistic and personal aims of your project and comment on how you think it is likely to affect the people who experience it.

Through looking at the way consumerism delivers its ideologies to us I want to explore the concept that our lives have been stolen from us, re-packaged and then sold back in convenient monthly instalments. I would like people who experience the work to take a look at their lifestyles and surrounding, and those around them, and ask themselves, “Are we getting a good deal?” and "Are we happy with the way things are?"

3. What is the context of the project?
You need to consider how your project relates to contemporary and/or historical theory and practice in the subject area.

This project relates to the work of a wide group of artists from Dada and Surrealism to pop artists such as Andy Warhol, Peter Blake and Jamie Reid.

4. What research and development strategy have you defined for the project?
How will you set about achieving the goals you have set for your project including your working methods, artistic, technical and ethical considerations?

I intend to spent the first 2-3 weeks researching and concentrating the idea, I then want to spend about 2 weeks looking at how to create and display the work, this includes technical aspects and costing. The final 3- 4 weeks will be spent creating the work.

5. How feasible is the project?
Identify the risks/problems that might arise in the development of you project and provide a proposed timetable of activities. This will enable both you and your tutor to monitor progress.

The only problem I can think of at the moment is the possible use of copyrighted images.



Week - Activity

1 - Research subject and look for image ideas.

2 - Research subject and look for image ideas.

3 - Research subject and look for image ideas.

4 - Look at how the work will be created and displayed.

5 - Look at how the work will be created and displayed.

6 - Create work

7 - Create work

8 - Create work



6. What are the influences that have helped you in thinking about the project?
Provide a bibliography of reference materials in an alphabetical list. This can include but is not limited to:
· Written material from books, journals, articles and conference contributions or interviews.
· Digital and broadcast media.
· Performance and or live presentations.
· Artefacts, designs or exhibitions.
· Films, videos and other presentations.
· Advisory reports.
· Archival or specialist collections.


Books and Pamphlets

Photomontage - Dawn Ades
Warhol - Klaus Honnef

20th Century Dreams - Nik Cohn and Guy Peellaert
Hieronymus Bosch - Gregory Martin

Advertising Photography - Allyn Salmon
Bits of the Unfairy Tale - Danbert Nobacon
Surrealism - Patrick Waldberg
The Media Students Book - Gill Branston and Roy Stafford



7. Additional information
Include any further details, which you feel are relevant to the successful completion of your project that havn’t been covered in the previous sections.