Over and out!

Hurrah to all of you for topping off the semester with a long, substantial paper. It's truly been a pleasure learning alongside with you throughout the semester. I wish you the best in your future studies.

I do hope that the next time you stand before an Old Master painting at an art museum; notice a surveillance camera staring down at you when you thought you were "alone"; gaze at a photograph of yourself as a child; shove a videotape into the slot of a VCR; or get closer to someone through email--you think of the films and readings we covered together in class!

A few last loose threads:

Please check back on the Learning to Love You More website to see your classmates' posted assignments. Your responses to the site are fascinating--you both take up the spirit of the project and offer challenges to it. What is it like to have your self-expressivity compelled by a "double" assignment? To have it dislocated from the intimacy of your private, personal space and thrust into the public, collective space of the website?

Finally, just for kicks, take a look at the following music videos. Music videos are such a glossy, ephemeral, and concise compression of what is swirling around in the popular imagination. Like advertising, I think they provide a snapshot of the cultural tropes and representational styles of the moment. You might enjoy the ones below that resonate with some of the themes of the class:

Can technology be as organic as the human body? Is Bjork naked or nude?
http://www.bjork.com/videogallery/watch.php?video=17;size=large
http://www.bjork.com/videogallery/watch.php?video=16;size=large

Does the reproduction change the status of the original?
http://mcms-delivery.virtuebroadcasting.com/deliverMedia.asp?id=C318701C-741E-4EB9-B684-0C63B35BBBEA

What if the hallucinatory machinic visions of Busby Berkeley infiltrated everyday life?
http://www.thechemicalbrothers.com/disco/videos/forever/medium.html

Response to Learning to Love You More

Browse the website Learning to Love You More by artist Miranda July and Harrell Fletcher:

http://www.learningtoloveyoumore.com/

and offer your responses. How is the relationship to media technology articulated in this art project different from the ones suggested by some of the other texts we've examined in class? For extra-credit, do one of the assignments and post a full description of what you did and your reflection on the process.

***Sorry, this post somehow didn't appear on the website until Sunday even though I posted it on Friday (thanks, Candice, for alerting me to this problem). So to adjust for lost time, your comments are not due until class on Wednesday. By the way, excellent job on your essay presentations. I am excited to see so many percolating ideas and hope that the provocative intersections between many of your topics provide seeds for fruitful exchanges. One note, remember to keep your presentations to *5* short and sweet minutes, so that we have adequate time for feedback.