The Birth of Fluxus

Rene Block coined the term fluxism to refer to the idea of eternal transition and the core philosophy that animates fluxus. Fluxus, appropriately emerged during the era of electronic music and video around 1962. This was a shifting point of world views. Fluxus is constructive and founded on the principles of creation and transformation and its central methodseeks new ways to build.In Europe, Japan and the United Statesseveral artists had been working in parallel art forms and pursuing many of thee same ideas in therir artwork. there was an art show called the Fluxus Festival and the participants in the festival came tio be known as the Fluxus group. John Cage was a professor teaching at New School in the late 1950sand early 1960s and influeced his students in the ideas of Fluxus. there are 12 criteria for Fluxus : Globalism, Unioty of art and life, intermedia, experimentalism, Research orientation, chance, playfulness, simplicity, implicativeness, exemplativism, and specificity. Most fluxus work is ephemeral as an analysis of time. Musicality refers to the favct that many nfluxus works are designed as scores, with exact instructions of how to do the art piece second by second. George Maciunas is central to Fluxus but thinkning of him as the central figure in fluxus is a mistake. George was the central organizerand sometimes the chairman of fluxus but loosened the idea of central control and was more interested in spreading Fluxus as an artistic action rather than determining the terms of fluxus. What is unique about the Fluxus movement wwa that it was named that by members of the group and not an outsider like an art critic. Fluxus has happened and continues to happen.
The most interesting part of Fluxus is its relation to real life. However, life is not controlledand mapped out. My understanding of fluxus is that it is a manipulate version of life taht iws minultly observed. Fluxus has a way of understanding our mortality and human time in segments rather than time as a large abstract concept. The idea of controling time is one tha thumna beings have chased since the beggining of time and Fluxus, though seemingly unusual, does not seem to deviate very far from this human longing.

Stop motion results

I finished my video I am not happy with it because I cant figure out what kind of music to put to it because there are so many different feelings all going on in one video. There really isn't a good "theme song" I guess. Its about several stories that are made up by looking at the stars. Its called Constellation and I am happy with it other than the sound part.

Change of idea

Sooooo... My original ideas were not practical. I tried doing the dog idea but the dog is so fat and floppy that he is difficult to manipulate without the strings showing or without also taking a picture of someone manipulating the dog. New plan: A piece of cardboard, painted black, and hundreds of white push pins. The push pins will be moved one by one to create a scene. I guess the idea is that push pins are used to display information, but in my video they become the information (visual information). IDK. I thought it was cool. I'm crossing my fingers.

My Setting Pics!

Ch. 13 Aspects and Elements of Time

Time is critical in art and design and if composed well, can create profound and memorable experiences. There are four basic units to sequential structures: frame, shot, scene and sequence. There are four major ways in which shots can be related: graphic relationship, spatial realtionship, temporal relationship and rhythmic relationship. There are four main ways of transitioning from shot to shot or scene to scene: cut, fade, dissolve, and wipe. For comic books there are more transitions like, action-to-action, subject-to-subject and scene-to-scene. There is also non-sequitar transitions, moment-to-moment, and aspect-to-aspect transitions. There are six major elements of time design: duration, tempo, intensity, scope, setting and chronology.
Determining an appropriate duration and tempo of the film and matching it with an appropriate duration of the plot is crucial to the power of the story. The intensity of the story can be determined by the tempo but also by the emotion and passion portrayed in the scope of the scene. A great example of the use of time and all its elements in a powerful work is the movie, Schindler's List. I have never actually seen the movie, but even the description of the scenes and the transitions used, build up an intensity and a compassion for the stories of the people in the film. The symbolism of the little girl in the red coat is powerful and heartbreaking merely by the description of the film. I am definitely watching it this weekend.

My ideas for a stop motion project!!!

This is a picture of the cutest hamster in the world! Her name is Pumpkin and she is a Winter White Dwarf Hamster (in the winter her fur turns white). She is extremely hyper and what is so hilarious and at the same time annoying (its annoying because she makes the wheel rattle and she is most hyper at night when I am trying to sleep), is her on her exercise wheel. She runs for the sake of running and she goes nowhere. What I would like to do is take several photos of her in her cage as she runs, stops, drinks water and runs again with such determined focus and determination to run nowhere. I guess this is such a strange concept because for me running for running seems stupid. In a stop motion video it will appear like the wheel is not moving at all but she is still running. Because the wheel is a circle and is therefore the same on all sides it will appear to stand still because it will be contrasted against Pumkin's motion.
Another idea is to feature a really cute stuffed animal that I got for my boyfriend for Christmas. ITs the cutest dang thing I have ever seen. Its a dog that is so fat it is literally a ball of fluff and it has tiny ears and legs and a tiny tail that could not possibly support its weight if the dog were real. Its eyes look so sad and it just calls for you to hug it which is very much like a real dog. My idea is to place the dog on the bed with My BF, Matt. Matt will get up in the morning and go downstairs. the dog will "wake up" and search for its "master". The dog has a one track mind. It is lonely and needs love, so he searches for Matt everywhere until he actually finds him and leaps with joy! Hurray!

Ch. 5 Cultivating Creativity

Rather than waiting to be inspired, we can be proactively creative by taking upoon 7 charateristics of creative thinking: receptivity, curiosity, having a wide range of interests, attentiveness, seeking connections, conviction and complexity. People who think creatively are receptive to new ideas in order to solve a problems and learn from listening to others.They also ask lots of questions and research topics they are curios about to make a better design based on what they find. It is also important to have a wide range of interests rather than to only focus on one area of interest. Paying attention to minor details helps to develop and understanding of available possibilities. Creative thinkers make connections between 2 seemingly opposite things. New ideas are often created from old ideas. It is important to acknowledge the past and then ask how could it be improved? To become a great creativ ethinker, one must combine rational thinking with intuitive thinking. By combining these two, balance is created between energy and rest, savvy and innocence, responsibility and playfulness, risk-taking with safe-keeping etc... Goal setting is an important because it makes a sense of purpose and pushes creativity to new heights. Good goals are challenging but attainable, are compatible and work together, things that are self directed and in your control, specific and clearly defined, and temporary. Time management is a big factor in completing goals. Choose the goal, prioritize your time and make a habit of working in the most efficient way possible. Do not wait to be instructed to do so, but take the initiative.
A creative person's mind is full of dichotomy. Creative people give long hours to hard work, but then understand what it is to fully relax. Creative people are responsible but playful and silly. When I read this section in chapter 5 it was like I was reading a book on me. I have the characteristics of a creative person but stil have trouble at times thinking creatively. My theory concerning this problem is based on another excerpt from chapter 5 "When in doubt, crank it out". Normally I try to get all my ideas and research perfect before beginning a project and having the perfect plan. However, i hsve found that if I wait until I have the perfect plan, I never start and i become increasingly dissappointed with my ideas. Fear is the biggest setback. Fear that the idea I planned in my mind is not going to be executed as precisely and flawlessly when I create my art. I am a great goal setter most of the time. Sometimes I create goals that are not possible for me, like giving myself too much to do in avery short amount of time. These are the 2 things that hinder my creative process the most and it is interesting how the book addresses these topics in a very systematic fashion.