Morbid Daily

Morbid Daily as I've written about already in this blog is a concept for a mobile app that would be dedicated to rehashing pasted atrocities that have occurred during human history. Along with the history it would also cover ongoing events throughout the world. It would serve as a platform for remembering the past and aiding the present. Throughout my research I have been looking at Noam Chomsky and his work of Media manipulating the masses this was major inspiration. This app would be dedication to conveying unaltered information.  Many inhuman acts have been overlooked or over all forgotten over the course of human history this app would hope to change that.

The app would look like any other news feed with events that had occurred that day. Users would then have the option of clicking on said events and opening a more detailed view. There would be several tabs including one with the historical account, one where victims or relatives of victims could retell their story, a comments section where discussions could take place. New material would be user contributed but would be moderated first a team of historians then as time progresses trusted user moderation. The app would start with a pool of stories nearly each day of the year and would later be user contributed but would be moderated before upload. 

As well as past events there would be a part of the app dedicated to ongoing events called Morbid Now which would be a part of Morbid Daily. The app would work as a source of information and a place discussion. Morbid Now would be a member unique feature that would also serve as a method of recording and documenting ongoing events. Morbid Now would have the ability to record and automatically send the video to the users account and in certain circumstances when enabled to Morbid's database for review by a dedicated team. In areas where internet access is unreliable of nonexistent users can upload an video via MMS with message subject their specific account number. Though it wouldn’t be as streamlined because the inability to instantly upload when the video finishes recording but still an feature I see being used. If the video entailed evidence of wrong doing would be uploaded onto the ongoing event site and the relative authorities for further evaluation. The ability to do so in a world were increasingly people have access to smartphones and mobile internet in my opinion will be very useful to fight attempted sensor ship. The ability to almost instantly upload a video after recording in order to ensure to tampering or destruction of evidence is key in a modern world. I predict that this app with mostly be used by lowkey jpurnalists to get their story accross Because not always the story they want to say is published but rather put out of context or ccensored by the interests of the publisher. 

    


   Examples

East Timor

East Timor was then invaded by Indonesia shortly after Portugal abruptly left, in 1975. This was the day after U.S. President Ford's visit to Indonesia, with what people have suspected as being a "green light" to invade. At that time, Indonesia had military, economic and political support from countries such as UK, USA and Australia, for various reasons including the oil and gas reserves, a strategic location, various trade and cheap labor related interests. 200,000 people are said to have been killed since 1975 one third of the entire East Timorese population.

                                                  

Soviet Union and Chechens 

On February 23, 1944, the entire population of Chechens and Ingush were ordered to local party buildings where they were informed they were being deported for helping the Germans. Anyone who could not be transported for some reason was to be shot immediately. In one such instance, 700 people were locked in a barn that was burned to the ground. Experts believe up to 50 percent of the Chechen population died during what is commonly referred to as “Operation Lentil.”

Nigeria 1960

One of the largest groups in the area, the Igbo, decided to secede from Nigeria and form the Republic of Biafra. The Nigerian government immediately launched a campaign to retake the oil-rich breakaway region. From 1967, when the Republic of Biafra was formed, to late 1968, a vicious civil war raged. The Nigerian government did everything they could to crush the fledgling nation. They even blocked food and water from getting into Biafra, contributing to the nearly 3 million lives lost in the civil war. Almost 5,000 died each day, most of them of Igbo descent.

I took an hour walk through my neighbor hood. This map represents the path i took. Each time i turned left of right i changed the direction of the line. The length of the line depends roughly how long I was walking in that direction. I was walking in the dejvice area at night and took time to absorb my surroundings. I tried to stray away from busy areas staying to the back streets. I timed the walk for exactly an hour.

Prague is covered in tags which is a form a visual smog. They serve no creative purpose  and clutter the city in destructive nonsense. In an anonymous survey made in New Zealand  found that 63% of graffiti writers were under the age of 21. So if we assume its even remotely similar in Czech Republic a very simple solution would be selling sprays and other permanent inks as a controlled product. Only selling these products to individuals over the age of 21. This would decrease the accessibility and thus there would be less incentive to commit acts of vandalism.

Just for a rough comparison this how it would look with the new law instated. Decreasing accessibility would possibly push  vandals to more productive thought provoking acts of vandalism that could add an interesting flair to a otherwise scribbled upon city.  

 

Cheap Housing or panelak as its known in Czech is for me visual smog. These started to appear during communism and still stand today. They are horrible structures that lack any creativity. Having lived in one for several years I can say its one of the most depressing places to live.

Le Corbusier 

1)Introduction
-An iconic image taken from the surface of mars of a sunset on the 19th of May, 2005.

2)Description
-This is a photo of a sun rise over a landscape. The landscape can barely be seen from the gloom of dusk. Culturally we are used to seeing pictures of dusk, yet this changes our notion of home because its eerily familiar to us yet worlds apart.

3)Iconography
-This is a image we are used to seeing on our planet. An undefined landscape with a rising sun.  I would say it was taken somewhere on earth.  Culturally we are used to seeing pictures of dusk, yet this changes our notion of home because its eerily familiar to us yet worlds apart. This image was taken on the surface of Mars by the Mars Rover. The sun is associated with life in many cultures present and past. There is something strangely poetic about this photo, such beauty in such a harsh and unforgiving place. Is this a snapshot of what earth will look like in the distant future. Once teeming with live now dead and baron.  Many believe that mars bore life far before earth. So does earth await the same faith. What does this image say about the future of humans as a species. One day we will venture away from our home toward a new one. Earth will be but a distant memory , a memory that will pass into legend and then into myth.

4)Iconology
-This image was taken to determine how high into the atmosphere dust rises, and to spot ice clouds over the Martian surface. Other images have shown that the twilight glow remains visible for up to two hours before sunrise or after sunset. The long twilight on Mars is caused by the sunlight that is scattered around to the night side of the planet by high altitude dust. Similar long twilights or extra-colorful sunrises and sunsets sometimes happen on Earth when dust grains that are erupted from volcanoes scatter light high in the atmosphere. With the planed missions to mars within the third decade of the millennium we as a species will be venturing further from home than ever before.  This image speaks about the next frontier of human exploration in the vastness of space. Traveling away from our home into the unknown.

5)Hard Classification

year: 2005

author: Mars Rover

place: Mars 

6) Way of Eye Contact

The beholder is connected with the similarity of the Martian landscape to Earths

7)Point of View

First Person Perspective

8)Way of Distance

Foreground landscape in darkness which draws the attention to the setting sun in the background surrounded by a blue light.

9)Direction of Examination

The image reads from the center where the sun lies to the foreground.

10)Modality 

This image was captured by a robot which says something about of humanities connection to space. We all fantasize but seldom  few will ever experience the journey but rather view it through those who are brave and fortunate enough to go where others dare not. 

  

Sexuality

 

News

Stories

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Visual Media

Through my evaluation of Vices THE MAGIC HOUR ISSUE volume #22 issue 4 I discovered that this edition has a good balance of stories that can appeal to a wide variety of readers. This specific issue was in my opinion geared towards men reader more than woman. They covered a wide range of topics however these topics could have been delved into further. Unlike most magazines that are about one thing for example The economist or Wired, Vice attempts to cover many issues which in some senses is good to have a variety of information but bad because most reader buy a magazine with a specific topic in mind. 3 out of 9 articles were blogs. Blogs in my opinion are not very good sources of information because they are written over such long periods of time that often they can become contradictory as the writers opinion changes. Overall I enjoy Vice but its not a source of information I necessarily trust.

While watching the black panther movie I was struck by a few things. The black panthers formed to protect black citizens against police brutality. Now a days we see the same trend. We see every day reports of police brutally arresting and even killing people specifically African Americans. The panther is a creature who will never attack but defend itself this is why they . Agnes Varda's 1968 documentary on the black panthers provide a first hand window into their culture. It covers the free Huey campaign. It was interesting the feeling of getting in touch with their roots. Not straightening their hair but rather letting the natural afro grow. Not trying to blend in with white society but spreading and strengthening pure black culture . As the Black Panthers formed a rebel militia so today we see this trend except reverse. Since Obama came into power many whites have formed mistrust towards what they say is a black run government. Since the massacres that occurred over the last few years Obama has sought to change the 2nd Amendment. The 2nd Amendment is the right for citizens to bear arms against a tyrannical government. This did not go over well with the majority of gun owning Americans. Now we see in America the formation of white militias set up to fight what they call as the unavoidable clash that will occur if the government tries to confiscate their weapons. Where the black panthers stood against white brutality in a way now whites stand against what they see as black brutality. Seeing many interviews with people from middle America the notion was the same. Most blame Obama for the war in Iraq and Afghanistan. Which to me is quite ridiculous since the war was not started when Obama was in office but rather Bush. Many of white Americans blame the economic situation on Blacks and Hispanics saying that they have too much power in America and many are forming groups they say are to fight against this power.

This is what I chose to represent a political art piece. It is a work made by Blu in Portugal.  It portrays a business type sucking the oil from the earth through a straw. He is wearing a crown that is covered in the logos of oil companies. What Blu is expressing though this piece in my opinion is very strong.

In my opinion hes signifying that all these corporations work together to destroy our planet for profit. 

                                      Ecclesiastes 1:9

                           What has been will be again,
                             what has been done will be done again;
                                  there is nothing new under the sun.

For this assignment I chose a poem by Josef Brodsky. This poem is about communism and its effect on people and culture. I wanted to work with this poem in a visual way. So i started with the poem written out with a picture of barber wire as the background. I wanted to portray the distortion of truth through the generation. As stories move from person to person the story changes and gets distorted until it ends up having yes a similar structure but is different from the original. Thats what I attempted to do with this visual poem. There are three steps and at each step the initial meaning of the writing changes and become unrecognizable to anyone who does not know the original.

Morbid Daily

For my self directed project I thought up phone app called Morbid Daily. Since the beginning of human history there have been atrocities  . Morbid Daily is focused in reminding society of these horrible events in order that they do not repeat. The app would work similarly to the word of the day but rather than a word there would be specific events that happened that day in history. The application would be released with a a few hundred events spanning from the 1800's. The app would work similarly to Wikipedia, members would be able to add and edit events that would be edited by devoted historians. The app would also serve for a place were victims or decedents could connect and share stories of said events.The primary use of this app out to remind people of the mistakes of peoples so that history does not repeat itself.

Imitations of Life

October 95

            This part of the film speaks about jack. Being strictly used to sound in the womb suddenly Jack in flooded with visual stimuli. Every sensation is new to jack. Things that amaze jack would be petti to us. But yet jack is intrigued by the stuffed animal. To him there is no reason it shouldn’t be alive. It has all the elements in order to live but yet it doesn’t. To jack it is a testament that there must be something far more complex too life than having the correct amount of limbs to replicate the human body, but rather life lies in the human soul. The reference to the silver spoon means that he will not grow up wuth everything handed to him in life but will rather have to strive for things himself giving him more opportunities in life if he can fight for it. Jack sees something that no one else can . A glimpse into his own future.  For jack the future has a completely different meaning, for him the future is anything about to happen. Not capable of oversight he is free of worries of the distant future like most but rather takes it on moment at a time. Not expecting anything and getting everything.

Xmas

            “I miss Santa Claus rather than God. “ To me this means that she misses the bliss of being a child. The time before life gets tough. A happy state where one can experience true happiness. Jack is constantly changing because his personality is not quite set in stone yet. As a young child he is unable to mask his emotions life adults but rather looks how he feels. A pure expression of emotion untainted by the onset or reality. As one gets older we use our face as a mask. Putting it on every morning  and only taking it off then we are alone. Based on ones mask is how people see you. A mask can always be changed but what’s underneath cannot. The mirror stage for jack is the first time be will realize that he is bound to one body. That his collection or neural impulses and emotions is actually held within a single vessel. His mind is not bound by time yet, his thoughts can run free not dictated by moral stigmas but rather by morbid curiosity driving him endlessly forward to explore. Jack is a Noas Arch or personality. His personality is ever changing ever developing. His environment will dictate which attributes will be dominant and which will fall to the way side.

  

                                                   

  

Here I combined one advertisement for redbull and one against sleepy driving. I combined the two in Photoshop. The new advertisement to me says drink a red bull if your feeling sleepy might save a life. 

Fast food companies usually advertise their food with skinny attractive woman. But in reality these women never eat these kinds of foods. In this advertisement I wanted to convey the idea that you are what you eat. Often people are mislead by advertising and false branding like for example fat free items that have nearly three times the sugar added to compensate. Obesity is one of the top killers in the U.S. but many have no other options. Due to how inexpensive fast food is compared to the price of maintaining a healthy diet leading many to have no other options.

Memorial

For my memorial I chose to make a monument for Proti Ztrate Pameti. It is a campaign against forgetting the past of the Czech Republic. "We believe that the freedom that we have in our country for 25 years, is commonplace and it is important to weigh it - despite some problems that plague our contemporary society. Incidentally, many of them have their roots in the communist past, and therefore this year's campaign subtitle Communism still hurts . "

This campaign for me is very important because my family was ostracized by the communist regime. I would place this statue where Stalin Used to stand ant letna. 

Stalin's Monument (sometimes also derisively nicknamed "the queue for meat"^[1]) was a massive granite statue honoring Joseph Stalin that was unveiled on 1 May 1955 after more than 5½ years of work in Prague, Czechoslovakia. It was the world's largest representation of Stalin, and was destroyed in 1962.

The Metronome, the work of sculptor Vratislav Karel Novák, was erected in 1991 atop the massive stone plinth that originally served as the base for the monument to Soviet leader Josef Vissarionovich Stalin

"Unveiling of installation The Tears of Stalin (Stalin's tears) in Letná Park Silvie Markova.

According to her, it is part of the project director and artistic boss Vienna group Theatrecombinat Claudia Bosse, who called Explosion silence. Giant installation on a former largest statue of Stalin have "recalls the atmosphere of Prague during its installation and removal, will symbols promises and expectations of society after the revolution in 1989". Installing the public has politically irritating. The project was prepared even before it was determined that the Czech Republic will strike on Thursday.

This is my vision for a monument at Stalin. Here you have a figure shunning the past but still being connected at the same time. Not forgetting the past when looking towards the future. 

Semiotic Analysis
In this advertisement we see what could be someones home.There are not many  elements besides the lamp, the picture on the wall and the text.The text read "When you leave a light on You're not the only one that suffers.'' This draws you attention to the picture on the wall the shows ice melting with polar bears and penguins. This image tries to say that not only wasting power effects you financially but it has broader implications mainly habitat loss for Arctic animals. The lamp could be replaced my some other electric device. But i think the polar bears is what most people relate to the effects of global warming.

This a piece I am currently working on. It is a reflection of the Prague Party scene and specifically the techno scene. I would relate this work to http://www.blublu.org/sito/drawings/002/003.html who is one of my favorite artists. My vision for this work is to create a series and wheat paste them across Prague. I chose street art because its a very efficient way of getting visions across to greater audiences. I specifically chose this medium because I believe Prague has a scourge. And that scourge is tags and senseless graffiti. Young Czech society dont understand the violent and gang warfare where these tags and graffiti originated as a way to mark gang territory. I believe by doing this work I can inspire maybe one a few at first but to start filling the streets with interesting thought provoking art instead if the ugly meaningless mess they have created in the city.