Art/Design Superflex, M/M, Rick Poyner, Experimental Jetset, Kees Dorst--------Combined

Design and Art have always shared a common ground. Some say that Art is Design and others think it is vice versa. In the older times Art and design were one and the same. There are many visually and practically stunning pieces from these times where design fundamentals and art fundamentals worked in unity. Earlier modernist, such as Laszlo Moholy-Nagy, mentioned in Experimental Jetset, wanted to implement on this idea of uniting art and the everyday. This synthesis of art and design would discard the idea that art is just an added decorative layer. Instead, art would be fully integrated in every activity that we participate in. This makes much sense as art and design usually departs from each other along the lines of mere "function". Kees Dorst mentioned how "artist do not aim for any practical application but strive to influence the feeling or thinking of an audience." And she also nailed this subject of design/art when she stated that "artists have effectively turned their self-made challenge into a design problem."
What can be understood from the 2 aforementioned quotes is that designers can learn a great deal from artists and vice versa. This idea itself should be enough to suggest that the merging of art and design would be profitable to both sides of the party. By incorporating elements of art into design, designers can learn how to better influence the feeling and thinking of their audience. By incorporating design fundamentals into art or the processes of creating art an artist can learn to more effectively impose their self in their artworks.

Manifesto

"Philosophy is a play on words"
so they say.

that may seem as gloomy an insult as April showers
and yet is as beautiful as the flowers of may
I do not take that too lightly
hell,
by definition, the aforementioned quote is a play on itself
well,
Let us ask what is "definition", what is "philosophy"
What is "a"... what is "play"... what is "on"... what is "words"
I ask, most important of all what is "what"
WHAT is "IS"???

THEY SAY that
"is" confirms existence
that, I think therefore I am, I think therefore I is
does "I is" make sense?

it does in the southern USA

In this sense they are telling ME
that everything must be able to think and confirm their existence
else they don't exist at all,
What we perceive with our senses,
does not necessarily represent what "is:
IT'S ALL IN THE LANGUAGE
IF YOU DON'T UNDERSTAND MY LANGUAGE THEN YOU DON”T UNDERSTAND
ME

In a foreign land where I do not speak your language,
where I do not walk around confirming my existence do I really exist to you?
Because I cannot articulate my existence in your native "dialect"
(be it verbal or by means of any other senses)
I DON'T EXIST
I will assure you that this is an experience that all immigrants go through

"The foreigner's speech can bank only on its bare rhetoric strength, and the inherent desires he or she has invested on it...
I do what they want me to but it is not "me" (*1)

I spend so much time trying to do what "society" (this system) wants me to do that I lose sense of myself

I lose sense of who I am
That is the existence of an immigrant
DO I SOUND FAMILIAR TO YOU NOW?
In a society that is constantly shifting around us "are we not all foreigners"?
I AM A FOREIGNER
I DO SOUND FAMILIAR TO YOU,
I sound like...
...YOU
WE ARE ALL FOREIGNERS
foreigners, all bounded by our thurst for democracy.

"democracy involves the recognition, if not perpetuation of difficulty and disagreement." (*2)

Do YOU disagree?
curious?
Is it because I sound peculiar, strange?

"People's lives are haphazard paths that have no meaning and lead nowhere and which, for that very reason, are "curious" " (*3)

Let us not focus on OUR "haphazard paths" but on one another's

I have been misunderstood, way too often
I want to be understood
to be understood one must first understand
I will take the initiative to understand you
"One must follow in order to be followed" (*3)
But then if I follow you then I revert back to being an immigrant
a clone, a shadow, a robot...
I would not be James Kenley Morantus

"All our power is in what we can follow, in what we can attain with eyes closed" (*3)
So I will follow you with my eyes closed
You should do the same
I WILL FOLLOW YOU... YOU WILL FOLLOW ME!
*Following the other one replaces him, exchange lives, passions, wills, transform oneself in the other's stead. It is perhaps the only way man can fulfill himself" (*3)
Social equality, Democracy
That is the only way for man to fulfill himself

he must turn into himself while also following all others

I will not interpret your actions internally
I will ask you directly... WHY DO YOU ACT as such?
I will not only follow and interact with the public
I will allow the public to interact with me

Democracy is founded on public space that should be, essentially empty. (*4)

I will exchange lives, passions and wills with the public,
I will replace the public, rather;
I will become one with the public
I will empty myself
I will become an "empty public space"
"this emptiness will not belong to any individual or group" (*4)
it will be available to anyone who can bring meaning to it
YOU BRING MEANING TO MY LIFE

"To survive, the immigrant must establish a utopia, a "no-place" that is located in the present time, not hidden in the horizon of some idealized future." (*5)

I will make the "empty public space" MY UTOPIA
you should do the same
after all
we are all foreigners... all of us
each of us,
an immigrant to the future, the ever transforming public space
to each his own
to each his own "foreigner's" experience in the public space
my public space, my utopia,
your utopia, your public space
you have been following me all along
you have become me
Let us live one another's life EVERYDAY, in the public space,
our public space
let us become the PUBLIC SPACE
let us become the EVERYDAY

"It is in the everyday life and starting from the everyday life that genuine creations are achieved"...
..."The region where man appropriates not so much external nature but his own nature" (*6)

Every situation that I am faced with is derived from a previous choice
a choice that I made according to my "own values"
what if we all had the same values?
what is we all dwelled in each other's "public space"?
As a friend of mine once said;
"you are a blink of an eye in the sands of time" (*7)
Close your eyes, do not blink,
ELIMINATE AS MANY OF YOUR SENSES AS YOU CAN
"IN ORDER TO"
pay attention to me, empty your mind
become an "empty public space,"
so that I can become you
become one with time, become one with me,
If we are to understand each other we have to know that
we are all grains of sand in the hourglass that we call time

the clock is ticking,
many grains of sand have fallen through the connecting tube of the hourglass
...by death
let us not wait to fall through the tube in order to understand each other
To fall through the tube,
that is our final destination.

I will not live in fear, denying a final destination,
death
I will live just as the grains of sand in the hourglass
I will
I will not be afraid to follow, and in turn be followed
I will not be afraid of failure, there will be no doubts
for doubt IS The Enemy Of Success

THIS IS NOT PHILOSOPHY
THIS IS NOT A PLAY ON WORDS
THIS IS NOT ART
THIS
IS ART
YOU DO NOT UNDERSTAND ME!!!... “NOTYET”......

HOWEVER
YOU DO UNDERSTAND THAT WE ALL DIE
...ALL THE SAME!
YOU DO UNDERSTAND THAT WE SHOULD ALL LIVE THE SAME
YOU DO UNDERSTAND THAT WE SHOULD ALL DWELL IN EACH OTHER'S EVERYDAY
YOU DO KNOW THAT WE SHOULD ALL DWELL IN EACH OTHER'S "PUBLIC SPACE"
WHAT YOU ARE READING IS NOT A MANIFESTO
WHAT YOU HAVE JUST READ IS...

...ME...

...JAMES MORANTUS !

NOW,
WANT TO READ............. "YOU"

*1 Julia Kristeva, "Transitional Artifice"
*2 Patricia C. Phillips > Rosalyn Deutsche, "Creating Democracy: A Dialogue with Krzysztof Wodiczko"
*3 Sophie Calle, "Follow Me"
*4 Claude Lefort, "The Logic of Totalitarianism"
*5 Stephane Moses, "immigrant utopia"
*6 Henri Lefebvre, Clearing the Ground
*7 Your very own Z JAY

ATTENTION??!!

For my "PUT SOMETHING HERE" project I made a poster of myself and put a note on it with the following words: ATTENTION--- IF YOU SEE THIS STUDENT PLEASE TEXT US HIS LOCATION AT 201-680-8042". For the experiment I wore the same jacket I would place the poster somewhere in a public domain and I would sit or stand in a close proximity to it. In such a way that the viewer would see the poster and be able to see me at the same time.

wanted 2, originally uploaded by Jersonx3000.

What Does Nature Have to Do With Design?

I believe it was Buckminster Fuller who argued that "Nature is always most economical". His main point was that designers have to turn to nature as a point of reference. This is the same idea that is presented by Susan S. Szenasy. It is very interesting how both Fuller and Szenasy made key points such as technology, nature, and power structure. Szenasy quoted that "we should see the world as a system of relationships modeled on nature's own systems." This calls for designers to consider the sustainability factor of nature. Nature's system functions in a harmonious cycle or rather "everlasting" cycle. It is as if every act of nature that occurs today always has tomorrow in mind, and tomorrow will happen with the thought of he next day and so on. In this sense every living being in nature is part of a system, and humans (specifically designers) need to figure out how to work with the thought of tomorrow in mind.
A designer is an advocate and revolutionary, there is no socio-economic force too strong for a brave designer. The designer is supposed to stand for other humans. "To ameliorate the human condition" that is the primary goal of the designer; and there is no better teacher of amelioration then nature. Designers must learn to "work from nature, with nature and for nature." This is the best way for designers and human in general to become responsible and effective.

Sweatshop VS Hypersexuality

The main argument in the American Apparel issue concentrated on the ethics behind production versus those of promotion. While the company might be "sweatshop-free", it's advertising strategy is (as we may put it) "garment-free". This is a pun mainly on the idea that American Apparel uses hypersexual imagery to help sell their products. My take on this can be summarized in 7 simple words. "DO WE REALLY KNOW WHAT WE WANT?" First we were against the poor treatment of sweatshop workers, now we are are against "hypersexuality" in advertisement? It's one thing to rightfully complain about underpaid factory workers, but it's entirely another to complain about "sexuality in advertisement". In a world where we cannot have two sides of the coin, I would much prefer "hypersexual-advertising" over "sweatshop-barbarity".
American Apparel is one of the few companies who is "sweatshop-free" (so they say). I am in no way in support of degradation and exploitation of women, but the idea that American Apparel uses "images of young women that continue practices of subordination" sounds really exaggerated. There are gazillion more companies who use this same "unethical" strategy for advertising. The important question is are they "sweatshop-free"? American Apparel is. (well, so they say)

Branding the Individual

It has not been long since people have started to consume goods not only because of their functions, but for the emotional and social meanings that are embodied in those particular objects. 'Personal Identity' is the most common and understandable reason for consuming a certain product. We mix and match certain goods to create a sense of self. 'I only wear pants from such and such place, I use only Old Spice products, I only shop for groceries at this supermarket.' The word "I" in these statements reinforces the idea that the consumer is 'a unique individual.' This creates a form of identity for the individual that are characterized by all the goods that he or she consumes. This gives way to a deeper understanding to why people spend outrageous sums of money for a pair of Guess Jeans, for example.

This was Jane Pavitt's main point in "Branding the individual." By identifying themselves with a particular brand, consumers gain a sense of belonging to a particular social group. "In this way, brands are used as means of expressing personal identity and identifying with a collective taste." People gain a sense of belonging and uniqueness by associating themselves with certain brands or styles.

Thorstein Veblen states that "Investing in the construction of one's social self by consuming was a way for people to announce their membership of the bourgeoisie." It is very true that people use fashion as a mean of demonstrating their wealth and high social stature. People identify themselves and regulate their lives with certain brands as a way of placing themselves in society. Although the products that we buy are produced in mass quantity and therefore consumed by thousands of others besides us, we still feel a sense of individuality by customizing and mixing and matching the goods that we buy. Everyone is then able to associate themselves with a social group, or create their own lifestyle and taste. If the motives of consumption is to create or stabilize one's identity then people are 'rational' in what they buy no matter how absurd the 'price to quality' ratio may seem.

Brand on the Run

Richard Benson made a very clear point with his first short story on "Brand on the Run". He used the example of a man named Bernard who always liked clothes from good labels. The more expensive the clothes were, the better. Later on, Bernard discovered that a pair of Italian-label shoes had been made in Taiwan. He then realized that he's not really paying for the proper craftsmanship associated with such "Italian-heritage" shoes. Why should he be paying all that money for the shoes if they are "made the same place as everything else, 'cos then it's just the label, innit?"
This idea of the consumer paying for the label, and not necessarily the quality of the product, has recently escalated to a point of absurdity. I have experienced this first hand, as many of my friends have fallen victim to the "brand trend." Every youth from a particular neighborhood can be seen wearing either NIKE or JORDAN's footwear for the sole purpose of being "cool." We don't buy clothes because they feel comfortable anymore, nor do we buy them for their long lasting and high quality. We only want and buy what is "hot" at the moment. If this is taken into consideration, then we can see why "the power of a corporation often exceeds that of a democratically elected government." The "brand" can easily use propaganda to market it's products; as Benson described, with marketing departments using "activists techniques" to enhance their counter cultural allure.

Krystof Wodiczko

How do you suppose the immigrant utopia, or the "No-place" can be implemented in the everyday life of an immigrant? How can the immigrant situate themselves in the "No-place"? Is it a physical, virtual, or mental "place"?

Julia Kristeva says that "The foreigner is within me, hence we are all foreigners. If I am a foreigner, there are no foreigners." How can the "local" come to understand the "stranger"? How can those barriers of language and expression be broken?

The Impotence of Being Earnest

"The Impotence of Being Earnest" brings forth the fundamental saying that "Things are not always what they seem." It is a very common trend to use sincere language as a mean of getting a persuasive point across to a wide audience. The problem with such an approach is that, at times, it is almost impossible to tell how genuine the claims are. The 2000 "First Things First" manifesto is signed by 33 figures from the international graphic design community. The proposal calls for a betterment of social consciousness. In this sense, anyone who is supportive of this proposal will be recognized as a "socially responsible" individual. The issue is: "how many of these 33 figures are in full support of this proposal?" Is it not safe to say that some, if not most, of these 33 figures only signed to gain some type of status as a supporter of social change?
Aside from how many of the signer truly support the manifestos, the authoritarian and suggestive tone of the manifesto seems to disregard the class structure of the design world. The higher class of Professional elites would most readily support the manifesto which is aimed at the lower class of anonymous designers. In this sense the higher class are only claiming the moral ground over advertising.The thought of blurting out such claims is not far from the realms of absurdity. Although the manifesto was written in an earnest fashion, it was impotent, chiefly because it lacks concern for the condition of the lower class of designers.

THE FUN BUS... Pre Experiment

For my 3 hour disturbance I thought it would be cool to post naked pictures of myself on facebook using an alternate IP address and account. I chose to remain anonymous, as it turned out the majority of my friends did not answer to my friend requests as they did not know who I was. So, there was no way for me to do this experiment.
It was not until last night however that the greatest thought came to mind. What if I boarded one of the campus buses from the front and exited at every stop from the back and ran up to the front again; thus allowing the bus driver to see me getting in the bus a second time, and then a third, a fourth and so on. My phone is trash i don't have a digital camera, as such, I was not able to record anything. The idea was to experiment for 1 hour instead of 3.
I woke up really early this morning and went out on what I called THE PRE EXPERIMENT. (Im getting a new phone tomorrow afternoon so I should be able to go out for 3 hours and do audio recordings of my 3 hour experience on the FUN BUS.) I went out and proceeded to do the disturbance for only 1 hour tho, as I thought it would be a waste of everyone in the bus thinking I'm "crazy," if I'm not able to record the experience somehow.
To my delight, there was so many reactions from the fellow bus riders (nothing big) ranging from weird stares to whispers and to the bus driver not noticing at all. That was the most shocking part of my experiment as he was the main target. DANG IT!!!!!!! I WISH I COULDA RECORDED!!!! THIS WEDNESDAY MORNING, I SAY!!!!!

First Thing First... Oh boy not Again!...

The reviewed version of the manifesto is a much more refined and sentimental version of its predecessor. The second manifesto took a more subtle yet more comprehensive approach then the first. However, the manifesto did not escape the "authoritarian" tone of the first. No matter what side a person choses in regards to the Manifesto, it stills boils down to an opinionated discussion. Proposing designers to change their priorities is a dogmatic claim. What the supporters lay down as "more useful, lasting and democratic forms of communication" are only conceptual truths. Moral values and artistic values goes hand in hand and it seemed like these two important factors were thrown out the window in the manifesto or it was at least hanging out the window held by a single thread of rope. One simply cannot imply that education, cultural interventions, charity and what not are more important fields of work for a designer to splurge their artistic and creative energy than advertising or brand marketing.

Keeping priorities in mind, a designer have the choice of which company he or she will work for. A Graphic Designer / PETA activist may chose to work on a design project promoting the cat food "Meow Mix" or the famous chicken and poultry company "Perdue." As twisted as it may sound, a person who supports the ethical treatment of animals may still "chose" to work for companies with contrasting ethics. This is as such plainly because moral values and ethics are fragile in concept and are easily broken when finance falls in the picture. MORALLY, a person may favor working on a project addressing social and cultural crises over a project from a candy company. Now, down the line the big candy company "M&M" comes knocking at that designer's door requesting a new and revolutionary candy wrap design, or the like. The company makes it clear that they are willing to up the ante on the already massive price tag within their request. What will the designer do? Stick to the moral code or run towards the money? How do I look at being a designer, is designing a profession or a revolutionary alliance? That is something that every designer would answer differently.
At the end of the day designing, in this era, is mainly a profession. Advertising and brand marketing are mostly funded by money splurging companies; in contrast, "social betterment" projects are, most often, funded by low paying government agencies. In the context of where a designer should spend his energy, the manifesto brings only one thought to mind; Money or Moral Values?

First Thing First 1964

Regardless of how one may look at it, design is art. At least that is what it always boils down to. It is no easy task to simply remove the "Art factor" from design. A quote from Designer Leeanne Lowe on creative.leeannelowe.com reads “Designers produce ideas. Then turn those ideas into visual communications. Art is also about ideas, and those ideas are also (mostly) turned into visual communications. The only difference being that artists do it to meet their personal needs and designers do it to meet the needs of others.” Her point matches well with my thoughts on the manifesto. Design have become a popular "job" in the modern era. Most Designers are doing their "job" whether they are promoting cat food or the next fuel-efficient toyota. In this light, designing is mainly a job.

As a worker in a pool full of other employers you must grab every opportunity that comes your way. This is even more true if a critic considers a designer's liking of a particular project. Designers get paid to attract the customers visually or create a design that meets company specifications and customer needs. If a designer is a cat lover why can't he or she design visuals for cat food posters, cans, boxes and the likes for the rest of her life? The manifesto was written in a very rough and authoritarian tone. No one except the employer have the right to tell a designer where to focus or what to prioritize in. Designers should be allowed to express themselves through their designs. After all they are simply doing their job, and hey if they get a kick out of it, so be it.

Pioneer Modernism

Humans are self-improving beings. We always strive to make better of what we have. This was the internal focus of Pioneer-modernism. The movement began by embracing the idea that design can improve human consciousness. This thought emerged amidst the first world war, a period filled with inequalities and highly contrasting extremes. It was primarily driven by the thought of creating a peaceful world by means of unifying similarities and embracing internationalism.

Pioneers followed the idea of universal beauty through geometry. Many problems emerged during this movement. One such was their attempt to fuse technology with theosophy and purists ideals. They also tried to merge Romanticism with Rationalism. Those part of the movement incorporated a broad spectrum of ideas but did not possess the necessary material means to achieve their objectives. The utopia or ideal world of design that they envisioned could not be brought about because 'mass production' was a key factor, which the technology at the time did not have a thorough mastery of. This resulted in a wide void of space between their futuristic ideas and the current reality. The idea of internationalism also raised the question and concern of identity. If their is one distinctive design then how will individuals identify themselves? So rather then solving the problem of alienation, an international and universal design would only create 'self-alienation' amongst individual geographical groups.

In the end, Pioneers created an oxymoronic ideal "they believed that design could improve society by transforming mass consciousness, but they tended to accept also that before it could do this, society itself had to be improved. While they embraced universality they also failed to note (earlier on) that internationalism would only appear beautiful and efficient to those who were able to travel around the world and experience it: which just happened to be a very small percentage of the population.

NO LOGO

Successful businesses or corporations are built on a strong foundation. In the old days manufacturing was the foundation. The shift of the ideal foundation from manufacturing to branding is simply following the idea that 'a brand never dies.' As Hector Liang explained: "Machines wear out. Cars rust. People die, But what lives on are the brands." (202) Corporations have invested more into branding simply because, let's face, 'branding sells.' If a company wants more revenues then they have to focus on costumer satisfaction and the only way to keep a customer satisfied is to provide them with what is expected of the brand. The brand itself is an image of the company. Certain people only push for the image associated with that brand. I testify to this as I love the 'clean-cut couture' of H&M brand jackets and pants. Their apparels have a nice body-shape conforming feel. I hardly shop at any other stores because they do not provide me with the 'image' that I'm looking for.

I associate myself with this brand simply because of the 'fit or image' of the apparels. However, it's important to note that a majority of people who affiliate themselves to a brand do so only because of the logo. I know many of my friends who don't have a specific style of clothing that they wear. They simply wear whatever is '"hot" at the moment. Ed Hardy shirts, for example, cost more then the average shirt. Many customers wear those shirts because of the graphics and logo on the shirts. Be it a size small or extra large; $25 or $45, as long as its a Ed Hardy shirt they will buy it for the sake of "wearing the brand." I don't wear the brand I 'wear the fit.' Yes I am still stuck to a brand as a result, however if I were to find another store at the moment that had the same selection of clothing and affordable prices, I would have no second thoughts of shopping from there as well.

It is quite hard to detach yourself from a company if they continue to provide you with the style and functionality that you seek and expect of their products. In other words you become bonded to the brand. The more people adhered to the bran the higher the company's revenue. This is the main reason why companies have strained away from production in favor of branding.

NICOLAS BOURRIAUD, Relational Aesthetics

1- What is the "inter-human intercourse which is different to the 'zones of communication' that are forced upon us"?

2- In the near future how will machines effect "how much" of art is truly HUMANISTIC?

3- Is post-modernism "a branch of relational art"?

HENRI LEFEBVRE, Clearing the Ground

1- How does "history creates itself?" In this same sense would you say that "history creates everyday life?"

2- Do you agree with the quote "It is in everyday life and starting from everyday life that genuine creations are achieved".

3- Is the "EVERYDAY LIFE" merely "the performed activities which humans perceive as real and crucial to their survival".

Mind Self Portrait

mind self portrait, originally uploaded by Jersonx3000.

This is a lil self portrait that I did. It basically represents a map of my mind.

Flickr

This is a test post from , a fancy photo sharing thing.

My Google autobiography Map..... which I forgot to post last monday :)

View Autobiography map in a larger map

My picture trail of, not my tuesday, but a day of painting.... It was long and annoying! :'(

Create your own video slideshow at animoto.com.

Where I Catch My Zs

In the first day of class, I got lost finding my way to class in the civic square building; that night I went home and I got me some good sleep. For the "Follow the Trail" project I was hoping to get Kim lost, just as I was that day. Below is the info (email) that I sent her. :)

My full name is JAMES MORANTUS.
Each letter in my name has a an equivalent numerical value.
Except for the S which we will ignore, so you will only be working with the letters JAMES MORANTU.


--J is the 7th letter of the alphabet so its value is 7: M is the 13th letter so its value is 13 and so on.
--Make a list of all the letters of the alphabet and their corresponding numerical value.
--Keep this list with you as you will need it for your journey.
--This journey will take you into my world of letters and numbers as I am fascinated by language and mathematics.
--Once you have written all the letters down head to the civic square building downtown. (where our class meets)
--Once you get there use the chart and start searching for clues that i have left for you. The answer to the puzzle is "the place where i catch my Zs". That is also the first clue.
--Clue # 2------ Add the first 2 letters of my first name---- answer is 8.. head up to the second floor and start looking for all the room numbers that ends in 8. Next to the door you will find a piece of paper with the first letter of the answer to the puzzle. I might as well go ahead and tell you that the first letter to the answer is a "D"

When you find this 1st clue text me and i will give you the next clue.
GOOD LUCKZZZZZZZZZ...... lol get it Zs are part of the puzzle....

Okay ill agree it wasnt that funny....