Week Fourteen: Final Project - "Passive Solar Room"

Bird's Eye Blueprint of Project Installation
{click image for larger view}

Week Thirteen: Eugenics and the Critical Art Ensemble

Investigating the role of eugenics on society and the
reproductive nuclear family

In an essay titled, “Eugenics: The Second Wave,” written by several authors of the Critical Art Ensemble, discusses how the concept never died after its implementation since it complements the “authoritarian control” with the increased “rationalization of culture.” The perception of eugenics first appeared with derivatives from World War II and the Nazi fascist ruling class. As a result, the term was also applied to medical science based on concepts of “mandatory sterilization, selective breeding, and genocide.”

The author states that the role of eugenicists is to repair the human body like a machine where it is designed to maintain life and improved through medical and genetic intervention. One eugenicist mentioned in the article is Frederick Osborn who served as the director of the Carnegie Institute in the 1930s. Osborn said that eugenics could not be implemented by military directive but rather through consistent introduction into society over time.


Osborn also discussed terms such as “consumer economy” and a maintaining a “nuclear family,” which assisted with concepts of eugenics. He stated that through the fundamentals of eugenics relied on a consistent consumer economy, which demands goods and services such as food, water, and shelter. These items are considered as purchasable items that are either “chosen or refused.”


On the topic of healthcare, Osborn states that this service is not a human right or an unexpected luxury but rather another business component of society. Routine medical intervention has become a service that is taken for granted, according to Osborn.


Throughout the essay, the author states that two situations occur as a result of the family structure. In the first instance, one often requires satisfaction from work through either success or obtaining material goods. The second instance states that individuals will follow their employer’s directive to commute to several different locations. In doing so, maintaining their rank rather than be close to their family and friends is most important.


By analyzing this concept of the nuclear family, the reader understands that familial procreation is necessary for survival to either extend reputation or financial rank. With the amenities of proper schooling and healthcare, these “advantages” generate more success and the author notes that the “quality of life is equivalent to economic performance.”


The author breaks down the social structure of the working class and states that these individuals are not participants of eugenic practices. Since the poor lack proper health care, their infant mortality rates are much higher despite the increased number of pregnancies.


In addition, the author discusses “genetic cleansing” and how it allows parents to decide the genetic characteristics of their future children. By testing embryos to avoid deformities and health problems, parents are purchasing various goods and services in an effort to ensure higher health rates for their unborn children. Therefore, this utopian promise has generated a higher form of anxiety for parents to produce the best children and give an advantage for their children in the competitive world.


Osborn states it best when he mentions that the “foundation for consumer consciousness is replicated in the foundation of eugenic consciousness,” which notes that eugenics is still in its early states and must endure multiple trials before effectively enhancing society. Until then, there were be several pros and cons to whether the rationalized process of reproduction is a worthy process rather than a “silent flesh revolution.”

Week Twelve: Paul Virilio and John Armitage

Analyzing the speed of cyberspace against the timeline of
history and cultural theory

In his essay posted recently online titled, “Speed and Information: Cyberspace Alarm!,” French cultural theorist Paul Virilio discusses how the two phenomena of “immediacy and instantaneity,” which are prevalent all across the Internet in society today. He states that these two concepts are plaguing military and political members because it provides instant connections across the globe within seconds.

Virilio discusses the three forms of speed, which include light, heat, and sound. Both the barriers of heat and sound have been broken over the course of history. The heat barrier was broken when astronauts reached outer space and traveled to the moon. The sound barrier was broken when airplanes produced sonic booms. Now, the speed of light has not occurred but providing results and information in real-time is quite a feat.


Through the invention of perspective, Virilio states that “the city, politics, war, economy, and the medieval world became revolutionized. He explains that cyberspace serves as a new form of perspective because it is almost tactile in nature because it allows us to hear and see at a distance. This interesting concept allows two individuals to tele-connect over a large distance.


However, Virilio is quick to mention that a loss of orientation occurs with this new phenomenon because reality and virtual reality become intertwined. He states that a “mental concussion” occurs to individuals who experience cyberspace and virtual reality. This concept is true with those who are addicted to video games and virtual simulation also found online. Individuals now are capable of spending real money in a virtual world to garner relationships and live a completely different life somewhere else—perhaps; these users feel like this virtual world has now become their ideal world.


As a result, Virilio discusses how there is not a system of globalization but rather virtualization. He mentions that whatever is gained from cyberspace is often lost in another realm such as the real world. While it is true that individuals can live a completely different life online and through video games, the loss that occurs in the real world is imminent. Both spouses and families are affected by these virtual families and connections and ultimately, when an individual sought out affection in one virtual realm, they realize that they have lost it in the real world outside of cyberspace.


By producing an object or service, an individual now is responsible for producing the problems that occur as a result. When the automobile was created, it was a revolutionary way to travel. However, after its invention, numerous car crashes occurred and people were injured. As a result, each product has an unexpected danger or addition of a loss to society.


Furthermore, author John Armitage provides a critical analysis of Virilio’s essay by discussing the terms of hyper-modernism and how culture is dominated by war. Armitage explains the reinforced city as a military war model often described by Virilio, which became part of the transition from feudalism to capitalism. He states Virilio’s beliefs that technology is largely “catastrophic, not castastrophist” because of the impact of techno-science and alienation, which occurs as a result. Perhaps this aesthetic criticism of technology provides a modernist cultural response to the Enlightenment.

Week Eleven: Stefan Wray and the Yes Men

Investigating grassroots infowarfare and political hacktivism
as an extraterrestrial cyberspace in society

In his recent essay titled, “Electronic Civil Disobedience and the World Wide Web of Hacktivism: A Mapping of Extraparliamentarian Direct Action Net Politics,” author Stefan Wray discusses how his own coined terms of “electronic civil disobedience” as well as the “browser wars” became a phenomenon of the 1990s. Wray states that these criminal structures occurred as retaliation against the Mexican government. Throughout the world in various countries, these “hacktivists” were taking over anti-nuclear websites and accessing highly sensitive information on private websites.

Wray states that these innovative forms of activism combined electronic media, art and political portals to operate through a new type of communication, similar to the concept of a “grassroots infowar.” In doing so, computerized activism emerged in 1986 with the invention of PeaceNet, which focused on connecting activists throughout the world. As a result, email communications flourished and mostly text-based capabilities expanded with graphic user interfaces and visual concepts. Nonetheless, Wray discusses that an “electronic democracy” occurred among the activists where maintenance generated much “solidarity among the networks.”


Throughout his essay, Wray mentions that Computer-Mediated Communication (CMC) began in sociology and psychology departments as methods of quick communication. Afterwards, this idea encompassed the conceptual crossover of political propaganda and communication as well as its overall effect on the general public. By researching this concept, scholars decided that there was an “overarching dominant paradigm” that garnered much “discourse, dialogue, and discussion” on various political issues and provided free and open access to these libraries of information.


Wray notes that this rapid industrialization of the grassroots infowar has enabled activists to become present on a “global stage, telepresent across borders, and simultaneously.” He mentions that the wave of information sharing, which includes descriptions and reporting results has now moved to the next step, which calls for action. Wray discusses how experimental methods of “virtual sit-ins” occurred in the late 1990s and proved that the Internet could generate not only descriptive behavior but also legitimate actions.


One form of hacking occurred when a “symbolic gesture” of multiple Web-based Java applets called for a browser to reload its commands and ultimately took over the system. Wray discusses how the 1998 SWARM project launched a huge disturbance by quickly streaming Java applet coffee cups across the computer screen and the entire system froze. These types of political activists often remain anonymous and actually occur as a result of an individual, not necessarily an organization.


Wray concludes his essay by discussing the impact of “cyber-protests” and how the general public responds to activism as well as computer viruses and worms. He states that these methods generate attention and advertise to the various causes. However, Wray also notes that forms of communication often bring up ethical questions that this activity supports open and free access to information.


Towards the end of his argument, Wray states that “cyberspace is extraterrestrial” because it is not constrained to certain borders. Wray notes that this sort of behavior requires a deeper analysis and better understanding as to the purpose and perspective of hacktivists as well as their main objectives. He states that phenomena of future war are often discussed among computer activists and whether the difference in word and deed are causes for alarm. Nonetheless, these computer skills although not very favored when a virus hits, become invaluable as a response to future warfare and to combat others from performing the same actions. Without this valuable knowledge, how are we able to combat the offensive?

Week Ten: The Corporation

Investigating the role of the corporation in daily life
and its impact on a global scale

The notion of the corporation and how it pertains to every day life is an interesting concept because it not only applies to business applications but also towards the military, politics, economics, and everything around us—even artmaking and expressing ourselves through various media outlets.

These strucutures often have their own hidden agenda of what is to occur next or who their audience will consist of, which typically is the unsuspecting, general public. After reviewing video documentaries on the Yes Men and how corporate practices almost dictate our daily lives, it is important to recognize that multiple forms of civil obedience to the system are preached in almost every school and university in the world. Students are praised for conforming to societal ideals and those who act up or out of line, are often punished.

In many instances, corporations will blame their incorrect, unethical or bad behavior on financial stakeholders and those who provide allocations for advertising in the corporation's publications, television commercials, billboards, and websites. Often the corporations state that they have a higher authority to answer to when at times, it appears that these two conglomerates work together to push that pre-conceived agenda onto the public and stakeholders.

One important example from the recent Yes Men documentary was when the two associates went to a college campus dressed up as representatives of a large food chain and the World Health Organization. By representing these two mega groups, a concept was discussed of how to eradicate world hunger while at the same time, finding a system to recycle human waste.

The answer concluded that individuals would harness their own human waste and create hamburger patties for the citizens of the third world to consume on as a form of combating hunger. Of course, this documentary depicted the outrage of the students but also displayed their initial curiousity of how this concept could occur despite the ethical and hygiene issues.

It was almost like the students believed what they were being taught and many of them were taking notes on this economic principle. It was not until several minutes into the presentation that students became outraged on the concept and actually left the lecture hall in disgust. Meanwhile, by serving everyone simple cheeseburgers from the fast food chain, the two representatives drove the point home. This is a great example of how corporations can sometimes push nonsense onto its consumers and hide their ingredients or hidden agendas in fine print.

Week Nine: Judith Williamson

Investigating trends of the signifier and signified throughout
advertising history and its impact on lifestyles

In her essay titled, “Signs Address Somebody,” written by author Judith Williamson, she discusses how a sign replaces a particular item for an individual. As a result, this particular item only has meaning if someone decides that it actually has a meaning. By using the terms of “for” and “by” meaning continues to serve its own purpose. Williamson continues this process by discussing how the meaning within advertisements describes and replaces an object, which in turn decides the actual meaning of that image. She notes that it appears that the object itself controls this and ultimately performs this “transaction.”

Williamson states the “signifiers” and the “signified” are understood differently from the receiver and the meaning can continue to change over time. In doing so, Williamson notes that a “vicious circle” occurs where viewers are connotative towards advertisements and notes that “ideology is always precisely that of which we are unaware.”


Throughout her essay, Williamson mentions that based on exchanges, this is how a product or item goes further in value such as when money is exchanges is when society decides its actual worth compared to other forms of currency. As a result, it follows the economic principles of supply and demand where the value of money goes down as prices for items go up.


Williamson states that “ideology” and “subject” are interdependent of each other as terms and as a result, simply confirm the existence of a subject. She discusses how in advertising today featured in television commercials and magazines, becomes more of an adjective referring back to a certain lifestyle or even expanded to the term of “lifestyle kit,” which takes care of all of your needs. This translation works in one of Williamson’s examples for those who purchase Chanel No. 5 perfume. This signifier of difference depicts that people who enjoy a certain product are also part of a different part of society, often more elite based on their product choices and devotion to certain brand names.


In another one of Williamson’s examples, by purchasing a Pepsi cola drink, the consumer is buying into that lifestyle that views themselves as a free thinker, almost-hippie like individual who enjoys drinking cola. As a result, Williamson notes that these “totemic” groups often compare Pepsi cola versus Coca-Cola to the effect that these two groups are not associated with each other because a Pepsi drinker is not similar to a Coca-cola consumer.


While analyzing these trends, Williamson quickly notes that advertisements provide an escape to reality where issues no longer exist and that jobs and rank do not necessarily define someone but rather the products that they enjoy provide that separation and gratification. The high-end brands and designer labels almost become a part of our own skin layers as we walk around in public with Chanel sunglasses, Fossil watches, and Levi-Strauss denim jeans. Everything we wear has something to say about our lifestyles.


Williamson states that these advertisements “create systems of social differentiation, which are a veneer on the basic class structure of our society,” and continues throughout history today. This is an interesting concept that one should work harder to buy more unnecessary goods in order to escape and feel better about their own existence. This form of societal identification alienates individuals and as a result, these “objects speak for themselves” and become a part of our physical identity. The author continues this idea when she states that “real objects are lifted and absorbed into a closed system of symbols as a substitute of reality and real emotions.”


By investigating these trends throughout society and advertisements, Williamson provides insight on how businesses and elite media can be controlling through selling certain goods and services. As a result, each object an individual owns says something on them and their preference of branding as well as lifestyle.

Week Eight: Noam Chomsky

Investigating academic and political social strucutures and how it pertains to mainstream and elite media organizations

In his October 1997 essay titled, “What Makes Mainstream Media Mainstream,” author Noam Chomsky discusses how the intellectual culture plays on the past and future structures of information. Chomsky states that these organizations provide almost like a “doctrinal system” and investigates issues in a similar manner to science applications. The experimental process includes a hypothetical theory, a repeated number of trials, and a conclusion of results as to what occurred. In the beginning of his essay, Chomsky notes that “virtually all work in media analysis is the last part—trying to study carefully just what the media product is and whether it conforms to obvious assumptions about the nature and structure of media.”


Chomsky dictates that media that caters to the mass audience is often derivative from newspapers, entertainment news, and even television soap operas. He also states the other section of the media, which is often considered as “elite” since it almost “agenda-setting” in its actions because it caters to an audience of highly privileged individuals. Examples of this type of media include the evening news on CBS as well as the New York Times, which include people of the wealthy class or have some form of political interest or involvement. Many times, these individuals are business owners, journalists, and university professors.

When studying an edition of the New York Times, a viewer observes that there is a certain layout for the newspaper as well as its complimentary online website. On the front page, both versions of the paper depict top news headlines like economic woes and historical events but also many human interest stories or spontaneous news headlines trickle their way to the top. In addition, the reader may thumb through numerous sections from entertainment, opinion, classifieds, to weather, crossword puzzles, and the Arts.

With this sort of structure, various news organizations across the country and world are able to pull information and collaborate on upcoming headlines for their own media outlets. An example is CNN.com, which utilizes news sources from numerous external publications in order to get the news collected into one source. This way, anyone news can be generated from a local news station like Washington, D.C.-based ABC7 may be featured on the main website or a college student out in Sacramento, California can snap a photo on their iPhone in order to post a cool story on an iReport page.

Although this sounds great, Chomsky states that “the real media are basically trying to divert people.” For instance, this is the case when a historical event takes place but the main news on the front page may be the recent demise from an adored celebrity. It appears the certain news outlets choose what news will be on the front page based on their own interests and allow the public to feed on the updates. Chomsky notes that these media publications are “major, very profitable, corporations” who hold a lot of power and often have a “tyrannical structure.” These corporations are selling products to their consumers, which are actually products themselves.

He discusses that this same concept is true on university campuses and their own publications. The top news headlines may be overshadowed by the university’s high-performing NCAA basketball team or based on the business relationships with certain vendors who are advertised in the campus newspapers and magazines.

Furthermore, Chomsky states that educational institutions also reward conformity and obedience to their structures and rules. This “filtering device” allows a system that generates students who embody the same beliefs and framework of the institution. This is true in instances where students attend Ivy League schools where proper etiquette and socialization skills are key principles of doing well in society.

Chomsky also mentions author George Orwell’s classic novel, Animal Farm, which actually contained a suppressed introduction on how the totalitarian state of the Soviet Union was actually very similar to “literary censorship in England” because those with innovative ideas are actually cut out from the picture similar to how that introduction was removed from the classic tale. Until a recent discovery in Orwell’s personal papers, which were 30 years later after the novel, became a major hit for booksellers, these original introductory paragraphs would have never been found.

Towards the end of his essay, Chomsky states that “ignorant and meddlesome observers” often serve as outsiders and not participants themselves in the important issues. He notes that academic and political social science is derivative from similar structures. He concludes that anything political has to become “warfare that applies propaganda” as to how people should think and act. Chomsky mentions that students do not attend college in order to control each other’s thoughts but that is an interesting concept to consider, especially if we ever decide to join as a member of the elite media.