Tuesday 27 February 2018

Considering new technologies

Tacita Dean's 'Green Ray' (https://vimeo.com/38026163) considers the recording of a natural phenomenon on film: the last green ray of the setting sun - a mere flicker in time, the total length of a single frame of film - which digital video cameras were unable to record. With technical progress hand in hand comes loss, in this case, of an optical effect produced by our star on our atmosphere - and our world becomes a little less colourful. NB, this link to the digital version of the film will not allow you to see the green ray.

We talked of progress, briefly, during my tutorial today. Of GDP measurement of growth to track progress - a sort of school race between nations - with detentions issued to those nations failing to keep up. The Economist https://www.economist.com/news/briefing/21697845-gross-domestic-product-gdp-increasingly-poor-measure-prosperity-it-not-even uses a neat analogy on the falling cost and rising quality of light in the West to demonstrate that GDP is a complex calculation that doesn't always account for the quality of a product, as it also doesn't account for the rising tax income of rising costs, nor does it account for the value of free services - it ignores the considerable economic value of the stay-at-home carer - a mostly female workforce. It is a best-fit solution that doesn't suit every application. The suggestion it seems is that GDP has had its day. But GDP seems nebulous, new factors can be added and old ones discounted, however, when Bank of England refuses to pin down a number in their projections for growth, then Sir Charles Bean's quote “It is a big mistake to think that one number serves for all purposes,” seems to serve them well. Still, GDP figures are simple servings for grabbing headlines and perhaps we would be better served to persuade all at large to accept complex solutions for measuring worth, instead of appealing for simplicity.

So, somehow, economics canter into art.

But were they ever separate? The source of this discussion was my recounting, briefly, the Pentrich Rebellion http://www.pentrichrebellion.co.uk and my ancestor's role and punishment, that I've connected with this depiction of a dry overrun of land, homes and scattered stones. Also, to my use of polyethene, a material I connect with a deep sense of change in our environment and society, as we become more aware of how our lifestyles will affect our planet for generations to come.

I haven't yet created the right formal use of the material. It is so light and transparent that I struggle to create the same intensity I form with paper, which somehow reflects back at me all the energy that I put into it. Polyethene sucks that energy up and disperses it, I think via its transparency, which is why I plan to work on combining it with paper so I can utilise its veiling qualities yet hang on to the energy. 








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