Readings:
"However, advertising is not only about retail sales. It is a form of communication that reaches millions of people and promulgates shared values. Advertisements create communities of like-minded individuals. "
-quote The Art of Self Invention chapter 4 by Joanne Finkelstein
Not only does advertisement push a sale but it also gives the audience an agenda. It reaches millions on social media and on many different platforms on the internet.
"Part of Theodor Adorno’s mordant conclusion about twentieth-century consumer culture is that it changed human nature. We no longer have a reliable sense of our self and thus find it difficult to separate ourselves from our material circumstances."
-quote The Art of Self Invention chapter 4 by Joanne Finkelstein
We not only buy a product but buy the image that goes along with having a certain product. For example, a woman sees an ad of another woman model holding a Michael kors bag and so she desires it. Eventually, she buys it and thinks to herself that she might even resemble the model she saw in the ad. Its quite interesting how we always place ourselves in any situation.
"Being able to read the surface for insights into the interior, and becoming adept at constructing surface appearances through the control of detail, are processes fundamental to contemporary social relations."
-quote The Art of Self Invention chapter 5 by Joanne Finkelstein
If you look the part, you are in. We dress to impress. There are many sayings or phrases that go along these lines because it's well known if you look acceptable then you can make it in society.
"Fashion is also a process that transforms the mundane activities of everyday life into more elaborate and complex aesthetic experiences by altering the emotional investment surrounding the display."
-quote The Art of Self Invention chapter 5 by Joanne Finkelstein
Its like dressing up as a kid or in Halloween however more serious. I'm not sure if fashion really transforms into an exciting experience but rather for me at least it's very tedious. there are too many changing trends and styles to even try to figure out when, how, where, why and what fits.
" Indeed, at its worst, performance art can seem gratuitous, boring or just plain weird. But, at its best, it taps into our most basic shared instincts: our physical and psychological needs for food, shelter, sex, and human interaction; our individual fears and self-consciousness; our concerns about life, the future, and the world we live in."
-quote from Performance Art: An Introduction by Dr. Virginia B. Spivey
Performance art provides a deeper connection between artist and audience. The space usage and how its in front of a viewer makes it all a unique experience.
"For feminist artists in particular, using their body in live performance proved effective in challenging historical representations of women, made mostly by male artists for male patrons. In keeping with past tradition, artists such as Carolee Schneemann, Hannah Wilke and Valie Export displayed their nude bodies for the viewer’s gaze; but, they resisted the idealized notion of women as passive objects of beauty and desire. Through their words and actions, they confronted their audiences and raised issues about the relationship of female experience to cultural beliefs and institutions, physical appearance, and bodily functions including menstruation and childbearing."
-quote from Performance Art: An Introduction by Dr. Virginia B. Spivey
It is interesting to see how the women during this time were acting against the male gaze by showing their body as they wanted and not how they are painted in so many old oil paintings. I remember John Berger talking about how the woman is always presented for a man, aware of the gaze, and how she must always be posing nude.
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