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JamesD – Graduating Student Presentation

JamesD – Graduating Student Presentation. Miniature Giants:. ::. :Giant Miniatures. Spring 2010. Looking for Meaning in Miniatures Small depictions of the life-sized Scaled-down giants. Statue of Liberty prop head – Planet of the Apes (1968) .

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JamesD – Graduating Student Presentation

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  1. JamesD – Graduating Student Presentation Miniature Giants: :: :Giant Miniatures Spring 2010

  2. Looking for Meaning in Miniatures • Small depictions of the life-sized • Scaled-down giants Statue of Liberty prop head –Planet of the Apes (1968) Miniature bust of a bearded male from a jug handle ca. 125 - 50 B.C. Roman Bronze h. 3.5 cm. (1 3/8 in.)

  3. “Giant-ized” Miniatures Jeff Koons Balloon Dog (Yellow), 1994–2000High chromium stainless steel with transparent color coating; 121 x 143 x 45 in. (307.3 x 363.2 x 114.3 cm)

  4. The Transhumanist Movement • H+ • h+ • >H Reveres reason and installs science as the engine for improving humanity on not just levels of social, cultural, and technological progress, but also at mankind’s biological core

  5. Founders of The Extropy Institute Dr. Max O’Connor (Max More) Prof. Tom W. Bell (T.O. Morrow)

  6. World Transhumanist Association (WTA) • Branding: Humanity+ • Established: 1998 • Publication: h+

  7. Posthumanism • Term connotates/invokes world without mankind • Some transhumanists use the terms synonymously • In truth, posthumanism could adopt <H or H- as “brand symbols” • I elect to use the medical symbol

  8. Latin prefix for “post” – in medicine it indicates “after” as in “post-op”

  9. Transhumanism & Posthumanism BOTH SHARE AN AFFINITY FOR TECHNOLOGY H+ WANTS TECH FOR HUMAN ENHANCEMENT WANTS TECH TO REPLACE HUMANITY

  10. Posthumanism and Postmodernism • Dovetail to overtake classical humanism’s assertion of man’s worth • Saving humanity from itself by eliminating humanity • Can be seen in the urge to “decrease carbon footprint” and the recent classification of normal respiration as pollution-causing (EPA’s classification as carbon dioxide as a toxin)

  11. FRANCIS FUKUYAMA “(Transhumanism is) nothing less than [liberation of] the human race from its biological constraints […] The first victim of transhumanism [sic] might be equality […] If we start transforming ourselves into something superior, what rights will these enhanced creatures claim, and what rights will they possess when compared to those left behind?”

  12. Is This an Overstatement? • Perhaps… • Why?

  13. Consider: • Digital technology represents the latest in human expressive technology • Therefore, technology+user=cyborg (Transhumanism) • Replacing the user with the technology, equates to Posthumanism • With that in mind, Fukayama’s real fear lies in the Posthuman, not the Transhuman ≠

  14. How Do These Issues Affect the Arts? • The connection becomes clear in the scope of the complexity of not only linguistic, but also semiotic communication • Take the example of toys and their purposes/functions

  15. Miniature as a Means of Analysis • Maps arise from the desire to understand the enormousness of any given environment in an effort to help others comprehend gigantic concepts too big to ingest intellectually without significant synthesis. • Authors shrink lives into 300-page books • Poets may encapsulate all of nature and mankind’s experience with it into haikus • Theatrical and cinematic directors craft entire universes into 90-minute productions • Toy designers and artists, without argument, have always built miniatures

  16. Children always Construct Playthings, even Where the Means is Limited Painter and toy artist Rod Crossman explains, “The courage, inventiveness and need to play are evident in the toys that children create out of the refuse of poverty.”

  17. Makeshift Toys from Afghanistan, Ghana, and Cambodia Like commercially produced toys, these makeshift playthings miniaturize the stimuli contained within the children’s environments, and include cars made from shipping boxes with the round tops of food containers serving as the wheels.

  18. The Most Popular Toys of 20th Century • miniature soldiers • fashion dolls • vehicles • erector sets The 21st Century Maturation of Video Games into the Canon of Favorites

  19. Giant Toys • stylistic warnings about • exercises in its actual implementation

  20. Monuments and Markers Represent the Foundations of both Religion and Architecture • Establish the Roots of  • Emphasize the Central and Seminal • Subordinate the Individual Human in the Universe • Statues and Buildings Endure Centuries Beyond Progenitors • Deities Venerated Within are Eternal and Powerful Beyond Abilities of Men

  21. Small-to-Large Constructs • Sculptural • Architectural • Sculptural-Architectural Comprise Actual • Celebrate Philosophies Emanating from Human Authors of Ideas and Religious Precepts • Seek to Elevate the Principles from Their Founders • Examples • Giza • Statue of Liberty • Mount Rushmore • Dubai’s Burj al Arab Hotel

  22. Advertising and Marketing Supplant the Gods in Temple-Construction • Hollywood’s Legendary Brown Derby • Shoe House in PA • Wigwam Village #2 of KY • IL’s World's Largest Catsup Bottle • Orange-Shaped Gift Shop in Kissimmee, FL Unusual Buildings: Kitschy Trademark of 20th Century America Roadside Culture • Well-Received in Their Time for Indigenous Whimsy • Looked upon with a delight of nostalgia • Typify Madison Avenue “Demand Creation” Ethos • Supplants Normal Impulses Of Human Supply And Demand

  23. The Effigy • Temporal Beachhead for the • Movement • Giant Action Figures • First Appeared as Medieval and Early Modern Funereal Sentiments • Depicted Kings • Wax or Wood Sculptures • Clad in Articles from the Royal’s Own Wardrobe • For Political Purposes • 17th Century by the Guy Fawkes Day • Contemporaneously in Many Video Reports of Anti-American Demonstrations

  24. Samuel Pepys and the Erotic Dimension of Mannequins • “Appropriation of the Religious Aura of Celebrity by an Erotic One” (Roach) • Actor-Manager Thomas Betterton’s Posthumous Induction into Westminster Abbey • For Pepys, this Marks the Entertainer’s Elevation to the Level of Royalty • Stems From the Eroticizing of Celebrity Itself • Leads Indirectly to Today’s Sex Doll

  25. OR SEX DOLLS: ???

  26. What are They For? • Sex Dolls Represent Desires of (Primarily) Male Users • Replace Human Contact • Objectify the Type of Female Beauty Demanded in the West “‘The Perfect Woman,’ Perfect Because They’re Always Ready and Available, Because They Provide all the Benefits of a Human Female Partner without any of the Complications Involved with Human Relationships.” David Levy, Love and Sex with Robots: The Evolution of Human-Robot Relationships. New York: HarperCollins, 2007.

  27. Most Successful Company Selling These • Sells 14 Different Feminine Styles • Hundreds of Variations • Even One Male Doll

  28. Lars and The Real Girl • 2007 Comic Drama • Stars a Female Realdoll Named Bianca • Never Goes for Easy Laughs • Serious Character Study • Sympathetic Psychological Drama • Crafted in a Non-Cynical Indie Style

  29. Bianca Assists Pathologically Shy Lars with Crippling Childhood Issues • (With Help of the Caring Neighbors) • In the End, Bianca becomes an Effigy of Herself • Lars Never Consummates His Relationship with Bianca • Lars Moves to Contact with a “Non-Cyborg” Woman • >H Piece, Warning against the Dangers of

  30. Roger Ebert - “Faith In Human Nature [and the] Instinctive Kindness We Show to Those We Love” • Lou Lumenick Compares the Tone of the Picture to Jimmy Stewart’s Harvey -“Character-Driven Humanist Comedy […] Sensitively Directed by Craig Gillespie.”

  31. In a counterpoint, Nick Holt reveals the more depressing and at times creepy aspects of Real Doll ownership in his 2007 BBC documentary Guys and Dolls.

  32. Overtly Political >H Messages: John Hooker • Sculptor • Installation Artist • Produced a Series of Full Sized Action Figures • The G.I. John Series • Neoprene-Cast • Fully-Articulated • Deployed “In National Landmarks, State Parks, Universities, Office Spaces, Parking Lots and Living Rooms.”

  33. “response to the notion of ‘us’ versus ‘them.’ ‘Us’ obviously playing the role of the good and godly defenders of freedom at home and abroad, and ‘them’ serving as ‘the other’ or ‘evildoer.’ I cast myself in the role of our fearless hero, embellishing my physique in synthetic material. Our villain is never apparent but lurks somewhere in the periphery. These works have existed as sculptures in gallery space and also as installations for the purpose of documenting them through photography.”

  34. Matt Higgs and Scarlet Projects • 2001 Laforet Museum Installation • This Display of 10 Up-And-Coming London Movers-And-Shakers • Each Represented by a Mannequin • Packaged Like Giant Action Figures or Fashion Dolls • Like the Effigies of Pepys’s Time • Each Wore the Individual’s Own Clothing • Director Billie Billingham • Graphic Designer Alex Rich • Architect Charlotte Boyens • Artist and Model Philippa Horan • Fashion Designer Adam Entwisle OR

  35. Not All Giant-ized Miniatures Represent • The giant piano keys of F.A.O. Schwarz • Disney Land Teacup ride • Giants at the Brooklyn Museum • Designed to engender awe and wonder • Contrast to the sometime-use of the Louisiana Voodoo doll to curse enemies.

  36. My “Giant-ized” Miniatures • Life Sized Versions Of Mego Toys From The 1970s • Specific Intent toPay Tribute to the Notion of Nostalgia That Never Was

  37. Artists Neither Can Nor Should Interpret Their Own Work • Neither My Action Jackson Nor My Star TrekMugato Seek To Promote • They Live Closer to Theatrical Costuming • Emphasize the Connection Between Play and Display, I do Place These Outfits on Mannequins In That Sense, They are Like the Effigy • Aligns More Closely with Costuming for Something More Akin to Theatrically-Inspired Performance Art

  38. Theatre Remains The Most /Least • Stage Preserve Itself As A Drama Served Early as a Warning against • Unique Place For Succinctly Human Expression Waiting for Godot set design, Valle Theatre, Rome -1998 –Angelo Gatti

  39. Czech Playwright Karel Capek’s R.U.R. (Rossum’s Universal Robots) • 1921Play about Robots Superseding Humans • Warning against Scientific Hubris • Akin to Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein or Nathaniel Hawthorne’s “The Birth-Mark” • Allegory of the Bolshevik Revolution • Warns Against • Calls for “Humanization” Of The Robots, Elevating the Human above even the Humanlike

  40. Conclusions • Giant Miniatures Versus Miniature Giants: A Faux-Mathematical Formula • Absolutes Remain Elusive • The Scaled-Down Represents the Impulse to Transcend the Shortcomings of the Human Condition • While the Enlarged Model Suggests the Redundancy, even the Replacement of Humanity • The Intention of the Maker of the Gigantic May Not, however, be a Call for Posthumanism, but a Warning Against It • This, in Itself, Indicates the Limitations of • Suggests the Limitlessness of

  41. My Film Project on

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