Monika

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I did it in Illustrator as well but for some reason I couldn't send it, and it was missing all these files. Plus I liked my Photoshop one better.
It basically is making fun of ADD/ADHD medication for kids. I am highly opposed to western medication and its philosophy of popping a pill at the slightest sign of abnormality. It often doesn't help cure the problem, and if it does, it's only short term and has tons of nasty side effects. Instead, we should focus on what is actually making someone sick in the first place and work on identifying that issue and then on to balancing the person. For example, with depression, people take Prozac or Zoloft, and though it may help a little, it's only a short term solution to a long term problem, and it is known to take away your personality (it turns you into a zombie). My mom's friend committed suicide because her doctor upped her dose of Prozac. So it goes to show that these types of meds do not solve anything. When it comes down to it, people should work at identifying patterns in their lives that are making them sick/depressed/hyper etc. and then correct it in a healthy way. Taking pills should be a last resort. In my poster, which was originally an advertisement for hyperactive ADD kids to take the drug "Adderall" I made an entirely new design in photoshop, but included the main text for the drug. I changed the "It may make you devoid of personality" though. I know people who have been on Adderall and Prozac, and they aren't the same individuals when they aren't on those medications. They sleep a lot more, are more irritable and subdued, to name a few. Plus they weren't as fun to be around! But they did say they concentrate better. I guess it comes at a price. I myself was diagnosed with a form of passive ADD when I was twelve, but my mom never believed in giving us those types of drugs (being the hippy she is..). I'm glad she didn't because I've had to work extra hard in school and found a learning style that works for me. It is possible to overcome ADD without medicaton, and eventually everyone grows out of it. I believe taking medications like Adderall are like choosing the easy way out. The problem is still there, it's the medication that masks it. And at a certain point they'll come off the medication and start having problems adjusting to normal life. A big part of ADD/ADHD is caused because of our modern media culture of a dozen thrill rides a minute, so to speak. No wonder kids these days are so spazzed out. It's because they don't get enough attention at home, play video games, watch too much t.v. and don't play outside. They're not as socialized as before. Whatever the reason, our culture is contributing to the ADD problem. America makes an enormous amount of profit over medication, and in most cases what doctors prescribe is totally wrong or unnecessary.
What Adderall and it's related medication does is control you, keeping you locked in a warped zombie state, fit only to make you focus more in school. It also gives you antisocial tendencies, and makes you devoid of emotion and personality. But hey, at least maybe you'll get B's..

"Cool enables us to live with uncertainty and lowered expectations by concentrating on present pleasures. In short, when the going gets tough, the cool go shopping."
I think that "cool" is a diversion from what is really important. Instead of bombarding us with good values and morals, our culture is constantly being modeled on the wrong ideal.

In Tibet, a mostly Buddhist country (I've recently heard from a Tibetian that it doesn't exist anymore because of the Chinese Communist Army's destruction of it) has bilboards and advertisements that say: "Be kind to one another" or "Help your neighbor" instead of our ubiquitous materialistic propaganda and dictation of which music tracks are the hottest or which T.V. show has the highest ratings (because it is "that cool"). If we compare ourselves with the Tibetians, we would be a morally lacking culture. The Tibetian culture is primarily based on spirituality and good morals. Religion is their life. Their religion is, essentially, kindness, and they actually practice what they preach. They probably don't care about being in fashion, or what's the hottest new reality show because their culture is not centered on it like ours is.

And let's not underestimate the driving force of the media (I talk about the media too much). "Far from creating cool, TV produces images and programs for teens that reinforce already forged models of coolness." this also brings to mind the 100th Monkey Theory. After so many people start wearing a particular trend, brand, or using a particular electronic device (iPod) for example, it automatically becomes "cool," but it takes that "100th monkey", metaphorically speaking. It is the masses and "follow the crowd" mindset that makes people fear standing out. It is too dangerous to be different, and maybe it goes back to cavemen times when in order to ensure survival one had to conform. After all, nobody likes freaks.

"Détournement, the reuse of preexisting artistic elements in a new ensemble, has been a constantly present tendency of the contemporary avant-garde.."
I agree and disagree with what is said here. First of all, in an artistic sense, ideas are recycled and themes are rehashed and tweaked in an attempt to appear original. That is artistic license. I do believe, though, that there ARE original ideas amongst the endless stream of "art" and media in our daily lives. We could say that the media is a classic example of detournement, as well as contemporary literature. With the media, it is creating an uneccesary want and trying to fill it, whereas in literature, I really don't know if anything is entirely original. Writers often recycle other storylines and characters in a regurgitation of what they know as reality. I think the reason as to why Harry Potter became such a sensation was because it was, in a way, original. Had anyone before thought of an alternate magical universe coexisting amongst the normal world? I really don't know. But I do agree with the article's message that these days it is a bit hard to be original in the art world.

I first chose to do a political ad against diamonds. I got an idea from Google Images "diamonds" here is the link to see it: http://www.iansa.org/action/images/diamonds.jpg
I wanted to keep the image but change the slogan from "At what price for these Diamonds" to something I would later come up with. However, later I decided against doing something political like that and instead have a more playful ad, making fun of the shallowness and materialistic ways of consumers. I came across an ad for handbags that read: "Fake is for last night, not Handbags." you can access the link here: http://www.wineoffensive.com/images/tabfuel.jpg
I decided to change the text from handbags to diamonds instead ("Fake is for last night, not Diamonds"), and create my own image for the ad. I wanted to play off the assumption (and sometimes fact) that girls fake orgasms but want real diamonds. Just to clarify, when the text says "Fake is for last night," it was referring to fake orgasms..

This is the original illustrator file:
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You would be surprised in this day and age if you heard of someone who doesn't watch T.V. or doesn't own one. And there are people who say they don't watch T.V. yet in reality they do. In fact, I used to be one of these people, but when I was a kid growing up, my mom only allowed PBS to be watched, and wouldn't let my sis and I play with Barbies (her reasoning was that if we played with Barbies, we would have body issues and want to fit the "perfect blonde" stereotype that accompanied Barbie). As a result, we weren't able to have conversations with our peers about current T.V. shows, as we werent' allowed to watch them. I often felt left out of because of it. In her own way, she tried to shield us from the brainwashing ways of the media at a young age, which, I believe, is tender time when we are easily influenced. I am thankful that she did this because I was able to be more creative and imaginative as a child. In contrast, had I been openly exposed to all T.V. channels, I would have spent more time watching T.V. (luckily my mom limited T.V. watching to only an hour per day, and that was when she was being generous. In high school we were allowed to watch whatever we wanted though. Still she would say, "That show is too violent, change it" or "why don't you go do something constructive instead?" As well, she would point out media stereotypes that she found questionable or offensive. She basically made us feel guilty for even watching the tube, that eventually it lost its allure. This isn't to say she totally condoned T.V. she was just highly selective in what she watched "Garbage in, garbage out" she would say..).

It is statistically proven that in homes where there is no T.V. watching, children perform better in school and are more creative and individualistic. I wholeheartedly agree with this, with myself as testimony. However, I believe that no matter how hard one tries to prevent the media's influence on one's family or oneself, there is no escaping it. There's the saying, "you can run, but you can't hide" which perfectly illustrates this example. It is possible to limit it, but not possible to shield it entirely, unless you decide to live a hermitlike existance as a renunciant in the Himalayas.

In a different vein, the essay got me to ponder the question of whether we create what is on T.V. or does T.V. create us? Mark Dery's quote about the television particularly spoke to me:
"This techno-voodoo rite constitutes the symbolic obliteration of a one-way information pipeline that only transmits, never receives. It is an act of sympathetic magic performed in the name of all who are obliged to peer at the world through peepholes owned by multinational conglomerates for whom the profit margin is the bottom line."
I agree with what Dery says here because T.V. is only sending out a billion bits of information per second, and some of its messages are subliminal, using specific images, colors, music, etc to brainwash the viewer into wanting to get this now, buy that, go out to eat there, to be sexy, make us feel guilty for not being sexy enough, not cool enough if we don't smoke this brand, that we're not thin enough like the girl in the commercial, etc. Whether we know it or not, these messages infiltrate our subconscious mind and affect how we perceive ourselves and the world, as well as how we interact with others. So yes, T.V. is a one-way pipeline that only trasmits and never receives. It has created us, the monster it has previously envisioned, to control us and enslave us, dependent upon it.

And the sad fact is that people are making money off of our sheep-like following of the trends it sets, the products/services it promotes, the ratings from the stupid reality shows that aren't worth watching, and we could have been doing something worthwhile instead. And then it got me thinking, is reality T.V. a means of distracting us from what's really going on in the world? To keep us in the dark? To keep us dumb, ill-informed? What's the T.V. industry thinking? Why is it that the United States is the only freaking country that does not have international news coverage? I actually started learning about what's happening in places other than the U.S. when I studied abroad in France--and it wasn't just in class, it was when I simply turned on the T.V! I additionally got an enlightening different perspective on how the U.S. is perceived! No wonder Britain calls us the Ivory Tower..

It's funny how many people waste their lives in the time spent watching mindless T.V. I bet if there was a law banning T.V.'s and a recall of all existing T.V.'s, there would be a fresh crop of free-thinking individuals who wouldn't be susceptible to the whims of the media. People wouldn't fear the government so much either, because the media is a significant means of governmental control. Can you believe that there are families who eat dinner in front of the T.V.? God, I'd hate to imagine what would happen if all the T.V.'s were recalled. These families would actually have to interact with each other!

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Hello there. Forgot to list my conceptual art instructions that I created for someone (Arash) to do.
The instructions were to bark on the Muni or Bart in the morning, and see what the reaction of the passengers would be. According to Arash, he didn't get much response, save for annoyed looks, and a lady who just turned up her radio..