Today's Art World...

Can be found on the internet. Technology has grown exponentially to the point where anyone can be an 'artist' in their own respect. Whether its taking pictures with your camera phone or making Hollywood blockbusters, technology is a gift to anyone that feels they have something to express and gives them utensils to do so.

Journal #3

In the vector ‘Nation on the move’ it exploits common economic, social, and cultural norms on the mass production of Oriental carpets. It looks at concepts such as ‘Mediation’, ‘Orientalism: Old and new’, ‘The Market Place’, ‘Commodity’,’ The Work Force’, ‘The Female Subject’, and ‘Carpets and Computers’. With each subject having a proverbial thread that tie together different concepts concerning Orientalism and carpet production. A thread that grabbed my attention called Commodity describes historical trends on and the creation of ‘needs’ and formulating its own market demand with the use of advertising, and social/cultural trends. The rugs are spun to depict natural sanctuaries, a timeless capture of life forms, vitality, and geometric pureness yet their eastern qualities are subjected to Western consumer ideals. It describes colonial/postcolonial decisions to not only create a stable trading partner with foreign prospects, but to create a demand from a ‘use value’ and ‘exchange value’. Iran’s second important export (next to oil naturally) being Persian carpets are renown symbols of wealth, luxury, and as an art aesthetic despite its production, economic, and gendered demeanor. Furthering on that note, other threads speak of womens’ roles in the production of the rugs, representing the orientalism,’ and the marketing of them. The general attitude of Persian rug making is ideals of women bonding, individualism, work ethic, supporting of a local tribal trade; yet the truth is far from it. Women in these regions have little or no choice of their vocation, yet their social and economic efforts are suppose to mirror middle-class western ideals of women. In addition to this, women are used as marketing tools that give Persian carpets “Feminine erotic exotic” undertones, a Westernizing vision. In one of the bubbles it state women "do not inhabit history proper but exist in a permanently anterior time within the geographic space of modern empire as anachronistic humans…the living embodiment of the archaic "primitive." (McClintock, 1995, 30). Personally I didn’t know too much about the foreign exporting of Persian carpets, yet this vector proved that every consumer product has deep roots. Through the mediation of political and economic diplomats, really anything can be marketed for a demand. I realize that the Persian carpet market is not as large as say computer technologies (in the United States at least) but it makes me wonder of all life’s oddities that price tags can be put on.

Another vector that grabbed me was the ‘Guantanmobile Project’ which describes the case of Murat Kurnaz, a 19-year old German who was detained in Pakistan and later sent to Guantanamo Bay where he resides to this day. The vector continues with details of his mistreatment, abuse, and humiliation by American authorities and the mis-documentation of both his ‘crimes’ and intent that keep him there today. The Guantanamobile is a van that drove around the country in 2004 to various cities asking people series of questions in public assembly. The questions were simples for example ‘What do you know about Guantanamo?’, or ‘Do you think we are at war now?’ and were collected in series of interviews. Accompanying these bystanders, experts discuss Constitutional rights, government interventions, due process, and other laws in reaction to not only Kurnaz’s case but other detainees as well. A subject that interested me was the idea of national security and its trends. “Alien Threats” of other nations or ethnicities have their mark in American society dating back to the Native Americans. The Red Scare, McCarthyism, Racial Profiling, the list goes on; these are all ways the government have formulated ideas into the public to fear the “other”. With this, governments can dictate foreign policy, markets, and relations through these ideals. It’s interesting reading about Persian carpets in the “Nation on the Move’ vector and their Eastern qualities despite their home being one of the most notorious regimes in the world. I find it ironic that most fear the idea of ever going to Iran, or being associated in seemingly ‘primitive’ lifestyles, in some far off land, yet at the turn of a hat buy products from them. The site states that it cost $118 million a year to run the facility, and has spent $110 million to subsidiaries of Halliburton Co to build cells and other prison necessities. I realize both Persian carpet making and Guantanamo Bay are loosely related, but both vectors have provoked similar thoughts to me. Our view of foreign countries, lifestyles, religions, and people themselves are manipulated by money and fear, all while the government not only has a hand in it, but is watching and acting intently.