Museum of the Moving Image

 

I distinctly remember my field trip in 7th grade to the Museum of the Moving Image. I felt as if I had stepped into another dimension. I left my world behind and entered into a thrilling zone of lighted floors, color changing ceilings, and image-moving walls. It was quite enchanting and I was captivated. Although a decade has passed from that moment, it remains a vivid recollection within me. 

Museum of the Moving Image is located in Astoria, New York and is an compelling resource for the public to understand and appreciate art, history, technique, and technology of film, television, and digital media. They collect, preserve, and provide access to moving-image related artifacts, screen significant films and other moving-image works, present exhibitions of artifacts, artworks, and interactive experiences, and offer educational and interpretive programs to students, teachers, and the general public.

Many of the exhibitions are, but not limited to films and/or installations stimulating all our senses through visual imagery. Artists from all over the world are invited such as Jan Svankmajer, a surrealist Czech animator, Mircea Cantor from Romania, and Ming Wong from Berlin & Singapore who works are all currently on exhibition. 

It's quite interesting to see the works of artists from different parts of the world and the ways in which each distinctly respond to the medium of media differently. It gets me thinking about my future students and how I want to set my dialogical approach in teaching to stimulate students to respond in such multifarious ways, reflecting who they are and their experiences. 

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One of the online exclusives currently on display: 

 

 

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Media Artist of the Week

Awer G. Bul is a media artist and one of the Lost Boys of Sudan.

He uses his paintings, photographs, and film in his work to communicate his stories to the world. He was denied schooling and used Art as a means to speak in a universal language. His mission is to help the many children that are suffering in Sudan, Africa. Each night, thousands of young girls and boys go to sleep without without clean water, food, parents, or any foreseeable future.

The Lost Boys of Sudan are the groups of over 20,000 boys of Nuer and Dinka ethnic groups who were either displaced and orphaned during the Second Sudanese Civil War (1983-2005) who resided in Africa. About 2.5 million were killed or nowhere to be found. 

"Through my Art I have been able to deal with the traumas from atrocities of the war, separation from my family, the loss of my home and homeland, and the poor conditions of the refugee camp life. When I do art I feel like I have let out all the things that are in me. Art is a way for me to respond and to give." 

-Awer G. Bul

Photograph by Awer G. Bul

You can see his work here, including his piece titled Living in Exile.

"This video deals with transformation, not only in the mind and body but also in location and spirit. The many days I spent in Africa were the worst days of my life, and at the same time they were so meaningful. My new homeland is much different from Sudan and I feel as though my soul has been set free. When I walk around downtown Richmond, I am in awe of the possibilities and also I am reminded of Africa."

 

Awer shares his testimony.

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We're always talking about "Art being a universal language" and teach students about this concept. Awer Bul's life is a living example of the power this statement has. I believe it's important to step out of our "boxes' and really take a look at what's going on around us. As an educator, I know one of my priorities will be to be consciously aware of activity outside of ourselves. I believe I am guilty of being encompassed by my own life, saturating every moment with a task to move forward. As I begin to develop my teaching philosophy, these are the thoughts I ponder on articulating. 

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New Media New Forms

I am personally very interested in our New Media New Forms course. The idea that technology is rapidly advancing and being integrated within our every day interactions is something I have just been beginning to grasp as we think about how to address it in the classroom. 

What does "New Media New Forms" mean? What might this term encompass? I'm interested in the different avenues it opens up to the realms of making art and what roles it can play in the field of art education.

This is what wiki tells us it is:

New Media Art is a genre that encompasses artworks created with new media technologies, including digital art, computer graphics, computer animation, virtual art, Internet art, interactive art, computer robotics, and art as biotechnology. The term differentiates itself by its resulting cultural objects and social events, which can be seen in opposition to those deriving from old visual arts (i.e. traditional painting, sculpture, etc.). This concern with medium is a key feature of much contemporary art and indeed many art schools and major Universities now offer majors in "New Genres" or "New Media"^[1] and a growing number of graduate programs have emerged internationally.^[2] New Media Art often involves interaction between artist and observer or between observers and the artwork, which responds to them. Yet, as several theorists and curators have noted, such forms of interaction, social exchange, participation, and transformation do not distinguish new media art but rather serve as a common ground that has parallels in other strands of contemporary art practice.^[3] Such insights emphasize the forms of cultural practice that arise concurrently with emerging technological platforms, and question the focus on technological media, per se.

New Media concerns are often derived from the telecommunications, mass media and digital modes of delivery the artworks involve, with practices ranging from conceptual to virtual art, performance to installation.

NYTimes: Harnessing Gaming for the Classroom

By. DD. Guttenplan

“We need to give young people more freedom — and we should continue to play as we get older,” Mr. Kurzweil said. 

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Generation Citizen

Generation Citizen

Mission: Despite the promises of a government in which all citizens can play a role in determining the country’s future, a large part of our nation, especially minority and lower-income citizens, does not actively participate in our democracy. Generation Citizen exists to change this dynamic.

Generation Citizen empowers underrepresented youth to be active participants in the democratic process.

Generation Citizen leads students to make change in their communities by partnering trained college volunteers (Mentors) with secondary teachers to implement an “action civics” curriculum. Our innovative, action-based program will revolutionize civics education in this country. Generation Citizen is building a new generation of youth activists and leaders, a generation inspired and equipped to make change.

*I came across this organization on the TC website and thought it was awesome. It's inspiring to know people are passionate about working with the underrepresented youth and to support them in becoming an active members of society. I love this stuff.

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Life Before Teacher's College

My parents came to the states as Korean-immigrants in 1983. Soon after, when my brother and I were born, we became the first American-born members within our family generation. Born and raised in Queens, New York, I moved out to Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania for my undergraduate studies at Carnegie Mellon University, where I resided for four years. I began at the School of Fine Arts for the first year and soon after went into the School of Design to study Industrial Design.

Quite often I reflect back at my time studying there. Through my experiences in both schools I was able to gain a deeper understanding of the differences and similarities of the fields within "Art" and "Design". I made connections between the two and recognized the many conceptual ways the two overlap and have distinct characteristics.

Upon graduation, I came home and still held on to my repressed desire to pursue the field of fashion. As you can see through the various paths I've traveled on, I had many interests and wasn't quite set on something exact.

It was a difficult time for me as a young adult (which I still very much am); I wanted so much to know exactly what I wanted to do, what I wanted to be doing and who I wanted to become. But I was constantly in a cloud of confusion. Having grown up in such a rigorous culture of work and success, the pressures of living up to the set standards and wanting to rise above was a constant. I eventually worked in a fashion company for two years. The glamor and magic quickly disintegrated and concluded it wasn't the right industry for me.

I'd worked in several other industries shortly after and continued with my time of exploration of the world post-college. After much processing of the world around me, I now find myself here at Columbia University Teacher's College. How did I end up here? I'll save that for another entry :)

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