Visual culture includes well known works of art or images that get circulated. Our visual culture includes artworks, famous images, logos, and more. Our visual culture is also being influenced by the internet. In today’s digital age, images have the capability to “go viral”. If something goes viral on the internet, it means that it spreads to different platforms and many thousands of people see it. These images or memes contribute to our visual culture because they are things that people know, reference and “remix”. One example of visual culture in the age of information is the Obama hope poster. This stylized portrait of Obama became very popular when he was running for president and after that image went viral, many other people on the internet created portraits in that style of other people and characters from popular culture. Everyone understood the reference because they had seen the original and so that style became a big part of our visual culture.
It is important to ask “new and alternative” questions because if we ask the “old questions” we would only be reproducing old knowledge. Therefore, new, alternative questions are a way to gain new knowledge and progress visual culture. These new questions focus on disrupting the historical status quo of visual culture. These inquiries should question things such as who is meant to view this image, what can we learn from the culture that produced it, etc.
Rogoff believes we should shift from “speaking about” to “speaking to”. What she means by this is if we are “speaking to” we can retell narratives and alter the structures of visual culture. For example instead of “speaking about” what a historical painter might have been trying to say we can “speak to” what the piece means today and what it means to different people. This will ultimately give a voice to historically marginalized peoples such as women, people of color, or homosexuals.
Rogoff challenges the historical term “the good eye”, which refers to artists and critics being able to dictate what is “good” art and what is not, with her term “the curious eye”. The curious eye implies that certain aspects are unknown and awaiting discovery. It opens up the discourse for discussion rather than labeling something as good or bad. I agree with Rogoff on this point, I think part of what makes art so personal and beautiful is it’s subjectivity. If one approaches art with a curious eye, they can make their own assumptions about it and don’t have to see things in such black and white perspectives as good or bad. The nuances of a piece of art can be better appreciated through a curious eye.
Rogoff defines the term gaze as “an apparatus of investigation, verification, surveillance and cognition, which has served to sustain the traditions of Western post-Enlightenment scientificity and early modern technologies”. However, she challenges this definition because it goes against what visual culture should be doing. This definition of “gaze” perpetuates old ideas and leaves philosophies unchallenged. We should look at artworks and other historical objects through a lens of questioning and open mindedness, rather than being stuck in the gaze of yesterday.
There are many possibilities that can come from making, seeing, and living critically in visual culture. One possibility is that we can approach old ideas through a modern lens and challenge old ideas. For example, if we are looking at a painting that was produced in the 17th century, instead of looking at what the artist was trying to say during that time, we can look at it as it exists today and see it through a new context. Ultimately this will open up the discussions surrounding visual culture and more people’s ideas and perspectives can be shown. Instead of just perpetuating the idea of men controlling the ideas and meanings of visual pieces, the meaning becomes democratized and historically marginalized groups can contribute more to the visual culture. I think this is already happening today with the internet. Everyone has a platform and anyone can share their ideas and opinions, visually or verbally. This creates an open visual culture where different images are borrowed and passed along and ideas are constantly changing and being reshaped by different people. Now with the internet, historically marginalized groups can participate more in visual culture.
My question: How is visual culture being shaped by modern technologies such as the internet? And how might it evolve in the future?
- cbcarpen