Leigh Bowry

Leigh Bowry was a performance artist from Australia who was one of the first to create a female persona to use in his artwork. He transformed himself into a completely different person to perform and his influence echoed through the fashion, music and movie industry. Bowry became a well known figure bringing differnt light to what a performance artist can do, and the changing of oneself to become a new person in your art.

Some of his performances include him giving birth center stage to his partner who was dressed as a large baby covered in placenta. Bowry took performance art in a new direction with his novel ideas for transofrming yourself into the artist, or piece of art you wish to be. He showed us we can all deliver self-expression in any way we like, and we can do it to better ourselves and others.

Orlan

Many of the works by Orlan are not only shocking, but different from anything else in art. From her first works posing nude with manequins I thought she was a weirdo, but to me the most extreme of all her works is the plastic surgery she had to put horns on her head. Why would she want horns anyway? To look like...what? To me, it is a little extreme to transform your body as a piece of art, and to go under the knife in a life-threatening procedure to look like an animal with horns on your head. However, if its going to keep her top on, I think she's better off these days doing things of that nature than still to be posing with her boobs out when shes like 60.

Joseph Beuys

Beuys is considered one of the most influential artist of the 20th century. Not only was he an artist, but he was a social philosopher, humanist and anthropologist. Beuys aimed to help sculpt our social ideals, and give way for all people to stand up and voice their opinion in any way they choose. While addressing political instability, Beuys created art with a message and meaning. By taking art in a different way, Beuys helped pave the road for any artist trying to create something of their own and reflective of themselves or the culture on which they want to comment. 

     He was one of the first artists to setp outside the box and cahlenge what people called "art". Beuys was creative and thought in a new way about what is possible in the art world, and what would send a message through a different way. Beuys was truly a pioneer in not only performance art, but many other areas as well.

Tree of Life

I felt like a complete idiot sticking different bodt parts in the xerox machine in the library, especially doing my feet and lookin like a weirdo, but it came out kind of cool..

Howl at Censorship

The final ruling of this case seems to me to be the right one that this poem was not obscene enough to be held off air during times when children would not be listening. It is ridiculous to think, as they suggested, that so many other things far worse are created in our mass media culture and are accepted and allowed to be aired on television and the radio. Many pieces not accepted to be so cultural as a poem that reflects a man’s view of our society during a difficult time, have been admired and encouraged to be aired, even during times that might be caught by a child’s eye. While words such as “negro”, “naked” and “smoking” do appear in lines of the poem, none of these words are as terrible as some make them out to be, and are certainly far better than many of the language heard walking down the street today.

It is almost impossible to distinguish which words are acceptable to be used in a public manor, and even harder to determine how those who do broadcast or popularize them should be held accountable (the 1^st amendment is a hard thing to argue against).  I think that if certain words must be blocked out during times where children may be present, then they should be not allowed on television or radio at all. If so, then many of the songs we all listen to today would not be allowed, and the television shows we watch would be muted out every other word. When did it become okay to use the word bitch on TV? Or the word ass when hole is blocked out? A lot of this does not make sense and will never make sense because it what is okay is determined by a select group of people, who make decisions on what the public is presented with.

10 Revolutionary Computers

With computers being readapted all the time, and made smaller and smaller and smaller every day, it is incredible to look back on how the computer was invented, what steps were taken, and how long it took to get to the Mac Book Air. Learning about what Babbage did in class, was truly jaw dropping, How could someone come up with the concept of the computer in the 1800’s? It’s weird to think that the very first computer was more like a machine, than what we know today with technology.

The massive bodies these early counting machines used made it impossible for the first computers to be used in the everyday household. Not only this, but there hadn’t been a technique developed yet to make the computer easy to use. After the IBM system, more compact devices were developed, and took the shape of more of a typewriter then machine. If it’s funny for us to look back on the earliest computers, with large screens, bulky monitors and storage units, and think about the tiny computers we use today, even incorporated into our mobile devices. What will our kids think about the computers we still use today? How far will technology bring us during our lifetime? It is impossible to predict what is to come.

MZTV

Right off the bat this website caught my attention with the first move of the mouse. Entering the “museum” of television, you move toward the image of the museum and suddenly a man, and a woman with child icons appear to be walking in with you, leading you to the door. I love the way famous quotes are on constant replay, it keeps the attention of the user and gives them something interesting to look at on the homepage of the site.

It is very cool how the colorful reels of options to click on rolls by with which aspects of the history of television you want to explore. The site aims to please many different kinds of people, with a ton of information about early pioneers of TV, famous television actresses including Marilyn Monroe, and an easy to read timeline of the history of television. Anything you need to know about one of the most important inventions of the past decade can be easily found and learned.

The interactive 3d gallery is an incredible idea of the creators of this website. Not only does it attract you to use the website to its fullest and look around at everything, but it is an even better way to learn the information being presented, and explore it on your own terms as the user. It’s very cool to see the evolution of the television set from the earliest model in 1928 to what we see today in Best Buy.