ITAP Week One - Connectivity

Key Principles:

• Notions of Originality  

• Can recontextualised ideas be contemporary?

Defining the means of the originality of something; be it a means of visual communication, spoken word or abstract thought, can be difficult as we are constantly bombarded by existing influences. We retain these consciously or subconsciously to be applied in our own lives - be it through an opinion, way of thinking or the way in which we express ourselves generally and artistically to others. When creating a visual communication, often there is a discreet balance between self-inclusion and homage that deems not many contemporary images truly original. However, can we say that anything created by man is truly original?
Take an example: The man who first made images or marks on rock or ground, distinguishing existing objects such as trees or animals, was only original in a material sense as all his ideas we pre-existing in nature. Therefore we can say, that unless a person has never been exposed to the world beyond their mind, no work can be 100% original. Visual Communication can however, be a great tool to express new personal, social, political and cultural ideas, and which placed in different contexts, can become contemporary rather than directly unoriginal.

Take for example this music video still from Bob Dylan's 1965 track Subterranean Homesick Blues:

Literal signage has been used for thousands of years to convey information, but here it is used as a tool to accompany musical expression. This still in particular is tinged with irony. The musician himself is putting across a persona that is not commercially viable, yet it is within a video to promote the sales of his own music. Is the artist subtly mocking his audience, his label and the wider commercial music industry by portraying his opinion in this manner? This is where a notion of originality is put in place, as the signage tool becomes less literal and opens up an array of wider social and cultural contexts regarding celebrity and entertainment; bringing an otherwise unoriginal form of communication into more contemporary territory.

More than 40 years later, Gillian Wearing further demonstrates the use of subject expression through signage in her series of photographs: Signs That Say What You Want Them To Say And Not What Someone Else Wants You To Say. This visual social commentary includes the image below right, which along with the Bob Dylan still is has ironic intent. The child has written out a passage from the Bible. He is using existing words as a form self-expression, directly juxtaposing the series' title. Again this shows originality in an old idea; the message is visually conveyed almost identically, but now contains a religious commentary that remains contemporary.

The final example of how a recontextualised image can be contemporary is shown above left and is a 2009 Government Advertisement. It utilizes modern photo editing techniques to draw attention - the foreground is sharply focused; this man is an individual; this is his opinion. Again a social statement is made but with the intent of informing and provoking action through personal experience. It demonstrates the second key principle through fusion of literal signage, personal opinion, modern photographic techniques and it's overall advertisment-based intent.