Surrealism and the Uncanny Valley

Surrealism was founded in and around the 1920s. The world war 1 was over and to distance themselves from reality artists started to explore how to portray dreams and reform the world differently through the means of art. 

Andre Breton a french poet and participator in the Dada group was the founder of surrealism and wrote the surrealist Manifesto in 1924. In which he discussed the idea that surrealism is 'pure psychic automatism' This brought about artistic practices like automatism - to access your subconscious mind through a creative process. Though intended to be used as a medical practice, this brought a whole lot more for the artistic movement. Poets created automatic writing practices followed by artists attempting to also tackle the subconscious visually through automatic drawings.

Andre Masson - automatic drawing

Max Ernst, The Elephant Celebes (1921)

"it cannot be born from a comparison but from a juxtaposition of two more or less distant realities" - Andre Breton. These practices were not only portrayed in writing and art but films such as Un Chien Andalou are famous for being surrealist works. The order of the movie is nonsensical but is chopped in a way to create uneasiness in the watcher through contrasting themes. the most famous scene in this movie features a man gazing at the moon caressing a razor on a balcony. The next scene shows the closeup of a woman being held by a man who then slits the womans eye with a razor as she stares ahead. This short segment was Inspired by a dream Buñuel had where a cloud sliced the moon in half  "like a razor blade slicing through an eye". 

Common themes seen in surrealism include: The human form, organs, flowers, chance encounters, clouds, sex, madness and death.

Uncanny Valley

This is a phenomenon that is appearing more and more in the 21st century with the advancement of technologies such as 3D rendering and robotics. It is the idea of seeing an image that isn't completely ' right' by our own standards. You often notice this in attempts of hyper realistic work where something is considered 'off' or unnatural. This response can even be had when looking at identical twins.

The idea of seeing an uncanny humanoid can trigger a instinct fear of being in danger of dying. Humanoid robots for example can appear normal in form but show no emotions similar to a corpse or even a zombie. This is why common fears for people to have are of clowns and puppets both with inhuman characteristics. If you wish to try out firsthand the feeling of uncanny, try out this simulator cubocc girl where a interactive image of a human like being follows your mouse.

As a creator it is important to make sure you dont fall into the hole of uncanny valley if trying to make appealing characters. Movies such as Tin  Tin and the Polar express were deemed too uncomfortably realistic and ruined the experience for the watcher.

I feel in recent times the line between real and fake is being blurred as technology advances. An example of some amazing special effects would be this galaxy advert. Using 3D rendering technology and face doubles the creators completely created a feature using deceased actor Audrey Hepburns likeness to create an otherwise impossible advert.

How long will it be before humans and 'other beings' are indistinguishable? I Feel nothing will stop these technologies from progressing but will there ever be a point where we won't consider humanoid like being to not be uncanny?

The Man in the Bowler Hat / Coffee to go

While Exploring the history of surrealism I came across a short video just going over basic themes in Surrealism with famous actor Peter Capaldi, Though not relevant to my work I found it to be a short and interesting video as it mentions a lot of popular themes of the surrealist movement.

Exploring Surrealism with Peter Capaldi

The Man in the Bowler Hat by Rene Margritte is a well known surrealist piece that i think would be fun to replicate. The face being covered is supposed to provoke questions and give a sense of mystery and whimsy. To adapt this image for my own work I want to focus on it being otherworldly. To create similar likeness in shapes I want to make the censorship of the image to be of a coffee cup to modernise the image. With modernisation in mind I thought it would be fun to add the phrase " can i get a venti human to go?". This plays with the idea of an alternative universe where coffee can order humans from a shop contrasting to the reality of the situation. It was just a fun little idea/sketch I had in mind while exploring work of surrealist artists while reflecting on my own current project. I made a quick sketch which at some point I would like to recreate to a more professional calibre later. I wish to use warm tones on the 'character' to contrast the cool colours of the clouds. It is common to see re-occurring themes of clouds in surrealistic works as it suggests a dream-like state.

Essay Brief First Look

To prepare for the written essay I annotated the brief ( Taking notice of key words and deadlines the goal ) to develop a better understanding of what is required for the essay. The essay has three potential questions that can be broadened and explored. These questions can be looked at in a multitude or different ways. As groups we annotated and created mind maps or notes for each question. I will continue to expand on these ideas in upcoming lessons and spare time.

Jonathan Lindley

We had a talk to a previous student at the university. He discussed the importance of theory in Graphic Design while showcasing some of his own work.

He has worked with bands for the most part doing music videos and alternative graphics.

Book Of Lies

In this lesson we created a collective information video. Each individual member of the group answered  a simple questionnaire which consisted of lies either about ourselves or others. Once all of the lies had been collected, each individual student was photographed. The images were taken in an unflattering mugshot style to remove a sense of personality. Once the images and lies were done they were run through an algorithm which would randomly match one persons quote with another persons quote. 

This technique creates a whole new context to each image as you cant help but associate the imagery with the text. This technique can be used in a variety of ways to provoke a new emotion or response to the original context.

The Medium is the Message

The format something is given in can be just as important as the subject matter. This can often leave a much stronger message than the actual product itself. Form and content are considered distinct aspects of what makes art and design.

A strong example of this would be an art piece by Shepard Fairey called 'OBEY' 1999

This image featured a famous wrestler, André the Giant, and the phrase 'OBEY'. The phrase was influenced from the imagery in the john Carpenter movie 'They Live'. This movie uses strong themes of subliminal brainwashing and manipulating people in the masses. What started as a small niche joke soon evolved into a viral phenomenon as the imagery appeared in different locations with the intent to provoke questions in people about their surroundings.

Guerrilla marketing is becoming more and more common today with fast paced living and shorter attention spans, making for some of the best marketing methods yet. This invokes the slogan of the brand KitKat by having a seating arrangement.  'Have a break, have a Kit Kat' is being figuratively given to you in the form of a seat.

To attempt this method ourselves we were given a small selection of newspaper clippings and were asked to create something with form or message. Our group decided to use images of pet dogs in the newspaper combined with traditional folding. We folded the images of the dog into an origami dog. This gives the contents of the images a 3D personification first and foremost then the content of the image is relevant.

Species of Spaces

To get into the mindset of how to visualise things in a different way i was set with the task of recording a personal memory in small sketchbooks. We had  to consider using maps, text or symbolism and the layout overall. The center of view had to be consistent throughout to keep the focus on one thing. This gives the viewer more information as they find themselves further away from the original subject matter.

The next part of the task was a collaborative piece of work. In groups of 5 we were expected to implement the 'stories' we had created in the morning together. Showing correlation in other peoples work with our own. We were given a long scroll to feature our work.

As a group we decided to lay out the scroll as a metro rail map. Making stations relating to things our work had in common. We used standard metro colours each rail line referring to each individual person. I was in charge of integrating each individuals person into the layout of the map. this was very much a trial and error process to make an aesthetically pleasing while retaining a realistic rail layout. Adding a key into the work made for a more visually comprehensible piece overall. Our mural relied heavily on the work we did separately as that is what was the basis of the map. This being the case, we made sure to display our folding books along with the mural clearly.

Our group was the only group to create a mural like this. Other groups played with the idea of panoramas, birds eye views and surreal layouts making a huge variety and perspectives on this task.