This blog-post will explore the initial stages of the Unit 8 Gen Z task, referring to the primer task, Gen Z brief and initial project stages.
Primer Task; The Zeitgeist
Gather resources, knowledge, perspective and position on the following 3 themes:
Shopping culture Including: Buying, Selling, Exchange, Gifting
Trend forecasting Including: Media, Visual culture, Zeitgeist, the concerns of your generation
Publishing Including: Editions, Print, Digital, Internet culture
What is your critical perspective on contemporary consumer culture? Are you knowingly complicit, or actively opposed? Do you have opinions on capitalist systems, neoliberalism, generational divides, or do you just love shopping and don’t care to think about it too much?
Zeitgeist - 'the defining spirit or mood of a particular period of history as shown by the ideas and beliefs of the time’
My initial research for this task tackled the three areas separately: For Shopping Culture I explored the modern trends of consumerist capitalism including, online shopping, fast fashion and heightened buying in Western society. Furthermore, I investigated specific companies, how they built their brands and how monopoly brands work.
When investigating trend forecasting I conducted primary research though my own internet settings to see how the social media I use collects data for targeted advertisement. I also explored different advertisement techniques used in order for companies to target a specific consumer, and physiological techniques of persuasion used in film advertising.
Using research on the Zeitgeist I focused on the concerns of our generation, primarily worries about climate change, and how companies have adapted their marketing tactics to keep us consuming despite these concerns.
Finally I explored publishing, researching some of my favourite anti capitalist pieces of art. The main starting point for this was a music video by popular heavy metal band, Architects - These Colours don't run. I then looked at the magazine, Adbusters, who are infamously controversial for rustling big brands' feathers with their spoof ads. I also looked at some visual media I found interesting which can be found on my Pinterest board here.
My Primer PDF can also be found here.
Gen Z Brief
In this project you will be asked to position yourself as individuals and as a community, within the context of the Now. Make a body of work in response to these questions:
What does your generation have to offer?
What do they want?
What is available to them?
What should they receive? What should they give?
The following should also be considered: - Examine the current value and significance of illustration skills. - Explore ways of making work visible to your potential audiences.
The outcome for the project will be an editioned piece of work. What this is, is for you to define. For example it could be products, services or experiences (an edition of minimum 5)
You will also need to create a framework to deliver your works to the public for sale or exchange.
What is an Edition?
"An edition is a copy or replica of a work of art made from a master. It commonly refers to series of identical impressions or prints made from the same printing surface, but can also be applied to a series of other media such as sculpture, photography and video" - Tate Modern
Here's some answers to some key questions about understanding editions from Artwork
What is the difference between an edition and a reproduction?
An Edition is part of a set of work created by the artist who originally designed it, an edition is traditionally intended to be a cast for a reproduction.
Whereas a reproduction is a copy of the original edition - not created in the same media/method as the original artwork.
So for example an edition would be an original screen printed zine, and the reproduction would be the photocopied version of this for mass sale.
What's the difference between open and limited editions?
An open edition is an 'unlimited' amount of editions, so each print can be made to order or large amounts are continuously made.
Whereas a limited edition is where a set amount of editions are made and no more are created once sold out.
Often a limited edition print will be a lot more valuable for a collector.
Can your edition change between open and limited edition?
No. Creating a limited edition print makes the value of each work much greater, and creating more prints will decrease the value - creating editions creates a relationship of trust between the artist and consumer. If you consistently sell out of limited edition prints, this will boost your exclusivity as an artist. Some artists make a smaller number of prints than demand on purpose to generate more publicity and demand when it comes to their next limited edition.
David Shrigley
David Shrigley is one of my favourite artists, a lot of his works are available as open editions but some of his limited edition work can sell for as much as 5,000 GBP.
Check out some of Shrigley's work at http://davidshrigley.com/
Here are some of his limited edition prints:
Considering editioning my work:
Creating a set number of magazines and only releasing these in order to make the outcome a limited edition.
Creating a platform to distribute the edition such as my art Instagram page.
Weeks 24 and 25 Task
Look at the brief and compare it to your research:
My research has primarily been a negative viewpoint on capitalist and consumerist culture, whereas the brief asks us to create a body of work on what Gen Z wants, what's available to them, and what they should do. To tackle this I will need to transform the negative viewpoints on consumerist culture into pro-active changes our generation can make.
How does your research apply to you?
I feel I am a participant in the same consumerist system I chastise, can I create something which educates both myself and my audience on how to make positive change within our shopping cultures? I am particularly interested in the idea of 'green' living not being available across the class system equally, what research can I conduct into making green living more affordable and accessible?
Initial Pieces:
During the research stage of the project I used some of the visual imagery I found to create collages focusing on some of the key issues I was discovering. The them of these pieces is over-consumption in consumerist culture:
These pieces combine the visual research I have completed with the theoretic and contextual research from the initial primer. There is a lot of work that could be done on improving my digital skills, which will be my primary focus for this project.