Times change, the feeling remains the same – but I think I prefer the old fashion one . Merry x-mas and a happy new year!

information junkie # 1 © nicole struppert 2010

Unfortunatly I had to take another year out of my studies – but I am currently working on a few artpieces about information overflow and the effects. Other work is still in the progress…

Sakamoto lives in New York City. The Interviewer asked him – what he thinks about increasingly digital noise we are surrounded  with – like mobile phones, the sound of the computers, in buildings, at platforms, in the streets etc.  Have that noises changed – or will it change our sense ?  He answered “because of beeing surrounded by so omnipresent digital sounds we will get deaden and numb. Once we have the chance to be somewhere quiet – the quiet will get that exciting – like a wow effect -  just then we will recognize that we are always surrounded by those noises.  Especially in cities we are surrounded all the time by noises – our brain, ears and eyes get information all the time. Too many information!”

I like what he said very much… A while ago I experimented a similiar situation. I had a very stressful time – and when I went to bed – I thought – something is wrong here… I couldn’t recognize what it was – but after a while I noticed that there was just silence… I heard nothing at all -  it felt so good and peaceful. I was wondering when it was the last time I heard nothing at all. It must be a long time ago.

I guess it is getting harder and harder to de-energize ourself in our time . We are surrounded by noise – information – stress – that we are loosing the sense  to enjoy the small moments in our daily life – to listen and watch sensibly. We tend to unconsciously reset our minds and forget what we have seen or listen. We all should take some “time off” ever day – get back a sense to enjoy the silence and peace that our enery could flow again.

Ryuichi Sakamoto with “energy flow”

I just watched the documentary WE LIVE IN PUBLIC which was produced for the 40th Birthday of the Internet.

WE LIVE IN PUBLIC tells the story of the effect the internet is having on our society _ seen through the eyes of artist & visionary Josh Harris. It is a great film but also very shocking how the virtual world inevitably takes control of our lives.

So the “Media Diet” at the hospital was such a relief and the 4 days felt a bit like beeing in holiday  -  sounds crazy, I know, but my mind and brain was sooo relaxed. I am sure there are a few people who think that people like me are a bit crazy, but I am also sure that there are lots of people outside the world who are dealing with the same problem – the information overload.

It sounds easy to escape from any digital information – it is just to turn off  the button of the computer – or a strict plan to check mails, read etc… But it is a big difference of knowing and doing. For a Marketers, Artists or any creative people who live from inspiration and information it is really hard to deal with it. The Internet is a land of milk and honey for creative people – u can get so many information and inspiration that you can get lost in it…

I felt the last days as such a relief and I decided to work hard on my own digital behaviour – not to be online all the time and take some time out – not to think all the time…

I am also thinking  about to put the  subject “information overload” more into focus for my project.

P.S. It is amazing to see how the project focus is changing with time. I am very excited where my journey is going to and how my final project will look like.

http://www.vuvox.com/presentations/021266e222

I think that after all the negative and critical way of seeing our project – there is also so much impact to visualize the negative sites – that at the end it will have a positive effect to the viewer! That he starts to think and reflect his own behavior!

“Giving people a small moment.”

There are so many moments every single day – but most of them we don‘t recognize. We tend to unconsciously reset our minds and forget what we have seen. To capture those moments with my photograpy or to do some artwork to make people think about a subject and reflect their own behaviour is one of the greates satisfaction to be an artist.

During the time beeing immobilized I was thinking a lot about my subject. I noticed that I was exhausted about my own media behaviour – I got a slave of my own digital media behaviour and had trouble to filter information and to de-energize… I felt that my project had a kind of negative influence for my life – but at least it was just my own behaviour. I was struggling with my project and thinking about changing the subject.

The last months I was more focused on living an analog life – escaping from the digital jungle. But soon I missed my digital life – I am a digital person… Living without digital enviroment isn’t possible anymore. There are so many people outside who feel the same like I do. We have to find a healthy balanced way between our own analog and digital life and behaviour.

I noticed from the last months of my studies that my focuse on my subject was primarily negative. I do see the developement of digital communication behaviour – especially about social media – critically… but I also feel that is has positive effects. I decided not to give up my subject and studies. My goal for the last year of my MA Studies is to have a balanced view about the digital behaviour. To use my own experience to develope artwork.

I started to improve my photoshop skills and learned new techniques for special effects.

I will restart my studies in September – till then I will use this blog to collect interesting information, videos and artwork.