BLOG PROMPT TWO: Appropriation and Collaboration
In B Flat (2011) by Darren Solomon and Thru-You (2009) by Kutiman
PLEASE ANSWER BY POSTING COMMENTS.
From
A Dictionary of Modern and Contemporary Art, "Appropriation in art is
the use of pre-existing objects or images ... To appropriate
means to adopt, borrow, recycle or sample aspects of (or the
entire form of) human-made visual culture."
Collaboration is when two or more people intentionally work together to create a work of art.
Interact with In B Flat and watch at least one song from Thru-You (I recommend "Mother of All Funk Chords"). Briefly describe these art projects in terms of appropriation and/or collaboration.
In B Flat by artist/composer Darren Solomon: http://www.inbflat.net
THRU-YOU | Kutiman Mixes Youtube by artist/musician Kutiman:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tprMEs-zfQA&ab_channel=kutiman
I watched Mother of all Funk Cords and This is what it became. In order I liked in B flat mother of all funk chords, and this is what it became. This felt incredible like the embodiment of the universe experiencing itself. I felt like at the end of movies where there was this big sequence of overlapping videos of different instances, but they all come to the same thesis. Like everything everywhere all at once or the end of the Barbie movie. This is appropriation in terms of art because it's taking different videos and putting them together to create something new. They are recycling and sampling aspects of videos when they replay and alter the beat of them and in the flat is collaboration because it seems all those people worked together to make their own individual videos while through you is appropriation because it seems the person collected videos to put them together. I really like this and in the flat, especially touched me in a way I really wasn't expecting. Will definitely be showing this to other people because wow that literally felt like I was an alien and someone was trying to prove to me why humans are worth anything.
ReplyDeleteI really enjoyed B Flat. I was drawn to how it allowed the viewer to create their own soundtrack. You could pause individual instruments, choose which ones to include and overall shape a version of the music that felt personal. The music itself felt cinematic, as I began to press play on more videos. When I started playing the "information" video, it reminded me of the opening to a National Geographic documentary, where the narrative starts to set in and the music fades into the background. This piece also uses appropriation. The artist takes existing videos from YouTube and connects them, creating something new. It is a form of creative recycling where the artist combined unrelated clips to make a video that is cohesive and "original." In contrast, the video Mother of Funk Chords by Thru-You relies on collaboration, It features four musicians, each in different locations, playing together as if they were all sitting next to each other. As the video progresses, you can hear the feedback they are giving each other in real time. This live feedback conveys the collaborative nature of this artwork and shows how music can bring people together.
ReplyDeleteAfter watching both videos, B Flat and Mother of All Funk Chords, I really enjoyed the experience of watching the songs come together. In both videos, different clips and videos are put together to create something new and different than how it would be on its own. I especially enjoyed B Flat the most because I had control over what I was hearing, and it was truly interactive. Being able to pause any one video or multiple videos completely changed the sound that was created. I believe I would describe the B Flat video as an appropriation rather than a collaboration because each video was being used, recycled, and borrowed to create the experience. As compared to the Mother of All Funk Chords, the videos were more cut and pasted together intentionally. I really enjoyed seeing how techniques like collaboration and appropriation can be used to create art, and how these different techniques make the viewer feel as they experience a piece.
ReplyDeleteAfter watching both In B Flat and Mother of All Funk Chords, I really enjoyed both pieces. In terms of collaboration versus appropriation, I would say In B Flat leaned more toward appropriation because it took a variety of different music samples from YouTube that could be played together to make one beautiful-sounding piece. I’m not sure if this was an intentional collaboration or if Darren Solomon, the composer, just borrowed or sampled these pieces. This piece left me questioning its originality, authenticity, and authorship. As for Mother of All Funk Chords, this piece seemed to reflect collaboration; in both a physical and tangible sense. The artists talked to each other in the video, and they seemed to happily go along with bringing their different areas of musical expertise together to make a harmonious song. Overall, both pieces were great, but I found myself smiling at Mother of All Funk Chords because it humanized the art and felt very intentional and progressive.
ReplyDeleteI absolutely loved B Flat, the way it was so smooth and dreamlike was so interesting, and that you could pretty much compose your own music and with different noises I found so interesting. B flat was more appropriation than collaboration, because the creator used samples of others work to create this website. While mother of all funk chords is collaboration, because multiple artists worked together with the intention of harmonizing their piece. I loved that both did not just have one single screen of music, but that it kept your eyes attentive to what might happen next.
ReplyDeleteThe Thru-u project is a beautiful connection of people around the world that had no intention of duetting with other artists when they first posted. In Thru-u's About, he explained how crazy it was that so many of the videos worked together with each other without him having to change anything about them. It is appropriation in the way that he samples their videos, but it is combined to create a digital community that was already there, but not readily available to see. In B flat is more collaborative because it operated as an open call submission for people to post a video in B-flat. It's interesting through how these videos did not need to be composed, they can be played in any order and still sound great together.
ReplyDeleteI'm obsessed with B Flat it's an incredible example of a collaboration. Different people playing different instruments and some word clips, but the beauty of it is how it allows us to layer as we please. It’s truly special how they created something new by combining these contributions. Kutiman’s Thru-You project, especially the song Mother of All Funk Chords, is more about appropriation. He takes YouTube videos that other musicians uploaded and remixes them into one song. The clips weren’t created for him or had this purpose in the first place, but he reuses and samples them in a way that turns them into a completely new piece. It’s still collaborative in some ways but in a looser sense because the musicians didn’t plan on it, but their work is still part of the final product.
ReplyDeleteI loved listening to "In B Flat" because it truly shows the human condition and how easily we can be connected together while engaging in a single act, like making music. I like how the website let the viewer interact with it and press play on all of the videos in whatever order you wanted. Everyone who views the videos probably all have a different sounding song, but it is still similar in the end. The project is a form of appropriation because the artists did not intentionally work together to create this. An individual put together all of the pre-existing videos to create a new art project. The "Thru-U" video was really cool to watch as the people worked together to make one piece. In the beginning, it seems like they were communicating with each other in real time, making it a piece of collaboration rather than appropriation.
ReplyDeleteIn B Flat, the term appropriation could be applied because the art piece created by Darren Solomon is using pre-recorded/released aspects of human made visual culture. Due to the randomness of composers and instruments, it seems like Solomon could have found clips on YouTube that matched the overall theme of his piece. There is also the possibility that he asked fellow musicians to collaborate to showcase the vastness of the musical cord B-Flat and compiled the videos onto this website admiring everyone's talent and skills with their chosen instrument.
ReplyDeleteTHRU-YOU by Kutiman is also an example of appropriation as well as collaboration. In the beginning of the video, one artist mentions playing the mother of all funk chords, the 9th chord. One could see appropriation through the editing and layering of different artist's as the lead drummer instructs the group on what to do next. This video could now be seen as collobaration when all the artists are following the direction of a composer to create a piece of art.
I really loved B Flat, especially the audio recording of the person speaking, which I thought added a perfect touch to its dreamlike, space-entering sound. I’m fascinated by the idea of essentially creating your own music, though I would describe this as appropriation rather than collaboration, since it relies on pre-existing videos that are recycled. However, they are repurposed in a way that sheds light on a new perspective, which I find both impressive and fascinating. Unlike B Flat, the video Mother of Funk Chords by Thru-You emphasizes collaboration. It brings together four musicians from different places, yet the editing makes it feel as though they are performing side by side. This interaction highlights the collaboration of the work and demonstrates how music has the power to connect people. I would probably say I love B Flat more, just because of how interactive and surprising it was. The way it transformed into something entirely new kept me engaged, and it felt less like simply watching a performance and more like being part of it.
ReplyDeleteTwo distinctive aspects of the projects “In B Flat 2.0” and “Thru-You” illustrate collaboration and appropriation through sampling and interaction. In “In B Flat 2.0,” the act of pressing play at the audience's discretion generates harmonies and audio communication from the appropriated clips, demonstrating a larger collaboration that continuously adapts based on user input and sampling. In contrast, “Thru-You” showcases appropriation through the cutting and editing of video and audio samples to create a cohesive song, resulting in a work that combines the artist's contribution with the audience's experience. Both projects exemplify the art of appropriation and sampling, where audio communication develops a unique language. However, they differ in that “In B Flat 2.0” allows for audience interaction to create evolving works, while “Thru-You” presents a finalized creation based on the artist's editing.
ReplyDelete"In B Flat" it is the use of appropriation by putting multiple original video clips next to each other and letting the audience choose their own desired beat, or interpretation. I like how it lets the audience choose on their own discretion and its creative use. It is very interactive and free. In "Thru-You" it was very creative on the use of collaboration and appropriation by altering/chopping each video clip into a believable connected song and/or conversation. All the components used in "Thru-You" is successful in its own way to make an "orchestral" stage like performance. The alteration or distortion of sound and time can impact a piece of art in a meaningful way.
ReplyDeleteAfter exploring both projects, I noticed that they play with the concept of appropriation and collaboration in very different ways. In B Flat is primarily about collaboration in my opinion. While the framework was already created, the actual content comes from many contributors. The project only works because of those collective voices. The Thru-You project on the other hand I believe is a clear example of appropriation. In "Mother of All Funk Chords," what seems like dozens of YouTube clips and samples are taken and used in one seamless funk track. None of the musicians originally set out to be part of a collective song, but they're content is almost "recycled" into something entirely new. Both projects seem to blur the lines between the two, but each one has a more distinctive side that tends to come out on top in my opinion.
ReplyDeleteIn FIFA, by Darren Solomon and through you by Kutiman, both explore the idea of the appropriation and collaboration in different ways and be flat it’s an interactive project where people contribute spoken words in a musical performances which that are layered and mixed by the audience, making it collaborative since collaborators intent to work together, and the audience becomes a part of the creation. There are some appropriation in the sense that users contributions are borrowed and use, which focuses and more of a collective participation. In contrast thru-you is the center on abbreviation, as it’s also an entirely new song, transforming the original context of the clip into a unified performance. But be flat is less direct collaboration since the original performers did not knowingly work with Kutiman, though their work becomes an essential part of their vinyl piece.Together, these projects have highlighted how to media can blur the lines between collaboration and appropriation.
ReplyDeleteI loved interacting with both B-flat and Funk Chords!
ReplyDeleteB-flat was an example of collaboration of artwork through the internet. Different artists and instruments are all able to be used together to create a variety of new and engaging pieces of music. By submitting their work to the site, they are collaborating to create new works of music. These artists are not only collaborating with one another, but also with everyone who interacts with the site. I loved creating my own composition. I think that this is an incredible example of collaboration in net art.
Funk Chords was also so fun to watch. I love how the works of artists can be used to create something entirely new and beautiful. This was more of a work of appropriation. These videos were edited, layered, and changed in order to create a new piece.
I loved Funk Chords. It felt incredibly nostalgic to me, because it reminded me of one of my favorite movies when I was younger, where appropriation in music and video was also used. I have attached the link here!
( https://bellarmineonline-my.sharepoint.com/:v:/g/personal/award4_bellarmine_edu/EWYrkB6jxfhCgDnQlzcaPhkBRHU0us3tpTtZs7g7EhlHHw?nav=eyJyZWZlcnJhbEluZm8iOnsicmVmZXJyYWxBcHAiOiJPbmVEcml2ZUZvckJ1c2luZXNzIiwicmVmZXJyYWxBcHBQbGF0Zm9ybSI6IldlYiIsInJlZmVycmFsTW9kZSI6InZpZXciLCJyZWZlcnJhbFZpZXciOiJNeUZpbGVzTGlua0NvcHkifX0&e=v3tEAG )
Throughout the film, different videos and sounds are used together to reflect on the lives of life, art, and what it means to people.
Personally, I think that when used in terms of creating art, appropriation can create beautiful pieces that reflect the human experience.
Interacting with w/ B Flat and Thru-You was really cool!
ReplyDeleteB Flat is a collaborative project: it consists of dozens of short video clips uploaded by different musicians, each playing in the key of B flat. Thru-You, especially in a song like “Mother of All Funk Chords,” leans more heavily on appropriation. While there is no direct collaboration between the performers themselves, the project creates an illusion of collaboration through appropriation, transforming scattered individual expressions into a cool collective musical work.