jzr

takashi murakami: owning the spectrum

by jzr

“Japanese people accept that art and commerce will be blended; they are surprised by the rigid and pretentious Western hierarchy of ‘high art.’ In the West, it certainly is dangerous to blend the two because people will throw all sorts of stones. But that’s okay— I’m ready with my hard hat.” ~ Takashi Murakami While market size and sales volumes are usually not requirements...

April 30, 2016

Comments 0

essays, featured

cyborgian-isms, identity construction and media amplification

by jzr

A GALILEAN DIALOGUE mcluhan: Artists perceive the changes caused by new media. They recognize the future in the present, while using their work to prepare the world for changes that aren’t yet apparent to others (McLuhan 3-4; Patel). Would you say the “Cyborg Manifesto” is an example of one such creative expression? haraway: Yes and no. To be honest, I just prefer to live...

November 4, 2015

Comments 0

essays, featured

essays, favourites

a viable model

It’s one thing to question your mind. It’s another to question your eyes and ears. But, then again, isn’t it all the same? Are senses just mediocre inputs...

favourites, poetry & prose

intergalactic fieldnotes

essays, favourites

narrative reframing

This essay focuses on the first season of the Serial podcast, analyzing the narrative approach used in Sarah Koenig’s investigation of an old murder case. In covering the story,...

essays, favourites

reclaiming identity

Of the myriad of impacts from colonization is the fragmentation of cultural/ ancestral knowledge. At the intersection of technology, identity and creativity for several media artists from indigenous and...

audio, favourites

boundarylines

A podcast experiment… created from a series of student interviews on the campus of Ryerson University (Toronto) in autumn 2015. CREDITS studio interview / Julia Walters, (Immigrant &...

essays, favourites

taking flight: perspectives from the depths of an ideas factory

An essay that was published as part of the sarai 09: projections reader of the series of sarai readers. The essay follows the life of an idea and its...

karmic residue

by jzr

A draft of a screenplay I’ve been working on… related to the celestial navigations mobile app design. This, in part, follows a personal project to trace my family history from Canada to the Caribbean to South Asia. The other part… I’m still undecided on. karmic residue (08.15.17) Related / celestial navigations

in pursuit of social change

by jzr

This essay analyzes the construction and filmmaking approach used in “Cidade de Deus” (referred to as City of God throughout), a 2002 Brazilian film directed by Fernando Meirelles and Kátia Lund, based on the semi-autobiographical novel of the same title, by Paulo Lins. The film was an international commercial success, receiving widespread critical acclaim, sweeping the awards of international festivals in 2002-2003. The film illuminates the darkest corners Rio’s favela’s in the 1960s – 1980s, raising the invisibility cloak on its most vulnerable inhabitants — the children who are brought into gangs, drug trafficking and who ultimately become victims of gun violence at a young age. While there does not appear to be clear quantifications of the film’s impact, nor its ability to garner social change (particularly for residents of the favelas), the construction of the film/ story can be credited (at least in part) in catalyzing much needed dialogue in Brazil and abroad about the social crises central to the film. The term ‘favela’ refers to highly populated urban agglomerations that emerged in...

celestial navigations

by jzr

mobile app This mobile app is an attempt to simplify the task of tracing Indo-Trinidadian ancestry, by making archival records more accessible. This task only became possible in 2011, when the indentureship records were made available to the public through support from UNESCO’s Memory of the World Program. The records, however, are still not easily accessible due to the historical structure of the colonial registers. Trying to trace family ancestry usually requires oscillating between the national archives (Trinidad & Tobago) and elder family members. With relatives dispersed around the world, it is common for such a project span North America/ Europe and the Caribbean, and take several years to complete the project. Incomplete information at each point of contact requires multiple trips. When gathering information at various points of contact, it would be beneficial to have access to a summary of various archival records/ fonds (ie. ship arrival dates/details, maps of plantations with workforce info, etc) to help narrow towards the most accurate date range to focus on when you do eventually delve into the national archives. Even when at...

a viable model

by jzr

It’s one thing to question your mind. It’s another to question your eyes and ears. But, then again, isn’t it all the same? Are senses just mediocre inputs for our brain? Sure, we rely on them, trust that they accurately portray the real world around us, but what if the haunting truth is, they can’t? That, what we perceive isn’t the real world at all, but just our mind’s best guess. ~ Elliot Alderson This essay focuses on Mr. Robot, a television series equivalent of an indie film, whose first season is said to have pushed boundaries and captured the cultural zeitgeist, almost overnight. Its first season ratings established it as the #3 most watched scripted cable drama in the US, garnering multiple awards and nominations — leading to the series being licensed in almost 200 countries (Birnbaum). This essay analyzes the strategies employed, deconstructs the elements contributing to its success, and explores why the series may be a model for future television properties moving forward. The series is about a...

intergalactic fieldnotes

by jzr

SYNOPSIS The story involves two main characters — an intergalactic anthropologist (Journee) on an officially sanctioned mission to Earth; and a musician-political activist-turned-terrorist (Auden), living on Earth since the collapse of his planet. Auden’s planet is now entirely composed of asylum seekers, scattered across the universe. Unaware of Auden’s true identity, Journee makes him the focus of her research. She documents conversations, his movements, thought processes, etc. The story takes the form of Journee’s auto-ethnographic fieldnotes — short stories, dialogues, poetry and song lyrics — surveillance video/ transcripts and intergalactic intelligence memos; culminating in a tale of intergalactic espionage and betrayal. A RANT While retina scanning was likely the evidence most relevant little attempt had been made to employ it Instead they relied on people behind counters kiosks x-ray machines people who are malleable to influence boredom the human bias Where else on the planet so clearly illustrated such self-imposed division? Where top-down geopolitical economic imbalances historical immediately critical were most widely visible Someone was gonna hear about it My report would include a scathing...

academic forays

Years

Authors

Filter by Month

Filter by Categories

Filter by Tags