Mitch Epstein - http://www.mitchepstein.net/ - http://whatisamericanpower.com/ - from his American Power series. This plays of the Amish aspect of the last lecture and how we decide what technology we accept and how it contributes to our community and society.
Lindsay Avino
ReplyDeleteADP III
Weekly Statement
11/16/10
It is very interesting to me that people would choose to live in an environment like this one on the bank of the Kanawha River. Not only is the huge power plant sitting right outside their window, but the effects that this power plant has on both their health and the environment around them, is very high. In 2008, a blue chemical haze hung in the air of this area, because the amount of sulfuric acid was four times greater than what the American Electric Power had originally told both the residents of this area and the regulators. All of this pollution came from this one plant, which is one of the largest in the world. It has the capacity to generate 2,933 megawatts of electricity, which is enough energy to power 2.39 million homes. Although the company has installed 2 flue gas desulfurization systems to try to help with this problem, and has a third one being put up, there are still other emissions like carbon dioxide, being sent into the air. This series of images reminded me of the work of Daniel Shea's. Both of these series showed the effects that power plants have on communities. Although I would never live this close to a power plant, I imagine that some people are willing to risk their health and the negative impacts they have on the environment because of our reliance on the energy that they produce. I think that if people stopped accepting this, and instead worked on using alternative energy sources, the health of people living near these power plants as well as our environment would be greatly benefitted.
Alexandra Gardner
ReplyDeleteI think its really interesting that the artist Mitch Epstein chooses everyday settings as his choice of subject. At first glance the photos do not seem to astounding or thought provoking but when you realize the intent and message that Epstein is trying convey, one takes a different understanding of his work. He portrays the strength and awesomeness of energy and all that we gan from it, but also the disastrous consequences of its use and misuse. He aims to make the viewer understand that while technology is great and beneficial it has it drawback, particularly to the environment. It is important to realize that we utilize energy in excess, often wasting resources or using more than really necessary. It is impossible in this day in age to give up technology completely but we need to re-evaluate the use of energy and more alternative and efficient ways of using it, to better the environment.
Weekly statement
ReplyDeleteSection 3
11/16/10
Mitch Epstein takes a really nice approach to his work, his intro has a different feel to it than other photographers who are pushing awareness on energy plants. His tone is very positive and I think it’s great he trying to make people think about what the possibilities are for the good. Out of the different forms of generating energy, I think wind turbines coexist with nature to the smallest extent. There always so smooth and sleek and kind of beautiful lined up against the horizon so it caught me off guard to see the rotting broken wind turbine, I can imagine a bunch of busted wind turbine farms in the future. The general life span of a wind turbine is 20 years and harvesting wind energy on a large scale has only been in effect about 20 years so most wind turbines haven’t experienced a full life cycle and recycling is still a clouded topic. The photo of the female security guard surprised me, I’d never imagine that kind of security enforced for a power plant, she looks ready to go Rambo on somebody. The chevron oil refinery photo is pretty gripping too. The desolation is highlighted by the lone tree and a smoky haze is drifting through an uninhabited oil desert, pretty scary stuff, reminds me of the orc factory Saruman ran to put together his army in Lord of the Rings.
11/16/10
ReplyDeleteJackie San Fillipo
ADP III- Rotz
Weekly Statements
Epstein’s work is powerful; the kind of work that I feel is an obligation of artists to share. We see things other people may not, and bringing that to light brings change. When looking through his work I could not help but think of the term “creeping normalcy”. We are getting used to seeing smoke stacks and power plants around us. Our usage of power is detrimental in ways we do not understand. Its amazing power is flawed by its consequences; the military is directly related to this. All these beautiful photographs are ruined by the evidence of brute and greed in this country’s endless quest for power, convenience, and wealth. We rely greatly on our electricity; from light bulbs to heat, to television, to what we consider truly necessary such as computers, which I am doing my homework on right now. As John Rockwell writes of his work, “a hubristic approach to power can render us all powerless,” in situations like the BP gulf oil spill, it gives me a “Frankenstein”-like fear that everything we have created to better our lives will destroy them. This idea is not new. We know our planet is in trouble, but power plants and our use of power is not the most common issue that is addressed, and Epstein does a beautiful job of addressing it.
Sam Goldman
ReplyDeleteADP
Weekly response
11/15
In the image that was posted this week, we see a nice lovely house with a huge invasive power plant off in the distance. This really hits hard because it takes this picture to a whole different meaning. If the power plant were to be taken out of this picture then this picture would be seen just as a normal house that showed everyday simple life. Instead we now see this obnoxious power plant in the horizon, and it creates a whole new meaning. We see it as how technology and big industries and pollution are affecting everyday life. It also ruins the scenery, which is similar to an issue that Nantucket was having with wind power machines. Though wind power is a positive way of not using pollution for energy, the huge towers would ruin the aesthetics and the scenery of Nantucket. Conservationists were able to vote against these large invasive structures because it would ruin the ‘look’ of Nantucket. This is a really big issue that is hard to fight against, especially when it is for energy efficient structures. I think that it takes away from the beauty of the land, which I do feel is very important. A cool way to help this issue, is Vermont uses fake looking trees to cover their phone towers, this makes it do that it doesn’t ruin the beauty of the land AS much. I think that this is a necessary cost that we should have.
Katie Klimkowski
ReplyDelete11/15/10
ADP III
Mitch Epstein considers very interesting subject matter when exploring the idea of American power. I immediately thought of words like capital, wealth, military, resources, and global influence when I thought about American power. Epstein really explores American power in reference to energy. In his photographs, I saw quite a bit of smoke stacks, nuclear power, and gasoline. I really started to connect his work to the earlier concept of Intergenerational remote tyranny. Intergenerational remote tyranny is the concept that few people in few locations control much of the resources taken from the world and pollution and carbon emissions put back into the atmosphere. The entire globe suffers due to the depletion of resources and extreme pollution of a few. A good example of what Epstein was exploring would be the BP oil spill. That oil spill is an example of the type of power Epstein is discussing with his work. It’s the idea that one large company can cause monumental problems for hundreds of thousands to millions of people in the world. However, I do think that even though Epstein is exposing different kinds of American power and that many people have no control over it, I do think he has some positive (or at least neutral) tones underlying his work. He exposes many different types of energy sources, and I don’t think that he believes they are all bad. These different types of energy sources surround us everyday and we get used to the sight of them, depending on our region of the country. I think that Epstein looks at American Power in an interesting way.
Caitlin Murphy
ReplyDelete16 November 2010
Weekly Statement
The photographs of Mitch Epstein show the collide between excessive desire for technological power and the nature of human environments. Smoke stacks situated close to residential areas, abandoned buildings denied electrical power, and oil rigs plastered with American flags are representative of a culture consumed by power, rather than one that is aided by power. One of the photographs that I was personally drawn to is Beulah “Boots” Hern Cheshire Ohio 2004. It shows an older woman sitting in what appears to be her own home, in her own chair with a small rifle in her hand. This image is striking to me in that it juxtaposes two contrary themes home and power. Usually home is not a place closely associated with struggles of power but rather inviting places in which weaponry is not valued as a normal means of security. In most situations homes represent safety and certainty of well-being.
Another interesting dynamic that this photo portrays is that of age and generational conflicts. It is strange to me that this woman in some way feels threatened thus she has a weapon in her own home amongst her possessions. Also, this woman is posing for this photo. She understands that her portrait in some way will be associated to this gun. It represents her in some way just as she represents it. For me this picture poses questions about this woman and her desire for control as well as questions about photography and picture taking in general
This comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteTeresa Dennis
ReplyDeleteNovember 16th
Weekly Statements
Culture Jam is encouraging us to get back in touch with our rage, to learn to fight back, as a culture. To me, this is something that I can take to a personal level, as the same thing that Lash is trying to teach us about corporations, I need to learn how to use in my everyday life. I have become one of those that lash talks about, that has lost connection with the ability to express anger. WE have become complacent, rotting our minds in our culture, reasoning away anything that makes us unhappy, no matter what it is. We have a feeling of being tired, or being repressed, of losing faith in our society.
I used to watch tv for over seven hours a day, a daily ritual of something to do after I got home from school. I was not allowed to go over other people’s houses, to go visit my friends, walk to the mall, walk to any place, I was not allowed out of the house. After being confined like this for four years, I developed the habit of distracting my mind with TV, focusing on the stories of the fictional characters. After I moved out of the house and into college dorms and houses, I lost all interest in TV what-so-ever. I enjoy going out, and even if I am not out, I would rather do something with my time. To me, this is a demonstration of waking out of the illusion, of reframing the issue, like Lash describes.
Caleb Moss
ReplyDelete11/15/10
ADP III Discussion
Weekly Statement
Unlike the last photograph we saw, I immediately noticed that there was an industrial site right behind the home of someone. This looks much worse than the last photograph, this one unfortunately has a nuclear power plant. I find it amazing how the price of electricity for the people who lived there is higher than its dollar amount. What I don’t understand is how such corporations can get away with things like not telling the residents and regulators that there was a sulfuric acid level that was four times greater. It’s called the Amos Coal Power Plant, which is one of the largest in the world, and generates enough electricity to serve homes in WV, southwest VA, northeast KY, southern OH, and western PA. Like I said on the previous picture I feel that this is completely unfair to those who live in the neighborhoods/communities.
Photograph three instantly reminded me of the Delray, Michigan area. It’s crazy how the residential area is so connected to the industrial world. I don’t think it safe for anyone to live in situations such as that. I think it would at least be more suitable to live in if they were separated somewhat more. The fact that they threw an American flag on the pipes to seem “patriotic”. It seems like its some attempt to cover up or take away from the fact that its dead smack in the middle of a neighborhood.
Rebecca Aguilar
ReplyDeleteHearing about the houses today in lecture was very interesting. It’s amazing how people adapt to make their houses more efficient to where they are living. Furthermore, it was interesting to see how some of the houses are similar. I never really thought about how houses are built. In general, I never liked suburbia and now it makes sense with the way they constructed all the houses. A person always notices how the houses are so similar but they could never figure out how they looked so different at the same time. Subdivision designers are so clever with their set up. They made it pretty much like a maze so as to distract home owners into thinking their how is still different from someone else’s...genius!!! The only time I noticed housing change was in houses with porches and houses without porches. I learned in AP US that after television was made possible to be in every household, houses were starting to be built without porches. The reason is cause a form of entertainment before there was television was to go and talk to your neighbors. People would go meet on their porches and talk for hours about life and telling stories. Then after televisions were invented, people stayed inside more and didn’t talk to their neighbors. Housing constructors noticed that and do did people, therefore, when newer houses were built, they built them without porches. I am not sure what else is going to be on the slide on Wednesday but I find it very interesting that we will be looking at more houses. I can’t wait to make more comparisons on them and to see how cultures with the similar types of environment have similar houses.