Helvetica

This was my third time watching 'Helvetica' and was definitely the most enjoyable. With two years of Design schooling behind me I had a very different perspective this time around. I recognized a lot of the faces, could understand the terminology, and had a stronger design opinions of my own. My freshly honed critical nature in design theory allowed for a more stimulating engagement with the 'dialogue' between the interviewees.

That said, this movie does make me a little uncomfortable. It managed to bring Helvetica into the 'public' realm, elevating it to a pop status and is commonly used (in speech or (bad) design) in a frequently vulgar manner by those who know little about type. ie: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z5dIzY7yvRA (we assume that the book SHOULD've been set in helvetica)

'The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction'

Susan Sontag is quoted as saying that in Walter Benjamin’s writing, sentences did not originate ordinarily, do not progress into one another, and delineate no obvious line of reasoning, as if each sentence “had to say everything, before the inward gaze of total concentration dissolved the subject before his eyes”, a “freeze-frame baroque” style of writing and cogitation. “His major essays seem to end just in time, before they self-destruct”.

This is a far more articulate characterization of Benjamin's work than I could've come up and I completely agree with the description. It was not only difficult (impossible?) for me to draw any solid conclusions on what Benjamin was saying (let alone my own reaction to it) but difficult for me to understand why this essay was assigned at all. I felt as if I were struggling for reasons that were murky, almost non existent. I am interested in what connection this article, that as I understand it is a reaction to the rise and domination of the Nation Socialist Party through art, has to hte class and would appreciate an elaboration by the instructor of the course. The ambiguous course description leads me to believe that this class is geared towards how one can use electronic and digital media as a positive tool for the advancement/expansion of one's artistic endeavors. If I am understanding the class and its objectives correctly, what is this article supposed to teach us about the ways in which we engage electronic media and understand culture?