To start with, both my dissertation and final major project are tied together, not wholly one and the same, but both are addressing interpretations of the cyberpunk subculture, and therefore it makes sense to research and develop these two projects alongside one another.
I believe I have defined and redefined What is Cyberpunk? too many times on this blog already and therefore will skip straight into defining exactly what I wish to portray, or what I wish to prove with my project and my dissertation.
For the meantime, as I am at an early stage in the year, I will be writing for my final project alone, as that needs far more exploration and refining at this moment in time, and the research will inevitably end up as relevant for my dissertation.
Idea Brainstorm
Now, I am very much of the devout opinion that the predictions and much of the visualisations of the near future that emerged from that 80's early 90's golden era of cyberpunk, are taking form and proving true within our contemporary society. Some are taking subtler forms and slightly different shapes, but the boxes are being ticked none the less. For instance Gibson's vision from Neuromancer of the matrix, and those addicted to diving into this virtual world, depending upon it's existence and blotting out the real, is something very much taking form through a slightly different means. What Gibson called the matrix we call the internet, and we're at an age where, broadly speaking, everyone is always online, across multiple synchronised devices, we update our facebook status to tell our global networks how we feel, or what we're up to today, we geo tag our locations on foursquare so everyone knows exactly on the map where we are at every moment, hell we take pictures to document and instagram our every damn meal or coffee now. The masses no longer simply live their lives, or experience the world, they reject simply being and instead keep a lens or a screen in between them and the world at all times, and simple document the everyday experience. The process of the day to day could almost be seen as robotic in that we track and log and document everything like a control group, instead of life's natural rhizomatic flow.
Not only do we now live and exist via the internet as our proxy, we delve and explore this mainframe as our new source of knowledge; instead of going to a library to find knowledge in the written word or even seeking out and consulting those more knowledgeable than ourselves, we now consult the oracle that is the internet, and we have access to unfathomable knowledge, more then we could ever need.
Even this blog that is being written and publicly uploaded is acting in place of the written journal. The list is almost endless, and with the invention of the smart phone, all of this and more is all synchronized between our multiple E-devices that are always on our person in one form or another, our phones linked to the net and synchronized with our home computers that are synchronized to our tablets and laptops, that are even now synchronized to our televisions and home entertainment devices.
I guess my feelings and reactions to this are the main focal point of my final project, as people no longer simple 'be' or 'do' it is all done via proxies, and privacy is becoming a thing of the past, and instead we live in the global village.
I am both dazzled and amazed by our current technology in contrast to what such a short time ago was considered science fiction, but I am also rather apathetic and vexed by this technologies impact on us as people, as it slowly dehumanises us and removes us from our more natural states.
In short, I find my place in contemporary society rather conflictive, as I struggle to embrace or regect technologies or social changes without having to compromise my own desires or ways of life.
For instance, I am something of an escapist, and often retreat into virtual worlds via predominantly video games, but also fiction in film and television. I often try to escape or reject the world around me, but paradoxically the world now artificially toes me back via a virtual world and online persona, stating what game I am playing, tell me what virtual escapes others are playing, and that they are online and keeping open channels of communication with the world.
In an attempt to quantify this project into words, I guess, I am trying to visualise the fact that it has occurred that now, we are cyberpunk. And my confliction in trying to both embrace and reject elements of the world we live in.
I wish to do this via montage and photo manipulation, as digital photography and manipulation are booming technologies with this new world that I embraced, and so I wish to utilise them to manipulate a clearer visualisation of the cyberpunk world we live in. Conceptually it is important, as I believe that my images will depict true themes, and true social issues about our states of being, and that is that our states of being have become more artificial and virtual then they are real, and therefore the images themselves, must also simultaneously be both real and artificial.
Visual Brainstorm
Now that I have begun to define my project conceptually I need to brain storm visuals to refine exactly how this is going to be portrayed. So I will post, an almost random, assortment of images that I simply like the visuals of, or stylist elements I would like to draw inspiration from.
Many of these images contain messages about social issues, or the relationship between us and technology, or simply visuals that I quite like.
Test Shoot
After looking through many of the above images, I have started thinking about visuals, and how I am going to photograph my project.
Currently, I would like to self model in at least some of the images, as it my own personal view of the world, and my own confliction with our changing world I am addressing. Having said that I am still unclear if this will be a few images or a series, and so I am still very much in experimental stages.
I am going to begin in the studio, trying lighting styles and so forth to see if I can create a cinematic esque series of images, and mostly trying to get that Blade Runner style lighting of smoke and directional beams of light, as Blade Runner's visuals and mood definitely capture the same feelings I wish for my project. so I am starting with that iconic lighting that Jordan Cronenweth utilised.
The shoot was quite successful as experimentation, the results proved very cinematic, the smoked worked very nicely, though to get closer to Blade Runner lighting I will need to use stronger Arri lights next time so that the light beams are powerful enough to be picked up.
The experimentation with coloured gels proved quite effective, though if I am trying to mimic the light given by those classic neon street signs, I would rather simply use projection of said streets.
The aspect of the model concerns me slightly, the lighting test may have been successful but conceptually it's far from what I am seeking. I like the idea of self modelling for this project, as I am producing a reflection of my views on contemporary society, but I need to think of much more detail to the photograph than simply the lighting.
Random Dissertation Tangent
Had a zen moment with my dissertations directions and need to make a record:
I begun my attitude in a die hard / fan boy approach of "Cyberpunk is not dead!" that was opinionated and misguiled.
Upon reading Silvia Melichova's paper, Cyberpunk as Subculture, I have come to the revelation that cyberpunk is most certainly not dead, however, it is not entirely the entity I perceived it to be in the first place.
It's golden age in the late 80s and early 90s was a spark or flare of an entirely new subcultural form, on which I will elaborate within my dissertation. It's social bonding formed through a love of technology and fascination with a particular sub genre of science fiction writers, that perceived dark dystopian futures as a result of megacorporations and rapid technological growth.
These ethical or social themes where prominent parts of Cyberpunk subculture, as it was a culture formed more through love of computer or information technology, and shared ideologies, and less of a visual identity like punk or goth.
Many of the fears or predictions from the dystopic cyberpunk literature moved to cinema and anime, which gave a visual representation to the fiction but not quite the subculture.
Much of the predictions of Cyberpunk fiction have also manifested, however not quite in the ways predicted.
Technology has continued its rapid advancement and is gaining momentum, due to this, technology has become both an integral part of society and become fashionable, at an alarming rate, which has both in a way, brought out some of the cyerpunk future visions into reality, but at the same time, swallowed the subculture into the mainstream almost immediately after it was formed.
Fictional works continue of the cyberpunk style, like ghost in the shell or deus ex, however they are now more accurately categorised as post-cyberpunk, or even maybe cyberpunk is a more fluid and adaptive label, as the themes, archetypes and plot lines of these works of cyberpunk fiction have all shifted slightly and are slowly changing with the technological and social changes over the last couple of decades.
The most predominant change, being the slow phasing out of the dystopia, and a less black and white view of the mega corporations ruled future is coming into formation. As technology is a fully integral element of the mainstream, the archetype of the lone wolf protagonist has faded as well, as cyberpunks are no longer a small minority of computer enthusiasts.
Much like the ideology of Cyberia or Cyberspace, of the new plain of existence and collective consciousness, cyberpunk has been absorbed and integrated into new identities.
Certain hardcore groups remain that could be categorised as Cyberpunks, for instance the hacker group Anonymous, and whereas not cyberpunk, derivatives of cyberpunk can be seen everywhere, for example the netrunners of 4chan and reddit.
This information has lead to this zen moment, in that I wish to look more at cyberpunk fiction, and how it adapts and has shifted over time as social and technological changes progress, and new fears or simply new perspectives of the near future take form along the timeline of cyberpunk's absorption into mainstream society and culture. It's nature to look 2 steps ahead of where we are now instead of sci-fi's 100 steps ahead.
So with this little zen moment in mind I now need to do a more detailed restructuring of my chapters in order to sort out what information / arguments go where.
If I am going to chronicle cyberpunks absorption into contemporary society, I need to make comparisons to different cyberpunk works of fiction over time, and look at us as a society over that time period, as I am less chronicling their absorption into the mainstream but more commenting on our social change through technological advancement as it has essentially merged us with much of the cyberpunk ethos.
So I need a clear focal point. I am looking at the progression of the cyberpunk genre of fiction, and comparing it to social developments surrounding the timeline.
So chapter 1 is establishing "what is cyberpunk?" but more importantly it is distinguishing the difference between cyberpunk subculture and cyberpunk subgenre, and the links between the two, and how subculture became mainstream, but the subgenre remained, discuss IRL forums, Reddit 4chan.
Chapter 2 is a comparative of multiple works of cyberpunk spanning over time, to show the evolution and changes in the genre. Research, discussion and analysis of Neuromancer and Blade Runner.
Chapter 3 Discussion of newer works, Deus Ex, Ghost in the shell, Watch Dogs.
Short Chapter to summarise, that cyberpunks a critical subgenre looking at our relations with technology and our struggles in the third wave of post industrial society, and as this technology and social changes sets in, it looks critically at our struggles to adapt with it.
So plan for Chapter 1:
I am establishing cyberpunk as subculture and the difference between what is subculture and subgenre.
Introduction, first 500 words, introduce a rough description of cyberpunk, open with quote from David Bell, Cyberculture:
"In cyberpunk, not only is it possible to avoid dealing with the 'real', it is also desirable. The world is a harsh, dehumanised place, an extreme manifestation of the least desirable trends in our own societies in which corporations are more important than governments and all the anxieties about the information economy and globalisation have come true."
Reaction to this, is that this quote eloquently summarises the main themes of cyberpunk literature, particularly the golden age of cyberpunk or boom period in the 80s, however, it only begins to scratch the surface, as cyberpunk is a far more debatable subject, and whereas this above quote is very identifiable with how most think of cyberpunk, cyberpunk itself is far more varied and overlaps between subculture, genre and general phenomenon.
From move onto listing a few works of cyberpunk, starting with neuromancer being the first labelled piece of cyberpunk, make comparison to the matrix.
Then list other cyberpunk examples, i.e. blade runner, as the visualisation of cyberpunks 2 years prior to neuromancer, and william blake another cyberpunk founder coined the term in a short story, "do androids dream of electric sheep" as pre cyberpunk, classified as science fiction, however holds many themes of cyberpunk etc.
Then list some debatable films that are cyberpunk but are somewhat different to the typical neuromancer / blade runner story, for example matrix, dark city, 12 monkeys. Explain that much of the subgenre cyberpunk in cinema overlaps with sci-fi postmodernism.
Then establish trademark setting for cyberpunk, discuss how this generated from the boom period, and that there are definite differences in setting for east and west cyberpunk, due to cultural differences, keep slightly more on the speculative side unless you have clear evidence. Also make a brief note on the term post-cyberpunk, as it is a marked shift in cultural / social fears and technological change that evolved over time.
From here discuss that cyberpunk is a genre and subculture surrounded in vague boundaries and shifting definitions.
Then list things like mondo magazine, wiredm R.U. Sirius and talk about technology and computer boom etc. starting to talk about cyberculture.
Discuss the post-industrial, and what defines subculture, i.e. a group of people with something in common.
Mention Daniel Bell, The Coming of Post Industrial Society, talk about how he predicts the third wave we live in, where the small village and church have disappeared along with the commonplace of the family business inherited by the son, and companies change their modes to be profit driven, a car company begins to manufacture profit, not just cars. The stock market has taken control and corporations benefit from right wing governments (Thatcher, Reagan) and become mega corporations.
This makes it easy for groups of youths to attach stigma and blame or loathing towards an increasing conformist capitalist society. Anxiety takes control and technologically enthusiastic youths identify with the characters of works like neuromancer.
Discuss that cyberpunks had a love of technology in common and computer language, video games, and cyberpunk literature, however due to the boom in technology computer language and love of technology and video games quickly became something the mainstream all had in common.
Discuss how the subculture was something that very much became absorbed into the mainstream due to rapid technology growth, very very quickly, but the subgenre remained, predominantly more in asia though it has continued through both east and west. list a couple of examples.
Back to Final Major Project
As stated this blog post is something of a tangent.
Back to final major project, after immersing myself in background knowledge on CyberPunk I needed to continue my project through the visuals of CyberPunk.
As I said previously this project is something of an indulgence, I am photographing in a way to recreate the world in which I see it.
I spent some time in the studio, using the visualisations of Blade Runner as my inspiration I set up spot lighting in combination with the smoke machine, and self modelled in contemporary high street fashion that reflects the way in which we have become this 'CyberPunk' world.
