Part of my current research concerns the similarity between reading comics and reading urban spaces. In fact my basic theory is that the social production of comics in urban spaces - which synthesise a wide variety of images and signs of different sorts into their fabric - is what gives comics their unique quality as texts. Anyway...
I am a fan of cities, but especially of ruined cities or districts of them. (I don't know why, but I always have been.)
Some time back, I wrote about a wonderful documentary which imagined how fast our cities would deteriorate if humans were not around to maintain them - very fast; in about 100-150 years they would be ruins - and raised the question of whether cities sustain humans or vice versa.
Two Japanese photographers have done some pretty extensive explorations of latter day ruins: the first is one of my very favourite websites, bar none; the second, is new to me, but features some wonderful images. There is also an excellent US website.
These images are striking for many reasons. They are allegorise impermanence and transience and they are beautiful despite (because of) their ruination. They show the veneer of the human presence on Earth.
These qualities can be summed up by the term Wabi Sabi, a hard-to-translate term in Japanese aesthetics, to describe the beauty inherent in the process of ruination, decay and erosion. It also implies the sense of mystery and awe - the sublime - that I get from looking at these images of modern ruins.
It's a powerful principle, an observation about nature and humankind's place in it; one of the reasons that old rocks and trees (and ruins) are beautiful is that they are weathered, cracked, worn by the elements. Wabi Sabi belies our belief that we can make things perfect and 'finished'. Time puts its own finish on everything.
With the whole research proposal deadline looming, I don't have much opportunity for drawing comics or making stupid songs. Once I finish it, I will celebrate with a stupid song about comics (and maybe vice versa).
Four months ago, more or less, I ran out of steam on my doctoral research proposal. Thankfully, I am back on track with it and have just submitted draft one of my proposal to my friendly, neighbourhood Dean of Research.
I'm still working on a title, but my thesis is that we share a comm0n visual understanding of the metropolis and the comic, as narrative sequences of discrete temporal events.
Quite far from my initial research idea, but writing this blog and talking with my lady-friend, has helped me work out my real areas of interest.
More soon.
Since research has ground to a halt over the last few weeks - not because I'm addicted to Chain Factor or anything - I thought I'd try and limber up creatively with a quick brainstorming exercise.
This is really just a snapshot of what I'm working on, but worthwhile all the same. Any excuse to use this cool online mindmapping application!
I've just e-mailed the dean of research at my university an abstract of my proposal for a doctoral research project. Whew!
The title for the project is ‘An ethnography of consumer gift systems in video sharing websites’. Poetry!
Here is the abstract, in all its beauty.
"This research aims to develop a model of consumer gift giving within the virtual communities of video sharing websites, to extend the paradigm of gift giving as described in classic anthropological and sociological texts. I aim produce empirical evidence in support of Markus Giesler’s research on consumer gift systems (2006). Giesler conceptualises a consumer gift system as ‘a system of social solidarity based on a structured set of gift exchange and social relationships among consumers.’ (Giesler, 2006) Giesler derives a set of markers that characterise gift systems - social distinctions, norm of reciprocity, and rituals and symbolisms - and finds that peer-to-peer music file sharing facilities (such as Napster, Kazaa and Lime Wire) display these characteristics. I wish to extend Giesler’s concepts to embrace the less structured/more distributed forms of social interaction and sharing represented by video sharing websites (such as Youtube and Google Video). The latter part of the research will also discuss the implications for research on solidarity, gift giving and consumption and future research directions."
