Fan Xiaoyan.

http://www.emptykingdom.com/main/featured/fan-xiaoyan/

Xiaoyan is originally from Gaomi, China. But now lives and works in Beijing.She describes her work as “the arrival of a new era, a new kind of human being, a new power, a new sensation… a surrealistic virtual world in which men and women are equal”. 
This to me suggests the idea of how women have to be modified in order to really be equal. The fact that the metal objects attached the women are typically male items such as tanks and saws, suggests that men have an influence on the way women are expected to be.

The women are weighed down and seem to be burdened by the items, none of them look happy with their situation. The fact that the women are naked shows how they are still seen as sexual objects, even more so that they are plastic figures with typically "perfect" proportions. 

Other Examples.

David Guetta: Turn Me On ft. Nicki Minaj - 2012

Muse: Plug In Baby - 2001

These are some more examples of robots/cyborgs within music videos. Though both very different genres of music and years apart, I feel that both videos have suggestions about the female body image and the sexual connotations that come with it within popular culture.

Black Eyed Peas.

Black Eyed Peas: Boom Boom Pow - 2008

Black Eyed Peas: Imma Be Rocking That Body - 2010

The videos from this group also interested me in regards to the theme of cyborgs. "Boom Boom Pow" speaks for itself as they focus mainly on fashion and being "up to date". The second video however, I think shows much more room for analysis...

Whilst also using the fashion styles to attract attention to the female member, Fergie, showing again the sexualisation of the video, I feel that the use of technology has been taken to another level here. Throughout the video I feel that the use of technology suggests power and wealth, when paired with the lyrics of the song and what seems to be the meaning behind it. The band are driving around in futuristic vehicles (wealth) and win in a battle against robots, gaining them respect from the public (power). However, as the video is a dream sequence, an alternate reality (as seems to be a common theme within these videos!) the acting at the start of the video suggests something different to the meanings of wealth and power. At the start they seem to be in a conflict of opinions about how technology would affect the "soul" of their music, with phrases such as "we're not robots!" being repeated. This is quite confusing as the band contradict this with the rest of their video, as if they are trying to excuse themselves for their almost superficial behaviour. 

Robots and cyborgs are often seen within the bands fashion and performances, showing that it is a very common theme within their image. Fergie's outfits continue to be sexualised, and her face is never covered, whilst the male members are dressed intimidatingly and made to look powerful.

Beyonce.

I have been looking into other celebrities that can be associated with cyborgs, and have discovered that Beyonce often uses technological influences within her wardrobe. These examples show her dressed as a robot on stage, using a more subtle approach when at an award show with the cyborg hand and then again using the technological influence in her performance outfits in a more extravagant way with the motorcycle outfit (designed by Thierry Mulger).

Beyonce is currently a very influential figure within popular culture, and holds a very high standard for women to live up to regarding her looks. As she often sings of feminist issues and is seen as a great role model, women may feel pressured to live up to her appearance also.

The way she uses her cyborg style outfits are very creative, however I feel they yet again reflect how women are seen within society regarding beauty. Examples of this are also seen within her music videos, following a similar theme to those of Christina Aguilera, having the performers look "perfectly" and then having them dressed/influnces of technology throughout the videos.

Beyonce: Single Ladies (put a ring on it)-2009

Similar to her award show appearance, this video is very simple yet she has the subtle cyborg hand/arm yet again. At the end of the video we hear the mechanical sounds that would come with the movement of the hand, drawing attention to it right before fading to black. The fact that the hand is that which the wedding ring would be worn, when put with the lyrics of "put a ring on it" suggest an idea of conforming to societies expectations of a woman by getting married.

Beyonce: Sweet Dreams-2009

This video shows Beyonce in an alternate "dream" reality. And much like Aguileras "Keeps Gettin' Better" video, shows many different versions of the performer. Most are simply costume changes where she looks beautiful, and the concentration seems to be on that. However for once short sequence we see her dressed in a robot like outfit. For this part of the song she sings "not even death could make us part", suggesting to me that love or any emotions can be kept eternal through technology. It also sounds slightly more sinister to me, creating an idea of being attached to a person, or thing (perhaps a technological item) forever. 

Beyonce: Video Phone ft. Lady Gaga - 2009

Christina Aguilera Videos.

   Christina Aguilera: Not Myself Tonight - 2010

I decided to look further into the album of Aguilera and looked at her videos, the above is the lead single of the album, which seems to follow the theme of the album artwork directly. Some shots within the video reflect those of the photographs, leading me to believe that the whole album is based around a similar theme. The video and lyrics are both extremely sexualised and in my opinion are way over the top for a song that was aimed towards general chart music listeners. 

Christina Aguilera; Keeps Gettin' Better -2008

This following video was taken from Aguilera's first greatest hits album, which was entitled "Keeps gettin better" along with this song. The video seems to show Aguilera using technology to create alternate versions of herself, some of which are unrealistic and clearly a fantasy (the superhero). Other versions show her with different coloured hair, driving expensive looking cars and versions of herself based on history. I think this shows how women can be influenced to alter their looks throughout their lives and the effect this has. 

During the video, Aguilera is often seen using her moblie phone and their is a small toy robot next to her that seems to be interacting with her and/or the music (it dances). Although this mainly shows product placement within the music industry, it also demonstrates how technology is such a common part of our everyday lives. The robot suggests to me that by creating alternate versions of herself, Aguilera is almost becoming a robot, living up to societies expectations of beauty and changing her image accordingly.

Although I feel that the song is about something positive and personal to Aguilera, the video does not reflect this very well and suggests something completely different which I find to be very negative. 

Christina Aguilera Album Artwork.

Whilst researching images of cyborgs, I came across the album artwork of Christina Aguilera's "Bionic" album. I am still trying to find the artist for these images, as I think they are very impressive and inspire me quite a lot. I feel the idea within these images is to create the "perfect woman". Aguilera is seen with perfect makeup and hair, in very provocative poses and most of the images have been altered to make her look like a cyborg. I particularly like the image of her legs, where they have been separated from the body and made to look very mechanical. I think that the fact the underwear is within this image makes it much more striking, as the series is very sexual and although I'm sure Aguliera intended for this to be positive, I find it to say quite a lot about what is expected of women in a very negative light. 

Very Basic Edits.

Whilst looking at using the human eye to portray a cyborg I created some very simple edits using this image of the inside of a clock and an old image of my own. I used a very basic overlay technique and decreased the opacity to try to allow for the eye to be seen through the clock. I am sure there are much more sophisticated ways to do this that would be more effective, however, for now this is just to give me a general idea of which direction to take. 

I don't think that the clock is obvious enough within the black and white image, and maybe think the colour one is a bit over the top. I feel that it would be more effective and dramatic on a closer up image of the eye and will try this when revisiting the idea of the human eye. 

Basic Research-Eyes.

When first researching images/artwork of cyborgs, I noticed that a large majority of the pieces were related to the human eye. I find that this is a very effective part of the human body to digitally manipulate in such a way, as it is a very unique/personal part of the human body and to make it seem mechanical can almost seem to take the humanity away, creating a very interesting yet disturbing appearance.

Images taken from google images:

Peter Kennard-Research

Born: 1949

Kennard is a British artist who works with photomontage, photography and instillation pieces to convey his messages. His work is very politically based and often has a dystopian feel to it. In my opinion his images convey how technology has effected the world in a very negative way, much of his work is based on wars and world suffering. 

The photomontage style of Kennards work is very interesting to me, as I think it allows him to convey his message more dramatically and originally, therefore getting the attention they were intended to. I wish to experiment with this technique, though feel it may be difficult to create something to a similar standard. His dytopian standpoint is very interesting, and although I do not have a strong opinion on politics, I may follow a quite similar route within my work.

Fritz Kahn Research.

- German illustrator and writer.

Kahn's work focused on how technology was effecting the world around him during the 1920s. This was a time when industry was beginning to have a large impact and things such as electricity, aeroplanes, telephones etc had been introduced and were altering everyday life. The illustrations of Kahn explored how the human body would work as though it were a machine or factory, as I feel that they portray a dystopian view on technology, in the sense that the human body would no longer be needed to work in the same way as before, and that it was being altered so much by technology that it was almost becoming a machine itself.

Whilst I am unsure of the route I am going to take with this project, I feel that the work of Kahn may have an influence on this as I do enjoy his images and feel I can related to the reasons behind them.

Brief Overview.

We were given our brief which has the theme of 'Cyborg'. The project will introduce us to/develop our basic photographic manipulation skills using software such as Photoshop and Lightroom. I have never used Lightroom before so hope to gain some knowledge of how to use it and to improve upon what I know of Photoshop.

We are required to create an A3 digital composite as our outcome, using two or more original images that must include at least one of each of the human body and an image involving technology.
We must have either a utopian standpoint (where development of technology is seen as a good thing) or a dystopian (the opposite) standpoint within our work.