Counting dogs

In my Brighton Fringe show Window there is a scene entitled ‘pictures of dogs’ that highlights the craziness that is how happy people are made by looking at pictures of dogs on the Internet. Well, although it may be silly, it’s sort of true isn’t it – seeing cute/happy animals (doesn’t have to be dogs if dogs aren’t your thing) can be a great happiness inducer. If you’re in need of an extra bit of fun in your day I’d suggest the art of counting dogs that I practised on my recent holiday to Berlin…we reached 100 in case you were wondering. 

 

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/02/09/cutest-dogs-on-reddit-photos_n_2593134.html#slide=more278011

On advertising and art

Today I found this brief on IdeasTap run in collaboration with highly regarded creative agency Mother London. It’s one of several briefs being run throughout the year by this partnership offering those working in a variety of disciplines to creatively engage in the world of advertising. This particular one is for filmmakers; the brief in case you’re too lazy to have opened the link just yet is to create a 60 second film on the broad theme of risk that shows a clear narrative arc of character development.

Creatively engagement is something I so often see as lacking in the world of advertising. After so many adverts I will be left wondering how on earth they came up with that idea (and not a good wonderment) and also what on earth it has to do with their product. Maybe my vision of the world of advertisement has been blurred by watching too much Mad Men where creativity and imagination is certainly key, or perhaps we live in an age where advertising isn’t overly necessary (as we’re all such ready consumers anyway) or has taken a turn in direction. Plus there’s the consideration of how much of an artistic platform advertising should really be? Do we want this crude commercialism to be classed as art? Although you can’t really say our art world hasn’t become a commodity that even has to advertise itself…taking this line of thought further you could say that advertising is the definitive artistic form of our society, in which case people should really put more effort into making it good. Because even the most anti-consumerist of us surely get effected but a really great advert…

So, I think this brief run by IdeasTap and Mother London is a good thing stimulating discussions and collaborations between advertisement and art. Who knows where such a relationship can lead when pushed to the max. Are great advertisers artists? Are artists in advertisers? All very interesting stuff to think about.