Ways of seeing by John Berger

Recently I’ve been reading Ways Of Seeing by John Berger, its a very short book containing essays on the subject of art criticism. Originally created from a TV series in 1972 it looks at contemporary opinions of the time about fine art.

Its one of those books that I’ve heard of but never actually read myself, and if your into art I would highly recommend it. Although not a light read it gives some interesting opinions about how even in the pre-internet days people were concerned about how images are reproduced and consumed.

Some of the arguments in Ways Of Seeing are inspired by another essay called The Work Of Art In The Age Of Mechanical Reproduction by Walter Benjamin.

Along side my reading of the book I actually started watching the TV version on Ways Of Seeing on Youtube. Watching the series is completely different to reading the book, it’s actually easier to follow the arguments in the filmed version. This is in part due to the ironically poor quality reproductions in the book.

At the end of the first episode John Berger states after spending the whole episode talking about the manipulation of images that the viewer should form their own opinions and that his opinion is in itself a manipulation. He also speaks about how even though viewers should have their own opinions they cannot express them to him directly unless there’s a change in the way television works.

This almost throw away comment isn’t really what the show is about but is really interesting, you have to remember that 1972 was long before public internet usage and people on YouTube seem to want to discuss Ways Of Seeing into the ground. Some of the comments point towards the arguments in the series being apparently too simple and lacking any revolutionary ideas.

I do wonder what John Berger would make of something like YouTube with its participatory nature.

Anyway even if some of the ideas are too simplistic sometimes its nice to have these things we don’t normally consciously think about brought to the fore. When I was at university I wrote my dissertation on images of women in comics, had I read Ways Of Seeing perhaps I would have written a few things differently. His book contains a chapter about women in paintings and also how people would want to have paintings of things they could own since it was a constant record of ownership.

Its interesting to link these two ideas together that by having paintings of women somehow they are possessed and have ownership.

The show also brings up the idea of contextual cases for art and design is no different. If you design a website someone viewing it can be on a train, a bus, in their home or at work. Media has become more and more ubiquitous and as it does the designer’s role becomes more important. To understand the role of the user and design things that are fit for their purpose.

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