Otis College of Art and Design
One place I have never visited before is the Otis College of Art and Design. I have wanted to visit it since last year when my best friend transferred there. We could not match our schedules but since it is a part of my project I tagged along with her to her Saturday class. Otis is full of creativity. By looking at the shape of the buildings you can take a guess on what is going on inside of them. I did not see many students around because it was Saturday but from what I heard, all the students are different but friendly. You can’t find two people with the same clothes or the same hairdo/color. Some background information and the history of the Otis College can be found on their very artistic website. The main building is divided into seven floors according to all the different departments and majors the college offers. I did not go to all of them I mostly explored the graphic design floor with my friend because graphic design and animation is her major. The hallways are decorated with the works of the students, so even if you don’t go into any actual classroom you can see some magnificent pieces of artwork. I guess one way to see the difference in the society is to look at the works of the multicultural artists. I liked almost everything there with the exception of the artworks that were too abstract for me understand the meaning behind it. The outside of the buildings is also decorated with different graffiti designs. Here are some pictures of the inside and the outside of the main college building. 
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Los Angeles is one of the most researched 4 th urban revolution city. One of the characteristics of the 4th urban revolution: Post metropolis is the Post Fordism.” Post Fordism is essentially the rapid movement of capital, the increased mobility of the capital, short term contingent labor, outsourcing, increased socio-special specialization”(Wilford Lect.2 slide 31). To make more profit the work is shifted to places that offer cheaper labor and tax breaks. In the video it points out that creativity can’t be outsourced, that innovation stays onshore. The entertainment business is a big part of Los Angeles and the Otis College’s graduate’s creativity does not outsource to a cheaper place but mostly stays in the Los Angeles region.
Hi Zarouchie,
ReplyDeleteI liked your post this week about your visit to Otis College. You did a nice job of using pictures and video to show a lot of the cool artwork the students do there. However, I was a little confused at how you were trying to incorporate the college into our class. While you said Los Angeles is part of the 4th urban revolution and exhibits the Post-Fordism economic structure, this seems to contradict what you said about Otis College. Instead of outsourcing labor as is defined by Post-Fordism, Otis instead keeps their labor within the Los Angeles region. Wouldn't that then contradict what you had said previously about Los Angeles being part of the 4th urban revolution? If this is what you were intentionally aiming to point out, I would have more sharply asserted that claim.
Perhaps instead of focusing on Post-Fordism you could have focused on a different aspect of the post-metropolis revolution like auto-mobility. Since Otis is near LAX which is relatively far away you may have gone by car or bus to get there. Because the automobile is integral to daily life in the post-metropolis, you maybe could have talked about the difficulty or ease it was for you to travel to the college (Lecture 2, Slide 29). You could then have related that back to the realities of the post-metropolis revolution in Los Angeles.
Sorry if I I seem too critical because I did enjoy reading your post. I thought you did a good job of defining the post-metropolis economic environment. I also thought the multimedia you used in your post was well constructed. I just found it a bit unclear as to how you wanted to incorporate Otis College into the post-metropolis environment. I hope my response is of assistance.
Cheers,
Dan Ardis
Thanks Dan for your comment.
ReplyDeleteI appreciate you pointing out my mistake. I guess I was not clear of what I meant. I thought about it but did not write it down in my haste.I meant to say that there are some exceptions in Post Fordist economic structure and one of those exceptions is Otis College's creativity not being outsourced.
Thanks again