5 ms·

i'm not sure what to make of that and what term to use to convey my skepticism. let me try ... how about cargo cult retro cult? or artificial authenticity? or t

i'm not sure what to make of that and what term to use to convey my skepticism. let me try ... how about cargo cult retro cult? or artificial authenticity? or try-hard artsy romanticism? i'm missing the organic aspect about this. seems like it has just been decided that taking lo-fi pics with some old lo-fi cam is now meaningful and deserves attention ...

movedx 3y ago
I think I see what you're saying, but this is, essentially: culture. It's expression. It's art for those who consider it art. If you find it cringe, then it's not art from your perspective, it's a fad. It will always be culture and a "sign of the times", if you like. You can learn a lot about a society by studying these art forms.
- 2-718-281-828 3y ago
  i don't think this qualifies as "culture" in a meaningful way - technically it is of course part of culture as pretty much anything is. why am i even complaining, duh? well, because it seems there is more of "culture" like this popping up during the past whatever years. i don't exactly want to blame anybody. i think it is an expression of a perceived void and arbitrariness people try to fight by attempting to manufacture meaning. i suppose it just doesn't work that way. to be even more blunt this appears to me about as culturally relevant as some vintage tiktok filter (not even sure that exists but i guess you get my point).
  - movedx 3y ago
    Well there you go: you're analysing it and asking what it means. What it represents. I think it represents a lack of creativity coming out of main stream Hollywood and other "big ticket" industries. Nothing seems original any more. It's _mostly_ all polished, formulaic junk in my opinion (I loved the Barbie movie though - super fun.) So from my perspective, this sort of thing is culture in that informs us how our society is thinking and what it values.
lostmsu 3y ago
It is a marketing campaign.
deleted 3y ago
[deleted]
Spivak 3y ago
It's the magnetic pole flip after twenty years of better meaning more pixels, more accurate color representation, perfect lighting and staging, more frames, Dolby EarFucker 9.1 stereo, Quantum LED Rendering, Hi-Fi Cannabis. It's new-age impressionism.
- deleted 3y ago
  [deleted]
- 2-718-281-828 3y ago
  i get your point but what's missing is a motivation to use this lo-fi tech beyond it being lo-fi for the sake of the pole flip.
  - monknomo 3y ago
    I think the motivation for almost any style is to be cool. Whether you think folks have that motivation organically, or you think this article is trying to manufacture cool, or if the article is just describing something that exists, I'd guess that's the motivation. Were I inclined to question it, I'd wonder how many people think it is cool or are on this trend. Sometimes one or two popular people can make something look popular, when it is really that the people themselves are the popular part.
    - Spivak 3y ago
      And also I think because after a while you get sick of $current_trend and want something different. Old tech is in the sweet spot right now of providing something that is different, difficult to imitate, cheap, anti-consumerist, sparks new kinds of creativity, and giving new life to otherwise trash. I like this trend far more than everyone buying new polaroid cameras because you have to reuse.
  - hbn 3y ago
    What's the motivation to paint a picture of a scene in front of you when cameras exist?
COM9 3y ago
I donno, but cargo cult retro cult would sure make a good band name.
HeyLaughingBoy 3y ago
I don't know if that's what's going on here, but sometimes limiting the medium gives rise to an artform in itself. Someone with an art history background could probably provide a clearer explanation but I'm thinking of things like "mail art:" https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mail_art https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mail_art or the series the Minneapolis Institute of Arts did for a couple of years called "Art in a Box" (I think I remember that right) where anyone could send in any artwork that fit in a 1'x1'x1' cube and they would display it. IOW maybe the entire point is using the reduced resolution and color space as a new form of expression.
- hbn 3y ago
  There's been a pretty robust rom-hacking community for Super Mario World that dates back to the 2000s, and it's something I always thought was really cool. It's led to some really awesome games coming out that are far more interesting to me being that they're built off an antiquated engine that ran on a 16-bit console from the 90's. There were plenty of other custom Mario level programs out there, like Super Mario Bros X which was an engine entirely made from scratch for PC. But that never interested me nearly as much, because people were writing Lua scripts that could do anything, and could leverage modern PC processing power. I thought it was way cooler to see what people pulled off when having to deal with sprite limitations, and having to write all the code in assembly. It really bred a whole other layer of creativity. Plus a lot of the games could actually be played on a physic console if you loaded the ROM onto a SNES flash cart.
tanjtanjtanj 3y ago
This is how the modern term Hipster (as opposed to the older one from the Jazz scene) is defined. A culture that takes, sometimes ironically, aesthetics from movements and cultures completely divorced from their original connotation.
imiric 3y ago
What's wrong with someone appreciating art, technology or culture from decades ago? Many people still enjoy vinyl records, film photography, typewriters, vintage cars, vintage fashion, and all sorts of unpopular items and activities. And that's alright.
- touisteur 3y ago
  Typewriters... Oh if I could get my hands on a working selectrix and years of supply of ink and spare parts for less than the price of a kidney I'd be using it all the time, pages would fly and neighbours would whine. It would probably make me more happy than 90% of my 'stuff'. Some things felt better before, and I can understand the sadness of not seeing more (in my case) mass-produced electromechanic tech today or that they haven't survived, at least in affordable form.
- hot_gril 3y ago
  It's not unpopular, though. Seems we're only now exiting a decade of nostalgic '80s movie reboots and comic book superheros dominating. Even Nissan decided to remake the ugly '80s Z design. I'm tired of people living in the past, especially when it's an era of design that didn't age well. There's appreciating history, and then there's constantly trying to relive it. And sure, vinyl records and instant film cameras are timeless fun every once in a while. Litmus test: even people who didn't grow up with them enjoy them. I'd set up a phonograph for a Christmas party. Low-quality digital camera, nah.
  - imiric 3y ago
    > ugly '80s Z design > Low-quality digital camera, nah. You're entitled to your opinion, but this is all subjective. Someone enjoying something because of nostalgia, aesthetics, experience, or whatever else, makes their opinion as valid as yours. It's silly to gatekeep or dismiss someone else's enjoyment.
    - hot_gril 3y ago
      Timeless design isn't subjective. Anyone who didn't have a DS as a kid won't care about its camera.

movedx 3y ago

I think I see what you're saying, but this is, essentially: culture. It's expression. It's art for those who consider it art. If you find it cringe, then it's not art from your perspective, it's a fad. It will always be culture and a "sign of the times", if you like. You can learn a lot about a society by studying these art forms.

2-718-281-828 3y ago
i don't think this qualifies as "culture" in a meaningful way - technically it is of course part of culture as pretty much anything is. why am i even complaining, duh? well, because it seems there is more of "culture" like this popping up during the past whatever years. i don't exactly want to blame anybody. i think it is an expression of a perceived void and arbitrariness people try to fight by attempting to manufacture meaning. i suppose it just doesn't work that way. to be even more blunt this appears to me about as culturally relevant as some vintage tiktok filter (not even sure that exists but i guess you get my point).
- movedx 3y ago
  Well there you go: you're analysing it and asking what it means. What it represents. I think it represents a lack of creativity coming out of main stream Hollywood and other "big ticket" industries. Nothing seems original any more. It's _mostly_ all polished, formulaic junk in my opinion (I loved the Barbie movie though - super fun.) So from my perspective, this sort of thing is culture in that informs us how our society is thinking and what it values.

lostmsu 3y ago

It is a marketing campaign.

deleted 3y ago

[deleted]

Spivak 3y ago

It's the magnetic pole flip after twenty years of better meaning more pixels, more accurate color representation, perfect lighting and staging, more frames, Dolby EarFucker 9.1 stereo, Quantum LED Rendering, Hi-Fi Cannabis. It's new-age impressionism.

deleted 3y ago
[deleted]
2-718-281-828 3y ago
i get your point but what's missing is a motivation to use this lo-fi tech beyond it being lo-fi for the sake of the pole flip.
- monknomo 3y ago
  I think the motivation for almost any style is to be cool. Whether you think folks have that motivation organically, or you think this article is trying to manufacture cool, or if the article is just describing something that exists, I'd guess that's the motivation. Were I inclined to question it, I'd wonder how many people think it is cool or are on this trend. Sometimes one or two popular people can make something look popular, when it is really that the people themselves are the popular part.
  - Spivak 3y ago
    And also I think because after a while you get sick of $current_trend and want something different. Old tech is in the sweet spot right now of providing something that is different, difficult to imitate, cheap, anti-consumerist, sparks new kinds of creativity, and giving new life to otherwise trash. I like this trend far more than everyone buying new polaroid cameras because you have to reuse.
- hbn 3y ago
  What's the motivation to paint a picture of a scene in front of you when cameras exist?

COM9 3y ago

I donno, but cargo cult retro cult would sure make a good band name.

HeyLaughingBoy 3y ago

I don't know if that's what's going on here, but sometimes limiting the medium gives rise to an artform in itself. Someone with an art history background could probably provide a clearer explanation but I'm thinking of things like "mail art:" https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mail_art https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mail_art or the series the Minneapolis Institute of Arts did for a couple of years called "Art in a Box" (I think I remember that right) where anyone could send in any artwork that fit in a 1'x1'x1' cube and they would display it. IOW maybe the entire point is using the reduced resolution and color space as a new form of expression.

hbn 3y ago
There's been a pretty robust rom-hacking community for Super Mario World that dates back to the 2000s, and it's something I always thought was really cool. It's led to some really awesome games coming out that are far more interesting to me being that they're built off an antiquated engine that ran on a 16-bit console from the 90's. There were plenty of other custom Mario level programs out there, like Super Mario Bros X which was an engine entirely made from scratch for PC. But that never interested me nearly as much, because people were writing Lua scripts that could do anything, and could leverage modern PC processing power. I thought it was way cooler to see what people pulled off when having to deal with sprite limitations, and having to write all the code in assembly. It really bred a whole other layer of creativity. Plus a lot of the games could actually be played on a physic console if you loaded the ROM onto a SNES flash cart.

tanjtanjtanj 3y ago

This is how the modern term Hipster (as opposed to the older one from the Jazz scene) is defined. A culture that takes, sometimes ironically, aesthetics from movements and cultures completely divorced from their original connotation.

imiric 3y ago

What's wrong with someone appreciating art, technology or culture from decades ago? Many people still enjoy vinyl records, film photography, typewriters, vintage cars, vintage fashion, and all sorts of unpopular items and activities. And that's alright.

touisteur 3y ago
Typewriters... Oh if I could get my hands on a working selectrix and years of supply of ink and spare parts for less than the price of a kidney I'd be using it all the time, pages would fly and neighbours would whine. It would probably make me more happy than 90% of my 'stuff'. Some things felt better before, and I can understand the sadness of not seeing more (in my case) mass-produced electromechanic tech today or that they haven't survived, at least in affordable form.
hot_gril 3y ago
It's not unpopular, though. Seems we're only now exiting a decade of nostalgic '80s movie reboots and comic book superheros dominating. Even Nissan decided to remake the ugly '80s Z design. I'm tired of people living in the past, especially when it's an era of design that didn't age well. There's appreciating history, and then there's constantly trying to relive it. And sure, vinyl records and instant film cameras are timeless fun every once in a while. Litmus test: even people who didn't grow up with them enjoy them. I'd set up a phonograph for a Christmas party. Low-quality digital camera, nah.
- imiric 3y ago
  > ugly '80s Z design > Low-quality digital camera, nah. You're entitled to your opinion, but this is all subjective. Someone enjoying something because of nostalgia, aesthetics, experience, or whatever else, makes their opinion as valid as yours. It's silly to gatekeep or dismiss someone else's enjoyment.
  - hot_gril 3y ago
    Timeless design isn't subjective. Anyone who didn't have a DS as a kid won't care about its camera.