Chris’s automatist exercise

Yu-Jen(Chris),Tsai
ADP III
Discussion Sec 005



When we were first explained what and how the exercise was going to be, the idea of “draw or write out the first thing that pops from your head” had me expected that some of the squares would definitely be filled by interesting shapes. There are two ways of expression in this experiment; ones through words and the other one is images. And usually if a person is use to one of those two mediums would found one to be abundantly clear and easier for he or she as a tool. However, by observing the befuddled look from the person on my left, I could tell that no one felt better about either one of those two mediums than the other. Sometimes when an individual was told to express himself or herself in an instant matter, the reaction time differs depending on the theme of the subject and its relationship with the individual; if the theme or the particular word clicked with the “thinker”, the person with the pen and a sheet of paper, something extremely expressive would appear. On the other hand, if I had no any type of connection with the theme or subject, I had absolutely nothing; as a result, some crazy nonsense images would probably appear since I was forced to at least write or draw anything. And so I found it interesting that I was able to guess and sort of figure what was going on in the person’s mind just by analyzing the illustrations and texts in the cubes.
When we start to think of Lasn’s idea of that we, as humans, have been in a “cult” for decades, we realize that it was us who did this to ourselves. What inputted to our minds was all the information that ultimately turned into beliefs, and that information are delivered through mainly televisions and newspapers. This links up with the MEDIA VIRUS chapter in Culture Jam where Kalle emphasizes children and adults nowadays are so abundantly exposed to televisions and advertisings that it seems like we are brainwashed somehow by the media without noticing. We buy what most people want to buy, eat what we think we should eat and think how the books and articles wanted us to think. Whatever appeared on the four cubes didn’t seem random to me at all while I think of Lasn’s interpretation of the word “cult” that is formed by us, the brainwashed consumers.