Thesis- Initial Ideas

When starting to ponder my thesis ideas, I immediately came up with two ideas that I felt were both strong and involved something I was really interested in. Those ideas are;

Thesis idea 1:

I have currently been experimenting with 35mm film cameras. While using this “ancient technology” I realized how cautious and more aware I was when taking a shot then I would be using something like my phone camera. When I would use digital photography it feels more mindless and easy to take multiple photos just in case. However with film you do not have this luxury, and are bound to 36 photos, all of which are unknown to you until they are developed. After receiving my first set of photos back, I started to realize why many people prefer this method of photography. I compared these to some pictures I also took on my phone of some of the exact locations. However upon comparing, I started to notice something. The film pictures felt more “lively” and “real” compared to the digital ones. This had me pondering about how we as artists and consumers of art register physical versus digital art. For my thesis I want to explore this phenomenon and look into the psychology as to why having physical art feels more real compared to digital art.

Thesis idea 2:

Going off of the first idea, I would also like to explore what my generation calls “retro” technology. I have noticed that my generation, who would be considered gen z, has been obsessed with retro tech such as vinyls, polaroids, typewriters, and etc. All of this may seem outdated to older generations and even obsolete, however to us they are something new and unique compared to the tech we have today. Companies such as Polaroid have been revived thanks to this surge of new users. I want to explore why my generation is very heavily influenced by older icons and why we have a “rinse and repeat” mentality when we tech. While the world around us is constantly changing and advancing, why do we seem to bring back nostalgic tech, and other aspects of retro culture? Will this happen again when a newer generation takes over?

I will examine these ideas and try to solidify on which one I wish to proceed with.