Saturday 17 February 2007

Evaluation

Overall i feel that we have worked well together on this project.
Even though we all wanted to explore a similar theme i thought that working in a three would prove to be too crowded but it wasn't at all. It was good in a way as all three of us brought different views, ideas and thoughts together so we ended up having many dimensions to work with/from.
As you can see, documented on the blog is almost day by day updates of the video in its progression and how we decided to change aspects of it and stick with other parts.
The video overall took us almost a month to make and perfect, and we put so much effort into it; just because there were three of us didn't mean it was any faster or easier to produce a piece; in fact quite the opposite. I do think we worked together well and it was good to have others to bounce ideas off and compare with; whereas working on your own doesn't give you the chance to question your work; and other people might be afraid to also question what you have done in fear of offending your work.
On the last two weeks leading to presentation we perfected the sound and Carol made the sphere for the projection/installation. It was always our intention to project onto some kind of spherical object and so we concentrated a lot on getting this right for the day. We went in, measuring distances and heights and testing with the projector just exactly how it needed to be to get the image dead central on the ball.
On the day it went well, i feel we got our points and intentions across well. Like i said in an earlier blog, we didn't want to give away too much about the content of the video as this was up to the minds of those watching; and even though there are three of us who worked together on this, i think we all get a different interpretation from it.

I can't say i was a fan of video art, and i do still find some video art confusing and odd and often avoid it when i'm in galleries, down to my own ignorance. But i have enjoyed making my/our own piece; and i think if i saw ours in a gallery that i would actually watch. Some abstract pieces of video art I've seen really don't appeal to me, but then neither does abstract painting so maybe that is a personal thing. I like things i watch, be it, TV, film, video art to have a narrative or a least some kind of plot, chronological or not, so i can at least try to draw something from it. Some of the pieces that were presented on the Friday were great and i really enjoyed them, but others didn't appeal to me, not that they weren't good, but i just got a little distracted and wasn't really paying attention. I think that is why we had a kind of narrative in ours, so it followed and people kept there vigilance about them; so they would keep watching to see what happened next.

Video is maybe a medium i may consider to explore further, i have really enjoyed the project, it's been hard work but i feel we really did put so much effort in and produced a piece that we were proud of.

Thursday 15 February 2007

More Tony Ousler Research...

More images i've collected to support our research...





More images from Projection





Further Research

TURBULENT ORB -
Intended to suggest the view of the Earth or another planet from space, the sculpture consists a large, rotatable, spherical glass vessel, filled with a deep-blue fluid that reveals the movements of
the currents within. Viewers are encouraged to rotate the spherical vessel by turning a cast iron wheel attached to the base. As the vessel spins, the fluid displays intricate flow patterns suggestive of a stormy atmosphere. Swirls of fluid, resembling hurricanes, appear and dissolve as the Orb slowly rotates. Even when the sculpture is left undisturbed, the fluid continues to flow for many hours.


M.C.Esher, depicting geometric spheres in his drawings.

Presentation Continued....

In preparation for Friday we sat down and planned what we should say to make our presentation structured; thus limiting the possibility of talking over one another and repeating ourselves. As there were three of us working together on this project we thought this was a good idea.
Robyn wanted to go first so she talked about initial ideas and thoughts we had on the project; working together and the collection of raw footage.
I discussed the progression of the idea and how artist research helped us inform our practice into our idea of the 'mind's eye', Discussing artists such as Judith Barry, Tony Ousler and Luis Buneul's 'Un Chien Andalou'.
As it was Carol who had the idea of projecting onto a spherical shape, we thought best that she talked about the practical side of the project.
I believe that the presentation went well, and we all got our points across clearly.
In my opinion it was best we only gave a brief description of our video as it is an ambiguous piece and open to interpretation; so we didn't really want to give much away about the content.
On the day i felt the projection and installation was a success and felt we couldn't have done anything more to prepare for the presentation.

Projection



This was taken on Thursday when we were experimenting with hanging and projecting ready for the Friday. We recorded it so we would know how it would look on the actual projection, the height the projector needed to be and the position it had to be to get the images central.

Thursday 8 February 2007

More Images (women at work)



ARGH hahaha,
shocking photos!
Measuring the distances we need for the projection

Images of the Full Projection





Assembling the Projection

Today we met in college to assemble the projection ready for tomorrow's presentation. We hung the ball, suspending it from a beam and tied it tightly to ensure it stayed in place. We then hooked the projector and laptop up and started working out the height from the floor to the projector table in which it needed to be to make the image central to the ball.

After settling on this height from the floor, we then had to determine the position which the projector needed to be to make sure we could see the image clearly.

After this we then needed to consider the fact that some of the image would go off behind the ball and had to use a piece of card with a hole into block out some of the light coming out of the projector so the image would stay JUST on the ball itself.

After a bit of trial and error on Carol's behalf, we managed to get the hole to right size, and set it so many CM away from the projector lens. We made a stand for it and have marked with masking tape and marker where exactly this needs to sit ready for the projection tomorrow.

We masked out the floor, where the stand should be so we know for sure where everything needs to be positioned tomorrow! Yay!


Thursday 1 February 2007

Mind's Eye

This is a painting i found on someone's interpretation of the mind's eye. It was posted on an Art wesbite
and I just thought it went well with our video piece and what we have been exploring.


Projection Ideas

This is the idea we have so far regarding the projection of our video, to suspend the ball from a beam using fish wire which has been threaded through the ball and then covered over with papier mache to keep its strength.
We preferably want to suspend it so there is no human interferance with the projection and so they dont block out with images.
We experimented briefly with the projection on Tuesday's lesson and the video we used looked good on the ball.
We really need to burn our own DVD now though as we need to figure out how it will look at the angle of projection we need.
The imagery we have used in our video piece is quite circular and spherical in itself and will look amazing once projected onto the ball.
I think it will give the video a whole new dynamic, as we have only watched it on a flat screen computer.



Jawshing Arthur Liou

“CBC” - Complete Bloody Count, deals with Liou’s daughter's recent diagnosis of leukemia. The imagery was rendered from the 1 year old patient’s body and was multiplied hundreds to thousands of times. The composition is based on the similarity between the cancer cells and the normal blood cells. The use of high-definition video allows the viewer to experience the phenomenon in detail. As a metaphor for the medical process, the work refers to the terrifying effects of both the disease and its treatment.
This is one piece from '
Blood Work', a video art project that deals with Liou's daughter Vivian's battle with leukemia. It comprises a series of three video installations, CBC (Complete Blood Count) , Blasts and Hairline that utilise the latest imaging technology. The video depicts hundreds and thousands of cell-like creatures that are rendered digitally from Liou's daughter's body and shows the struggle she has to face when treated with chemotherapy. The high-definition imagery loosely suggests a microscopic view inside the body, which allows a detailed experience for the viewer. The world in Blood Work is heavily tied with the cycles between illness and regeneration in the artist's current family life. It blends scientific information and the parents' emotion to shape our perception of the experience.



Tony Ousler (extra research)

Tony Oursler animates non-living objects with the use of projectors. Classified, along with Bill Viola, Bruce Nauman, Gary Hill and the like artists, among the most outstanding video creators, he has employed this technique in a totally different manner. In his works, a motion picture filmed with a video-camera is projected with a projector functioning on a laterna-magica basis as in the 19th-century theatre. The viewer does not stare at a rectangular screen, rather, s/he can see before him or her enlivened flowers, giant eye-balls, or puppets - talking, swearing at one another, quarrelling, and using coarse expressions. The contrast between the immovable, 'dead' bodies of the dolls and the aggressive, vulgar language not spared by their 'talking heads' add up to an unexpected dramatic power of this show