Project 4

Project #4
Elizabeth Shores
I struggled with the A/V project, mostly in coming up with an inspiration or a strong concept to base the project on. It was an evolving project, which I will describe here.
I had recently watched a documentary about what happens to people in the US who die without families. It covered the steps taken by law enforcement to locate families, the search for cemetery plots, and the eventual cremation of the individual. Eventually, if there was not enough money, the cremated remains were poured into a mass grave for all those who had died the previous year and were the final descendents of their family lineage. Such a fate was terrible, and made me think a lot about the idea of a sense of purpose in life as well as in death. I am not particularly interested in producing a depressing or ennui-inspiring art piece, so I eventually chose to avoid the topic of death itself. However, I eventually came to be interested in the idea that the things you do have far-reaching effects and consequences that inevitably reach beyond your lifetime, often without your knowledge.
I used a train to symbolize forward motion and movement through space and time. I chose to focus on the idea of American women cutting their hair during the twenties and thirties, a time when the only discussion of feminism was seen in the treatment of haircutting by major women’s beauty & lifestyle magazines. This new trendy ‘do spurred changes beyond anyone’s expectations. Like trains on a track, we leave dissent, then order for those we don’t see. The order that comes about from the chaos of our lives lives on for future generations.
So, the dissent is all the hustle and noise we get while the train is at the station and is also the act by the women of cutting their hair. The order is the nice neatness of a train once it is underway on the tracks out in the country, and is the new normal that has been established by those women cutting their hair; it is now normal for a woman to have short hair.
Our lives seem like meaningless chaos, but we create the world the next generation lives in, no matter what we do.

Project 3

Project #3

This project was created after I read a news story detailing the recent discovery that a great number of vegetative state patients are actually fully aware and capable of communication, although physically unable to express it. In response to questions the doctors would ask, patients were told to recall a memory of movement (such as a soccer game) to denote ‘yes’, or a memory of an unmoving thing (such as an apple) to mean ‘no’. Using MRI scans, the doctors were able to see what part of the brain lit up in direct response to questions such as, “Is your name Tom?” or “Are you married?”, leading them to believe that this sort of communication was possible in a large percentage of patients.
This amazing revelation in the scientific community made me think a lot about interior space, communication, and the idea of self. I produced an all-white sculpture for the back of the Intermedia classroom that was roughly the size and shape of a person with a hole in the top, with a mirror rotating inside of it. On the inside walls of the piece were images of bright abstract colors that were reflected off the mirrors and visible to the viewer. The wires of the piece were suspended outside of the structure.
I wanted to make something that was not entirely understandable, the shape itself suggesting a human form, but not directly. The images suggest a part of the interior space, or an MRI, and the wires suggest the state of a wired patient. By putting it in our classroom, it is something that was accessible to all of us, not just the medical community.

Wednesday, May 4- Our Last Day!!!

1. Announcements, events, and more

2. Evaluations

2. Critiques- Continued!

-Liz

-Zach

-Kaylee

-Cyprian's blog project

4. Let's look at some art!!! Shows around Studio Arts Building... Q & A about grad school

5. Don't forget to turn in your Final Portfolio by next Wednesday (put it in my dropbox and email me to confirm you have done so)

6. Goodbye!

Intermedia 2.0

springerin 2/2010: Intermedia 2.0 springerin – Hefte für Gegenwartskunst http://www.springerin.at

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It is impossible to imagine art nowadays without the kind of interdisciplinary and multi-media approaches that began to play a key role in the 1960s. Since then, sculpture, sound, film, theatre, performance and many other branches have embarked on a broad spectrum of different kinds of fusion with pictorial forms. Recently, such "inter-mediality" has been given an additional boost thanks to new notions of creativity. It might be argued, albeit somewhat over-stating the point, that media-specific working methods have been replaced by more overarching types of production that short-circuit fairly disparate realms with each other. "Inter-creativity", a paradigm of working methods located in the zone between individual disciplines, has begun to take the place of traditional models of creativity. "Intermedia 2.0", produced in cooperation with Vienna's "departure" initiative, examines the potentials and promises to be found in these broader concepts of media and creativity. Contents: Christian Höller: The Promise of Media De-Limitation Alexander Horwath in Conversation with Eva Fischer about Visualizations of Music Christa Benzer: Visualizing Classical Music – "Hugo Wolf Festival 2010" Roundtable with VJs and Visualists Participating in the "Hugo Wolf Festival 2010" Diedrich Diederichsen: Hatred of "Regietheater" and the New Tendency towards Opera Christian von Borries: Strategies of the Common – Music, Opera, Politics numen/for use: Intercreative Textures Georg Schöllhammer in Conversation with Artist Markus Schinwald Barbara Lesák: Frederick Kiesler's Works for Theater Jasper Sharp: In Two Minds – Creativity and Collaboration Anne Hilde Neset: Sound Bleed – Music in Other Media Thomas Keul: From Audio Book to "Visualized" Book Kathrin Röggla & 4youreye: "die ansprechbare" – Example of a Visualized Reading Christoph Thun-Hohenstein: The Importance of Intercreativity Artscribe: Reviews about "Gender Check" (Mumok Vienna), "Afro Modern" (Tate Liverpool), Nasreen Mohamedi (Kunsthalle Basel), Luis Camnitzer (Daros Zurich), "Niet Normaal" (De Beurs van Berlange Amsterdam), plus many more. Contact: springerin@springerin.at http://www.springerin.at Cover Image: LIA – Blumengruß_2010_03_20_16_25_36 http://www.liaworks.com/

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Monday, April 26

1. announcements

2. reminder:

PROJECTS DUE WEDNESDAY MORNING!

3. Final Portfolios due during finals week

4. Work Day

-demo: inserting text/slugs

An artist I could model myself on

Peter Brötzmann

Peter Brötzmann is a german free jazz saxophonist who is not only informed by music but also by the visual arts. The genre of music he has chosen to perform asks the listener "what is jazz" and challenges the listener's preconceptions about music. Brötzmann comes from the same generation of artists as Higgins and Debord.

Another aspect to his art is he does not limit it to music. He is also a visual artists primarily creating painting though I find his object collages pleasing and reminiscent of Joseph Cornell.

I realize that it may be way out there to consider him in an Intermedia class, but he is an artist who has made a career of breaking the societal agreement upon conceptions of music. In our own art, we can learn from his fearlessness in exploration. Check out his whole website at www.peterbroetzmann.com

Wednesday, April 21

1. Announcements

-Visiting Artist in Film/Video: Phil Solomon this Saturday

=EXTRA CREDIT/Participation Points for attending and writing a one paragraph review

-Reminder regarding Participation Points/Grade

2. Studio Arts Fest: Friday, April 30th. 4-7pm

3. Work Day in Media Lab

-trouble shooting in Final Cut and Audio programs

-individual help with computer questions and/or individual critiques of works-in-progress

-use this time wisely! there is ONE WEEK to the due date!

-video/sound pieces are due WEDNESDAY, April 28 by 10 AM in my DropBox on the Intermedia Server

4. Putting your Quicktime Movie in my DropBox

-connect to the Intermedia XSAN

-you can only do this from an Apple computer

-go to Finder> Connect to Server

-type in: afp://intermedia3.art.uiowa.edu

-hit "Connect"

-look for USERS-1 (or it may just say USERS)

-find my folder= NPIETRAN

-look in my PUBLIC folder (it is highlighted in RED)

-drag your Quicktime movie into my DROPBOX

-if this does not work, bring a copy to class on your hard drive to copy onto my desktop in class for viewing. Come early on Wednesday if you need to do this.

ArtsFest!

I vote the cake walk, simple, easy, fun, and tasty!

Monday, April 18

1. Announcements

-Studio Arts Fest Check In

-Participation Grades

2. Visiting Artist: Phil Solomon

-Preview of Solomon's work- "Grand Theft Auto"

3. Work Day

-you must have material to work on in class for the duration of the class period.

-use this time wisely. Ask questions. Share your work with your peers. Ask for critical feedback.

Interaction And Commerce

The band Devo is allowing its fans to shape its next album to be released in June. I like how the band (artist) has created a whole interface for audience participation in a final outcome, the artwork (album).

The LINK LINK LINKIe Linkie Doo.

Very simple, yet very effective

http://www.npr.org/blogs/allsongs/2010/04/folding_towel_robot_in_search.html

By the viewer choosing his own soundtrack to this industrial demonstration video, the video becomes something new.

Visiting film/video maker! Phil Solomon

"Solomon recently has been incorporating machinima from Grand theft Auto games into his strangely emotionally moving videos."

> Visiting Film/video maker!!!
>
> Film and Video Artist Phil Solomon
> Presenting selections of his recent 16mm films and videos
> SATURDAY APRIL 24, 7:30PM
> E105 AJB-Franklin Miller Screening Room

Wednesday, April 12

1. Announcements

2. Troubleshooting with Sound/Video... Checking in on Projects (Progress Reports)

3. The Video Essay

-Travis Wilkerson, "An Injury to One"

-Agnes Varda, "The Gleaners and I"

-Chris Marker, "San Soleil"

-French New Wave Filmmakers

4. 11:30 Visiting Artist JOSH EKLOW

-demo in Media Lab=transferring VHS to digital

Video Art!

Monday, April 12

Agenda

1. Announcements

2. Reminder: Arts Fest, Friday, April 30th

3. Let's talk about Video Art-Reading

-What's the different between film and video anyway?

4, Experimental Film/Manipulating the film

-Stan Brakhage

5. Breaking down video/code (similar to rupturing/manipulating film)

-Evan Meaney

6. Let's look at Video Art and Artists

-Joan Jonas

-David Claerbout

-Francis Alys

-Pipolotti Rist

-Isaac Julien

7. Onward we march in Final Cut Pro

Malcom McLaren Died

Situationist, provocateur, Svengali, manager of Sex Pistols (see Svengali) dead at 64. He tried to subvert our notions of pop music, but instead changed them.

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/people/news/malcolm-mclaren-dies-aged-64-1939621.html

Wednesday, April 7

1. Announcements

2. In-class exercise:

Goals

1) Experience using a camera- either a digital still camera or small video camera such as the Flip/Mino or the camcorder option on a still camera

2) Practice importing your footage from the camera to the computer

3) Opening a New Final Cut Project and importing your footage

4) Practice the following:

a) edit- cut, copy, paste footage

b) import a sound track/sound file and cut, copy, paste sound

c) layer two different images on top of each other and alter the opacity

d) export your project as a Quicktime file for viewing

Monday, April 5

1. Announcements

-Marisa Olsen, visiting artist-- LECTURE TONIGHT! 7pm Seamens Center

-sign-up to meet about Final Project

-more thoughts/conversation about group project for Arts Fest

2. A bit more about Sound

-hand-out for Zoom

-things to keep in mind when recording

3. Animation

-history (leading up to film and video)

-photography- using the Canon Digital Rebel (getting the proper settings to shoot rapidly)

-importing pictures into the comuter

-Final Cut Pro to the proper settings for animation

Microgrants- apply now!

Hi friends,

Last month was the third coffee microgrant. In case you're new to this, I drink coffee everyday. I used to drink it at cafes, for about $2 a cup. About $60 of my monthly income disappeared to coffee, never to be missed. Now I make it at home, and for each day that I do not buy coffee at a cafe, I set aside $2 for a microgrant. In March, I traveled a lot and therefore bought a lot of coffee. I drank coffee out 10 times, leaving $42 to go to this grant and to you, dear friend.

If you applied before, your application is still on file, and it will be considered again. If not, send me a paragraph telling me what you'd do with the money (it need not be art, it can be anything). If you get chosen, I'll send you a check and the next time we're in the same city, we'll grab coffee and talk about what you did with the $$.

In February, I gave the money to Aaron Strong to buy licensing software for a rad map-making program. His blog of maps are online here: http://sensefromplace.blogspot.com/

Please send your proposals by the 10th (sorry its so soon!)

Katie

p.s. pass this around, if you know someone who is doing cool stuff that I should fund, pass them the email.

--
Katie Hargrave
http://www.katiehargrave.us

T h e M e d i u m is t h e M e s s a g e

T h e M e d i u m is t h e M e s s a g e

The medium is the message is a phrase coined by Marshall McLuhan meaning that the form of a medium embeds itself in the message, creating a symbiotic relationship by which the medium influences how the message is perceived. The phrase was introduced in his most widely known book, Understanding Media: The Extensions of Man, published in 1964.[1] McLuhan proposes that media itself, not the content it carries, should be the focus of study. He said that a medium affects the society in which it plays a role not only by the content delivered over the medium, but also by the characteristics of the medium itself.

For example, McLuhan claimed in Understanding Media that all media have characteristics that engage the viewer in different ways; for instance, a passage in a book could be reread at will, but a movie had to be screened again in its entirety to study any individual part of it. So the medium through which a person encounters a particular piece of content would have an effect on the individual's understanding of it.

SOURCE: WIKIPEDIA

Consider these ideas in relation to your artwork:

Why do you choose to create work in a particular medium?

How does that choice affect the "message" and content of your work?

Or the ways in which a viewer might engage your work?

Link to NY Times Article on:

Reading Up on Gutenberg as the iPad Drops