Video Art

This is my final piece for this class. When I first got the assignment, I was definitely intimidated by it, as I know no more than imovie to make video projects/video effects. As I watched some of the video art by Pipliotti Rist (though I still find her completely disturbing) and pulled other concepts from Greg's performance piece, I got an idea. I decided to shoot myself through different mediums. All the colors and shapes in the video are unedited. Though I didn't use effects once the movie as shot, I took an old school approach and tried different lenses and filters per se. In some shots, it's almost as if  it's an old school photobooth shot on a mac. Quite hilarious. :)

The music is copyright free, a work from clownbasket.com. 

Ps. I'm using this project to make up for my lack of human distortion in my grid art. :p

Performance Art

As I thought about this project more and more, many things came to mind in which I wanted to execute in a performance. I thought about lugging technology around behind my bicycle, but the extent of old technology that could have been destroyed at my house was limited. The weather was also not ideal for that concept. I wanted to have interaction, having my family place the items on my body, they did not want to be on camera. I also filmed my friends and I playing rockband as a pun on the performance element, and then I realized that could have been a performance art piece in itself. The final product is a compilation of these ideas and obstacles with some snazzy music and video effects added to it.
The Result
I certainly respect performing artists more now, as I can see how much effort can go into something that may seem so simple.

I just came up with bonus idea. It will be added as well to this entry. Yay for spontaneous ideas!
The Bonus Video

More Crazy Artists (but aren't we all crazy?)

Thought I missed class today, I took on the responsibility of watching the links posted on the syllabus. Some that really struck me as interesting were Gilbert & George's "Gordon Makes Us Drunk" Bob Flanagan's "Obituary" and "Super Cystic Fibrosis Song", and finally "The Body is Obsolete" by Stelarc.

Gilbert and George's piece was amusing to me because of the great deal of sarcasm. They have the piece designated for the queens viewing. It has classical music such as Pomp and Circumstance while the video shows the Gordon's bottle and two men drinking it. The voiceover says "Gordon's makes us drunk." "Gordon's makes us very very drunk." Sometimes pieces like this frustrate me, but this one made me chuckle.

 The next pieces I watched were Bob Flanagans'. I really admire how he takes on a very blunt approach o his condition and makes it into a positive experience. He talks about how masochism keeps him going and that he could die at any moment, but he's living in the now. His "Obituary" piece was literally him reading his own death notice, a bold but creative idea. Though he is in a very deteriorating condition, he makes it benefit him in a way and I admire that.

Finally, I watched "The Body is Obsolete." Though I've seen people suspended before, I never understood any reasoning behind it. I had never seen the bionic machines before, and found those very interesting. I had seen things like them in movies, but the explanation that Stelarc gave was admirable. He talked about how the body was no longer an art piece in itself, but with technology, it's capabilities were so much more profound.

Overall, I saw some really interesting pieces. Performance artists have a way of thinking that is most definitely unique.

It's all in the name of art...that makes it okay...right?

Vito Acconci, Marina Abramovic

These two artist really messed with my head. The film of the woman getting her eye pryed open disturbed me. What is it with these man wanting to attack womens eyes? Can't we just leave the poor girls alone? I think I'm going to wear sunglasses all the time if men are obsessed with my eyes as much as I've recently seen in Santi's class. I really was just disturbed over the force of the man over the woman. The fact that she wasn't saying anything was also unsettling. It was almost as if she were drugged or mute or both. She was really helpless, and I did not like that she was being taken advantage of.

Marina Abramovic's work was also strange to me, especially the one with the man and woman running their naked selves into wooden columns to make them move. I do not enjoy theses pieces with such pain involved. I did however like her relationship piece. The nakedness of her performers brings a raw element to her pieces, and I can appreciate that. I just don't like people getting hurt, it makes me cringe and I can't focus on any other messages.

It should be interesting to see what santi has in store for us this week, as we were told this was just baby stuff compared to it. I could handle the lips being sewn together, and unfortunately, I've seen such works as two girls one cup, so hopefully I'll be able to handle it. If not, my classmates may have to pull a vito acconci on me, and pry my eyes open...ha ha ha. Not.

Xerox Project: My totem pole

This is my project that I thought reminded me of a totem pole. So much fun xeroxing myself, and I based it on decontextualization.

Tristan and Isolde

This movie really baffled my mind.

I understood some of the references to the man being dead or crazy, but some of the story lines that I made up in my head, never turned out to actually happen. I thought his hand stuck in the door would be the hand on the road. I thought the woman's eye was in the box, but it was the hand, then it was nothing. I did NOT understand the piano/dead animal/two men being pulled by the man, though this could be what the artist meant. I saw the references to the man in the moth and the belongings laid out on the bed. The man was haunting the woman, but she was unsure of whether she liked this or not. Was he a past lover? A present lover? Was he the same man she ended up with in the end?

Overall, I did not like the story, only because it was not a story. I don't like loose ends, and this film drove me crazy by leading me in four thousand directions.

Grid Art

My grid art:

It is a piece that I struggled with because of massive distortion. I don't like when people don't look human.

The piece is a dog and a girl touching noses. The dog is more simplified in form while the girl has very rounded human features.

I should've based it more on what my teacher taught me back in high school. Distortion is okay in art. Maybe if my squares were smaller...

Video Games

I thought the video game movie was interesting, but very outdated. THough we watched the most modern version of the film, it still only went up to the release of the "future" PS2. I've always been interested in videogames and how they will progress and Professor Echeverry broguht up good points about how he thinks things will simplify in the form of how the game is played. I searched for the new Play Station and Xbox and found something called OnLive, which is exactly what Santiago spoke about. From what I understand, it is a mesh of gamefly and Xbox live. You have a database of videogames right on your console through the internet. You subscribe or purchase the game to play it.

The issue that a commenter brought up however, was what happens if OnLive a. fails b. shutsdown and c. the servers are not equipped for the amount of gamer traffic they will recieve.

If any of these technological crises happen, the whole system is shot to hell.

Disney: Skimping on the Dreams

Today in class we watced how Walt Disney classic movies like Snow white, the aristocats, Jungle book, and others have scenes in them that are the exact copies but with differnt characters.

All I could think to myself when this was going on in class was, "sooo Disney really only made one movie?"

You don't notice it, because you're not watching the films side by side. Nevertheless, it was still disappointing to me. Some of the movies, I'll admit, I haven't seen and therefore cannot compare story lines very accurately, but I feel as though they must be at least similar, or the dances and chases (which were the templates we watched) must seem completely random.

I guess it's wise for Disney to use the templates in various movies, it helps them crank them out faster. The quality of concept in my mind is now dimisnished for the movies I grew up watching.

ar·che·type 

n.

1. An original model or type after which other similar things are patterned.

Which movies stemmed from original concepts?

Disney, what will I find out next about your "magical" company?

Notes on Classmate's Flipbooks

Ellery- Very consistent-nice even intervals. Smooth Animation. Ps. Nice coloring job. :)

Dylan- I like how it was both directions. Smaller intervals would make it easier to read/see and make the transitions smoother.

Gina- Awesome Drawing, very smooth. Nice se of color.

Andrea- Love the bird flapping it's wings. Awesome perspective.

Cheryl- Nice use of design. Abstract. I especially like the first red swirl.

Maria- Nice idea by using actual photographs. Obviously adorable. Innovative. It reminds me of film with an original/retro feel by being in the format of a flipbook.

Greg- Awesome use of 4th wall. Great perspective.

Brian- I like the two figures that move upwards. Unconventional. Nice morphing from one object to another.

Lea- LOVED that you had to flip the book halfway through. Great drawings and I like the overall concept.

Mike- Another great use of the 4th wall. Makes it an experience.

Jessica- Beautifully drawn, amusing concept. Great pacing of drawings.

Cara-Abstract. Random, but appealing. The story is short, but well communicated. THe colored circles reminded me of film/photo filters and the story is through the perspective of these filters.

Singing in the Rain vs. A Clockwork Orange

Well. I think many things happened between the production of Singing in the Rain and A Clockwork Orange.
A clockwork orange was made in a time of war, drugs and young adult rebellion. Boys were burning their draft cards and the youth was completely sepearated from the generation of their parents. The 50's were all about the perfect family and the perfect home. Even if things weren't perfect, people idealized and pretended they were. The hippies however suring the 60's and early 70's, were adamant about expressing their beliefs and protesting ideas they were against. They were also heavily opinionated on peace and free love. Sex was suddenly not taboo to talk about. Leaders such as JFK and MLK Junior were assasinated. The years were also under the influence of many hallucinogenics and other drugs which I think is blatent in a clockwork orange.

Things changed so fast between the 50's and 60's that by the time a clockwork orange was produced morals completely varied depending on what generation people were a part of. The parody of Singing in the Rain in a clockwork orange reflects how the youth of the 60's and early 70's were parodying their parents generation overall.

FLipbooking

I had a flipbook fail.
So I walked to a thrift store today to buy a new one with a new idea in mind.
Well, the thrift store nearby does not have books.
So I went to the bookstore and bought mini notebooks. I hope they work.
But I think I drew it backwards?

Why is this so difficult for me?!

what's today? the 23rd?

So that Harry Potter paper? I think I got it down. This week we're talking about photography (<3) and film and the first artistic uses of it. We're making flipbooks which I'm nervous I won't be able to come up with good concepts for....hopefully I get something good....

I'm SO busy with classes and extracurriculars. Maybe that will work it's way into my flipbook. I had a classmate offer to go get old books with me today, that was nice, thank you Max. :) Sorry I was busy, I'm using up every ounce of time either doing homework, extra curricular stuff, or trying to regain my energy.

Here's to becoming a cartoon artist?

Harry Potter--Copyright Infringment and Lackluster Technolgy/

So right now it's 10:53pm on Tuesday night and I'm stressing over my decision to use Harry Potter characters in my modern version of Aida. I can't distinguish between technology in the play and magic, or if they're the same thing. If I do have the characters use magic, I feel as though I'm not being creative because J.K. Rowling is the one who came up with all the magical goodness of the HP world that I'm using. The only controlled elements I'm using are how the movie/opera is displayed and the differences between the old story and the story made for Harry Potter and friends. I have 2 more days to work on this, but I don't know how I'm going to get enough information without telling the whole story of the opera. I'm tempted to start over, but I'm not one to give up easily and I feel like writing about Harry Potter is much more fun than writing about a religious cult, which was my other idea.

It's probably just because I'm so tired that I'm having more trouble with this than normally.

September 8-10

This week, we finished up our Opera's and moved onto Broadway. I was interested to see how they were related and how opera shaped broadway. The documentary we watched in class, I had actually seen before, and I thought seeing it again only made it clearer to see history evolving. I found it particularly interesting to see how the war technology affected the theater technology and how the stock market crash actually had a positive effect on movie technology.

When writing my paper, which I believe will be on Aida, I'm going to use the technology evolution shown in "B'way, The American Musical" to help me with ideas on how to modernize the opera.

Introduction

My initial reaction to my Art & Technology class was that it was going to challenge me. Many of my classes are this semester, as I'm really exerting myself into new places and experiences that I have not before. Art & Technology will definitely prove for me to think on my toes for ideas that are wacky, different, and perhaps even strange, but hopefully, taking advantage of this mindtrack will help me get over the phobia of "what the hell am I going to do for this project?" I am the type of person that stresses over an idea way too much, but once I get the ball rolling on something (usually with some sort of reassurance that whatever I'm doing fits the criteria) I get very into my work and work well on my own. I thought I had a creative mind, but this class will certainly push my limits, which I know will help me in one way or another. What I want for this class is to have more faith in my work and to be able to brainstorm more efficiently on ideas to create an interesting end product.