At this point I have graduated and I am now going on to different things not always bigger (and better can’t be compared since they are so different worlds) . I am leaving this blog up as an archive of my work and may post from time to time.
The new posts are going to be only things that will be related to home brew projects or other projects to shout out what emac students are doing after they graduated. I will say though it’ll be more coming from news from Tommy Trurong’s project he has going now.
For now I bid you adue and hope we see each other at the café
So I tend to post every Wednesday or Thursday night, this week I had a test run go and well I have a video as part of the test run I wanted to post up.
This is going to be one awesome semeater
So this is the start of the discussion, post your comments to the video here or on YouTube
It has been two weeks since I have last written the project update. Part of it was due to the weather and part to apathy and catching up. Progress has been made and for the most part I have locked the creative \ video portion of the projection and the video I will project.
Locked Down:
It will be a mixture of both actual homeless people and those fortunate enough to be set in life. Including recognized characters of life: Kyle Kondas, Willie Barronett, myself and a few more as I get the names I’ll eventually have a full list of names.
It will be in black and white
At this moment it doesn’t look like it will have audio. (not for technical reasons)
Logic:
The mixture of those that aren’t homeless with the ones that are puts the person being projected upon in a situation that they realize they could be next holding the sign. The black and white gives me two things a slightly more contrasted picture which in some situations comes up as this and also it’s a lot more asthetically impactful for a message. Black and White is very dreary and also much more so somber and in this context that is what I am trying to convey.
The audio missing and just silent adds to the somber and serious tone of the whole project. The only reason I point out it is not for technical reasons is because it is not something that is hard to accomplish. I’ve already made a custom power system for the hardware it’s not much harder to add one more system for the speakers to be powered.
Just because blog posts are better with some content other than just text by itself a nod to Kim Knight
So part two, after much discussion here are some more fleshed out thoughts of the project. In John Pomara’s class we were assigned the reading pressPLAY; essentially the book is selected conversations from different artists in different times. These conversations explained some of the ideas I’ve been thinking about for a long time. In a conversation between Mark C. Taylor and Vito Acconci, Vito expands on the version of safety in an art gallery space.
“Museum goers are automatically victimized: they’re in a building with now windows, as if in a prision – they’re ordered ‘Do not Touch’. The are is for the eyes only and they’re in a position of constant desire, hence constant frustration.”
The talk goes on more about Vito’s art, but it’s the same idea where people are more interacted with the art and not just seeing it on the walls. Not just seeing it as sculptures either. I want people to run away from something or to come up to it, to see it to play. I am however, not giving full control to people by still retaining control of the car.
Some more artist conversations seem to state the same thing about interaction in a sterile place of the gallery. Christian Botanski states, “ Museums have today become new churches.” Christian means this in two contexts one of religious value in the sense of how his work and works once used to have patronage and be preserved in churches. People would travel to churches just to see the art work. The second is that you are safe in a church, people don’t expect their senses to be to terribly attacked and there is a function of safety in these spaces.
I am sure that there are ways to push people farther than before, I’m sure that I could interact with people in more physical ways; but we live in a digital age. We are used to seeing a digital self and a regular self and not used to having it projected upon us.
Evolutionary thought is the next portion on how to make this come as a video projected upon the visitor of the gallery is now where research is headed.
Please discuss and comment, I am eager for your words of wisdom.
I originally started with one simple idea. Projection and the use of a projector besides just simple ideas being projected. Majority of the time a projector is used for slides and presentations to get ideas across in a conference room or similar setting. The other major way of a projector to be used is what has been defined as slow media. In the words of the Emerging Media and Communication Department [EMAC] slow media is any media that has been polished and run through to create a product. These products can be movies, picture shows or various other pieces; they are all common by the fact that they have been either edited or constructed but are not posted as they have happened in a raw state.
Projectors can be used for so much more, the experimentation phase is nothing new. There are many performance artists such as The Octopus Project and videos such as an interview done by Intel of the photographer of “The Sartorialist” blog:
What else can be done? This is my question also, especially now that we have projectors that are lower in cost and that are now smaller and smaller. I’m going all the way down to the pico projector level.
After much discussion and some series of events I finally have reached a conclusion for the idea of what to do with the pico projector. What if, I were to attach the projector on to a moving platform? What would this do? What would you project on it?
The idea is to put a pico projector on to a remote controlled car and have it play media dependent on the location and event it is tied to. In this projects case I am using an art installation done by Willie Baronett to tie in. Willie’s installations center around getting the word out about homeless people and to raise awareness for action. In our day to day lives we are in situations with homeless people quite often; and often these are quite strained and uncomfortable situations. What if you were forced in this situation in a gallery setting?
The gallery is usually a safe place where you expect a certain level of influence, of class and of safety. In a gallery there are usually levels of security and rules for your and the art’s safety one must follow. Now I bend those rules to confront you with a panhandler.
Not only am i changing the rules of the gallery but also moving the projection on a new axis. This also makes the projection much much more personal. It invades your space it becomes a part of you. In-fact if you are taking the rules of the gallery, you are becoming an installation.
And then…
The second part of this project is to take a static projector and create a conversation about the occurrences and about the gallery installations. Conversations happen but vaporize after, only what is left are artist statements and art critiques. The art critiques are written after the opening or the show, but this is not always in line with the experience or everyone’s true feelings of the show either.
This is the first in much of the documentation of this project. I will continue with these postings as the semester continues. Each one of my steps until the day of the exhibition.
Side Note:
There were many more consulted on the thought process of this project, but the main people I have listed were major driving factors in the solidity of the idea…
Update:
People have asked what portions will be done. I will be showing both parts, the remote control car and the static projection in the installation. For now they are more temporary installations the way a performance exhibition would be. I am certain after the first runs there are going to be changes made but so far so good.
For those of you in Leeson’s class I am on your side and try and help as much as I can.
So for most of you guys you all received a Canon T2i. It’s a great camera for first learning how to shoot both stills (it’s original purpose) and videos (something new). I have been getting questions about lenses. We gave you the kit contents for the camera which is an 18-55mm lens. This is a good general learning lens and can take you many places to create some great shots. What’s the next step? These cameras have interchangeable lenses for a reason. As a student buying lenses is not an option. The best thing and the thing every professional does is rent their gear.
As one who works freelance jobs quite often, I don’t tell my clients but it’s the best kept secret in the industry we all rent the majority of our gear. We own what we need often or the crucial bits but the rest we rent. I thought owning everything was the best option for the longest time and wondered how people were managing to under bid my work every time and still make a huge profit. Now I know you rent as much as you can until it becomes cheaper to own than rent if something is used often enough or is disposable.
Next up are what I like to call the netflix of lens rentals. They work just like netflix in that you can rent a lens it comes by mail (FedEx or UPS) and it comes with a pre-paid box and label to send it back just like netflix DVDs
So remember these cameras are great and you can have the lens you have and there are more options out there. We don’t ask for books in class so think of this as what you would pay for books. I’ve spent hundreds and hundreds of dollars on books on just one class so spending a few dollars on a lens rental or a card that you can use for more than just one class and after the class is over.
The first tutorial is for how to set your scratch drive in Final Cut Pro (also known as FCP)
(video coming)
or you can download the PDF file of the presentation here: DropBox Download
One Final Note:
I will keep Office Hours in the Mobile Lab
Th 3:45p – 7p
F: 12:30 – 1:30p
These hours are subject to change and as always you can find me on twitter. Please feel free to contact me in any way you know how I’ll try and respond as quickly as I can.
I’m creating this blog post to hopefully start a discussion.
Half Baked Idea:
What if you’re enjoying the day and have a few minutes to kill as you’re walking around or are wanting to go somewhere and wanting to see something. Not long enough to get tied into a movie but still you’d want to watch something. You get a text message: Elm and Main hh:mm . You know to get there and a person will play a short right there. All they really have to be equipped with is a small pico projector and a media sharing device like an iPod or PSP that can output quality video. It would be sort of like an spontaneous film festival or something you could enjoy consume and move on.
What do you think? What would you screen, for how long? Would it be video art? Would it be something else? Where would you want to see it?
I ask this only as a primer to see where we can head with this…
This is something I’ve been wanting to document before the class assignment came up and I haven’t really gotten around to doing yet. So while I had the chance this weekend I went ahead and got this done. I find it interesting there are so many signs that have popped up for a primary election here in North Texas. If this is just for the primaries what is going to happen for the general election coming here in the next few months? I know it’s already a tough race in your own party; but is it really this intense as what I like to call the sign farms make it out to be? If you know of more locations or places I should add please leave them in the comment section below. I’ll take links to pictures (when you do give me a way to credit you) or links to locations and I’ll go get the pictures if I can. Thanks!
Update: I opened up the map for collaboration. If you would like to add items please feel free to.
EMAC and its wisdom 
Pico Projector Idea
I’m creating this blog post to hopefully start a discussion.
Half Baked Idea:
What if you’re enjoying the day and have a few minutes to kill as you’re walking around or are wanting to go somewhere and wanting to see something. Not long enough to get tied into a movie but still you’d want to watch something. You get a text message: Elm and Main hh:mm . You know to get there and a person will play a short right there. All they really have to be equipped with is a small pico projector and a media sharing device like an iPod or PSP that can output quality video. It would be sort of like an spontaneous film festival or something you could enjoy consume and move on.
What do you think? What would you screen, for how long? Would it be video art? Would it be something else? Where would you want to see it?
I ask this only as a primer to see where we can head with this…