Homework for next week:
-Go back to your blog. Populate it with content. Keep it current and interesting.
Also, link back to original sources to be kind.
-------------------------
Let's review the semester and make sure you're on track.
Review the attendance policy in the syllabus. Double-check your assignments:
Digital Avatar
Blog response to 3 readings
Thesis Statement
Blog response to Metaphoras
Thesis Revisions
CEC#1 Occupy Student Debt (you went, now complete your writeup- see that blog entry)
Your Blog
Paper Outline
CEC#2 Keliy Anderson Staley (you went, now complete your writeup- see that blog entry)
CEC#3 Black Maria Film Festival (you went, now complete your writeup- see that blog entry)
Paper
Storytelling Hex Code (color-grid image to slice)
CEC#4 Keith and Mendi Obadike (you went, now complete your writeup- see that blog entry)
Blog Response to Watch What You Say
Story Hack 01
Paper Revision
Story Hack 02
Bitforms Gallery
ReplyDelete(I put this in your drop box as well because there's videos of the exhibit that I took myself; they are really awesome!)
For my fourth and final CEC, and because I could not make it to the Keith and Mendi Obadike extravaganza, I chose to use my visit to the Bitforms Gallery. This place was a magical world of masterpieces that mend technology with aesthetic display. From February 2-March 10, 2012 Swiss artist Zimoun displayed the mechanical workings of his series Volume. His projects rely on the combination of sight, sound, and put to work while using a dc-motor.
The very first piece that we literally had to walk into, was a exact room built entirely out of stacked cardboard boxes. On each one hung a cork ball attached by a cord to a simple motor. At different set intervals, the cork would pound on the cardboard, causing the racket in the room to sound much like rain. It was a sight to see and to hear. Being engulfed in a room where, if you closed your eyes, it felt like someplace else entirely was mesmerizing, a word, which I think, describes all his work.
Heading up to the 6th floor of the gallery brought me to the Project Room where 4 more of his works were displayed. Here, Zimoun hung a steel rod in which filler wires hung neatly down the wall. When turned on, the wires rattled along the wall creating a whole new sound. And from being in use for so long had also begun to leave a scribbled residue on the dry wall. Next to this instillation hung a square cardboard setting with 121 (11 by 11) miniature squares on top, all at a different angle. Each was screwed into the back but again could be plugged in. At its full speed, each square of course reflected a different angle of light due to its position, and they all rotated around and around. It was a display that rattled your ears and eyes to watch this intrinsic pattern of squares spin in circles.
To the right of this, across the wall, was a similar instillation, a white square with springs perpendicularly stuck on that also spun around at different speeds when turned on. The weirdest of them all, one that stuck out like a sore thumb almost, was his HD video of ants in a log. You could barely see them, however, he had a microphone to make sure you could hear them. The sound of ants chomping on wood amplified to human ears is not something I want to hear everyday.
My last and favorite project, the curator explained was not Zimoun’s. Upon further research of the gallery, I came to find that the artists name is Daniel Rozin. It is huge circular wooden sculpting that hung on the wall, maybe 3 feet in radius that was covered with 1inch wooden cylindrical pegs, each cut at a 45-degree angle (somewhat resembling lipstick). There was a camera right in the center that captured what was right in front of it. Each little circle then rotated to an assigned position to mirror what the camera was seeing. In essence the wooden sculpture would become a live painting of you had you stood in front of it. It was fun to move in front of it and watch two hundred wooden blocks move with you. The project is titled Peg Mirror, which makes perfect sense.
I was not able to go to the CEC events, other than the ones we did in class so I attended two things at my old college and also the most recent Sustainability Lecture. I did not know where to post this so I am just making one big post.
ReplyDelete#1 Sustainability Lecture
The lecture was a very informative and inspiring experience that, while it made many obvious comments about sustainability and how it must be achieved, it came off as a new and exciting speech. The common points that were touched upon that, while I completely agree with them, are a little over played to society were creating renewable energy and becoming circular in production, which would lower our emissions and pollution which would help stop the destruction we have on the planet now. However, there were two points made that I strongly agreed with and frankly have not been mention quite often under the topic of sustainability. Those society must start thinking more in the terms of needs rather than wants, and that we must care for all life both now and in the future. While putting needs before wants does contradict the stereotypical American dream if the world could learn to flip the scale on whats most important it would make for a sustainable world and civilization. And finally, the idea that we must care for life is an interesting new thought because while the circle of life denotes that some must die for others to live there is still so much pointless destruction that kills ecosystems which could have cataclysmic repercussions
#2 RENT Screening as an Artistic Message
I returned to my old college this semester for a special art and awareness discussion / screening regarding the message in the musical RENT, and hot to artistically express an awareness. First we attended a screening of the last Broadway production of RENT, recorded on film. Prior to the play I was able to talk to an old professor of mine, who was heading the discussion, and was able to get a little pre-film insight into his discussion points. As i had never seen or heard much about RENT other than the few memorable songs that almost everyone knows, getting to talk to my professor gave me a completely different appreciation for the piece then I would have if I had gone in blind.
#3 RENT Discussion as an artistic message
After the screening I attended a discussion with a fine art and art history professor who analyzed the messages and codes that were apparent in the musical. The most interesting one that stuck point he made to me was about the scenery of RENT, or lack there of. As I understood it there was little scenery to the stage because the direct thought that by letting the viewers mind create the exact scenery they would in turn become more connected to the piece. This connection that would be made was a great way to help get the message the musical makes about AIDS and the struggle against it hit home because the viewer has almost a subconscious connection to the cast and their stories. This along with other points gave me a huge insight into how to add extra dimensions to my artwork not online physically but also in the meanings behind each piece.
Keith and Mendi CEC
ReplyDeleteThe workshop that I attend with Keith and Mendi Obadike was so interesting. I really enjoyed myself to the fullest. I obviously new that race, skin color and nationality take up a huge part of who we are as individuals, but they helped us look at it in different eyes. They asked us to fill in our answers to questions, such as what our race is and where we came from and even how we would describe our skin and hair. Some of the answers could have had several different responses because we all think differently about each and every person out there.
When you think about what you characterize as a skin color others may not and even may take offense to it. Racial slurs are created due to these actions. But when you think about it, we are all different. Just because someone is white, their skin can be dark, or someone can have freckles, or a different hair color. But Just because their skin is white does not say much. They can be Irish, Italian, Peruvian, Finnish. And the same goes for someone with dark skin as well. What Keith and Mendi are trying to say is that people don’t think that on a day to say basis. When you pass someone on the street you just call them white or black because of what you see, but there is so much more to them, rather than their skin color.