Dear Megan

Dear Megan from michelle lee on Vimeo.

Final project: combine audio/sound, storytelling, and painting and drawing.

For this video, I decided to experiment with animating simple drawings with an audio recording of a story. The story itself, in the beginning, had been a typical narration of a memory. I chose to break it down into phrases that were concrete but also abstracted in some way. It references a memory of the games my sister and I played during the summertime - imagining places and stories that only we knew. The drawings are meant to illustrate the simple symbols and meanings within the audio, but I did not want them to be direct, concrete references.

3. New Media - What next?

What might be missing: Real exploration of artists who work in these mediums. Although we did some exploring on our own, I feel that artists who use new media really use it as their real medium - I know we are inexperienced (some of us) in this field and I would have really liked to have been able to think of a project that incorporated new media into our own work, as part of our process. Our final project addresses it in some ways, but it still would have been nice to see some new media art in the flesh, or explore artists more in depth. It also would have been nice to work with a projector, but I guess that would be too complicated.

What I would like to take a step further: Making a video, making sound, putting it all together. I want to continue to experiment with both of those mediums - I know what I've been shooting isn't the highest quality but I'd like to continue to see where it takes me. I've been making short videos on my phone of flickering lights in places around the city, and I like the idea of viewing them very small, online, in the middle of a blank page, or something. In terms of sound - after doing the teachable moment video for the other class - I'm a little more interesting in audio storytelling, and creating narratives for still images. This is something I'm exploring for the final.

1. Media Art: Context?

image source here.

Last week, I posted a sound file, Attempts at Whistling, an experiment with the amplification of the sounds my lips and mouth make mixed in with my whistling (note: I can't whistle.) If I were to place this work in a context, I imagine it paired with images of mouths and lips moving, in a room with a projector. This actually already reminds me of an existing work by Amanda Long, titled "Mixed Messages" - a wall created by hundreds of mouths moving and breathing, causing the wall to look as if it is breathing together. A bit different, but I imagine a similar effect in a way - I would like to have the visual of the mouth smacking, blowing, making gross noises. I wonder if being in a highly enclosed space, with no visual, and complete white might work as well.

With the video project, I imagine the context to simply be in a video room - I think some of the elements of the window and the light/line might make it interesting to project upon a geometric surface, or something angles, but I think it would be superficial to project it onto a surface that mimics the video, or in a space that replicates what happens in the video - the context would really have to enhance the viewing experience in some way, or become inseparable to the video as part of the project. In that sense, I can't imagine any other context than a black video room. Although it may be interesting to play with size - perhaps on a small LCD screen. If it was cut even better, I would put it on multiple small LCD screens, only showing the clips of the window and the train itself, leaving out the faces. Or perhaps the faces would be at the ends, creating a narrative about 2 different people on the train, on opposite ends. 

2. Sound Art Piece: Attempts at Whistling

For this work, I decided to use the second lesson of my post last week about recording "everyday sounds" - I thought it might be weird and interesting to record body sounds - gross stuff like smacking lips and scratching and nails and teeth. Then, the sounds were too gross for me to work with, so I decided to record my attempts at whistling too. After going through the sound clips, I thought it might be interesting to use only sounds I made with my mouth and experiment with amplifying them through audacity, as well as layering them. Even though the sounds make me slightly sick, I think it might be really awesome to be able to hear these sounds in an empty room quite loud - the chattering of teeth, licking of lips. I also can't whistle at all, so I liked the idea of "attempts at whistling" - recording ones lack of abilities to make sound. 

4. Software Art: Michael Takeo Magruder

Data Flower (Prototype I) - an internal view of a digital blossom

Michael Takeo Magruder is an artist and researcher based in the Kings College Visualization Lab. His work and research is devoted to exploring digital media, networks, and cultures. Data Flower (Prototype I) is an internet-based work, that take images from Flickr that have been tagged with 'flower' and then applied via algorithm to the modeling software that then creates this cycle of artificial flower growth and decay. 

The work Data_Plex(economy) uses real-time data about financial markets to construct three-dimensional renderings of data via geometric shapes. It creates a realtime landscape and visualization of the flux of capital, the stock exchange,  active during trading time and then silent when the market closes.

1. Sound Discussion

Last week's discussion about sound as a medium was fairly interesting, especially in the discussion of the distinction between music and art. Things I took away from it:
- Images are not syntactic; they do not have common elements with written language, in terms of syntax and how we have come to interpret them.
- When we observe sound art, whether it is a silence or at full volume, it reminds us we must listen very closely - it pulls the use of a specific sense we have that I think we might often take for granted; or we use it so frequently that certain abnormalities of that ability tend to pass us by unless we are asked to think about it. It reminds me of visual things we take for granted in a way - much of what we see is framed by what we know, and what we can assume from our past experiences. With sound, I think it could operate similarly, and some artworks can reflect those differences such as a room with no echoes or vibrations. It changes the experience of sound more than one could imagine.
- I think the lines between music and art are blurred, and that's OK. Within the contemporary world, I think genres exist but more or less they are getting broken down by works that tend to cross-over, or collaborate with other art forms. What makes one thing music and another thing art? I think it's the intention, and the "kind of art" it is. Popular art forms exist, as well as fine art forms, and they all find a way to simultaneously live or cross over in the reality of the art world as it is today. It all goes back to intention and how the work is framed to be perceived by the artist(s).

Linden Glendhill, colorful sound sculptures "making paint dance" for a Canon Pixma campaign

Sound As Material: Lesson Plans

Lesson 1:

Exploring everyday sounds by collecting and recording sounds from your day, then using them together to make a sound art piece that describes the fluctuations of your day from quiet to loud - could become an interesting reflection to how different parts of our lives are characterized through sound and the noises we are surrounded by.

In a way, this project reminds me a line exploration project we did at TCCS where students varied lines to show the ups and the downs of their day - characterizing what they ate for breakfast, the drive to school, etc all through a singular line. How might a single clip describe an event, a feeling, a reaction?

Lesson 2:

Unusual sounds; learning to mix and amplify unusual materials to create interesting samples to create different effects; end experience could be to play in an empty room to see how it changes the atmosphere. Given the space and equipment, it could be great to experiment how the sounds and sound pieces change given the place - whether through headphones or an empty room to a loud room. Students could examine the impact of the space in which they listen. The second part of this is using unusual materials to create sounds - examining how cardboard sound when it is rubbed with a pipe cleaner or the swishing sounds of bubble wrap being crumpled. Could the bubble wrap sound be amplified in an empty space to reflect the crunching of leaves? What could this say? Etc.

Sound Artists: Russell Frehling

This video ... "illustrate[s] the process of fishing for resonant frequencies inherent in the architecture; a technique passed down by Russell Frehling, one of the many artists whose work is included in the show.

In his site-specific installation entitled Bass Soundfield Russell Frehling works with ambient waveforms extracted from the very highest parts of the audible spectrum: in effect, dissociating this sound material from its familiar context and experiential cues. What does remain are these remarkably ethereal bits that interact with the room in a captivating but confounding way."

VIDEO REMIX

VIDEO from michelle lee on Vimeo.

VIDEO IN THE CLASSROOM

1.

Experimenting with set creation, characters, and the camera. The lesson might allow students to experiment with materials to create a world for a video project. Students might partner up to create sets together using paint and cardboard, playing within the "frame" of a video and creating different props and masks to fulfill their overall idea, such as a trip to the future or a day in the jungle. Further exploration would require script writing and different elements of making a movie. A fun idea might be to create a background where students can poke their faces through and talk in a video, eliminating the need for many separate parts. This lesson might take cues from the videos of Michel Gondry that utilize everyday materials and "lo-fi" qualities to their full advantage.



2.

Video as documentation? Students might choose to make a video to document a day in their life; a way to show a portrait of themselves through making clips about their favorite activities. Similar to photo documentation but with video; ideally students would have access to video cameras and a lab to edit footage. They could also narrate a sequence of images in a still-image video. Time lapse could also be interesting.

Ken Allen Studios

The visit to the Ken Allen Studios last week was informative in the sense that it really honed in just how technical digital printing is (and how ill informed we can be of these kinds of processes). It's true, people have been taking bad pictures since the beginning of time - no one is expected to be an expert photographer, but in a way I think digital photography has made it even harder to recognize real quality imagery when everything can be automatic and we have little control (well, and it's our own decision) over how our images turn out.

With digital photography, I think sometimes it is assumed that since the camera is doing it for us, how can our images still turn out so badly? Even with an SLR, the camera can make mistakes that wipe out details, turn the sky a strange blue, or be completely out of focus.

Seeing the level of detail they use to determine accurate color and resolution was eye-opening in a way because in our everyday prints, there is hardly a pause for when things are slightly pixelated and most of us produce photos on our iPhones anyway, instead of printing images - in that sense, we don't recognize poor resolution or quality in our photos because we never have to view them outside of our phones, Facebook albums, or computer screens. "Accuracy" is also not really emphasized with the onslaught of camera filters like Hipstamatic and Instagram that warp colors into a retro fashion. This doesn't mean the printed photograph means any less to us, especially when we think of fine art prints, but our ideas of documentation, how we use photographs - to capture moments, and memories - maybe has been altered and our approach to our memories altogether. 

Homework: Video

train experiment #1 from michelle lee on Vimeo.



I'd like to experiment with splicing these videos together and playing with how the light flickers on and off.
train experiment #2 from michelle lee on Vimeo.

Homework #7 (3.) Scanning in artistic practice

Using the scanner in art can be likened to photography and print/digital print in a sense. When I used it for our project, it reminded me more of printmaking than photography. One way to view it is that the scanner takes our three-dimensional understandings of objects and forms and flattens them into two-dimensional surfaces, allowing us to see textures and shapes in a new way. It reminds me of a mixed media collograph where you use different textures and objects, only to print them and discover how different they appear once rolled with ink. When you are putting objects onto the surface of the scanner - it is blank, like a piece of paper or a canvas. Unlike photography, where you are capturing existing spaces, or creating a three-dimensionality through the use of light in a studio set up, a scan is devoid of those "environmental" elements. Instead, it is an isolated study of objects, with certain parameters of how you can view it and change it. It can be likened to running the textures of a plastic bag through a printing press, or creating rubbings of different surfaces. 

Homework #7 (2.): SCANNER ART 3

Homework #7 (2.): SCANNER ART 2

Homework #7 (2.): SCANNER ART

Homework #7 (1.): Scanner Artists/Artists who use Scanners

Maggie Taylor

Maggie Taylor is an artist who uses scanners (and photoshop) to make her highly surreal/fantastical imagery. She collects objects, tin types, various flora, etc, scans them, and then combines them via layers in photoshop until they have been taking completely out of context into her own world. Many of these images recollect notions of memory and nostalgia, despite how fantastical they are and futuristic in their layering. Much of it maybe has to do with the antiquarian photographs she uses that give her photos that "old" look, making it seem out of sync with how highly digital her works are. However, I think it's interesting how she appropriate her found images and objects to the point where they are unrecognizable beyond their purpose in her images themselves. They also create narratives that interweave and interrupt our ideas of what happens usually in these photographs - reminding us of childhood stories, etc.

Leanne Eisen is an artist based in Toronto, ON. She created these artworks using a flatbed scanner, experiementing with different surfaces - these were made with the surfaces of CDs and DVDs, "introducing the digital storage medium back into the scanning process." The surfaces create a reflection that then become an abstract shape and form against the stark blackness of her scanned images. I like how they remind me of flattened prints or abstract paintings, but are digital, reflected scans.The surface also gives the scan a strange sense of depth, and the light reflected gives it a very digital "technological" range of colors - how we imagine technology to look like in a way - in a physical sense. 

Homework #6 (4.) Lesson Plan: Old and New

Lesson Plan, Old and New: Video and Sculpture

Objective: Through the creation of a mixed media sculpture and experimentation with a digital video camera and editing, students learn to experiment with video manipulation and taking their sculptures one step further with digital media.

1. Mixed media sculpture. Using found and recycled objects, students will create a structure exploring view points - may be related to a house, or model (?). Exploring the materials and how they can create "spaces" that we will later explore with the camera.

2. Exploration: Change the Photo. Exploring the upclose - what happens when we zoom in? Crop things out? Using found images, students will experiment in their sketchbooks with different ways of cropping, rotating, and transforming (analog) with scissors. Students should reflect verbally or written about how the image and its meaning changed.

3. Video: Initial shooting. Students pair up and explore their sculpture with video - can incorporate moving objects but should focus on exploring how the sculpture changes from different perspectives, view points, and angles using the video camera.

4. Editing: Manipulation via iMovie. Students take footage from the sculpture and learn to manipulate and edit in iMovie, creating a new way of looking and interpreting their sculpture, perhaps structuring a narrative or else pairing the video with music to create an entirely new work.

Homework #6 (2.) Photo-Narrative

all images found on google image search.

Homework #6 (3.) Photography and Children

left: self-portrait no. 3, digital print, 2006

right: Cindy Sherman, Untitled #282, chromogenic print, 1993 (Carnegie Museum of Art)

One of my first assignments was to copy an artist's work in my undergraduate program - so I copied Cindy Sherman. It was my first time experimenting with photography. Although later on I began to use film, my first experimentations in photo were all digital. Though I think understanding manual/analog photography is very important, for children I believe digital can also be a great entry way to using photography as a medium.

Possible connections to students:

1. Self-portraiture and fantasy. Cindy Sherman's works can be used a reference here. Also my old professor, Elizabeth Raymer-Griffin, and, well, many more. Identity development is a major component of adolescence, and the idea of self-portrait and playing with both costume and deformity, restraint, and body expression are things students could really make their own through a series of lessons and practices. Digital or film, the main objectives would be to explore what a portrait is and how we can either play to it or disorient it. For example, in the Cindy Sherman photograph above, she is playing with the idea of direct gaze, as well as the mythical Medusa. Students might look at traditional paintings as reference, as well as other portrait photographers, both commercial and fine art (maybe they are both!)

Other artists: 

Carrie Mae Weems, The Louisiana Project

Nikki S. Lee

2. Documentary. Using photography to document their friends, family, and everyday lives. While we do use photography as a documentary format all the time now with our iPhones and digital cameras, it's often that we take many instead of just one - in the classroom, part of this would be learning to examine narrative through the use of only several pictures - placing constraints on how you might tell a story - perhaps only through object, or only through landscapes, and what can be conveyed if you mix them together. Another important component might be talking about layout.

Documentary/fine art photographers

The Teenie Harris Archive (CMoA)

Alec Soth

Dylan Vitone (panoramic imagery)

3. Journalism. Recording events but also using text - similar to documentary, but a different approach and could be integrated with Language Arts.

James Nachtwey

4. The Complete Imaginary - Creating scenes, sculptures, and works solely for photographic work, i.e. Thomas Demand. What changes when it is photographed versus as a sculptural work?