For the past week I have been struggling to install my piece into the basement of Work Gallery. The biggest problem that I was faced with was in relation to light. I chose the basement of Work because it typically is a dark room for students. Because the gallery was overbooked with student's work, two people with photographs and drawings were placed in the basement as well. This meant that their work needed to be lit up which obviously wasn't good for my video projection. In the end, I accepted the lightness of the room because it allows the viewer to see my watercolor better.
For my piece I had to decide between using a laptop or a DVD player to show my video on. Either the laptop of the DVD player would be connected to the projector. Looking at the pros and cons of both, I chose to use a DVD player because it was more compact than a laptop. The problem with the DVD player was that I didn't have a remote for the player and the work needed to be able to loop by itself. After contacting Cynthia Pachikara for help, she emailed me how to burn a DVD so that it loops automatically: If you want to burn a DVD so that it loops without someone having to press "repeat" on the remote, use iDVD. It's easy to use, you can set it to start immediately after the DVD player is turned on (in other words, no one has to hit "play"). http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZV4a5nNu1eA Here is an image of the footage I have filmed. This is what will be projected on top of my watercolor.
The title of my piece is "Elapse."
e-lapse verb 1. (of time) to slip or pass by. noun 2. the passage or termination of a period of time; lapse. What I like about this title is that, although the definitions are referring to time, it is also true in relation to memory. Trying to figure out what to project on top of my watercolor, I experimented with VHS footage I had filmed during the Fall semester. This footage was of years ranging from 2013 all the way back to the 1990's.
Struggling to convey memory and time through my piece, I found that the distorted footage appropriately depicted what I wanted. Because this project is supposed to be an integration of the past four school years, I am going to film the years 2014, 2013, 2012, 2011, and 2010. I will be distorting the footage to represent the idea that memory and time become blurry and lost over the years. Originally I was going to project onto my watercolor and ink painting of pink dots. After doing projection tests on top of both the inked dots and non-inked dots, I came to the conclusion that the projection visually looked better on the non-inked dots.
For my final I will create a 6' by 4.5' watercolor with untraced pink dots. This image was used for my postcard instead of my first design. I decided to represent the vastness of my watercolor.
For my postcard I wanted to represent how my watercolors look stylistically. The scale of the individual dots are meant to be true to size. My intention is to give my audience a recognizable image so that they can identify my work in the final show. Although this image doesn't appropriately depict the immersion effect that my final piece will have, I did this intentionally so that my viewer can be surprised or overwhelmed by how large the piece actually is in real life.
On the backside of the postcard, I included the quote: “The gratification comes in the doing, not in the results.” - James Dean Throughout the entire IP experience, the process of making has constantly been the most important part. Now that I know what my final piece is going to be, I have the concern of potentially not finishing. This quote does a nice job of expressing how the process of making is more gratifying than the actual finished product. Thinking about this quote in perspective of my piece, it makes it okay if I don't actually finish. Highly Superior Autobiographical Memory (HSAM)
PROS - Remember every detail of your life CONS - Have a hard time living in the present - Constantly remembering the past (unstoppable) People with HSAM..... Jill Price, Marilu Henner "Time heals all wounds...." - not for people with HSAM http://www.hyperthymesia.org/ http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B-uFDhJPKOchttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SoxsMMV538U http://www.pnas.org/content/early/2013/11/12/1314373110 http://minnesota.publicradio.org/radio/services/nis/listen/?name=/minnesota/news/programs/2009/01/27/midmorning/midmorning_hour_2_20090127
Does this idea of instant feedback relate to my thesis? Why am I exploring memory in the abstract as opposed to memories in the specific?
ABSTRACT MEMORY
SPECIFIC MEMORY
I am exploring the experience of losing memory over time.
I will do this by degrading video through the recursion of filming a single VHS clip multiple times with a VHS camera until it is unidentifiable from its original state. The subject of the footage will be a watercolor and ink painting of a representation of a colored brain scan. Over the Thanksgiving break I had started a side project in which I have titled inMost. Complementing my Integrative Project, inMost helps document my memories through photographs I have taken. I have credited this site as an extension of my project that I will be able to continue after IP is over.
http://inmost.weebly.com/ inMost is a documentary method made to assist memory. The goal of this site is to take advantage of technology to help improve one's innermost self. Technology not only is a helpful device for communication, it can also further our health. This is a photographic series that I would like to explore further. I have taken old
family photographs and blurred them to the degree in which I recall the memory. For some photos the degree of the blur may be lighter depending on how strong the memory is. Although I am not working with photography for my IP, this test is helpful in exploring how to depict memory. Brain Scans: fMRI, CT, PET, EEG, MEG, NIRS
http://psychcentral.com/lib/types-of-brain-imaging-techniques Connection between the recursion process of filming VHS tapes
and the meditative process of creating a watercolor. VHS distortion - representation of memory loss Watercolor creation - activity of memory loss |