BYOB Project Repost/Edited!

I couldn't have been any happier with this project! I felt that I had struggled for a few weeks with video mapping. Even though it was not required for this particular project, I decided to give it another spin. In this project, I took the cheery Holiday theme. I initially wanted to mix both the themes of the end of the world and Christmas, but I felt it would've been too uncoordinated and one would've overpowered the other. I enjoyed playing with the positioning, space, scale, and camera layers to help with expansion and perspective. Creating snow, for the most part wasn't too dificult, but finding out how to characterize it was. The best aspect of this, I thought was the feeling of warmness that was intended. The absolute hardest part of this was trying to make my background invisible so that it gave the illusion of snow coming from the wall instead of the glowing black screen it was trapped in. Daniel Fergus,a media specialist down in the "@ One" located at the basement floor of University of Nevada Reno's Knowledge Center, tried helping me with this particular problem from morning til the afternoon before the event. Even though unsuccessful, I very deeply appreciate all of his help. I am so proud of what I created and was able to finish!



Click here for the YouTube video version!

Benjamin Poynter Exhibition

Benjamin Poynter

In Benjamin Poynter’s exhibition “In A Permanent Save State”, he sheds much light on what America widely doesn’t: Obsession with technology. The fact that technology is used so demandingly, many tend not to think of how or who manufactures these things, especially Apple products, such as the IPhone. Poynter created an Indie mobile game with a total of 7 levels to symbolize the 7 laborers that took their own lives and died in vein of laboring of making an Apple product. He designs the levels to be a representation of their afterlives based on the belief systems of the laborers before having their own lives taken. These tragedies should have been enough to wake America up and let them know that these devices are not worth someone else’s life. Another piece that he uses to correspond with the exhibition is the Afterlife’s bank in which the audience is to shred their paper money into the container for those who died so those deceased can use it. The logics he used to make this successful exhibition, was to draw the audience in by getting them involved by playing this game on the IPhone’s available. I really learned a lot from this exhibition and it just reminds me that technology is NOT the sole basis of life, especially with the knowledge that humans once survived without all of these advanced devices.

Paul Demarinis Lecture

Paul Demarinis

In this lecture, Paul Demarinis shows quite a few of his works. The most intriguing works that I liked were “The Messenger” and “ Firebirds”. His long history in building these projects greatly extend. There were a few that were comedic even though that might not have been his intentions. “The Messenger” demonstrates his compliance with interactive art. It’s a project in which he uses telegraph systems connected to his personal e-mail. He uses systems with 26 wash bins; another with 26 skeletons dancing wearing ponchos, and last 26 jars each with a letter of the alphabet that only bubbles when electricity passes through the specific letter being used.  The jar system was my favorite due to the glowing of lime green light and the organization of the piece. I really thought this piece was very creative and effective in capturing the audience’s attention. 

  As for the piece called “Firebirds”, he took more of a political approach. He used birdcages and used a flame on the inside of each, which triggered the voices of leaders of dictatorship. One played the recorded voice, of Hitler, another, Mussolini, and last Stalin. No, Demarinis wasn’t a scientist or chemist, but with the proper experimentation and a bit of research, he was able to build these interactive pieces with success. I really enjoyed his pieces!

Cyposium Lecture

For starters, Cyposium is a very creative and fascinating way of creating a cyber group meeting, presentation, or event. With this being my first time witnessing a lecture through the Internet, I was of course shocked and excited. Vicki Smith, the facilitator did a great job of organizing this lecture.

 

[Stephen A Schrum] ATHEMOO & Netseduction: Censorship & the Art of Sexting Before Cell Phones

First up was Stephen A. Schrum, an artist and educator at University of Pittsburgh at Greensburg and he specializes in the digital aspect of art. He presented his involvement in ATHEMOO and Netseduction. Like the cyber world, Second Life, ATHEMOO functions lively and allows very humane actions. It’s like living in another world, but the difference is Schrum incorporates more graphic and actual imagery rather than a representation that Second Life presents. With my prior experience with Second Life, I totally understood his push for actuality instead of a constant representation, text, or falsifying of certain activities in Second Life. He definitely gets my attention in his direction of ideas in art.

[Joseph Delappe] Headshot!: Performative Interventions in Mixed Realities

Next, was Joseph Delappe, a physical and digital artist as well as an educator at the University of Nevada Reno. He is also my professor in a digital media course (Art 345: Image & Sound) at the University of Nevada Reno. Some of his works done physically were the Vagina Mouse, Joystick resembling a penis, and a cardboard polygon sculpture of Gandhi ranging 17 feet which is the same height as Michelangelo’s historical sculpture, “David”.

  Each of these pieces was astonishing to the audience and generated lots of conversation, but not as much as his digital works called “Dead In Iraq” and the “Gandhi Walk” done physically on a tread mill and transferred into the cyber world, Second Life. “Dead In Iraq” stirred up a bit of controversy and some questioned his level of patriotism, which he mentioned in the lecture. The accomplishments and level of effort he put into each of the projects are amazing and I look forward to seeing more of it.

[Adriene Jenik] So Far, Yet So Close: Lessons From Telematic Improvisation

There was a quote she included in the beginning of her lecture: “ Technology is not just about computers and movement is not just about dancing bodies. Both are about communication across people in a rapidly advancing technological age in which the relations traversing bodies, art, image technologies, and the marketplace need to be continuously evaluated and changed if necessary” –Closer. That quote couldn’t have been assembled any better way and somewhat gave instruction to people who plan to head in the direction that involves mechanics, art, image, or technology. Some of the works she accomplished were the “Desktop Theater” and “Women In Black”.  She is interested in political issues as well as Delappe and she shows this in her piece “Women In Black” which she created as avatars in 2001. 

 
   In “Desktop Theater”, she created a space that one could walk through and was made in September 2001.  She works digitally rather than physically. She catches my attention with her works, but most of ideally. Towards the end her words “We’re always living in the future and the past at the same time”, stuck with me because we as artists do work to achieve what has already been done. She’s awesome!

Pico Projection Project

With this assignment, I had much trouble with, but with the help of Dylan, I understood the basics of how to execute it. "Lynda.com" was also a huge help in understanding Adobe products. Unfortunately I didn't get to finish my assignment on time, but the idea that I developed for it was to use a project that other art students (sculptors) had done. I used a little black box that included a very unique sculpture inside and resembled a stack of twisted stairs. I intended to make some of the levels slam in and out as though they were levels of bricks and only a few levels move in an "in and out" motion. I feel that I would've been very much satisfied had I actually finished, but I was relieved that I had even gained the knowledge to start it.

Dyptich Montage

For this assignment, I mixed and edited my sound piece that we were to use and carefully created a video that corresponded with the sound piece. The sounds in which the sound piece played went very well with the video even though the sounds were made with different instruments. I felt that it helped to show the audience that many objects can create the same or similar harmonious sounds of other objects, but visuals are what create the perceptions. In the video there was a section where the leaf blower was blowing away leaves and the sound that was made in the sound piece (which was actually the sound of my fan in slow motion) seemed like it could go exactly in accordance. This project was a little irritating only with the precise matching of the sound ad video, but overall I enjoyed playing with it.

Christian Marclay&Jean Tinguely Mash-Up Project

Misconstrued Perception (Protection)

Fantasia Bolden

2012, Mixed Media

 

With kinetic sculptor/artist, Jean Tinguely’s impression of random sculpting and sound artist Christian Marclay’s influence creative and intellectual sound, I created collaboration with the general theme of protection. Initially, I intended for the project to actually play the record that is displayed with protruding screws. The idea of the record was the influence of Marclay. The screws were definitely the influence of Tinguely’s unique, yet unexpected sound that he used in one of his music pieces. Once I actually started to put the finishing touches of the record onto the piece, the vinyl record had broken; Instead of throwing it out, I decided to fix it and assemble it so that it misguides the audience. The piece itself makes a sound of what you would expect the record to play, but instead it is the friction of the umbrella against the stand and the clicking is of the spinning handle banging against the plastic white boxes; Overall the meaning in which I attempted to convey is that all of the aspects that humans use to protect objects, themselves, or others (umbrella from rain, glasses from the sun, boots from snow, the keep out sign from predators, etc.) aren’t always 100% effective. These objects don’t come with signs that say when they AREN’T 100% effective, but it’s up to the human’s perceptions to get the negatives and positives from it (when, where, and how to use objects). The human mind is very versatile and intellectual in perceiving.

Instructions: First turn the handle clockwise that is located towards the middle of the “Keep Out” sign. Next continue to turn it at an intermediate speed until you can hear the friction of the umbrella against the stand; the clicking that may follow is of the handle against the plastic box which is completely in accordance with the umbrella’s friction.