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.      

Prospectives Video

In the Prospectives video that I created. I wanted to give more of a Western feel to it; I was going to make it completely correlate with the general theme of the "Prospects"(Cowboys), but instead I took some of the Western feel away so that overall it didn't take over "Prospectives". I really enjoyed making this video and look forward to doing more like this!

Self Portrait Recording

http://www66.zippyshare.com/v/94457737/file.html

This self portait recording was of my daily routine before leaving my apartment. I usually grab my keys, turn off the fan, and open the door to leave outside. After, I lock my door. The after effect of listening to it made me realize that I dont pay attention to sounds enough. When replaying it a few times, I heard things that I hadn't noticed before when rushing out of the door such as the sounds of teh cars down the road or the banging of my keys against an object while locking it. A lot of the sounds become quite fascinating.

My Avatars

At first, I was extremely irritated that I couldn't figure out how to form my avatar. I don't even think I remember how many times I recreated the facial part of my Avatar. I felt that this kind of struggle opened my eyes to how hard work pays off & I will have to get through difficulties in order to get a finished product. This was great training, I thought. The fun started to come when I gave it clothes and new hair. The dress-up part was pretty hilarious. I was very satisfied with this avatar.

<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<
                                                                                 ^
                                                                                 ^
                                                                                 ^
                                                                                                                          ^

The Fantasy Avatar we were to create was all based off of the insects, animals, and patterns I liked. I have an obsession with butterflies and their wing patterns. I had to make sure that whatever wings I purchased, were of a distinct pattern so I added money to my account in order to make this happen. The colors on the wings were awesome as well. Next, I progressed to an animal I liked which was a mouse. I actually began with the mouse avatar, then added things, took away others, and altered the sizes of the rest. I kept the mouse's tail and took away it's feet and hands. Next, I used zebra skin to add the last bodily changes because I love zebra skin as well. I wanted my avatar to have style, so I added accessories, the punk rock pants, and the huge, spiky hair. I was very fascinated and proud of this avatar!

Two-Artist Writing Assignment

         The broad, yet not definitive meaning of art leaves so many questions as to what art really is. The two artists Liu Dao and Michael Snow are two artists that I’ve chosen to write about not to define what art is, but to demonstrate how complex and diverse the art world can be. From the permanent installations by Michael Snow to the paper collages done by Liu Dao, all are forms of artwork that represent much transmission of the old creations of art progressing into the modern stages of art.

            Liu Dao happens to be a group of six in which is how their name is derived (Liu Dao, meaning Island Number 6 in Chinese) from Shanghai, China. The members are Zhang Deli, Wang Dongma, Rose Tang, Cai Duobao, Bing Bing, and Kong Mosha. They all work together on majority of their projects, but also have their own individual works. This group was founded in 2006 by Thomas Charveriat, director of Island 6 Arts Center. When working together, they all are to adhere to the director in trying to collaborate on conceptualizing different art pieces which is what I use to reference to a previous reading that I’ve done (Participative Systems). [In reading about participative systems, the terms interaction, collaboration, and participation are very frequently used and elaborate on how the different artists collaborate and agree on projects. When artists collaborate, they have to work off of a concept willingly and the when contributing their physical attributions, they are to conceptualize in relatively the same manner so that the piece becomes prideful and successful in all of the contributing artists’ views.]  Some of Liu Dao’s work that caught my attention was the “Vigilance”, an LCD display with decorative black and shiny glass tile to surround the left and right of the animation screen. The frame is completely made of steel which added more preservation to the piece. Another that I was well interested in was the “People, Birds, and Beasts” piece because they have a classical method of using wood framing in this one and there’s more to their digital presentation. I think this also showed that they are complex and not just stuck to one set aspect of art, even though they specialize in digital art. I also like the idea of them holding onto their signature style of framing their work which sets a totally different mood.   

Vigilance

People, Birds, and Beasts

          My next chosen artist was Michael Snow. He is an installation artist, painter, sculptor, photographer, jazz musician, and filmmaker. Born on December 10, 1929 in Toronto, Snow matured into being a jazz musician as a young man. It’s not really odd for great artists to start in other directions before actually pursuing art as their later career. Snow is very well rounded I would say because he definitely does not stay constant in one area of art, but he continues to expand in other areas he doesn’t really receive as much credit for. His works are most viewable inside of exhibitions in North America and South America, and Europe. His beginnings to becoming a full blown artist started when his first exhibition in 1957 alone took place. Even though I was interested in one of his earlier films, “Wavelength” made in 1967, I was to pay attention to his more modern films and “Corpus Callosum”, made in 2002 happened to be the better judgment since it was made after 1980. I noticed there was more popularity particularly in this film mainly because it received the Independent/Experimental Film and Video Award from LA Film Critics Association Awards. In this film, I watched as he played with the human’s mind be zooming in and out, distorting different images, and creating illusions in a fascinating manner as he filmed office workers and formal dressed people walking around and socializing. He has much fun with this film, but it is definitely evident that he edited each and every part of the film from panning to zoom, to digitally rendering certain images, etc. This film seems to have taken much time to film, let alone edit. Another piece that I came across by Snow was the “Red, Orange, and Green” sculpture. I assumed there was a more symbolic meaning to this piece because it was made of all silver material and had no other color so I was very curious as to why he titled it “Red, Orange, and Green”, if it had none of those colors involved. I gave an educated guess that this sculpture, in the shape of a tree was supposed to symbolize the colors that weren’t there especially in the shape of the leaves that were engraved in the tree. There were different shapes of different trees as well I think to help differentiate the different seasons in which the color of the leaves change into when the seasons transition. This kind of mind boggling in an art project also leaves me to reference back to a past reading (Tactical Media). [In reading about tactical media, the central message is how artists stay “intact” whether it is in purpose, modern relevance, complexity, etc. Snow tries to keep his purpose intact by keeping the audience guessing on the meaning, but not confusing them on what it may be. He’s sure of his plan and executes in a manner that is viewable to everyone. He also tries to stay relevant in the way that he constructed the sculpture (clean metal).]

Corpus Callosum

Red, Orange,  and Green

          In comparing and contrasting the two groups of artists, I chose moderately distinct works of art from both sides. Liu Dao had a very unique, yet simplistic work called “Squeezed Identity”. Michael Snow has a very complicated and rather large work called the “Flightstop”. The reason I chose to compare and contrast these two works are because they are two drastically different forms of art with different sizes and shapes, yet they share the same significance in the art world. I feel that each and every purposeful work of art that is showcased, or not is significant in our culture and attracts an audience of some sort whether it is negative or positive attention. The fact that it grabs attention is what claims the artworks’ significance because it was successful in gaining popularity or even a reaction from an audience. Liu Dao’s “Squeezed Identity”, what conjured my reaction was that it was so small and compact, but was sizable enough to fit an LCD screen inside of it. Their signature in the framing only leaves more of a brand in a positive way. They continue to change add to and alter the definition of modern art. The title only made it 10 times better because it helps the audience get what the message is. Humans on earth all have a different conception of works like this, but I think the general conception is that one’s identity is squeezed from an outside source. This outside source is not exactly depicted or told by the artists so it is up to the audience what the outside source is. In Michael Snow’s “Flightstop”, he was successful at making this permanent installation.  It is very spread out and large in size which creates an illusion of being in a wildlife scenario that the audience should feel. It created an emotional reality for the audience and the fact that he took this installation to a very public setting (the Eaton Centre inside the mall) made it so much more fascinating. This is one work that seemed to help capture the moment where shoppers or tourists are astounded by what they see and the happiness in the building. I feel this is one project that Snow wanted to make very public, not only to those who study art, but to those who are living everyday life. This work was very complex and looks to be quite difficult in the sculpting and setup of it. Altogether, both Liu Dao’s and Michael Snow’s both had an illusionistic effect on their audience. I enjoyed just seeing the photos and examining their technique through those photos. Seeing them in person would be a lot grander than just photos. The messages in both are still portrayed successfully and are very successful in grabbing the attention of the public.    

Squeezed Identity

Flightstop





My involvement In Crowdsourcing

1)I did the "Dear Photograph" activity.To the right is the picture I took of what i was to send in. This was one of my favorite memories because it was my junior year in high school and it demonstrated our "spirit day" as well. We had an assembly which i helped put on so i got to miss the whole day of class. The girl to the right is my friend, Amber. She had an awesome personality and her jokes kept me awake on my sleepy days at school. I really miss those days. This project really only allowed me to cherish every moment because you rarely or dont get to experience it again at all.

2)I did the "Learning to Love You More" Assignment. The assignment was to recreate or draw a picture of whatever a friend wanted using a magazine. The friend must point out of their desires in the magazine and from there, I must cut them out, and paste them to a colored sheet of paper. After that I was to scan it and send it in. Above she wanted long hair so i cut a picture of a woman with long hair. Next she pointed out the plaided jacket (red) that she thought would fit her. Then, pizza was her favorite food so she pointed that out in the magazine as soon as she saw it. She's in shape and likes to ride bikes, so when she seen it, it instantly grabbed her attention. The last thing was the couble at the lower left which, to her, symbolized love. I enjoyed making this project because each item that we came across had so much meaning and personality behind it. The use of color paper
only made it bolder.

3)The last thing I did was Sarah's "My Amazing Butt" project. I wore black shorts to symbolize my color and how my mom always called me "Black Butt". She still calls me that now and I really embraced that concept. When doing this project, I noticed that others added humor to theirs, and that it didnt have to be all serious. I liked doing this project and it made me laugh a little instead of being so serious. I loved her idea.

Participative Systems Reading

1)Can we generalize the term "participation" when dealing with art because I noticed that they are giving many aspects other than the definition itself? I would rather think of participative media as a vague definition.
2) Since the terms collaboration and and interaction are very paired with participation throughout the reading, I'm wondering if there is any clear difference between the three. In the beginning the author states that these three terms are not good unless there are purpose, creativity, and other things behind it.

YouTube Mix Project

Initially, I wanted to do my project on expression through dancing,  but there werent many videos that I've recorded with dances. Instead I made it about "Expression" through many different forms. It can be done through art, dancing, facial movement, speech, etc. There were videos that I absolutely fell in love with such as the laughing babies and the drill team performance. Others made me laugh such as the news reporters throwing tantrums and our previous project where we had to remake a video. Instead of using another dance video I had recorded, I used another previous project we did which was the animation because I felt that it expressed where I wanted to be later on in life (island trees, forests, hills, butterflies, and excluding the death of the butterfly, flood, and thunderstorm. Other than that, I felt that all of these videos displayed my concept pretty well and i changed my background to red roses, but it got lost when I sent it to Clent so the background on the digital media site is pretty boring. I created the drill team video, the jeremy blake video, and the animation the video. he laughing babies and angry news reporters video are from YouTube.

http://www.unr.edu/art/digital_media/projects-2012/Fantasia_Bolden.html

Manovich Reading

1) How can one steer away from confusing the old media with the new media if the listed characteristics aren't so visible in certain forms of artwork?
2) How can one stray from the "norm" that Fredrick describes as a place where people share an ideal image, when creating new media?

My Intervention

So far I wanted to create a more humorous, yet serious matter. More and more kids are starting to be influenced my their peers and it;s no secret. I chose to do marijuana mostly because it is very popular and common drug used in America. There's really no way of getting rid of it. It's as famous as McDonald's!

Tactical Media Reading Questions

1) I noticed that the reading frequently mentioned artists trying to create new media without replicating other historical forms of media. How does one adhere to the previous artists' definition of media while trying to still change it in some way,shape, or form?

2) There were a few projects mentioned and some happened to be pursuasive, others were made to be mechanical, and some that wasn't too clear in conception. How are we able to sketch out the purpose of one's work?

Jeremy Blake: Century 21 Video Remake

Jeremy Blake: Century 21 Original Video-

http://www.ubu.com/film/blake_century-21.html

Artist Statement: My intensions for this video were to make it funny and experimental. When I had first seen Jeremy Blake's "Century 21", my first thought is that it sounded creepy & illusional. I didn't want to make my video too serious so instead I used characters that I knew had humor (My mom, my little brother, and I). It's supposed to be about a very weird woman who despises another woman and her child.  She hires someone to kill them, but during her wait she paces back & forth. She becomes so bored as she waits, that she begins playing with her walk (walking on her toes). A neighbor comes to inform the family, but it seems like noone is listening, but the little boy. Finally the murder is done, and this weird woman is now satisfied. Instead of doing a "victory dance", she ends her trademark with a smile and "Austin Power's" pinky to her face. I loved playing with all of the transitions in the video.

Article Reading 2: Video Art

1) How do modern artists today conceptualize differently from past video artists? 2) Some video artists were originally engineers or painters such as Ed Emshwiller. How might these other careers they've taken influence or emphasize their career in video art?

5 10 second animation final FINISHED2

Tryptich images

Sorry for the wait guys!

Article Reading: Walter Benjamin (1936)

1) What is lithography?

2) Why was reproduction such a big deal in the Middle Ages?