Experimenting

I put together a short video experimenting with light. This is two video layers, one in and the other out of focus, put on top of each other. The effect is that the light looks like it does in real life... kinda. I like the direction this is going in, and have at least one other clip I can experiment with this on. I feel like it's almost double exposure for video.

Here's a link to the YouTube video:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jUc356I_tp8&feature=youtu.be

I'm really curious to see what this effect will do to videos of people moving around. I feel like that could turn out really cool.

Advanced Photography

Hey, what's up? Not much with me. Just starting a new class and such. Advanced photography is the name, and it's going to kick my ass. Well, not unless I stay on top of things. I feel like there's a sexual innuendo in there somewhere but I don't feel motivated enough to find it.

So, I learned a few new features of Photoshop today and then made a garish looking collage. There wasn't a ton of expertise that went behind this one, mostly just messing around. That's how I feel about most of the stuff I make, though, so it's OK. In my music making, I've only recently felt like I actually know what I'm doing. But does anyone really know? Yes, actually, plenty of people know what they're doing. It'll just take a while for me to get there, too. And when I do... I'll cry in real life.

So, my one project for this class will be to create an installation piece with video. This is going to prepare me for my capstone project next year. It's going to be intense. So far, I want to make it an interactive installation piece involving music, sculpture, photography, drawing, lights, and a ton of other stuff. Another term people use for this kind of show is "rave" and it's pretty fitting. I'm going to hold an art rave and explore various parts of rave culture as well as what separates professionals from amateurs. Amateur is used as such a negative word but it's original meaning was somewhere around "lover of the art". These are pretty vague ideas at this point, and I'm excited to see exactly where they'll lead me.

Anyway, here's the photo I put together in class today. Maybe it's not so bad after all...

I think, as far as preparing myself for an art rave goes, this is a pretty good aesthetic. It could be a bit more vibrant but, otherwise, it's pretty good.

See you next project!

My Fifth Performance

I really had no idea what to do for this piece. The instructions were basically "do your own thing" and usually, those are my favorite projects. This time, however, I really struggled to get any ideas out there. This is probably because I've only started working with performance art this year, and ideas... OK, I procrastinated! And I also had trouble coming up with ideas. Anyway, I would have done something incredibly different that involved a portable speaker and an mp3 player had I not gotten sick Friday. But, because I did, I had all weekend to put something better together. So what did I do? I waited until Sunday night to think of something!

The video on the projection is the result of hours of very early morning editing and the mask was made in half an hour. The piece was inspired by opening my book to random pages and making my project be influenced by the first name I saw on each page. Frederick Kiesler, Merce Cunningham, and Marcel Janco were the names I came up with, meaning I was working with Dada and Fluxus inspirations. I wore a robot mask, made to be like the Dada masks by Marcel Janco, and did a dance of exploration and self discovery in front of a repeating video backdrop. The song I played was one with robotic vocals and various sound effects I made a few years prior and the video is compiled YouTube videos of breakfast, educational videos, and kymotropic analyses. If you don't know what that last thing is yet, look it up. They're amazing and mesmerizing to look at.

I agree with the class that this piece either needed no robot in it, or the robot should have been limited to large, broad gestures that would then be randomized. The video, with some more editing to make it more engaging, could stand on its own really. So could the robot discovering its own existence when, in reality, the person playing the robot is completely blind. It makes me think of trying to portray a character for film or theater. The character being portrayed discovers itself while the actor is lost behind the mask. The video, on the other hand, has nice contrasts between the media-rich commercial world we live in versus mundane tasks like eating versus something as inspiring and mesmerizing as kymotropic analysis. Seriously, it's not as boring as it sounds. I'm not sure if I want to split these up into two performance or not but. If I find they play off each other, I'll keep them together.

Laurie Anderson

This is what the event I went to see with the class reminded me of. I think it was supposed to be a lecture, but it felt a lot more like a performance. It was pretty cool, honestly. I sat near the front row, not too close to the "droolers", and wore a Batman hoodie the whole time. I think at the end Laurie Anderson saw me and gave me a look that was a mix between "what the fuck" and "are you serious?" but I probably saw what I wanted to see. I mean, that's the look I would have given myself.

My favorite part of the event was at the end, when Laurie Anderson said "no one ever asked if I wanted to be a painter, or a musician, or anything specific". I'm paraphrasing, but it was pretty close to that. She then explained that she just likes to do stuff and see what happens. I feel that. You have no idea. That's how I feel about what I do. That's different from how I feel presenting what I make, which I went over in my most recent post about my Fourth Performance Piece.

I hadn't heard of Laurie Anderson until this year in this class, but this event has further solidified her as one of my role models as I move forward in my artistic career. My other role models are, of course, Dan Avidan and Arin Hanson. That's a pretty good mix, I'd say. I don't know what you'd say but, if I was there to hear you, I'd probably have headphones on and be working on a new song. So, I wouldn't hear you. That's too bad... I'm just kidding. Maybe.

One more performance piece and then I'll be getting ready for the live performance night! Then I'll decide if I want to continue posting to this blog. I mean... it's connected to my Google account so I'll always have it. It's just a question of whether I want to continue writing in it.

We'll see. I'm leaning toward keeping it up. Then I'll write about my art projects, like the remix I finished mixing for a competition. More about that later!

My Fourth Performance Piece

In all honesty, this is how I feel when I listen to people talk about the meaning behind my work.

Instead of imagining the audience is full of dogs, I feel like I'm a dog showing stuff to an audience of art majors. I can try and disguise myself with a suit but it's pretty obvious I'm a dog. This was very evident today when I showed my fourth performance piece. I feel like, despite trying to disguise it as performance art, it was still obvious it was a video made for entertainment. And that's because, deep down, all I really want to do is entertain people. I can try to dress myself and my work up as art but, honestly, my motives are a lot more superficial than that. 

I'll try to upload the video I made for my fourth project when I stop getting error messages.