Exits and Entries

My final project is somewhat a sequel to my previous work which I submitted to the undergraduate exhibition. I really enjoyed creating sound-scape projects which I can connect to visuals. Therefore I will be using visuals to allow viewers to enter a narrative that gets shaped as a play of an imagination with the aid of aftereffects. 

Uncontrolled love is dangerous and can lead to unforeseen outcomes. One can fall victim to his or her imagination in interpreting love and perceiving each other. It is then things go wrong. I'm hoping to play with this idea and see where it will take me during the editing process.  I am incorporating aftereffects animations the same way Jeremy Blake did with his work for movie Punch-drunk Love movie. 

I hope the end-product meets its purpose of transmitting emotions rather than messages. 

Final Project: Waking Up in Another Place

It happened to many of us. You wake up to realize you are not in your room. It also happens when we are dreaming: you wake up to a different place and time. Not knowing your whereabouts is alarming, scary and intimidating. If you are at your friends' place, it's probably ok but imagine if this place is completely different and unknown to you. I believe the worst part of such a scenario would be not knowing how you ended up in that location in the first place. How do you get out of that place? What do you do?Where would you go? What if there is no way out?

I still want to work with world music and music that fuses various genres. I am hoping to start off animations with a prelude video that will have someone sleeping and as the person wakes up I'm hoping to introduce this new place (perhaps another world) through animation,dance and music. Just like Stan Brakhage, I will try and make use of "first-person" perspective. If I can figure out how, I am hoping to construct an alternative world/location where we explore and come across motion graphics/animations. I think I might have to come up with several short vignettes that will make up the whole exploration piece. 

I'm thinking that this project may require a room to itself where the vignettes are reflected on the walls opposing each other. If the character walks towards North then the wall on North will have the video. Then once that vignette is over, character may move to the West. The viewer then will only be able to see movie on the wall to their left etc. 

I am still developing the whole idea. 

Here is an example of a constructed space that was used in Madonna's Get Together video:

MADONNA - GET TOGETHER

Undergraduate Exhibition: I have some material in hand that I can work with but I need to discuss them with Prof. Packer before I work on them. 

Liquefying Architecture, Defying Rules

Imagine an environment that allows endless flexibility for structures. Basic Physics tells us gravity will always prevail, so such a structure cannot float. Chemistry tells us a structure cannot diffuse if its not in a gas state and biologically there’s a limit to flexibility. How on earth can an artist explore the possibilities while stuck in real world? Through use of technology, artists can now enter into a new medium where they can set their own rules of science. Taking art into a different medium and reflecting beck to the real world, in my opinion meets the artist and the viewer on a different place that can change what one sees and feels. Putting feelings in motion can be hard when reality is rigid, still and only 3 Dimensional.

“Architecture is frozen music” was what one of Vibeke Sorensen's professors had said when she was at college. In response to this she thought about re-liquefying the music to make a fluid structure that will be in motion. In a way, she is in pursuit of morphing spaces to create room for more visual elements as well as audio features. The cutting edge art that we name "multimedia art" gives every option to push artistic vision to its limits. Even defying such limits. However, this is no easy task.

Solid Architecture Behind “Liquid Architecture”: Building Liquid Architecture by the People, for the People
Vibeke Sorensen in her lecture explained how the tools she’s been using to create her animations have changed over time from huge oscillators to more compact and convenient tools of her time. One thing stayed constant: her animations were mere reflections of organized patterns of zeros and ones. However, such “mere reflections” can only be achieved through “defying limits of technicality” as Sorensen puts it. Technology is “still not good enough” to be on its own. Perhaps through artificial intelligence it may be good enough in the future but for predictable future: an artist’s vision is necessary to shape the end product.

One of the reflections of organized information is being displayed at the National Gallery of Art’s concourse level combining East and West buildings together. The light sculpture of Leo Villareal exhibits patterns that almost leave you wondering if you are deaf for a while. The patterns are so rhythmic that they provide a sense of “visual music,” a concept that Sorensen likes to work with. This concept was also used by Stan Brakhage in his works like black ice and dante’s quartet which were all silent movies showing fast-paced visual material. It is just amazing to see how technology has allowed visual music get out of virtual environment to environment of galleries, exhibit halls and other places of display.

Transforming reality into abstraction and vice-versa is probably the most crucial element that makes me feel excited when I view works of these artists. As the context of art-work becomes more fluid, meanings attached to work morph and we associate what we see by not categorizing it with another concept but rather by associating meanings with emotions. Thus we derive new meanings. Liquid architecture in that sense is a challenge to our senses…a sort of breakthrough from the chains of reality into world of possibilities.

The following are some photos from Leo Villareal’s Multiverse in National Gallery of Art. Photos from installation can be found by clicking here.

Standing halfway through the walk path, one almost feels like entering a different universe under blue and yellow lights. No wonder the piece is called Multiverse. Best part is, it gives the viewer the opportunity to be in the piece for a while. Leo Villareal's previous work Field displayed in New York gives a taste of visual music to viewers.

Visual Music - Liquid Architecture Relation: Does Seeing Mean Hearing?
Working with visual patterns that reflect rhythmic qualities was something Sorensen did with her Temple. The visual imagery was designed with such professionalism that even with today’s streamlined technology it looks mystifying. The visual patterns come together to show her understanding of herself “in relation” to herself. She explains the process of constructing her liquid architecture and visual music as follows:

My approach to music composition for video art is twofold: to create sounds which to me are the sounds I imagine in my head when I see the images, and to set up an electronic music patch which is technically analogous to the video patch.

Liquid arhitecture allows space to design visual music. It allows artist to construct the sounds they imagine in their heads. It passes on the inner emotions to exterior. Since our feelings are not in specific shapes and in dimensions, the digital world provides tools necessary to design bursts of happiness or sadness the way they are felt. The viewer can relate on the grounds of the transfer of emotion patterns. The only difference between these and the iTunes Visualizer. In Visualizer, the music is analyzed into patterns of colors. For an artist the music is an imaginary element which would cast its shadow the visuals. Ultimately, one needs not hear music to appreciate the power of visual work.

From iTunes Visualizer

Viewer as the ultimate connection of virtuality and reality: Being the 4th dimension to the liquid architecture in a 3D reality
Vibeke Sorensen’s Sanctuary strives to put the viewer into the center of the piece by surrounding the footage in a temple-like structure with a special set-up that will bring one’s emotions to life through scents and other instruments used. Sitting there viewer can feel the power of the video installation as it flows and surrounds him/her. Following are some images from Sanctuary taken from Sorensen’s own web-site.

In my opinion, all animation is a product of liquid architecture of some sort. It is up to artist to give opportunity of becoming part of the work to the viewers. As technology evolves, I'm sure artists will be able to make more delicate and yet more sophisticated animations that will continue mystifying those of us viewing them. I find adaptation of liquid architecture to 3D Reality exciting for the most part, for it utilizes science ( by utilizing technology) while defying its rules and limits.

Final Project: La Convivencia

The roots of “multiculturalism” historically was a practice called “la convivencia." Also known as coexistence, this idea was brought to existence by Christian, Jew and Muslim people of Spain in 14^th and 15^th century. Harmony of interests among people rendered people of Spain powerful while rest of Europe went through “dark ages.” The brief period in history when this intercultural and interfaith cooperation were achieved, is still a source of inspiration for some like Loreena McKenitt. Migration has contributed to globalization yet people are finding it difficult to belong somewhere specific while they belong to elsewhere as well. In the age of almost perfect mobility, physical motion does not necessarily bring spiritual and psychological motion along. Over a long period of time, we become more aware of our distinct identity and culture which in turn reflect on to our perspectives, lifestyles, thought patterns and etc. Though coexistence is something that I always promote and work for, I never thought about incorporating such a concept into my multimedia work. Then, I read and studied works of Vibeke Sorensen.

Nature, for Sorensen, has all it takes to unite mankind. Yet, men are apart. That doesn’t mean that we never come together. I have been in many occasions where I came to realize a strong source of power that held people together: world music. This is genre that is rich in context and carrying beats from a different part of the world. It’s not only mixing music but also mixing genres to appeal as many people as possible. Think about it: African percussion with Spanish music, Algerian folk rhythms with French, European Techno with Middle Eastern beats.I think I particularly enjoy the idea of unifying distinct features of cultures through music.

For my final project I want to use world music, animation, light and dance and blend them into a piece that will reflect different colors as different cultures. I am hoping to combine these elements in an alternative space constructed with aid of various programs. I like having subjects in my work and I like having stories evolve around characters. I will be using footage from dance performances of my friends and previous footage I compiled for my previous multimedia class. The 4th animation assignment in a way reflects my initial ideas about my final project. I want the end product to be something in between a music video and a "dreamscape" which will have a storyline. This will require creating/mixing a musical piece which I can later incorporate to my animations. I'm still finding it difficult to find the ultimate direction this idea is heading.

Some examples of music videos that I found inspiring:

Paper planes (M.I.A.) from Cedric GODART on Vimeo.

and music by Paris Combo.