MORE URGENT - need to get my head down

Well what I just wrote below, is about stuff that is way in the future - 18 months away or more.
I now need to get my head down out of the clouds, and to pay attention to the remainder of this year, that is terms 2 & 3 of the 2008/09 year.

January 11:
Deadline for assessment of work from last term. Three pieces need polishing, some also reconstruction:
The Theatre Lights project as Interrupting the Screen. Think what I want to do is put the four videos on one screen for the duration of the Inca music.
The Coombe Walk as Animating the Urban environment. Have to add video and B/W stills to soundtrack, in effect, remaking the whole piece
Review Sometimes ... Loop, and polish it a bit. The image seem to me to be a bit rough.

January 04 2009 - am planning to have my ESSAY finished - the one that might be expanded into a thesis.

Realistically that is probably as much as I will get done. But I need to devise some kind of plan for January, seeing that this is all the time I am allowing myself to do the Portrait of Francis St Parish Centre 2009.
Think I won't do any more on the piece for the end of year until February.

I gather Easter is around mid April - April 12 to be exact. That leaves a bare month to the end of year show.

ANOTHER DISTRACTION/SIDE-TRACK:
More pictures of Sarah Sze work here on some-one's blog

SO-CALLED HOLIDAYS!

We finished up at the college on Friday when the library closed at 1300. So what of the great plans I have to not letting myself waste this precious 'free time'. Yes I know what people keep telling me about 'all work and no play makes Jack (and Jill) a dull person'.

Not sure if I think I'm immune to this 'dullness' because I happen to enjoy my so-called work, or whether in fact, I dodn't do any work, but 'play' at my art all day - either ways, I'm stubbornly occupying my time with art still, having given only a modicum of time to domestic matters over the two and a bit days (mostly a case of clearing away the chaos created by the art-pressures I put on myself during the term when I tended to just drop things instead of finding a place to put them away and giving myself the few minutes that this effort would take.

So what have I done art-wise over these days?
Well, I have begun two new note-books, one for my THESIS, and one for my DEGREE-SHOW.
In the Thesis notebook, I have begun to clarify my mind about the differences between the two areas, since because I am looking at similar themes, there could be mental confusion:
In the Degree Show Notebook, I have been letting my mind wander over different ways to display, organize, and categorize things.

DEGREE-SHOW idea currently is that I will make a large installation with my archival material, and will make a performance in that location about saying good-bye to most of these items which have been part of my life over a long period.

THESIS is to be about other artists working in this field of personal ephemera, what they do, how they do it, and what they aim to convey or communicate.

The books I have taken from the library to read over the hols are:

• Arte Povera
• Schwitters by Per Kirkeby
• The Making of a Memory (Gob Squad)
• The art of Tracey Emin
• Fragments (photos John Stezaker
• Boltanski Time
• Urban Walls (college in Europe and US
• Illya Kabokov

Already I have skimmed over them, and am now reading Kabokov downstairs while I eat, and Boltanski upstairs while I wait for computer to do things!

Also have downloaded all four episodes of Century of the Self (see older Posts below or at right of this blog entry) so as to have it accessible to me. Am only now realizing that since my work is intensely autobiographical (about my 'Self) I can only benefit by using, or at least being aware of how this 'Hidden Persuasion' functions, since I also have a hope of influencing people's thoughts and behaviours towards what I do, and I would want to be overt and up-front in my methods, rather than how it is described in that series.

I've also been looking at the work of SARAH SZE
There is a good image on the front of her website.

Sze's small- and large- scale installations consist of carefully arranged found objects, such as toothpicks, pushpins, colored wire, match sticks, candy, aspirin, plants, and lights. These intricate constructions often suggest a miniature world of urban sprawl where each element is dependent on another. Her finished sculptures are not only architecturally sound, but suggest a living organism that moves, works and breathes. For past projects, Sze has utilized floors, balconies, ceilings, staircases, lit exit signs, and closets as sites for her installations.(Quote from ArtFacts.net)

Not bad considering we also did trojan work on the domestic front.

New Ideas after TUTORIAL Monday

Will used the little video clip and see what can I do with it in Final Cut Pro.

Need to think through about audio - love the idea of the weather forecast as metaphor.
What kind of script that would sound authentic, but at the same time fit the ideas about depression.
Who would I ask to read it - maybe Marie Therese maybe Dave maybe Suzie or Simon. Need objective voice I think

Am now rushing to college to hopefully get technical assistance with FCP to multiply and add different colours.
Just Blue, pink, blinding white. Pink could be tinted at the edges with golden yellow fading to white, and delicate bluey green fading to blue

And just to make us envious, here is a super stop-motion sent me by my son Joey (It took them FOURTEEN MONTHS to make it! Ha ha! but the effect is very nice...) Remarks about making it are here


Fat City Reprise - Long Gone from Cesar Kuriyama on Vimeo.

Loop images

The chaos from which the project is emerging. You can see sheets of perspex balanced between chairs, with the lamp with foil-lined shade underneath.


This is one of the images created.
Comments I would make are:
circle of light is too small, but limited by distance between objects and lamp which is limited by height of chairs.

Fuzziness of image is about the effect of the paper not being on top of the objects to protect the objects from being disturbed.

LOOP WORK

Think this 'Loop Project' is driving me 'loopy'.

A loop is something that goes around and around. Exactly describes my head at the moment.

Two ideas are all I have come up with since Monday
1. Do an animation of the performance piece (Bipolar Balance) I am planning to do at the end of year. Idea would be to do a schematic visual 'first draft' how the piece might look at the end.
It isn't exactly planned to be a loop, but could be adapted to loop. This wouldn't be totally against the idea, since bipolarity is a recurrent condition.

2. Do a different version of the Coombe piece which I was very dissatisfied with when I presented it on Monday.
Problem here is that this definitely isn't a loop, though again, it could be forced into this shape (after all people do go up and down the Coombe over and over.)
Another challenge (must remember not to use the word 'problem) would be the length. The loop is to be 1-2 minutes, Coombe is over 29 minutes.

I've just had a third idea thinking about the 'over and over' concept. This is how TA describes the Games People Play. I could do some animation based on that.
Challenge is not knowing the software well enough to use it, and downhearted at the thoughts of how long it would take to draw and photograph each frame.

Thought I would look up some kind of definition of Games People Play and found this fascinating Stephen Pinker video about what he calls 'indirect speech.


It's long - nearly an hour I think, but well worth watching (or listening to while you do something 'mindless'.

CENTURY OF THE SELF

4-part BBC series by Adam Curtis about Freud's ideas applied to modern life, especially advertizing.
Part One - Happiness Machines


Part Two = The Power of Nightmares


Part Three - there is a Policeman inside our heads


Part Four - Eight People sipping Wine in Kettering

When is a PERFORMANCE an ART PIECE?

Some questions to think about in advance of my input to the Media 3 seminar December 3 2008

Was the event put on by the students on the occasion of the Minister's visit just a protest, or was it a piece of performance art?

I think it was an art piece

• arranged in advance
• Clear agenda and well thought out purpose (see email from Students Union, Nov 24)
• well orchestrated (three part structure, and no prima donna distractions, other than 'here for the violence which was widely commented on.)
  
• Announced in advance as a performance
• allowed for audience participation (banners, posters, drumming, silence, pointing, chanting,
• lying in his path, but not obstructing him)

OUTCOME
We got what we wanted in that our reps got to talk to him for a few minutes.

LANGUAGE is important - if we call it a piece of art - even people who don't agree with us will remember the event - otherwise it will go down in history as just another protest - and not a very big one at that.

Artists Statement

Found a good article at the Molly Gorden website. Don't know who she is, but what she says seems to make a lot of sense.

At the moment I'm feeling bogged down.
Too many lectures
Too many workshops
Not enough time to process any of what I heard
Not enough time to take photos
Not enough time to make work

Dreading being up in a heap for the presentations yet again

ANIMATING THE URBAN SPACE

A week has now passed since we got the brief for the project and while I have been thinking a lot about it, and even getting ideas and writing some of them down in my ideas book, I don't feel I have my teeth into it yet.

In fact, my head still feels addled like it did last week, only then there was a good reason in that I overloaded myself with fifteen inputs in three days, this week, it more like a few small lonely ideas are rattling around in an empty space, not looking like much, and unsure what place if any they will have in the forthcoming project.

Think I will review some of the OPTIONS open to me - and at this stage, all options are open, since I haven't yet agreed to do anything with anyone yet.

DECISION ONE
Do I do this project

On my own
With other (s) students
With people in the community

DECISION TWO
Which medium will I use?

Video
Photos
Animation/stop motion or Flash
Performance with video

DECISION THREE
Which BRIEF will I follow

Working with the SCULPTURE DEPT brief which includes making a proposal to Dublin City council?
Working with the MEDIA department brief?
Do a combination of both briefs?
Write an original brief for myself?

THEMES considered so far

Re-creating PHOTOS (possibly an appropriation of work of Alexander Honory, Cologne)
Talking to local people and creating photos from their verbal memories.

Silhouettes of favourite buildings of people in the area
Unknown theme that might emerge from listening to people around the place.

CATCH-UP

Nearly a month since my last entry - what in the world have I been doing?
Have written my two essays, one on Performance Art and the other on CSI the look.
Finished (somewhat finished) Module One Interrupting the Screen
Began thinking about Module Two (Animating Urban Space)
Did Flash workshop
Looked at some zany Flash videos here and here:

Looked at Christian Boltanski video
Went to IMMA eshibition In Praise of Shjadows which I loved, and have now finished reading the catalogue In Praise of Shadows which librarian Eddie let me boorrow as soon as it came in.

still not confident about my ideas for the Urban Space

What an amazing interruption of the screen of 'reality' when one reality is 'under-shadowed' by another!
Have a look at this!

The way things Go - Fischli and Weiss

Not a lot to do with Interrupting the Screen, but I just couldn't resist posting this for the sake of those of you who may never have seen it before.


NOTES FROM YouTube;
TO BUY THE DVD of the complete 30 minutes of this chain reaction called The Way Things Go go here: http://firstrunfeatures.com/shopsite_...

IN THIS SCENE: Fire is the instigator in this section of their chain reaction.

ABOUT THIS FILM: In 1987 Swiss artists Peter Fischli and David Weiss built a enormous, precarious structure 100 feet long out of common items. Using fire, water, gravity, and chemistry they create a mind-blowing chain reaction of physical and chemical interactions and precisely crafted chaos.

"A Rube Goldberg drawing come to life. How did they do it?"
-- Chicago Tribune

Short, Sweet and to the point

I think maybe this might have been partly done with Blue Screen, but there's other MAGIC involved also!

Laurie Anderson sings/performs Superman

No real idea how this is done, but love the layers of sound

Buddha with 1000 Hands

This brings back memories of visit to Bankok, and the small girls who showed us the dance they were going to do for the King's Birthday the next day.



What if anything does it have to do with interrupting the Screen? Somehow I am thinking of the illusion that isn't really an illusion since we know in a way how it's done, yet do we really?

Ship of Tolerance - Ilya and Emelia KABOKOV AT Venice 2007

I saw the workshop where this ship was made when in Venice in 2007. It is great to see the work on video.


NOTES on the YouTube video
The "Ship of Tolerance," a fantasy ship sponsored by the Third Millennium Foundation, built to carry the message of the Foundation's SEEDS OF TOLERANCE CAMPAIGN was inaugurated at the annual Venice Biennale on June 6, 2007.

The Ship of Tolerance, was created by renowned Russian artists, Ilya and Emilia Kabakov. To fulfill the mission of the Third Millennium Foundation, children, ages 6-12, in schools throughout Venice made drawings to express their thoughts on the theme of tolerance. The colorful drawings will be attached to the Ship forming the port and starboard sides of the deck and sail; the hull of the ship is made of wood.

The children also took part in discussions in their classrooms as part of a pro-active education campaign to raise their awareness of the tolerance issue.

The Third Millennium Foundation is a private, non-for-profit foundation located in New York City. The Foundation was launched in the year 2000 as an initiative for unlearning intolerance in the new millennium. It makes grants all over the world and focuses on childhood education and human rights. The Foundation's principal goal is to support initiatives designed to promote tolerance and human rights, particularly among the young. For more information on the Third Millennium Foundation and its Campaign, please visit the Foundation's website.

PERFORMANCE ART ESSAY 2008

I am in the throes of writing my essay on the topic of PERFORMANCE ART.
Found this delightful piece on You Tube.
As well as being about performance, I see it also as about SCREEN INTERRUPTION, my project theme.

Am I crazy to be trying to think of both at the same time.?

INTERRUPTING THE SCREEN

I came down the stairs the other morning and saw a shadow fluttering on the wall near my hall-door.
Suddenly I remembered something that had been said at our recent tutorial meeting - something about Plato's Cave, and about the shadows of things that seemed to be there.

From where I was standing, I couldn't see the origin of the shadows - the plants that the sun was shining on, yet in some way, a very special way, the plants were very present to me through their shadows.

***

Today, on my way home from visiting my sister, I noticed the shadows of my husband and myself as we walked along the platform in Heuston station.

I stopped to photograph them, and as I did my husband alerted me to the fact that someone was about to 'INTERRUPT' the shadows by overtaking us.

I began thinking of this process of interrupting the 'screen' on which our shadows were being projected by the sun.

In this case, the Interrupter, being on our left, between us and the shadows, would have passed within our field of vision, and if I had snapped the shutter at that moment, I would have seen a real person.

On the other hand, if the person had passed behind us, to our right, and I had snapped them, I would only have seen their shadow, alongside ours.

Is there a difference in the level of reality between photographing a shadow, and photographing an actual person?

***

When I came home, I looked up Plato's Cave on You Tube. There are dozen's of illustrations of this Allegory. I like this one for its clarity and slowness, but there are many more to choose from.

All address something of my conundrum about shadows and reality ....

Back in college

See the Theatre Lights Art Blog for update on Theeatre Lights Project which is still unfinished.

Back in college, three days now and only two things on my mind:
(a) the first brief avout Interrupting the Screen
(b) the essays.

Am determined to give attention to the essays for a week each, and then let it go - that will make up the 20% of time for the 20% of marks proportion.

Have contacted Declan Long to tell him I want to write about the Art of Performance Art, but he hasn't replied.

Plan is to integrate this slightly with the brief by exploring the performance I saw at IMMA last week - Ulla Brandenbure. Claire is to email me a contact in the Education Dept.

Reading the Press Release from the exhibition, I think it will fit ideally in the assignment, though the performance isn't mentioned.

I also enjoyed reading notes on the four pieces on exhibition, and was interested to read about the second piece Forest 2008 which I had been strongly drawn to without having any idea what it was supposed to be about. (It's a room with walls painted black and white which I really enjoyed being in.)

Drawings from last night's posting

Fig 1. This sketch is meant to show something like the layout we might use. Its a starting part for our ideas anyway.

In it you can see 9#(looking from top to bottom of sketch:
4 bars overhead across the stage on which lights can be hung, facing in either direction.

On Bar 2 from the front, you can see the crossing lights, purple for sad emotions, Golden for positive emotions. These lights shine towards the two 'stick-bearers' who will raise long sticks with shadow-creating objects. (See Fig 2 below)

Across the front of the stage area, which is also in front of the seating area, depending on which way you are looking at it, is the pathway of the Walker.

At the back of the seating area is a further bar, close to and paralell to the back wall of the theatre. From here a pink light could be shone to indicate sunrise.




Fig 2
This image shows one of the stick-bearers with a butterfly in the beam of the light. The idea would be for the movement of the cut out to cause interesting shadows.

Theatre Lights Project - SCRIPT IDEAS - 1st draft

PERFORMANCE SCRIPT:

Date: Monday, 15 September 2008

Authorship: Elizabeth,

What do we want to SAY? = MESSAGE/NARRATIVE

WHO do we want to say it to? = TARGET AUDIENCE(S)

WHY do we want to say this to these people? = MOTIVATION

HOW are we going to say it? VISUAL/AUDITORY/KINESTHETHIC

HOW are we going to make a RECORD of what we do/say? CAMERA/SOUND

MESSAGES/objectives

At the end of this process/performance, those who see the finished product will have an awareness of the following:

• • That theatre lights have a potential function in the making of art.


• • That performance art can be enhanced by the use of theatrical lighting


• • That in lighting, less is more (means possibly only one light shining at any one time.
  


• • That despite being fixed in position, a certain degree of light movement can be created by illusion.


• • That lighting can enhance, and even create an emotional atmosphere


• • That shadows can have a significant role to play in the use of light.


• • That a simple NARRATIVE can demonstrate the above messages.

PERFORMANCE NARRATIVE tells how walking the Camino to Santiago in Spain can be a mixed experience of pleasure, pain, inspiration, discouragement, triumph, even humour, and sometimes boredom.

TARGET AUDIENCE(S)

• • The participants will be the main audience, especially during the performance itself
  

• • Afterwards a potential audience might be the tutors in college, and fellow students.
  


• • Website ‘Don’t Eat the Tulips’ have expressed interest in the process of this project


• • If the results are satisfactory, the project might be built on for the DARKLIGHT event early 2009.

PEOPLE

What Performers do we need?

• The Walker
• Black stick bearers
• White stick bearer

What Technicians do we need?

Camera person to operate the zoom in camera

Lights person to manipulate light desk

Sound person to manipulate sound desk

Props/Continuity person (to make sure people have what they need next)

Locations: Where will they be?

Walker in the area between stage and seating

Black stick bearer to left of seating, (as seen from walkers perspective)

White stick bearer to right of seating (as seen from walkers perspective)

Actions: What will they be doing?

Walker will be walking; disappears at ‘end’ of walking area, goes backstage, reappears at start again.Uses different styles of walking/stick useage to indicate uphill, downhill, easy, difficult terrain.

Black SB will create shadows using negative cut-outs (perhaps images suggesting steep hills, rocks, )

White SB will create shadows using positive cut-outs ( perhaps flower, butterfly, bird etc)

THINGS

Props:

2 x Long sticks (one white, one black)

Shadow cut-outs:

Butterfly

Flower

Monster

Swinging Weight

Costumes

Stick bearers: long white/black gown and paper mask head-dress

Walker; Red kaftan, blue hat, backpack, two walking poles

Scenery/Location

Minimum – black walls, floor, red seats

LIGHTS

Lights Locations

A – WHITE light at Floor-level shining along front edge of stage

B – YELLOW lightOverhead ? bar 2 over stage,shining diagonally across set –On white Stick bearer, along the path of the stick

C – PURPLE light Overhead ? bar 2 over stage,shining diagonally across set –On black Stick bearer, along the path of the stick

D – Very SMALL WHITE light at ‘end’ of walk. Disappears when Walker goes back stage.

RECORDING

CAMERA

Camera Locations x 4

W – High left top of seating facing diagonally across set – fixed no operator

X – Medium right middle of seating facing diagonally across set – fixed no operator

Y – Low ground level facing slight diagonal along front of stage/seating – fixed no operator

Z – Low ground level centre , manually operated, mainly for close-ups

Camera Shots: During performance, close-up shots of Walker’s face, panning shots to show effect of shadow makers.

SOUND

Source:

Music from Group met on Camino.

Played at different speeds and different volumes to indicate different moods.

Management

Create a DVD to match the proposed movement of the performance

Theatre Lights Project Sept 2008

Some of you may remember that I mentioned that I had got permission to explore the idea of doing some kind of art work using the lighting at Tallaght Theatre. Well a few of us went there last night to see what it was like. Below is the notes I took on video.
Now we have to come up with ideas/an idea for how we could make ART out of this. Very exciting.
***NOTES from session with Michael Lynchehaun at Tallaght Theatre, Sept 3 2008

The equipment in Tallaght Theatre at this time

1. Six sockets on the wall with roughly the same capacity as an ordinary house
2. Eight boards are plugged into the six sockets (two of the boards have a kind of ‘double adaptor’
3. Each board has 6 channels with 12 sockets (shared 2 per channel)
4. This means there are 8 x 6 = 48 channels, allowing the possibility of 96 LAMPS to be plugged in at the one time.
5. However these twinned lamps can only operate in tandem, not individually. NB not to use double adaptor with double twins ( but could use three)

When all the plugs are in the sockets, small lights can be seen on the boards showing they have power

The lamps are suspended from a bar over the stage, and plugged into sockets in the ceiling. It is these sockets that are plugged into the 6 x large sockets in the wall (see above)

The 8 x boards are connected to each other as a ‘daisy chain’ with the final board being connected to a Surge-protection BOX which in turn is connected by a long wire overhead and down to the mixing DESK which is in turn connected to a COMPUTER which must be switched on.

The desk controls all the 66 lighting points over the stage. Currently there are only 45 lamps, but more are being added by degrees.

In theatre for drama and comedy, usually MORE LIGHT is better, while to create a sinister atmosphere, LESS LIGHT.

COLOURED GELS are coloured plastic sheets which can be inserted in front of the light to alter the colour of the light

If a change of colour is required, two lamps are set up side by side, focused on the same spot. A CROSS-FADE is achieved by fading out one lamp from the desk, and fading in the other lamp at the same time.

Q. How does the COMPUTER connect to DESK?

It’s not USB, just a regular old monitor which uses the old style connector with pins and two screws. There are also some connectors like telephone leads

Q. What are the numbers we can now see on the monitor?

These show the levels of light.

A large ‘wheel’ switch at the top right hand corner of the desk is called a MASTER FADER. This can fade everything down.

The lamps currently over the stage were put in place for the last show. Ideally, all of these would be taken down so as to leave the rig ready for the next show. This is not always done.

Each show has a lighting DESIGN with exact instruction on the script for which light is where, and what is being illuminated.

LAMPS can be grouped in CLUSTERS, so that the same control (e.g.FADING) can be applied to each lamp with the movement of just one SLIDER.

Another way of doing this is to have the sequence of the changes programmed so that it is just necessary to tap one button on the centre bottom part of the desk, and each sequence follows the next, next, next etc.

This method is open to problems if the actors miss lines, or otherwise ‘change the script’

Q. Would it be possible to think of the lights themselves as ACTORS?

A sequence of lights going on and off could be created.

There are also special effects on this desk (flashing, disco style etc), but there is no manual, so they would have to be experimented with to find out how they work.

It is possible to set the speed at which the effects will appear as there is a TIME IN/TIME OUT switch.

Q. Are the lights on the stage numbered?

The actual CEILING SOCKETS are numbered. Also the BOARD SOCKETS are numbered, and it is these numbers (the board-socket numbers) that are referred to on the DESK.

It is in the course of the LIGHTING DESIGN that the two sets of sockets are ‘married’ and the appropriate SLIDERS identified to control the required lighting effects.

The LIGHTING DESING PLAN IS written in advance, and requires knowledge of which socket is which.

BARN DOORS like metal flaps on the edges of the lens make the spot wide or narrow.

Electrically, there are lights that can be controlled from the desk both the colour and the focus, but these are very expensive.

This means that all adjustments to the physical lamps, other than the dimming/brightening of the power to the lamp, is DONE IN ADVANCE.

Something like a work around for widening/narrowing of the beam could be achieved by having three lamps all focused on the same place on the set, with different diameters, and fading one in as the other is faded out.

LAMPS are hung from a BAR. This bar has to be very stable, so that the light is steady, and hold the focus it has been given when it was put in place.

Most of the lamps are fairly large diameter – say about 10 – 15 cm. There are smaller lamps around 8cm which are used for highlighting something in a corner, or for up-lighting a face to create horror, dark character, etc. like a torch under your

Q. Are there any other kinds of attachments that can be added to the lights?

Basically no. The LAMPS are very simple in design, technologically simple.

However some lamps have two sections. In one section it is possible to move the bulb near or further from the reflector, and in the other section there are two lenses, both of which can be moved back or forward independently. These two methods are used to adjust the focus. There are no barn-doors on this type of light. More precise than barn doors.

GOBO – filter that can slot into the light to give a shadow of something on the scenery at the back of the stage, e.g. Eiffel Tower, steeple of a church, sunset clouds etc

Thin metal cut to create required silhouette.

Stage Lighting Centre Brunswick Place off Pearse Street

Could also possibly be made from tin if cut carefully.

What you are lighting

Lighting through

Watch for shadows – sometimes have to be eliminated by other lights.

What kind of a sequence of light do we want?

Do we want to find an object and light it?

Idea of the gauze would be a kind of performance lit from in front of the gauze, and videoed from behind the gauze.

Number of challenges in the total control of light – no windows so all light is ‘created’ here.

Can have an empty black stage.

Q What control do we have over the lights from the control room once they have been set up

Basically, the ability to switch them on or off – and use a dimmer on them.

Where they are pointing is all fixed beforehand

Use opaque diffuser with a colour to make dimmer.

Basic Rules of theatre lighting

Can we see the actors

Actors have to collaborate – must face the light, find the light and perform in it. Need to ‘contend’ with the light which can be very bright in the eyes.

Crossing lights reduces shadows

Planning WHERE the action is going to take place is very important

Smoke machine to emphasize the

Follow spots done manually – could be supported by a rope from the Bar overhead to avoid having to carry it. Not easily feasible.

Make-up to add in features like eyebrows.

Modern lighting is from behind rather than from the front.

Q Do the casing of the lights get very hot

Bakelite handles don’t get as hot as the metal.

KNIFE SHUTTER to create sharp edge to lighting (combines with focusing the light.). Divides the light on the boundary of two rooms for example.

750w lamp has very good control

Only use this 750w bulb in this particular LAMP.

Intensity of light 100% to 0% done on DESK

Moving bulb to/from reflector can also weaken/strengthen

Can use

Audience shadows – lights can project to wall or screen

What time-frame do we have?

Difficulty of the other’s building their set so stage won’t be just empty.

Possibility of using the seating as a stage?

Discussion of whether something could be connected with the computer that operates the desk

Possibility of using Isadora

VGA out and 6-pin socket

SOUND

Two speakers on stage.

Used for sound effects

Actors not miked.

DESK Name is Strand lighting, model number not available.

SOUND EFFECTS Settings: type, rate, stop, Pause, go, sleep,

EXPERIMENT : Record what you do, and then adjust

LOG: Not sure how info can be retrieved.

SUBMASTER Cluster in Script, with hint on previous page

AGREED

We will each go home and digest what we have heard tonight. Elizabeth will write up notes from the video.

We are to contact Michael for our next session, and see what time he has available to us.

Basically, we need to think about WHAT we want to light, and HOW we want to light it., and how to support the LAMPS if we are not using the bar, and how to connect the lights to the CEILING SOCKETS in the event that we are using them at a lower level.

ENDS

Claremorris Open 2008

If you happen to be in Claremorris in September, the Claremorris Open Exhibition will be held opening 7:30pm September 6th, and my piece Archive EC (2008) has been selected to be displayed.
Details of venue when I get them myself.

Notes Ralph Borland Workshop April 2008

Found this when sorting out last years College stuff, and thought it was worth putting online for anyone interested. (August 2008)

NOTES taken during workshop with Ralph Borland – Media 2 NCAD April 1 2008

(these notes are my perception of what Ralph said - with apologies for any errors or omissions.)

Initial introduction seems to have consisted in looking at some images (I arrived late for the beginning of the workshop) and talking about them including this one at http://ralphborland.net/s4s/index.html

About Ralph himself (various comments during the workshop)

Doing his PhD in Trinity , comes from South Africa, interested in Disruptive use of art. Part of DDT disruptive design team http://www.mee.tcd.ie/~ledoyle/DDT/DDT.htm

The DDT comprises a group of researchers with diverse backgrounds in art, film, literature, music, politics, gender studies, performance, science and technology. The focus of the research group is to challenge traditional ideas of connectivity, connection, communication and sociability through the creation of installations and applications that subvert uses of technologies and create situations for questioning. The research students are engaged in a wide range of projects that focus on topics such Urban Public Space Art, Provocative Technologies & Interactive Spaces, Urban Wearbles, Urban Narratives and New Media & Feminist Methodologies. A multi-disciplinary approach to these topics is taken. There is an emphasis both on devloping theoretical ideas and on creating and building work to progress ideas.

Second session (till lunchtime)

Each person talked about how they came to be at NCAD, and what they have an interest in.

It's OK to change your mind at art school

Theatre involves control of audience in aspects of time, seating, duration, as opposed to no control of audience in conventional gallery where artist isn't present most of the time.

Matthew Barney is someone I could look at as he combines film and documentary with performance. He's at http://www.cremaster.net/ and it looks like there's a lot to see.

Necessity to consciously choose emphasis between technique and artiness, especially in media work

On choosing between Fine Art and Vis Com or Design department, Fine art usually does less streaming of your ideas.

Factors to think about when planning, executing, or just looking at art-work:

Is it aesthetically pleasing?
Is it provocative?
Does it have a WOW factor?
Does it engage the viewer, and continue to give more and more?

How long does the work take? Re slow moving movies – there is an audience for nene-hour moveies where nothing happens

Is it evocative? See Stan Brackridge (Think this isn't the right name) This chap wanted to maintain control of the output of his film, so created a Box with hands and slides and moths? (Can't remember what the reference to moths was)

Think about the various things you do, both in college, and at home or elsewhere. What are the connections between these things? What possibilities do you notice?

Re SURREAL: Define what you mean by this word. It tends to be something we all think we know what we mean by it, but it might be that we all mean different things!

Includes confusion between real and not real

Good idea to have restrictions – possibly as to genre, content, audience e.g. feminist Angela Carter Bloody Chamber version of fairytales

Reference: Malcolm Gladwell book Tipping Point about how child's mind works – scientific and readable. Value of repetition fro a child

If your idea is big and complex, then figure your particular angle.

Beware 'tabloid attitude'. the tabloid attitude—get attention by any and all means

Think of a specific medium – you have a choice

Think of images will they be still or moving

Will they be from life, or created/drawn?

What style will they be?

Rotascoping – tracing a film, frame by frame to make an animation (looked up on You Tube, but doesn't look very impressive.

Again, what medium

Specific?

General?

Metaphor? If you select a metaphor, make sure the metaphor is strong enough to carry the idea.

EXERCISE ONE – In one or two sentences write specifically what you want to communicate through the work you will do.

I wrote: I want to let people know that my experience of managing my bipolar condition is a matter

Balancing

Positive events versus negative events,

Both of which categories are

unpredictable

And only marginally

Within my control

After they have occurred.

In other words, that I have little control (in many instances) over WHAT HAPPENS

But more control over my RESPONSE to what happens (but still not very much control)

Then we had to read what we had written, and talk about the ideas for our work if we had formulated them.

I talked about my idea of a see-saw, and using Isadora to make a video of me respond to the tipping of the see-saw in reality.

Main comments from Ralph were

about being sure that the metaphor of the see-saw was strong enough to carry the ideas of not just managing bipolar condition, but any situation of someone needing more balance

about maybe the strong idea is the one that while I can't control what happens, I can control my response [now beginning to think how that would link into interactive video, but am not attracted to making a video game as such ….]

EXERCISE TWO

Part One

Write about any art work that moved you [film, picture, video, book etc]. Write about the experience in such a way that you will take your audience back to what happened to you. Be specific and objective.

[Suggest you consider doing this part of the exercise before you read on to see what I wrote and what happened.

I wrote:

Nearly thirty years ago I saw a piece of art-work at the Rosc exhibition – one of the first times I ever looked at modern art.

I had been struggling, not understanding much of what I was seeing, especially huge canvasses, painted in muted shades of grey.

Then I entered a room – and ther it was, across from me in a corner, near another door.

It was a square, white, and dived into four squares like window-panes marked out in textured GOLD.

I don't know who painted it, or what it was called, or what it meant.

I just knew I loved it, and still love it, and still fell 'soft inside' just thinking about it all these years later.

Part Two

Get into groups of about three.

Each person read what they wrote.

Then tell each other how you think links the art-work they spoke about with the work they are proposing to do.

Part Three

In the light of what people said to you, think about what this tells about things that affect you

What technique if any could you learn from the form of the piece .

STAGES OF ART-MAKING

You get an IDEA, this is translated into SOMETHING TANGIBLE, that other people can INTERACT WITH.

Begins with some kind of a feeling

? for an atmosphere,

? idea for a look

What might it be about

What will it achieve for a viewr

[viewer willl "READ" it – what interpretation do you want them to go for BE SPECIFIC

Don't be unwilling to scrutinize the ideas – BE SPECIFIC

What does it remind you of?

What references do you have – what aspects do you want to convey

Is there humour?

Ads and comics as well as books, films etc

Do you have first-hand experience – draw on your own experience

Think of Bruce Nauman in his boring room with the neon sign, making art from BOREDOM. http://www.bigredandshiny.com/cgi-bin/retrieve.pl?issue=issue67&section=article&article=BRUCE_NAUMAN_AND_9115836

If the idea is very simple, think of how to complicate the idea

What other angle might you take?

What other interpretation?

If you start with an 'area' or an 'issue' – what does or can art do about it?

Needs lots of RESEARCH – documentation

What represents (symbol, metaphor)

What intervenes?

We need to disentangle the EMOTION caused in us, from the TECHNIQUE used to make us feel that way

How did the artist achieve the effect in the audience?

Was it by

Isolating elements

By silhouetting?

Masking/preventing something from being seen?

How do they show the passing of time in the one location?

How do you identify a particular mood?

Look at FORM – discipline yourself to LOOK

What is a character placed on the screen

What was said

Think of the choices they made

Every item in the frame has been CHOSEN

Why?

What might I have done instead?

There Will be Blood - http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0469494/mediaindex

Daniel Day Lewis is in every scene/frame ….

RESEARCH

Direct/narrow – speak to people – you won't know till you ask

Can you document a situation, people?

Indirect research – advertising, causes?

Intervene – Do something that changes

Legal Art [ This website may or may not be what Ralph meant by 'Legal Art' http://artnetweb.com/iola/journal/history/1998/salzburg/]

DOCUMENTATION

What do you mean by documentation?

Recording for the future to reference?

Recording for the present to see?

Recording, re-recording from the past?

Which mode?

Which method?

Technical skils?

Do you want the mechanism to be seen or to be concealed?

How will you convey the concepts through the video/photos or whatever you make?

William Kentridge http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bE5y-uzrlps cartoonist animation who work in charcoal and rubs out with eraser

FINAL REMARKS

Did anything come up during the project that needs to be answered?

Things I remember most:

- that every item on the screen has been chosen and why

- What might catch the audience attention?

Remember IDEA – make it TANGIBLE – audience REACTION

THINGS TO RESEARCH

Things to locate

Brainball, http://smart.tii.se/smart/projects/brainball/index_en.html game that you win if you stay relaxed

Items that might help my project:

Tilt sensor

Accelerometer

Ask Ben Gaulon who teaches MA students. http://gizmodo.com/gadgets/art-objects/gizmodo-gallery-benjamin-gaulon-162173.php

Learning about Flash

Just want to record that I am planning to learn seriously about how to use Flash using the book lent to me by a friend (he lent it to me May 3 2008 and I'm only making time to look seriously at it now, August 4 2008)

Not sure whether I will be able to publish the end results here on Blogger, but we'll see how it goes.

I don't expect to make very rapid progress with the Flash since as well as working through this book, I am sandwiching my study in between bouts of tidying my Workroom (not called a den any more, since a den is a place where I might curl up and go to sleep!), and also I am squeezing in bouts of writing up my Camino memories - not easy as already the whole event is starting to blur in my mind.

santiago Barcelona

hi everyone from sunny Barcelona where I am resting after finishing walking about 300km of the Camino de Santiago de Compostella. I am going to see can I include a photo (writing on my phone isn't quite the same as on the computer at home.) let's see what happens. i think it worked?

Tinny Sound in CAIRN video

Sorry folk,
I made three or four other web versions of the CAIRN video but all of them sound equally 'tinny'.
That overall sound that is behind the whole video is the sound of the small waves bringing in the tide (you can see them in scene two). Works fine in higher resolution, but obviously not suitable for websites.

Ah well!

Meantime, I am beginning preparations for my partial CAMINO WALK. I will be meeting Joey my son in Leon, and walking the last 282km with him to Santiago de Compostella. (He did the other 431km last year)

I've started walking, and today I think I've developed a welt on the ball of my left foot, despite wearing socks that are guaranteed to prevent blisters forming!
I've also started thinking about what I am going to bring with me, and how I'm going to carry it.

More later

The CAIRN re-done movie

Well, here is the finished piece, but I don't know what's happened to the sound. It's supposed to be the gentle lapping, shushing of the waves, not the whining of some kind of machine.



Maybe later I'll get a chance to re do the conversion of it to a web movie. (at 600+ Mb, it would be far too big to play online.

CAIRN Revisited 2008

Some of you may remember one of the pieces I did to celebrate my 70th birthday. I never felt I did it justice, so I am now working on it with software which wasn't available to me at the time.

This is the story in seven steps: (plan to put up the video when I get it finished.)

• I made this video as part of my 70th birthday celebrations in 2007
• On Dollymount beach I built a CAIRN with 70 large stones from our garden in Tallaght,
• Each stone had one of the years written on it in chalk
• As I carried each stone towards the CAIRN, I thought of some person, or group of people who had once been significant in my life.
• Inside the CAIRN, I put a plastic box containing the names of these people, and my own contact details.
• When I returned to the site of the CAIRN eight days later, the tide had knocked down the CAIRN, and the box was gone.
• Only a few of the stones remained, half buried in sand in a pool of sea-water.

Archive EC - loaded at last, well not actually!

Ended up doing the simple thing. (simple to start, but not simple eventually)
Opened the big file (1.5 Gb) in iMovie. This took ages to load - I think nearly 15 minutes.
Did one 'sharing' that didn't reduce the file size at all.
Then found 'expert settings', set anything to automatic that I could, and put quality to poor.
Ended with file size of 2.3 Mb - that's more like it.
So let's see how it uploads.

Failure one - am planning to click cancel whenever it says it has lost contact with Blogger. Last night I let it go on for ages, the wheel turning merrily, but in the end, no results.
Try No. 2
Again the failure message. So pressed save. message disappeared. So did the spinning wheel. but the black screen is still there, saying Uploading video ...
Think I'll go down and eat breakfast
Wait a minute - I just clicked on the black square and got an error message from blogger, but couldn't rightly read it. Then it disappeared. Curiouser and curriouser as Alice said to the Cheshire cat.
Message is still incomplete, and so can't send a report to Blogger. Think I will log out and log in again, and see if that helps.

Trial No 3
When I logged back in and went to re-edit, the black square said 'missing video', which might mean that it was making progress, even though I couldn't see it.