Tuesday, November 20, 2012

#TooMuchTweet

Social Media Project

#TooMuchTweet
Welded Wire Sculpture

My objective for #TooMuchTweet was to create a visual/sculptural representation of my thoughts on social media sharing. To me, what seems like an abundance of random thoughts, is useless. The views of using social as a means of staying in the loop and as a news feed seems to be an excuse for being criticized for use.

The piece consists of a vomiting twitter bird that is spitting out the means of "sharing" via social networks (tweet, post, pin, status). Through further thought, I believe that some modifications (greater amount of "vomit") would further enhance the thoughts and message trying to be given.


Monday, November 19, 2012

Pre-Social Media

My goal for this piece was to show the abundance of, in my opinion, useless sharing. Placing this same sculptural project into a time before digital social media had so much control, I believe it could still hold importance.

The basis and structural concept could still be left as a bird, however the content that is being shared and the use of location would be changed. Meaning, that the "bird" would have to take on a new cause and in a different way. Possibly representing a movement that is being pushed through speeches and large gatherings or activists events.


Tuesday, November 6, 2012

Nate Larson

Born: 1978 in West Lafayette, Indiana

Current: Living and teaching in Baltimore, Maryland

Education: 2000 BA Purdue University, 2002 MFA Ohio State University

"My current project GEOLOCATION, in collaboration with Marni Shindelman, tracks GPS coordinates associated with Twitter tweets and pairs the text with a photograph of the originating site to mark the virtual information in the real world."


larson-shindelman.com



Wednesday, October 24, 2012

Appropriation

The Devoid Of Sound
Single Channel Video
Duration: 5:02


The object of The Devoid Of Sound was to create a piece that seemed to have no modification from the original. After viewing the original The "Nature" of Sound, I came to the realization that most of what was being presented seemed to be blatantly obvious, at least in todays world. So with that I decided to make the attempt to create a piece in which everything that was originally presented was then reversed to the opposite. 

It seems to have ended up in a slightly unusual or humorous way, where Jimmy can somehow hear everything spoken to him but the experiments that his cousin is showing don't register or they just don't work. It could be also looked at in a way that Jimmy is unaware of time. He can't hear the watch, bell or whistle, which are all markers or signals of time.



Tuesday, October 9, 2012

Tauba Auerbach

Tauba Auerbach

Born: 1981 San Francisco, California

Current: Lives and works in New York and San Francisco

Education: 1999-2003 BA Visual Art, Stanford University, California

Much of Auerbach's works deal with written communication and the limits that they place on expression. There is a recurring interest in the space between the sensical and non-sensical – in how meaning is translated through the help of fragile and frequently failing systems of signs and symbols.






"The Uncertainty Principle"

Sunday, September 30, 2012

Creating Art Vs. Constructing Games

STRUCTURE

The first and most prominant difference between "art" and "game" for myself is structure. When creating my game and then collaborating with a partner, the game always required structure. There had to be a beginning, an end, pre determined point systems and teams or players, and purpose. We had to have a set direction and desire to give the player to do and follow, and in the end, we had to have a result. 

For me, when creating "art", these are things I never even think about, let alone focus on. I usually rely on allowing myself to become distracted and stray away from my original plan for the piece. I enjoy beginning with a thought and ending up in a different place. I have realized and stated in the past about how I enjoy to cause confusion for the viewers and being able to create different reactions and thoughts. 

I think that game making and art making can be seen as very similar though. They are both processes in which the artist is trying to create a reaction, however, in certain situations the artist has more control on the outcome, not just the desire for it.

Tuesday, September 25, 2012

Game Proposal

Matching Senses

Players have to match two different phone "senses" to the same location.

Objective:
Players are divided into two groups of "senses". The game leader assigns each player locations to be kept secretive. The visual "sense" group is sent out to take photos of their assigned locations. When they return, the auditory "sense" is sent out to take audio recordings of the locations.
The the players present their captures and the challenge is to make the attempt to match the sound with the sight of a location.

Rules:
Each group of "senses" goes out into the field at different controlled times.
Photographs must be taken no more than 24 inches from an object or part of the location.

Wednesday, September 12, 2012

Oblique Strategies

Oblique Strategies
Brian Eno and Peter Schmidt

The intended objective of Oblique Strategies is to help artists, particularly musicians, break creative blocks. The original version created by Peter Schmidt, consisted of 55 7x9 cm cards held in a wooden box. Over the years different editions were released consisting of different quantities of cards and different aphorisms.  From my research, it seems that the rules for this game are quite lackadaisical. When a problem or dilemma occurs, a card is chosen or randomly selected from the shuffled deck. The card had a printed phrase or cryptic remark which was used to break the dilemma.

Some examples:
  • Use an old idea.
  • State the problem in words as clearly as possible.
  • Only one element of each kind.
  • What would your closest friend do?
  • What to increase? What to reduce?
  • Are there sections? Consider transitions.
  • Try faking it!
  • Honour thy error as a hidden intention.
  • Ask your body.
  • Work at a different speed.

 

Tuesday, September 11, 2012

Show & Tell - Dreaming Awake

Dreaming Awake (2011)
Single Channel Video
Duration:    2:59

 I highly enjoyed the process of filming this piece, probably because it was one of the most extensive works I have put together (shooting time and number of shots). 

It addresses my view of a dream being just another happening in the mind, although one that is somewhat scattered or fragmented. I believe that dreams like this, where it seems to be an ordinary happening with missing information, shows how our minds have become trained to "fill in" and complete things for us.  






Tuesday, April 3, 2012

Amos Fortune

I attended the Ann Arbor Film Festival on Saturday, March 31st. I went with my girlfriend, however I did run into other people that I knew and that she knew as well. The screening we went to see was that of "As Above, So Below", which was preceded by "Amos Fortune Road". I was originally planning on attending an earlier show, but running late and the desire for food thought otherwise.
In the end, though, I was glad that we attended the 7PM show because I very much enjoyed it. The preceding "Amos Fortune Road" was created by Matthew Buckingham in 1996. It was a narrated film with "silent film" type title breaks. The film was about a teachers discovery of man's story in which his legacy was almost entirely made up.
The following, and main viewing, was that of "As Above, So Below" in which the artist,
Sarah J. Christman, made a documentary like film about her mothers journey to use her husbands ashes to make a diamond. Relating stories of alchemy and decomposition were inserted into the different stages of the movie.
I'm really glad that I ended up attending this viewing. I really enjoyed it. I very much enjoyed my experience in the city and at the Ann Arbor Film Festival, and I will most definitely attend in the years to come.

P.S. I met a VERY eccentric man at a vintage basement resale shop on State Street that I highly recommend visiting :)

Monday, March 26, 2012

Gerry Fialka

Dear Gerry,

Your group discussion was intensely enjoyable. I found your words and stories to be inspirational throughout. I felt that I needed a personal courtroom stenographer to keep track of all my ideas that kept escaping from my mind. I really connected and was comforted by your constant topic and relating to humans and how they have "destroyed" art and nature with their technological advancements. I felt that their was such a compression of facts that I couldn't keep up, and I unfortunately found myself lingering too long on one thing that you said. However, it was your interaction with the crowd that kept me interested and continually excited.

Your presence was so energetic and the whole presentation was completely not what I was expecting. The fact that while attending a visiting artists lecture I saw not one piece of his or anyone other persons art stirs my mind. I admittedly was caught off-guard with being questioned right as I entered the room, and I vaguely even remember what my answer was. However, after being seated, I found it very interesting to observe and listen to what others answers were. If I were given the chance again, my revised answer would be "a human".

Having not known anything, and still not knowing anything about you or your work I feel I will be easily able to connect and enjoy it. Knowing and relating to your views and beliefs will probably allow me to see your art differently than if I had not experienced your discussion beforehand. However, having further researched your links and biographies, I struggle to decipher what it is you really are, besides human.

Great Thanks,
Giancarlo D

Tuesday, February 28, 2012

100 Words About Me, Myself, and I

I am confusingly awkward and hopefully awkwardly confusing. I thrill in representing miscommunication and disconnect between vision and mind. I respect what deserves to be respected, but withhold when I truly feel otherwise. I often feel overwhelmed by my minds processes of disrupting my thoughts. Constant triggers of creativity remove me from the living world’s reality and throw me in a place where time stops and ideas are fulfilled with ease. I enjoy this disconnect, but when I snap back into life I regret the time I spend there. I think that falling behind is my greatest fear of all.

Wednesday, January 25, 2012

60 Second Shots?

I very much enjoyed the concept of a 60 second shot. I believe that using a short limited video as one of the main components for a piece allows an easier display for the common viewer. Their attention span has been manipulated by society into being minimal, but in the presence of a short video it experiences moments of expansion. This project has inspired me to create an entire series of short videos of a particular theme.

I liked that you could try to squeeze a story or meaning in a medium that is usually considered to be more time consuming for viewing. I found it interesting that with viewing others videos, it seemd that it often gave such a long length of time.

Sometimes I am guilty of the quick view that most give to any particular piece of art, but I think that having a main focus of the works being that its short gives the viewer some sort of incentive to continue watching. However, what if the description is in no way related to the piece itself except for the purpose to draw attention? Why must there always be a correspondence between the art and its displayed label? Isn't the "art" enough just by iteself?

Tuesday, January 10, 2012

What I Love About Video Art

Through my experiences so far, I think its safe to say that I have mixed feelings about video art. The whole discussion and argument about the origins and the influences of the field really put me in a mind bind during my first interactions with video art last semester. However, after that mini-rant, I do enjoy the freedom that video art seems to lend as a major importance. I feel like working with this medium offers a lot of expansion and growth throughout the creation process.

I suppose it's just because of the restrictions that assignments gave that I sometimes struggled with some of my videos, however, I have realized that my own personal endeavors have yielded less difficulties probably due to this fact.

I traditionally have a very minimalistic and simplistic style with my art works and I have generally tried to work that way with my videos as well by using less after effects and editing, but I did try some manipulations with projects that were done in Video Art I.