i am just giving a brief summery of how my spectacle project turned out for people (aka julia) who may not have seen it.
i ended up painting images in watercolor of the pasque parade on some pieces of scrape metal that i found and arranging them in a manner that is vaguely reminiscent of the accordian style book form that i was exploring earlier this semester in the sketchbook class. this piece was moderately successful. i was pleased with how well the paint adhered to the rusted metal surface. the texture and transparency of this mark was the most successful aspect of the project. i will probably try and tweak ares of this project to make it more successful. there was some variation within the mark-making which i wish was more uniform. the side of one of the metal pieces was without rust and therefore did not accept the paint as well, so this side was much brighter than the other. i am exploring ways to tone down this side and possibly increase the contrast in areas on the other sides so the images are more apparent.
i am still unsure as to where my ritual project will go. i have several ideas one of which involves incorperating it with my sketchbook project. i am however trying to give it a little time to mull around in my brain. i will be traveling this weekend which should give me some time to think about all the different options in a less stressful atmosphere.
Thursday, April 3, 2008
Sunday, March 30, 2008
laura 3.30.08
today i lit myself on fire.
in the porta al prato.
that was my spectacle.
here are pictures.
the idea behind the porta virgin was that i was going to turn myself into a cross between a saint statue and one of those candle offering candelabras that you find in churches. i was contemplating making a narrative film, but i decided that the spectacle wasn't about the story so much or the actions behind the making of the thing which are really quite mundane, but about the weird sight of someone on fire in the porta.
i attached candles to my crinoline with little wire holders, and then had Andrea and John and Alison light them while Michelle took pictures. thanks, guys!
in the porta al prato.
that was my spectacle.
here are pictures.
the idea behind the porta virgin was that i was going to turn myself into a cross between a saint statue and one of those candle offering candelabras that you find in churches. i was contemplating making a narrative film, but i decided that the spectacle wasn't about the story so much or the actions behind the making of the thing which are really quite mundane, but about the weird sight of someone on fire in the porta.
i attached candles to my crinoline with little wire holders, and then had Andrea and John and Alison light them while Michelle took pictures. thanks, guys!
Alison 3.30.08
Ciao! Sorry it's been a long time, internet issues made last week posting not really feasible, but I'm back this week to get you all caught up. Our current project is to create a spectacle, and being in Italy, I've been intrigued with how they do laundry, leaving their clothes hanging in public view to dry. For my spectacle, I've decided to exaggerate this idea by placing my drying laundry in a very public place that does not have laundry hanging about.
I set up my laundry on our drying rack in Piazza della Signoria and took pictures and some film footage of it in relationship with the area around it, and/or people. Laura photographed me setting up the laundry and taking it down which got more attention from people than when we left it and watch it from a distance. I discovered that the laundry on its own... probably because it is pretty small in comparison to the Palazzo Vecchio (which was in the background) did not draw that much attention to it. However when I was interacting with it (hanging it up, moving it around, and photographing it) people noticed it much more.
Currently I am debating the best way to display the picture and/or video. I think that I will be printing out a series of photos (probably 5-7) that best embody the laundry in the public location, but I haven't entirely decided.
Oh... and on a completely different note, we went to the Alps this weekend and they are AMAZING!!!
I set up my laundry on our drying rack in Piazza della Signoria and took pictures and some film footage of it in relationship with the area around it, and/or people. Laura photographed me setting up the laundry and taking it down which got more attention from people than when we left it and watch it from a distance. I discovered that the laundry on its own... probably because it is pretty small in comparison to the Palazzo Vecchio (which was in the background) did not draw that much attention to it. However when I was interacting with it (hanging it up, moving it around, and photographing it) people noticed it much more.
Currently I am debating the best way to display the picture and/or video. I think that I will be printing out a series of photos (probably 5-7) that best embody the laundry in the public location, but I haven't entirely decided.
Oh... and on a completely different note, we went to the Alps this weekend and they are AMAZING!!!
vidya
Well, I finally seemed to have gained some momentum! As Kate said, our collaboration is going extremely well..I think we were both just thinking along the same lines. I guess it's not all that surprising that we ended up working towards similar concepts, given my orange peel world and her little Florence. We work well together and it's just nice to have another brain and another pair of hands around. I will post pictures later tonight, but you can also just click on her link.
The project still talks about the man-made and the natural, and we have a lot to say, but my goal is to avoid force-feeding the viewer/stuffing bread down her throat. We should trust people to make their own inferences - that was probably the strength of my orange peel landscape.
Time is flying and it scares me. I want to savor this last month here before it passes me by...
The project still talks about the man-made and the natural, and we have a lot to say, but my goal is to avoid force-feeding the viewer/stuffing bread down her throat. We should trust people to make their own inferences - that was probably the strength of my orange peel landscape.
Time is flying and it scares me. I want to savor this last month here before it passes me by...
Liz Walworth
Greetings.
Kate and I made a video last week where we stripped and it came together in a magical way. We didn't have to edit it and it fit perfectly with the song we picked. MAGIC. I tried to post it on youtube but I don't think it worked. I'll keep trying.
I planned on making a naked suit and taking sexy pictures of myself for the spectacle thing, so the viewer would think that I would be completely vulnerable and naked for a split second, when, in fact, I'd be fully clothed. It was going to be about the illusion of having something when you're really getting nothing. But then I was watching Sin City and I realized I just didn't want to make it anymore. I was over it. It really has nothing to do with Sin City, but I was watching it when I stopped caring. But I started caring about Bruce Willis. He was looking good in that movie.
However, my spectacle has nothing to do with Bruce. I'm doing a painting of Kate. If the result is underwhelming, I plan on blaming Kate. Thanks Kate.
Kate and I made a video last week where we stripped and it came together in a magical way. We didn't have to edit it and it fit perfectly with the song we picked. MAGIC. I tried to post it on youtube but I don't think it worked. I'll keep trying.
I planned on making a naked suit and taking sexy pictures of myself for the spectacle thing, so the viewer would think that I would be completely vulnerable and naked for a split second, when, in fact, I'd be fully clothed. It was going to be about the illusion of having something when you're really getting nothing. But then I was watching Sin City and I realized I just didn't want to make it anymore. I was over it. It really has nothing to do with Sin City, but I was watching it when I stopped caring. But I started caring about Bruce Willis. He was looking good in that movie.
However, my spectacle has nothing to do with Bruce. I'm doing a painting of Kate. If the result is underwhelming, I plan on blaming Kate. Thanks Kate.
Christy- some time after spring break... =)
Right, so this week has been more motivated than last week for sure, though still not all that much productive. Until today, and now I'm pulling a marathon session to finish all the stuff I've been procrastinating on for the last week. Anyways, maybe less about my work habits and more about what I have been thinking about, because I am always thinking. Both a blessing and a curse I suppose.
Our current project is all about spectacles. I decided to do another movie, because I don't feel like I'm quite done exploring this process yet. I'm not sure if it is something I will do a lot in the future, but for the moment I'm still fascinated. For me the idea of a spectacle is all about the mundane. Because I consider mundane things spectacles, it makes me think about whether or not other people/things realize that I am watching them, and thus, making them into a spectacle. This brings in the whole idea of who is watching whom, and whether or not they could be watching me and making me into a spectacle, except that I'm not aware of it. Also, I like the idea of how a spectacle feels from the point of view of the watched.
All of that, very logically brought me to animating a pigeon. Of course, this may not seem logical to the random passerby, but it made sense when I was thinking about a lot of that stuff on a park bench in the sun one afternoon and watching the pigeons in the park. Also, I like the concept of pigeons because they are so common place that they tend to become wallpaper that just happens to move (and poop on you). They are not normal fodder for the spectacular, and they are not a point of view from which people normally consider the world.
Well, back to work....
Our current project is all about spectacles. I decided to do another movie, because I don't feel like I'm quite done exploring this process yet. I'm not sure if it is something I will do a lot in the future, but for the moment I'm still fascinated. For me the idea of a spectacle is all about the mundane. Because I consider mundane things spectacles, it makes me think about whether or not other people/things realize that I am watching them, and thus, making them into a spectacle. This brings in the whole idea of who is watching whom, and whether or not they could be watching me and making me into a spectacle, except that I'm not aware of it. Also, I like the idea of how a spectacle feels from the point of view of the watched.
All of that, very logically brought me to animating a pigeon. Of course, this may not seem logical to the random passerby, but it made sense when I was thinking about a lot of that stuff on a park bench in the sun one afternoon and watching the pigeons in the park. Also, I like the concept of pigeons because they are so common place that they tend to become wallpaper that just happens to move (and poop on you). They are not normal fodder for the spectacular, and they are not a point of view from which people normally consider the world.
Well, back to work....
Kate Owens 3/30
mmm... so this week has been the week of collaborations.
Starting with the project regarding how to measure space.. Liz and I worked together to make a short movie where we measured how far our clothes will take us in life… literally. We stripped down right outside of our door and stretched each item of clothing out side by side to see who could get the farthest. I won. I believe Liz is putting it on youtube right now so she or I will post it.
The spectacle project also turned out to be a collaboration.. but more by chance… Vidya overheard me talking to Ken about and an idea where I make one of my mini worlds out of bread and set it for the pigeons to attack. She had been planning to do a project with orange peels that was addressing very similar concepts to mine so she proposed that we collaborate and I agreed and it’s been going extremely well. Right now we have so much footage that its kind of overwhelming… The filming of the pigeons went better than either of us expected and there are a lot of interesting moments that I’m not sure how we will be able to edit it down to a short enough movie…
Bahh I’ve eaten too much bread this weekend.
Starting with the project regarding how to measure space.. Liz and I worked together to make a short movie where we measured how far our clothes will take us in life… literally. We stripped down right outside of our door and stretched each item of clothing out side by side to see who could get the farthest. I won. I believe Liz is putting it on youtube right now so she or I will post it.
The spectacle project also turned out to be a collaboration.. but more by chance… Vidya overheard me talking to Ken about and an idea where I make one of my mini worlds out of bread and set it for the pigeons to attack. She had been planning to do a project with orange peels that was addressing very similar concepts to mine so she proposed that we collaborate and I agreed and it’s been going extremely well. Right now we have so much footage that its kind of overwhelming… The filming of the pigeons went better than either of us expected and there are a lot of interesting moments that I’m not sure how we will be able to edit it down to a short enough movie…
Bahh I’ve eaten too much bread this weekend.
Taryn
hello folksies HI JULIA!!!!!!!!!!
for the first exercise in ken's class i did a fairly simple drawing of body parts in my room as they related to both practical and impractical uses (turning on lightswitch .. splits across floor etc)
Included on my flickr are two very random stills from the video i am working on... kind of having to do with OCD and the feelings of human discomfort that have to do with being dirty, slimy, etc.. feelings off being constrained.... it isnt as narrative as i think ken and i talked about it being but right now i am just working with the abstract images - then im going to try to piece them together in a slightly more logical sense.
ok maybe thats it for now chachacha
for the first exercise in ken's class i did a fairly simple drawing of body parts in my room as they related to both practical and impractical uses (turning on lightswitch .. splits across floor etc)
Included on my flickr are two very random stills from the video i am working on... kind of having to do with OCD and the feelings of human discomfort that have to do with being dirty, slimy, etc.. feelings off being constrained.... it isnt as narrative as i think ken and i talked about it being but right now i am just working with the abstract images - then im going to try to piece them together in a slightly more logical sense.
ok maybe thats it for now chachacha
vassallo again
helllloo sorry i totally forgot about pictures. but i have attached these pictures of my last project- the one when ken wanted us to experiment with meauring space. i decided to measure space using an imaginary pogo stick. i made marks around my appartment with flour, in the shape of the bottom of a pogo stick. and i strategically placed them in groups, as if someone had dipped a pogo stick in flour and this is what they did with it. i think it came out pretty well. someone suggested covering the floor in flour, then making the marks inversely, which couldhave been pretty cool i think.
vassallo
helllllooo alllll. hiiii julia. uh as a sidenote i would like to mention that iv been trying to figure out whats wrong with my jpegs... and the internet is going slow as a goose right now but il try emailing them to you again tomorrow.
but in other news, so im working on our new project. and my "backpocket idea" is basically the idea of pasta. working with it for my last project, i have grown to kindof love pasta for some weird reason. i love the shape and the texture, and the different things you can do with it. so i took this to ken, and he was basically like, why do you want to work with pasta. and pretty much the only responce i had was, cause i like pasta. so im trying to dig deeper. and i think iv come to the comclusion that pasta is kindof my reminder of home. at home, both in saint louis and in my house in maryland, pasta is for dinner overwhelmingly often. and even though im in italy, where pasta is also on the menu 24/7... it still reminds me of home. and then me and ken started brainstorming about this idea that pasta is my "security blanket." and from there, i have decided to make somekind of pasta creation, using sewing. and perhaps really make a blanket, or just sew a "plate of pasta" and hopefully bring it around florence with me. and probly take pictures... of my security pasta and me, banging around town. we'll see how this goes... i gotta go figure out how im gunna do it.
pace all!
but in other news, so im working on our new project. and my "backpocket idea" is basically the idea of pasta. working with it for my last project, i have grown to kindof love pasta for some weird reason. i love the shape and the texture, and the different things you can do with it. so i took this to ken, and he was basically like, why do you want to work with pasta. and pretty much the only responce i had was, cause i like pasta. so im trying to dig deeper. and i think iv come to the comclusion that pasta is kindof my reminder of home. at home, both in saint louis and in my house in maryland, pasta is for dinner overwhelmingly often. and even though im in italy, where pasta is also on the menu 24/7... it still reminds me of home. and then me and ken started brainstorming about this idea that pasta is my "security blanket." and from there, i have decided to make somekind of pasta creation, using sewing. and perhaps really make a blanket, or just sew a "plate of pasta" and hopefully bring it around florence with me. and probly take pictures... of my security pasta and me, banging around town. we'll see how this goes... i gotta go figure out how im gunna do it.
pace all!
Alex Nason, March 30thhhh (pictures to follow)
HEYYYYYYY,
so long time no blog, eh!? word...
so it is absolutely gorgeeous out and we went to the Specola today, which totally blows my mind. i was really taken with all of the wacky specimens and especially the wax body parts! in the projects i like the idea of making people squirm, so the fetuses were pretty sweet. . .
hmm, so for the spectacle project? i had trouble thinking about what i wanted to do, but kind of landed on the idea of the masses of tourists, poop, street cleaners and PIGEONS that somehow make it hard to pay attention to the intended spectacles in the city (im thinking duomo, piazza della signorina, what have you). I am always laughing at the tour groups walking around following one person holding a bright red stick or a flower or something. i mean, seriously how hilarious is that? or when there are tours of old ladies and they all whip out their cameras at the same time? horses running people over, followed by carts and crying children...florence is in FULL BLOOM guys!
So im making a movie on all of this, and partly because it is going to be oh such a wonderful surprise and partly because its not finished yet...i am going to refrain from saying much about it. Also, what if i jinx myself and then it totally stinks? that may already be the case....but guess well see on tuesday.
Ive been filming alot out on the streets and its amazing how many people are here from so many different places. it makes me feel alot smaller, in a way. and sometimes it just really ticks me off because im either stepping in horse poop or on someone else's foot or getting run over by a baby carriage....my oh my. so much darn inspiration, i have like 50 minutes of footage i have to cut down. just can't get enough of these tourists/attack of the pigeons deal. i am interested in the idea of what is grotesque and disturbing, even scary, but also laced with an edge of humor--bordering on the sarcastic, satirical, and then also the idea of "hilarity." You know, that which is "hilarious" and that which is a little overkill hilarious?
hmmm....
Holla back.
so long time no blog, eh!? word...
so it is absolutely gorgeeous out and we went to the Specola today, which totally blows my mind. i was really taken with all of the wacky specimens and especially the wax body parts! in the projects i like the idea of making people squirm, so the fetuses were pretty sweet. . .
hmm, so for the spectacle project? i had trouble thinking about what i wanted to do, but kind of landed on the idea of the masses of tourists, poop, street cleaners and PIGEONS that somehow make it hard to pay attention to the intended spectacles in the city (im thinking duomo, piazza della signorina, what have you). I am always laughing at the tour groups walking around following one person holding a bright red stick or a flower or something. i mean, seriously how hilarious is that? or when there are tours of old ladies and they all whip out their cameras at the same time? horses running people over, followed by carts and crying children...florence is in FULL BLOOM guys!
So im making a movie on all of this, and partly because it is going to be oh such a wonderful surprise and partly because its not finished yet...i am going to refrain from saying much about it. Also, what if i jinx myself and then it totally stinks? that may already be the case....but guess well see on tuesday.
Ive been filming alot out on the streets and its amazing how many people are here from so many different places. it makes me feel alot smaller, in a way. and sometimes it just really ticks me off because im either stepping in horse poop or on someone else's foot or getting run over by a baby carriage....my oh my. so much darn inspiration, i have like 50 minutes of footage i have to cut down. just can't get enough of these tourists/attack of the pigeons deal. i am interested in the idea of what is grotesque and disturbing, even scary, but also laced with an edge of humor--bordering on the sarcastic, satirical, and then also the idea of "hilarity." You know, that which is "hilarious" and that which is a little overkill hilarious?
hmmm....
Holla back.
Sarah Q. 3.30
allo!
so, for last week i tried the whole 'stop-motion' idea to show how many footsteps it took me to listen to one song on my ipod. i began with the idea of couting my footsteps all the way to our italian school, and then have them also coincide with the songs i listened to. that turned out to be a hell of a lot of footsteps and songs, so i just limited myself to one song.
i thought that using actual footsteps would be too cliche, so i decided to use the actual song that i listened to. i counted the number of letters in the song and then divided them by the number of footsteps. i made a stop motion film where each time i took a footstep, the next two letters of the lyrics would show up. i didnt use a tripod and i used pencil and lined paper because i wanted it to seem kind of juvenile and quick.. kind of like what i would write at school. i thought it was awesome, but i think some of the criticism was actually smart - for example maybe making the letters appear in a more footstep-looking kind of way. or like down the page in a path instead of just left to right in a line.
for the spectacle.. i began by just thinking what i think os as a spectacle - i came up with a few key words: mystery, motion, abstraction, immersive, and musical. then i tried thinking of spaces in florence that i get this feeling from... i ended up exactly where i began at the beginning of the semester: at the joshua tree pub. i am going to try and make a film where i compress maybe 4 or 5 hours of the night into a few minutes. im going to just film close up on the bar, so that all you can see is hands giving and taking away alcohol.. you cant see any of the people or how intoxicated people are getting.. its a mystery! i want to do instances where i speed through the time, and instances where i slow down and emphasize other parts. i wanted to make a film so that i can project it and in a way take everyone through the spectacle that I see every time i go to joshua tree pub.
so, for last week i tried the whole 'stop-motion' idea to show how many footsteps it took me to listen to one song on my ipod. i began with the idea of couting my footsteps all the way to our italian school, and then have them also coincide with the songs i listened to. that turned out to be a hell of a lot of footsteps and songs, so i just limited myself to one song.
i thought that using actual footsteps would be too cliche, so i decided to use the actual song that i listened to. i counted the number of letters in the song and then divided them by the number of footsteps. i made a stop motion film where each time i took a footstep, the next two letters of the lyrics would show up. i didnt use a tripod and i used pencil and lined paper because i wanted it to seem kind of juvenile and quick.. kind of like what i would write at school. i thought it was awesome, but i think some of the criticism was actually smart - for example maybe making the letters appear in a more footstep-looking kind of way. or like down the page in a path instead of just left to right in a line.
for the spectacle.. i began by just thinking what i think os as a spectacle - i came up with a few key words: mystery, motion, abstraction, immersive, and musical. then i tried thinking of spaces in florence that i get this feeling from... i ended up exactly where i began at the beginning of the semester: at the joshua tree pub. i am going to try and make a film where i compress maybe 4 or 5 hours of the night into a few minutes. im going to just film close up on the bar, so that all you can see is hands giving and taking away alcohol.. you cant see any of the people or how intoxicated people are getting.. its a mystery! i want to do instances where i speed through the time, and instances where i slow down and emphasize other parts. i wanted to make a film so that i can project it and in a way take everyone through the spectacle that I see every time i go to joshua tree pub.
Michelle Israel
Ciao again!
It's tourist season in Italy. It's kind of annoying trying to get around all of those tourists. So I decided to make that into an art project, of course! I went around the Ponte Vecchio and snapped photos of all of the things I wanted to see (mainly the jewelry shops). Except those damn tourists were always in the way, so I measured "How Many Tourists Does it Take to Block My View?" My photos ranged from 2 to 25 tourists blocking the things I wanted to see.
For my spectacle project, I took my "back pocket" idea of tourism and thought about all of the spectacles that tourists come to Italy to see: paintings, museums, sculptures, etc. So I decided to make myself into a spectacle; or more specifically, a sculpture. I painted my body white and wrapped sheets around me to make myself look like a sculpture in a museum. To make it more personal (i.e. bring more of myself into my project), my pose complements a story from my life. I plan on making a tiny display case featuring this anecdote (similar to how a sculpture would be displayed in a museum), and projecting a picture of myself as a sculpture life-size on a wall. Hopefully, this will create a "museum effect," in which I am the spectacle in the museum, the thing to be looked at.
That's all for this week - enjoy the photos!
Michelle
It's tourist season in Italy. It's kind of annoying trying to get around all of those tourists. So I decided to make that into an art project, of course! I went around the Ponte Vecchio and snapped photos of all of the things I wanted to see (mainly the jewelry shops). Except those damn tourists were always in the way, so I measured "How Many Tourists Does it Take to Block My View?" My photos ranged from 2 to 25 tourists blocking the things I wanted to see.
For my spectacle project, I took my "back pocket" idea of tourism and thought about all of the spectacles that tourists come to Italy to see: paintings, museums, sculptures, etc. So I decided to make myself into a spectacle; or more specifically, a sculpture. I painted my body white and wrapped sheets around me to make myself look like a sculpture in a museum. To make it more personal (i.e. bring more of myself into my project), my pose complements a story from my life. I plan on making a tiny display case featuring this anecdote (similar to how a sculpture would be displayed in a museum), and projecting a picture of myself as a sculpture life-size on a wall. Hopefully, this will create a "museum effect," in which I am the spectacle in the museum, the thing to be looked at.
That's all for this week - enjoy the photos!
Michelle
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