Thursday, March 31, 2011

Lifespan (Idea) 3/31


Defined

life span or life·span (lfspn)
n.
1. A lifetime.
2. The average or maximum length of time an organism, material, or object can be expected to survive or last.

The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition copyright ©2000 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Updated in 2009. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.



Quotations

"The fountain of youth may exist after all, as a study showed that scientists have discovered means to extend the lifespan of mice and primates. The key to eternal -- or at least prolonged -- youth lies in genetic manipulation that mimics the health benefits of reducing calorie intake, suggesting that aging and age-related diseases can be treated."

S6k1, Blocking. "Scientists Find Path to Fountain of Youth - Free Online Library." Free News, Magazines, Newspapers, Journals, Reference Articles and Classic Books - Free Online Library. Web. 31 Mar. 2011. .


"The lifespan of plasma TV, contrary to rumor, is great. Also, the technology is ever advancing to produce better televisions that will last even longer. Most manufacturers will give an
approximate lifespan of 60,000 hours for their plasma televisions. That''s 20 to 25 years of normal viewing before the screen begins to noticeably dim. This is a new number that reflects the improvements made to the technology in recent years."

Pandey, Sumit. "Plasma TV of the Lifespan - Free Online Library." Free News, Magazines, Newspapers, Journals, Reference Articles and Classic Books - Free Online Library. Web. 31 Mar. 2011. .



Annotated Bibliography

Antonio Krüger, et al. "Psychological Principles of Successful Aging Technologies: A Mini-Review." Gerontology 54.1 (2008): 59-68. Academic Search Complete. EBSCO. Web. 31 Mar. 2011.

This article discusses a form of technology called "lifespan technology," whose aim is
"improving both the transition from middle adulthood to old age and the degree of autonomy in old age in present and future generations. " The technology either aids its user in relieving cognitive demands or by prompting its user to cognitive cues. The technology is sort of a virtual geriatric nurse, mechanically increasing the viability of a long lifespan. I find this idea very interesting because of the opportunities it opens to elderly humans, as well as the staggered evolution this may present in the future. As with any technology, the poverty line dictates an unequal distribution of its benefits. If this remains constant, it will prove that financial viability has an ever increasing role in natural selection.



Relates

The topic of lifespan relates to my concept because I seek to represent the lifespan behind a still image. The videos I make are all based around a still life image, composed the way I would have if a single image were meant to be captured. Instead, the viewer is faced with the living, or dying, subject whose physical state changes reveal the hidden cues to eventual demise. This concept has a lot to do with permanence and its roots in genetics, technology, and the medium of photography. I am trying to present a video installation in which each video contains an image's lifespan, each subject to manipulation from the environment.

Monday, March 28, 2011

Kevin Jones (Artist) 3/28

Work


Loop, 2005, Microcontroller, LCD monitor, Sensor, DVD Player, Sound, Size Variable


Industrial Society and Its Future, 2007, Lemons, Zinc, Copper, Wire, Book and Modified Calculator, Size Variable


Concerning Things That Can Be, Doubted, 2009, Digital Print On Aluminum, Micro-Controller with Ultra-Sonic sensor, Laboratory Stirrer, Size Variable


Calculating Heading, 2008, Paint, Chalk, Looping Video, Micro-Controller and Photodiode Sensor, Size Variable




Bio

Kevin Jones is an artist with painting and graphic design education. He often works in sculptural and video installation and deals with scientific questioning. He seeks to infiltrate the institution of science by questioning its logic and procedures. The result is a sci-fi collection of work functioning as a dream-like experiment in which the viewer is often the scientist.



Quotations

"Through digitally produced images and a video installation, Kevin Jones examines systems found in scientific investigation, specifically the periodic table of elements. His video, The Culture of Logic, builds upon the structure of the periodic table and features a combination of images that when seen together fluctuate between meaning and nonsense."
Michael McFalls Kevin Jones: April 22-May 28. 1708 Gallery Press Release. 18 March, 2011.

"By reconfiguring the methods society uses to understand and control its environment, Jones “seeks to question our understanding of the physical world and seeks to test and undermine scientific authority.”
Michael McFalls Kevin Jones: April 22-May 28. 1708 Gallery Press Release. 18 March, 2011.



Relates

Kevin Jones' work relates to mine in its examination of scientific procedures and final mutation of the "organism" that is the subject. I deal with measurements and data handling, whereas Jones is interested in the interactivity he can create with his installations, reminiscent of a laboratory.



Interview

http://carrollgallery.tulane.edu/audio/Jones2010.mp3
http://carrollgallery.tulane.edu/_podcasts_faculty.htm#



Gallery

http://www.arthurrogergallery.com/dynamic/artist.asp?artistid=118



Website

kevinhjones.com

Wednesday, March 23, 2011

Static (Idea) 2/24





Defined

Stat·ic (sttk)
adj.
1.
a. Having no motion; being at rest; quiescent.
b. Fixed; stationary.
2. Physics Of or relating to bodies at rest or forces that balance each other.
3. Electricity Of, relating to, or producing stationary charges; electrostatic.
4. Of, relating to, or produced by random radio noise.
n.
1. Random noise, such as crackling in a receiver or specks on a television screen, produced by atmospheric disturbance of the signal.
2. Informal
a. Back talk.
b. Interference; obstruction.
c. Angry or heated criticism.

The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition copyright ©2000 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Updated in 2009. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.


Quotations

"
I saw myself then as I see myself now, driven step by step towards that hasty blow, the creature of a sequence of accidents leading inevitably to that. I felt no condemnation; yet the memory, static, unprogressive, haunted me."

Wells, H.G. "H.G. Wells: The War Of The Worlds: CHAPTER SEVEN - Free Online Library." H.G. Wells - Free Online Library. Web. 24 Mar. 2011. .


"The tendency of the individual life is to be static rather than dynamic, and this tendency is made into a propulsion by civilization, where the obvious only is seen, and the unexpected rarely happens."

London, Jack. "Jack London: Love of Life And Other Stories: Chapter 5: The Unexpected - Free Online Library." Jack London - Free Online Library. Web. 24 Mar. 2011. .


"They needed little to release the accumulated pressure of static nerve force which the terrorizing mummery of the witch-doctor had induced."

Burroughs, Edgar R. "Edgar Rice Burroughs: Jungle Tales of Tarzan: Chapter 4: The God of Tarzan - Free Online Library." Edgar Rice Burroughs - Free Online Library. Web. 24 Mar. 2011. .




Annotated Bibliography

J.D., BIERSDORFER. "Q&A; On a Plasma TV Screen, Ghosts of Images Past." New York Times 31 July 2003: 4. Academic Search Complete. EBSCO. Web. 25 Mar. 2011.

This article was based on a consumer concern about the "burn-in" affect of stationary images on a plasma screen television. As opposed to an LCD screen, the plasma screen televisions are subject to this "ghost-like image" effect if a static image is left on the screen for too long. I find this very fascinating, not only from a technological mindset, but also from a consumer point of view. If you are watching a channel that is a risk of "burn-in," are you just watching a picture? Is a still image considered the basis for moving images? Or the reverse?


Relates

This concept relates to my work because I am dealing with a medium out of response to another medium. My concept deals with the life after the static, still image. The ideal shot of the subject is slowly and discretely, but also crudely stripped of its perfection to reveal its lifespan. The continuous passage of time is revealed by the clocks and the sound in my videos. I am interested in the idea of the static for the reasons described above, but also because the idea of permanence and evolution has driven my work and continues to fascinate me. Static is another connection between the organic and electronic permanence I am juxtaposing together because of its reference to physical state as well as technical electronic connotations.



Laurel Nakadate (Lecture Response) 2/23

Quotation

"Again...total failure."

This quote is important to me because most of what I do is technically a failure. Whether the failure makes the work worth while or renders it a pure failure is a question I wish I could answer right now. Nakadate is really encouraging in this aspect, because she doesn't hide behind that question.



3 Words

1) Chance
2) Empathetic
3) Relational



About Nakadate

One thing I learned about Nakadate that I didn't already know is that she is primarily a performance artist. In my mind, she was a video artist who used herself as a subject. I wish she had shown more of the video clips instead of just still images because her ability to transform a seemingly questionable situation involving two strangers into a collaborative relationship is unreal and amazing to watch.



Answers

My first question involved Nakadate's casting herself as her subject. More specifically, I wondered whether she considered her work to be autobiographical. After attending her lecture yesterday, it is clear she does not. Rather, she is interested in personally inhabiting the spaces she "maybe isn't supposed to go to." In this way, she is able to play out relationships which began with "chance encounters" with strangers.

My second question involved Nakadate as a female artist and the relationship between video and the conceptual theme of gender. In Nakadate's work, the issue of gender is always present. When working with men, she tends to collaborate and befriend, highlighting the nuances in her relationships with them which may be taboo or not supposed to occur in the spaces they do. Rather than an exploitative approach to using men in her performances, Nakadate seems to relate to them as a partner and collaborator. When Nakadate works with females, she seems more removed and either mystified or maternal.



Compelling Piece

Nakadate only really spoke about much of her work, and showed stills. I think the most compelling work was the video she did show, "Oops." In this video, she danced with several different men in their apartments to a Brittany Spears song, Oops I Did it Again. I found the piece compelling for its empathetic values, as well as collaborative nature. Instead of finding the work to be exploiting, I realize that Nakadate relies on the relationships she has with these men in order to make the work. She said in her lecture that she "wanted them to choose her," which seems opposite to the traditional young female role of the enticing "siren."

Laurel Nakadate "Oops!" 2000


Anderson Gallery Student Show Submission

Work Submitted

Monitor Melt from Kathleen Leigh Jones on Vimeo.




Mutate Waist to Hip from Kathleen Leigh Jones on Vimeo.



Kathleen Leigh Jones Unidentified Birdlike Appendage (Claw, scale, feather structures corresponding to Chromosome GGA25—Sequencing on experimental chicken) Mutate 16 X 24” 2010




Proof




Sunday, March 20, 2011

Laurel Nakadate (Lecture Questions) 3/21


Question 1

In the January 2010 issue of Artforum Jeffrey Kastner writes, "Dangerously smart, dangerously bold (and frequently just plain dangerous), Laurel Nakadate has built an indelible body of work around her provocative investigations of psychosexual identity and female power."

My first question for Laurel Nakadate is if she considers her work to be autobiographical.



Question 2

What is the relationship between video and the conceptual theme of gender?

Philipp Schaerer (Artist) 3/21

Work (From the series Bildbauten)




Bildbau No 1, 2007
50 x 70 / 6o x 85 cm
Light Jet Print

Bildbau No 3, 2007
50 x 70 / 6o x 85 cm
Light Jet Print

Bildbau No 5, 2007
50 x 70 / 6o x 85 cm
Light Jet Print

Bildbau No 2, 2007
50 x 70 / 6o x 85 cm
Light Jet Print

Bildbau No 6, 2007
50 x 70 / 6o x 85 cm
Light Jet Print

Compilation, 2007/08








Bio






Philipp Schaerer is a Swiss architect and image creator. He works with Computer Aided Design Software to create virtual renderings of buildings. He seeks to examine the nature of digital photography lending itself to the virtual rather than the real.



Quotations



"
Frontal views of fictional architectures serve as an example. By means of their exaggerated and orchestrated way of representation, they model themselves on the object-like appearance and the formal language of contemporary architecture in a rather ironic way. All images try to reproduce a reality. They are not a photograph; instead, they were newly designed and constructed from scratch by means of image synthesis and digital image editing."
Philipp Schaerer


"Philipp Schaerer’s photography is a unique examination of how build for relates to its context. his bildbauten series looks at buildings as negative space and his meereshorst series investigates a variable relationship of building form to its surroundings. schaerer’s work is a collection of fascinating minimalist images that seem to build off of the work of andreas gursky and carlo van de roer, but manages to manipulate the relationship of subject and surroundings in a very potent way."
http://alexwebb.com/




Relates



Philipp Schaerer's work relates to mine because of a common questioning of the virtual. The digital medium that I work in has guided my conceptual framework as well as production. Schaerer's "images" are a reaction to the type of production he uses in his field and issues he has seen arise from such media. My work seeks to question permanence. Working in a digital production mode has led me to covet virtual image data, and protect this virtual data with multiple copies of the original. The question of virtual is then brought into the discussion of the "real world" in a tactile sense and comparisons are drawn between human organic permanence and the virtual permanence representing humanity. Schaerer explores the virtual in more of an additive way because he is literally bending "fictional" data which he has created.





Website

http://www.philippschaerer.ch/e/w-introduction-1.html




Saturday, March 19, 2011

5:00:00 MINUTES (Idea) 3/17


Defined

minute1
n
1. (Mathematics & Measurements / Units) a period of time equal to 60 seconds; one sixtieth of an hour
2. (Mathematics & Measurements / Units) a unit of angular measure equal to one sixtieth of a degree. Symbol Also called minute of arc
3. any very short period of time; moment
4. a short note or memorandum
5. the distance that can be travelled in a minute it's only two minutes away
up to the minute (up-to-the-minute when prenominal) very latest or newest
vb (tr)
1. to record in minutes to minute a meeting
2. to time in terms of minutes See also minutes

Collins English Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1994, 1998, 2000, 2003





Quotations


"There will be times we have to go to a meeting in five minutes, and he'll say, I'm going to sleep for three minutes. Wake me up."
Chris Hope
"Chris Hope." Great-Quotes.com. Gledhill Enterprises, 2011.
19 December. 2011. http://www.great-quotes.com/quote/1324712


"I'm dying right now, ... Too tired to chase fences right now. Give me five minutes and I'll be ready."
Tony Stewart
"Tony Stewart." Great-Quotes.com. Gledhill Enterprises, 2011.
19 December. 2011. http://www.great-quotes.com/quote/1206002


"We were up 21 points with five minutes to go -- and then it got a little close."
Watson Brown
"Watson Brown." Great-Quotes.com. Gledhill Enterprises, 2011.
19 December. 2011. http://www.great-quotes.com/quote/1196882




Annotated Bibliography


Russell, Bertrand. The Problems of Philosophy. Oxford University Press. London.
Bertrand Russell was a philosopher who developed the "five minute world philosophy." This philosophical stance argues that it is possible for the earth and everything man knows to have materialized within the past five minutes.

"
from the earth; that it is a hot globe many times
bigger than the earth; that, owing to the earth's
rotation, it rises every morning, and will continue to
do so for an indefinite time in the future. I believe
that, if any other normal person comes into my room,
he will see the same chairs and tables and books and
papers as I see, and that the table which I see is the
same as the table which I feel pressing against my arm."

"Suppose the earth were created five minutes ago, complete with memory images, history books, records, etc., how could we ever know of it? As Russell wrote in The Analysis of Mind, "There is no logical impossibility in the hypothesis that the world sprang into being five minutes ago, exactly as it then was, with a population that "remembered" a wholly unreal past. There is no logically necessary connection between events at different times; therefore nothing that is happening now or will happen in the future can disprove the hypothesis that the world began five minutes ago." For example, an omnipotent God could create the world with all the memories, historical records, and so forth five minutes ago. Any evidence to the contrary would be evidence created by God five minutes ago. "
"Branches of Philosophy." Philosophy Home Page. Web. 20 Mar. 2011. .

This philosophy is really interesting to me because it manipulates the well known and trusted idea of time and a real-time narrative between the past, present and future. What if all this is created five minutes in advance and five minutes prior to the present? If this were proven, would people change? When you think of time as though it will be determined in real-time, you start to think about the present more than either the past or the future.



Relates

This concept of "five minutes" relates to my concept because I am making videos in which something is persisting for a five minute period of time. There is a clock or other measuring device evaluating the subject and timing itself simultaneously. The amount of time becomes important thematically, as well as conceptually because it is in a sense, benchmarking the subject's actions and timing the video as well. The specific time relates to modern technology in that, five minutes is a benchmark duration between convenient/fast and long-term. It is used in this situation to measure a subject that is affected by the passage of time and whose existence, in a certain physical state, evolves or crumbles.

Saturday, March 12, 2011

Hanne Darboven (Artist) 3/14

Work


Hanne Darboven, Kulturgeschichte 1880-1983 (Cultural History 1880-1983), 1980-83. Installation view at Dia:Beacon, Beacon, New York. Lannan Foundation; long-term loan. Photo: Florian Holzherr.




Hanne Darboven, Hommage à Picasso, Installation view
Photo: © Mathias Schormann
Copyright © Deutsche Guggenheim





"Ein Jahr: 1970", 2007




"Ein Jahr: 1970", 2007, Silkscreen Print on Zanders Classic 115 g, 43 sheets and one Index, each 21,0 cm x 29,7 cm, in custom made folder, printer: Thomas Sanmann, Hamburg, bookbinder: Klaus Winterscheidt, Hamburg, signed and numbered




Bio

Hanne Darboven was a German conceptual artist, who created huge volumes of indexical work based on the concepts of time, mathematics, and chronicling history. Darboven's work often created a tactile representation of time, removing the abstractness of its dimensionality, in exchange for a more complicated, physical abstraction. Historical and cultural issues imperative to Germany's history are revisited in an all-inclusive, truthful and unbiased manner; embedded in Darboven's organized mass of mathematical drawings and images.

Quotations


"
Political, poetical, historical and biographical themes, however, were always integrated also – a tight interleaving of life and work characterizes Hanne Darboven’s specifically subjective point of departure that distinguishes her from other exponents of minimal art of her generation. Her collections of source material amounted to shelves full of folders, to complete musical pieces composed from notes derived from her system of mathematical constructs. "

http://cgi.klosterfelde.de/user-cgi-bin/artists/?s1=Hanne+Darboven&s2=02-text


" Although she lived in almost total solitude, her work became part of a collective effort to replace the discrete art object with Conceptual Art, grounded in ideas and actions...Her books and mounted images, painstakingly handwritten, embody not only an abstract span of time but also the actual time of the artist’s labour."

Ring, Nancy. "MoMA | The Collection | Hanne Darboven. (German, 1941-2009)." MoMA | The Museum of Modern Art. Grove Art Online, Oxford Press, 2009. Web. 12 Mar. 2011. .



Relates


My work relates to Darboven's in its treatment of the element of time and measurement. I am trying to portray time in alternative ways using digital video and obvious representations. The measurement of the time I am interested in deals with issues of chronicling and indexing, based on the subject being measured, but also the device used to measure the subject. I am trying to explore artists who have created work conceptualizing time and measurements, so I can develop new approaches to producing work relative to my concepts. I would like to employ an additional level of media separate from the video that portrays the data collected during the filming process, editing process, and maybe even viewing process. Presentations like those of Hanne Darboven are very inspiring, due to the level of determinacy and overall work.


Interview

Interview with Dan Adler, who published Cultural History: 1880-1983 (1983) , an edition of the One Work Series by Afterall Books.
http://www.magentamagazine.com/1/features/adler-interview



Gallery






http://cgi.klosterfelde.de/user-cgi-bin/artists/?s1=Hanne+Darboven

Wednesday, March 9, 2011

Data (Idea) 3/10


Defined

da·ta (dt, dt, dät)
pl.n. (used with a sing. or pl. verb)
1. Factual information, especially information organized for analysis or used to reason or make decisions.
2. Computer Science Numerical or other information represented in a form suitable for processing by computer.
3. Values derived from scientific experiments.
4. Plural of datum.

The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition copyright ©2000 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Updated in 2009. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.



Quotations

"We are thrilled to have digital photos, digital music, and correspondence through email, but we don't usually realize the value of these pieces of data until they are lost to us. In the physical world we take steps to protect this kind of information, putting it into photo albums or treasure boxes and treating those containers carefully. In the virtual space however, we often don't take steps to protect these most valued possessions."

Gage, Zach. "Data." Stfj 3.0. Web. 10 Mar. 2011. .


"A graphic representation of data abstracted from the banks of every computer in the human system. Unthinkable complexity. Lines of light ranged in the nonspace of the mind, clusters and constellations of data. Like city lights, receding."

Gibson, William. "Data Quotes - BrainyQuote." Famous Quotes at BrainyQuote. Web. 10 Mar. 2011. .



Annotated Bibliography

Dougherty, William C. "Can Digital Resources Truly Be Preserved?." Journal of Academic Librarianship 36.5 (2010): 445-448. Academic Search Complete. EBSCO. Web. 10 Mar. 2011.


This article discusses digital data and issues surrounding preservation of this data. Preservation methods often are digitally-based, which I found really interesting when reading this article. If you make a copy of something digital, to preserve that which is not physical, what protects the copy? And how do you truly differentiate between the original and the copy? Did you clone something, and what happens to the cloned? I think the question of physicality and reality are really interesting and the article asks very probing questions within these issues.



Relates

This topic relates to my work because I am interested in the juxtaposition of organic and virtual data. Organic data, to me, is the inherent toolbox of humanity, which is collected and used for decision making. Issues such as sexual selection are present in this type of instinctual data-mining. Obviously, virtual data is computer/digitally based, and seemingly removed or even opposite from the discussion of organism instincts and sensibilities. However, I see them as equal on the basis of manipulation and fragility. Cloning, genetic mutation, viruses, etc. All of these topics I think about can relate to both sets of data. I understand, at this point, that data is the link in my work.





Monday, March 7, 2011

Zach Gage (Artist) 3/7



Work

Lose/Lose - Gallery Video from zach gage on Vimeo.



Killing Spree from zach gage on Vimeo.



Temporary - Gallery Version from zach gage on Vimeo.


Zach Gage, Hit Counter 2008-10



Bio

Zach Gage is a mixed media artist who deals with issues such as information, technology, and the virtual through viral media and performative work. In 2010, Gage received a lot of press for his Graduate MFA Thesis work from Parsons, called Data. In this work, Gage discusses issues of data storage, dependence, and living and remembering in a virtual context. The work consisted of several components which illustrated conceptually the idea of separation from the reality of the physical world. The purpose is to draw attention to the ways in which online data can "enrich our lives beyond convenience."



Quotations

"As a society, we are in a transitional time where we are no longer packing our memories into cardboard boxes, instead putting all of that content into digital "boxes". We do this despite having a limited understanding of how these new "boxes" work. This makes it difficult to keep track of such previously simple concepts as where our things are going, how we can use them, or even how long they will exist."
-Zach Gage Data 2010

""By way of exploring what it means to kill in a video-game, Lose/Lose broaches bigger questions," the game developers say. "As technology grows, our understanding of it diminishes, yet, at the same time, it becomes increasingly important in our lives. At what point does our virtual data become as important to us as physical possessions?""

-
Conroy, Michael. "The Computer Game That Destroys Your Files (Wired UK)." Wired.co.uk – Future Technology News and Reviews (Wired UK). Web. 07 Mar. 2011. .



Relates

Zach Gage's work relates to mine on a conceptual level. It explores new technology, and more specifically, the digital era. Both work uses the technology it is commenting on as the media, elevating the process to that of introspection instead of the utilitarian, and presenting it to an audience of its (digital) users. Gage's work is more performative and viewer interactive. The still images I was working on last semester were a better comparison to Gage's process, however, the video work I am doing now shares similar conceptual framework. I am interested in obsolescence and fragility, as well as a projected implosion of the over-digitalized.



Interview

http://rhizome.org/editorial/2011/feb/16/interview-zach-gage/



Website

http://www.stfj.net/


Sunday, March 6, 2011

Kathy Rose (Lecture Response) 3/4

Quotation

"The beginning and the ending are important."

Rose was asked about her teaching practice in relation to performance training. She mentioned that the placement of the choreography was really important to the piece because of the impression this placement can have on the audience. I had never really considered performance art in this respect and found it very interesting when described by Rose. It almost seems like a literary story in the way the audience is hooked and sustained.



3 Words

1) Mystifying
2) Organic
3) Epic



About Kathy Rose

One thing I learned about Kathy Rose that I did not already know is the extent to her performance and dance training. From my previous research, I didn't come to the conclusion that the performances would be so choreographed and detailed. You could tell from the way she uses her body to talk that she is physically expressive, and the performances she shared with us proved it.


Answers to Questions

1)
"With the gold masked figure and dripping empty-eyed face in "Queen of the Fluids; the eerily floating head in "Interiosity", and the puppet constructs in videos such as "She" and "The Inn of Floating Imagery" - I am constantly creating a pictorial female art persona, often with inspiration from the supernatural figures portrayed in Japanese theater and art." - Kathy Rose

My first question involved this quote from Kathy Rose's website. I wanted to know more about what she meant by "creating a pictorial female art persona." Rose did not talk too much about the conceptual aspect of her performances and animations. Mostly, she talked about her inspirations and other artists. However, I understood her performances and animated juxtapositions as self reflections and reactions to her Japanese inspirations and environment.

2) My second question was about the mixed media that Kathy Rose works in. From viewing her work, I realized the performance and the animation or digital video have a lot of importance and relationship to one and other. The earlier work is a great example of this because Kathy Rose's performance and animation are so organic and amoeba-like in movement. The pieces were so reactionary and powerful because of Rose's command of her body in reaction to the animated environment. I found the flatness of the work really interesting, because of the dynamic power contained within the single dimensionality of the projections. I found the projections flattened the performance visually, however, incorporated the 3D movement into a 2D plane.


Compelling Piece

The most compelling piece, I found, was Rose's The Inn of Floating Imagery. Throughout her lecture, I found the concept of "flatness" coming up continuously. In this video, the flatness really added a visual and conceptual component. The female subjects floating around in the video seemed to be holding on masks, which were suspended and bobbing freely from their necks. The mask motif along with the cut-out visuals makes an important statement in the video.






Measurement (Idea) 3/3


Defined

meas·ure (mzhr)
n.
1. Dimensions, quantity, or capacity as ascertained by comparison with a standard.
2. A reference standard or sample used for the quantitative comparison of properties: The standard kilogram is maintained as a measure of mass.
3. A unit specified by a scale, such as an inch, or by variable conditions, such as a day's march.
4. A system of measurement, such as the metric system.
5. A device used for measuring.
6. The act of measuring.
7. An evaluation or a basis of comparison: "the final measure of the worth of a society" (Joseph Wood Krutch). See Synonyms at standard.
8. Extent or degree: The problem was in large measure caused by his carelessness.
9. A definite quantity that has been measured out: a measure of wine.
10. A fitting amount: a measure of recognition.
11. A limited amount or degree: a measure of good-will.
12. Limit; bounds: generosity knowing no measure.
13. Appropriate restraint; moderation: "The union of . . . fervor with measure, passion with correctness, this surely is the ideal" (William James).
14. An action taken as a means to an end; an expedient. Often used in the plural: desperate measures.
15. A legislative bill or enactment.
16. Poetic meter.
17. Music The metric unit between two bars on the staff; a bar.
v. meas·ured, meas·ur·ing, meas·ures
v.tr.
1. To ascertain the dimensions, quantity, or capacity of: measured the height of the ceiling.
2. To mark, lay out, or establish dimensions for by measuring: measure off an area.
3. To estimate by evaluation or comparison: "I gave them an account . . . of the situation as far as I could measure it" (Winston S. Churchill).
4. To bring into comparison: She measured her power with that of a dangerous adversary.
5.
a. To mark off or apportion, usually with reference to a given unit of measurement: measure out a pint of milk.
b. To allot or distribute as if by measuring; mete: The revolutionary tribunal measured out harsh justice.
6. To serve as a measure of: The inch measures length.
7. To consider or choose with care; weigh: He measures his words with caution.
8. Archaic To travel over: "We must measure twenty miles today" (Shakespeare).

The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition copyright ©2000 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Updated in 2009. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.


Quotations


"
But, let them measure us by what they will,
We'll measure them a measure, and be gone."
-Shakespeare



"The sempstresses took my measure as I lay on the ground, one standing at my neck, and another at my mid-leg, with a strong cord extended, that each held by the end, while a third measured the length of the cord with a rule of an inch long."

Smith, Jonathan. "Jonathan Swift: Gulliver's Travels: CHAPTER VI. - Free Online Library." Jonathan Swift - Free Online Library. Web. 07 Mar. 2011. .


Annotated Bibliography

Weinfield, Henry. "Is there a measure on earth?": Holderlin's poem "In Lovely Blueness" in light of Heidegger's essay "... Poetically Man Dwells....". Free Online Library. Web. 07 Mar. 2011.

This article analyzes the uses of measurement and interprets how measurement pertains to poetry. The article first contemplates the different settings in which the term "measurement" is applied. (Mathematics, legislation, music, etc.) Then, the author describes the similarities poetry shares with mathematics and legislation and, more overtly, music. Examples of poets who wrote on such topics portrayed the concept measurement within the subject of the poem, as well as in the form of the medium. These poets questioned humanity in relation to God, in terms of measurement of some inherent quality.


Relates

The concept of measurement applies to the work I am doing now with video. The first video visually portrays measurement in multiple contexts: physical measurement of the subject, measurement of time, and measurement of behavior of the subject. I am really interested in tools used to measure subjects and the inherent qualities these tools may share. For example, in the first video, the analog Gralab timer was measuring the subject in a very determined and powerful way. However, the second-hand was not always consistent, and tended to jerk a bit. The buzzer at the end was very jerky. The flaws in the subject being measured by a seemingly flawed device is very interesting to me. If the next screen depicted a digital timer measuring the analog's glitches somehow, what would measure the digital timer's dependence on the technological "grid?" Researching other definitions and methods for measurement as helped me think about the next video I will make.

Thursday, March 3, 2011

Kathy Rose (Lecture Questions) 2/3


Question 1

"With the gold masked figure and dripping empty-eyed face in "Queen of the Fluids; the eerily floating head in "Interiosity", and the puppet constructs in videos such as "She" and "The Inn of Floating Imagery" - I am constantly creating a pictorial female art persona, often with inspiration from the supernatural figures portrayed in Japanese theater and art." - Kathy Rose

My first question regards this statement on Kathy Rose's website. What is "the pictorial female art persona"?



Question 2

Kathy Rose's work incorporates performance with different media to record, present or enhance the performance. My question is in regards to the two strands of the work: performance and visual medium. How do these two components affect each other or enhance the other component's meaning?




Wednesday, March 2, 2011

Felix Gonzalez-Torres (Artist) 2/28

Work


Perfect Lovers


Take-Away project


Billboard Project



Felix Gonzalez-Torres, Untitled (Placebo), 1991, Museum of Modern Art.




Bio

Félix González-Torres was an American, "process-based" artist, born in Cuba, whose installations were widely acclaimed before and after his death, in 1996. Torres' work is often based on viewer participation. For example, in one of his installations, the viewers are welcomed to take the work, (a large stack of paper). The ideas are thought to have focused around regenerative life. Torres work, Perfect Lovers, pictured above, emphasizes time as something looming. This work was made in reference to him losing his partner to AIDS. Torres also died of AIDS.


Quotations


"
He liked leaving things open to interpretation. . . ."

Cook, Greg. "Félix González-Torres." The New England Journal of Aesthetic Research. Web. 02 Mar. 2011. .


"At this point I do not want to be outside the structures of power, I do not want to be the opposition, the alternative. Alternative to what? To power? No. I want to have power. It’s effective in term of change. I want to be like a virus that belongs to the institution. All the ideological apparatuses are, in other words, replicating themselves, because that’s the way culture works. So if I function as a virus, an imposter, an infiltrator, I will always replicate myself together with those institutions."
FGT


Relates

I find some of my concepts relatable to those of Torres. His installations are much different in form and intended purpose than my work, however, I find myself relating my concepts of permanence and regeneration to his. I find especially similar my new video and Torres' Perfect Lovers installation. The clocks are no longer a reference tool in this work. Rather, they become a looming reminder, imposing on the viewer a sense of pending doom. This concept is similar to what I am saying in the video piece I am working on. The measuring device, as a tool used to measure human failure, holds a new power in the context of time.



Interview

http://www.artpace.org/aboutTheExhibition.php?axid=165&sort=title



Gallery

http://www.andrearosengallery.com/artists/felix-gonzalez-torres/



Félix González-Torrez Foundation

www.felixgonzalez-torresfoundation.org