I finished Berger's "Ways of Seeing" today and it left me off with lots of new ideas about the conceptual and visual forms of Art. All this cool artsy stuff went on today as well so I'm just really excited and motivated to create something.
The thing I want to create is a type of image projector: a tube of paper with stenciled with drawings from top to bottom. It would be hanging from the ceiling encircling some sort of light source (flouresant, lightbulb, don't know yet). The negatives of the images would be projected onto a larger cardboard cylinder which the viewer could step into. I was thinking Richard Serra-ish. The large cylinder "walls" will most likely be black to enhance the absorption of light while the paper tube inside of it would be white to increase the reflection from within.
The paper tube would be spinning from the ceiling, I was thinking of taking apart an RC car and using the wheel motor to create the force for rotation but I'm sure theres a better way.
While inside the installation, the viewer would be surrounded by rows and rows of images constantly rotating and creating the illusion of movement while the cardboard cylinder may seem to (hopefully) rotate around the viewer. The viewer will be forced to make the choice of either following the spinning images or waiting for them to come to him/her to create a frame-by-frame animation. It'll look like rows of long comic strips being dragged around a circle, like the center has some sort of gravitational pull.
I want to prove that a still image can be an image in motion (inspired by Berger) and that a still scene can create just as much detail as a 5 minute movie clip. Think of all the stuff going on in Wheres Waldo, its like watching a cartoon! I want to destroy the separations between the ways of viewing and digesting visual information. Reading books and comics are unique in that if you dont understand a section you can just turn a page or look back a few sentances or boxes. No technology required. With a movie you've got to pause, rewind, etc. I want to recreate this ability to look at past information to understand the present, thats part of why it'll be in constant rotation (maybe reversing once in awhile) allow the viewer to catch up to whats going on.
It may be an autobiography, illustrating my life to this point, that would be pretty funky: each row representing another stage of developement.
Any feedback or reccomendations on how to get this going? I'm going to start making a miniature.
Monday, December 15, 2008
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
1 comment:
Robert! If I had another few weeks with you guys, I would go through the history of pre-cinematic moving image technology. Here are some reference sites:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zoetrope
http://courses.ncssm.edu/gallery/collections/toys/opticaltoys.htm
also, look at these animations made by eric dyer using zoetropes:
http://userpages.umbc.edu/~dyer/Eric_Dyer/Copenhagen_Cycles.html
there is so much potential in shadows that really hasn't been tapped in video/installation. If you have a chance, you should go by this one piece at the MoMA. It is on the first floor of the main building before getting on the escalator going upstairs to the education department. I think it's called "Panning Annex" by Ricci Albenda. Super subtle, just using simple animation to totally change space and perception. Also, if you ever get a chance to see Final Fantasy (Owen Pallett) live... you should! He performs with this amazing shadow puppeteer! Okay, that's a little bit for now.
Post a Comment