ZARA! Expect a little present by your office doorstep tomorrow morning. Let me know if it isnt there because that means the cleaning person moved it.
Monday, December 8, 2008
ZARA! Remix picture
ZARA! Expect a little present by your office doorstep tomorrow morning. Let me know if it isnt there because that means the cleaning person moved it.
Sunday, December 7, 2008
Response #2 Herman Miller
Response 2
Herman Miller
My interest for this excerpt leid mainly within the description of tools and techniques used by Charles Eames, after having moved his entire laboratory work space into his home on the West coast. The details are as such to describe a scene in which Charles and Ray are working together as silent, independent designers…creating for themselves in the privacy of their own living room. It is easy to see why considering a furniture designer working as a silent genius in the obviousness of his and her own acutal living room space is beautiful in its self. Where else would a designer find better inspiration for the matters of everyday living? More importantly however, I found the relationship described between Charles and his tools to be sympathetic to the entire genre of DIY art and music. The text explains, “the primitive facilities were, in a way, an advantage, for they forced the invention of techniques”. This is many times the case of the independent artist who attempts to record his or her own music. While anybody who buys an Apple computer will have the free music recording program Garageband, most home recording musicians do not own expensive recording gear. This means microphones, digital mixing interfaces, cables, additional software and sometimes even instruments themselves. In one instance, specifically, I discovered ways to make the sound of a bass drum without the help of a drum machine, synthesizer or physical drumset at all. I have had to use the rubber tops of tupperware, or flicking my thumb against a pad of notebook paper. Another time, I duct taped a guitar pickup to the face of a drum set instead of using a drum microphone. These are all simple metaphors for my own personal attempts at treating limitations as tools, rather than discouragement. I feel that the most beautiful thing about DIY music is that it is born out of a process that must be configured according to the artist’s surroundings. In such a way, the elements and tools used by the artist are personally aware of their importance as being mere reflections of the artist’s situational state. For instance, a project created with primitive tools acts as a self portrait in that it is self referential to the artist’s current limitations.
I also find it interesting that Charles Eames’ success is due in part to his situational disparate attitude. It seems so funny when the affection and sympathy for difference is realized through a creative means unheard of by the commercial world, and ultimately acclaimed. I find it difficult at times to believe.
Herman Miller
My interest for this excerpt leid mainly within the description of tools and techniques used by Charles Eames, after having moved his entire laboratory work space into his home on the West coast. The details are as such to describe a scene in which Charles and Ray are working together as silent, independent designers…creating for themselves in the privacy of their own living room. It is easy to see why considering a furniture designer working as a silent genius in the obviousness of his and her own acutal living room space is beautiful in its self. Where else would a designer find better inspiration for the matters of everyday living? More importantly however, I found the relationship described between Charles and his tools to be sympathetic to the entire genre of DIY art and music. The text explains, “the primitive facilities were, in a way, an advantage, for they forced the invention of techniques”. This is many times the case of the independent artist who attempts to record his or her own music. While anybody who buys an Apple computer will have the free music recording program Garageband, most home recording musicians do not own expensive recording gear. This means microphones, digital mixing interfaces, cables, additional software and sometimes even instruments themselves. In one instance, specifically, I discovered ways to make the sound of a bass drum without the help of a drum machine, synthesizer or physical drumset at all. I have had to use the rubber tops of tupperware, or flicking my thumb against a pad of notebook paper. Another time, I duct taped a guitar pickup to the face of a drum set instead of using a drum microphone. These are all simple metaphors for my own personal attempts at treating limitations as tools, rather than discouragement. I feel that the most beautiful thing about DIY music is that it is born out of a process that must be configured according to the artist’s surroundings. In such a way, the elements and tools used by the artist are personally aware of their importance as being mere reflections of the artist’s situational state. For instance, a project created with primitive tools acts as a self portrait in that it is self referential to the artist’s current limitations.
I also find it interesting that Charles Eames’ success is due in part to his situational disparate attitude. It seems so funny when the affection and sympathy for difference is realized through a creative means unheard of by the commercial world, and ultimately acclaimed. I find it difficult at times to believe.
Response #3 Dieter Rams
Response #3
Dieter Rams Interview
Initially, I found the interview with Dieter Rams essentially worthless. Most of the time was spent giving him a superficial celebrity treatment, with a priority concerning his everyday matters above inquiring about his creative process as designer and artist. However, I find it interesting that in many ways Rams’ casual demeanor appears to be a charming and unique characteristic that shows in his work. So ironically, in some ways I found the interview to be appropriate in that it provided insight as to how his personality might be an important aspect in the process of his creative engine. This simultaneity regarding the informal/formal for design is one I find especially refreshing. I admire Dieter Rams’ creative process because I feel that he had found a balance for his affection for design as a technique under the strict purpose to accommodate visual presentation, in addition to his tendency to create functionality under experimental means. Most of all, Rams has been able to seamlessly incorporate a “lightness” about all of his work. For instance, his turntable is so perfectly designed and timely. It is esthetically beautiful, instead of gaudy and demanding. More importantly though, it is charismatic because it feels so convenient and effective…like a good joke that doesn’t take long to tell. Rams’ ability to execute work in such a way must somehow be rooted in his rejection of the visually bombastic. His designs are silently clever, rather than loud.
The brief moment spent in class on the array of slides comparing Jonathon Ive’s designs for Apple with Dieter Rams’ work was immense for me. Call it a homage if you like, but I had absolutely no idea that Ive had essentially copied all of those designs. It seems so obvious now too, everything about Apple’s commercial presentation is aiming to be as pithy and immaculate as Dieter Rams. I feel that Apple does not quite pull it off though. Apple’s attempt comes across more as painstaking than seamless, in some instances.
Dieter Rams Interview
Initially, I found the interview with Dieter Rams essentially worthless. Most of the time was spent giving him a superficial celebrity treatment, with a priority concerning his everyday matters above inquiring about his creative process as designer and artist. However, I find it interesting that in many ways Rams’ casual demeanor appears to be a charming and unique characteristic that shows in his work. So ironically, in some ways I found the interview to be appropriate in that it provided insight as to how his personality might be an important aspect in the process of his creative engine. This simultaneity regarding the informal/formal for design is one I find especially refreshing. I admire Dieter Rams’ creative process because I feel that he had found a balance for his affection for design as a technique under the strict purpose to accommodate visual presentation, in addition to his tendency to create functionality under experimental means. Most of all, Rams has been able to seamlessly incorporate a “lightness” about all of his work. For instance, his turntable is so perfectly designed and timely. It is esthetically beautiful, instead of gaudy and demanding. More importantly though, it is charismatic because it feels so convenient and effective…like a good joke that doesn’t take long to tell. Rams’ ability to execute work in such a way must somehow be rooted in his rejection of the visually bombastic. His designs are silently clever, rather than loud.
The brief moment spent in class on the array of slides comparing Jonathon Ive’s designs for Apple with Dieter Rams’ work was immense for me. Call it a homage if you like, but I had absolutely no idea that Ive had essentially copied all of those designs. It seems so obvious now too, everything about Apple’s commercial presentation is aiming to be as pithy and immaculate as Dieter Rams. I feel that Apple does not quite pull it off though. Apple’s attempt comes across more as painstaking than seamless, in some instances.
Resonse 5
Response 5
Ken O’Connell
I found the internet visit with Ken O’Conell an inspiring break from our class routine. O’Connell’s perspective as a Professor who at University of Oregon is very interestin to me because he has been involved with teaching experimental animation since there was a program for it back in the 1980s. He was able to offer us a number of clips of students’ work from the old program, which gave me some insight as to what the format was like back when the program existed. Before having seen these clips, I only new of the program’s brief existence by rumor. Part of me wonders if I would have ended up in that program, instead of multimedia/digital art, had the opportunity lingered through my years at University of Oregon. I often struggle with finding strength as I attempt to ride the fine line between art and design that this program strives so hard to blur. My work with film goes very much against design philosophy, existing as personal reflections on experiential bursts of impulsive camera work and experiments in esthetics/rather than function. However, my work in sound accompanyment to film, intends to act as an emphasis on the implied rhythym that physical projections of film strips already bear. In other words, my work with sound seeks to embody experimentalism as well as functionality. I admire O’Connell’s work with the three dimensional time based work he presented. I feel that it is parallel, in may ways, to the state that electronic music was in during a short period of the early 1980s. As Max MSP began to be designed, many artists sought to create applications that were intuitive to time based note sequencing and simultaneous manipulations thereof. As a result of the genre’s wholly embryonic state, much of the work appears esthetically awkward and conceptualy relient on experimentalism as a challenge agaisnt the restraints of technology. I feel that today, technology has come to a point where the intuition involvd in most software has surpassed the general artist’s aspiration for means of design. Instead, designers are concerned with accomodating the preset filters and functions that software presents them with, and the challenge to experiment as a means of achieving a desired outcome is unfortunately and ironically considered superfluous.
Ken O’Connell
I found the internet visit with Ken O’Conell an inspiring break from our class routine. O’Connell’s perspective as a Professor who at University of Oregon is very interestin to me because he has been involved with teaching experimental animation since there was a program for it back in the 1980s. He was able to offer us a number of clips of students’ work from the old program, which gave me some insight as to what the format was like back when the program existed. Before having seen these clips, I only new of the program’s brief existence by rumor. Part of me wonders if I would have ended up in that program, instead of multimedia/digital art, had the opportunity lingered through my years at University of Oregon. I often struggle with finding strength as I attempt to ride the fine line between art and design that this program strives so hard to blur. My work with film goes very much against design philosophy, existing as personal reflections on experiential bursts of impulsive camera work and experiments in esthetics/rather than function. However, my work in sound accompanyment to film, intends to act as an emphasis on the implied rhythym that physical projections of film strips already bear. In other words, my work with sound seeks to embody experimentalism as well as functionality. I admire O’Connell’s work with the three dimensional time based work he presented. I feel that it is parallel, in may ways, to the state that electronic music was in during a short period of the early 1980s. As Max MSP began to be designed, many artists sought to create applications that were intuitive to time based note sequencing and simultaneous manipulations thereof. As a result of the genre’s wholly embryonic state, much of the work appears esthetically awkward and conceptualy relient on experimentalism as a challenge agaisnt the restraints of technology. I feel that today, technology has come to a point where the intuition involvd in most software has surpassed the general artist’s aspiration for means of design. Instead, designers are concerned with accomodating the preset filters and functions that software presents them with, and the challenge to experiment as a means of achieving a desired outcome is unfortunately and ironically considered superfluous.
Friday, December 5, 2008
schools out
thanks again to those who were helpful in my finishing my project in the last two nights.
Thursday, December 4, 2008
Friday, November 28, 2008
Wednesday, November 26, 2008
.com
i can't get my website to load images / functions more quickly! do any of you computer arts wizards know how to help me?
http://www.gazzookabazookaz.com/
http://www.gazzookabazookaz.com/
Tuesday, November 18, 2008
Bros. Quay
Here is an example of Brothers Quay, who came up in conversation yesterday. They do stop motion animation with 16mm, I think, taught under Jan Svankmajer - who was named the world's great animation hero.
Monday, November 17, 2008
Shock of the New Response
Bryson Hansen
Contemporary Design / Art History
Robert Hughs’ chapter entitled The Future that Was, from his book “Shock of the New”, purports an entire shopping list of ideas and retro-active ideals concerning various artists, movements and general turning pints in fine art history, politics and the people which thereby corresponded to it. Hughs begins by complaining about how the 1970s lacked any original “spark”, that is to say that there were no especially memorable artists who brought forth a creative idea that could bring about a new movement. In his promotion of this idea, he supposes that the avant garde, was totally over at this point and that everything from the 1960s forward is a re-hatching of its existence…an afterthought. To an extent, I can see where this observation comes from, but on the other hand I believe that the avant garde was not being re-done, but rearranged and appropriated by artists in a less literal format. This allowed artists to use a previously supported philosophy as a tool, not just an approach, and arguably gave them more freedom and opportunity within an avant-garde mind-set. To argue that the avant-garde existed uniquely in the 1960s, but not in the 1970s, is broad and not confirmed without very seriously addressing the allegations. One could easily retort by asserting that the 1960s weren't original in their right to avant garde either, despite how absurd it sems to say. Nam June Paik, for instance, was operating in a Duchamp mind set still – and was not necessarily bringing about a new passage of artistic ideals. Paik’s work clearly supported the readymades, when he introduced the television’s white noise as “found art”. However, the video synthesizer stands boldly as an example of a purely original and functional creative work of art.
I found Hughs’ stroll through art history more interesting merely in his ability to draw connections between artists and their political stances that I had not previously thought of before, than his intended point. Hughs mentioned several times that Dada was a cause that was founded primarily for a political purpose, which I was well aware of, but then continued by describing that its downfall came when Dadaists could not fasten themselves as respected political thinkers, despite the success of their movement in the art world. What is especially interesting to me is that Dada, possessed an aesthetic attitude that has become just as important, if not more, as any other form. It occurs to me then that the symptoms of any art movement, in an accidental and subconscious way, are not only meaningful in their vocal ability or attitude, but also as pure aesthetic form.
One other thing I found especially interesting about The Future that Was, is Hughs’ message concerning the change of “worth” of art when money comes into the picture. It seems evident that when specific paintings become more prevalent, or spoken about, in the art world strictly because their monetary worth has increased, they become more novelty and worthless. However, I feel that this has become more of a blessing when it comes to music. Pop music is so washed out, and so much about using a system to create a high tempo cash flow, that there is more room for original art to breathe in the independent bracket. I do not mean “indie music”, but independently made – home made – music. There is no pressure for the creator of home made music to adhere to a formula that is important for its ability to sell. Instead, there is a liberty in knowing how impossible that is, and the contrast between the products of both sides of the spectrum is wild. I feel that sincerity comes easier to the artist that does not need to do anything more than to aspire to create work for his or her self. I suppose the problem comes when the artist goes bankrupt.
Contemporary Design / Art History
Robert Hughs’ chapter entitled The Future that Was, from his book “Shock of the New”, purports an entire shopping list of ideas and retro-active ideals concerning various artists, movements and general turning pints in fine art history, politics and the people which thereby corresponded to it. Hughs begins by complaining about how the 1970s lacked any original “spark”, that is to say that there were no especially memorable artists who brought forth a creative idea that could bring about a new movement. In his promotion of this idea, he supposes that the avant garde, was totally over at this point and that everything from the 1960s forward is a re-hatching of its existence…an afterthought. To an extent, I can see where this observation comes from, but on the other hand I believe that the avant garde was not being re-done, but rearranged and appropriated by artists in a less literal format. This allowed artists to use a previously supported philosophy as a tool, not just an approach, and arguably gave them more freedom and opportunity within an avant-garde mind-set. To argue that the avant-garde existed uniquely in the 1960s, but not in the 1970s, is broad and not confirmed without very seriously addressing the allegations. One could easily retort by asserting that the 1960s weren't original in their right to avant garde either, despite how absurd it sems to say. Nam June Paik, for instance, was operating in a Duchamp mind set still – and was not necessarily bringing about a new passage of artistic ideals. Paik’s work clearly supported the readymades, when he introduced the television’s white noise as “found art”. However, the video synthesizer stands boldly as an example of a purely original and functional creative work of art.
I found Hughs’ stroll through art history more interesting merely in his ability to draw connections between artists and their political stances that I had not previously thought of before, than his intended point. Hughs mentioned several times that Dada was a cause that was founded primarily for a political purpose, which I was well aware of, but then continued by describing that its downfall came when Dadaists could not fasten themselves as respected political thinkers, despite the success of their movement in the art world. What is especially interesting to me is that Dada, possessed an aesthetic attitude that has become just as important, if not more, as any other form. It occurs to me then that the symptoms of any art movement, in an accidental and subconscious way, are not only meaningful in their vocal ability or attitude, but also as pure aesthetic form.
One other thing I found especially interesting about The Future that Was, is Hughs’ message concerning the change of “worth” of art when money comes into the picture. It seems evident that when specific paintings become more prevalent, or spoken about, in the art world strictly because their monetary worth has increased, they become more novelty and worthless. However, I feel that this has become more of a blessing when it comes to music. Pop music is so washed out, and so much about using a system to create a high tempo cash flow, that there is more room for original art to breathe in the independent bracket. I do not mean “indie music”, but independently made – home made – music. There is no pressure for the creator of home made music to adhere to a formula that is important for its ability to sell. Instead, there is a liberty in knowing how impossible that is, and the contrast between the products of both sides of the spectrum is wild. I feel that sincerity comes easier to the artist that does not need to do anything more than to aspire to create work for his or her self. I suppose the problem comes when the artist goes bankrupt.
Sunday, November 16, 2008
Vinton's hommage to Mcclaren
I noticed in Will Vinton's masterpeice animation adventures of mark twain that there is a clear reference to a Norman Mcclaren movie.... which I think is pretty cool on his part considering that when Vinton started out Mcclaren was one of very few artists who had explored stop motion as a technique of animation. Vinton's inclusion of the Mcclaren moment is pretty brief. It happens when the two neighbors are fighting over space between their yards. Even the sound is clearly referring to the original, in that it is comprised of staccato notes occuring only on each frame change.
here's the clip of the Mcclaren film:
Vinton:
here's the clip of the Mcclaren film:
Vinton:
gazzookabazookaz.com
I bought my first ever domain name and created a webpage for it. Really the purpose it serves is to offer my music to download/listen/order and to present an array of films to stream. There are still a lot of bugs, being that I havent made a website since I was in 9th grade, but I am trying to work it out. Comments? Suggestions?
http://www.gazzookabazookaz.com
ps. it looks like only safari likes it, firefox wont show images for some reason.
http://www.gazzookabazookaz.com
ps. it looks like only safari likes it, firefox wont show images for some reason.
Sunday, November 9, 2008
More Pop Goodies by Gazzookabazookaz
I finally finished the packaging and artwork for an album I have been hatching for the last year+. It feels like it took forever. Sweet relief and joy.
I will have copies at school if anybody is interested.
Gwar anyone?
GWar is playing at the Roseland? on the 14th. I just thought everyone should know in case they havent had monster slime sprayed on them recently.
Sunday, November 2, 2008
PES
I was turned on to PES by a friend after he saw my short animations of a pot of boiling water. This guy is totally amazing and seemless. His use of film and light makes the rhythms of animated objects look shimmering and magical. Svankmajer maybe an old hero but PES is the next for stop motion.
All the Residents' Timmys
http://residents.com/historical/page83/page244/page298/page298.html
nostalgic. funny. strange. uncomfortable.
nostalgic. funny. strange. uncomfortable.
Sunday, October 26, 2008
Essay #4: Defending Amateurs & Medium is the Massage
Marshall Mcluhan’s “The Medium is the Massage” repeatedly suggests that people generalize incoming perceptual information by a means of identifying data through preconceived notions. These notions are founded in the belief that one’s ability to compartmentalize information is due to the medium through which one intially recieves or interacts with that specific physical and/or psychic information. I believe that this is a process by which, yes, the mass due interpret data – so is it completely final to assume that one cannot separate himself from the said perceptual process and learn to achieve living amid a scenario in which he or she can operate sincerely (blind to all preconceptions brought about by the language of their medium)? This is a question which MUST be addressed in order for an individual to realize truth in their artistic design.
Specifically, the Mcluhan uses the example of the relationship between a child and the alphabet to support the idea of the process as a means of comprehension. He asserts, “Words and the meaning of words predispose the child to think and at automatically in certain ways.” There is a sense that this predisposition, through a said learned process, invites one to unknowingly dismiss details in information by merely allowing it to be identified by casting it into whatever categories correspond to a ‘word’. This is clearly a handicap when considering a creative process for visual and aural art. Stan Brakhage wrote, in “Metaphors on Vision”:
Imagine an eye unruled by man-made laws of perspective, an eye unprejudiced by compositional logic, an eye which does not respond to the name of everything but which must know each object encountered in life through an adventure of perception. How many colors are there in a field of grass, to the crawling baby unaware of “Green”?
Brakhage assumes the same philosophical viewpoint as Mcluhan here. The question of “words” acting as an insufficient substitute for pure and simple perception is one that invites a creator to consider a palate complete and uninhibited. It has occurred to me that in terms of industrial and/or commercial design, however, it is important for the creator to consider a means by which will not bear so much subtlety that it can not be verified for its worth by a consumer market. Perhaps this parallels the approach the Eames’ took when applying minimalism as a means for universal function and a simple, truthful design language.
Mcluhan’s study for the application for electric information as a pool of individualism and an overall creative force has maintained immense relevance since its conception. For artists, technology is not merely a tool anymore but has claimed its own independence in his or her creative discourse and form. Artists deliberate with their tools in order to prepare results. For instance, many sound artists use the limitations of their instruments’ designs as an esthetic advantage, and make use of their limitations by exploiting them. Take the prepared pianos of John Cage for instance. Cage weighted the strings inside the box so that they could not resonate, creating an entirely new instrument altogether…thus characterized by clunks and bangs, instead of resonated tones.
Specifically, the Mcluhan uses the example of the relationship between a child and the alphabet to support the idea of the process as a means of comprehension. He asserts, “Words and the meaning of words predispose the child to think and at automatically in certain ways.” There is a sense that this predisposition, through a said learned process, invites one to unknowingly dismiss details in information by merely allowing it to be identified by casting it into whatever categories correspond to a ‘word’. This is clearly a handicap when considering a creative process for visual and aural art. Stan Brakhage wrote, in “Metaphors on Vision”:
Imagine an eye unruled by man-made laws of perspective, an eye unprejudiced by compositional logic, an eye which does not respond to the name of everything but which must know each object encountered in life through an adventure of perception. How many colors are there in a field of grass, to the crawling baby unaware of “Green”?
Brakhage assumes the same philosophical viewpoint as Mcluhan here. The question of “words” acting as an insufficient substitute for pure and simple perception is one that invites a creator to consider a palate complete and uninhibited. It has occurred to me that in terms of industrial and/or commercial design, however, it is important for the creator to consider a means by which will not bear so much subtlety that it can not be verified for its worth by a consumer market. Perhaps this parallels the approach the Eames’ took when applying minimalism as a means for universal function and a simple, truthful design language.
Mcluhan’s study for the application for electric information as a pool of individualism and an overall creative force has maintained immense relevance since its conception. For artists, technology is not merely a tool anymore but has claimed its own independence in his or her creative discourse and form. Artists deliberate with their tools in order to prepare results. For instance, many sound artists use the limitations of their instruments’ designs as an esthetic advantage, and make use of their limitations by exploiting them. Take the prepared pianos of John Cage for instance. Cage weighted the strings inside the box so that they could not resonate, creating an entirely new instrument altogether…thus characterized by clunks and bangs, instead of resonated tones.
Sunday, October 19, 2008
more stockhausen for thought
here's a piece I just found accidentally, on youtube.... of something inspired by gesang der jünglinge by stockhausen. it is pretty intense and wonderfully strange. please enjoy:
I've been thinking more and more about sound design by way of separating lots of channels into a space (having lots of speakers scattered all with different sounds). Today I saw a really simple demonstration of building a speaker out of tin foil and an RCA cable on the internet. I wish tin foil was less expensive, so I could build a towering monster with a mean face and scary noises to boot. ...maybe then I could get that damned stray cat to stop peering in at me from my windowsill. It really creeps me out.
Stockhausen is the man, when it comes to designing sound for multichannel systems. You probably don't have 12 speakers hooked up to your computer, but at least tis might give some sense of his style:
Stockhausen is the man, when it comes to designing sound for multichannel systems. You probably don't have 12 speakers hooked up to your computer, but at least tis might give some sense of his style:
Sunday, October 12, 2008
Wednesday, October 8, 2008
Cartune Xprez
I discovered a fellow weirdo named Bruce Bickford recently on the internet. He made lots of psychedelic meticulous brainy animations to Frank Zappa songs long go, and a clip found it's way in to my line of sight on youtube recently. I really wanted to post his work to spread the joy.
brucebickford.com
In looking into Bickford's new work, I found that there is this art collective that shows films on the road called cartunexprez (cartunexprez.com). They are going to be in town presenting a band called Hooliganship @ Holocene in November. I would check out a clip of them online. Hooliganship is comprised of two members who have choreographed dance and composed music to perform alongside animations in a such a way that the band become characters in a narrative (as far as I can tell). Zany...
Friday, October 3, 2008
Response #1 Week #1
Bryson Hansen
Artd 410 Contemporary Design
Friday Oct. 3 2008
Response #1 Week #1
I found something particularly interesting about a note made in Seeing Is Forgetting. On page 127, the author relates Irwin’s notes about some of his conceptions regarding perception and art. Irwin explains that if one is to appraoch “art” with the attitude that it “is” art regardless of his or her experience with it, then that mental framing is what determines art. In addition, Irwin supports that many artists approach their work wearing the idea that they are “interpreters” for their own novel insights to be extended toward the layman, and that Irwin sought to design a situation in which the experience that a participant has with a work of art is the meaningful part (not something buried beneath). Although I believe that art as a form of expression bears its own weight and significance, I can see Irwin’s point. How is an artist suppose to communicate a “feeling” without attempting to invite the audience to take part in it? I feel that it is not a stretch to say that this was Marcel Duchamp’s great point! Duchamp set out to use found objects to explain that everyday objects and experience are each of their own unique design and should therefor not be considered any more or less an artistic “thing”. Art can be very much about an experiential moment or memory for the audience, not just a moment of realization. One example of a contemporary sound artist who, I feel, has achieved creating works that bear this frame of mind is Maryanne Amacher’s “Sound Characters (making the third ear)”. Maryanne Amacher uses psychoacoustic sound design techniques to achieve a perceptual “change” in her audience. In “Sound Characters”, Amacher uses a variance on frequencies, in a setting that involves carefully placed speakers and environment, to offer her audience a moment in which they can percieve a tone coming literally from between their own ears. The frequencies pulse back and forth between the ears to create an individualized tone, seemingly created by the audience member alone. The meaning behind all of this is that the ultimate moment in which the piece becomes realized can only occur with the participation and perception of the audience.
I feel that the 9 Evenings project is one that demonstrates an attitude not just in an experimentation of instruments and their related functions, but also in an experimentation of the the artist as an “author”. What determines whether the artist is in control of his or her final product? Many of the individual pieces made throughout the 9 Evenings project raise this question by allowing participants’ performances to articulate the original authors’ ideas. One example of this is with John Cage’s Variations VII. In this piece, Cage arranges a room in which a large number of different noise makers are controlled by a number of people. This goes on in an improvisation for at least eightyfive minutes. It is interesting not only to consider the bridge that was made from artists’ designs for these textural sounds and their correlating engineers’ imaginative construction, but also Cage’s choice to render all of the sounds without preconception. Cage used no prerecorded sounds or music, instead he suggested that the performance of his contemporaries would dictate the actual personality and character of the aural material.
Here is a link to some info about Maryanne Amacher: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maryanne_Amacher
Thursday, October 2, 2008
Blog #2
Here is a work by Frank Stella titled "Flin Flon"-from 1970. Frank Stella is relevant to printmaking and design in regards to the 60's and forward.
I do not know that Stella and Rauschenberg are necessarily connected, but I do know that some of their work gets mentioned together at times. Also, they both featured significant collaborations with Merce Cunningham (an experimental performance artist/dancer). I suppose maybe that was the connection I made in thinking I should mention any of this...
Here is an example of Stella's more recent work:
Frank Stella, detail, "Severinda," mixed media on Fiberglas, 1995
It is easy to see how much his work has evolved throughout time. I find it pretty amazing.
Blog #1
I have never had a blog until this moment. I'm not exactly sure what we're all blogging about yet, but here's a link to some Rauschenberg that I thought might be interesting for the class:
This is an excerpt from Linoleum, which was made 1967.
http://ubu.wfmu.org/sound/aspen/qt/rauschenberg.mov
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