Commentary on Robert Morris’ “Exchange” – FACS 3938

Taking place in the early 1970s, “Exchange” is an early form of video art collaboration taking place between artists. The work is a collection of tapes that are answers to one another, a collaboration between Robert Morris and Lynda Benglis. Each tape was recorded, then re-recorded, dissected and pasted back together to form new forms of video art each time. I found this piece extraordinary in that it went beyond simple editing and montage and created almost a collage of video work. Mostly associated with cut and past, two-dimensional art, this was the first time that I was aware of an attempt and creating a time-based collage. The use of collage also brings up the issue of authorship in video art. Near the beginning of the film the narrator states that by filming Morris’ footage, Benglis created her own, which conjures up ideas of “After Walker Evans” once again.

Much like the phase 4 projects for FACS 2930, the collaborative nature of the project brings helps to form an innovative culminating piece. By splicing footage with new sounds and creating juxtapositions with both still and motion images, Morris and Benglis arrive at what seems to be a piece created through passion, hate and love. The narrator states that during many different versions of the tape Morris becomes obsessed with Benglis, and other times he acts angrily and frustrated in his creation. I found this expression of emotion in the piece quite interesting as sometimes he used art passionately to convey his emotions, while other times the emotions became tiresome.  Throughout the filmmaking process and as his initial ideas were ripped apart and twisted back together I felt like Morris was going through the various steps towards accepting his art (denial, anger, guilt, depression etc.) Each step leading up to the final video which we watched.

This video in particular spanned time by compiling artwork made at different locations and timelines. The artists worked separately on each tape only corresponding through the delivery of the pieces. By only having one artist work on the piece at a time, the collaboration is different than one where artists work together. In Joint works of art, two artists will collectively agree on the piece. In Morris and Benglis’ works their separation brings out other emotions such as frustration and misunderstanding.

View “Exhange” Online: http://www.ubu.com/film/morris.html

One Sentence Story – FACS 2930 – Phase 4

So I’ve finally completed phase four of FACS 2930. My concept was to create a story one sentence at a time by giving a friend a sentence ans asking them to write what they thought would follow. i then took that sentence and passed it on to another friend, and so on and so on. The interesting this about this projects compared to a traditional “One Word Story” kind of improv game is that the “authors” only see the sentence that come right before theirs. It’s hard to keep the story in context this way, and most sentences only make sense in pairs.

Idid this entire project using a the message feature of facebook to emphasize the social connections between the authors, and maybe draw out subconscious ideas from each. The story itself mostly revolves around relationships and alcohol (I wonder what kind of psychoanalysis could happen here?)

To show off the complete story I have put together a website that allows the viewer to read the story as a whole, or also view it in sentence pairs (using screen captures right from facebook!)

Take a look and enjoy!

Through the FACS Site or Through My Personal Site

“5×3 Vari Hall” – FACS 3938 – Project 2

Final Project for FACS 3938. Entitled 5X3 Vari Hall, the 2 minute sequence shows 15 different video captures of York University’s Vari Hall. The video is composed of 30 minutes of actual footage  arranged in a similar way to the photographic work of David Hockney. It is meant to compress both time and space while displaying video played back in real time.

It is interesting to watch how the screens overlap moments that happened minutes apart such as the skateboarder appearing to move from frame to frame although the footage was filled at a different time. At about 1:20 a Go bus seamlessly transforms into a TTC bus.

I lucked into a great day for filming as the skateboarder was out and doing his own thing. Also a second year dance improv class was performing (you can see them mostly in the bottom left corner and twirling across other screens).

It was interesting because on this day there was also a hired traffic surveyor video taping the movement of people infrom of Vari Hall. He had 4 cameras set up filming North, south, east and west. While I was excited to see that people happened to be performing in the space, he was not as it was messing up his traffic survey.

HARUN FAROCKI: one image doesn’t take place of the previous one

Dubbing

1. How do the four languages change the meaning of the visuals?
2. Taking into consideration tone of voice, specific phonetic sounds and visual context, does one language stand out as having more impact?

Counter-Music

1. “Film makers dream to tell a day in the life.” How does the film industry differ from the mundane surveillance technologies?
2. If surveillance cameras are meant to simple monitor what happens in real life, can one draw a narrative from the images taken? Relating to reality TV, “Big Brother”, surveillance footage is edited to create a narrative, is this possible using other surveillance footage?
3. Although many surveillance technologies are meant to track the movement of objects/people as seen in “Eye Machine”, Farocki also discusses technology that marks individuals who remain stationary. What benefits would one have surveilling individuals in movement vs. those who do not budge?
4. The quote “Take an image to make an image” appears at one point during “Counter-Music”. How does this idea relate to the creation of video art and documentary? (Kind of like the controversy of “After Walker Evans”)

Workers Leaving the Factory

1. Farocki’s investigation of films featuring workers leaving the factory spans 11 decades. How did the content change from the first to the final film sequence?
2. The content of the films tent to change and evolve throughout the span in decades. How does the theme of leaving a factory remain consistent when there are not workers in the actual shot as seen in the 1987 footage of a security gate?
3. What differences are there in the documentation of the original Lumiere footage compared to that taken from a motion picture such as Metropolis? (is there any difference in the way people move as they are actual workers or extras in a film?)
4. These films depict many factories from the industrial revolution and manufacturing boom of the early 20th century. Living in Toronto, a city that no longer has as many production facilities, are there any other images that could be documented to convey the same themes as this installation?

FACS 3938 – Project 2 Concept

My second project has it’s roots in the ideas of photographer David Hockney. Famous for creating photo collages of moments in time such as a swimming pool made up of many images that capture many moment and display them in one piece, Hockney has inspired me to adapt this to video.

Using a ideo camera I will capture Vari Hall in 12 separate sections filming each section for 2 minutes each. I will then use Final Cut Pro or After effects to stitch these video files together. Over all i will need to capture 24 minutes, yet since each sequence will be played at the same time it will only be a 2 minute piece.

This piece is meant to explore the existence of different things over time. compressing 24 minutes into 2 will show how video technology allows us to view the same object over time and at the same time

FACS 2930 – Phase 4 Concept

My final project will be based around the idea of mail art and collaborative work. Much like the idea that people take images and manipulate them, my project will be text based. Using Facebook as a online social forum I will be constructing a short story created by my contacts one sentence at a time.

Much like the “one word story” game played by improv troupes, this idea is a little different. I will explore how language is used in and out of context. I will start the story with a simple “Once upon a time” and ask a friend to complete the sentence. I will then send that sentence to another friend and as them to write the sentence that should follow. This chain will continue for up to 40 individuals. The contacts will not see the entire story that has led up to their turn, only the previous sentence. In this way each sentence should make sense in the context of the sentence that came before it, but might not in the context of the entire story.

I will present the final story in the form of a web page displaying the story as a whole and also in two sentence sections.

We’ll see how this thing plays out!

FACS 2930 – Phase 3

Project 3 Complete! The audio files will be played in class for critique on April 13, 2009. I have composed two pieces, one of which was recorded in real time, the other of which was constructed.

Subway Ride is a constructed piece that is meant to mimic the experience of riding the TTC. Created using royalty free audio from freesound.org, I compiled together audio files including footsteps, rustling of a newspaper, a subway, the subway chime, a subway speaker, and a conversation. All of there things were seperate audio files and were compiled into a seamless one minute piece. This piece successfully recreates a possible situation that one may experience on the TTC, but it is infact a complete fabrication.

Morning Routine is the piece that was recorded in real time. Inspired by project 1 in FACS 3938 (expanded and compressed time) I recreated my typical morning routine compressed into one single minute. Alarm clock, toilet flush, shower, faucet, brushing teeth, drinking, toasting and eating food, and finally walking out of my house and locking the door are heard in the span of one minute. This is meant to confuse the listener in thinking that the audio was a construction compiled of seperate sounds, but infact was a cleverly staged sequence of events in realtime (only 12 takes to get it right).

If my pieces were listened to one after another, and the listener was asked to describe which was the construction, I would hope that I have confused them. Although the construction sounds like a simple recording, it is layered with many other sounds. Morning Routine, although it explores compressed time in audio, is in fact the real time recording.

FACS 3938 – Project 1

First projects complete and uploaded to the FACS 3938 Wiki. Here’s a quick breakdown of my pieces and what I was trying to achieve.

All For One (Glass of Water) – Expanded Time

• 1 minute sequence of a really slow Brita filter
• Takes exactly 1 minute to filter a small (300ml) glass of water
• Meant to convey the feeling of frustration and impatience that one might get while waiting for a glass of water
• We pay for water to by filtered and pumped to our houses yet we still add the process of the Brita filter to maintain “clean” drinking water
• Tested other scenarios in which a tap was running at full speed next to a Brita filter to contrast the amounts of water that are used.
• This piece was chosen as it effectively shows patience.
• The Brita user keeps pouring the filtered water after approx 20 seconds, yet the glas is nowhere near full each time.

Bill Haley and His Comets

• An illusions of compressed time in real time.
• Audio for “Rock Around the clock” compressed to 1 minute and played on laptop next to camera. Gives the illusion that the video may have been altered, although it has not.
• I manually generated a fast clock by turning the dial myself.
• This piece shows how real time can be manipulated to appear altered.
  

Cause and Effect

Cause and effect, action/reaction, consequences, response, reason/result, decisions, changes, chain of circumstances, ripples.

Interesting UBUs of Cause and Effect:

A more literal idea of cause and effect is Dennis Oppenheim’s Two Stage Transfer Drawing.

Two Stage Transfer Drawing

The aspect of cause and effect is produced by the feedback that is transfered from person to person to paper. The video depicts a chain of action starting with Oppenheim’s child drawing on his back. Oppenheim then interprests what he feels and recreates it on a separate piece of paper. This cause and effect is an example of action/reaction, reason and response.

Another title that demonstrates this on a less literal sense is Richard Serra’s Boomerang.

Boomerang

The cause and effect in this piece is not in a direct action and result, but more along the lines of pointing out something that is common. We generally do not notice the way we speak. By playing back someone’s conversation wiht a delay forces the speaker to stop and react to what they have just said. In a similar way to how Dan Graham uses feedback in his piece Mirror The audience reacts when they become aware of themselves. Nancy Holt becomes aware of how she is speaking which causes her to alter the way she speaks.

FACS 3938 – First Post

In continuing with this blog being dedicated to some university class notes, I will be discussing some of the topics from FACS 3938 – Video in the Expanded Field on these pages.

So…First week of FACS 3938…watched some videos on the ubu.com website. Interesting stuff. Starting with some of the artists found on the FACS wiki I saw a number of interesting videos of various topics, lengths and styles. Some that intrigued me were Bob Viola’s Anthem, a lengthy video of a girl in a subway system screaming. This scream is juxtaposed against images of modern development such as industrial manufacturing, medical advancements and raw material processing. The scream seems to be drowned out by or covered up by these images at times making me feel as though society’s obsession with industrial processes and technology cloud our perseption of basic human needs and attention. While North America profits off of manufacturing and pumps more into research and technology, we are forgetting about taking care of our own species around the world and even the world itself.

I also looked into the artist Sam Taylor-Wood. i was most interested in the video “A Little Death”. this time-lapse video of a decomposing hare speeds up time and takes something that might go unnoticed as a strong and vivid visual. I will be looking more into Sam Taylor-Wood and this video as I want to discuss it for my presentation.