Blog encouter 3

After hearing that this blog art enouter was sapose to be based on sound. I got excited, I looked up almost every artist that was posted on d2l by Carl and i was tempted to find the best one. Sadly though they were all good and only one reall really moved me which made it hard to deside just what i wanted to do. So i did some thinking and one video that struck me was Christian Marclay's short film called telephones. I watch the film quite a few times jotting down notes each time trying to get the full impact of the film. In the short film a series of phones ring, each clip was from a different seen from a different movie. each ring tone had a different pitch so as the you are hearing all the phones going off, it comes across as music. Sure not te kind of music you'd liste to on the radio but,each tone and pitch together create and make music in a artistic way. Another thing that Christian does in his film is he also uses some exserts of people talking, so you hear the hello, hello, all in different ways. So not only do you have the ringing creating music but, you also have peoples different voices, and different ways of saying it adding to the music idea as well. Now although every person in this film was doing a different action in every clip that was played were the phone started ringing. It still added a type of repetative motion to the picture. When everyone is answering, heading to the phone, or perhaps just picking it up and saying hello. you still get that sense of repition in the film. Sound plays a huge and crutial role in this peice simply because it is the base line and the premise of the whole film. Sure maybe to some it is just annoying, and maybe not artistic to others. But, the sound is important because that is how the director/ artist is communicating and getting his point across. He took movie clips and only inserted the phone ringing, people going to answer, and then saying hello. You can really take this in a lot of ways really, you could view it as Christan really just wanting to show that the phone in some ways interrupt our everyday lives and interferres with our activity, or perhaps how everyone does the same thing over and over again.
There was another film in our class that we watched towards the beginning of the semester called What the Water Said. When i first watched this film i was bored and i hated it. All it was, was a bunch of scratches creating this horrid sound. However, the more and more i thought about it, yeah i still hated it but, this guy put the film strip in the ocean ,and let the ocean scratch the film. So when he later put it through a projector all of the scratches would turn into audio, giving it the sounds that the ocean made. What reminded me of this film when i was talking about the telephone film that Christan made was that the sound in both were equally important and the film would loose meaning if it wasn't there. If What the Water Said didn't have sound you would be left with a film strip with scratches and nothing else. Now if you took the audio away from the film telephones all you would have is clips of people answering the phone.
There is one last film i would like to bring up from class that i think would fit in this catergory is The To Kill A Mockingbird short film were the artist remixed a scene and used the sound and motion to convey the vonerbility of the characters in the scene. This film to was i little harder to watch, not going to lie, The only thing that i really didn't care for is the length of time that the artist desided to laps. Some of them could have been a little shorter and still prove his point just as well. The audio in this film is also very crutial to the film message. Although you have alot of skipping going on the audio if really the only thing that you can really focus on. It grabs your attention and is the loudest action being done. If you didn't use the audio for this piece you would only have a scene skipping and the images would be scattered. The one thing different from this film, telephones, and What the water said is that Telephone and to kill a mockingbird have something visual to go with the sound. But taking a look at all three of these pieces i realize just how important it is to have good audio in your film because it is amazing how much it could impact the whole meaning behind it. It could be something as simple a one word or even a scratch. Or as complicated at multi-toned sounds repeating over and over. either way no matter what the case is audio can be just as if not more important then the visual effacts going on. I do recommend if you have not seen any of these films that you should. That way you can hear it for your self and see what i mean. Or you could do an even simpliar experiment. The next time you are watch a movie of your favorite show turn off the volume for a minute. Ask yourself is the show just as good only being visual. Although this is just a simple exercise you can get an idea of what i mean. Audio is very important to film, that's why you have to make sure it is just right. Next time you watch a movie listen to the sound track and the music with the video and see if it adds to your mood when watching it. Then rewind it and watch it with the sound off, then you can ask yourself is the music in the background important to the impact of whats going on and your viewing involovment? You would be surprise just how much it helps out.

I had alot of fun with this assignment and i hope those of you who are reading this will take the time, whether it's two minutes or two hours try and see what the sound can do for a video, show, or film and see for yourself.

Journal entry 3

For my third and final journal entry i desided to expand out of my comfort zone, i wanted to take it to the next step and read something i maybe wouldn't before. So while i was reading through all of the articles in this months issue of Afterall Magazine. I happen to come across the perfect one. The article was called documenta 12, written by Lisette Lagnano.The article was onthe artist Roger M . Buergel, who has returned to the Kessel bomb ( used in world war 2) left in ruins and filled with devastation. He started an exhibiton and had alot of sucess with his findings. It took him a while to finally be happy with his work and the final product, but he came up with a picture book and a cataloge of his findings while there. In the paper they qoute Roger saying "words obstruct the visibility of the art." I found this statement very interesting and got me thinking alot. As an art it is open ended, anything can be done and there is no right way to express yourself. So in other words the world is your canvis.
If i had deside what kind of artist Roger is i would most definetly have to say that he would have to be contemporary by far. He is taking this bad time in history were many died or had lost loved ones and making it art. So in a way i feel like this is real life art, taking as it hapened. Who would think that i bomb that dropped and devistated millions would later turn out to be art on display all over the world. To me just the thought of taking something bad and turing it into good is great. World war 2 was a big part of our past, and in a way it's like were not forgetting about it. It's still in our minds and we won't forget what happened. In some ways i feel as if world war 2 brought us all together in a way, sort of like the world trade centers on september 11th. But at the same time you really don't see a whole lot of artist trying to make September 11th into art quite yet. I don't think enough time has gone past for people to be ready for art dealing with that. So i think Roger picked a great time and subject for this art piece.
After reading this article i did alot of thinking on how important our history is to us. For the fact that the art world met the history world i think it's great. You could read a ton of World War 2 books. But, seeing one picture graphic or not seeing the devastation will speak to you alot more. I agree with roger some what on what he said earlier in the paper on words in art, but i also disagree a little bit to. I think it really depends on the type of art the artist is making. To me Visual art always speaks to me more then a paper would. At the same time thought i don't mind a little bit text to add to the compostion. With Roger world war 2 bomb art work, i feel that the piece doesn't need any text and that the images are strong enough to speak from themselves as they are.
I really enjoyed this article, having art and history together was a great idea and it has a very powerful meaning behind it that more and more i look at the piece posted in google. Taking something tragic and turning it into art is great, not everyone could probably get away with this either. It takes a great deal of strength anf vision on his part toget it just right. So people if your not careful might find it offensive, graphic, or depressing. So you have to have just the right amount to create art. If you find yourself with some free time and can spare a few minutes of your time, i highly recommend reading this months issue of after all magazine. They had alot of great stories this month and i had a hard time desiding what i wanted to choose.

journal entry 2

For my last entry for now i found the artist James coleman to be extremely interesting. In this articles it was written by Tim Stott from After All magazine in the most recent issue. James Coleman works with film, as well as sculptures. He just recently finished his trilogy of slidtape projections. I had the chance asside from reading i also got to view pictures of his sculptures.After viewing a few pictures of the three pieces in the trilogy Tim described his work as
"the concern processes of reconstruction and examination, the documentary potential of photographic imagery and the uneasy proximity of voice and image; but also, unavoidably, remembrance and the uncertain and fascinating passage of the dead amongst the living" ( Tim Stott, After All magazine)
Not only does James create art he puts even more into it than that. He creates a story, gives them names and personality. This makes the art just that much more realistic. His work is more contemporary and not so much as international as the pervious artist i mentioned in my last paper. But he is pretty well known. You can view his work in a gallery, it never really stated where so much. i would highly recommend looking for it online to. Even just seeing the pictures you are blown away.
The reason why i choose this article is because as lame as it may sound. just by looking at the thumb nail online, your first intential thought is that they are real people. Then when you read the bigger article you can see that they're not real at all. Sure they all have names, and a conflict going on between the four. Then you go on to read n how it's a slidtape, images, as well as a sculpture! So it's a trilogy art. I really haven't seen sculptures as life like as these and reading the name of the piece as background i couldn't help but read on.

journal number 1

After reading quite a few articles from the After All magazine, i've found quite a few interesting articles. The one i have choosing for this entry is on the artist Haris Epaminondar this was writting by Sonia Campagnola. In this article it discussed some of Haris's newer work, she tends to take alot of photography and publish books. But, however she has been working more on contemporary short films lately. Since july of 2007 she started living in Berlin, She is very well traveled so her she is known pretty internationally. Most of her work has magnified colors, repetition, and symettry. Depending on her works subject matter will impact on how she goes about working with it. If you want to go and see her work you can purchase one of her books, go to a gallery, and if you look hard enough you could probably find most of it still online.
One interesting fact on her work is that uner each one of her images she usually will have a caption or a quote on the bottom.
The thing that attracted me most to this story is simply for the fact that someone incorporated photography into film.Anf right now with me that tends to be the hardest thing to do. Believe me your head can definantly get lost. But at least with Haris you get the best of both worlds.

Sorry for the confusion

Hey sorry for the confusion. I thought that i was only sapose to tell my dicussion leader which journal i chose and the reason why. But anyway i apologise and just wanted to say after much reasearch i decided to go with the After All magazine. Reading some of the articles and looking at the pictures i thought that this one would best fit my interest. It was the closest on to my interest and combines both so that i am learning new things as well as things i already love. Again i am sorry it took this long to post this. I guess i miss understood. I will post my 2 journal blogs before october 29th.

Art field report part 1 and 2

The act React exhibit over at the milwaukee museum was amazing! There was so many great peices to choose from to write about. However, after the dicussions in class, i decided to shine some light on how i feel on the main pieces that were discussed. So one of the pieces i choose to write about was the 20 x 30 floor called the healing pool, by Brian Knep.
For anyone was hasn't see this art exhibit, the healing pool is featured on the poster you see for the exhibit. But, it is brightly colored and form a pattern on the floor. When you walk across it you destroy the pattern and for a time laps the pattern wont go back. However when it does go back, the pattern itself doesn't go back to the way it was before. It is different everytime! The interactive part to it is no one person can wipe out the floor, so the more people you have working together the more that you can rearange. Sure it may not compare to any halo game that you've played but at the same time in a way it's getting a message across.
One of the message that they could be sending to people is simply, inorder to complete the act you need to work together and work as a team. Another way to look at it is, in this world we have destory and have altered the world. Whether it is building a new sky scrapper, cars poluting, or cutting down trees. After the damage is done, the planet will evolove and try to fix the damage done. So in other words it will never really be the same ever again.
The second piece i decided to write about was the line floor that i believe was built by the same artist. This art piece again is a mat on the floor. If one person is standing on it nothing will happing. Now if two or more people are on it there is a line that will show up and divide the people with a line. So no matter where you move that line will still be there.Now if two poeple decide to hold hands, then there space will combined and the line will desipear.
To me this piece went on to show me again how important it was to work together, no one person could interact or complete the art by themselves. So you need team work other wis eit would just simply be a blank floor. Sure the graphics aren't out of this world. But watching walk up to it and try and figure out this art piece works Is quite interesting. And sometimes people wont speak and they will just work together to create the art. So no words were even exchanged but art was just created.
George fifield, had a lot of good points in his essay when he talked about the differences between Video games and interactive art. Video games themselves as graphics are art yes. However, interective art isn't about the most kills, or defeating they alliens. it's simply about experiencing and completing the art itself. You get to creat the art and take what you will from it.video games art fun and usually have a plot and you get to choose what happens to you. Take guitar hero for example, The music exsistd before, and the artist themselves created a master piece. Now you take a condensed verson and play it, so now all the little things that they artist put in the work of art, is over seened and changed for the player to have an easier time.
Over all i thoughtthe act react exhibit was amazing and great i wish i could go in a further dicussion about other pieces that were there. But i feel that i have made a good selection choosing the ones that i did. i highly recommend you going and checking out this exhibited while it is still there.

Paper 1
Samantha VanderHyden
In the beginning of this semester when class first started I will admit I knew nothing about film. Sure, I know about photography and know about music and soundtracks nothing really about the art behind film itself. So when I heard the quote by Marcel Duchamp I used my knowledge as an over all artist to think deeper. I thought about the films we say in class and how they could relate to the quote. The quote was “all in all, the creative act is not performed by the artist alone; the spectator brings the work in contact with the external world by deciphering and interpreting its inner qualification and thus adds his contribution to the creative act.”
In the quote mentioned above my very first thought was all he was saying is that without a viewer to look and connect with the piece, there wouldn’t be any art. Think about it art is pretty open ended and can be seen in many different ways, there is no one right answer. Art is what you make it mean. Say the artist did have something in mind, but how you see it might be different and that’s fine. Really you connection to it is what makes it complete. Otherwise what is a piece of art other than just a painting, of just a picture, and whose knows just a movie with film and no meaning?
What is a film? What makes it art? Better yet what makes it good art from bad art? If you asked me a few weeks ago I couldn’t tell you. In fact, even before this class I thought most good movies had a plot. But after watching some movies in class such as my favorite, Bear Garden. I was impressed! I watched that movie taking in everything; I found myself feeling emotions just by the way the movie was shot. I felt like humans and the dogs were the threats to us. Just by using film dye and red paint in her short film I felt fear, anger, blood was everywhere, and I felt like the bear. Even her camera angles added to the effect of how you the viewers respond. I felt by watching the movie the artist was talking to me, that her message was getting across to me. And she did it well enough that I was feeling during the movie. It was like being apart of the art.
When I reread the quote what Marcel Duchamp I think that in a way he was trying to say art is like a triangle. You have the artist who has an idea and creates the art. Then you have the art itself as a finished idea and product of creations from the artist. Lastly, you have the viewer who sees the art and finishes it but feeling and making there own connection with art. Art wouldn’t be art unless there was someone to see it and watch it.
Art is everywhere, no matter where you turn. It’s in the art you breathe or in the noise you hear. The world wouldn’t be the same if there wasn’t any art, and you as a viewer do make it whole. So really if you think hard enough the viewer is the most important piece when it comes to art. Sure the film, the camera, projector, or the paint is all important. But, what is the point unless you get through to someone and prove a point is probably the greatest Feeling an artist can have knowing there art had an impact on someone. So all in all Duchamp was right an artist can not preformed the creative act by themselves.