Friday, 17 June 2011

plastic, sound and other issues

I find out that 4 plastic sheets for my column/vitrine design would cost around £100, or £400 to have the edges polished for the corners and assembled. I will redesign the column with less plastic, or with alternative material.

I have talk to Carl for headphones and Mac minis, and it looked hopeful I'd be able to use 4 headphones and 2 minis.

I've also been creating clips.


There was a wedding party on a boat on the river Spree, and the group had just got off onto the riverbank. The Wall and the TV tower are in the background. The clip starts with a post-celebration image, and the balloons come back into people's hands. I'm planning on making a another clip with images taken at the same location, but subtly different, to portray uncertainty of memories.



These images were also shot on the riverbank which used to divide East and West. On the building that was once used by the East German border guards is an advert for Sky, which reads, I do not watch TV. I see something better ["Ich guck keine Fernsehen. Ich seh was Besseres." ]

Although this isn't visibly too clear.



Red phone and images of Lola Rennt. The film was shot in Berlin, where Lola fights with time and changes what was supposedly her destiny in the changing city, with multiple experiences of parallel timelimes. 

Thursday, 16 June 2011

blind critique


This is the draft clip I made for the blind crit session today, with sound I added [not by Terry and Nick]. I'll make further considerations, tests and adjustments regarding the following points.

General
Quiet observations of everyday things, poetic, dreamy, subtle
Some surprises, revealing the hidden
Need to specify what the message is. How ambiguous or descriptive should it be, for the audience in England to understand
Don't overload messages (subjective nature of memory, on top of nostalgia, divide and loss) 
Repetition of images were unnecessary, and some images dragged on
Length (7 minutes) seemed okay [this will be different once it's looped]


Sound
Sound at the end of the clip wasn't prominent enough [this would change when it's on loop]
Letting sound be sound works with images
Should relate directly to images, which will clarify the message

Some of these were surprising for me to hear, as my intentions were perceived in a different way (for example, repetition of images with different background sound was to enhance the sense of subjective memory). I thought it might seem too long and too subtle, but that didn't seemed to be a problem with the group I met today.

Sunday, 12 June 2011

Considerations on Planer LC15 ANN 1000




Issues I will consider in using Planer LC15 ANN 1000 for the MA Show are:

  • ratio/resolution of screen, from laptop or DVD player to the screen, 
  • how to hang it inside the vitrine, and
  • resolving the reflection of the screen.

I will also contact Sandlant again, to ask if the plastic sheets could be cut to size, and mitred on some of the edges.

I am working on the design of the column/vitrine:
  • on how to hang the screen, 
  • on connecting cables, and
  • where to place the speakers.



A column would allow me to hang the screen inside, which a NUCA vitrine (below) wouldn't.


Measurements of a NUCA vitrine

Friday, 27 May 2011

Joseph Beuys, vitrines, politics


Joseph Beuys lecturing at the 1980 Edinburgh Festival



"Filled with with urban detritus, the vitrine memorializes the remains of a 1972 action performed by Beuys in Berlin following the left-wing May Day demonstration; he and two students used a red broom to sweep up the rubbish in Karl-Marx-Platz." (Barron, 2009)

In 1960s Joseph Beuys satirised the Wall by suggesting that it should be raised by 5cm "for better proportion" [Tate Modern, 2011].

Barron, Stephanie. (2009) "Blurred Boundaries: The Art of Two Germanys between Myth and History" in Art of Two Germanys: Cold War Cultures, pp.12-33. 
Curiger, B. & Whiteread, R. (2010) The Process of Drawing is Like Writing a Diary" [Online]
Tate Modern [2011] Track 6: Lightning with Stag in its Glare, Beuys and the Berlin Wall. [Online] http://www.tate.org.uk/modern/exhibitions/beuys/mp3/06_berlin_wall.mp3


Beuys and the Berlin Wall


Joseph Beuys' "entire artistic career was spent in its shadow. He'd satirised the wall in the 1960s by suggesting that it should be raised by 5cm, 'for better proportion'... Lightning with Stag in its Glare, came directly out of an installation that Beuys made in Berlin, in 1982, in the Martin Gropius Bau - notable for its close proximity to the wall and therefore a symbol of divided Germany. Beuys spent a week grouping objects together in the gallery's courtyard, as part of a temporary exhibition called 'Zeitgeist', 'Spirit of the Times'".

Tate Modern [2011] Track 6: Lightning with Stag in its Glare, Beuys and the Berlin Wall. [Online]  http://www.tate.org.uk/modern/exhibitions/beuys/transcripts.shtm#track6 [26/05/2011]
Tate Modern [2011] Untitled (Vitrine)  1983. [Online] http://www.tate.org.uk/servlet/ViewWork?workid=963 [26/05/2011]

MoMA (2010) Joseph Beuys. (German, 1921-1986) [Online] http://www.moma.org/collection/browse_results.php?criteria=O%3AAD%3AE%3A540&page_number=14&template_id=1&sort_order=1 [26/05/2011]
Tate Modern [2011] An audio tour of Tate Modern. [Online]  http://www.tate.org.uk/modern/tours/materialslibrary/artwork14.shtm [26/05/2011]

Planer LC15 ANN 1000


Specification: http://www.planar.com/products/docs/IBU/current_manual/amlcd/mn-planar-lc15-ann-1000.pdf [27/05/2011]
http://www.planar.com/products/docs/IBU/current_drawing/amlcd/076-0534-00B_MECH_OL_LC15.pdf [27/05/2011]

Saturday, 21 May 2011

Displaying images

How can I best display the images I create - is it with a projector, or a glass screen? After talking to Terry and Nick, I have been trying to determine how I should show my work. Without having a set environment for my work, it seemed impossible to design the accompanying soundscape.

I have in mind a plinth/column with glass, a vitrine, or something in between, to place a screen within. This seems more suitable than the large plastic-sheet projection idea I had previously,  as I want bright images. My intention is also to show the screen as part of the exhibit, to give emphasis on the observational nature of my work, and a sense of archived documentation and reflection on history. The vitrine would be used if I am to combine a book in displaying the clips, and I'm also looking into a display column with glass windows.

Next week I will get measurements of the NUCA vitrine, and the screens (as well as weighing them, to evaluate how I could hoist them), and discussing it with Nick and Terry. I am intrigued about how we could design the sound scape for images behing a glass or plastic. I'll also check the control menu of the screens to see if there is a timer setting.

Tuesday, 17 May 2011

Bernauer Strasse

A clip to experiment with transitions and discordance. I'd like to present a sense of uncertainty - as many Berliners felt throughout the unification process - and to maintain a level of ambiguous air, also a reflection on diversity of perceptions and experiences since 1989.

Monday, 16 May 2011

whiteonwhite:algorithmicnoir & Winter Garden by Eve Sussman


I manage to visit the Eve Sussman exhibition at Haunch of Venison on the last day, almost by luck. It's very last-minute organisation as usual, and I have left my camera at work.

Winter Garden by Sussman and Simon Lee changes subtly from one video clip - some as still as a photograph - to another. Windows of pre-fab buildings in former-USSR cities are shown on 3 screens, morphing from one to the next, illustrating the dream that once was being "destroyed in a patchwork of humanity" [Haunch of Venison, 2011]. These images left me standing, waiting for more, just so that I can find out what happens next... or does it? Then I see a passerby. How to tell the future from the past, v.2, by Sussman and Angela Christlieb also uses 3 screens, shot during a 72-hour train journey. The window frames in the screen blurs the sence of time, and I'm left to wonder what documentation/observation defines.

How to tell the future from the past v.2, 2009

Whiteonwhite:algorithmicnoir is a film being edited live by a software, combining 2637 video clips with sound, creating "the narrative through unexpected juxtapositions" endless and never repeated (Haunch of Venison London, 2011).



shots from whiteonwhite:algorithmicthriller, 2011

Haunch of Venison [2011] Eve Sussman | Rufus Corporation whiteonwhite:algorithmicthriller  2011. [Online] http://www.haunchofvenison.com/en/#page=london.current.eve_sussman
 [13/04/2011]
Haunch of Venison London (2011) Eve Sussman | Rufus Corporation  whiteonwhite:algorithmicnoir. [Information sheet]. p.1.

Christlieb, A. [2011] How to tell the future from the Past, v.2. [Online]
 http://www.angelachristlieb.com/htttfftp.html [15/04/2011]
Rufus Corporation [2011] How to tell the future from the past v.2. [Online]
 http://www.rufuscorporation.com/projects.html#_self [15/04/2011]

Friday, 13 May 2011

Bernauer Strasse

A clip to experiment with transitions and discordance. I'd like to present a sense of uncertainty - as many Berliners felt throughout the unification process - and to maintain a level of ambiguous air, also a reflection on diversity of perceptions and experiences since 1989.

Saturday, 7 May 2011

books, memories and smell

Considering formats of presentation. Last week, I was surrounded by personal history files collected by the East German secret police Stasi. These files are now stored at the government archive in an East Berlin district, in a block occupied by Stasi as their HQ. 

The Stasi building complex in Lichtenberg, Berlin

There is a distinctive smell of old paper as I enter one of the storage rooms, of the files that altered many lives,  that brings thoughts about Berlin's history and how it deals with its past, of the people's experiences I have heard in my interviews.

Based on this experience, I plan to try out variations of exhibiting using old books and documents, screens, to link memories, emotions. One idea is to cut out a book to fit a screen into it, so that depending on the pages you turn, different parts of the screen becomes visible. Sound enhances the clips I've been testing, and I could possible use smell also, to engage with the audience better.

I think of photographing the shredded/torn pieces on my next visit. Günter Bormann, who interviewed at the BStU library, says people's interests towards the files are changing after 20 years of unification, and not fading away. Perhaps how people perceive history - and the process of German unification - is changing over time also.

BStU [2011] Öffentliche Führungen. [Online]
 http://www.bstu.bund.de/DE/Archive/OeffentlicheFuehrung/archivfuehrungen_inhalt.html
 [07/05/2011]
Curry, A. (2008) Piecing Together the Dark Legacy of East Germany's Secret Police. [Online]
Faber, M. (2010) Tree of Codes by Jonathan Safran Foer – review. [Online]
 http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2010/dec/18/tree-codes-safran-foer-review [07/05/2011]
Matas, M. (2011) Mike Matas: A next-generation digital book. [Online]
 http://www.ted.com/talks/mike_matas.html [07/05/2011]
Sinclair, M. (2011) Tree of Codes: the making of a die-cut book [Online]
 http://www.creativereview.co.uk/cr-blog/2011/april/tree-of-codes-making-of [07/05/2011]

Stafford, N. (2007) Anti-shredder aims to stick spy files back together. [Online]

Friday, 29 April 2011

More interviews in Berlin

I've been interviewing more people in Berlin, which have been successful. Out of many emails I send out requesting an interview, I get few replies, and even less that agree to be interviewed. Connections of people have helped me a lot, as a Berliner I speak to would introduce me to another. I've not had enough time to talk to everyone I had contacts for, but hopefully I will have opportunities later on.

My understanding about the divide and how Berliners experienced it (some still do today) expands every time. It's interesting to reflect on the fact I thought more about recording sound of the city when I first planned this visit, and how it has developed into a different experience from what I expected originally.

I have made up for some of the unrecorded interviews.

Sunday, 17 April 2011

Interviews in Berlin

I have been interviewing Berliners. Some successfully, some not. I have left the recorder on pause thinking it was recording on two occasions... painful lessons. I'll just have to work on getting more interviews.

On the positive side, the wind jammer I made from a tupperware and tights has been working well, and when I interviewed a singer who was performing on Oberbaumbrücke, a bridge that once was a checkpoint, it didn't pick up any noise from the wind.

Saturday, 16 April 2011

Tempelhof airport


This clip was made from shots at Tempelhof airport. Or what used to be. The result of a referendum in 2008 which asked Berliners on the future of the airport showed a divide in opinion between East and West, as well as a low turnout of 21.7%. One Shot, a short film by Dietrich Brüggemann, also uses the runway of Tempelhof, an airport once iconic symbol of Berlin Airlift, with dialogs on integration. 

One Shot by Dietrich Brüggemann

Brüggemann, D. (2011) One Shot. [Online] http://achtungberlin.de/programm0/made-in-berlin-brandenburg0/kurzfilme/one-shot/ [16/04/2011]
France 24 (2008) Tempelhof airport supporters lose vote. [Online] http://www.thelocal.de/lifestyle/20080710-12983.html [16/04/2011]
Knight, B. (2008) A turd in Tempelhof. [Online] http://www.thelocal.de/lifestyle/20080710-12983.html [16/04/2011]

Monday, 11 April 2011

Checkpoint Charlie [test with sound]



This one is another test with background sound, and uses shots taken from 2 angles looking East and West. The first is shot from the Western side, with the "you are leaving the American sector" sign, and second looks at the Western side, with a convenient representation of McDonald's in the background. 

The noise is recorded on the same street, where tourists, coaches and cars, cyclists all fight over the space. It's also the first trial in seeing how I short clips should follow the preceding one. This one just snaps to another.


Deutsches Bundesarchiv (1988) File:Bundesarchiv B 145 Bild-F079005-0022, Berlin, Grenzübergang Checkpoint Charlie.jpg [11/04/2011]

Sunday, 10 April 2011

Checkpoint Charlie [test]



The first clip made from 4 still images, not 2. It's a little more confusing - and complex. I feel the changes are not simply from one to another, but mixture and accommodation of multiple perceptions. I'm trying to add an aesthetic depth to the clips also.

A food court with sushi, kebab and pizza has been replaced by McDonald's, which must have increased the value of Checkpoint Charlie as a tourist trap. The prop-guards will pose with you for 2 - or €1 if you're young and female. Some of them would cover their face with the American flag to prevent tourists capturing images without payment. This particular one had an aggressive attitude towards a family asking tourists for money, mocking them and calling them "gypsies". Perhaps he doesn't appreciate the capitalist competition.

Tourist Lovin' scenes at Checkpoint Charlie.

Traces of advertising in São Paulo



Adverts ban in São Paulo created signs with colours removed and walls with traces. These images share similar visual effect with Sophie Calle's The Detachment.

De Marco, T. (2007-08) São Paulo No Logo. [Online] http://www.flickr.com/photos/tonydemarco/sets/72157600075508212/ [10/04/2011]


Spurlock, M. (2011) The greatest TED Talk ever sold. [Online] http://www.ted.com/talks/morgan_spurlock_the_greatest_ted_talk_ever_sold.html [10/04/2011]

Thursday, 7 April 2011

The Otherside [Die Andere Seite 2007]



"Using first-person testimony from both sides of the divide, this animated documentary explores life with the Berlin Wall. Documenting the ideas, notions and preconceptions of Berliners about life on ‘the other side’, Die Andere Seite is a reflective visual essay on the interplay between myth and reality." (Land, 2007)
Berliners who experienced the divide are interviewed in Die Andere Seite. With segments of private memories, the work forms a broader collective feel/perceptions towards the Wall. With sound that accompany those experiences.
Land, E. (2007) Die Andere Seite 2007. [Online]
 http://www.ellieland.com/elliesite/?page_id=18 [07/04/2011]

Thursday, 17 March 2011

Web-Elective Critical Evaluation

Web-Elective presentation