Untitled from Rebecca Agatstein on Vimeo.
Thursday, October 27, 2011
Wednesday, October 26, 2011
Thursday, October 20, 2011
Lynda: 09' iMovie essentials
In the Lynda.com 09' iMovie essentials I found interesting things about the possibilities in iMovie. The introduction promotes the new concept of adding a theme to a film. When working with footage in iMovie, you can add custom music, maps and backgrounds, transitions, photos from iphoto/photoshop, and special title effects. iMovie is basically a searchable library of all your video moments. iMovie consists of three main tabs: project library, event library, and the view/previewer. "Editing your movie" Rearranging and deleting clips.. To delete clips select and click delete. The deleted section will only be deleted from that project. To move the clip select it and drag it to the new location. If a certain sections looks awkward, drag through the problem area and press the delete key to remove it. "Fine tuning on the fly" position the pointer at either the start or end of the clip and hold option,command keys. You can add or subtract up to one second of video. "Ducking the music under speech" means lowering the volume of the background music to enhance speech volume. The concept is editing sound deduction percentages.
Wednesday, October 19, 2011
Preview - Anna & Becca
We're going to illustrate Shel Silverstein's poem "Where the Sidewalk Ends" and stop motion will be incorporated, so we first wanted to practice creating stop motion video on iMovie. We also shot a little bit of test footage involving one of the poem's lines on a sign. Here's the poem:
There is a place where the sidewalk ends
And before the street begins,
And there the grass grows soft and white,
And there the sun burns crimson bright,
And there the moon-bird rests from his flight
To cool in the peppermint wind.
Let us leave this place where the smoke blows black
And the dark street winds and bends.
Past the pits where the asphalt flowers grow
We shall walk with a walk that is measured and slow,
And watch where the chalk-white arrows go
To the place where the sidewalk ends.
Yes we'll walk with a walk that is measured and slow,
And we'll go where the chalk-white arrows go,
For the children, they mark, and the children, they know
The place where the sidewalk ends.
And before the street begins,
And there the grass grows soft and white,
And there the sun burns crimson bright,
And there the moon-bird rests from his flight
To cool in the peppermint wind.
Let us leave this place where the smoke blows black
And the dark street winds and bends.
Past the pits where the asphalt flowers grow
We shall walk with a walk that is measured and slow,
And watch where the chalk-white arrows go
To the place where the sidewalk ends.
Yes we'll walk with a walk that is measured and slow,
And we'll go where the chalk-white arrows go,
For the children, they mark, and the children, they know
The place where the sidewalk ends.
Thursday, October 13, 2011
Video Art Thinks Big That's Showbiz
The way Ryan Trecartin gains viwers interest by discussing family, art, and the future is just as interesting as the way he changes the setting as theses phrases are being discussed. The length of Trecartin video surprised me. Trecartin’s childhood influences the way he makes his videos using basic tools to create highly personal narrative art. Lizze Fitch is someone Trecartin lists as his collaborator even though he directs his videos, writes the script, design the costumes and takes several leading roles. This article gives a brief history of video art and the history of Ryan Trecartin.
Video Art Thinks Big: That’s Showbiz
I really enjoyed how much information this article provided on the vast medium that is video art. It cited examples of artist from the beginning of video art such as Vito Acconci to more recent times such as the main example from the article Ryan Trecartin. This article really opened up my eyes to a medium that is open to almost anything. there are few restrictions in video art and many opportunities for new ideas and new styles. It is a fairly new medium that has not been completely defined, there in no subject matter that is more prominent in the medium just as there in no specific length or form of projection, it is all up for grabs as shown by the various examples provided by the article, which i found very insightful and helpful in correcting my perceptions of what i thought video art could be.
Video Art Thinks Big: That’s Showbiz
This news article was informative about how video art has emerged as an art form over the past few decades, fluctuating with the ebb and flow of art culture. Video art is a medium that contradicts the objectification and commodification that characterizes most artistic form today. It cannot be packaged and sold like most 2-d, 3-d, and digital artworks can be - it encompasses a different mode of time and space. The multifaceted creative possibilities expound upon each other in any direction you look, due to the fact that is essentially has no rules, since it's a relatively new established art form. Video art's main obstacle is to differentiate itself from the mass feed of imaging we face everyday through television, advertisements, films, etc. This article examines how artists such as Ryan Trecartin, Kalup Linzy, and Nathalie Djurberg attempt to do so. Trecartin constructs overwhelming, psychedelic mindscapes with chaotic narrative, questioning the "utopia" we strive for and think we need in reality,such as "I-Be Area." Linzy mimics the narrative style of daytime soap operas, but with an ironic twist, in her video art "All my Churen", depicting the dysfunctions of an African-American family. Djurberg sculpts miniature clay figures situated in catastrophic and sometimes grotesque scenes, such as a gang of children fighting a pack of vicious dogs to the death, literally, over a meal of garbage in the street. These artists are breaking the mold of how art can be documented and demonstrated, mutating the very time and presentation format our world have grown accustomed to.
Video Art Thinks Big: That's Showbiz
This article discusses video art from it's inception in the 60's to it's transformation into the narrative art form that it is today. When video art first came about in the 60's, it was an new field. There was nothing from the past to base it on, and as a result artists were free to experiment. The downside, however, was that many of these videos had poor production and technical values, and couldn't really find a market. However as time passed and the medium got more credibility, video art has transformed into a rich and exciting medium. One of these changes is how much of today's video art has narrative. An example the article gives is Ryan Trecartin's I-Be Area and Nathalie Djurberg's claymation narratives. I watched a little bit of both on youtube, and they are definitely interesting. Trecartin's I-Be Area was hilarious to me, and was a great example of how today's video artists utilize narratives to convey to the viewer their points-of-view. Djurberg's, on the other hand, were much more surreal and dark, but also provided a good example as to how artists are using this exciting medium of video art to share their stories with the world.
Video Art Thinks Big: That's Showbiz
I found this article very interesting because it explains how video art is a medium that can reach extremes. Trecartin's "I-Be Area" is an example of just how flashy and loud video can be, using bright colors, sound, and outrageous imagery. He also pushes the boundaries with his subject matter; he touches on subjects such as gay adoption and the end of the world. His style is hectic and flashy. Djurberg is also extreme in her film making. Her content includes extremely violent imagery, including sado-masochistic characters and the eerie effects of claymation to give off a very macabre feel to her work. Video art as a whole is a tool that in a sense can go farther than many different media; artists are able to use it to reach extreme points with outlandish imagery and characters.
Spirit and Medium
This article is interesting because it comments on the challenges of visual art between and work and the viewer. Bill Viola uses video in such a new way in which the viewer has no choice but to watch the video in it's entirety almost connect to it physically. Video is a hard medium because when looking at a painting, the viewer will only use a few seconds of their time before moving on. When watching a video, the viewer must watch through it completely or they will not grasp the concept developed by the artist. Video uses human for and perception in a different way in which may cause the viewer to become uneasy. By doing so, Viola recreates moments in time so that the audience knows they are in a specific frame of time. The viewer is experiencing a real time connection between the images on the screen and themselves. Viola uses pain and suffering in his videos to step out of the norm that people usually like to see. The audience views images and thoughts they would rather forget about or not know at all. This power that he possesses is used to overwhelm the viewer but in a sense of indulgence. They indulge into the future and the world to come. Viola's video art is to show what awaits in the world and all it's mystery.
Spirit and Medium: The video art of Bill Viola Reflection
In this excerpt, the ideas of the video installation experience for viewers is discussed. Installation is presented as a tool of sorts to make the viewer uncomfortable and to cause them to dismiss their normal reservations of a movie watching experience. While in a video installation, the viewer us forced to stand erect for an elongated period of time, never enabling them to forget where they are and their role in the presentation of the piece. This differs from viewing a film at a movie theatre because the viewer is in the dark and comfortable enough that their presence in that room has the ability to be forgotten. Bill Viola enjoys playing off of the things that normally make people uncomfortable. HE often creates installations in which people are forced to observe things that are not actively sought after to be viewed, such as eye surgery or an extremely dark room in which the most minuscule of features are visible. Another aspect of video installation discussed is the fact that in a gallery space, in oder to have a sufficient understanding of the work, the viewer must stay for a specific amount of time to watch the installation. This differs from the normal manner of observation in museums in that with an artifact of painting, the viewer has the ability to quickly 'gloss over' the art piece presented. Therefore, video installation forces people to pay attention and sow down for a period of time.
Wednesday, October 12, 2011
Video Art Thinks Big: That’s Showbiz (reflection)
This article was interesting in the sense that it introduced the radically modern and daring sort of video art that is sweeping museums. I watched excerpts of Ryan Trecartin’s “I-Be Area,” and let me say that I have never seen anything like it. The video was visually overwhelming and absurd to the point of being annoying. I'm having an extremely difficult time seeing the "artistry" of the video though I do appreciate its uniqueness. It really takes that literal expectation that comes with film (and photography) and adds a surrealistic dimension to the medium, one that should be appreciated for its revolutionary stride towards altering the intent and affect that video has on an audience. Strangeness in video art is described as an attractive factor, because it provides us with a break from the type of video we are used to seeing, which is mostly news or reality television. Because of their narrative nature, video art has a great opportunity for commentary through a narrative setup- a narrative that is permitted to exist within a timeline that the video provides. Whereas a painting or a sculpture exist in and of themselves and are somewhat static creations, there is no single way of representing a video through any other means than seeing it in its entirety. These modern video artists really are "making art that runs by a different clock," and "does things that objects can’t do."
Video Art Thinks Big: Thats showbiz
I found it very interesting that the article begins describing Ryan Trecartin's "I-Be-Area" which is so different than many other of the other artists such as Nathalie Djurberg. They contrast highly where is work is upbeat and more of a humorous statement, and hers is very dark. Her piece performa 07 really stood out to me because I could really image a group of racially mixed kids battling the ravenous dogs for gargage. That's something I hope to never see, but to me it just seems like a comment about the battle racially mixed kids face with themselves at time and finding their identitity. It doesn't help that the doctors, reminding me of the government or society, are torturing the children. This is different from Trecartin's piece because his focuses more on utopianism and societies that are hoped for, not so much actual realities.
Attention and Distraction
Attention and Distraction: Experiencing Video Instillation Art
I was very interested in the fact that the majority of people spend only a few minutes or even a quick glance while in an exhibition. Those few minutes aren't enough for someone to really look, observe and understand the artists intent of the work. It is so easy for us to just wonder through a gallery without taking any notice of the meaning behind video instillation's or the art work. I believe it is necessary to really understand what your looking at and experience the work first hand. People find it hard to become intrigued by something that really holds their attention and find out the meaning of the work without being told. It is very easy for people to loose interest during a video instillation especially if they don't start at the beginning. Unfortunetley distraction is part of the experience one can have while looking at art and video instillation's in an exhibition.
I was very interested in the fact that the majority of people spend only a few minutes or even a quick glance while in an exhibition. Those few minutes aren't enough for someone to really look, observe and understand the artists intent of the work. It is so easy for us to just wonder through a gallery without taking any notice of the meaning behind video instillation's or the art work. I believe it is necessary to really understand what your looking at and experience the work first hand. People find it hard to become intrigued by something that really holds their attention and find out the meaning of the work without being told. It is very easy for people to loose interest during a video instillation especially if they don't start at the beginning. Unfortunetley distraction is part of the experience one can have while looking at art and video instillation's in an exhibition.
Article Response
"Video Art Thinks Big: That’s Showbiz" explains how video has evolved over time into a much more prominent presence in the art world. Because it's relatively inexpensive and involves a medium in which you can improvise and edit as much as you wish, video gained popularity amongst artists. Narrative videos became the most prominent type and the article showcases various artists who focus on narratives such as Ryan Trecartin, Kalup Linzy, and Sadie Benning. Specifically, Trecartin's fast-pace and eye-catching narrative, "I-Be Area" centers around the concept of embracing zany, virtual-utopian possibilities.
Attention and Distraction
For this assignment I read Anne Petersen's article "Attention and Distraction: On the Aesthetic Experience of Video Installation Art". I read the section entitled "Experiencing Video Installation Art". I found this article interesting because it discussed an aspect of video installations that isn't much investigated regardless of its commonality: the fact that people are easily bored by it. If a video is more than a few minutes people tend to wander on rather than wait around to understand the meaning of the piece. We are used to things with simple meanings and that work actively to hold our attention (i.e television); it is hard for us to have to stand by long enough to find the meaning for ourselves. The attention span of the audience will be a good thing to keep in mind when we are starting our video projects.
Video Art Thinks Big: That's Showbiz
I was interested in the way that this article gave examples of a variety of different types of video art. The work of Natalie Djurberg truly caught my attention out of all the different artists. Her work is very dark and disturbing, as it deals with gory deaths and abuse. I found it to be an ironic juxtaposition that her videos were claymation films, because I personally associate that with children's movies and shows and the subject matter of Djurberg's work is definitely not for children. The work of Gigi Scaria also interested me. The video described in the article had some personal connections to me because my grandfather died of Alzheimer's Disease and it seems as though the man in Scaria's video is suffering from it as well. Although not as edgy as the other artists mentioned, Scaria's video art is equally powerful in telling a story.
Attention and Distraction
Experiencing Video installation Art
Modern lifestyles overly stimulates our senses, causing us to become more apathetic and impatient when viewing artwork, especially with time-based video installations. Since video installation requires a period of time for the spectator to patiently contemplate the artwork as a whole, it is often neglected by the viewers whom either walks in during the middle of the video, or just simply loses interest. The open structure of an installation, allowing one to enter and leave freely, also enables the distractibility.
Modern lifestyles overly stimulates our senses, causing us to become more apathetic and impatient when viewing artwork, especially with time-based video installations. Since video installation requires a period of time for the spectator to patiently contemplate the artwork as a whole, it is often neglected by the viewers whom either walks in during the middle of the video, or just simply loses interest. The open structure of an installation, allowing one to enter and leave freely, also enables the distractibility.
Distraction and New Perceptual Terrains (Attention and Distraction: On the Aesthetic Experience of Video Installation Art)
What I found most interesting about this article is the author's philosophical take on distraction and how it serves as a sometimes intended element in video art. What with the rise of digital media in urban settings, our patterns of attention are shifting immensely. Several artists including Andy Warhol and Wolfgang Staehle toy with viewers' attention spans, creating pieces in which the subject matter remains almost entirely still for hours on end. This is known as surveillance art and it often speaks of the "standardization of the structure of everyday life". This type of art creates an odd phenomenon in which the viewer experiences both sensory overload and sensory deprivation: they suffer from both too much and too little stimulation simultaneously, paired with discomfort and distraction. Artists who aim to achieve this effect on viewers use video because still images cannot evoke quite the same reaction. If a work is time-based, the viewer is prompted to stay for an extended amount of time to watch, and so they innately expect to have their attention held. Without this, there is not much room for distraction, and so distraction becomes a theme almost fully unique to the realm of video art.
Tuesday, October 11, 2011
Spirit and Medium: The Video Art of Bill Viola
This reading suggests that video art has been around for nearly four decades. Video art/installations have become a dominant avant-garde art form in the United States. Video art never looses strangeness nor challenge. It is thought to pose difficulties for viewers. Video installations often require the viewer to occupy real time in order to experience and get the most out of the medium. The minutes usually pass by slowly in a video installation. The average gallery or museum visitor spends only a few seconds before each painting or sculpture whereas video art takes more time to comprehend and analyze. Video art requires you to stand among others and wonder what to do with yourself, your material self, as you spend anywhere from two minutes to an ten or twenty watching a stream of images on a monitor or a projection onto a wall. Video installations can often make you visible to yourself. Its almost like you become a social presence confronting yourself and others, and can become part of the art work itself. This type of art has a tendency to allow the viewer to wind into another state of mind, often forgetting about reality or escaping for a duration. The time-based nature of video relates to its difficulty to engage and comprehend. "Video artists like Bill Viola are very good at using this medium to anatomize human perception, dissecting its mechanics and ideologies." Much of Bill Viola's work since the mid-1970s, reflects on video as a medium and engages in a search for its metaphorical capabilities. If Viola's work is occasionally "difficult" it is because of the ideas he wishes his viewer will consider as they experience his installations. Video installations can often provide an emotional rush and fascination. Installations incorporate effects like sound, motion, text, stills, etc. Most of Viola's videos and installations are about the relationship between the artistic act and the viewer standing in or before the work. Engaging himself as well as engaging the viewer is what concerns Viola as an artist.
video art
I read the article about Bill Viola's work. I was really drawn to his style and the way he makes his viewers hyper-aware of their own bodies and their reactions to a space and an image. He deals with metaphors to convey "the inexpressible states of being" which is basically the feelings one knows they feel but cannot easily convey to others in words. Through video installations Viola throws the viewer into a tranformed space that is enveloped in a certain feeling. Since they viewer feels they they cannot get away from the enviornment, like in the video of the child's birthday party, they are more self concious of their own body and their own emotions. I thought that was really interesting because it makes the audience feel uneasy, like they don't want to continue watching but it also is what draws them into the piece. I like how his work is semi-hard to understand and utilizes sound, motion, text, and to create the space. In The Stopping Mind (1991), the audience is surrounded by four huge screens and a sound system that fills the space with the "whispered, breathless poetry of the artist, then the screeching, metallic noise that accompanies the rapidly shifting images on the four screens." Very cool overall
Video Art Thinks Big: That's Showbiz
I chose to read this article because I was drawn to the aspect of showbiz, particularly in video art. I love the statement that the author makes about how universal video art is, it can be experienced in a museum, in a classroom, or at home on anyone's laptop. The article also talks about how contemporary video artists are a new breed. A few of the video artists mentioned in the article are Kalup Linzy, Ryan Trecartin, Sadie Benning, and Nathalie Djurberg. Video artists today are dealing with an overstimulated audience that is constantly bombarded by media, so they shy away from more traditional aspects of video art. For example, many of Trecartin's videos are full length films, and instead of treating them solely as works of art like past video artists, they are also treated dually as entertainment. Similarly, Linzy's video art deals with black stereotypes in a contemporary soap opera style. The prevalence of homosexuality in both Linzy's and Trecartin's work is a humurous breath of fresh air; it is not meant to be seen as a political statement, like so many homosexual artists in the past. However, there are differences in their work. Linzy provides a "moral of the story" outlook that comments on the lessons of life, where Trecartin's outlandish utopian videos aim to impress, dazzle and stun. Like Trecartin, Sadie Benning's videos also contain utopian aspects, but she completely replaces live actors with cartoons. Djurberg's work takes a completely opposite turn, using stop-motion video techniques and claymation to show violent bloodbaths. But all in all, video art cannot be ignored as an emerging mode of communication. With society's ever-increasing access to technology, and websites like youtube, video art may just be the medium of the future. Where sculptures and paintings are beautiful, the fast-paced, high-instensity nature of video art may be the only thing that will capture our diminishing attention spans.
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