Janet Cardiff and George Bures Miller

Janet and George

"Hill Climbing" is a piece where a man falls and the dog walks up to him and asks if he is okay. 

"The Killing Piece" shows an ironic approach to ways of killing. The chair is covered with pink fur with leather straps. The contradiction is very powerful. 

"FOREST (for a thousand years...)" Installation was one of my main inspirations for my project. They enhanced the sounds of the woods to where people could not tell what was real or imaginary. 

My Imaginary Journey

         Janet Cardiff and George Bures Miller’s art relies on sounds to bring their ideas to life. In order to construct this piece, I wanted to incorporate the beauties of nature on this campus. I decided to record my journey through some of the woods near Buckeye Village. As I filmed and watched back, I was not that happy with the bumpiness of the video. However, after I took a few more shots there were not getting better. I realized that walking through the woods is not going to be smooth anyway especially when there are so many things to look at. The bumpiness grew on me and ultimately gave the piece a sense of reality and suspense. I then wanted to incorporate sounds that would tell the story rather than my video. I was limited with capturing sounds that would not typically be in the woods, therefore I got all of my sounds from freesound.org. I downloaded sounds such as a cow, car horn, lawn mower, and crying baby. I did not have a plan when putting the sounds together. The finished project brought to life a suspenseful, movie-like scene in a bare wooded area. 

Throughout this piece, I wanted to explore the idea of sound just like Janet and George do. I wanted to take away the object that was making the noise and place the noises in a scene where one would not typically hear this noise. This way people would have to use their imagination in order to bring this journey through the woods to life. I am communicating these ideas through time-based media by telling a story through sounds juxtaposed with nature. 

My artists inspired me to tell a story through sound rather than imagery. Similar to their work, I used the woods as a scene. I also conducted what the viewer sees and hears wile letting the audience bring their imagination to life. Instead of making an installation like Janet and George usually do, I took a few videos of the scene incorporating borrowed sounds in premiere. 

My Ephemeral Installation

     For my installation, I decided to use the woods near the soccer fields. What mainly attracted me to this location were the numerous amounts of beautiful trees lined up. I also loved how the sun only came through the trees making the scene peaceful. It was also very quiet in this part of the woods with the occasionally bird or gust of wind coming through, which made it very easy to work. The exact location I worked on is where a few logs had fallen or were previously placed against a big tree in a teepee shape. While making my installation, I began finding more logs to add to the teepee shape. I carried more logs and lined them up to give the piece more shape. I also added a few logs horizontally in the middle to form an ‘A’ shape. This took most of my time out of the whole project. Then, I went and gathered many rocks the size of my hand or bigger to build in a pile at the bottom of the tree. Lastly I wanted the piece to have more colors incorporated into it. To bring it together in the end I found many green leaves that had fallen from all of the trees and placed them in the middle of the ‘A’ shape I created with the logs. I also added a few leaves on top of the rocks. Throughout making this piece, my biggest problem I encountered was that some of the smaller logs would keep falling down causing many of the leaves to fall down in the process. The leaves also fell down because of the wind and lack of support. My finished piece is something that definitely would not go unnoticed if someone were to walk through the woods. It is a giant piece that many animals such as squirrels and birds could enjoy as well as all the bugs and spiders. While creating my piece, it was hard not to put in a lot of effort to create it, even though I would only see it maybe once again and some of it would probably be destroyed. After I was done, I did feel a sense of accomplishment and wanted a lot of people to see what I did. The pictures and videos do not do enough justice for the beauty of it in person.

Assignment 5: Is This Really Art?

Video Sound: http://freesound.org/people/symphoid/sounds/159192/

     In my project "Is This Really Art?" I decided to question what art can and cannot be. Throughout my video you can see different everyday activities that I question to whether or not are forms of art. I came up with ideas my sisters and I usually do around the house. I began with recording my younger sister Julia doing a backhand spring to show that different types of sports like gymnastics could be considered art. Next, I painted my sister's to nails to show that all kinds of painting is considered art. After that I wanted to come up with something that most people would not consider art, which turned into Julia building a pyramid out of McDonald's nuggets and fries. After that I knew I needed to curl my hair for Easter service, so I thought that shaping and curling my hair would be another type of every day art. I also had my sister blow a bubble while my other sister Sophie recorded herself doing her daily make up routine. Another unique form of art my sister and I recorded was the famous "Cup Song" routine from Pitch Perfect. Lastly I started thinking that fashion was another form of every day art, therefore I wanted to incorporate footage of Julia and I's Easter dresses in a beautiful way.
        While capturing most of this footage, my parents kept questioning what I was doing because I was filming everything I did that day that I considered to be art. If I had not filmed any of this, they probably would not have questioned me at all because it was all everyday activities I would do at home. Some broader ideas I had in mind while creating this project is the difference between what people consider to be art or not. Because I was never in an art class previous to this I always thought that art was just what is in museums and just physical pieces. However, now I have more of a broader idea of what art really is. Art is apart of our everyday lives whether we realize it or not. These different everyday tasks are considered art because they are creations both my sister’s and I created ourselves. Art does not have to just be a physical object, but it can also be an action also known as performance art.

Below are some before, during, and after pictures of my project questioning "Is this really art?"

Assignment 4: Remix

        For this assignment, I incorporated characters laughing from various movies, cartoons, and tv shows. My inspiration came from the examples of the two videos we watched in class of the different people answering the telephone and sighing. After watching the sighing video I automatically wanted to bring the mood up, and, what other way to do so by making a video of everyone’s favorite characters laughing. Whether it is a hero or a villain, almost all the characters on screen laugh in almost every movie, cartoon, or tv show out there. I wanted the audience to realize the significance of movies, because without them life would be pretty dull. In the beginning, I tried to strategically place the clips to get the audience's attention. Towards the end I started placing shorter laughing clips to build on the laughter. My clips do not fill the entire screen so the viewer feels as if they are in a movie theater. While there is a lot of different types of laughing in my video, in the background playing is “I Love to Laugh” from Mary Poppins (also the title of my piece). Towards the end, playing in the background is ‘Merry Old Land of Oz’ from Wizard of Oz. Finally I wanted to finish the video with clips from the end of the movie, Monster’s Inc.. In the end Mike Wazowski gained enough laughter throughout the video in order to produce enough power for their monster community. The mood of this video is uplifting and humorous. I hope everyone has a good laugh watching these characters laughing just like I did making while it. 

"Remix" Response

        Before reading Remix by Lawrence Lessig, I was unaware of all of the strict rules companies including Sony have regarding borrowing and remixing content. The story about Stephanie Lenz recording her baby dancing to a popular song. Since she posted it on youtube for everyone to see she had to delete the video, or else she would get sued tens of thousands of dollars. I think this was a little ridiculous because the song was not even good quality and she probably did not have many views. I these situations artists should just be proud people enjoy and share their music with other people. Also in the story about the John Lennon tributes, they did try to ask permission to pay this tribute to him with a bunch of other fans. However, after a lot of time went by, their permission was denied. I just think there was a lot of back and forth and the company was trying to delay their time so the tributes would just give up. Greg Gillis was another person who wanted to expand consumer's experiences with various song mashups. He thought since he wasn't even close to competing with the real artist as well as only selling a very small amount of copies that he would be fine. However, he also was in trouble and possibly could be sued. Lastly SilviaO was a Spanish artist where someone else had "mutilated" her own work. I do think this person should have asked for permission but I would not call it mutilating her work. Rather this other artist used her ideas to come up with something new. I understand that there should be certain rules with taking other people's work however, not if hardly any damage would go to the artist. Creativity is always cool to hear, however, it is kind of becoming impossible especially with music. These rules should not be as strict.

Assignment 3 Video: Contrasting Paths

In my piece, I wanted to focus on capturing scenes that are mostly apart of my everyday life. Since I do not have a car, for much of my piece, I incorporated me walking to the grocery store as well as to the school. Many of my clips are from the nature I come across throughout my walks. On nice days when I walk to school I find the walk very nature filled, beautiful, and calming. However, when I walk to, as well as in Meijer, the scene is loud and busy. Throughout my piece I went back and forth between the loudness and busyness and the quietness and calmness of two paths. Both of these different paths are very near each other, however, the difference in them is drastic. I incorporated myself walking throughout the piece to signify the different paths I take on a weekly basis. My shadow walking is constant part of my piece whether I'm walking by the trees in the wind or cars passing by. While capturing these videos for my project, I tried to capture them in different points of view than what I see every day. For example with the shopping cart clip, I took the video from inside the cart's point of view rather than my own. Also in the moving cars scene, I wanted to emphasize how busy the road was by making it busier, therefore spinning the frame. However, with the simple nature scenes, I kept the scene like it was and let the wind become the simple motion. Also, while incorporating sounds, I made sure to make the busier scenes louder while turning the volume down on the quieter scenes to emphasize their difference. Every day people travel whether it is to the grocery store or on a walk through the park. However, most people do not realize how different two paths could be while being relatively close in distance.

Love Stories Response

              When walking into the art gallery my first impression of Nichola Kinch's piece Love Stories was very nature filled, romantic, and beautiful. The exhibition contains column like trees scattered throughout the gallery. Each tree is exactly the same and almost touches the ground, as well as the ceiling making it feel very real. The lights are off during the exhibit while the light from outside is the main source of light. In the background, outside the window, are many trees that make the fake ones almost blend in. in the front of this piece is an optical device that allows one to use and see the moon change in time.  The moods this exhibition reveals are romantic and also fairytale like. The fake trees make the scene look almost theatrical that also brings out the real life background. Nichola uses the moon optical device that I mentioned earlier to highlight the use of time. As you spin the device and look through the slits, you can see the different phases of the moon changing. This exhibition makes me think about the beauties of nature and time. The trees stay the same however, they look different as the light changes. The moon also shows that it may change in time while the trees are a constant background. During the talk Nichola described herself as a crafty individual. She explained that she loves to have a physical relationship with her art, oftentimes, making her pieces interactive whether it's incorporating an optical device or animation machines. She also said the trees reminded her of photoshop where you can copy and paste pictures. This was because every tree in her exhibition was the same scattered throughout the gallery. I thought it was beneficial to here Nichola talk however, I do not think it was absolutely needed with this piece. However, I did enjoy learning more about who she was and see how proud she was of her piece.

Video Observation

           For one day I mostly spent my time watching television, playing on my phone, and later watched Netflix at night. During the day I was watching Disney channel with my little sister Julia. All of the shows were about kids or teens with some sort of unordinary life whether they had a talent, superpowers, or a talking dog. All of the characters also wore very bright clothing that fit with the bright backgrounds and happy looking homes and schools. Many of the messages these shows were that family and friends are very important. Disney really tries to have a diverse cast, however, most of the characters are unrealistically bright and happy most of the time. Boys and Girls mostly contain their stereotypes, however, a lot of the time they have the same friends and even do the same things whether it is the same sport or music. Other than the voice of the characters, there are many sounds in these kids tv shows to enhance whatever is happening. There is also an audience that laughs throughout the show to get the audience more into it. During commercials ( very long commercials), I went on my phone and played some of my games. They also have video ads every once in awhile, however, after a set amount of seconds, you can skip the ad yourself. On the Kim Kardashian game you can also choose to watch ads to gain more money or stars. I have also seen some ads that you can actually interact with or have a taste of how the game they are advertising really works. The commercials on Disney channel, when I actually watched them seemed very long and boring. Most of the are the same repeated self advertising commercials every time. You can basically predict the order of each show advertisement and even eventually know what they are going to say. However, very little are there commercials about anything other than the next new Disney tv show or movie. This is probably why the ads are repeated so many times. The great thing about Netflix is that there are no annoying ads that interrupt you. There is a huge variety of all kinds of shows and movies.

Assignment 2: Human Sounds Mashup

                 

         While building my sound composition, I came up with the idea to build onto each sound as I continued with this creation. I started out using the sound of starting a car, which would make a lot of sense to starting the piece. Then I wanted to incorporate a sound I could use to hold a steady beat, such as the clicking from turning a lamp on and off. Another sound you hear throughout the piece is the sound of opening a pop can in the left ear followed by running water in the right ear. I wanted each listener with headphones to have the opportunity to hear the sounds from different directions, which is very realistic. Also, not far into the beginning of the piece, I added another constant sound that appeared to be footsteps in the distance. Before manipulating the speed of the footsteps, the sound was actually someone running on a treadmill. Throughout this process, I decided that I wanted to have some sort of a big ending followed by sudden fade and disappearance of the many sounds I incorporated. One of my favorite sounds was the crunching of a water bottle. I put this bold sound at the end for a big resolution as well as the microwave beeps that finalized the piece. At this point I still had a few sounds left that I wanted to incorporate such as a sneeze, typing on a keyboard, and eating cereal. First I inserted a sneeze in the beginning where I though had almost an awkward silence, later building two more sneezes into the resolution. Then, I added the crunching of the cereal that made the listening feel like they were eating something crunchy throughout. With incorporating the typing, I decided to add it towards the end where all the sounds came together in a big resolution. These sounds such as working out in the gym, turning a lamp on and off, and my roommate sneezing are sounds that are apart of my everyday life in my apartment. They lead me to start creating something no one has ever heard before, even though these are everyday sounds most people hear. I thought that working sonically was going to be pretty difficult and even boring with little to look at. However, after creating my sound composition, I became very intrigued with what I was doing. Oftentimes, I had to close my eyes to see where I need to add sounds or move them around.In my piece, I did not want to manipulate the sounds too much that no one would know what they were. I want people to be able to pick out and have a pretty good guess to what each of my sounds is. Mashing these every day sounds together, making music, makes one think of these sounds in a very different way. When I hear my piece I think of someone getting ready to drive to work then flash forwarding to a busy day at a normal office job. With all of these every day sounds being amplified, it is almost annoying hearing all these sounds at once from all directions. The piece really makes the listener feel tiresome and relieved when the sound dies down after the big resolution.

Deep Listening

I decided to sit in in the Ovalwood Café just like I do every day for lunch. At first it was hard to concentrate on all the noises around me because of all the distractions and many different noises. The loudest noise were the big group of people talking across the room. Usually I would not understand them, but once I focused, I could hear mostly of what they were saying. They were talking about their weekend how they wanted to go to the movies sometime this week. Once they left, I could focus on some of the other smaller amplitudes of sounds around me. Next to me I could hear the muffled sound of my roommate's song on her headphones. Some parts were louder than others. I could also hear a guy eat some chips from a couple yards away. The crunch seemed louder than usually, but no one seemed to notice. Every once in awhile, in the café a very loud smoothie machine would turn on for a few seconds, blocking out most of the sounds around me. The longer I sat there, the less people there were. This made it a lot easier to focus on the smaller amplitudes of sounds around me. I heard a guy taping his foot a few tables from me. I could also hear the door on the other side of the room open and close as people would walk in, something I usually do not hear. The whole duration of the sound the background of this scene is a television above me barely loud enough to hear it and light chatter of people around me. As more and more people left I could hear even smaller sounds like someone typing on their laptop and eating an apple on the other side of the room. Throughout this experience, I heard sounds I would normally never hear or pay attention to when I sit in here every day for lunch. Usually I am focused on homework, eating my lunch or watching Netflix, which mostly cancels out the rest of the sounds in the café. I believe if I would have stayed until I was the only one in the café, I would have still heard sounds from other parts of this building because there is no such thing as silence.

Assignment 1: Project Explanation

While brainstorming for an idea for my stop motion project, I was thinking of things I use every day and that I can relate to. Finally I came up using emoji's, while trying to bring them to life. My first step was to draw several of my favorite face emoji's to fit into my stick figure made of pip cleaners. Then I began to assemble objects around my apartment that each of my emoji's could react to. Then, I decided to describe more of what each emoji would be thinking when they saw each object in order to portray the idea better. The materials I used in order to make this project were pipe cleaners, paper and crayons to make the faces, and various other objects like a toy turtle, pizza from a magazine, and a toothbrush, to interact with the emoji stick figure. I also used objects I knew I could manipulate and make come to life along with each emoji. Additionally, I began thinking of ways for the objects to interact with each emoji such as having the emoji eat a pizza, get it's teeth brushed and flossed, and become blinded by the sun. Working intuitively, in this case, was easier and less stressful once I realized what my overall idea for this assignment was. My ideas stayed mostly the same, however, sometimes I would change the object to fit the face better. I also intuitively came up with different ways of how I would make the object move. Overall, I am satisfied with my stop motion project and how nicely it flows into the next scene. I believe many people can relate to these faces when they see or use these different objects. The mood of Emoji's Come to Life is very fun, playful and lighthearted. Most people use a lot of these specific emoji's incorporated in their everyday lives over text, on twitter, Facebook and Instagram. While Emoji's are meant to make boring texts into enjoyable and entertaining texts, my stop motion similarity portrays the same message while taking it to another level.

Assignment 1: Emoji's Come to Life

Response to "Black & Blue" by Jared Thorne              

         In Jared Thorne's Black & Blue exhibition, my immediate response was that his art brought me back in time to when I was in grade school. In Ohio, it was typical to only have one or two African American students in my class in grade school. However, me being caucasian, I did not have the same outsider view as Thorne, therefore, I did not fully realize the significance of his exhibition in the beginning. The exhibition contained large images of different grade school classes that wrapped around the room. All of these pictures contained only one or two African American students, while the rest of the students were caucasian. Another piece in the exhibition was an afro hanging from the ceiling with many different types of hair built into it, with an afro pick stuck in the side. One last piece in Thorne's exhibition was living room set up from the 80's, while a recording of Malcolm X is playing. His voice carries throughout the exhibition while Malcolm X speaks about segregation.
         This exhibition made me wonder what life was like back when I did not understand what segregation was, as well as before my time. The mood of this exhibition was more so lighthearted because of many pictures of innocent grade school students on the walls. Because this mood is not overbearing, it gives the viewer less of a direction with what type of message Thorne wanted to convey. Because of this, I believe many people, including me, were not able to fully understand the powerful significance of each piece. I grew more understanding for this exhibit when Jared Thorne talked about his childhood of being one of the only African American students in his classes. He explained that this situation made him feel not as connected to people as the other students were. He also shared that his parents told him that he was privileged to be able to go to these schools, however, he still felt unhappy and disconnected.
         His drive to create these pieces were to document different times in his childhood and bring to life how disconnected he felt school. Thorne also explained that in grade school, many of his classmates always wanted to touch his hair because it was different from everyone else. His motivation for the afro piece was to bring to life his personal story of how he wanted to fit in at school.  He also shared that he wanted to prove to his parents that he could be an artist, even if that's not what a typical African American achieves to be.
          It was beneficial to hear Jared Thorne speak in relation to his artwork. Hearing his personal stories behind his art brought his exhibition to life. I was also able to better understand the significance of the ongoing issues in the black community. I would not be able to relate to these pictures without his personal stories and ideas about whiteness. I enjoyed that he made light of the whole situation and continues to be a strong individual, while making other people aware of how society is. I think he definitely changed many of the audience's views of the idea of disconnection that many minorities go through each and every day.

Claud's 1st GIFF

This is my first GIFF.. please enjoy :)