A Trip to Spark and "Acting Out" = Good Stuff

So, Thursday night I made the trek to the Spark building to catch a video installation made by the artists I was sorry to have missed seeing in class on Wednesday. After choosing the wrong bus to start with, we eventually hopped onto the Connective Corridor bus and made it to the Spark building. After two bus rides, the guidance from a call to my friend who actually lives in the city of Syracuse, and a short walk in the rain, we were there.

Upon arriving into the tiny room that the video installation, "Acting Out", by Austin Shull and Chelsea Knight, was playing in, I sat down in a fold up chair and watched a screen filled of people rehearsing and acting out a play in a jail. I'm not going to lie, I was really confused. Thats not a bad thing though, I get confused easily. Upon seeing Avatar over winter break, I couldn't keep my mouth shut. I think I asked the person sitting next to me "I don't get it, what's going on?" every five to ten minutes. Needless to say, I will never be seeing a movie like that with that person again, they didn't appreciate my curiosity about a world a blue people speaking, what I thought was, pure gibberish. Anyways, to get back on track, I was both confused but yet totally intrigued and interested. Confusion always leads me to investigating what something really is about though, so it was all good in my book. In the viewing room, I sat there as I watched actors bang upon walls and windows trying to escape the dismal looking, white walled, jail, and then rehearse acting out a play while laughing with each other, swapping roles, and testing different voices. It was so different, so unique, and I knew there had to be good meanings and points behind it all. I knew from the second I started viewing "Acting Out" that this was going to be a cool learning experience.

After viewing the film I headed downstairs where I actually got to question the filmmakers themselves about their project. (Thank you for introducing me, Gokey.) They were really chill and cool people. I knew they knew their pop culture and film when they were familiar with David Lynch. I was, honestly, a little nervous around them but I don't even care. I get nervous around artists all the time, I think its just because I admire artists for doing what they love and making statements through their creations. They explained their video to me and I was actually really impressed.

The scenario behind it was that they found local actors to rehearse and perform the play "Ubu Roi", by Alfred Jarry, in an old, abandoned, prison. Their piece was not only a mockery of our prison system but also made the point that a person's behavior relies a lot upon the environment in which they live/are in.

Upon researching the play "Ubu Roi", and by researching, I mean looking it up on Wikipedia (I have no shame, and I'm an honest person), I figured out that this play was strategically chosen by the artists to get their point across. The play itself is all about being a "[satire of] power, greed and their evil practices". In conclusion/to connect the two pieces, prisoners today are placed into corrupt environments that only damage their mentality and keep them from actually pulling themselves together while they are forced into isolation. It is their surroundings that unfairly keep them from bettering themselves. These people, who have been caught making stupid mistakes, or even wrongly convicted, aren't given the chance at a-new-and-improved-them because of the way society handles them.

I actually mentioned to the artists how, if I was ever hired, as an interior designer, to design the inside of the prison, I would make it a cheery place. You know, like, use lots of fun patterns, bright colors, and try to emphasize windows and sunlight as much as possible. However, a big part of me felt that that idea would be all wrong. Aren't prisoners supposed to suffer when they're incarcerated? Wasn't the ugly, plain, bareness, of the inside of prisons supposed to be that way as apart of their punishment? Don't they deserve to be put into that dismal building because they are reckless people to our society? Then, Chelsea informed me about the Quaker's view of the idea of prison and a light bulb went off in my head. She told me that the Quaker's actually believed that a prisoner's only punishment should be isolation. Other than that, the surroundings of a prison should help them improve themselves mentally in order to better themselves. Quaker's emphasized that prisoners meditate while they are incarcerated and only suffer by being away from others.

The information Chelsea gave to me made me think a lot about the media and how it effects how we view our society's systems. The prison system is just one of many that we have come to view in completely uneducated, and wrongful, ways. All in all, I think there is more to learn from our history than what certain media feeds into our heads today and it is up to each individual to do the research and find truths.

Btw- That film about an interior designer, or something like that, that was made by Woody Allen is, I think, called "Interiors". I don't know if I'll be watching it anytime soon though, "Annie Hall" is and always will be my favorite Woody Allen film. I know its cliche, but its completely true and makes it really hard for me to watch any other film directed by him.

So thats that about "Acting Out". I was told its not a finished piece yet but I'll be keeping a look out for when it is. I liked the message, it was good stuff, and I hope Chelsea and Austin keep doing what they're doing. Check ya later.

My "Sick Day" Blogpost

So, technically I wasn't in class last Wednesday due to my awesome allergies attacking me as spring is pleasantly arriving to the city of Syracuse; however, between checking up on the "Hourclass" blog and attending Spark for a video installation, I still feel like a learned a lot of little tidbits and stuff.

First of all, an animation project is next. I'm not going to lie, I'm a little nervous about it just because I really truly cannot come up with a cool concept for this project. Its just hard being an art student and being assigned projects where your forced to come up with ideas to fit the instructions and have a deadline. I'm one of those people who will come up with something at a random time. Deadlines intimidate me, but then again I guess thats one of the ways in which college prepares you for the real world. Like you can't just tell clients who are expecting things from you, "oh, sorry, I just didn't come up with anything for you, try back next week". Then again, I guess you could, but that would just be rude. Anyways, I guess my point is that I watched all the videos on the blog and they were mad cool. I just hope I can come up with an idea just as original and as interesting as those. Props to the Animal Collective vid too, I'm a sucker for cool, artsy, music videos.

Also, I watched the SXSW 2010 talk thing and took notes on it because I'm nerdy like that. I even wore my cool new clear framed reading glasses as I watched it too, I guess just to feel more sophisticated as I joted down notes of Douglass Rushkoff's speech. Anyways, I'm going to be honest, a lot of his vocabulary was a little "over-my-head", if you will, at first but I got the hang of his message. I got his whole point and agreed with the fact that society needs to be more upfront about learning about programming instead of just going with the flow and following along steps behind. I totally agreed with his point that we've become a "nation of bloggers" and not the programmers we should and have the access at becoming. His conclusion was a little blunt and kind of scary though. The whole idea that if you're not a programmer then you're a user, and even worse- "the used", kind of freaked me out and got my mind thinking like a hamster on a a wheel. Thats a good thing though. I'm glad I watched it and that Mr. Rushkoff got me to think about things I never really considered. I have a new desire to take more initiation to be one of the programers now, I'll get there in baby steps though, I mean I don't even have an official blog yet, you know.

Lastly, I went to Spark and its actually really cool there. I walked in and was like "oh hey, I'm an art student", I like that feeling. Anyways the whole trip to Spark itself, looking at the artwork, and not only viewing "Acting Out", but also talking to the actual artists, taught me a lot and got me thinking about a lot. Thats all for the next blog post though. So check that out.

That's about all for now. Soooo yah... Oh, btw- I just bought a N64 on amazon for like $35 so I can mess around with that for my final project. I'm pumped. : )

Recap of Last Class

Ok, so to begin with, I think that whole concept of "The Unschooled Life" is really cool. I totally understand how living without a forced structure to an education can lead to one wanted to discover the world and all it has to offer on one's own. I personally hate feeling obligated to look up certain information I have no interest in, I like the whole idea of being able to wake up and think "What would I like to learn about today?" and then just being able to spontaneously look up and learn about whatever I'm interested in. I haven't actually watched Astra Taylor's video yet but its definitely on my list of things today after I'm done with my classes. The whole Pink Terror Hawking video was super cool too, definitely something I'm going to show to my friends when we're sitting around sharing the latest Vimeo and YouTube videos we've come upon.

So last class we learned about John Cage, who I totally respect for being so bold and original in music and art combined. He did his own thing but yet still had a structure to it. I feel like that fact that he did the most random things in the world to make his music but yet still used a stop watch to make sure everything was done as planned makes it hard for one to just judge him as a crazy artist because instead the viewer thinks "Oh, this man has a stop watch, he has a plan, he is a respectable artist for being so organized while doing such obscene things", well at least thats how I see him. His sheet music was really really cool to look at. It was like random charts and lines and dots and boxes; but yet, it all had structure. There were rules to how to play every part of it. It was actually really hard for me to understand anything he meant which either means he was in his own world and the only one who really knew what he meant or he was so clever when it came to music and art that it just went right over my head. I guess it could probably be a little bit of both too though.

Finally, we got our assignment for our next project on making totally original music using the tracks everyone created for our previous project with our sculptural instruments. We learned more about audacity and how to cut music. As of now, I think its going to be cool to try to mash-up the totally organic sounds we made. I just hope I'll still feel the same when I actually start working on this project though, I seem to go through cycles with programs where I get excited about learning how to use a program, then get totally and utterly frustrated with it as I dive deeper into my project, and then in the end I feel accomplished for figuring it out and finishing my work. We'll see how I feel about audacity in my next post.

Anyways, spring break is calling me and I cannot wait until I can officially say that I'm on break. I have lots of drawing, studying, researching, and a project to do over break; however, between playing frisbee with my dog in my backyard and my trip to Utah and Vegas with one of my best friends, I think I can still find a good time and a good balance between work and play. Check ya later.

Video for Amplified Assemblage

"Happiness" poem by Raymond Carver from Liz Kenny on Vimeo.

My instrument was created on the basis that is would not only make sound, but also act as a social tool. The numerous different knobs on top of the basis allow more than one person to participate in playing it at once. It could even be passed around by a group of people for one person to play at a time, almost as if it were a Bop-It or the game Simon. In the video, multiple hands are pressing, rubbing, and playing with the different knobs upon the instrument's discus; therefore proving that this object is not only a newly created instrumental sculpture, but also an object that can be used for entertainment at social gatherings too.

Brainstorming for ze Final

So, as our final for Time Arts we need to come up with our own project. The whole idea of making up a totally original idea for a project is actually somewhat intimidating though. I just want to come up with something that will interest me so here are some ideas. I’m still trying to brainstorm more though.

The whole concept of being able to warp the sounds of electronic toys and warp the images of electronic gaming systems with cartridges was very interesting to me. I’m really interested in manipulating the visuals on an old N64 game. I looked up the information about how to go about it and found ended up learning about the term ROM hacking. ROM hacking is when a gamer changes a games graphics, levels, game play, and even more. As of now the websites I found on it only seemed to show examples of hackers using it to make game play easier and get to the levels their amateur gaming skills couldn’t reach on the regular. I really want to master warping the visuals of one of those old cartridge games though so the research continues.

Upon looking up how to hack into an N64 game in order to alter its visuals, I found numerous videos on making a portable Nintendo, which allows one to play their favorite N64 games on the go. Golden idea- I think so. I thought that whole concept was really cool, partially because I could get a portable N64 out of it. Anyways, if its possible to find an old console and screen to use for this off of Amazon of one of those sites then I would be really interested in trying this out too.

Lastly, this is totally random and out of left field, I was thinking of doing a project involving participation from homeless people. It sounds really weird but they really do fascinate me. I always wonder how they got to be where they are today, what is their background story, what is an average day like, do they do whatever or do they actually have a schedule, what do they truly value, and just random other things. My friends and I are oddly obsessed with YouTube videos of homeless people and one of my best friends always brings smiles to their faces by offering them cash and talking to them a little. So I don’t really know where that would go but I just know that homeless people interest me.