Cosmogramma

One of the artists I will be researching, Leigh, J. McCloskey

Silencing the Sounded Self

A few months ago I found a book called 'Silencing the Sounded Self - John Cage and the American Experimental Tradition' by Christopher Shultis in a second hand Art bookshop in Malta. I bought it after skimming through a few pages because I thought it might be useful for my research. I started reading it this weekend. So far it has helped me see the difference between a Coexisting experimental artist, and a Controlling experimental artist - it also explains in detail what is meant by experimental artists (musical artists in the case of this book - but it can also apply to visual artists). Essentially something that has no goal; something open to the unintentional. The beautiful thing about it is that it encourages exploration of the unknown, and I think that having no precise goal and no tight restrictions will result in a much more organic and genuine project.

I have also come across an artist that I had not heard about before; Christian Boltanski. I haven't read a lot about him so far, but I am currently looking at some of his work on youtube.

What I am reading...

I am currently reading "Contemporary practices - Art as Experience" by Paul Ardenne, Pascal Beausse and  Laurent Goumarre (translated from French)

Although I am finding it slightly difficult to read, I can understand what the authors are trying to say. I guess the final paragraph of the books sums it up quite nicely:

"By putting himself in a position of not knowing, of learning- and not of refusing to know- the artist treats the fragile conditions of 'initiation' and 'reception' together on the same level." Thus the dynamic, project, issues and subject of the deceptual work are to be found in this relation, and not only in a reception and response that occur after the event."

The book talks about the constant struggle of the contemporary artist to try and innovate - however reminds the artist to not forget about the very essence of art - communication with the audience - involvement and interaction of the audience. The audience will be of major importance, in fact, the focus of my project. I must avoid the very tempting trap of appearing to be an all-knowing artist, and instead involve my audience, show them I am still learning, and give them as much flexibility in the project as possible (yes, even if this involves more programming - it must be accomplished).

Today I have also started some research on Brion Gysin - I am almost embarrassed to say I have only started looking into his works today, as he was a huge influence on the Beat Generation (especially having created the Dream Machine). In an Interview for 'The Guardian' in 1997, William Burroughs said that Brion Gysin is "the only man that I've ever respected in my life. I've admired people, I've liked them, but he's the only man I've ever respected."

So now I have a copy of a 1982 RE/Search Magazine on William S.Burroughs, Brion Gysin and Throbbing Gristle.. and I'm going to try and read it all by the end of next week. Will post more reflections soon.

In the meantime my proposal has been shifting and changing. Evolving, I'd like to think.

More After Effects

Using an inverted black and white water colour scan - multiple layers (set to soft light mode) and coming together in a 3d Space. The beginning is boring - the middle I find exciting - the end is ok.

What is Interaction?

http://hci.sapp.org/lectures/verplank/interaction/

Had my first one to one tutorial with my tutor today and what followed was a manic research session on 'interaction'. So the first thing I did was go on wikipedia and typed 'Interaction' and proceeded from there. Found many sources and listed down a couple of annotations and topics which I thought would be of interest to my proposal:

Augmented human interaction - The Wii, the Kinect, constantly evolving so might feature in my research - however my project will not be based on this. I want to focus on aesthetics as well not just interaction.

Interaction as an experience - This will definitely feature in my research as this is what I want to create.

Human computer interaction

Donald Arthur Norman - wrote 'Emotional Design' a type of Affective Interaction Design - but he doesn't really focus on aesthetics. He puts emphasis on the needs of the user (User-centered design).

Affective Interaction Design - A type of Interaction Design used to influence positive emotions / reactions from users - great! Except I want to do the opposite - can this type of Interaction therefore, be utilised to get 'negative' responses from the user...

My title has developed into "Can affective interaction design be employed to influence a user-directed Dionysian experience?"

User-direction has now taken a new meaning in my project - I want the user to have more control. I'm looking at my project as a 'Responsive Environment'. I do not want the user to merely do something with the program. I want the program to adapt and change depending on what the user does. So if the user chooses a type of experience, the program will react in one way, and if the user chooses a different experience, the program will react in a different way. This will also lead me to research HCI. Today was a heavy day for my brain - but also very exciting. I'm eager to see where this is going to take me.

Some sources I have looked at today (need to look at some of them in more detail)

http://www.id-book.com/chapter1.htm

http://arielwaldman.com/2010/08/23/a-semantic-exploration/

http://www.dubberly.com/articles/what-is-interaction.html

http://www.boxesandarrows.com/view/introducing_interaction_design

http://www.orangecone.com/d3_2010_information_is_a_material_0.2.pdf

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Human-computer_interaction

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emotional_design

http://www.designinginteractions.com/interviews

http://www.interaction-design.org/encyclopedia/

http://hci.sapp.org/lectures/verplank/interaction/

Proposal, Processing and After Effects

**Updated animation with audio**


This week I was trying to put together my Proposal and it's proving to be quite frustrating. However I did finish a work plan and a finalised title. I've also started Processing - I am finding "Processing, Creative Coding and Computational Art" extremely enjoyable, yes for the first time in my life I'm actually enjoying programming :)

I have also done a little experiment in After Effects with the illustrations posted previously. I tried to give some 3 Dimensionality to the flat watercolour illustrations by using 3D layers and a camera with Depth of Field.

Sketchbook Journal Part 1

My experiments / sketches so far not based on any particular research / movement - currently just trying develop some sort of trail of thought and brainstorming through regular sketching.

Processing

I have been battling with coding for quite a long time now. I have done coding before but I have never really felt comfortable with it. Having said that, I am aware that coding can largely enhance digital art, especially what I'm looking to create for my Masters project. I recently found this book (pictured above) in my library. It's actually my parter's book but he hasn't really had the time to take a good look at it yet, so I'm going to try it instead. Just like I'm carrying out around two traditional sketches a day, I will try and do a bit of coding everyday using Processing to get both my creative and logical juices flowing :)

Jellyfish

A few watercolour / Photoshop tests I'm doing right now; currently fascinated with the shape of a jellyfish

Reflective writing on Chat Session 22/11/2010

Yesterday we resumed with chat sessions. After watching Madeline's video we all got talking about memories and whether or not the past is such a valuable element after all...

Osiris brought up an intriguing subject; saying that the best way to be open to new experiences and ideas is to start on a brand new page, and therefore forgetting all about the past and look solely at the future. I believe that the past is too important to be ignored, but it can be a means of preventing an individual from   exploring new ideas. I also believe that memories and nostalgia have the power to evoke very powerful emotions in individuals, sometimes perhaps even extreme emotions which might not be accessed given that one only looked into the future. These extreme emotions in turn can be a means of inspiration for an artist. I'm starting to see a subtle battle of art and technology, digital and traditional, logic and emotion through the weekly chats, and it's very exciting.

Andy proceeded to email us a guide to our new proposal which is due in about a month. During that time (and even after the due date) I shall be creating around two sketches a day based on the idea of intoxication - the sketches will signify both the ups and the downs of the effects of intoxication. I will try to keep up the daily sketches in order to try and create a developing journey of thoughts, dreams and ideas which will hopefully evolve and lead to some interesting creations.

Reflective Writing on Chat Session - 08/11/2010

So I will start today's post by posting two photographs of Cildo Meireles' installations (Suggested by Kay Johns :) ) I have been researching his works this afternoon and I must say he's got some pretty inspiring works. Although his themes are not related to my theme, his installations are interactive and he also uses audio in his works so I'm gonna have a closer look.

In last Monday's chat session I had a chance to receive and share some comments on the proposals that my peers and I are doing. We started with Eva Sykes:

Eva is looking into virtual words and environments, I'm really interested  to see what she will come up with because it is something that is getting more and more realistic and people seem to be getting more involved and I guess, more addicted to such a space. This is why the first thing I asked Eva is whether she thinks there are more advantages or disadvantages to virtual environments. Eva said she doesn't know as of yet and it makes sense since this is her research question after all. 

Questions I was asked

I was up next - the great thing about the questions that I was asked is I hadn't thought of any of them before; this is why discussing and brainstorming in group is so great. Mariana asked me whether the choice the user makes would affect their experience (this ties in with what Mariana is doing... a story which changes depending on their brain activity). I said that yes the experience will vary but I haven't done much thinking about this so I have much more brainstorming to do about this.

Olivia asked whether the unconscious has similar qualities to what we experience the first time we see an artefact. What an interesting question; this question has motivated me to create visuals which will look 'new' to the user - a great challenge but I will try my best. Osiris asked me whether I will do any practical experiments by taking toxins myself - would be extremely interesting (however illegal, so I won't give any other details :) ). Osiris also asked me about the beat generation and whether I would be looking at it in an analytical or practical way. I said both but mostly it would be analytical - I want to - as much as possible, free my mind and let it open to raw dark experiences in order to create the visuals.

Alexandra asked whether I believe that negative emotions are more powerful than negative ones. I honestly think they are but I have never studied psychology (and never intend to) having said that I will have to look into this particular matter. Either way I think it would be much more interesting to take the audience through a negative experience. I guess what inspired me to do this is the fact that all my students are currently exploring subjects which are positive and which might improve someone's life, or help them... and I thought why is everyone trying to be so good and positive? Why not go on the 'evil' and 'dark' side once in a while.

Next up was Mariana:

Project Presentation - Mariana Tschudi from Mariana Tschudi on Vimeo.

I must say Mariana's was my favourite presentation. It shows so much thought process and brainstorming and she looks like she seems genuinely interested in the study and project she is undertaking (not that the others don't) I just thought this presentation was delivered in such an effective manner. Mariana's project is based on the medicinal plant Ayahuasca, used in the Amazon. I asked Mariana what sort of audio she is planning to use for her project and she said she will be using natural sound, trances and chants. What I would love see is how Mariana will manage to carry out her final experimental project of letting people see different footage depending on their brain activity.

Louis will be illustrating the effect of technology in the American Pop Art movement - I asked Louis how he thinks technology is affecting contemporary artists. Louis said that technology is merely a tool to help an artist communicate his/her message. This contrasts heavily with what Osiris is looking at - micro-casting and it's exponential increase. I asked Osiris whether he feels that future artists will need to know code, and he feels that they do - he also expressed that knowing how to build your own tools will definitely enhance one's projects. 

Symposium 1 from Osiris Roost on Vimeo.

I have more questions to ask Osiris in next Monday's chat - I am very interested in his project because I have tried coding but still feel that I have much much further to go. Nonetheless I have decided to embark onto an interactive project which will challenge me to investigate code- but also give me space to be creative.

Women of the Beat Generation

I got this book in the mail today, finally. I couldn't find anything at my college library or at any bookshop in Malta specifically about women of the Beat Generation. I actually wanted a book about artists of the beat generation, but seeing as many Beat women where not allowed to be rebels, like their male counterparts - I thought it would be interesting to read some of their writings and poems. I have only browsed through this book because I got it today, but I've already glimpsed at certain sentences which surprised me, such as the fact that one particular woman beat writer was killed by electroshock. I cannot wait to read this book and hopefully get some inspiration for some visuals I am looking to create in my project. 

Note: I've also changed the look of my blog to suit my new theme.

First Symposium

MA Digital Art First Symposium from Moira Zahra on Vimeo.

Proposal will be updated soon according to the changes mentioned in the above presentation

Experiments with composition & colour

First collage experiments from the magazine cutouts I have been collecting, with white acrylic paint & ink. I'm currently making some experimental collages to study composition and colour - keeping in mind artists I am researching like Teebs and Franz Kline.

2 close-ups of different views of the collage

1 semi-close-up of the inverted collage

Original scanned collage (without white background)

Who is Lenore Jaffee?

For the past two days I have been researching beat artists, and have come across 'Lenore Jaffee'. Unfortunately I cannot seem to find any detailed information about her, except that in the late fifties she exhibited her paintings at the Phoenix Gallery on 10th Street in New York City. (www.beatmuseum.org) The article also states that she is a "...significant pioneer amongst American Women abstract painters". (click to view original mini-article)

Goddess, 1959 - Lenore Jaffee

Franz Kline and the Cosmic Kitchen

Jack Kerouac(played by Vincent Balestri in 'Beat Angel') relates the wisdom of his friend, painter Franz Kline.

So after yesterday's weekly chat I was trying to think how I can narrow down my theme so it's much less vague. I'm now trying to see the space I want to create as kitchen where the user can 'cook' art and music and mix and match them together. The words 'Cosmic Kitchen' keep playing around in my head because it's not just your everyday kitchen but it's an audiovisual kitchen. 

All the mixing and matching of audio and visuals got me into collages and these two days I have been collecting various samples of material as well as magazine cutouts which I will try to assemble into interesting compositions to see where they will take me. 

I have also started researching some abstract expressionists and came across Franz Kline. I absolutely love his work because it is so minimal and yet so powerful. I'm not sure whether I could translate this kind of style into my own work but I am definitely a fan of how he mixed white and black to create grey/dirty areas.

"Yet Kline's art is anything but black and white. If his work is boisterous, it is also silent. If it is a celebration of unfettered movement, it is also a scar. If it is filled with suggestions of windows and doors, those windows and doors have often been boarded up or slammed shut. If his paintings are abstract and irreducible, they also seem like maps charting a lifetime of journeys through rural and urban America, popular and high culture, American and European art." NY Times

Teebs

So currently I'm just exploring artworks from various sources just to get inspirations and ideas. Very interested in teebs who's both an artist and an experimental Hip Hop musician. I'm intrigued by his work because he makes music and designs, something I'm looking into in my proposal.

I'm just trying to find some interviews to see how he manages the audio/design process, not much luck so far though;

Do you mix both music and art together to picture a visual sound or painting?

I dont try to mix the two like that…but they do resemble each other…its more of a natural process

(from: Fried My Little Brain)

I really love the mixed media in this, loads of contrast in tactile qualities, texture, line and colour.

The pink triangle makes the whole composition more minimal and modern.

Introduction of my proposal

An updated Proposal is found under My Proposal
My research question and practical work will be based on dynamic digital art and audio, as I believe that this area is increasing exponentially due to its inclusion of the user’s participation and control.

I wish to research a variety of interactive spaces and be able to create an area where a user can combine audio samples with a mixture of animated traditional and digital illustration to produce an audiovisual composition. Through this, I wish to create an environment where the user can explore, play and appreciate contemporary experimental music with the help of animated visuals.

I intend to incorporate multi faceted elements into my work in order to create a more total, all encompassing aesthetic experience. I also want to not merely engage the audience but actively involve them in the actual composition, creation and reception of the artwork.


Context (I think I need to narrow this down even more to a specific theme):

The elements I intend to investigate range from the psychedelic and funky to minimalist and contemporary. My artworks will vary from abstract to figurative. I will be looking at developments in illustration, animation, collage, media and the music industry that relate to a fusion of different media. In addition, I will also be looking into all encompassing multi-dimensional art to try and cater for more than one area of the senses. I hope through this approach to increase the user interest and experience.

First Post

Set up the blog, will update with posts on my project proposal and might change the layout of the blog soon. Find more about me in the 'About me' page.