At the beginning, I only thought about how fun it was going to be working with my friends. It was. However it was also tiring, life-changing and overwhelming.
Then we embarked on dress making and incorporating electronics into our fashion wear.
While we develop our dresses, we rehearse in them to test for possible malfunctions so that we make necessary alterations, to make sure that our costumes do not get in the way of our performances, before the actual performance.
During our practices, we did warm-ups and played with different movements and ideas as we work with Angeline. We even re-enacted The Big Kiss (2007), by Annie Abrahams, with Angeline. It was very awkward for me as my sense of sight gave me the impression that I could actually feel her tongue and what I fear most – saliva. It was an almost traumatic experience for me so I was only willing to stick out my tongue for a second. However this is what makes the third space so attractive – you can face your fears indirectly.
Warm-ups
Re-enactment of The Big Kiss
I practiced my solo performance as a crazy jellyfish for the first time in front of my peers. It was an exhilarating experience as I would never imagine myself so crazy before my peers with a sane mind.
Crazy Jellyfish rehearsal
From this integration of media and performance, I learnt the difference between performing within a shared physical space and a shared media space. While our audience see us performing together in the shared media space, we are actually not physically together. The effects of performing in a media space allows us to push our boundaries both physically in the real world and the virtual world. In the real world, we are limited by the amount of space we have to perform together in. However with the incorporation of the virtual world, the amount of space we have for us to exist together in at the same time has multiplied. Whilst we can perform on overlapping screens as if we are in parallel worlds superimposed onto each other, we have more factors to worry for too; such as the difficulty to make scale, lighting and eye contacts of the performers meet between the first and second space.
Conference
Introducing the Crazy Jellyfish
Introducing the people who have nurtured the Crazy Jellyfish for this project
I learnt many things I wouldn’t have if I hadn’t participated in this project. I made many memorable memories and new friends along the journey. These make me feel really happy and satisfied.
Adding boning to the sleeves to create wavy appearance
Continuation on dress making
Sewing three horizontal strips on the under layer of the dress as ‘pockets’ for the RGB LED strips
Under layer of dress with lights on
My choice of 5 different lights, namely: Red, Blue, Orange, Purple and Yellow was inspired from the colours of a jellyfish.
My choice of white colour comes from its representation of peace, innocence and tranquility. The representations supports my idea of a calm, sane and quiet state of mind.
Infrared sensor and Lilypad main circuit board with power bank to operate the light strip
I couldn’t have managed a dress without constant encouragement and guidance from my professor, Galina. She taught me the technique of two layered dress (she always surprises me) and she pushes me to think “avant-garde”. This is the first dress I made for myself! Whether my dress looks like a white Christmas tree, colourful white Christmas tree, or a wedding dress, I feel satisfied with my first attempt and feel that the countless nights I spent making it paid off.
Music and Performance
I chose to incorporate opera music piece to my performance because I like the idea of dramatic voice that wobbles like a jellyfish (rather, the smooth and sonorous vibrations inherent in a natural voice). Randall has suggested Chinese opera music in specific which feels closer to my race (as a Chinese) and the addition of distortions in the sound whenever my crazy jellyfish persona surfaces. (In short, I really like Randall’s suggestions and I am awed at his wonderful expertise on managing sound systems.)
In addition to the music, I have consulted my professor, Naga, for guidance to make the lights blink at 1 second intervals and the colourful lights to increase in blinking rate (speed) every 5 seconds from a starting blinking rate of 1.5 seconds to 10 milliseconds (which is 1500 to 10). (In short, Naga is an intelligent and awesome man.)
My performance starts off from a quiet chanting of “Look at me” as I make four different hand actions.
The four actions are:
moving my hands in a rotational way before me along the level of my torso (While saying “Look at me!”). when I want to project my idea to someone, my hands move outwards to convey what I mean .
raising my hands in the air and pointing at the ceiling to check if there is a roof above me or not (While saying “Look at me!”).
patting my face frantically (While saying “Look at me!”).
patting my chest frantically (While saying “Look at me!”).
Repeats actions above.
As I progress through the actions, my voice increases in volume. I become more agitated and dramatic in my actions, such that my actions no longer follow an order and I start pulling at my hair.
At my craziest moment, I suddenly become quiet and stand at the middle of the room/ space while I comb through my hair. The action of combing my hair represents distraction, frustration and anxiousness – “Oh no, I lost so much hair!
I would like to thank my awesome teachers:
Galina – for guiding me in the making of the dress and for the overflowing love she has for us
Naga – on the programming of the lilypad mainboard, and advices on the type and quantity of electronics I should get
Angeline – for guiding me in creating my solo performance and boosting my confidence by telling me, “You are really brave”, I really needed the courage
Randall – for the planning and behind the scenes set ups
I learnt so much from both Galina and Naga through visual learning and hands-on application of technical skills. I am very amaze at how Randall can superimpose two space into one to create the illusion that Angeline is in the same space we are at and how Angeline picks out our individual strengths to direct our performances. I am very thankful to everyone for their constant optimism and encouragement, effort and time they have put into this project. I am inspired by everyone, including my peers who have taken up this challenge with a strong, confident and courageous mindset. I will continue to do my best as an irresistible attention seeking jellyfish.
As observed in the video, there is an irregular alignment of the zipper to the satin fabric. The cause may be due to the fact that the machine is an industrial machine and it is very powerful, producing vibrations and impact that causes the zipper to jump and misalign with the fabric. The zipper has to be removed and sewn with precise alignment, so that folds along the zipper will not show and zipping will be smoother. (Featuring Galina)
Somethings to improve on and changes in idea:
Instead of creating two layers of organza, I would be using the shorter piece to create a sleeve for the left arm.
I will be creating a belt to emphasize on my waist line.
I might cut a bit of the organza away near the ends so that I would not trip on my dress or tear it apart from the satin when I dance and perform with my peers.
To embark on our project on wearable technology, I went to buy cloths and electronics.
Choosing the necessary electronics
I had to choose between two types of lilypad main boards, one with USB port for charging and programming and another without the ports but with more holes. I decided to get the one with the ports so I don’t need to buy additional components, such as the ports.
Other electronics I bought include an infrared sensor, RGB LED and conductive thread.
Creating textures on the surface of polyester fabric
A jellyfish has no ears or eyes or nose and no brain or heart! They do not even have a head. Their body is almost totally made of water and is soft having no bones at all. Jellyfish are invertebrate animals because they do not have a spine or backbone.
My Idea
In my opinion, touch is a shock that can be comforting. When my skin brush across someone else’s, I feel an electric shock traveling up my nerves. This tingling sensation gives me goosebumps and a strong emotion of excitement. The tremors running through my body sounds like an alluring melody sang in high-pitch vocals. At the same time, the tremor resembles a million fire ants crawling up my four limbs, constantly biting me at every millisecond. The result is fear, followed by numbness and the gradual transition to desensitization. I perceive desensitization as a climax of an emotional responsive state when I no longer feel anything through touch – when touch becomes incapable, thus intangible.
However, the desire to touch and to be touch is innate in us. We seek for comfort when we are shock and we seek for shock when we are in comfort. This cycle continues endlessly.
When touch reaches a climax, it can only repeat itself.
In a virtual world, in separate spaces, we are limited to touch through our physical boundaries. We can only make use of our visual and auditory senses along with the aid of different types of programmed sensors to guide us through our exchange in touch.
Concept Statement
Something in another space triggered movement in my space through my sense of sight. In blue, yellow and red led, the colours fuses together at different combinations of flashing intervals to produce green, purple and orange. The flashing light represents the pulsing of a heart that a jellyfish doesn’t have. The pulsing heart dies and revives almost immediately with every single stimulation from another spaces that intrudes my space, causing different sets of movement running through my body.
I intend to use about 6 sets of 3 led lights – red, yellow, blue, scattered randomly around the flares of a white dress. Nine led lights will be sewn on the front and nine on the back of a dress. Each led will be connected to a Lilypad that will be sewn onto the abdomen portion of the dress. There will be a motion sensor sewn to the chest area which will detect my movement as I wave my hands across it causing the lights on the flares of my dress to light up.
In my opinion, touch is a shock that can be comforting. When my skin brush across someone else’s, I feel an electric shock traveling up my nerves. This tingling sensation gives me goosebumps and a strong emotion of excitement. The tremors running through my body sounds like an alluring melody sang in high-pitch vocals.
At the same time, the tremor can make one fearful. Tremors can come in the form of a million fire ants crawling up my four limbs, constantly biting me at every millisecond, or a numbing shock from the sting of a jellyfish while swimming in the cool embrace of the waters. The result is fear, followed by numbness and the gradual transition to desensitization. I perceive desensitization as a climax of an emotional responsive state when I no longer feel anything through touch – when touch becomes incapable, thus intangible.
However, the desire to touch and to be touch is innate in us. We seek for comfort when we are shock and we seek for shock when we are in comfort. This cycle continues endlessly.
When touch reaches a climax, it can only repeat itself.
In a virtual world, in separate spaces, we are limited to touch through our physical boundaries. We can only make use of our visual and auditory senses along with the aid of different types of programmed sensors to guide us through our exchange in touch.
The Narrative I envision:
The concept of my narrative revolves around the theme of ‘Touch’ in a futuristic context. Imagine, in a futuristic world, how will touch be like? As science advances along with the scientific knowledge and craftsmanship learnt through biomimicry, we venture into the realms of technology and eventually use the craft to replace the role of Mother nature. These effects are already evident now: rats can be made to glow in the dark, cellulose can grow into clothes, clothes will open up in vents when we sweat.
In addition, we can change our environment to suit our needs: plants are watered at regular timings with an irrigation system, we can control the temperature of our environment with the invention of air-condition, we can modify the weather so that rain happen through cloud seedling. Our environment is no longer the same and we can expect these external changes to reflect in us too. We do not need to talk to communicate our ideas across to one another. We can interact across different spaces. Maybe we can even interact in our dreams. We look different. We take on different personas inspired from the skills we learnt from mother nature.
We interact with each other while we are in separate cubicles through seeing and hearing. We move in short actions, like a programmed machine running through a series of causes and effects stimulated by what we see and hear. Somewhere, there is light. Somewhere this light causes movement in another space through sight. Somewhere the movement bring about sound. Somewhere, there is sound. Somewhere this sound causes movement…and the cycle repeats.
What I think the performances “Thinking back herself…” and “Bamboo curtain” by Angeline Young means or represents (I did not do any background research because I wanted to learn more about the work through the artist herself. Please pardon me if I have the wrong perception in my initial stages of exploration.).
“Thinking back herself…”
I feel that “Thinking back herself…” is an evocative dance performance on the memories of Angeline’s past, about her mother’s forced migration through China during the Chinese Civil War (c. 1946-1949). Her dance performance was executed with quick and energetic movements, which seems to translate the strong emotions she was feeling as flashes of memories going through her head at that time. The addition of a narration by the artist, in English, makes the work more impactful and meaningful to English viewers as they can understand and empathise with her.
I wonder what does the white powder represent…could it be snow? (Like the period of the Civil War happened in winter, and the vigorous movements of the foot painting in the white powder represents people running in snow?)
“Bamboo curtain”
I feel that “Bamboo curtain” is an intimate dance performance as the artist chose not to narrate in this piece and may have done so because she wants us to focus on her movements and interactions with the inanimate objects around her. In addition to her graceful hand gestures, her incorporation of the sound of nature along with water and the bamboo objects give us an impression of a natural environment with bamboos, birds and water; which was perhaps where she wants us to imagine we are at.
What does the action of taking off your clothing represent? (Could it be…you are entering a warm house from outside which was cold?)
Task #2: Recording your dreams
I did not manage to remember any dreams vividly other than two of them.
My ex-roommate returns to stay with me and I felt really happy because I am no longer alone. My room felt warm and cosy as compared to reality where my room felt cold and empty. She told me that she misses me and knows that I have been good to her, thus she returns to stay with me. When I woke up from my dream, I realised that she was not around and the room only had me.
There were many people holding onto a rope which was swinging between two ends of two mountain cliffs. Tiffany, Erica and I were the last three people on the end of the rope. The rope was swinging at an insanely high speed. Erica asked me if she should let go. I replied that she should and she did. However she let go too late and the inertia brought her crashing onto the opposite cliff we were swinging to. She fell into the water beneath us. I was screaming in my dreams “NOOOOOOOO! No Erica! NOOOOOOOOOO! ERICAAAAA!!!!” and I woke up momentarily, realising that I was moving my mouth to speak up but my voice didn’t come out. Immediately, I went back to my dream again in a desperate attempt for a better ending. Back in my dreams, I was still holding onto the swinging rope. I felt guilty, sad and remorseful as compared to the initial feelings of fear. As my emotions grew heavier and heavier, the rope begins to slow down to a stop. I felt the rough wall of the cliff and made my way down to the water in search of Erica. I dug at the water creating loud splashes and to my surprise, the water was shallow and I immediately felt Erica’s arm in my palms. Erica was alive! She said to me “I am alive!” almost as if she was validating her existence. Tiffany and I carried her out of the water as she appeared motionless. Then I woke up.
Task #3: Translating journal entries into video
⌊Dream part 1⌉
password: Dp1
password: Dp1g
In part 1 of my dream, I was holding tightly onto a rope which was swinging at a rapidly (insanely) high speed between two cliffs of two mountains. I looked up and I saw my friend, Tiffany, who wore an expression of fear, which I think reflects off me. Above her, there were many others like us who were holding onto the rope for dear life. I looked down and I saw my friend, Erica, who was at the end of the rope, experiencing the fastest speed as compared to any other people who were holding onto the rope. She asked me “Should I let go? Should I jump?”. I thought she may stand a chance surviving if she lets go, and I told her to let go. However, the rope was swing so fast, she let go at the wrong moment. She crashed into the rocky walls of the opposite mountain and fell into the water. I was screaming in my heart as I couldn’t hear my voice in the wind. I didn’t want to belief that Erica had fallen in a fatal way. Still holding onto the rope with dear life, I woke up from my dream.
With the addition of glitch, I wanted to show a rocky outlook on my left and right as I swing from one side to another. In addition, I think the glitch goes really well with the feelings I had in my dream: tense, lost, and fearful; as represented by the darkness of my surrounding.
⌊Dream part 2⌉
password: Dp2
password: Dp2g
After I woke up, I fell back to sleep. Apparently, my dream continued with part 2.
In part 2, I was holding onto the rope, except I was feeling different from part 1. I was feeling guilty, sad, and remorseful. I fear that I would not get a chance to speak to Erica again. As my feelings grew heavier and heavier, the rope starts to slow down to a stop. Before I knew it, I could feel the rocky walls with both hands off the rope. I made my way down to the water in search of Erica. To my surprise, the water was shallow. To my amazement, I found Erica very easily and she was still alive. There were no bruises on her and she was saying to me, “I am still alive!”, as if validating her own existence. I grabbed her hand and pulled her up, but she appear motionless. Tiffany and I carried her and we left together.
Here are some images of what I have jotted down of my dream:
@ 0:54 – A lady grabbing onto twigs placed against her torso with her arms tense and trance-like facial expression.
@ 1:07 – “Land” – twisting of body against the ground/ in a writhing movement.
@ 4:01 – crab walking with elbows crossed between two people, then falling and trying to stand up again through the action of supporting each other with their arms interlocked.
The mover’s relationship to “the box”:
For most parts of the film, the movers are the main focus as they are located in the centre.
In the second segment (1:05 – 2:22) showing a remake version of “Land”, Oregon, WI: ADF Video, 1995 by Eiko and Koma, the movers were filmed on ground level with slow controlled panning of the camera to the right and slow gradual zooming out of the lens. We observe them in a third person point of view on their specially designed space of dirt and a neutral colour scheme achieved with the muted tones of their clothing and dim lighting.
After the third segment (2:23 – 3:58) showing some old films of Japan in the past, in the fourth segment (3:59 – 5:56), we see two people moving away from the lens towards a backdrop of a sea.
Sound:
Crickets, birds chirping, sounds of nature, a wind instrument playing in the background, a person narrating at a time
Speed:
Slow motion
Dynamics:
Dramatic changes in actions and expressions,
Example 1 – A lady grabbing onto twigs while her expression changes slowly from one that appears as if she was in a trance (eyes half-closed and mouth hanging open uncontrollably) into an expression of shock, as if she was being stabbed with twigs @ 1:00.
Some mountains are males, and others are females. These mountains make love at night and they separate before we know what happened. – Eiko
Example 2 – Two people who appear half-dressed squirming like worms or slithering like snakes on the ground, where the ground is dirt and soil, a scene described in the video as ‘Land’ where two mountains were said to be making love. Their body appear contorted in twisted positions which feels uncanny as they appear almost nonhuman @ 2:00.
Liz Aggiss interacts with the camera and looks at us with a confrontational gaze. She made several unrefined gestures such as swiping her nose @ 2:08 and cleaning her teeth with her fingers @ 2:09, then spitting at the camera (at us) @2:18.
2:40 – 2:43, Liz Aggiss starts to push the walls of the confine space she is in, exhibiting acts of a claustrophobic.
@ 4:50, Liz Aggiss had expressions of fear as she jumps out of a cubicle with her mouth wide open.
The mover’s relationship to “the box”:
We view in the first person point of view, where our eyes are represented by the camera lens – inferred from the circular vignetting along the edges of the rectangular screen of the box.
Sound:
At the beginning, we hear sound distortions resembling rapid fast forwarding and rewinding of a sound clip/ an operating vacuum cleaner.
@ 1:31, we can hear slight inputs of bone-cracking sound when Liz Aggiss moves her body and head. Sounds like dubstep can also be heard.
@ 2:08, we hear swiping, scrubbing and spitting sound.
@ 2:40, we hear creaking sound as Liz Aggiss pushes against the walls of the cubicle and sound of her body rubbing against the smooth walls along with deep, intense breathing.
@ 2:57, we hear a short excerpt of a music playing with a faint voice singing along to the tune which stops abruptly and plays again @4:16.
@ 4:30, as the lady back against one of the walls, we hear a clanking sound, almost as if a machine has started operating. The clanking and creaking sounds grew as the wall starts to sink inwards shrinking the space that Liz Aggiss is in.
@ 5:00, the music starts to play again after the sound of breaking glass. The music starts to sound like an opera.
Speed:
Faster than normal speed that is similar to what a person with high adrenaline rush and high anxiety would experience.
Dynamics:
Dramatic changes in actions,
@ 0:06, the screen lights up in a blink introducing us to what looks like soil and sand.
@ 0:20, we passed through a door in a blink into an apartment space towards a cat (that was frightened and ran away)
@ 0:28, we passed through another door into a bedroom where Liz Aggiss, who was wearing a long gown, sleeps on.
@ 0:35, we ascending to the air from the ground and viewed Liz Aggiss from a high angle.
@ 2.43, we entered Liz Aggiss’s head and is transported to a white/ blank/ empty landscape with a small cubicle in it. Liz Aggiss lies in the cubicle and the cubicle starts to shrink, forcing her to jump out of the white landscape into a bizarre landscape where she wears a red dress which was attached to the ground along the edges of the dress.
Depth of perception (how we see things in 3D):
Abrupt movement of camera where the camera tilts in various sharp angles, explaining rough handling of the camera in the first scene where our role comes out from underground. At the same time, the perception of space was described with mostly low angles inviting us into an ant’s point of view.
However @ 0:35, when the angle suddenly changes from low to high, we get the impression that our role is something that can fly. Liz Aggiss became the centre of attention and she interacts with the camera and with us through the screen. @ 6:39, the camera tilts 180 degrees, and Liz Aggiss who was standing shifted to be in an upside-down-hanging position.
According to the resources, I made glitches with Audacity, an open source, cross-platform audio editor and recorder.
For this project, I would like to share 27 glitches (and one that is an original image I had created) in a pdf: Glitch with Audacity, where I create glitches through image bending with audacity.
The following is a short video I tried to piece together with sound tracks from YouTube. Credits for sound: Coolal and EB7BMV
As compared to the previous video I did titled Rosa Menkman (can be found here), the difference between the two can be observed by the experimental techniques. For the previous video, I made use of a pre-set online glitching tool to create the glitch images, whereas for this video, I experiment with image bending with Audacity.
This new approach provided me with a better understanding of how certain types of glitch are created. Audacity allows me to trace back my footsteps and work flexibly back and forth, whereas the pre-set online glitching tool does not have the “Step backwards”/ “Undo” button and the “Step forward”/ “Redo” button. Moreover, after working with Audacity, I realised that it provided me a wider scope of glitch patterns as compared to the pre-set online glitching tool. Personally, I actually prefer the aesthetics of the glitched images made with the online glitching tool. That being said, both Audacity and online glitching tool have proved to be very useful tools for creating glitch art.