Month: August 2017

Research Critique: Videofreex film

Research Critique

Videofreex in the Lanesville TV control room. Credits Randall Packer, OSS ADM.

“Here Come the Videofreex” is a film that amazes and fascinates me. They wanted to change the notion of passive television to something that would come alive. I never thought that broadcasting, television, radio, etc. would have such a breakthrough if not for the Videofreex constant perseverance exploring this area.

The group started off with a portable video equipment, Sony Portapak where they would film anything that was interesting and interviewed people. They slowly evolved to capturing real-world situation in which television broadcasted politically correct and manipulative. They recorded real life scenarios and understand the public view as they interact with them. Later, they made the impossible possible using a transmitter and antenna to create television signal to their broadcast which was illegal. They wanted to challenge the idea of illegal broadcasting but in the end the Videofreex made programs which the audience could give feedback. They had role plays, interviewing people on the streets and filming events happening which translates to our current day social media live feeds, live news and sports broadcast, radio, etc.

The control room of Lanesville TV with call-in number. Credits Randall Packer, OSS ADM.

“Taking a camera and telling

own story is unimaginable.”

Mary Curtis Ratcliff

This film made me see the transformation of broadcasting where media is language used by everyone and through this we can speak to the world. They broke the common notion of what broadcasting was suppose to be like in the 1970s which makes see how I can challenge the idea of broadcasting and changing the perception now. Broadcasting is not only one to many but also interacting with people out there to bring about personal opinions and ideas that would be useful. Back then they had a portable video camera but now it is changed to our phones and computer where we can bring it around to showcase what is happening around the world and sharing it through social media. It changes my idea of broadcasting where it does not have to be just filming my daily life but also what is happening around me can be a way of relying information to others first hand too.

Overall, I felt inspired by the Videofreex in their determination to follow their dreams and creating a new world of social broadcasting which makes the world a better place.

Case Study 2: Technical aspects and inspired artists

Concept/ idea #1 Technology: Processing
For my first idea, I thought of using processing to generate different paper cut patterns. When different Asian languages are detected using twitter api (detect language api), the paper cut images will be different where a myth or legend is slowly displayed.

Video example:

Reference Artists:

Qian XiaoGuang
A professor in Central Academy of Fine Arts in Beijing, Hebei, who teaches paper cutting. Professor Qian is interested in folk art and ancient Chinese art, especially the minority culture. For example, Miao where certain symbols and beliefs which creates different stories.

He wants to keep the Chinese tradition alive by using black paper to do his paper cutting which is inspired by ink painting tradition. He draws on tracing paper in actual size and duplicates them on black or/and white paper.

Installation view of Qiao Xiaoguang's 'City Windows' (2015). Image from jaunted.com.

Installation view of Qiao Xiaoguang’s ‘City Windows’ (2015). Image from jaunted.com.

30 Qiao Xiaoguang, City, paper-cut combination, 400 x 500 cm x 18 pieces, 2010. Credits http://en.cafa.com.cn/qiao-xiaoguang-with-chinese-paper-cuts-i-talk-about-the-story-of-the-world.html

A permanent panoramic paper cut installation “City Windows” (the two images above) was showcased in Chicago. This work comprises of iconic buildings from Chicago and Beijing where it symbolises the deep friendship and culture between the two countries.

Professor Qian engages history and the contemporary world with his artwork. He wants to use paper cutting platform as a way to do storytelling about the world. Not only that, he wants to let the world understand Chinese paper cut and the backstory of paper cutting. Cultural narrative is infused with paper cut, creating energy and artistic expression which is shown in Professor Qian’s artwork.

 

Concept/ idea #2 Technology: Unity & Kinect

For my second idea, I thought of using Kinect to make shadow puppets come alive when the user interacts with the media wall. I thought of incorporating unity where the myths or legends and the shadow puppets changes as the user moves around. This causes the users to be part of the Southeast Asian stories where they become the storytellers.

Video example:

Reference Artists:
Christine Marie – light artist
A visual artist and director who creates large scale cinematic shadow theatre, film and installation. She incorporates ancient art form and light in her work. Previously she studies Wayang Kulit, a Balinese traditional shadow puppetry.

4 TRAINS/ Signaling Arcana. Credits https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/117770525/4-trains-signaling-arcana

4 TRAINS/ Signaling Arcana. Credits https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/117770525/4-trains-signaling-arcana

“4 TRAINS/ Signaling Arcana” (the two images above), one of her works which is showcased in San Francisco, California where she incorporates both shadow puppetry with film. This work tells the story to bridge time and space which creates imagination too.

Christine Marie generates 3D shadows and uses motion tracking in her work. Multiple mediums are used with screens, coloured shadows, shadows, mirror and water which tells the story visually. 

 

Concept/ idea #3 Technology: Processing & Kinect

For my third idea, I thought of incorporating Processing with Kinect. As people twitters on a certain Southeast Asian language, processing will then get real time data from there which will create or generates part of the patterns. When people starts to move around the media wall, the patterns will start to interact with each other and create the myths or legends through the patterns generated via twitter api. 

Video example:

Reference Artists:

Hung Yi
A multidisciplinary Taiwanese artist who is inspired from his home country’s culture and how the people of Taiwan lead their day to day lives. Hung Yi expresses people’s daily lives through his artwork and uses traditional Taiwanese patterns in bright colours. He explores Western and Chinese art where he combines them together to create his own art creation.

A shot from “Fancy Animal Carnival” in the Garment District. Credits https://artrepreneur.com/hung-yi-public-art/

Hung Yi works with multiple artisans to bring his sculptures to life. Credits https://artrepreneur.com/hung-yi-public-art/

Hung Yi’s whimsical public art sculptures, “Fancy Animal Carnival” (the two images above) is showcased in Manhattan. He works with different artists to create different artworks. In his artworks, he uses mostly animals, plants and human form. They are placed in public spaces around the world such as Japan, America.

Case Study 1: Discovering Southeast Asia culture

Theme: Beyond the seas
When I first heard of the theme beyond the seas and having Asian/ Southeast Asian mythology or legends involved got me quite excited. I decided to explore the cultural aspects and patterns for the media art wall. Not only that, I wanted to explore the area of languages in these regions too and how I can fuse both together.

 

Concept/ idea #1: Paper art
Paper cutting is one of the traditional art styles in China. It was first discovered in tombs during the Nan Bei Dynasty in 420 BCE. In current times, funeral rites still use this art to create human and objects to be buried or burnt with the deceased. Paper cuttings are commonly done by the Miao people, an ethnic minority in southwest China. They use the paper cuttings of spirits and gods as a form of Shamanism. The motifs commonly seen in paper cuttings are human and animal figures where they richly decorated with details.

I have always been fascinated with the intricate designs of paper cuttings. I thought of experimenting with different kinds of paper art and making them transform from one colour to multiple colours when people starts to interact with the media wall. In this manner, I could incorporate this aspect of Chinese art with the different myths or legends to create my own interpretation of collage storytelling.

Image inspirations:

Auspicious wedding paper cuttings

Video Inspirations:

I was inspired by this video where the paper was cut out from a plain coloured paper and slowly revealing the colours of the actual piece. 

I was inspired by this video as paper cuttings are incorporated with the storytelling.

 

Concept/ idea #2: Shadow play
Shadow play or theatre is an ancient form of entertainment and storytelling of legends or myths of Southeast Asia. It uses puppets that are cut out in details which is reflected on the translucent paper when light shines. Shadow play is an ancient art and folk tradition common in Indonesia, Thailand, Cambodia and Malaysia where it incorporates religion or folk stories. This is usually used in sacred ceremonials, villages and entertainment for people with high status.

I was fascinated by the shadow play as I could explore light and shadow. I could also explore different styles in creating the puppets to merge different legends or myths of Southeast Asia. Since shadow plays are common in Southeast Asia, it would connect better with the stories of the past.

Research:
Traditional theatre where a Dalang, puppeteer controls the Wayang Kulit/ Shadow Play. Musical instruments such as wind, serunai and strings (rebab) are used hand in hand with Wayang Kulit/ Shadow Play. The stories are being passed down orally and generations.

Thailand, Cambodia, Thailand, Indonesia and Malaysia are countries that still tell stories via shadow puppets.

There are a few different kinds of shadow play.
1. Kelantanese
Hikayat Seri Rama (Ramayana epic) is being told using Kelantanese shadow play. Mixture of spells/ fixed/ classic invocations are seen in the story. In the story, kings and deities have one movable hand and static mouth.

2. Wayang Golek
Musical instruments and symbolic aspects are mostly seen here with the shadow puppets.

3. Wayang Melayu
Unlike Kelantanese shadow play, the puppets here have two movable arms.

4. Wayang Purwa
A classical Javanese theatre where the puppets are influence by elemental gods (sun, rain, wind, water, fire, earth, sea and sky), ghosts and spirits. Storytelling in Wayang Purwa incorporates folklorist medium.

In shadow play, the stage (Bangsal) is most important. It is made of wood from the palm trunks and bamboo, roof is made from sago/ palm leaves and the walls from bamboo weaving.

Each puppets have their own characteristics and individual character. It is made of cow/ buffalo/ goat hide where it is being mounted on sticks to move the joints of the puppets. This is so that the puppets are able to adapt to the storyline or performance that is being told. The designs are based on geographical and social culture. The main characters mouth are static and only the right hand moves while the comical characters both the hands and mouth are movable. In the past, simple engravings, and black and shadows were seen. Now intricate and impressive designs which incorporates colourful batik patterns. Different floral patterns, design and height symbolises the puppets status. 

Image Inspirations:

Wayang Kuilt

Wayang Kuilt

Wayang Kuilt

Video Inspirations:

This video caught my attention as China also uses shadow play as a means of telling a story of myths and legends.

I was extremely excited when I saw this video as there was some interaction involved. When a player or person moves his fingers/ hand, the device detects the movement causing the shadow puppets to move. This seems as if you are controlling the puppet just like the actual shadow play. I was thinking of incorporating the detection of movement causing the person to tell a story as the puppets move.

 

Concept/ idea #3: Patterns
Southeast Asia has a diverse of culture and history. Many different kinds of patterns are seen from fabric to decorative ornaments from animals motifs to plants motifs to human sculptures. As different parts of southeast Asia have different religion and traditions which could incorporated as patterns or stories so that they could be passed down to the next generations instead of oral traditions.

I wanted to explore the different kinds of patterns and incorporate into the myths and legends of Southeast Asia where I could use abstract images to create a story. I could experiment different materials when I create these patterns since they are not limited to just one material.

Image Inspirations:

Hmong tribe fabric

Chinese Knotting: Jewellery

SEA textile patterns

Chinese Motifs

Video Inspirations:

I was inspired by this video where textiles, lights, sounds and interactivity were fused together to create an artwork.

I was inspired by this video where different colours and patterns of fabrics were used. The piece slowly progress to a Chinese Ink effect which I enjoyed.

Video Double

Alter Ego

 

Alter ego: The monochrome me

Alter ego: The colourful me

Video and social media gives people the opportunity to disguise themselves and show what they want to portray since people would not know who they really are. This causes people to have a false impression of them where they can be nice in front of their live broadcast but actually they have the worst of personality in front of their friends.

Personally I want to be an interactive artist where I can explore art installations, performance art and web based platform such as website design. I feel that the way I portray to others may seem that I am a jack of all trades and master of none since I try to experiment different art styles. I feel that video and social media alter my identity where I must be an extremely good artist to be where I am but I could be still learning different areas or even finding what I am actually interested in. It also conceals my identity since I only show works that are fully completed instead of the work of progress and fear that people would judge my work in a negative way. I feel that the environment around me affects what I think about myself. When my friends criticise or compare my work I feel a sense of inferiority where I thought that I could done better. 

Internet art and culture: assignment 2

Posted by Hannah Kwah on Tuesday, 22 August 2017

Alter ego video

The video which I have captured is how I view myself as an artist, a person who wants to try out different art styles or interaction design and wanting to be around people to network. This is shown through the shapes and lines weights. However when people take away those areas I feel empty and lonely.

The monochrome shapes shows the actual person I am, minimal and simple. When people and environment surrounding me changes and takes away who I am, it makes me want to create a new identity where the monochrome shapes are being replaced to colourful shapes where I create a new identity for myself. 

Real Time Aggregation

Before the broadcasting
When I first heard that the assignment was to be on Facebook live, I was quite skeptical about it as I do not use Facebook anymore. Not only that, I have never done any real time video of myself before even though I have seen my friends doing live feeds on their Instagram or Facebook. Sometimes, they would also film me in their live feeds.

However, when a similar project was shown in class and also seeing different people doing different things at the same time seems quite interesting. This causes me to change my perception of live broadcast. It was quite nerve-wrecking and exciting at the same time as I did not know what to expect. I struggled to find how to go live on Facebook and where the live button was before the broadcast started.

Real Time Aggregation

During the broadcasting
When the in class project started, I was at a loss despite being excited since I had never done a broadcasting before not to mention a live feed. I did not know where to head to in school since we could go anywhere for 15 minutes. I knew that people on my Facebook could see me talking to myself and also seeing the environment I was in. In that moment, I felt exposed so I decided to show my surroundings instead of myself and I did not know what to talk on live.

I always thought that broadcasting are for people showcasing their art talent or those who could talk anything under the sun to entertain people. I decided to just walk aimlessly and see what interesting things I could find or people I knew in school that I could converse with while going live so that it would not be too awkward for me. When I bump into my classmates during this project I felt at ease as I was not alone and slowly I started to adapt to being on live. I started to venture off myself around the school and became more comfortable showing myself with the environment I was in.

Real Time Aggregation Video

Social broadcasting for internet art and culture

Posted by Hannah Kwah on Thursday, 17 August 2017

Viewing social broadcasting together (individual vs. collective)
I felt that when I was doing the broadcast individually, I felt awkward at first but at the same time I did not felt people was actually watching what I was filming and over time I became more comfortable doing a live feed. However when everyone is looking at all the videos at the same time, I felt embarrassed. It was because I could see myself appearing on others video and saying silly things too. It was quite amusing to hear how others reacted to their live feeds and how we overlapped on each others’ broadcast. When viewing all as a whole, I saw how the same moments and locations are filmed differently which shows our own personalities in a way. I had fun throughout this project and being able to see from different peoples’ perspective.

The space I explored made me more conscious and what is viewed through my own eyes versus when I saw it through a live broadcast was two separate experience. I felt that I became more critical of the place I was in when I viewed myself again and how people would have viewed me when they see the broadcast. The usual space seems big but through the screen the space seems much smaller and more confined. Through this project I start to appreciate the space I was in and how the interaction with my friends differed through real life and live broadcasting.

Conclusion
Through social broadcasting, I was able to experience a different kind of interaction and seeing at I could be exposed through a simple social media platform made me scared too. Social broadcasting enables oneself to hide their true personality and identity from others so that they could appeal to others. Not only that, I realised that I just captured whatever caught my eyes and was more keen to film people I know rather than myself. This project made me experience going live through Facebook for the first time and how different people perceive the same space differently.