#intercept17

Thought Process and research for assignment 2: Homage

(Dated: March 29th, 2017; Wednesday)

What/Who I want to pay Homage to?

Lillian Schwartz and her work.

Most of her work deals with comparisons. She compared the facial structure of Mona Lisa with her portrait painter, Leonardo da Vinci. She also compared the perspectives of the fresco where the Last Supper was supposedly held with the architecture of the refectory of Santa Maria delle Grazie.

Her life’s works were typically avant-garde for their time, often manipulating the digital medium before computers were widely available and popular. Her works were notably the pioneer for advancing computers as the futuristic medium, and many of her films were highly acclaimed.

Her works in comparison do not just stop at the Mona Lisa, though. She often delves into digital collages, which is the sampling of various materials and putting them together to form works, with the materials being of the digital sort.

Another great work of hers was to observe the similarities between the Droeshout portrait of William Shakespeare and the Armada portrait of Queen Elizabeth I. Similarly to what she did with Mona Lisa and Leonardo da Vinci, the outcome she gathered from such an experimental collage turned a few possibilities on questions that have plagued the art world.

What my work involves?

The vanguard of my work is Digital Collage, which is the bulk of Lillian Schwartz’s work, of whom I am paying homage to. I enjoy the process of collaging, and bringing it into the digital context allows me to explore new ways of processing various media, working with new software, and enhancing existing collaging skills.

Some preemptive work I have done was to superimpose parts of a portrait of photographers with the portraits of their subjects. Surprisingly, this early work allowed me to face the difficulties of scaling images to fit, as well as observe the possible similarities between an artist’s style between self-portraits and portraiture. (See: Portraits? Portraits!)

So we made it to the second day (Saturday) of Random Blends.

Despite the rain, it did not stop the rest of us from going to the ArtScience Museum through the unsheltered way. Yes, there was no sheltered way to the museum, how unfortunate. An underground walkway would have been nice.

Anyway, the place was filled with people, completely different from the Friday I went. As my friend and I went around the exhibits, we had differing views on most of the works, and it really helped us delve into different viewpoints. We had deep conversations on the aspects of the social issues that were brought up in some exhibits, as well as differing attraction to different pieces.

One piece we really liked was one of the games that we played. For the life of me, I cannot remember it right now, however, it centered around a polygon traversing the game’s map and growing and learning. I think what really attracted us to that game was the premise, the storyline, the undulating gameplay, as well as the setting. It really made us think deeply about the actions that we do, our pursuits in life, and the sacrifices we have to make to progress. The game was really thought-provoking.

We then sat down and watched a running video. It was a Virtual Reality simulation on a playable game about coping with depression. It did not really hit home because it was riddled with a lot of awkward moments of silence and pauses.

After surveying the various works for 45 minutes, we took a break and went back to the main hall to find our friend. Her experimental work consisted of an umbrella that lights up after a certain air quality threshold. She could not get it to work in the first place, only because the area was not appropriate for her experimental work.

Maybe it was the time I went, or maybe it was the preview ceremony, but it was less than what I expected Random Blends to be.

Made my way to ArtScience Museum to view the Random Blends exhibition today. Since my friend had already left, I made my own sweet time to the museum.

The moment I got there, I was greeted by helpful, yet awkward greeters, handing me pamphlets and stickers. Saw a few familiar faces around.

Walking through one of the halls, I came across my friend’s work. I could really see the amount of effort she put into her work. However, knowing they had to move her work to another part of the exhibition hall, which distorted her shadow projections, was quite a saddening turn of events. (Which was interpreted wrongly beforen but oh well)

Everything seemed cool, saw people I knew from school, and saw some pieces already promoted on the Random Blends Facebook page, as well as the physical manifestations of works featured on their Instagram page.

Overall, the whole thing felt a little bit awkward and lonely, with the place being quite empty and awkward. I guess people just did not think about coming today.

Box - Bot & Dolly

Box explores the synthesis of real and digital space through projection-mapping on moving surfaces. The short film documents a live performance, captured entirely in camera.

Bot & Dolly produced this work to serve as both an artistic statement and technical demonstration. It is the culmination of multiple technologies, including large scale robotics, projection mapping, and software engineering. We believe this methodology has tremendous potential to radically transform theatrical presentations, and define new genres of expression.

9th March 2017, 2229 hours

From this visualisation, I have begun planting an idea on using 3D Projections to grow my Homage project.

Discounting the countless of work I have to put in for animation and design, I still have yet to come to a concrete concept on the homage. However, I have narrowed down the subjects of my homage.

Space for observation: LAN (Local Area Network) shop near The Centrepoint along Orchard Road

Background: I was friends with the receptionist at this particularly popular LAN shop, as I have been patronising the place for almost 10 years. I asked for permission with the owner to observe the space, but he was advised against disclosing the name of the shop. (Photos were not allowed either) Being a frequent and familiar face, I just sat at an unassuming corner with a good vantage point of the front desk, several rows of computers, while having a chat and some teh with the receptionist (of whom I am friends with). I was there from 1.30am to around 2.45am on a Wednesday night.