Anh Nguyen

As the last work for MEDA, my project has turned out as expected over the course of development and installation. I am happy with the final result of the project and can say that this work best represents me - my aesthetic view as an artist, my cinematography, which was recognized and appreciated, and my personal experience as an individual. 

But as Jo and Mat commented, there could always be room for improvement and to achieve that and have my own unique cinematic style, I would have to keep building up throughout years of practice. This, I intend to do since working with the camera is always my passion. 

The installation at MEDA gallery was decent since lots of students have to share the same space. Glenn was of course of great help in the installation process. However, to be honest, I feel like my work would be at its best being installed in a dark and separate space where speakers can be used and more viewers can look at the work at the same time. Like Song 1 (2012) by Doug Aitken, whose practice has inspired me a lot, it would be a magical space with harmonious sounds and images surrounding people while one can be absorbed into the same experience with other people.

“Being alone is, inevitably, a shared experience.” (Daoud Tyler-Ameen, 2012, on Song 1) 

I did more filming this week but on a different focus this time. This week, I just picked up the camera and went around the city to shoot whatever I think would be interesting to see. Per Jo’s suggestion on showing my personal experience, I started on Wollongong beach. As I wandered around the places, I remembered Doug Aitken’s works and one of my own in 2016, Altered Gong, which more or less shaped my installation practice.

This same week, I was helping a friend to film some scenes for her social video project for uni. Her topic was mental problem and depression in particular. At the same time, I was sketching up ideas for a contemporary art competition in France on the theme of water. Candidates are open to explore the topic however they like. Coupled with the scenes my friend posed in my previous trials, this opened up to me new ideas for another path which lies closely to what I have been experimenting this week. I decided to change my focus to exploring mental struggles and showing them cinematic shots.

I showed Jo again the collection of my shots from this week and she suggested it would be better if I didn’t use music but soundscapes instead. I also told her about my new intended theme - depression, on which she commented that for this, my shots should be a lot longer so that the audience can be drawn in to the character’s world being depicted.

I showed Jo the edit in week 11 and an experimented export from After Effects. The latter was somewhat interesting but not much of value.

As I talked about my interest in cinematography, Jo suggested targeting and filming something more personal, like my feelings when I first came to Australia. She recommended me researching poetic cinema and later sent me some links to videos on cinematography directors like Yasujirô Ozu and Andrei Tarkovsky.

This week, I have finished filming all the shots needed for both characters and exported a rough edit of the expected “final” work.

Although I tried hard to make the characters and the scenes symmetrical, the edit was still not perfect. 

Mat commented that if he had to write about the work, he would struggle. This made me realize how “vague” my project was and confirmed my feeling off about the current path.

Mat suggested that if it’s possible, I can re-shoot and get more shots.  Coupled with my unsure feelings of the current project, I feel like there should be some changes to my experiments, maybe even the entire focus.

This week we continued testing our project in the gallery space and received feedback from the class.

My project, on this second setup, looked much better on a larger scale as intended. Still, I haven’t finally decided whether the final video would be in colors or black and white.

Interesting feedback were received upon my experimental “Cubic” footage, where Mat commented that it was very much related to my practice with low poly style.

The next step would be, again, to experiment with 2 camera angles of the same subject and with “Cubism”.

At the same time, I will continue my shooting schedule to get more footage and see if I can merge the characters/scenes into this “Cubic” style.

This week I started on the side-project of the main one: manipulated photographs of "fake" Cubism, as proposed. After some consultation with Jo and Mat, I was encouraged to experiment the style on video footage. 

Having tested it out, I realized that even if the manipulated video is intriguing to look at, it does not have in it the aesthetic feels I always aim for in my practice. Still, this has been an interesting and necessary experiment.

During my experimental shooting, I realized that bokeh style could still show in day time as well, not just during night time. This, I plan to focus more on in the future, which can be the second half mirroring the night footage of bokeh style.

I think more experiments can still be done towards my final product, for example: having characters moving between the two screens, playing with lighting and rhythms (if music is to be used).

This week we tried setting up something - anything - from our current project and presented to the class.

There was a wide range of formats in which the works were settling in across the whole class, from animation, photographs to installations.

As I presented my current work, a short part of the split-screen video, I realized that the work’d be better in a much bigger scale, for example, being projected onto the walls as I had done with Altered Gong in 2016 for MEDA201. Feedback was received upon how the work was looking nice being symmetric between the 2 screens.

I was happy that some of my classmates recognized my purpose in shooting against a bright background to emphasize characters’ silhouettes/profiles and the intimacy in the shots.

Some of the shots were not as good as I had expected and could be improved if the camera had been on a tripod, which I intend to do more from now on.

Comments on use of audios gave me thoughts on whether I would use audios across the video, if yes then what kind of audio should I use and thus I have been thinking of location sounds and perhaps a conversation being spoken out loud across the video as if the 2 characters were talking to one another. However, the conversation may need a certain theme or topic and may come across as being cheesy.

Continuing my previous experiments, I spent these 2 weeks filming with my friends and editing some of the usable clips.

I was only able to film the parts which include the girl character, not the guy since he was too busy with his own assignments. However, my project is gradually forming and I intend to finish filming all the necessary shots in the upcoming weeks.

Assessment 1: Professional Profile Site

https://tan995.wixsite.com/anhnguyen

Week 5 Experiment

This week I started my experiments with the proposed ideas in week 4.

My footage this week was random, unplanned and taken from various projects since the focus was mostly experimental. During the editing process, I realized that steady shots would be of more help and they would serve my purpose better if my characters were doing the exact same things despite the locations. However, there were still some potentials in this week’s experiment.

This week we visited 2 exhibitions at the MCA and UTS Gallery.

At the MCA exhibition/collection Today Tomorrow Yesterday, one work that captured my attention was Vernon Ah Kee’s tall man (2010). Being a multi-channel video, the work somewhat relates to my past projects for MEDA and my intent to continue to explore the format further for the current project in third year. What was the most interesting from tall man was that the scenes were captured at multiple angles and edited together and still ran smoothly. The work reminds me of another video in split-screen format Splitscreen: A Love Story (2011).

Warren Leung was invited as a guest lecturer to talk about his practice. It is interesting to hear his ways of creating artworks, linking urban places to identities. Dealing with a lot of historical places, political and cultural facts, Leung's research relies mainly on newspapers and library resources, unlike many of us who jump straight to Google or the Internet. His efforts to find and confirm the links between a historical place and another event are quite admirable.

Draft your own short statement

Anh Nguyen is a Vietnam-based multimedia artist. Ranging from photography, cinematography to installation, her works reflect the everyday life via an aesthetic framework. Her animations and illustrations are 3D low poly designs that explore the relationship between reality and fantasy.  

Experiments

This week I tried manipulating one of my previous works along with the idea of a collage of real-life photographs and digital elements I presented in Week 1 blog post. The result was close enough to my expectations so I decided to continue with inspiration by Joshua Naylor’s Cubism works.

Since I started with a digital work (Halla), tried to find real-life photographs that best represented the elements in the work online and edited them altogether, it was harder than if I had started with a photograph then built up digital elements from the photo as a reference.

Still, the experiments were somewhat successful as the works turned out to be quite interesting to look at.

Joshua Naylor’s Cubism works

This week’s workshop began with discourse on Theory and Research. While someone may come up with a great theory with a set of ideas, it would be empty without proper research or “proof” to support it. In this way, Theory and Research complement each other and act as a good foundation for art practice. Art works need to fit in a discourse or an ongoing field, and should be relatable. The works, therefore, would have a context and meanings, which in return pushes further an artist’s practice. Example: Duchamp and his “Fountain”.

We were then divided into groups to continue discussing previous week’s topic “Futures” based on our provided media/researched content and in regard to technology. The video “The Bizarre Art of Future” provides the general picture of today’s blurred line between technology and art and how definitions of art have changed accordingly. While it is truly bizarre that nowadays anything can be called art, I feel lucky that technology is here to help humans materialize their visions and creativity and that with technology, anyone can make art. The book “Don’t get a job, Make a job” opens up to us questions of our very own future after university, which we all found highly relatable. Why do we go to university? Would we still do we do what we love to do or go with the mainstream to fit in the system? What does the future have for us? Or do we just make our own future? What is our ultimate goal in life? To pursue our interests and be happy?

“My future's so bright I can't even see it.” - Misaki Kamiigusa

We created a Venn diagram to explore the relations among Craft, Research and Art, particularly in film making, and how such fields intersect. For example, what is Craft in filming, and what drives such Craft towards Art? What makes "art" films different from Hollywood movies? Is it the aesthetics, creativity and/or experimentality?

The very first impression of the making of a project is seeing it as a game of perfectly balancing the project among these 3 fields. However, personally, I see Research, Craft and Art as different steps in the making of a project, specifically pre-production, production and post-production periods; and yet, in each of these fields, there are similar processes.

We then discussed our projects in MEDA301 with regards to the diagram we made. Considering my group's work, Split, I think the project falls into the intersection of Craft and Art. The experimented shots and how they were edited were good, yet, the work lacks the aesthetic framework we desired. Working in a group certainly has both advantages and disadvantages. While new ideas were thrown to the table, at one point, we actually became stuck, being confronted by too many noises. Being interested in different practices and fields presented yet another difficulty. The decision regarding how our work was presented, being projected onto the wall in a large size, however, was a good call and a success. With regards to time, Split clearly demonstrated a contrast between contemporary times of a day, as well as spaces. The work certainly displays potential which I will continue to explore during this new semester individually. For example, the narrative side would be focused more, preferably in a more aesthetic framing, compared to the non-narrative approach my group took the previous semester.

With ideas inspired by the themes Futures and Technology, it is a good start to begin researching the use of modern technology in media art and how the future is presented via artists' works, for example, teamLab. The concept Futures, being plural, brings forward ideas of alternative futures, leading me towards other concepts like Surrealism. Another artist came to mind is Gregory Crewdson, whose works are often beautifully framed and captured, expressing the uncanny and surreal feeling.

Although the idea of using advanced technology in art making (like teamLab) is somewhat far from my practice – photography, cinematography and Low Poly illustration, it is still worth researching other fields to get inspiration.

Considering my practice and interests, my first experiments would be to combine my 3D models and real-life pictures to re-create a sense of surrealism as in Gregory Crewdson's works. The material in the work, therefore, will not be physical but virtual or digital, which I think would be easier to manipulate.

Thinking about futures:

Our group continued to play with the idea of editing pieces of footage and putting them all together to create a single video in order to create a form of narrative.

We experimented with using 1 single camera at a stationery spot filming different people doing a somewhat similar activity. This process was repeated at other places. What we then drew from the test edit was that it would be better if the frame of the camera did not change at all (no movement of the camera, no zooming in or out).

The next thing we played with was the size of the projected video onto the wall. The bigger it is, the more impressive and effective the work appears to be. Yet, in a more complicated montage (as in the second picture), the triviality seems to increase in the work.

In the following week, we decided to brainstorm our ideas again around the concept of split-screens and how scenes in each screen can connect to those in the other. We came up with 3 types of split-screens: mirroring vertically/horizontally, 4 horizontal split-screens and passing screens. 

The concept is to show connections among different people at various times and places, in the process, depicting social life, connections and relationships.

For the mirroring screens, we would shoot different activities/things and crop them in half and piece them back together.

For the 4 horizontal split-screens, we are thinking of doing 4 establishing shots of 4 different people at 4 different places/times.

For the passing screens, the most complex part, we decided to shoot people connecting a string of wool across times and places and to edit the footage to move from right to left.

Digital technologies have been playing an irreplaceable role in human life, with many advances in not just science or medical fields. In art, particularly media art, the use of technologies has made past ideas more approachable and opened up new possibilities and perceptions. “Out of hand: Materializing the Digital” exhibition at the Museum of Applied Arts and Sciences, Sydney, featuring a variety of mixed-media artists, designers and architects from around the world, showcases the impact of digital technologies in the practice of art. Among these works is “White Chapel” (2014 – 2015) from the series “Why Not Hand Over a ‘Shelter’ to Hermit Crabs?” (2010 - 2016) by Aki Inomata who has adapted 3D printing and other digital processes into re-creating new plastic shelters with miniatures of global cities for the sea creatures.

Throughout her practice, Aki Inomata is often seen to make use of new technologies such as 3D printing and especially to collaborate with living creatures. In her video “French lessons with a Parakeet” in 2010, she brought her parakeet that could speak some Japanese to her French classes. For “I Wear the Dog’s Hair, and the Dog Wears My Hair” (2014), she made a cape out of her dog’s hair and another from her own hair; while “Why Not Hand Over a ‘Shelter’ to Hermit Crabs?” (2010 - 2016) series involves a number of real hermit crabs. Inomata’s process of art-making often begins with in-depth studies and observation of the living creatures in question and working towards an artistic approach and expression. On talking about her collaboration with such creatures, she said: “I see living things overlap with human beings. And I also view human beings from new perspectives to rediscover ourselves.” (2015)

Being born and raised in Tokyo, Inomata has long been influenced by its being “highly digitalized, excessively clean, artificial” (Inomata, 2015). Tokyo, as seen personally, is an extremely busy place which people may need an escape from. Clearly shown in her statement (2015) is the artist’s uncertainty in her own life and human existences where we create our very own culture and reality, as well as her intrigue and fascination in non-human creatures’ reality, or “the outer world”, as she calls it.

“Living things are living in their singular reality totally different from ours. We have no idea of the process and system with "how they think". They also are out of our control.” (Inomata, 2015)

As an artist, Aki believes that her works can challenge this human’s "choked" world, and [create] a new reality for ghost-like people strolling in a big city” with attempts to connect “our world” to “the outer world” (Inomata, 2015).

The idea for “Why Not Hand Over a ‘Shelter’ to Hermit Crabs?” (2010-2016) series specifically came from Aki’s visit to “No Man’s Land” exhibition in Tokyo in 2009 where she was informed by the fact that the land of former French Embassy in Japan was exchanged peacefully between the two countries Japan and France for decades. The fact then reminded the artist of hermit crabs exchanging their shells. “In Japanese, hermit crabs are called yadokari” which translates to “somebody living in a temporary dwelling”. (Inomata, 2010-2016) As hermit crabs outgrow their shells, new and larger ones are needed. This is similar to human immigrants leaving their old shelters in search of new homes and adapting themselves to the new habitats.

In “White Chapel” (2014 – 2015), the third work from the series, the hermit crab shelter is a wedding chapel. The piece is a reflection of postcolonial influence of Western cultures upon the Japanese, specifically Christian-styled wedding ceremonies in chapels.

“At a glance it would seem like an ordinary chapel, but actually it is a religious facility with no worships just for wedding. Although only 1％ Japanese are Christians, 60％ of weddings in Japan are held in Christian style. For those weddings, a lot of Chapels are built, and come up suddenly in the middle of cities. Those chapels are built with mixtures of many styles such as Gothic, Romanesque... etc. without any fundamental relations in between.” (Inomata 2014-2015)

                     Aki Inomata, White Chapel, 2014-2015, photograph

The Western architectural styles can be seen throughout the series via the imitations of buildings and cities across the world. This further supports the concept of immigration as people exchange their shelters and brings forth ideas of globalization, identity and nationality. Via “White Chapel” and the series as a whole, we can see the identities of former Japanese being influenced by Western cultures and becoming new identities.

The plastic shells created by Inomata are in small sizes which hermit crabs would fit in. On top of every shell, there is a mimic of a city or building that was previously designed by the artist, which creates the illusion that hermit crabs (viewable underneath the transparent shells) are carrying on their backs cities of glass or ice, which plays a great part in the aesthetic aspect of the art work. Preparations for the works began with Aki Inomata’s studies on the hermit crabs, particularly their living habits and shells. As they grow, new shells are needed. She initially created spherical shells for the crabs but they did not like such “shelters”. As her early experiments failed, she moved on to use CT scanner (a medical scanning technique that can scan the insides of objects or bodies) to create 3-dimensional renders of natural hermit crab shells. The 3D scanned data can then be printed with 3D printers to make shelters, which the hermit crabs finally accepted. After more testing and coming up with the a feasible process, Aki Inomata then kept adding to the work by designing with a 3D modeling program representations of cities across the globe, for example Hong Kong, New York and Tokyo, in order to combine them with the scanned tomography of physical shells to achieve her final plans. These final designs are again 3D printed to let the hermit crabs move in.

Aki Inomata, 2014, Process of the work "Why Not Hand Over a 'Shelter' to Hermit Crabs?"

Installation of the series in exhibition “Out of hand: Materializing the Digital” contains mixed media such as videos, photographs and displays of the plastic hermit shells in glass boxes. The videos and photographs depict hermit crabs, having moved into their new shelters given by Aki Inomata, on a rocky beach. It is not clear whether the artist, after giving the hermit crabs their new homes, has returned them back to their natural habitat or was still documenting them as part of her work. Either way, having learned of her concept for the work, one is reminded by the videos and photographs the connection between hermit crabs and the sea, which relates to that of humans and the world.

Aki Inomata, video, 2016, Why Not Hand Over a “Shelter” to Hermit Crabs?, White Chapel

Hermit crabs of the sea are metaphor for humans around the world or specifically Tokyo city where the artist is based. The glossy miniatures of human cities on the hermit crabs’ backs represent people’s adaptation to new homes around the globe. The transparent shells make it easy to see how fragile and vulnerable the hermit crabs are without their shelters. Yet, such creatures must at times leave their homes when the old ones no longer fit them or when they are being forced out of homes by other hermit crabs. In these ways, as Aki Inomata noticed, hermit crabs are somewhat like humans. From personal view, it is a lonely picture of humans having to abandon their shelters when they grow up. Yet, it is a realistic image that everyone shares in their life. To leave your old home is to grow up and gain experience, thus making discoveries, achievements and acquiring knowledge. The desire to leave one’s old shelter is also what ultimately shapes the world. People go from one place to another; if they decide they like the place, like the hermit crabs towards the new shells, and choose to stay, new identity is achieved. As hermit crabs bear on them shapes of new shells and cities, their appearances differ, compared to the old ones. The experience one gains stepping into life and growing up from it makes them a new person. Hermit crabs, as Aki has stated, are indeed similar to humans – having to alter themselves to adapt to new habitats, during such process, gaining new identities.

The work also mirrors Aki Inomata’s consistent attitude towards the state of her own life and other living creatures. It is clear in her artist statement (2015) that there is uncertainty in her own state of life. Works that contain non-human creates are the shift of focus from her own doubts in human reality and perhaps  these are her ways of escaping and adding colors to the stifling lives of hers in Tokyo and the “ghost-like people strolling in [this] big city”, whom, one cannot help but think of as the hermit crabs out there in the wild life.

With her original inspirations from a piece of land shared between Japan and France and Western influence on Japanese identities, and their connection to hermit crabs, the final works with designs of cities are indeed well developed. The processes were clear and thorough: connecting inspirations to related representations, experimenting and testing ideas and materials, adding up new ideas and materials and finalizing the plans. It was all well planned to go from the concept of immigration to materializing it into hermit crabs with little cities on their backs. As analyzed above, Aki’s ideas were formed by linking her inspiration to something similar (in this case, hermit crabs which bear the resemblance to immigrants). The details put into every piece of plastic shell are utterly impressive, taking in view how small and beautifully designed each one is. The choice of Inomata in materials is understandable since plastic is common, cheap, flexible, easy to achieve and manipulate with 3D printers, which goes even better with small-sized printing designs like hermit shells as 3D printing is often expensive for large projects. Choosing the shells to be transparent was perhaps for the purpose of better observation of whether the hermit crabs would like the shells or not, and of the hermit crabs actually moving inside the shells. The use of CT scanner came after failed attempts of spherical shells to better re-create shelters for hermit crabs. 3D printing is understandably vital since the digital designs for the shells can be re-created exactly as planned. Personally, I would say her final works successfully deliver her ideas and concepts of immigration and globalization while at the same time containing in them pleasing aesthetic values. This fits well in the field of media art where artists form their mental ideas and sketches, develop the work by constant testing, experimenting and adding up new ideas or methods, combine the aesthetic aspects with new technologies. Mental and digital planning is then turned into physical materials without losing its value.

The series is among the exhibition “Out of Hand: Materialising the Digital”, which showcases a various number of works that utilize materials and technology and physicalize the digital. For example, next to the Aki Inomata’s work is “Hoid” (2012) by Hande Akcayli and Murat Kocyigit with T-shirts based on the exported three frames of a 3D-animated bird sketching its wings. In the exhibition, there is a display of the world’s first 3D printed jet engine, created in Australia by Monash Advanced Manufacturing. As times pass, such technologies like 3D printing have gone to serve beyond the purpose of simply making replica for objects or human body parts.

“[Media artists] consider the media art field as a better place to be because it is more open, gives them greater possibilities of experimentation, and provides more scope for connecting to fields that are commonly not considered art. […] Technological developments change art practice by changing how art is made[.]” (Paul 2016, pg. 496-497)

“Out of hand: Materializing the Digital” exhibition explores how digital manufacture influences many aspects of human lives, such as science, design and contemporary art. The use of advanced technologies in the artistic practice means that media art is now open with more techniques, possibilities and understandings. The final results of this process (artworks), in return, bear within them the aesthetic and intellectual values, no longer being simply technological products, and escape from triviality. Via technologies and the digital media, art and the perceptions of it are limitless.

                                                                                                           (2078 words)

REFERENCES

·   Akcayli, H & Kocyigit, M 2012, Hoid, installation, “Out of Hand: Materialising the Digital” exhibition, Museum of Applied Arts and Sciences, Sydney, Australia

·   Inomata, A 2010, French lessons with a Parakeet, video, viewed 28th April 2017 < http://www.aki-inomata.com/works/french_lesson/>

·   Inomata, A 2010-2016, Why Not Hand Over a ‘Shelter’ to Hermit Crabs?, mixed media, viewed 28th April 2017 http://www.aki-inomata.com/works/hermit/

·   Inomata, A 2014, I Wear the Dog’s Hair, and the Dog Wears My Hair, video installation, viewed 28th April 2017 < http://www.aki-inomata.com/works/dogs/>

·   Inomata, A 2014-2015, “White Chapel”, Why Not Hand Over a ‘Shelter’ to Hermit Crabs? series, mixed media, viewed 28th April 2017 < http://www.aki-inomata.com/works/hermit_WhiteChapel/>

·   Inomata, A 2015, Statement, viewed 28th April 2017 <http://www.aki-inomata.com/statement/>

·   Inomata, A, 2014, Process of the work "Why Not Hand Over a 'Shelter' to Hermit Crabs?", video, viewed 28th April 2017 https://vimeo.com/76794597

·   Inomata, A, 2016, Why Not Hand Over a “Shelter” to Hermit Crabs?, White Chapel, video, viewed 28th April 2017, <https://vimeo.com/135360160>

In week 6‘s class, we have come up with several ideas and general terms for the proposed group projects. What interest me most are Variable Materiality and Re-configuring Space/Time. Considering Minimal Viable Projects as something executable in a couple of hours, I have come up with 3 proposed projects, which are based on the examples and proposed plans in week 5.

1.      The Projection:

Projecting a piece of footage (film/animation) onto a real objects/furniture

Equipment: camera/video recorder, laptop/computer (with Premiere/Adobe After Effects, Cinema4D), sound recorder, projector, furniture, speaker/headphones

Ideas explored: virtuality/digitality and reality/physicality; Re-configuring time and space

MVPs:

·     Video recording/filming/short 3D renders/animation (After Effects/Cinema4D)

·     Preparing furniture

·     Projection

2.      The Fake Cubism:

Photo-montage of pieces of photographs of real people/things and digital elements (graphic, 3D/low poly pieces)

Equipment: camera, laptop/computer (with Photoshop, Cinema4D)

Ideas explored: virtuality/digitality and reality; High poly and Low poly; Variable materiality

MVPs:

·     Photographs

·     3D low poly models – renders

·     Photoshop, Cinema4D

·     Photo printing/Slideshow

3.      The AES+F:

Combination of digital footage of real people in a Utopia/Dystopia state with 3D background of a Dystopia/Utopia world

Equipment: camera/video recorder, sound recorder, laptop/computer (with Premiere, Adobe After Effects, Cinema4D), screen monitor, speaker/headphones

Ideas explored: High poly and Low poly; Realism and Surrealism; Re-configuring time and space

MVPs:

·     video recording/filming

·     3D background – renders

·     Adobe after effects

·     screening

Concepts/Ideas

The contrast between: virtuality and reality, digital world and physical world, surrealism and realism, low poly and high poly, low resolution and high resolution, is worth exploring. The line between any of these duos can be blurred and brought into consideration as a wider concept. As proposed in week 1’s post regarding my field of practice, these relationships interest me greatly.

Examples

In MEDA201, a response in 2009 to Tacita Dean’s works was mentioned where it was an installation with projection on sculpture and furniture. Here, we can see the combined digital image and physical things in an artwork which brings to mind the ideas of virtuality and reality. 

Julia Gove’s major project (installation, projection onto sculpture and furniture) in 2009, in response to Tacita Dean’s works

http://medadada.net/workshop-10-major-project-concept-presentation/

Also from MEDA201, Bruce Nauman’s Live-taped Video Corridor 1970 was an interesting piece. Audience were inclined to go towards 2 seperate small TV screens at the end of the narrow corridor and when they reached them, they saw themselves on the screens. The appeal and curiosity which drew them towards the screens and the discovery and feelings at finally finding out what was on them can be related to the impulse that draws people to the digital world and keeps them there. 

Bruce Nauman’s Live-taped Video Corridor 1970

This brings to my mind the next worth-exploring example: Me!Me!Me! the animation music video by TeddyLoid and Daoko in 2014. At the first glance, and even after, the piece is a bizarre animation clip that depicts female sexuality and the seemingly pathetic shut-in life or the otaku life style (being obsessed with computers or particular aspects of popular culture to the detriment of social skills). But looking deeply into the animation and also changes in music, the video is about an otaku’s struggle in his life style, addiction to games and how these have ruined his real life, especially his relationship with his girlfriend and how the virtual world can overwhelm one’s real world. In the end, it is the same guy that fights back his addiction and the digital impulse to get back to real life.

                                                       Me!Me!Me!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JTylWFLQNME

Project

So as for the presentation of my project, having made these points above, I’m thinking of an installation where both video screening or projection and use of physical stuffs are combined. The method in response work to Tacita Dean can be re-applied but in my case, physical furniture can be 3D-printed objects from my digital low poly models. The screening video then should be of real people or things being projected onto the low poly objects. This way, I believe I would have turned things the other way round: digital into physical and vice versa, reality into virtuality. It is an interesting play which I will look more into.

Mixture of 3D/computer-generated elements and human live actions in a video installation can also be considered. Works by AES+F are great examples.

Portraits of modern cubism where there is the combination of both photographic and digital elements are also another idea. I can take photographs of people and real life stuffs then edit them into a collage with low poly/3D/graphic parts. This proposed project also plays with the idea of digital vs. physical and reality vs. virtuality.