Art Encounter 2: Globus

     The video installation by Amy Globus entitled Electric Sheep captures adventurous movements of an octopi exploring the environment around them (tanks with interconnected tubes). It seems these creatures had some sort of feelings of discomfort and at times even excitement. The emotions I felt during this installation have much to do with the music that was assimilated so perfectly throughout the film. The songs are so well written and beautifully performed that they could be put to pretty much anything and it would prove be a success.

     That being said, the film was tasteful in it’s approach of simplicity. Showing simple scenes and inter-weaving them with such powerful songs packed a thick undercurrent of beckoning memories, ideas, and contemplative themes in my head. I know this is effective for not only myself, but for many others. I would bet that some folks even verged an outpouring of tears or just downright cried when viewing this, depending on their life situation, memories, or what have you.

     It was nice to enjoy a piece of art such as this because, lately, I have not been bombarded with lyrical songs in any artistic experiences in the art scene, outside of music. It seems many experimental filmmakers have shied from using songs in video installation art enough that when someone does, it is that much more effective. I wish I could own a copy of all the installations featured at this exhibition, but I unfortunately cannot. I think many of the works I have seen as of late have been dense pieces of art that deserve thoughtful viewing and afterthought. I also think that artists should figure out different ways that viewers could digest and dissect their film more effectively in an exhibit space, while not causing viewer fatigue. 

      I really enjoy what Aaron Ximm has on his personal statement page of his website. One of the things he wrote struck a resounding chord in my head. He said this:

With composition I often aim to evoke specific emotional colors. When my conciousness is heightened (by travel, or when I am aware of engaging in my creative process, as when wandering the city with microphones), I am more attuned to the mercurial emotive character of the environment. I seek to re-create for you some of these shades.

     Within the video installations Telephones and Electric Sheep there are a few quite obvious differences in the sound content, but several key differences separate the two films in their tone and emotive character. Televisions leaves a whole lot up to the viewer to figure out. The sounds, the conversing, and the surrounding scenes painted many incomplete pictures that all seemed to come together in the end. Marclay relies on his editing skills to portray some sort of narrative, and pulls it off nicely. Electric Sheep  also leaves thick empty spaces for the viewers to enter into, but with the lyrical content and strong emotional delivery of each song, there is somewhat of a construct built around the experimental feel of the film. Both films rely on works from other artists or creators, whether it be the scenes and audio taken from popular movies by Marclay or the songs used in Globus’ Electric Sheep. It is a great thing when an artistic piece can have a consistently strong impact on its audience. When such an impact happens, the credibility of the art and the artist begins to rise and it also creates some sort of prestige surrounding them and their work.  

    The more I explore art, the more lost I become. I guess the artistic foundations of knowledge, wisdom, and understanding are impossible to see. I do find myself lost, but It causes me to keep on striving for the tangible things I have not yet realized or come into.

I’m finished rambling.

Art Encounter 2: Marclay

 

     Christian Marclay’s Telephones is the first piece I knew I had to write about. It is a seven and a half minute piece that is made of many clips that contain an individual and a telephone. Each separate segment displayed a male or female, many of whom were/are famous actors, talking into the phone. I do not wish to touch on the narrative or the overall idea of the film. I just want to write about some reflections regarding his use of sound.

     The crisp, nostalgia feeling that these telephone ramblers gave me was enough to bring back a little bit of who I used to be, my younger less technologically reliant self. The use of rhythm and meter became obvious as I began to follow the movie. The ringing, clicking, dialing, talking, and scene changing had several rhythms that served the better purpose of the film. It was as if the editing process became a musical composition process. 

     The audible and visible aesthetics that Telephones provides are quite unique in that there is not many films, if any, that cut to as many people at such a fast rate. The emotion and tamber carried in their voices created a spurious array of ideas that filled my head. I thought it was quite intense to see and hear all of these separate scenes. The audio really acted as though a telephone works. We weren’t able to see each line of the phone calls, which begs for the viewer to enter in. The film is made so that I, the viewer, become each person who answers the phone and it causes my imagination to begin reeling who could be on the other line and what might this conversation be about. I love how he focused primarily on the mechanical noises from the phones and the many tones of the human voice. I enjoyed this piece a great deal. It caused me to think almost “too” far out of the box, but I definitely am searching for just that. I love art that seems small and not worth many encounters, but ends up proving to be worthy of more than most people are willing to give.

Today’s art world…

Today’s art world seems to be full of artists striving to find left-over constructs in order to bend or break them with lasting style.

The Beautiful Truth journal entry

     Cancer, it is really hard, being an American, to avoid knowing about at least three different causes that are searching for its cure. In Steve Kroschel’s newest film, “The Beautiful Truth,” some seemingly hidden truths are exposed regarding cancer.  Whether we have lost a family member to it, been diagnosed with it, or have simply seen countless ads/commercials surrounding it, the word cancer has become a brobdingnagian force here in America and beyond. Cancer is at the forefront of the multi-billion dollar medical industry, and is quite possibly the largest fund-raising cause in the world. Because of the affluent nature of the cancer “industry,” it is only right to question its validity, not cancer, but the answers given by many doctors, biologists, scientists, and cancer specialists that say there is not yet a cure. Such a prevalent idea deserves to be researched and questioned with great fervor by those who support cancer causes and those involved in any practice that deals with cancer. Kroschel believes in alternative treatments, especially those developed, tested, and proven by Dr. Max Gerson.

 

Dr. Max Gerson

     Though deceased, Dr. Gerson is seen as the core figure of alternative medication. He has a fair amount of books and research that have been made accessible by his family, who continue to push his work and believe in it. Filmmaker Steve Kroschel, a nature man himself, living in the middle of nowhere in Alaska for twenty years, has done extensive research about Dr. Gerson. He’s become an avid believer of Gerson’s large group of work. In the midst of his research, Kroschel found that there was a great deal of oppossition towards Gerson from the medical industry, and even uncovered what seemed to be a murder case surrounding Gerson’s death.

     Being a filmmaker, Kroschel decided to make a narrative film surrounding Gerson that attempted to bring light to his life, works, and mysterious death. The article I read, was again, an interview, but I was able to spark thoughts provoking enough to be worthy of discussion.

     While reading this interview I was struck with questions that have been really bothering me as of late. For example, does film really have the capability to have an effect on people that could in fact effectively change them, inspire them, or cause some sort of repentance? I have grappled with this idea regarding the major art forms over the last few years. Should the goal of the filmmaker be to display moving works of art simply as entertainment, not intending to have any long-lasting effect on the viewer? Throughout the last three years of my life I have been exploring many areas of film, and I have even begun to considered myself somewhat of a “thoughtful” viewer. I have also, like most suburbanite americans my age, seen a great number of films growing up. My parents were rabid movie watchers, it is them I blame for my habitual fixes of moving pictures. 

     Can a film be considered art if the intent is only to impose the filmmakers  views, cause, or ideals on the viewers? I think most films have intentions placed discreetly or blatantly by the those involved in filmmaking process. I do believed films can be considered art all the while having a some sort of idea that is being pushed. I also think that to be an effectively artistic filmmaker, one must be mindful of their own biases and pushy ideals. After reading a good number of reviews of “The Beautiful Truth,” I gathered the basic idea that Kroschel went much too far in imposing his view on others. It seems the film was stocked full of personal biases and dripping with a propagandistic style. 

     Right away, after finding out a little more about this film, I have up a bold red flag. Growing up in such a media centered universe, I am sick of bias ridden malarky that fills up all too many screens. I do not have all the answers regarding art, film, and intent, but I have stretched my mind a bit further through reading this article and researching the film. I hope to continue pondering these ideas and come to better conclusions or open conclusions. I am an ignorant viewer in many respects, considering I have read little about film, and film as a form of art. If anyone knows of any resources regarding these topics that they wish to tell me about, please do so.

Act/React

     I was able to visit the Act/React exhibit with two of my closest friends. I was the only one with any idea of what to expect. I convinced them to come and that their money would be well spent. I have to be honest, I went to this exhibit with an amusement park mentality. I thought, “interactive art, hmm, this will be fun.” I found out quickly that going for amusement was not the only purpose artists had in mind. It seemed that the artists wanted visitors to interact, appreciate, and thoughtfully consider their creation.

     The first interactive art installation I thoroughly enjoyed was the piece titles “Deep Walls” by Scott Snibbe. It was second in the seemingly ordered display sequence. I first walked up to the premises of the piece, viewing the screen and the action of other visitors. “Deep Walls” is focused on a screen with 16 rectangles, each projecting a different moving image that was recorded by walking in front of the screen. I was immediately interested as I began to see the result of one’s movements in front of the screen. Walking up to the front of the screen, I did not know what to do with my body. I decided to do a wave with my arms. It was simple and safe. After seeing myself placed in a seemingly random rectangle waving my arms I craved more. My friends jumped in and began to experiment as well. Others around were not shy either. It was an inviting piece. It seemed that one’s individual reaction to their performance prompted others to get involved. We all wanted a piece of the action. It was as though we were at a dance party, and there was a dance line forming, where each person was given their turn dance through the line. Some would have a spirit in which they would try to out do others with more creativity, some just wanted a quick attempt at manipulating the piece, and others just wanted their rectangle to be as outlandish as possible. I felt as though it was one of the strongest pieces, if not the strongest piece in the entire exhibit for several reasons. First, it brought about the most central sense of community by almost forcing others to communicate, but it was done in such a subtle way. In my time invested in the “Deep Walls” I experienced many different attitudes, practices and virtues. Their was laughter, experiment, embarrassment, humility, patience, acceptance, creativity, kindness, vulnerability, and several other ideas that the people projected individually and as a group. I believe one could find many meanings in the piece, but the meanings I would promote are; the most fun is had with others around and people need to feed off the creations of others for the best results in their own creations. Someone’s piece of art might inspire another, who will then go on to inspire another, and so on. This idea was present when one did something in front of the wall that sparked ideas from others. It was a domino effect. I highly recommend visiting this piece for some time. It is the true gem of the exhibit.

     The second most enjoyable piece was the Snow Mirror by Daniel Rozin. This piece seemed to have the most substance underneath the actual piece itself. By substance I am saying that there were some idea(s) that were being promoted through this piece that were not obvious, but it was obvious that they were there, that something of worth was beneath the material. It was a special moment to walk into the room of this piece. The room was dark, small, and contained only a hanging fabric, a camera, and a projector. I felt as though this piece should be apart of a separate interactive art exhibit because of the mysterious nature of it. Maybe an interactive art exhibit in which the greeters would hand out cards of questions chosen by the artist regarding their piece, thus requiring more thoughtful consideration. Watching my figure projected on the fabric was intriguing for many reasons. It was a black and white image, the image was put together with falling pixels or “snowflakes,” and the quality of the picture depended on how still one’s body was. When one moved, the image blurred and almost disappeared into the snowfall as if someone just shook up an etch a sketch masterpiece. If one moves slowly, the projection shows that even a simple movement will cause the entire scene to be different. It moves on like that. It is as if to say that life is always moving. Though we might be standing still, time is still moving (snowflakes falling), we are still growing older. I think it bashes complacency and promotes the idea that people need not get caught up in their pasts, but embrace the now. The thing I love about interactive art is that each different person will interact with the art in their own unique way and have their own meanings or lack thereof for each piece.

I agree with Goerge Fifields critique on art in Act/React. I think that passive art (film, sculpture, paintings, theatre, books etc) could never gain such audience participation that these interactive installation art makers have gained. I never thought of the said forms of passive art as passive, but as I began to think about this idea, I was beckoned to agree. It is interesting to see the trend in interactive art. It seems to rely heavily on computers and technology, but I would like to come into contact with interactive art that does not require or even use technology. I am sure that it exists. I know this inspirational 20th and 21st Century art form will continue to grow and expand in creativity and popularity. It is inevitable considering the amount of technological advancements happening constantly, and because of the universal understanding of technology.

I think Act/React was well worth the visit and that it should be visited with more thoughtful consideration regarding the meaning underneath each piece than one might think. 

 

Benjamin Fisher