Final Video

Artist Statement:

I am intrigued and confused by the concept of memory. Often this occurs when I randomly remember, with great detail, obscure events from my life. I begin to wonder if the events actually occurred the way that my mind tells me, or perhaps I am creating memories based on what I think happened.

This work investigates how the brain processes and combines received information. It also explores synthetic or false memories, which occur when there is a failure with the memory recall system of the brain. When failure occurs, memories are formed by reconstructing fragments of information that actually happened and then filling in the missing pieces with estimates. This creates an illusion of time continuity to form a complete memory.

Video tends to suggest a more accurate and detailed record of events. Therefore the combination of photographic and video elements creates a tension between actual memories and synthetic memories. Through the use of many photographs and the appearance of video, the imagery combines the process of encoding and storing visual information of an experience with the process of retrieving that information.

The Financial Advantages of Anti-Copyright

Since I am still a student and I haven't really sold my work yet, copyright infringement hasn't been too big of a concern. Sure, I don't want other people to steal my work, but I know that the ideas behind my work come from various sources and perceptions. And since I didn't purchase the right to these ideas, it's basically fair for anyone to use them as they please. I would be pretty upset if I walked into a gallery and saw work that looked exactly like mine, but in all actuality I don't believe that I could do anything about it. Who knows if someone else thought of it first and started working on it before me? The article discusses the notion that art and ideas are hindered with the privatization of culture. But the great thing about art is that new works can be created in response to the privatization of culture. Artists can respond to anything with their work, whether they are subtly commenting on it, or going deeper conceptually.

So where do we draw the line with copyrights? I don't intend to copyright my work anytime soon, but I surely don't want anyone copying it directly. I feel torn between the idea of copyright and anti-copyright. This isn't only a concern for artists but for all people who believe that they deserve credit for their hard work. I guess that the type of credit that should be given depends on the situation. I can't say that I have directly copied other art, but subconsciously parts of those ideas could have easily influenced the way that I create my art.

What's so new about new media art?

Susan Elizabeth Ryan closes her article about new media art with a quote from Jacques Derrida that says "One never sees a new art, one thinks one sees it, but a 'new art,' as people say a little loosely, may be recognized by the fact that it is not recognized." So what's new about writing about new media art? This article speculates on the terms new media art/multimedia art/variable media art. I found the article interesting when Ryan discussed the origins of multimedia art, but I was disappointed with all of the discussion on the appropriate terms for art. I'm not at all interested in classifying types of art and labeling it. I guess art historians thrive on the classification of style and periods of art, but that's because they get paid to write and discuss it. Often, these people are classifying art but not creating it.

I guess I was expecting more because of the title of the essay. I thought that I would either be reading a sarcastic piece on the fact that nothing is new anymore, or an information-packed article on the artists creating art. However, it focused more on questioning the classification of art rather than analyzing new media art.

Rae's Presentation

One of the websites that Rae talked about was the Digital Art Mueseum. It's great to see a resource that shows a timeline of digital art from the early stages. It is interesting to see how artists have been exploring the capabilities of computers for making art. The progression in 30 years is incredible and it's hard to think of what will be possible in another 30 years. I can't predict if technological advances will continue steadily or if it will flatline at a certain point and we will become fascinated with going back to more traditional techniques. Despite the interesting qualities of the Digital Art Museum, I have a couple of problems with the website. I know it's not complete yet, but already it's pretty slow and it isn't organized very well. If they work on it a little more, I think it could be a very useful website for digital artists.


Another website that Rae showed us was The Museum of Computer Art. This content of this website seems to be scattered as well and not so user-friendly, but it has a lot of content on artists. They break artists into many categories that I haven't even heard of before, so it's definitely intriguing. I found an artist named Thomas Bijon who does Transmuted Photography. It looks similar to what I do with fragmentation, except he cuts up photos digitally and rearranges them to form what he calls a transmuted painting. Since I'm not a member of MOCA I can only look at a few pieces from each artist, but it is a starting point for checking out some art.


Sadie Benning is an artist that Rae was very enthusiastic about. He showed us a couple of video clips of her work. I couldn't believe that she started making art at the age of 15 with a toy video camera. Her work is very personal and it is incredible to see video art from the viewpoint of a 15 year old. I'm not sure if she was aware that she was making art at the time, but it's very invasive of her world. It actually reminded me of Rae's work a little. Not the technique or style, but the invitation into personal space. It's hard to imagine letting the public into that private of a space but I definitely respect that level of trust that they give their viewers.

Question...

Can you post the video that you played for us today in class?

Artist Statement/Proposal

I want to explore a more in depth look at synthetic or false memories, which occur when there is a failure with the memory recall system of the brain. When this happens, memories are formed by reconstructing fragments of information that actually happened and filling in the missing pieces with estimates.

For the final video, I plan to create an experience for the viewer that will travel through the memory of a single person. It will include and shift between still photographs and video of specific events in that person's memory. As time goes on, the photographs will become fragmented and rearranged. This will represent the synthetic elements of memory that we tend to create to give our own memories the illusion of continuity. The video elements will be used to symbolize accurate representations of the memory, but the rearrangement and reconstruction of photographs will question the accuracy of the memories.

Midterm Work

Digital Photography

The first time I ever used a camera was two years ago. I went on a trip and one of my friends had a digital camera that I couldn't put down the entire time. Later that year I took two photography classes, a beginning darkroom class and a digital class. Since I was new to photography, I had no problems with digital and I didn't think that it was considered cheating. I never thought of myself as a fake for utilizing digital technology.

It wasn't until I got further into the photography program at U of A that I realized certain negative attitudes towards digital photography. It wasn't coming from any professors, but other students. Some thought that if you used digital, you weren't a "real" photographer.

This topic has been debated as long as the advent of the digital camera. In Lev Manovich's essay The Paradoxes of Digital Photography, she discusses the notion of photograph as truth. From my experiences, it seems that most people consider a photograph as a truthful event. However, just because it is initially easier to manipulate digital photographs, it doesn't mean that a film negative holds the exact truth. Anyone can skew an event by choosing what to focus on, what to frame, when to take the photo, etc. Photographic "moments" can be easily set up, and with the right subjects acting in the right way, anything can look natural or spontaneous.

I think of digital photography as just another tool to create art. Why can someone think it is valid to say that only film photography is "true" photography? With any other art form there are various ways of getting to a desired result. Ultimately, it should be up to the artist to decide what medium or technique is appropriate and relevant to the work that they are creating.

Reem Bader's Rayya

I'm a little late on blogging about this video since we saw it last week, but I definitely enjoyed the parts that had a split screen showing a car driving and people talking with no audio. It gave the visuals a serene quality but also a feeling of uneasiness. This also occurred when there was audio with no visuals. The speaking started to blend together and I started focusing less on the words and more on the black emptiness of the screen. The dance sequence seemed interesting, but since we didn't see the video all the way through, it seemed a little out of place. Maybe it would work well integrated throughout the entire video, but she probably explains the dance at some point in the film.

Student Video

"A Thousand Words" by Chris Justus is a great example of what is possible with only a couple of weeks of training in Final Cut. It is definitely a good autobiographical piece, but I'm not sure about the narration. It didn't have the same flow as the rest of the moving images, especially the part with the leaves. The transisition was incredibly smooth but the voice was a little too rigid. However, his voice in the part about his sister being a hairstylist and "progressive" was pretty hilarious.

Allahu Akbar

In class we also watched an animated short by Usama Alshaibi called Allahu Akbar. It was made up of geometric patterns moving around the screen and music that fit perfectly with the animation. The continuous swirling motion was slightly nauseating but completely enthralling. These patterns reminded me of Islamic drawings that I saw in a comparative religions class a couple of years ago. I was curious about the title and looked up its most common translation - "God is greatest." This video gave me a new perspective on animating still images but it also showed a unique way of communicating with the viewer.

Society of the Spectacle

Society of the Spectacle (a digital remix) was quite entertaining... I agree with other people that the text was hard to read because your eye constantly wanders to the barrage of images racing across the screen. But I think this was definitely intentional. We are living in a time where everything, especially technological advances, must be faster and better than the next in order to survive. With this race of technology, how is the common person supposed to stay connected to this ever-changing, ever-growing world? With all of the news and world events being brought to us by blogs, radio, newspaper, television, etc, it is almost impossible to stay in the loop. In SOS, the subtitles seem to imply the desire that we have as humans to want to know what is going on; but we as humans also become easily distracted. The visuals feed our distraction, and our eyes eventually settle on letting the images penetrate our mind. This work seems to emphasize the basic nature of our lives and the fact that we will never be able to understand and know exactly what is happening with everything, everywhere.

Brent Hirak Video

Okay I'm inspired...I just need to see if I can pull it off. I haven't really used any video in my art before, but I've got some ideas. The video by Brent Hirak opened some new doors for me. I like how he layered the text so that it gave a visual aid to the chaotic nature of the words that his sister was speaking. I would like to try something similar, but with overlapping voices instead of text. The corresponding visuals will be both video and photographic, but I want to blend them together as well...maybe have some overlapping still photographs and video at the same time. First I need to learn how to use some video editing software...

Global Warming

It snowed last night in Tucson, Arizona. Here is some evidence from this morning:

Encode. Store. Retrieve.

These are images from my series Encode. Store. Retrieve. Check out my website for the full description and artist statement.