http://vimeo.com/15316243

I've been thinking about video lately. I've been lurking about vimeo and found a pretty cool experimental video collaboration; Everything by Danny Jelinek.

Beards in Progress

Here is what I'm working on so far. For the past 5 years, every three weeks, I set my electric trimmer to the same height setting and buzz off my beard. Since I do it at regular intervals of time, with the same equipment and same height, in theory each time I remove the same amount of whiskers. I buzz them onto a sheet of paper, then funnel the trimmings into a ziploc bag. At that point it's a unitized beard.

The project is focused on a few elements which I'm now attempting to narrow down. Most apparent is the weirdness of the action. Second is the sense of self representation, where each beard is my actual DNA, was actually a part of my body, it represents my self. I've had a beard for the past 15 years, and most people who know me have known me bearded. Beards themselves are a symbol of my self identity. In addition, the weirdness present is a self commentary, where I present myself to the viewer in a certain context. It's a strange act of sharing that reaches out to the viewer, and the viewer will either embrace of reject me.

I'm currently focused on display method. I'm set on either a grid or a line. The line acts like a timeline, where each beard is representative of three weeks time. The grid is spatially more prominent, and visually more engaging. The grid feels more on the scale of the figure.

I've been using ziploc bags as the most convenient method of storage, but the ziploc has too many commercial/home use connotations. I want to explore making more refined methods of storage. I'm going to try making boxes and bags out of mylar. I also want to play with cardboard labelling for each bag, with a print finish for each one. I'll update as some alternative displays are completed and photographed!

Hey everyone!

No photos or videos to share as of yet, but I'm currently exploring the idea of sharing an adrenaline-inducing experience with the viewer in a controlled setting.
I'm hoping to utilize video, setting, and audio, as well as a specific obstacle or challenge for the audience, in order to recreate a tension-filled experience.

Any suggestions of artists or pieces for inspiration would be great - thanks!

Controlling Lights

I've been doing a lot of work for this project using a arduino microcontroller, something that I had used this summer for research:



Essentially I've been using one of these to try to control LEDs. What I'm shooting for is to be able to have the power to control many different LEDs at the same time independently, which I could then use in some variety of manners.

Here's a picture that shows my first little setup just testing my board out with some LEDs:

With this right I could control 12 clusters of LEDs independently, which is much fewer that I would like to be able to use.

I then made my setup significantly more sophisticated, and got it to drive 16 LEDs independently, with only 25% of the resources I used before to control 12 groups. I had to start collaborating with a friend of mine, a computer engineering major, at this point though to help with some of the nitty gritty, because I was rapidly becoming out of my depth.

He helped me work through getting this stage to work, and since then we've currently been moving forward with being able to control even more LEDs independently using the same number of resources that I used for the 16.

Additionally, I've also moved forward on other ways for a user to be able to interact with this work, and have some kind of input to the system. Currently I'm doing this with a distance sensor, which measures for far away something is, and the decisions can be made based on that information. For instance, if someone is close enough, something could be triggered and activated. Here is a picture of that setup:

(The thing attached to the multicolored cable is the sensor.)

I plan to keep moving forward and expand my operation, controlling more LEDs, and possibly adding more types of sensors, or numbers of them, such as maybe a sound sensor.

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Also, upon Zach's request, here's a video of my aforementioned first setup with 12 clusters of LEDs:

A tape mold of a fore arm, just one of my many experiments throughout this project.

Noelle Mason

Jordan Wayne Clough's work reminds me of Noelle Mason. Her performance piece, Mise en Scene, makes the viewer complicit in inflicting pain upon the artist.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m2IYGLLzJ_0

Viewers can choose to press the buttons on all four walls, each of which will zap one of the artist's body parts. She's inside the structure and can only be seen on the video screens. It's really interesting how people interact with the piece. In an artist talk, Mason said viewers tend to be curious and to initially zap away, however they eventually become worried or upset and stop. Many audience members try to communicate with her by yelling or knocking on the walls. One woman became so upset with the performance that she unplugged the entire piece.

Clough's punching performance and crate piece reminded me of this:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vg_afV7FbNo

It seems a lot like a video game with the jerky movements and bright colors. Mason's work is less about endurance and more about a futile struggle.

Type A

Type A are a collaboration between Adam Ames and Andrew Bordin. Their work deals with the overlap between collaboration and competition, by creating scenarios in which they both help and hinder each other.

http://www.typea.us/

Here is the link to Jordan Long's work from today's class.

Here are the links to the artists I presented today plus some additional links for some of them.

* Alexa Meade's direct painting

* DNA Face Sculptures

* The Lincoln Reimagine Project Overview

* Gilberto Esparzas' fuel-cell symphony

* Andy Cavatorta, the sound artist

* Aurora Robson's recycling plastic into art

* Aurora Robson website-gallery

* Andy Cavatorta website

* Gilberto Esparza blog