NYC Trip
Response to Patryk Rabisz, Between you and me
The first image, or should I say sheet of images, is by Trente Parke titled The Seventh Wave in Sydney, Australia taken January 2000. It is a single contact sheet from a series of experiments he did with water shots. He would go out into the ocean and take underwater shots of people swimming through the waves. Using film, he never knew what he was going to get until he went and developed the films. There were many failed attempts as he was depending on the ocean to give him clear shots. Weather conditions greatly affected the shots. If it were not bright and sunny out, light would not pass down deep enough into the water for shots to come out clear. This successful attempt came out with some great reflections, detail as well as some great silhouettes of various people swimming. Shooting in black and white, the level of contrast from no under light on the figures added a great deal of contrast. The blurred effect is what the ocean brings to the picture with the movement of the waves meeting the movement of the people.
The second image I chose again is a sheet of images. Robert Capa was on the beach in Normandy, France when D-Day was occurring in June 1944. Through complications of the developing process, the first three rolls he took had nothing on them. The fourth, as shown on display, had ten images that came out, many blurred but that is said to add to the dramatic impact of the event. Despite the poor quality of the images, the lack of definition through over and exposed images seem to add to it as well, not showing the unknown that the soldiers are running towards.
After taking Photo 1, I came to enjoy the contact sheet. Seeing all the images of one roll taken on a single piece of paper. Film really does have a completely difference feeling to it compared to digital and it cannot be met any other way other than to shoot film. There is a common theme of water here, whether wading or swimming through it, the subject matter is immersed in it some way or another. The blurrieness of both sets of images I believe adds to them both in a positive manner in each of their respective settings. Also, both photographers take risks in different ways to obtain these shots that comes naturally with film as well.
Response to Patryk Rabisz, Between you and me
After watching this video, I noticed a few aspects that showed strength compared to other stop motion films. First off is the choice in using actual people as the actors and actresses in the film. One reason for that statement is that one reason to use stop motion over video is to animate inanimate objects. The ability to give them motion and life through a series of still images is easily accessible through stop motion. Choosing to use stop motion for subject matter that is already fully control of motion is a daring decision but the artist makes it rather fluid and well done. There are a few series of shots that some motions look a little unnatural but what truly adds to the fluidity of this film is the addition of constant audio to give the illusion that it is video rather than a series of images. Attention to detail such that of a close up of getting dressed, motions of hand, putting peanut butter on bread etc also make it appear as a thoroughly thought out film taken through a series of stills rather than video. It is not necessarily that the artist wanted to mimic or create a video as a challenge through stills but the medium chosen is on par with what your average person would want to get out of a video.
Cage and double Kaprow readings
Cage is a very interesting character in his choice and approach in making 4:33. He observes many other composers and their method of creation of their manuscripts and musical notation. It seems as if he were interested in the form that they took on rather than the actual arrangement of notes. I came to this conclusion after seeing him cut and chunk pieces into shapes and rearrange them in a specific way. Also, the non-musical notation section that consisted of scribbles and shapes of line and dashes. Through this shape and re construction, he comes to his reasoning behind 4:33 and why that specific length, being there is not a single note played by any instrument.
Kaprow’s writing is on an interesting topic that I am not normally so keen on; various styles of performance art. I feel like I like the idea of it more than the actual process or documentation of it. In his writing he brings up the topic of the act of brushing your teeth. It is a very intricate practice that starts off when you are young and you need to focus on it a lot more. As you get older that focus goes away and it becomes routine but there is much thought still put into it, how to reach the inner and outer gums, the transition from left to right, etc. Sometimes it is the presentation of these mundane activities that may push me away from performance art but the point in calling it art/ not art is a good point. More like looking at the act of something as AN art and not just art.
This idea of happenings is very interesting. To take away everything that has ever made art art and simply disregard it, that is a very bold statement especially in the fact of considering it art after that. What makes a happening a true happening is the naturalness of it, of no prior preparation or rehearsal of it. It makes it unique and as true to that situation could possibly be. In addition to that, not repeating any given happening also keeps it original. The examples given though have far more detail that what seems to be so natural. The situations are rather bizarre in various ways. Natural would not be the word I would use to describe the examples other than the rain one. I guess its how the participants take the instructions as the natural part.
Hugo Ball and Einstein's Dreams
In Hugo Ball’s article, he refers to the simplicity that Dadaism encompasses and the variety that the word dada means and can do. There is the mentioning of everything dada means in various languages followed by ways in which the dada can be used to accomplish tasks. This variety of dada is compared to why is a tree called a tree and not a Pluplusch and not something different when it is raining upon the tree. The limits of which dada applies are really being explored.
In each of Einstein’s dreams, he explains an incredibly large variety of instances where time is the focus in some way. It takes this idea of time that we all take for granted to manage our lives and twists it out in just about anyway he could possibly imagine. In general, time is this idea that people think is so simple, and yet complex enough that it is used to measure one rotation of the earth about the sun. It can be perceived as fast, as slow, as the same as another moment in “time”, potential to go backwards, potential to split, endless possibilities. Worlds where there is no future, where the future is already set it stone, where it pauses momentarily at many times throughout the day, where a persons entire lifetime is only spent in a single day, all possibilities of time are explored.
Out of these two readings, Einstein’s dreams captured my attention far more. The concept of time is a very unique and interesting idea. I am learning about the concept of time in my philosophy class as well and many of the concepts Einstein touches on, we are discussing in depth trying to get a better understanding of it and how it works. What this article really does an excellent job of is exploring just about any different possibility of how time can be perceived, other than time travel; I do not recall him touching on that. Just how he goes into detail on something everyone uses all the time to keep order to their lives, they do not question it, they accept it and move on with their lives, using it to know when to go to school, to work, to eat breakfast, lunch, dinner, to go to bed.
