week 8

By listening to Benning's math lecture I was able to make a few plausible connections to his film "One Way Boogie Woogie/27 Years Later".  The mathematic equations and proofs he drew for us all seemed to share the common theme of uncertainty and beauty.  The first equation he wrote for us was solved correctly yet proved false at the same time with an answer of "1 = 2".  Another mathematical uncertainty he pointed out had to do with probability; if you flip a coin half the time it will be heads and the other half it will be tails.  Such applies to a purely mathematical world.  However, if you were to flip a coin 1 million times the outcome of either heads or tails would not be evenly split.  The outcome of this problem grows with uncertainty as the number of trials increases.  Also, Benning had a unique stance on prime numbers by calling them "beautiful" since they are in a mathematical  sense void of purpose.  

Aside from obeying a very mathematically driven guideline of one shot per minute for 60 minutes, I believe "One Way Boogie Woogie/27 Years Later" is much like the first algebra problem Benning solved.  Having shot 60 locations (with beautiful cinematography) twice but 27 years apart lends itself to the false answer in Benning's first problem - "1" does not equal "2" yet they are products of the same equation.   A red truck would stop in frot of a warehouse in the first film and in the second film we would only hear the truck pull up in front of the still existing yet aged warehouse.  The two shots capture the same location...but do they really? Seeing the locations in different time periods consecutively was a surreal experience especially when using the audio from the first film in the second.          

Week 7

Upon construction of the Spiral Jetty I noticed a prevalent aspect of the film editing that remained consistent throughout its erection.  There was a noticeable juxtaposition of sound in between edits during the construction which involved cutting between shots of the calm and steady sound of rippling water and atrociously loud shots of the construction vehicles moving the earth.  I took this pattern to evoke some kind of gap between the quiet past and the loud future.  It is the scene in the dinosaur exhibit that persuades me to form this connection to past and present.  The framing of the equipment also seemed to make a comparison between the extinct dinosaurs of the past and the equally large machines of the present, perhaps a modern day version of a dinosaur.  There was a particular shot of the front-end-loader in which only the shovel was seen loading a dump truck from afar as if it was a dinosaurs head surveying the land. For a reason I am not sure of the shot of the dump truck unloading the massive boulders into position was always played at slow motion (appeared to be about 36 frames per second).  This was also a consistent aspect of the sequence but void of any significance to my knowledge. However, it is clear to me the comparison of old and new between the dinosaurs, extinct yet still existing in their mummified state, and the machines of today which never were alive but perhaps are considered to be more so than the dinosaurs.  The Spiral Jetty is itself a physical representation of a large whirlpool which threatened the passage of a schooner in 1870.         

Artistic Statement

With my tabletop video I hope to express the concept of time measurement and how dependent our lives are on them.  However, I am also trying to convey the idea that calendars and clocks are only used to make sense of the passage of time and do not really constitute any kind of exact order in our lives.  These devices are nothing more than material possessions.  

The presentation of this piece will be quite simple.  It will consist of a computer generated calendar spread out over 14 pages.  Each page will be shown for about 11 seconds until all the pages have been shown.    

Result:

The showing went exactly according to schedule.  However, I am unsure of the artistic impact it will have on the viewer.  As I look back I realize more I could have added to the project to perhaps make it a more effective experience for the viewer as well as convey the message more succinctly.    

Week 6

      Though not much dialogue is spoken during this video clip it is similar to Bag's work mainly in that it is a subtle commentary on consumerism.  The beginning of the film clearly depicts Andy Warhol taking a hamburger out from a paper Burger King bag which is of course an icon of one of the most powerful food chains in the world.  It should also be noted that the hamburger is accompanied by a bottle of Heinz tomato ketchup, another very recognizable food icon.  Among piles of wrinkled paper Warhol engages in the most basic act of consumption for the remaining three minutes of the film.  Popular consumerism is how Bag's and Warhol's work are similar.  If not as a direct representation of consumerism Bag often used consumer products in her work to act out skits, one of which even included a Ronald Mcdonald plush figure as a way to symbolize Mcdonald's insensitive caricature.  Warhol took a different approach but still incorporated fast food into his deadpan commentary.  In either case it's all about consumerism.