Image manipulation workshop- images PART THREE

lots to think about here- the disembodiment of head from body, making an image become a picture postcard, bringing together personal and anonymous strangers photos and inventing connections, bringing together different eras and generations, different ages of projector- ancient and modern

Image manipulation workshop- images PART TWO

lena and invisible friend


laura was capturing this slide projector image at the bottom left side on paper

mixing old and new projectors- lumens differences!



mixing projected and held photos- when to sue which?

as i mentioned in the previous post i didnt really explore concepts but layering possiblities, use of live feed and still image, workign between 3 interconnected projectors split from one laptop signal (need to find out all this equipment)

Image manipulation workshop- reflections and images PART ONE

just a few things to comment on how i felt my workshop went and what i learnt from it....

whose workshop was this? what was achieved? how could i have worked with this better? the main thing i felt was that technology dominated the experiences and that my attempts to have worked with concepts with technology should have followed a tech-know how workshop which everyone really needs- from image resolution to outlining hardware and software and what they do. lauras workshop in the afternoon brilliant tackled one easy use of technology and I want to do more of this. For example, i got very interested in the how isadora software works myself and sidetracked away (but i should have intervened more) from my group working on their own stories for example resulting in some fair attempts to explore projection through stories told in photos- I lost focus on what I was trying to achieve seduced by the technology- doh!.

However, i liked the idea of invisible friend as a virtual projection which lena inadvertently came up with very much. sally's performative lecture requiring a still image she pointed at met with doug persisting in moving the image around;) playing with the software demonstrating what isadora can do, when in her story a powerpoint slide would have been enough.

so what does this teach me...um, that i've led many many workshops before and that this wasn't all that successful for conflict of interests in it being carried out , as well as putting too much in to it myself, and the suggested introduction of text into the workshop part way through which contradicted the intended nature of my workshop....the story text was to come from the images. however I have some interesting images from VLPers to explore related techniques and really want to bring in isadora in my experiments with projections.

Noble and Silver- stand up-multi-media-theatre

ok so two completely unconnected people have now mentioned these guys when i have talked about my storytelling photography work and my forthcoming stand up evening class.both coming form fine art backgrounds, kim noble works on the photography, video and performance and stuart silver on text and performance. guardian review describes it as a 'fluid multi-media happening.' they also undertook a residency at the beaconsfield gallery

i am particularly interested in how they work with irony, projections (sometimes arguing with projections of themselves, and also what else) and audiences- unfortunately i can't find any film documentation of their shows to see what i'm missing out on- so need to look at if they have any gigs coming up.

this interests me;(from above link to beaconsfield gallery website)
"the performance looped around itself, spliced with video images that were seldom quite as they seemed and meticulously timed conversations between Noble and Silver and their recorded selves. "Its about putting something funny next to something that deconstructs itself, next to something quite tragic."

in my nunnery performance, the sense of loss of the over developed image dying, set against the many amusing exchanges of funny stories was a striking contrast which i could push further.i'm also keen on the review on the beaconsfield website which says, 'video images that were seldom quite what they seemed.' How do you make an image not quite what it seemed? How can an image be changed- changing content/context, use of different technology. was it the visuals and/or the sound/words that changed? why did they use this? how did this work with the live action? how does live self work with mediated self and why?
i think the question i should investigate with their work is from the Digital Arts conference post I made earlier today;

"How does the increasing digitalisation of media affect the experience of seeing?"

laura and i will be exploring live and mediated self alongside writing workshops shortly to support one another. i think noble and silver's work could be a useful contextual reference.

SEEING... VISION AND PERCEPTION IN A DIGITAL CULTURE- conference

although unsure as to whether i am interested in submitting a proposal, this looks intriguing in the following phrases in relation to my research;

"How have ....developments in technology altered our understanding of vision and perception?

How does the increasing digitalisation of media affect the experience of seeing?

What and who might be rendered invisible by the processes of digital culture?"

From Live Art mailing list;

- CALL FOR PAPERS - CALL FOR PAPERS - CALL FOR PAPERS -

SEEING... VISION AND PERCEPTION IN A DIGITAL CULTURE

CHArt (Computers and the History of Art) 2008 Conference

Thursday 6 - Friday 7 November 2008 (central London venue to be confirmed)

This year's CHArt conference takes seeing as its theme and the associated questions of vision, perception, visibility and invisibility, blindness and insight - all in the context of our contemporary digital culture in which our eyes are assaulted by ever greater amounts of visual stimulus, while we are also increasingly being surveyed, on a continual basis.

What does it mean to see and be seen nowadays? How have advances in neuroscience or developments in technology altered our understanding of vision and perception? What kind of visual spaces do we now inhabit? What new kinds of visual experiences are now available? And what are now lost or no longer possible? How does the increasing digitalisation of media affect the experience of seeing? What and who might be rendered invisible by the processes of digital culture? What are our current digital culture's blindspots? What are its politics of seeing?

For the twenty-forth CHArt conference we are looking for papers that reflect upon these issues. We welcome contributions from all sections of the CHArt community: art historians, artists, architects and architectural theorists and historians, curators, museum professionals, scientists, cultural and media theorists, archivists, technologists, software developers, educationalists, philosophers and any others who have a stake in the question of seeing in a digital culture.

Please email a three to four hundred word synopsis of the proposed paper with brief CV of presenter/s by 30 May 2008 to Hazel Gardiner (hazel.gardiner@kcl.ac.uk).

Image manipulation workshop

Sarah Pucill- You be mother

Ok- so to start to think about a possible departure from traditional photographic darkroom process as performance into other ways of playign with photography- outline for a workshop to do tomorrow with fellow VLPers....

Image manipulation workshop 27.3.08

Aim: To look at ideas on working with dual narratives- marrying or challenging the language of photography with storytelling

Through;
- addressing the aesthetics/meaning in images
- looking to the voice of the image/ the noise of the image
- developing a performative relationship with the image

This exploring is to suggest real or fictional stories or narratives through ways of using placement (image performing v backdrop) and different kinds of technology and surfaces to project onto or view images in; old slide projector, laptop, digital projector, flickr, modul8, photo album, cloth, cotton wool buds, postcard, screens, …etc. You can draw/create your own surfaces too and technology in its broadest sense extends from vjing imagery via digital projector to scissors, glue, ink manipulating imagery by hand.

I will be writing on a sheet of paper these key words i am interested in for the group to see and respond to through image manipulation and narrative/ storytelling

disposable
universal
temporal
exchange
authentic/inauthentic
public/private
intimacy
hyperreal
nostalgia
traces
interactivity
participation
live v mediated

Task :

Using any of the available resources devise actions/sequences/narratives/stories through manipulation of the imagery in playing with technology, surfaces and the above words. Maybe only work with one word or a combination. Try out different kinds of technology with the same imagery.

To try out;

Analyse an image/imagery in connection to a word(s)

What technology can I explore to represent this? How does technology heighten or challenge intended meaning?

What technology works best to communicate the chosen word?

(If projecting) Where will I project, onto what, how- is it static in a performative exercise or moving or developing?

What scale am I working at- why? Does this change?

How can the performance body be manipulated with the image?

What story/narrative am I sharing? How do I do best this?

Where are the audience sited in relation to the outcomes?

(in)visible exchange relic 6

a work as documentation of an experience that was started in the nunnery closet and then developed further out of the onward journey of a participant's relic.....as emailed to me, big thanks. to me, the relic has shifted its' identity-i like the repetition of the image in the bottom one- a kind of play on the uniqueness of each traditional darkroom photogrammed image set against the multiples possible in the digital darkroom and the original individual private experience now posted to many and publicly on this blog....repetition was a common theme in apparatus and actions in the closet- key locking, uses of multiple boxes- matchbox, keepsake box , pocket 'box', photographic paper box, the closet as a box.....

i also really like what digital allows in this instance- working against the temporal quality of the unfixed photogram it 'stops' the image in is tracks of it gradual complete fade to black by allowing its capture in its current momentary state-here the duplication of tonal qualities, the solarising effects, the edgey lines- points to the impossibility of the multiples of the 'one off' and thus shows how the story was 'multipled' as it were to the 67 participants- told and re-told using the same matchbox objects with the uniquely different photogrammed outcomes. this image goes someway to clarify for me the issues separating digital manipulation from traditional darkroom photography to look to future work :)

(in)visible exchange relic 5

thank you to the participant that emailed me these! :)

bobby baker box story 2001

Taken from DAILY LIFE SERIES: 5

2001

Remembering Pandora, Bobby delves into a selection of boxes unleashing the ills of the world and attempting to conquer them with hope and unsettling humour. Eight exceptional singers, performing music especially composed by Jocelyn Pook, accompany her on her quest, providing a touch of irony to her valiant but vain efforts.

“Box Story felt good from the start and is one of my favourite shows. While I was writing the first application I was a resident in a crisis house. The show is about misfortune and I felt overwhelmed with the bleakness of it all. One of the staff, Bill Briscombe, told me the bit of the myth that I had forgotten – that Pandora finds Hope left in the box. Hope became my sharp knife to get out with.”


bobby baker box story video

again in looking at development of performance persona- use of personal stories in performance- and how referential to spectators lives stories can be. in my girl scout story at the nunnery in feedback many people said how connected they felt to it- for example then remembering their own defining moment of loss of innocence in their own childhood.

spalding gray- swimming to cambodia extract

looking at ways of re-telling personal stories, using a soundtrack, minimal props/set- mic and glass of water, monologue.keeping the attention on the real life story- not 'dressing it.' not being someone else.

links to the closet for my nunnery performance- pretty much used closet as found- mops and screws and all- a simple real life backdrop, non theatrical, amateur darkroom, cupboard, den. soundtrack to immerse you in this closet- radio in background- working atmosphere. my story from childhood- more engaging/humorous/relaxed nature depending on whether i knew the participant and how comfortable i felt in this intimate space with them. how would this change in an open space- retaining the intimacy of storytelling without the physical spacing/environment a closet encourages?

(in)visible exchange relic 4

These are little stories of that:

Objects_ Tube map, Headset

Stories_ As I'm living in a foreign country, tube map is important to me for directions and sometimes it helps me to know the quickest way to get a place(cos I do hate being on the traffic for a long time)

People usually need a headset to listen to music but for me not that. Because my computer sound system is broken, I do use that for sounds from the computer so it's always being around the computer(it's a bit annoying though).

as emailed to me, many thanks :)

(in)visible exchange relic 3

A week on from visiting the nunnery and the closet of memory the piece still lingers with me and in fact grows. I still see the girl guide, the bottle of thunderbird, I hear the radio calming. I think about why I brought a present for Harry. My 11 year old daughter who loves art and experiencing all still treasures her photos. A woman I work with called Sam who loves Harry too talked about it and wished she had come. the experience is a kind and gentle drift into the past and the present. The style of story telling puts you at ease and frees you to enjoy the place and time. The detail and the kindness of the story helps you ease yourself into your own memories and the comfort they give. The harshness of the end of Harry's story is really moving as the girl grows up and has to move on. I took Harry a gift from a tree that was involved in a living gallery experiment at the Brit school. An event that Harry has joined and triumphed and made beautiful. I stole the memory form the tree and now have it as my own treasure. Little things. It is the little things that we hold dear. And I'm grateful to be reminded of that. It's always lovely to be reminded that we are all artists. The following day I made 4 playdoh creatures. I stood then on my window sill and then I put my new photo memories next to them. I then took a photo of them. I'm going to send them to Harry soon. I'm going to give them back.

emailed to me, many thanks! x

my thoughts on the nunnery- get more feedback!....

some initial thoughts; (stop filling my notebook and start filling this blog with its contents)

i haven't written yet on here what an incredible experience i found this nunnery performance to be- quite profound in fact- and i feel i should have written this sooner. i feel honoured to have shared stories and memories with so many people- from strangers to family and friends; friends i have known for ages i feel i now know more about. i loved the closet in the gallery- perfect location, full of the typical under the stairs closet- screws, cleaning products, hoover, ladder. i need to carefully examine the area which was of greatest concern for me- performative self; however i do feel that the story was much better developed than in the run throughs. i am very pleased with the matching of the ideas of overdevelopment and death of the images with the momentary re-telling of a memory and hope this was communicated well. the piece had many layers of actions generating meaning- need to take these one by one to think about in depth.

from a train ticket to a close friend's funeral to a key to a past lovers' flat (that they didn't know they still had on their key ring), its made me think that its the little things in life that are actually the most significant.objects of personal significance to only the holder, to the outsider, just a train ticket. i watched in awe on my way home from the nunnery how this lady opposite me on the tube painstakingly took out a mother's day card from a carrier bag, meticulously wrote a long message within in, and gave a very careful long lick across the edge to seal it, followed by a precise folding of the card back into the depths of the carrier bag.....my matchbox i tried to empty and then fill again with this same care, thinking about how i filled it those 18 (gulp!) years ago in the park

feedback;

having spent intense periods post run throughs with my participant getting their feedback to support future directions of work- due to the nature of this piece as a finished durational work, which, at many points was back-to-back engagements, feedback or any kind of discussion was not possible. i had also decided that i may let the flow of actions chosen upon pathways taken alter as i gained in confidence through the piece to test out responses; after a few participants i decided to see what might happen if i not only offered them the opportunity to take the image on an onward personal journey but that what if they could send me a photo of where the image ended up- but as doug pointed out this means the event isn't temporal anymore- although the image will still eventually die- do i need to be entirely true to this? what opportunity has been created by letting the image go home?

i also feel as this piece although created and directed by me, became a co-authorship, and therefore the feedback is vital. it has been suggested to me to approach those that i do know at WCA on a one-to-one basis which i will do this week to then i hope provide me with a richer basis for a fuller analysis. i also hope to get more feedback emailed/on the blog, however the public/private nature of blogs v personal discussion may inhibit this?

what to ask people- what's it about? what do you remember about the experience? how did it make you feel? had you seen this photogram technique before- how does it match to re-counting a memory? why did you chose your particular ending? one week on have you had any particular different thoughts to then?

(in)visible exchange relic 2

This is a story of an image...

The image :) came to existence on 01/03/08.

Lived in Klimt`s `house` - `Taschen` - since then... and now `thinking` of moving...

to be continued...

as emailed to me from Marina- very many thanks :)

(in)visible exchange demonstration of an experience- PART ONE

PART ONE- my story

ok- so purely to document the process of the experience, to help me evaluate the experience and consider future developments, lena from my course (thanks, lena!) kindly agreed to record her experience. lena was the 65th of the 67 participants, late on the sunday afternoon of the 3 and a half day durational piece.

what springs to mind in seeing this back is how difficult the experience became for me when i knew the person, or in lena's case, when they knew both me and the project having helped in feedback on earlier run throughs, i kind of felt i went into auto pilot a bit unfortunately distancing myself more from potentially raising the engagement , relaxing with bit of humour stakes- needs consideration

(in)visible exchange demonstration of an experience- PART TWO

PART TWO- your story

ok- so here's lena's story. i like the way the camera is searching for focus upon leaving the closet and entering the gallery space again showing the separation from where it just came from back into the art gallery. perhaps i needn't have explained so much about why there was a choice of 3 endings, that is was obvious by putting photo on the floor it was no longer precious?

using the video camera kinda as a participant like Curious do, I found quite difficult to carry out in that it makes the experience becomes de-personalised when in fact the sharing of a memory between two people is actually a personal experience, the camera in a sense then becomes an awkward spectator? i also think that the problem with someone other than self with a camera recording the experience is highlighted here too; you don't get your point of view, eg the details you notice of the environment- tiny size of the closet space, layout of all the equipment, the mop by the door, hoover, trays of screws, bottles of cleaning fluid that start to appear as your eyes dart around during the engagement, and also the camera in this case centres on the image and not the gestures, eye contact, smiles, body language going on between myself and the participant- you focus on the tone of voice and the image developing- which is obviously what lena found to be of interest. but still its a useful record of some aspects- it shows me what was of most interest to my participant, and also becomes an aide memoire to demonstrate the actions that accured. It feels looking back on this rather a more wooden experience that i had felt at the time- less intimate for sure.

Photos of Nunnery show-PART TWO

Photos of Nunnery show-PART ONE

working closet- notebook, radio 3 on in the background (also helped separate you from the outside world)...

(in)visible exchange relic 1

thank you to one of the two participants who asked me to take the images home myself......now residing on page 93, roland barthes, camera lucida, " [the image] flourishes a moment, then ages....attacked by light, by humidity, it fades, weakens, vanishes...the natural witness of what has been...."

Setting up the Nunnery show

love the real working closet- just clearing a little to make way for the performance...