My group met today to practice our Foley performance. These are the items I brought.
My group was inspired by the water walk and guitar drag videos. We wanted to use sounds that were sometimes unexpected based on what was appearing on the video. We used a three minute funny cat video. My favorite sounds were from the hairbrush and chopsticks.
For the Poor Image project I had many ideas. After much deliberation I decided to combine two of them. I used two images: one of a turkey vulture and one of a Snellen chart. I wanted to see how the same process would change an image versus text. My method was to reverse the image using Microsoft Word, display it on my computer monitor, take a photo of it using my phone camera, and email it from my phone back to my computer where I displayed and flipped it again.
While there were more technologically advanced ways on doing
this project which may have resulted in my anticipated effect, I like the idea
of my method being something that anyone can do simply with a Microsoft
subscription and a camera. Anyone could degrade an image of their own in the
way I did mine.
My inspiration was Steyerl's statement "[the poor]
image [is] liberated from vaults of cinemas and archives and thrust into
digital uncertainty” (p.1). The Snellen chart is an image that rarely exists outside
a specific space and while many iterations of it are easily accessible on
Google, it not something that is used in art. My photo does not exist anywhere except
in my photos library. By using both
images in this project I have taken them from a space that was stable and now
made them into something less so. They are still recognizable, but their
purpose has changed which is summed up by Steyerl. These images are “illicit
fifth generation bastards of the original image” (p. 1).
The first image I worked with was the Snellen chart, which
optometrists use to test eyesight. I found the image using a Google search. I
was hoping that by reversing the image the text would become smudged and
unreadable. However, the only changes to the image were caused by taking a
photo of it on the monitor and reducing the image size when emailing. Some
interesting colours and patterns appeared, mostly affecting the outside of the
image. The letters did not change much although the last two lines were consumed
by the patterns.
The second image was of a turkey vulture that I took myself.
Because my experiment with text did not work the way I hoped, I wanted to see
if a photo would be affected differently. Ultimately, the reversing did little to
affect the image and again it was the camera and email that caused the most
changes. Parts of the body and feathers of the vulture lightened completely
leaving white splotches, the background developed a grid-like pattern and colours
appeared once the image began to lighten.
I am having problems sticking to an idea for the Poor Image assignment. I have thought of lots of half-baked ideas but none that really speak to me. Below is a picture of my notebook from Mondays class.
I am inspired by Steyerl's statement "The poor image is a rag or a rip." It is an interesting way of describing something that is primarily digital. But what if I took that literally?
This is a Turkey Vulture named Archie. He is quite good at posing for the camera! Fun (?) facts about turkey vultures: they have no vocal chords, and can projectile vomit as a defense mechanism!
My ideas:
Print the photo, crumple it, copy it, repeat
or
print, spill liquid on it, copy, repeat
Here is a collection of the art I made for my other studio classes this semester! Landmarks Print With a Press Indigenous Art
