Final Project

 

 

I chose to do my final project utilizing the Arduino boards demonstrated in class. Knowing the capabilities of the technology I was curious to see how I could work the boards to better convey my ideas

I wanted to work with a topic very close to me; anxiety. It is a feeling that guides a lot of lives around the world and is very personal to a lot of people not just myself. Knowing this I asked myself, what causes anxiety? A universal culprit I assumed was time. Humans are driven in every moment by some aspect of time, it is the only constant. So now with two drives, a desire to create something with the Arduino boards and anxiety in relation to time, I set about creating my piece. Aesthetically there were numerous choices to be made. I originally intended on making the piece very cluttered and confusing to the eye with a tangle of wires and two clock hands nestled in the mix. The clutter and messy technological display I intended to evoke those beginning feelings of anxiety crucial to the understanding of this piece. However as I thought about it and realized there was a different way to convey these feelings I started thinking of old clocks as a juxtaposition to the overt use of technology in mine. I hoped to utilize this contradiction between old-world and new technology by combining a rich woodwork backdrop with cluttered technology peeking through.

The coding for the motors became quite a difficulty along the way. As a beginning coder I did not have a lot of knowledge under my belt, and even with numerous sources of expertise sometimes the boards would not encode, parts would not work, or other functions would be bugged. However, eventually we were able to get the coding to randomize motor RPMs, duration, and duration between RPM initialization by switching the motor output to PMW pin no. ~3. After a quick instance of celebration I realized the significance of such an easy fix to pin 3. For me it symbolized the simple fact that no matter how anxious, stressful, or overworked one gets in life, there is always a blatant and undeniably simple fix to a purely emotional overreaction. Bear in mind that the 3 intends to send the message that such fixes are often blatant, this does not mean however that they are easy though. As a sort of meta-example, dealing with this project, and the issues before switching to pin 3, caused me a measurable amount of anxiety and the struggle I underwent with the aid of my coding sources caused this reaction fixed by a blatant and simple move of a wire to pin 3. This is why I chose to display the number engraved into the dark wood so boldly.

The clockhands themselves I intended to be small and rapid to account for the rapid speeds of the motors and aesthetic preference. I chose to make them out of matchsticks burnt down to different lengths from each other representing the two predominant hands on a clock; the hour and minute. They symbolized the fleeting and consuming nature of time. Fire in itself, given enough fuel, burns stronger and fiercer with more time and in the process consumes the fuel it is driven from. I chose to leave any determinacy of actual time out of the equation such as tick marks or numbers indicating specific times. The message I intended to convey in doing so was the uncontrollable nature of time itself and the anxiety resulting from recognizing this truth aided by the anxiety from not knowing the time the hand landed on after the randomized RPM and randomized intervals ran their course. A side-effect of the motors in the varnished wooden casing was a piercing humming coming from the motors while they were running. Unintentionally I believe this aided the message of my piece, a randomized and uncontrollable annoying sound contributing to the anxiety of the furiously spinning and stopping clockhands.

Anxiety for most people around the world is an emotional overreaction fueled by things to be done dragged down by fleeting time in the growing shadow of impending deadlines. This piece was intended to evoke those familiar feelings in its viewers through various means such as the juxtaposition between old-world clocks and the disorder of new technology, uncontrollable spinning clockhands giving no sense of time, and the matchsticks used as an allegory to time itself. However, there is a fragment of hope. Sometimes the most complex and frustrating tasks in life leading to great emotional overreactions of anxiety can have simple fixes. So just remember, pin 3 is always an option.

A Discussion: Adventures in Taxidermy, Melissa Milgrom

            Initially, what began as a lecture attended at the local Nevada Museum of Art immediately started with me asking myself, “Adventures and Taxidermy should not be used together in the same sentence.” Guided by a PowerPoint with Milgrom leading the lecture she began to discuss taxidermy and addressed it as a “deceptively complicated topic,” I imagined this to be due to the fact that people typically think of these professionals as stuffing loved ones pets to keep around like some Frankenstein relic of an old family friend. Or more commonly regarding taxidermy as the profession of mounting deer heads to walls, which for many, can come off a bit macabre, even from those who love the sport of hunting. I was unaware, however, that in addition to these common misconceptions Milgrom was also discussing the complicated nature of the art of taxidermy and the ‘artists’ involved.

            Taxidermy, as she frankly stated, is the art of juxtapositions not just for the conceptions of the type of “barbaric” people it would take to create such pieces made from dead animals, but also for the art itself. Milgrom declared that “artists are not obliged to tell the truth” and indeed the very practice of taxidermy is to recreate some organism that has died to make it appear living again. Even before taxidermy became as widely used as it once was in natural history museums, it was a prominent feature of cabinets of curiosities. These private collections of exotic things almost exclusively belonged to upper class members intent on showing their worldliness through bizarre items brought back from the corners of the globe. They also consisted of strange combinations of animal parts displayed in odd ways making new fictional creatures. With the advent of better technology and rising curiosity about animals not typically seen, taxidermy became more advanced and even scientific. In fact taxidermy in the late 1700s to early 1800s was almost exclusively scientific with these new interests in the inner workings of organisms and an overall fascination of the complexity of nature. Milgrom discussed taxidermy’s current struggle as not only a dying industry, but also as attempting to distinguish itself apart from science. The difficulty in this lies in the nature of taxidermy itself, a properly done piece is overtly scientific down to the sculpting of muscles and every little detail whereas anything less appears “off” and can even be grotesque. Milgrom states that a balance between these two, much like a single mark left by an artist on an otherwise flawless porcelain vase, is the key to taxidermy as an art.

            As previously stated, another juxtaposition of taxidermy lies with the ‘artists’ who practice it. Milgrom was very careful to address preconceptions about taxidermists as twisted individuals with no regards for natural organisms other than their value as trophies. Although I myself did conform to such views of taxidermists she made a case that all taxidermists deeply care for animals, insisting that “the best taxidermists love animals the most.” She stated that because the nature of their work relies on the input of animals and the recreation of them takes such calculated scientific procedures and attention to detail, there is no better reason for them to love animals and fight to preserve them to thus preserve their own way of life. This deep love of animals and natural appreciation was evident in multiple stories of taxidermists such as Carl Akeley as well as Milgrom’s own experiences. A current crisis in the industry among taxidermists is the driving out of passionate amateurs as practitioners specialize. Milgrom argues this crisis is not unlike other crises experienced in other forms of art such as painting where a culture is created around the famous artists and masterpieces pushing the practice further away from the general populace.

            An interesting dichotomy exists in the world of taxidermy fueled by misconceptions according to Milgrom. These misconceptions range from beliefs in the nature of taxidermists themselves and also in the artwork of taxidermy. However, despite her passionate defense of a dying art reliant upon true artists I remain unconvinced of the legitimacy of taxidermy as an ‘artform.’ This may be a result of my preconceived notions of taxidermy as trophy-making from nature or the gruesomeness of the practice itself. However, I find taxidermy to be more along the lines of a craft requiring an impressive skillset given the nature of taxidermy to convey one message – this is an animal recreated. However, artists such as Damien Hirst utilize taxidermy to make more provocative statements critiquing aspects of nature and society itself which I believe lends his pieces more toward an artistic conversation.  

A Discussion, Justin Maes: Return of the Gold

            Justin Maes engages in an interesting topic on personal identity through a creative and distinctly individualized perspective illustrated in his works. This gallery consisted of numerous pieces including “The Son,” “The Spirit,” “Guidance and Direction,” “Almost Cotton,” “Chicken Feed,” “Golden Cactus,” and “Stay Gold.” The most notable element in the gallery upon entering was the absence of any placards stating the artist’s intentions and even titles of the pieces. It is natural, in this instance, to assume the absence of such information was done so intentionally thus posing numerous questions about the importance of authorship and viewer interpretation. The most apt summation of such a gallery lies in the relationship of all gallery pieces to convey a theme or elicit a feeling or action from the viewer. In this case many of the pieces seemed to be made from, or referencing, typically rural/westernized materials. This was seen in the case of the cactus, the elongated shadows of the chickens vaguely referencing cowboy silhouettes, cattle iconography, re-appropriated designs made from reflective construction signs, and the Western-styled video/performance pieces. In each instance it was apparent the influence of these rural cowboy-esk themes, however, contradictory to the rugged and dusty iconography drawn from in each of these pieces there was also a distinct use of gold. Pieces such as “Golden Cactus” displayed this juxtaposition of themes overtly. Such gilding of objects reflects Maes’s own struggle with personal identity and perhaps a desire to gild or embellish his western roots being raised in Nevada. Another interesting individualized style noted by the viewer is the symmetrical-tessellation appearance of two colorful pieces in reflecting placements facing each other on two paralleling walls. Although not immediately gilded (aside from the horns and nose of the central bull), upon closer inspection, the viewer can notice gold edging around the cut out pieces used to construct the tessellation emitted outward from a central point where a bull’s head stares outward. The stylized colorful geometric patterns extending outward are comprised of similar iconography including ram and sheep heads, the mirroring piece predominantly features pink cherubs but also contains red six shooters. The colorful tessellation arrangement of these outer motifs resembles Latin-influenced artwork similar to colorful geometric displays seen in Dia De Los Muertos in Mexico. This stylization may also be a throwback to Maes’s own heritage and his attempted gilding and artistic transformation of it. The video performances, although not overtly displaying similar identity-gilding, do show westernized performances including a duel and other iconic cowboy-like matter in a sincere, but comic way. The viewer likewise gets the sense that the production quality combined with the performance of the actors is somewhat forced and taken lightheartedly reflecting Maes’s feelings toward this westernized aspect of his identity. I also viewed the cattle used throughout the gallery setting as commentary on masculinity. Its bold presence, particularly in a feature piece displaying a massive gilded bull’s head, seems uncertain in its dramatic and persistent reminder of masculinity perhaps reflecting Maes’s own needs to dramatically display his masculinity. Overall I enjoyed the show Return of the Gold aesthetically however found its lack of traditional gallery descriptions confusing despite its significance to Maes’s own non-traditional identity display through his pieces.

Artist Statement:

I saw the triptych project as a possibility for social commentary on the matter of cellphones and our absurd preoccupation with technology. It isn't a rare phenomenon the sheer amount of college students wandering around with their faces in their cellphones. Often times these people run into objects and, although not intentionally, hysterically curse the object as if it were the object's fault and not their own. Every element in making this triptych was concerned with our preoccupation with cellphones and 'distractor' technology. It was filmed on a mobile phone and the participants are seen "colliding" with the frames of the video insinuating a real-life collision. Upon each hit the participant curses and the proceeds to turn the other direction only to inevitably collide with the other side glimpsing at the inevitability of 'distractor' technology itself placing its users in peril at each instance of operation. The overall mood is comic in nature, lighthearted and playful, but this feeling simply underscores the growing issue of cellphone distraction; it is not taken seriously.

COMBINED TRIPTYCH

Midterm

Artist Instrument:
I began my project in pursuit of a cheap-readily-made instrument to further a discussion I had began posing about the nature of music itself. Wherein the popular world highlights a relatively specific range of euphonic compositions with expensive and finely crafted instruments, I sought to answer my own question of "Why"? How bad could it get if I did not confine to these popular parameters including luxury and finely crafted instruments and the pleasant range of music they produce? percussive instruments were limited in these very ways as well as stringed and wind instruments as they exemplified the norm I wished to counteract in this project. Circuit-bending provided a convenient solution to this problem. The very nature of electronic art is alienated from traditional music notions; alien in form, function, and performance. Bill T. Miller expresses this concept more eloquently in his analysis of circuit-bending encouraging universal applications and creative expansion of the medium. As mentioned by Miller, I began small and expanded my instrument from my basic starting point using cheap Wal-Mart kids' toy materials as a commentary on the limited and exclusive nature of what are deemed "common" and "popular" instruments. After piecing together a cell-phone and princess-wand in an abomination of wire and solder set-up I realized my instrument was finally ready. In the performance of my piece I attempted to stay true to my own question of the musical world and Miller's as well; why is circuit bending not commonly accepted as popular instrument material? the only relatable connection I made in my performance was the 'play-ability' of my instrument which involved a performance-like routine of circuit-bending the cellphone connection and moving a part of the wand attachment to link the circuit. My intention for this piece was to let it, in all its unabashed hideousness, serve as commentary on the exclusivity of instruments in the art world and to perhaps reconsider the qualities of what is euphonious in today's popular culture.

2D Score:
I developed my score for Jessie with careful consideration to Cornelius Cardew's Treatise. I took into account her incorporation of a music stand as the core structure of her instrument along with shower curtain rings, metal bands of the music stand, a container of paperclips giving a relatively steady beat when flicked, and a tape measure that could be extended and moved back in. Cardew never gave explicit instructions for his Treatise, instead preferring it to be open to interpretation in hopes to foster discussion about the nature of musical composition. I kept my design to a 9x11.5 sheet of paper aptly fitting Jessie's instrument in its own vague relation to traditional music (ie music stand) and also kept the composition black and white like traditional sheet music to maintain this relation. Similar to Cardew I gave Jessie no explicit instructions instead preferring to see/hear her interpretation of my piece. However, I designed it with specific relations to the capabilities of her instruments from left to right. The intricate array of lines were considered with the metal bands of the music stand in mind, all small dots and 'sprout-like' dots veering off of lines were slight inflexions on her paper-clip container attachment. The larger circles were intended to align with the playing of the shower rings and the tape measure was intended to correlate to the thicker lines. The organization of the composition, as before stated, was intended to run from left to right moving from an intense cacophony of chaos in the first major movement of the piece to a calmer more intimate and unified performance during the second half of the piece.

2D Score I Played:
The score I played was also designed intentionally for my instrument with full knowledge of the bi-tonal capabilities of my cellphone/wand piece. With this in mind the score was also done in black and white to be interpreted for each of my two sounds. I chose to accompany the white empty space as belonging to the lighter 'wand' sound of my piece and conversely, the dark areas, were attributed to the cellphone sounds of my piece which I reasoned was the darker of the two. each shape, black or white, had very distinct curved edges which I interpreted with the assistance of my composer to pertain to the tone/pitch inflexions and variations capable on the soundboard. Similarly, the darker section of the 'black' areas were interpreted as a more intense and quicker tempo of the cellphone sound. The entire composition is arranged in a singular point emanating outward in gradually thicker and larger shapes. Played as a gradual crescendo between the two alternating tones the end result climaxes to an intensive, spotty, loud variation of tones reflecting the large bands of the shapes as they leave the paper. Collaboration with my composer was essential to the understanding and organization of this piece; an interesting juxtaposition to the composer-musician relationship when compared to the lack of direction given to my own musician partner with the score I composed.

Artist Talk

Numerous Interests from Sculpture to Digital Works with common themes of intricacy and physical craftsmanship.


Drawing:

 

artists like Piranesi and Escher make people think with impossibly intricate design that pull people in and made them as popular as they were.

 

Sculpture:

 

incredible feat of sculpture turning stone into fluid-like movements

 



 

 

 

Painting:

 

tells a story rendered in a interesting stylistic manner; intricate, but not overcomplicated

 

Design evokes emotion and even through a sort of impressionism, tells a story of the scene without confusing the viewer

Digital/Mixed Media:

Mechanical-Seizure

 

 

 

 

My Stuff:

 

 

 

 

 

detailed/intricate

narrative

purposeful

varied

impossible