Outside Event - Kraftwerk

On April 20th I attended the Kraftwerk concert at the Eagles Ballroom. The show I saw was a combination of sound, visual, and presentational elements. Kraftwerk is one of the pioneering bands of electronic music they focus on how to capture the sound of a certain subject. They began by creating their own instruments such as electronic drum pads and various sound boards for altering their electronic tone. They were considered to be minimalists and experimental especially back in the early 70s. Their music was a new idea at the time that many people were unfamiliar with. Their style of minimalism and creating a visual with music was evident in the song Aerodynamic. When this song was performed it had what one would visualize as a smooth, fast sound that wasn't being slowed down by anything. This idea was also strengthened with the visualizations that one of the members were controlling. They showed bikers pedaling keeping a low profile and minimal wind resistance. The visual part of Kraftwerk's show is also very interesting. While they perform they project video clips that they created in their studio, which one of the members controls during the show. They also replace themselves with robots for the song We are the Robots. At the end of the show they also changed outfits and had black suits that had a flourescent green grid covering them. It became hard to see the performers except for the grid that moved and their face. It was a great effect. The presentational aspect of the show also can't be overlooked. Kraftwerk is four members and they space themselves evenly in the center of the stage. Their images are at times silhouetted against the projections behind them or at the beginning of the show it was silhouetted against a curtain in front of them. The image of the four performers evenly spaced behind their workstations is what Kraftwerk developed as their symbol.

Duck Soup

Can a comparison be made between Duck Soup and The Way Things Work? These movies are entirely different the only similarity that would stand out is that they both can be considered to be narratives. Duck Soup was quite a silly movie. The title seemed to be strange at first and then after seeing the characters the movie got even weirder. While watching duck soup I realized that the story behind all the gags may have had another message behind it. In the movie, war was started over a simple insult at a tea party. Even after trying to make amends war was started. The war in the movie seemed to be similar to World War I. Duck Soup told the viewers how silly war was and how it was started for stupid reasons. Becuase of an insult at a tea party, peace was broken in the country and lives were being lost. The Marx Brothers used humor to convey their narrative while the story had an underlying meaning that commented on war.
After watching How Things Work I found it hard to realate and compare Duck Soup to this. These seemed like two completely different films. Only after thinking about these films for a while was I able to come up with a way to compare these films. Although How Things Work doesnt have a flat out anti war message, there are similarities with the narrative of Duck Soup. How Things Work was a chain reaction of events that led to one explosions and various mixing of chemicals. The viewer has to look at this as a chain reaction process and go back and remember what actually started it; the spinning garbage bag. This is how a comparison could be made with Duck Soup. They are both a series of events that snowballed and started a chain reaction that couldn't be stopped. In Duck Soup it was war and in How Things Work it was chemistry and physics.

Removed

My subject this week is about Removed by Naomi Uman. I thought this was quite an interesting work that we saw. It worked with a media that many consider distasteful. The pornography that she chose to use was on film and dated back from the seventies. When she removed the female figures from the film, this changed the once raunchy film into a work of art. It also changed the perspective of the viewers. The original focus on the film was on the woman for various reasons, but after Naomi carefully removed the female figures from the film the main focus of the film was gone. The dialog and the sounds of the women were still there but there was just a white void where the action was taking place. Naomi may have intended to remove the main focus of the film so that the viewer would have to focus on something else in the film that originally was just in the background. When I watched the film I still paid attention to the white void that was changing shape just because I knew that this was the part of the film that was manipulated. It kind of made me wonder what was really happening in this film. It was hard to tell by the expressions on the faces of the male characters and especially by the dialog. It just didn't seem to fit the actions of the film at times, but yet it matched up with the mouths of the characters. Naomi's unique approach to manipulating this film allowed the original focus of the film to change into a new artistic focus that doesn't allow the viewer to see the main action of the film.

Craig Baldwin Week

From the film that was watched in class on Monday, the subject I chose to write about was Negativland. I found this group to be the most interesting out of all of the artists that were shown. They had a very unique sense of music and were very original when it came to creating new ideas of art. The example that was shown in class was the manipulation of illegal radio waves and also "The letter U and the numeral two. Some may argue that these people weren't artists at all but in the eyes of Negativland they were just creating parodies when they manipulated the art of someone else and changed it to a way they liked. After doing some research on the band's web page and also their Myspace, I was able to get a feel for what Negativland was really about. They are artists who like to work with computers and the electronic media styles like radio and electronic instruments. They have various tutorials on how to set up your own electronic devices. The one I read happened to be about recording a telephone conversation or in their case a concert on the telephone. I also listened to the U2 recording that was banned from store shelves. They have posted it back on their website and now they let viewers listen to it for free. I think it is kind of silly how the management of U2 had to file a law suit against Negativland just for using part of the song in one of their recordings while making a parody of it. In a way they were performing an intervention in sound by taking something they had found and changed it according to their experimental style.But I guess that's what makes Negativland unique. They are known for stretching the boundaries and breaking the rules of copyright laws and that is their intent. At least U2 was still in their top 12 friends list on Myspace. Even after this law suit they have not given up. It looks like the band was able to record after the lawsuit was filed. They made a recording of "My Favorite Things" from the sound of music and manipulated the song by cutting and pasting different words in places that changed the message of the song entirely. I think Craig Baldwin did a great job of creating the documentary we watched in class. The way he used his own footage and mixed it with found media was very unique. The way he followed Negativland around and interviewed them allowing them to show demonstrations of performances and their radio broadcasting really was a great way to allow the two artists, Craig Baldwin and Negativland, perform interventions in both in film and sound.

Math Presentation

The presentation that James Benning gave on Monday was an interesting comparison between two different types of media. Normally I find math to be something that wasn't meant for me, it is frustrating and the concepts don't seem to make any sense. This was different with James Benning's presentation. I still didn't quite get all of the concepts that he was trying to explain but the way he mixed these mathematical equations with his own concepts and ideas seemed to make things a bit clearer. One of these examples was when he told us about the invisible numbers and then continued to say this didn't make sense to him either because that is the same as every other number. His divide by zero example was also interesting in how he actually demonstrated how it was done instead of just saying it would never work. I liked how his demonstration seemed to be about creating a systematic process, which could be applied to making art. This was given in his example with the binary scarf one of his students made. Film making can work similarly to how one would go about doing a math equation. The location and situation will not be the same every time but neither will the equation. Film making has more of a creative process behind it to me than I could ever be able to get out of math, but this could differ for other people. The relationship with the mathematician and the filmmaker is just the process and the way they organize their thoughts and approach different situations and eventually come out with a finished product. Contrary to James Benning I do not find math to be a beautiful thing, this may be because I don't understand it, but after the presentation he gave I have a new outlook at math and how it can be similar to film making.

Artist Statement

The idea I had behind my table top project was to experiment with color. My main idea was to show how colors combine with each other to create a new color. After I had gone through my demonstration and watched it on tape I realized there was more to my project than I had originally seen. I noticed how the dye hit the water and how it would gradually mix and spread throughout the entire glass. This became another element that I wanted to focus on. I also noted how the movements and placement of the glasses would be crucial in order for the viewer to see the elements I wanted them to. I wanted to have a defined process of how I would go through the demonstration since any movement that I had to place in the video that didn't need to be there would just detract from the effect I wanted to convey of mixing colors. The main idea I want to convey to the viewer is the process and the steps that were taken in order to mix the colors and eventually end up with a clash of color in the end.

Spiral Jetty

The image I chose is a picture of a canyon wall the was cut and shaped by weather. This image could be related to both Spiral Jetty and Splitting. The picture that I found is a canyon that was weathered out by water. The interesting thing is that this sculpture was created naturally with out any help from an artist. This sculpture may have taken longer to create but it still can be seen as a work similar to that of Smithson's Spiral Jetty. The major difference is that the Spiral Jetty was created by an artist who had a specific plan and wanted to show how he could create art by building and shaping nature. The Spiral Jetty took only a few years to make while the canyon took hundreds of years to make. Both these structures have changed part of nature. The Spiral Jetty can still be seen today and both these structures will remain for many years to come. What interested me about this picture was how nature creates works of art. Often it seems artists are just imitating something that has already been done by nature but they make their work unique by putting their own touch to it. It is still interesting to see how an artist like Smithson could create a natural looking structure that is as large as Spiral Jetty and have it last for over 30 years.

2/25 Response

One of the films that seemed to catch my attention the most was "My Parents Read Dreams I Have Had About Them." This may have been becuase of the subjects that were being read about or else the personalities of the characters. Neil Goldberg, who was the author of the dreams, may be responsible for what caught my attention but not all of it. He was responsible for setting up the scene, creating the dreams, and actually getting his parents to sit in front of the camera and read these dreams. This was the majority of the film. To me it seems that the little more subtle details are what caught my attention. Particularly how the characters read the dreams and also how they reacted while their spouse was reading the dreams. I noticed how the mom showed more emotion than the dad did. The moms facial expressions actually changed emotions visibly from happy to sad. The dad seemed to just hide his true emotions and think of something else.

When talking about how much control the artist had in this project, it seems that he was willing to give up control to some extent but not completely. This is because despite putting controlling factors in such as the script and the place the characters were to sit in front of the camera. He allowed his parents to do whatever they wanted to while they read the dreams. They laughed, smiled and they even showed sad emotions as well. This showed how he was willing to give up some of his control in order to get the different natural reactions out of his parents. He did give up control but I think overall he had his parents in the controlled setting that he created and he used this in order to get the emotions out of his parents.

2/18 Response

The films that Althea showed in class were quite interesting. The first film that she showed us with the girl in the forest caught my eye by how the background mixed with the lighting of the character. The background seemed real at first but the lighting on the character seemed unnatural. While I was watching this film I was thinking where this scene could have been shot becuase some of it looked realistic while the characters lighting and a few spots in the background did not.

The film Songstress was an interesting idea of having the girls sing in a natural environment. But as I was watching it I kind of felt uncomfortable during some of the performances. Maybe I just was not used to this type of film or maybe it had to do with the theater like atmosphere we watched it in. I kind of had the feeling that some of the singers should have done a couple takes and picked a better one. In our discussion we talked about exploitation. I didnt think that she was exploiting them since the girls volunteered for the job in the newspaper but maybe they should have worked on some of the details a little more before they filmed.

The next two films she showed I thought were much better A Memory Lasts Forever was a very good idea and it was going well.. until the praying/singing started. Again, I may just not be used to this but I thougt this was a bit unnatural in a film that seemed to be a realistic setting so far. I did like how Althea wrapped up her presentation with Northern. I thought this was her strongest work that she showed that day. I like the symbolism that she used with dead people and dead trees being brought back to life just like the trees they planted. The color and the setting were also very good.