MONDAY
“No audience, no player, no composition: this popcorn controlled robotic drumset is the most hygenic and the random performance I ever built. All sounds are triggered by popcorn, sensed by piezo elements, converted to MIDI, transferred to a robotic system and played live on drums without the interference of a human composer.” Text from: / moritzsimongeist
LECTURE: VIDEO ART ABOUT OUR PARENTS
ASSIGNMENT:
Make VIDEO ART involving your PARENTS*
Videos may be up to 10 minutes MAX. They may include original and/or found footage.
Ideas and work in progress must be discussed in class before critiques. See schedule for details.
Consider your parents. You may choose to work with one or many of the individuals that are your parents.
*No need to panic. This does not have to literally be your mother or father – you may work with the idea of parents, with remembered parents, with other people’s parents, with dream parents. Interpret this theme as widely as needed. You may also be a parent – and want to explore what the role means to you – and work with your children. It’s up to you.
Who are your parents? What are the quirks that distinguish them? What is your relationship with them like? What are their relationships like with others? What are they into? Who were they in the past vs. the present? What are their strengths and their weaknesses? Do they understand what you do? Do you understand what they do? Think about what you want to discover, or bring out about your parents, and/or your relationships. Think about something really unlikely for your parents to do. How do the attributes and concerns about your parents reflect truths about you or your family? What do your parents or relationships reveal about the wider world, and not just about you?
You may consider tools and formal techniques*:
Interviews
Voice-overs
Using still photographs
Truth vs Fiction
Documentary style observation
Use of sound/music/dancing
Taking your parents by surprise
Instructions for parents to perform
Task for you to perform with your parents
Performances by non-actors
Working remotely with parents
Absence of parents
Past vs. Present
Using found video/film/audio
Look at the works of these Artists:
Michelle Pearson Clarke
Basil Alizeri
Janine Antoni
Gillian Wearing
Jim Verburg
Lyla Rye
Evergon
Sarah Polley
Patty Chang
Aleesa Cohene
Steve Reinke
Aislinn Thomas
Mona Hatoum
Lee Walton
Rajnar Kartansson
Adad Hannah
Sheilagh Restack
Lenka Clayton
Kelly O’Brien
Tommy Kha
*Reminder: Always create works that are safe and respectful for you and others at all times. Discuss your ideas with the instructor.
WEDNESDAY
We will watch some of the final (snow day) videos and discuss them together.
Discussion of Parents ideas together in class.
All work from weeks 1-6 DUE on BLOG including:
- Banner assignment and notes
- Notes on Neil Postman reading
- Presentation for Internet video
- Work in progress for Internet video
- Field Trip notes
- Internet Video piece
- Response to Bridget Moser’s video My Crops Art Dying but my Body Persists
- Detailed comments on blog posts of 3 classmates