Crit Response

I think critique was okay. Overall I didn't enjoy this project. It did give us more freedom but I wish it didn't have to be fluxus inspired. I think everyone did okay. Everything just kind of had a "random" feel to it. Which I personally dislike, but that may be others people thing. I guess it's just harder when we have 100% creative control. I'd rather have a little guidance.

I think I may enjoy the final project more, yes, we have the same creative control but the whole "installation" part I'm just excited for :) I know how I want the audience to feel and I have a clear idea of where my video will go to create this.

Overall I think my feedback was understandable. If I redo this project I will use everyones feedback and use more of the clips with my friend "Beri," take out the bloopers, and simplify the titles.

The only thing I was confused about was when my bloopers were critiqued. I'll just take them out all together if I redo. Also, I'm not sure if I'll "clean" the space we used to shoot in. It was a dorm. It may have been distracting but it was the little ounce of the video that had a "everyday" life feel to it.

If we have time I may take Scarlett on her offer and use her if I redo the video :)

Overall I'm glad I changed my project from what I had initially. I didn't want to rely on people I didn't know for a response that I expected. I was happy with the outcome of my new idea.

Crit Response

I don't have too much to say other than critique went well!  It was rewarding to hear my classmate's positive input on the risks I took for the experiment video.  The ideation, creating, and presenting process for this project was something we all seemed to have fun with, which I feel showed through everyone's work.  I'm the geek that looks forward to critiques, because it's great to see everyone's approach to the project guidelines, and insightful to hear whether your intended message came across.  Based upon the feedback, it seems like people understood my message, which was really meaningful, because it is so easy to be polarized about the beauty issue, and make it feel overdone.

Experiment Video: Chemical Make-Up

Chemical Make-Up is a video striving to shed light on makeup’s power in society, and bring attention to women’s ritual to abstract and cover her face, rather than pressure my audience to feel a certain way about makeup.  Although makeup is a part of so many people’s daily lives, I feel like many people do not bother to consider beauty’s pervasive influence, and do not consider that the reason they are applying makeup may be due to subconscious societal pressures felt since birth.  We may experience the pressure of not feeling “beautiful enough” with media serving as a constant reminder of today’s standards of beauty, but I do not think we recognize how far we will go.  The audience is allowed to process this information, and then decide on their own how they feel about the subject. The makeup gains a personality of its own in the video, since I chose not to photograph the act of using my hands to apply the makeup, giving the illusion that it’s applying itself.  I found my sound through a collection of tutorials, celebrity interviews, makeup commercials and gossip TV, such as Fashion Police.  Each serves an important purpose individually, but together, all of them point to the idealized and glitzy people society defines as beautiful.  For example, it was important to me to include makeup commercials and interviews with celebrities about their makeup routines, because we idolize them.  Even though Hollywood and magazines are known for being fabricated, airbrushed worlds, we try to bring that into our own lives, so this video focuses on what makeup covers up.  The sound includes people from multiple countries and multiple generations, and in most cases, there is a dialogue between the sound clips that symbolizes recycled beauty ideas since makeup’s conception.

    The video’s indoor apartment setting served to imitate a common setting for makeup tutorials.  But I was careful to keep every surface (wall, table) empty to create a formal environment that echoes a staged photograph or painting in a studio, which is reinforced by the video’s use of still images. The still-images and stationary camera angle provides a timeline from the beginning of the look, to after the makeup’s removal.  The viewer can observe the change in face shape and posture, but the passage of time and changing light is especially noticeable through photographs.  The beginning of the video has an abundance of natural light, but the light is yellow by the end.  The sunset and I gradually turned on more lights in my room, the increasingly artificial light mirroring the increasingly artificial face. I chose to call it Chemical Make-Up to play on the idea of the chemicals we are naturally made-up of and the chemicals we smear on our face in the form of make-up.

Project 4 Sample

Here is a quick sample of my project 4 at the link below. Right now I have 10 minutes and I'm trying to figure out how to reduce it. I initially had 30 minutes. Marina Abramovic's "Freeing of the Voice" and "Freeing of the Voice" are similar to what I'm going for. I have some parts that are quick like the video sample with just the individual but I have other parts where it is more of a conversation. I feel like it is "Freeing of Negative Energy." I have footage with me in it as well. Any advice? Also, more of my thought process is on a recent post in the blog. I used youtube so it would upload quickly. Here is the video link:

http://youtu.be/sVaVjFR9_Ww

Project 4 - Update

I've changed my idea again, yeah I know crazy but I think my new idea is a bit more enjoyable on my end. I changed it mainly because I've been sick and the whole "what is your first impression of me" would not work because just about everyone would say I look tired and sick etc.

I've been looking for different inspiration and right now Marina Abramovic's video have been inspiring me. The first three videos are what I've been interested in. It's coming to the end of the semester, everything is happening fast. It's getting really stressful and so many thoughts start running through your head. For the performance my friends and I will be letting out all of the negative energy, yelling and screaming out thoughts as they come to us. We will go through our normal day but we won't let this energy build up. 

Tomorrow I have no class so my friends and I will be finishing up the recording and I'll post a a quick sample of it. Marina Abramovic's "Freeing of the Voice" and "Freeing of the Voice" are similar to what I'm going for. I decided to say the "negative" thoughts because with this video being so short I wanted to focus on one specific thing. To me once we start saying things I will edit it so the "chaotic" words will flow with each other and seem a bit poetic or hypnotic in a way.

Project 4 - Update

Okay so I'm feeling better about this project now that I have a clear idea. I feel better because I'm not questioning myself as much and I also get to have that audience participation that I want. Remember my artist inspiration is Yoko Ono especially her "Cut Piece" performance. Right now I'm still planning everything to make sure I capture the right moment. I'm planning the camera angles, places I will record, questions about myself that I want my audience to answer, how I will act during the performance. As a reminder I want strangers to write on sticky notes their first impression of me and then place the sticky note on my body. I want to have the planning down before I go out there to do the performance, without preparation I may not have the outcome that I want. I'm making sure everything is in place so this project and performance will be successful.

Fluxus Art

Unlike previous artistic movements, Fluxus sought to change the history of the world, not just the history of art. The persistent goal of most Fluxus artists was to destroy any boundary between art and life. George Maciunas especially wanted to, "purge the world of bourgeoisie sickness...." He stated that Fluxus was "anti-art," in order to underscore the revolutionary mode of thinking about the practice and process of art.

A central Fluxus tenet was to dismiss and mock the elitist world of "high art" and to find any way possible to bring art to the masses, much in keeping with the social climate of the 1960s. Fluxus artists used humor to express their intent and, along with Dada, Fluxus was one of the few art movements to use humor throughout history. Despite their playful attitude, Fluxus artists were serious about their desire to change the balance of power in the art world. Their irreverence for "high art" had an impact on the perceived authority of the museum to determine what, and who, constituted "art."

Fluxus art involved the viewer, relying on the element of chance to shape the ultimate outcome of the piece. The use of chance was also employed by Dada,Marcel Duchamp, and other performance art of the time, such as Happenings. Fluxus artists were most heavily influenced by the ideas of John Cage, who believed that one should embark on a piece without having a conception of the eventual end. It was the process of creating that was important, not the finished product.

"In Fluxus there has never been any attempt to agree on aims or methods; individuals with something unnamable in common have simply naturally coalesced to publish and perform their work. Perhaps this common thing is a feeling that the bounds of art are much wider than they have conventionally seemed, or that art and certain long established bounds are no longer very useful."

http://www.theartstory.org/movement-fluxus.htm

Project 4 Ideas

YOKO ONO CUT PIECE by TECHNOLOGOS

For my experiment video I am most inspired by Yoko Ono. Specifically her performance art. Above is a simple performance piece that she did where she let random people in the audience cut her clothes off.  She said that "if half the people didn't get up and leave during the performance than she was not doing it right." This is because she wanted to create some type of emotion in the audience. She wanted them to react even if it was in a simple way. I'm also intrigued by her personal life with her daughter going missing and than of course her and John Lennon, she was a very interesting person to learn about.

Of course I'm not going to let people cut off my clothes but I'm thinking about doing a very short performance that will somehow make people react. I'm quiet sure what the performance will be. I'm still questioning and brainstorming. Like all familiar things can be abnormal and surreal, but how?

Fluxus movement started around the 1960s and had a dadaist attitude. I also have a big interest in the artist who use mixed-media and humor in their work. This movement was the anti-art. Fluxus encouraged a "'do-it-yourself' aesthetic, and valued simplicity over complexity." This is the route I want to go with my work.

I had ideas right now both involving self degradation or self degrading thoughts and screaming them out loud in a public place. But Su help inspire me to simplify it into just screams. Me with help from my friends will go into public places like the grocery store, bus, turlington, etc. and just simply scream. These are everyday places that I go to and I will try to experience then in a new light. I am really interested in peoples reaction. Yes, I know people might think I'm crazy but I'm really excited to make this project. I will also explore how each crowds reactions are different. I will use multiple cameras and people to help me bring this project to life.