Phoebe Mackenzie
Electronic Arts Polytechnic School of Art, Dunedin, New Zealand
2011-04-04
Proposal
Working title: obscurer obscure
Introduction
For my new project I would like to experiment working with different types of immersion art, I am currently looking at the history of different media technologies e.g. the camera obscurer. They have been ways to immerse or astonish the viewer in the past. I wish to create a project that is reminiscent of these technologies and use the powers of these previous inventions to immerse the audience. Not simply to entertain and immerse like they did in the past but to manipulate the viewers perspective. As with much of my work, the aesthetic manipulation of the user’s subjective sense of embodiment is central; e.g. a vulnerable position in a dark space would intentionally move the user out of a complacent objective art viewing mode and into a bodily engagement.
With my last project I used the medium of 3D with the old school 3D glasses to look at my 3D images I like how it worked with the theme the medium is the message to make a comment on society today and its social issues. I originally wanted to make my own reel for a view master but It would have taken too long with the time we given for our first project. At the moment I am considering This time I would like to make some more 3d photos but unlike the first project where I used plain un tampered photos, I would like to create my own images with heaps more detail and symbolic detail in them. My objective is to take my audience out of the mundane and take them into a space I have created that is thought provoking about their society/ and /or/ themselves, within visual culture.
Influences
“it is the function of art to renew our perception. What we are familiar with we cease to see. The writer shakes up the familiar scene, and, as if by magic, we see new meaning in it” Anias Nin
I’m influenced by theories to do with the gaze, perspective, spectacle, memory, illusion and immersion. I am particularly interested in ideas towards the panoptic gaze.
The Panopticon is a type of prison building designed by English philosopher and social theorist Jeremy Bentham in 1785. The concept of the design is to allow an observer to observe (-opticon) all (pan-) prisoners without the incarcerated being able to tell whether they are being watched, thereby conveying what one architect has called the "sentiment of an invisible omniscience."
Bentham himself described the Panopticon as "a new mode of obtaining power of mind over mind, in a quantity hitherto without example. I like how this theory shows us the power of the gaze, how we police ourselves if we think we maybe being watched. I would like to apply this theory to a social context in my art work. I am Inspired also by lacans theories on the gaze. For lacan the gaze was an issue of being and existence we constantly seek the gaze from some other person group, institution, ideology, etc in order to confirm our sense of presence outside of our selves.
In 1821 hull born artist Thomas honor climbed st pauls cathedral and built himself a nice wee crows nest and painted a 360 degree picture of London.
was influenced by a few pop artists in my last project such as Andy Warhol and Ronnie van hout I like how they deal or dealt with issues in society about the present and visual culture inparticaular this is the area I would like to focus on. I have been going to a few local exhibitions. Reuben Moss exhibition “don’t look up”..... at rice and beans was inspiring, I like how he is dealing with historical issues of the past and personal issues of the present and visions of the future. Love the reference to the Greek saying “you can never put your foot in the same stream twice.” I found Anthony McCall works with light inspiring how he plays with our perspective using darkness and piercing light to give a whole new sensory experience taking us back to the primary essence that makes sight. Also Bill Viola he is internationally recognized as one of today’s leading artists. He has been instrumental in the establishment of video as a vital form of contemporary art. Viola uses video to explore the phenomena of sense perception as an avenue to self-knowledge and Ludwig Wilding was a German artist whose work is associated with Op art and Kinetic art he plays with perception.
Practical Considerations
I would like to make my project inside a cylinder creating a space that is panoramic. I’m not sure how you r meant to get into the cylinder yet perhaps there’s a wee trap door or something that you crawl into. Once you’re in the space you stand up and at eye level there will be a panoramic 360 continuous street view that surrounds you. It will be made up of photos that I have merged through photo shop. The images main background will be made up real photos of a night time view of a familiar Dunedin street this is its setting or perspective. The photo will also have added images figures that I have photo shopped into them. So the panoramic scene will be a labyrinth of symbolic detail to be immersed in. It will sort of hopefully be reminiscent of a Google map street view but a un censored one built up of memories surreal and real, nostalgic for the lives that come and go the recognition that every instant ever photographed has vanished: the imagination is largely made up with ghosts. I want it to also be reminiscent of the Panopticon with a lacanian interpretation of the gaze. Once my person is inside the cylinder they will be surrounded by people looking at them(the majority policemen) I am interested in the power of the gaze, how we police ourselves if we think we maybe being watched. I want to take photos of policemen staring straight at you in between the police I want photos of people who represent people we care about staring straight at you. Hopefully it will create a sense of paranoia and discomfort. I will collect suitable provocative images, even making some aspects 3d. I can’t think of anything scarier than being surrounded by 3d policemen. Technically my project will be quiet hard so it will take a lot of trials. I will need some more technical research in this area like doing some tutorials in photo shop.
Bibliography/references
http://www.ivananthony.com/artists/ronnie-van-hout/
http://www.riceandbeans.org.nz/reuben-moss-dont-look-up/
http://stereoportraitproject.com/ two artists I just discovered who are doing similar things with 3d
Jamie Nimmo and Alex Fry
http://www.dali-gallery.com/html/dali.php surrealist art of Dali
http://www.fisher-price.com/fp.aspx?t=page&a=go&s=viewmaster&p=landing_flash&site=us
http://www.studio3d.com/pages/viewmaster.htm they develop view masters but it co$ts
http://www.image3d.com/celebrate/build-a-reel
Simon Penny is an Australian artist, theorist, teacher and curator in the fields of Digital Cultural Practices, Embodied Interaction, Art and Technology and Interactive Art
http://www.ace.uci.edu/penny/
wolfgang strauss and monika fleischmann
http://fleischmann-strauss.de/works.html
http://www.billviola.com/
Oliver Grau is a new-media art historian, Lecturer in Art History at Humboldt University, Berlin, visiting Professor at the Kunst Universaet Linz, leader of the German Science Foundation's project on immersive art in Berlin, and developer of the first international data base resource for virtual art.
Oliver Grau
Virtual art: from illusion to immersion, Cambridge: MIT-press,2003
Georges Melies early cinema magic tricks
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K4MnFACzKfQ
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dxB2x9QzXb0&feature=fvwrel
eyes lies and illusions: book explores the art of perceptual paradox and optical wizardry from the sixteenth to the twenty first century.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zoetrope A zoetrope is a device that produces an illusion of action from a rapid succession of static pictures
http://illusioncontest.neuralcorrelate.com/2005/ecvp-waves/ best illusions of the year contest
a few other artists
Simon Penny
an Australian artist, theorist,curator and teacher in the fields of digital cultural practices who works with, embodied interaction, art and technology and interactive art.
http://ace.uci.edu/penny/
Monika Flesischmann
"if we don't support media art and digital culture our lives will be dominated by machines"
Wolfgang strauss
a German media artist and scientist
