Interactive research PROJECT 3

http://www.proyecto-biopus.com.ar/biopus_eng/index.html

http://www.lygiaclark.org.br/defaultING.asp

http://www.martaminujin.com/

http://www.pbs.org/art21/artists/turrell/clip1.html

http://www.queerculturalcenter.org/Pages/FelixGT/FelixIndex.html

Physical video research + sketches

ARTISTS

Marina Ambramovic
http://marinaabramovicinstitute.org/exhibition.html

Nam June Paik
http://www.paikstudios.com/

Assume Vivid Astro Focus
http://www.cheapcream.com/

Graciela Sacco
http://www.gracielasacco.net/video_e.html

Jorge Macchi
http://jorgemacchi.com/eng/obras_1.htm#

Tech excercise

Programs 4/1

Boe-Bot program
' {$STAMP BS2} ' Stamp directive.
' {$PBASIC 2.5} ' PBASIC directive.

'-----[ Title ]--------------------------------------------------------------
'Robotics with the Boe-Bot - RoamingWithWhiskers.bs2
'Boe-Bot uses whiskers to detect objects, and navigates around them.

DEBUG " Progam Running!"
'-----[ Variables ]----------------------------------------------------------

pulseCount VAR BYTE ' FOR....NEXT LOOP counter.

'-----[ Initialization ]-----------------------------------------------------

FREQOUT 4, 2000, 3000 'Signal program start/reset.

'-----[ Main Routine ]-----------------------------------------------------

DO
IF (IN5 = 0) AND (IN7 = 0) THEN 'Both whiskers detect obstacle
GOSUB Back_Up 'Back up & U-turn (Left twice)
GOSUB Turn_Left
GOSUB Turn_Left
ELSEIF (IN5 = 0) THEN 'Left whisker contacts
GOSUB Back_Up 'Back up & turn right
GOSUB Turn_Right
ELSEIF (IN7 = 0) THEN 'Right whisker contacts
GOSUB Back_Up 'Back up & turn left
GOSUB Turn_Left
ELSE 'Both whiskers 1, no contacts
GOSUB Forward_Pulse 'Apply a forward pulse
ENDIF 'and check again
LOOP


'-----[ Subroutines ]-------------------------------------------------------
Forward_Pulse: ' Send a single forward pulse.
PULSOUT 13, 850
PULSOUT 12, 650
PAUSE 20
RETURN

Turn_Left: 'Left turn, about 90-degrees.
FOR pulseCount = 0 TO 20
PULSOUT 13, 650
PULSOUT 12, 650
PAUSE 20
NEXT
RETURN
Turn_Right:
FOR pulseCount = 0 TO 20 'Right turn, about 90 degrees.
PULSOUT 13, 850
PULSOUT 12, 850

PAUSE 20
NEXT
RETURN

Back_Up: 'Back up.
FOR pulseCount = 0 TO 40
PULSOUT 13, 650
PULSOUT 12, 850
PAUSE 20
NEXT
RETURN

Marina Abramović: The Artist Is Present

In traditional instances, an artist is present in their name plaque next to their work. Marina Abramovic is integrated into her work so that human presence and art are inseparable. Using minimalist aesthetic, Abramovic establishes a poetic discourse about the pain of existing merely through the body. In the second floor space Abramovic invited spectators to silently sit across from her for as long as they can stand sitting. The intensity of this work is provided by multiple layers of psychology. First, the artist´s ´presence´ as indicated by the title of the show. Second, the invitation to engage with the artist at an intimate table amongst the voyeuristic audience. Abramovic wears a traditional and modest draping blue dress setting her apart from the overtly american fashions of the audience as she stares at them as if they were in an intense conversation.

The upstairs galleries were equally as compelling as the first. The first nude performer that I saw was displayed on a wall high above the spectators. She was still but occasionally blinked reminding you that she too breathes. It made me think about female representation through the age; as an object of the male gaze. Not only was the female present in this work, but she stares back. She is just like you, sweating, breathing and blinking. I gazed at her and felt impolite. It would be interesting to see how audiences around the world respond to these nude figures. Usually I don´t fear nudity, but put up to Abramovics nudes I was unsure about how to interact with them. Walking through the nudes in the doorway I found myself rushing through and squeezing my shoulders into my body as not to rub up against them.

Abramovic´s use of Memento Mori throughout her work was intriguing. The videos of a skeleton being compulsively scrubbed clean references the mechanized work ethic of the living next to a reminder of imminent death. Also, the nude with a skeleton lying on top of her was a beautiful juxtaposition. As she breathed the skeleton gently moved.
Using simplistic means Abramovic complexly layers meaning into a show that I will never forget.

New Media @ The Whitney Biennial

There were several artists that utilized new media at the 2010 Whitney Biennial. Kate Gilmore integrates physical sculpture into her video. She constructed a room big enough to house only her body. In her video she is kicking through the rigid walls. She wears a polka dot dress and high heels making it a quite obvious feminist statement while she punctures the bare masculine walls. The idea reminds me a bit of Pipilotti Rist and her lollipop smashing car video. I like the performative aspect of this video; that the artist physically destroyed her work from the inside out, also the remaining structure was attractive. Prescribing the philosophy that art should move forward, I do not think she evoked something beyond her predecessors in video and performance. Maybe that was the point. With that in mind I still think Gilmores work using of new media was probably one of the more successful.

In Jesse Aaron Green utilizes the history of minimalism in association to the male form. Upon sixteen wooden Juddish squares sixteen spandex clad men stretch in accordance to a text that is read to them. The room is bare, furthering its minimalist implication. I´m interested in the notion of exercising or preparing for some unknown battle or physical challenge in relation to the stark square. I wish there was a bit more here to draw from, perhaps more historical reference.

Ari Marcopoulos uses the wall and screen technique to look into my little brothers playroom...just kidding. I quickly lost interest. Its not that I don´t like little boys or improvisational music, its just that it doesn´t transcend anything beyond a feedback ridden jam session. I think there are better ways of executing whatever this artist was trying to convey, an interest in pre-pubescent boys and playtime needs a little more explanation.

Daniel Rozin at Bitforms Chelsea

I arrived at 529 West 20th a Chelsea building filled with galleries not knowing what to expect. I was looking for Bitforms, a gallery dedicated to digital artwork. As I perused around the building I saw many spaces that featured video art and other multimedia works. When I finally found the gallery I encountered two works by Daniel Rozin. The first work I experienced was Rust Mirror. I stepped onto a gravel platform and walked towards a panel gridded by earth-toned squares. The crunching of the gravel heightened the delicate interaction between myself and the panel. As my body swayed and my weight shifted the wooden gridded squares flapped according to my movements. Every movement I made a different combination of rectangles flapped making me even more hyper aware of my body.

I suppose the second work was out of commission. What looked like blinds in a gridded format but it didn´t respond to movement like Rust Mirror. I think it might have been off?
I read that there was supposed to be a third but it was nowhere to be found

After seeing the show I did some research on Rozin´s work and I found this quote in his artist statement.

“Logically speaking, the grid extends, in all directions, to infinity. Any boundaries imposed upon it by a given painting or sculpture can only be seen – according to this logic – as arbitrary. By virtue of the grid, the given work of art is presented as a mere fragment, a tiny piece arbitrarily cropped from an infinitely larger fabric. Thus the grid operates from the work of art outward, compelling our acknowledgement of a world beyond the frame.”
– Rosalind Krauss, Grids, 1978

His use of the grid reminded of Gabriel Orozco who I had just seen at The MoMa.
In both artists work I enjoyed the pairing of geometrical and mathematical shapes that correspond to organic forms and notions.