Hi everyone!
Here is my first version of my kilometre titled “A Kilometre in my Camaro”.
Week 2 – Make a Kilometre
Week 5 – Three Feats
Week 6 – Field Trip
On Wednesday February 15th, we headed down to Toronto for a Field Trip to visit 3 different galleries, two of them were public, one was a private gallery. We started off at Powerplant, and it had various artists on exhibit. The one that really stood out to me was by “Amartey Golding: In the Comfort of Embers”. This was a video piece with artifacts used in the video displayed in the back half of the room. Sitting in the dark, watching such a powerful video on a large scale screen with the intense music had made an impact and really drew my attention. Golding’s work was so beautiful to me and all I could think about the rest of the trip was his exhibit!
Moving forward we stooped to get lunch at Kensington Market for a break, which was s cut a fun stop! We were really lucky that it was so nice out that day…
Next we went to TPW and we experienced an audio piece. It is originally a 2 hour piece, although we did not listen to the entire piece, the excerpts we heard were amazing. They had 4 speakers in each corner of the room and we were welcomed to sit, lay, stand, whatever you felt comfortable to listen to the piece. I found that as I played on the giant bean bag chair I got so immersed to the sound that I started to zone out. Then came on a piece of four women who snag in unison and harmonized, as it continued I got more hypnotized to the voices to the point that I couldn’t lie down as I started to doze off. It was amazing because I never thought I would like audio work, but seeing it in a gallery and getting to experience it made such a difference. We made a quick stop next door to the Daniel Faria Gallery and it had on display a few Mark Lewis videos, which were really interesting to watch as they both had no sound. Seeing a video work with no audio made you view the story more clearly in an intentional way and almost come up with your own narrative to what the people in the videos may be talking about.
Overall, the field trip was a great experience to see art in the real world and see what we have been talking about in class. It has definitely made me want to go to galleries more consistently to experience this art.
Week 8 – Audio Art
For my audio art, I had a lot of trouble trying to decide what I wanted to do. I originally over complicated it and wanted to create a sound piece that honestly is above my skill level. The more I thought about it, I wanted something that was fun to create and experiment with. I came across the idea of incorporating myself and friends in the audio piece as it would make it more fun and real, I just had to come up with an idea of how to do that. I liked the idea of having a word or a phrase said in different ways and thus the idea was born. My room mate was having her birthday party that weekend and it was disco themed. I thought that it the best atmosphere to interview people, you have people who are mostly in a happy mood and their attention and clarity at a party would definitely…differ, depending on who you are talking to. So, I had my microphone ready and I went around asking people to say a quote, knowing some would be familiar with it and others wouldn’t have a clue. I asked them to say “Groovy, Baby!” in whatever way they chose, however they wanted. Now some of my friends knew that this is from Austin Power’s, but other gave me a weird look as to why I asked them to say this. For context I gave instructions to each person, “Say the quote however you interpret it” and “I’m gonna hold the microphone here, don’t move your head at all, just stay still”. Some people had great listening skills….others did not (of course). So I still kept those hiccups in, because in the end that is how the person said it and they kept it real. I thought it gave a proper representation of what the arty atmosphere can look like interns of people’s energy levels and the level they can follow instructions at, in the moment. I appreciate that you can hear the enthusiasm in people’s voices, the confusion, the attitude and overall the curiosity of why I am asking them to do this in the middle of a house party.
Week 10 – Conceptual Portrait
For my conceptual portrait, I chose to compile my memories, artifacts, and pictures from my concert journey starting in 2013, that is still continuing. Although I used my personal belongings for this project, it speaks to a larger idea of the portrait of a fan. Ranging from the very start of a concert-goers journey you can see that the first artifact is a physical ticket, which is not so common any more (and we see this change as the concerts move on). Throughout the pages we see how they differ in terms of number of photos, if there were any [physical artifacts like a t-shirt, confetti, buttons, signs and more. Every page shows an experience and although they are different, they have a common theme that there is a sense of euphoria when attending a concert, it is a core memory filled with joy and excitement. It properly displays the portrait of a fan that not all pictures are clean and clear, you are always at different angles from the stage, and the feeling that the attendance of a concert is to have the experience of being there. I found that this conceptual portrait embodies myself as it is my personal experiences, but any concert-goer can relate as they understand the nostalgia and the memories. This conceptual portrait spoke to a larger audience as you see what the attendee sees and from their point of view and the items collected.
Week 12 – Artist Multiple
For the artist multiple, I chose to create a project surrounding the photos I have taken of the CN Tower. For years, I have been taking photos of the CN Tower when ever I visit Toronto, whether that is for work, adventures, or for a day out. This piece represents the many views there are of the CN Tower in different season and different times of the day. We can see close up shots, views from far away, night or day, and the tower lit up or not. These buttons have a sense of being a tourist getting a piece of memorabilia from Toronto, even though they are simply just a personal collection of photos. I was inspired to do a piece where each piece is related to one another, but slightly different in its own way. These pins can be worn with two together, one alone, or all at once, and is meant to be taken as a keep sake of the most recognizable part of the City of Toronto.
Tattoo and Button Party!
What a great semester this was! It was so fun to have a party for the last day where I got the chance to be tattooed by the Experimental 2 class (and I looked really tough by the end of the day with all of the tattoos), and to trade buttons with everyone in the class! Here are some fun photos from the day!
