Kilometre

I decided to represent a kilometre by writing the word metre 1000 times on tape and creating a new role of what could be considered “measuring tape” (1 kilometre=1000 metres). The kilometre itself is not made up of numbers or other units of measurement, but rather of words. The process of this constant action of writing one word over and over until the desired results took approximately 2.5 hours with no breaks. The conclusion I came to with this task was that writing a metre 1000 times takes up 2 rolls of tape and a lot of time. The task itself is tedious and happens within a state of zoning out. The writing on the tape shows the passing of time as my writing gets more sloppy or has grammatical mistakes. The word “metre” sounds weird to me after completing this art. The constant spelling of a word, a single thing taking up so much space in the mind, it weakens the word after a while. Multiple times it had me questioning is this how its actually spelt?

Pipilotti Rist

Question: Post an image from one of Rist’s videos that you are most interested in. Summarize the action of the video. Who is performing, and how? Describe the images – including framing, colours, and movement. How did she shoot and edit the video? Describe the sound and how it interacts/enhances/competes with the images. How is it installed in a gallery – in terms of projection/scale/presentation in a context of other things? How does the work strike you?

The video “The 4th Floor to Mildness” is an interactive video which was played at a museum and gave the viewer an experience like no other. This work immersed the viewer into an underwater world and allowed them to relax and feel as if they had become a part of the art. Two screens hang from the ceiling beside each other displaying videos of underwater scenes and showing the movement of water, plants and other living things. The sound of the ocean (water moving) plays in the background as a sense of peace and relaxation falls upon the room. The viewers focus on what is happening on the screens from a lying position as the room is filled with beds of different shapes, colours and sizes. I found this piece to be interesting to me because I found it quite endearing and peaceful to watch. I am a person who finds the ocean to be disturbing and quite frankly scary sometimes. I feel like Reist’s own perspective which she shared gives me a new feeling about the idea of the ocean and lets me see the other side of the sometimes unnerving waters, that sometimes it is peaceful and relaxing.

Rist has had a long career in video art making – how do you relate it to the kinds of video that you might see all the time on Tik Tok or You Tube, in our time? Reflect on her performances and also – on her ideas (particularly about women’s bodies, and sexuality, exposure, behaving strangely or subversively…) and how they play out from examples in her works. 

Rist has a unique way of making videos in order to send a message or get people to think. I definitely think that her videos, or just style in general relate to some videos on the internet, especially in the modern day. People have become more open with their creativity, thoughts and actions on the internet and allow themselves to be who they are without shame. I’ve definitely witnessed creators trying to create videos that can sometimes look weird or disturbing, especially on TikTok. It reminds me of those videos where people don’t talk much, but whisper to the camera and make faces without caring if they look attractive or proper. I find videos like this to be more interesting because it is different from the norm and usually create an impact. it’s similar to Rist, she just does, without caring what others think or how they perceive her because it’s her art and her creation no one elses.

Experiment: While still at school – put on your sweater/shirt INSIDE OUT. How does this change how you feel? Is it changing how other’s are treating you? If you can wear your sweater/shirt inside out all day – make a few notes about the results of this very small change in your presentation in public. Is this a performance? Why?

wearing clothing inside out or backward is something everyone has probably done accidentally at some point in their life. it is an inevitability and sometimes goes unnoticed, but when noticing what happened, it is often followed by embarrassment about not looking proper and how others might have perceived them throughout the day. Putting on clothing the wrong way on purpose just feels wrong overall. In my mind, clothes are meant to be worn a certain way and I would have never done it on my own on purpose because, who does that? But when I did it, it wasn’t so bad. the world didn’t end, nothing bad happened and the clothing looked pretty much the same except for seeing some seams and tags that would usually be on the inside. I didn’t really mind or care, its just clothes overall.

3 Feats- Video assignment

For this video assignment Sal and I decided to focus on the subject of “cake”. In each video we preform an action using the cake that in one way or another is “unnatural”. In our loop, Sal and I sat on the ground while we dig into a cake, ripping it apart and eating it with our hands. For our one shot, Sal sits in front of an already destroyed cake (from the previous animalistic eating) and eats very proper with a fork and knife. The final video, I sit with a cake with candles and after I blow them out, smash my face into the frosting and sit and stare at the camera. The videos provide contrast with one another as its the 2 opposite ends of the spectrum of eating, fancy and animalistic. It was interesting to work with this subject because cake is a thing that usually reminds me of parties or birthdays and fun and happiness. So it becomes a bit odd that 1 or 2 people (depending on the video) are just sitting in this blank white room with a birthday cake and exhibiting odd behaviours. Overall, I had fun creating these videos it was a great learning experience despite all the frosting getting stuck in my hair.

Audio Assignment

“What are your last words”. A common phrase that is emphasized within life, books, and movies and is often remembered and cherished. Often the person tells people they love them, reveals some kind of secret, or new information which changes the direction of the story entirely. But, what about those who don’t get the moment to say those words? In horror movies, the victims often don’t get the chance to utter touching last words, because it’s a horror movie, it doesn’t matter. But what if there was an emphasis on those words, what would it sound like? I compiled audio clips from the movie “Scream” of each character’s last words before dying, allowing one to pay more attention and hear the final things uttered before death. In the end, it became a bit comical, as the words weren’t sincere or loving or important. Often the character is scared or just says something dumb before their death. But it became interesting because the emphasis suddenly made it something to think about. It begs the question, are the final words still so important when it suddenly isn’t so nice and heartfelt?

Conceptual Portrait

My home, Goodbye.

This is a conceptual portrait of my childhood home which me and my family will be moving out of soon. Each of these images holds great importance to me, even if they seem insignificant. A once-new house now holds hundreds of memories engraved in its structure. It has seen all stages of life from when I was a small child and now an adult, having to say goodbye. We have lived in this home for 14 years, and it is a home, not just a house, even when we are long gone. I wanted to focus on parts of the house that I won’t be able to take with me, parts that may seem simple, but I will miss. They hold deep memories of loss, happiness, and anger, reminding me of the ones I love and the simplicity of childhood joy. It feels as if all that child-like excitement and wonder has left an impression, an impact, and is now being left alone, with no one but me remembering the significance of it all. All of these things combined create a sort of portrait of not only my life, but the life of my family who lived here and all grew together. It’s sad, I won’t see these things anymore or be reminded of a hundred memories with just a glance. But all things end and fade away, and I’m excited for the new stage of life, to make new memories, and to transform a different house into a home.

My home, the place where I have grown and lived for most of my life, my final goodbye.

Buttons Buttons

Dreams

For the final assignment, I made buttons based on dreams. I’ve always found dreams interesting, how everyone can have the same dreams and the events that occur in my own dreams. It is interesting to think about. Why do so many people have the same/ similar dreams? What do they mean? How do we know what is real and what is a dream? I decided to do each button based on common dreams that people have. Flying, falling in love, choking, teeth falling out, being naked, and being chased. For each button I created a design that represents each of these dreams, with text following that says different phrases such as “It’s a dream”, “this is a dream”, “it’s just a dream”, “Is This a dream?”, and “It’s not a dream”. As the buttons progress, the dream turns into a nightmare, and you question if you are actually dreaming, or if this is real. The buttons can be put together to show a kind of story or be alone as a statement to make people think about dreaming and reality. I wanted these buttons to be something that was colourful and soft, it was inspired by my own dreaming process where everything is similar to reality but more chaotic and colourful. I feel like these buttons are a statement piece that catches attention through the colour, and then provides a layer of deeper thinking.