Week 5

WEDNESDAY

Discuss field trip:

Maria Ezcurra, Passing (2022) is an installation of recovered and deconstructed shoes inviting viewers to navigate a space filled with bird silhouettes. Maria juxtaposes these comforting flying figures with deconstructed shoes to symbolize the resilience and vulnerability of migrant populations. Doing so, the artist highlights intricate connections between migration journeys and various aspects of life, including the environment, economy, society, and politics. (From the TBA website)
Raven Chacon – Three Songs (2021) is a three-channel video installation that explores a history of Native resistance and questions the myth of an uninhabited American West. In the video, Indigenous women appear singing in their languages and playing instruments while they occupy historical sites of massacres, violence, and the forced displacement of tribal peoples. The work features Sage Bond (Diné), Jehnean Washington (Yuchi) and Mary Ann Emarthle (Seminole) who sung in their native tongue a history of resistance on the Trail of Tears, the Navajo Long Walk, and the forced expulsion of the Seminole. (From TBA website)

https://www.naomirincongallardo.net/sonnet_of_vermin.html

In Sonnet of Vermin, a legion of unwanted creatures related to the Mesoamerican underworld attempt to syntonize with one another and with the dead in the midst of a planetary cataclysm. The vermin are unspecific animals who are asociated with negative aspects, damage or destruction. A bat broadcasts frequencies from a tomb with the help of a funerary bundle/radio. A group of frogs/children are paranormal cyborgian amphibians who have adapted to toxicity and they demand another fix of cyanide. A twisted scorpion is a bad omen who claims for the right of infection. A snake sheds her skin while she announces the transformation of the cycles. A telluric alligator devours all what she finds on her way. A brigade of arms insists on raising from the earth. All of them seek for a subaltern solidarity and queer relationality as a form of re-existance within the ruins. (from the artist’s website)

Leila Zelli (@leila.zelli) is a Montreal-based artist born in Tehran whose work explores the relationship that we have with the ideas of “others” and “elsewhere” and, more specifically, within the geopolitical space often referred to by the questionable term “Middle East.” ⁠⁠She creates in situ digital installations using existing images, videos, and texts often found on the Internet. With the resulting visual and sound experiences, she creates an opportunity for viewers to reflect on the state of the world, their relationship with the Other, and the actual effect of our actions on humanity. ⁠⁠Leila will be presenting Pourquoi devrais-je m’arrêter ?(Why should I stop?) (2020-21), a video installation shown on two screens. The work pays tribute to the resilience of Iranian women who defy the ban on practicing Varzesh-e Bâstâni in public, a traditional form of athletics. (from the Toronto Biennial of Art)

REMINDERS – You should have your KM work with notes, your reading notes for the Poppilotti Rist article, and a short blog post describing some of the work you saw at the Field Trip.

Studio video recording for today’s groups

Discussions of footage, editing, and work in progress with Diane

Wednesday

*Final Cut Pro Editing demonstration with Nathan – bring your footage!

Work time in class

Consultations on editing*

*Show work in progress – I will be discussing with each group.

Week 4

MONDAY

No class meeting in lieu of FIELD TRIP Friday Sept. 27th – 9:30am – 6pm

Due: FIELD TRIP BLOG POST

WEDNESDAY

Due: Videos BRAINSTORM – present ideas with your group in a roundtable

Work in progress

Studio bookings for Friday

9:30 – 11:30

11:30 – 1:30

1:30 – 3:30

3:30- 5:30

Bookings for MONDAY in class:

Class meeting and discussion of field trip videos

Close up studio: 3- 5

Wide studio: 3- 5

Close up studio 5 – 7

Wide studio 5 – 7

Week 2 – Liv

Pour Your Own Body Out

This interactive piece is 7354 cubic meters. Its purpose is for the audience to bring their body into this studio to watch and feel what they see. They are allowed to treat it as their own space, to sing or dance if they please. In the middle of this studio there is a circle of couches and in the middle of them are speakers. Along the walls are projections, that consist of many blues, greens, and reds. Their overall theme seems to be connected with nature. The video projections include one human, one pig, a snake, and worms. The videos seem to have been recorded in a choppy way as if they were recorded for filler parts of a film, focusing on small elements like the worms or grass with a steady hand moving slowly along the images. The music and video have a slight surreal type of feel to it mixed with nostalgia.

Rist VS Tiktok

Rist shows a lot of self-expression in her pieces. Both her and modern videos on Tiktok align with the idea for the audience to explore their theme of identity exploration, to see and feel things that they typically would not experience otherwise. They also both have a sense of community, for TikTok, it consists of things such as trends and shared experiences through videos. While for Rist it is about bringing a crowd to experience her work. For example, the piece Pour Your Body Out creates a sense of community by bringing all of these different people to experience the visuals, music, and overall vibe of her work.

Experiment

I wore my shirt inside out for a whole day. Feelings of insecurity and anxiety filled me as my brain tricked me into thinking that everyone was looking at me. As if they knew that something was off. In reality, many people did not tend to notice, they did not even bat an eye. Even if strangers did realize they did not act on it, they probably had better things to do with their time. I met up with 4 friends that day. Out of the four only one noticed and told me so I was aware that my shirt was backwards. I guess that it would also make a difference in what type of shirt I would wear backward, the one I had on was a plain black tee, so it may have been hard to tell that it was on the wrong way as the only indicators were small seams and the tag on my back. What I got from this experiment is that even though you may feel embarrassed about what others think of you, you should not really care as you will only see them for a part of the day and perhaps never again.