Not completely figured out, and no precise measurements for the basin bracing, but these two frames have the same outer extents as the bottom frame. The top part of the interior structure has over 1600 lbs of material (wood, water, etc). And so, there will be at least 1 beam of L-bracket steel bracing across the middle, shown in ‘shaded perspective view underside’. The basin part will have bracing and the facing will be laser etched acrylic. Or something. I have to figure out the polycarbonate sheet (4′x4′x1/2″), probably needs to be secured somehow. Oy vey, this is a big jobby bob. Ordering wood to arrive on Thurs, and then this will start being built!

Shaded perspective view, side, with studs:

Shaded perspective view, top:

Shaded perspective view underside:

Wireframe perspective view underside:

Worked all day yesterday to get wood, cut it, and then glue/screw it together. Worked all day because there were 3 other things also happening (shopping at Home Depot, making plans for the slope structure with Matt Richard and Mike Kelberman, press release stuff…). Thanks to Aki Sasamoto for working with me on this!

The frame for the base of the interior structure, made of 2×4, glue and 3″ screws.

All 45˚ angles, screwed together.

Not screwed down yet, and not waterproofed.

Next up is the stud walls starting Saturday. I’ll be ordering from some place outside of the city to make sure it’s CHEAP. Yes. Also need to finish the top part with the cistern. Partially designed, but need measurements and deets.

Now I can make this. Tomorrow! Soon measurements for the top two frames where the water basin is. Maybe I can add in the other stuff (audio, video, lights, plumbing, entries, exits etc) as drawings over these diagrams on paper.

Breakthrough on the solenoid valve from the previous post! Got it working, and made the code give it some extra rhythmic life, rather than just opening it and letting it all drain out. I think the problem was too much head after all, cause after I shortened the tube between the reservoir and the valve it drained exquisitely. Video.

Now, however, it took about 1 minute to drain 1 gallon, due to the extra life I gave it. At 192 gallons, that’s going to take way too long. I should have timed how long with just an open valve. If I want to keep this kind of life, I’ll need 16 valves to get it down to 6 minutes of drain time. The valve is 1/2″, so I can’t increase the tube size. There’s got to be a better solution to decreasing drain time than adding more valves, while still keeping some life in the rhythm of the solenoid. I might even make a wireless (Xbee) valve controller with some buttons to control which valves are doing what and when, and the syncopation.

Pushing forward with the mounting of the tripod heads to the structure to provide the slickest, easiest way for the video cam operators to get the shots they want, with style and grace. Major break through (that will also save money) is that I can safely dismantle the Manfrotto tripods to create the mounting system for the tripod heads (I’ll regrease them after!). The shaft that extends below the true fluid tripod head is triangular, 1″ thick, and 12″ long, so creating something that conforms to this out of parts from McMaster would also take time. Rather than do that, why not just take the legs off and secure the top part where the shaft goes through to something stable at an appropriate distance from the camera turret?

This is what I’m talking about:

And here it is with the shaft though it.

The trick will be to find a way to secure it to some 2×4 with a hole drilled where the tripod head shaft goes through. But wait… those hex screws go ALL THE WAY THROUGH, so if I get these 1 3/4″ 10-32 socket cap screws and these threaded inserts I can put it all together. They arrive on Tuesday. It will be important to remember that the screws have to come through the bottom with the inserts butting against the tripod threads because the screws only come partially threaded. Bummer.

More images of the disassembly/reassembly.

I’m going to use an InFocus IN3916 short throw projector to project the live-edited video for Body Island. The video is 1280 x 720, and I’m looking to make it a really immersive experience, like sitting close to the screen at the movies. The screen will be suspended over the sloping hill, roughly parallel to the slopes of the quarter pyramid (17˚ angle on the central ridge, but the screen could be as much as 30˚, or more). This handy site, pointed to me by Andrew Lazarow, helps calculate throw-to-distance ratios for specific models, as well as differences when changing lenses, ambient light levels and gain on the projector.

I’ll have to figure out a way to suspend it from the ceiling to get a good distance from the viewers on the slope. At a throw distance of 12’6″ the screen becomes 13’10″ x 24’8″ with a diagonal of 28’3″. At that size, 12′ is too close for people to watch– the pixels will be enormous and the image tile-ish. That could be interesting, and might go well with all the tile imagery I’m working with, but I think I’d rather have the image clean. We’ll see. The theater has a fly rig system so I can just pull a few ropes and adjust the height and pitch at will! Mounting the projector to a fly pipe might be a difficult task. Having the projector sit on a column in the center of the ridge is an option, but I think people walking around on the slopes would cause jiggles and vibration in the image.

The calculation website recommends a minimum viewing distance of 32′ at that throw distance, which is possible, but I’d have to suspend the projector fairly low to account for the pitch of the screen (17˚-30˚). Tomorrow is the production meeting, so I’ll probably be able to figure it out by then. Now to put my drawings into the diagrams of the space, using Illustrator. (and I can take the opportunity to fix some miscalculations!)

I’ve been corresponding with my dear friend Emma Fitzgerald about the text– she has the gift of gab and is a talented writer and poet (not to mention an amazing dancer/choreographer and queen of psychic connections with animals!). Here is her dance company website, with Aine Stapleton. I’m thankful for her insight and inspiration. What she said about the earlier draft of the text I sent her:

there is a kind of free- association vibe off it – I imagined them like a series of islands – in listening that we are taken to these little habitats and given a tour and then we leave.

I was day-dreaming today about holding mice in my hand again – they are so trembly and sweet – this piece is fascinating to me because I remember I used to wonder how the little mice could relate to me their GIANT OWNER !! what incredible feat of mouse imagination enables them to hop confidently into my hand to go sailing up into the air eating treats and exploring my whole body! Then I thought – maybe I’m like a huge big chunk of land – you know the way we can sense that the earth is alive and moving – or maybe they see me the way children see a carnival – they just inhabit it without piece by piece without worrying too much about the economic significance of its being there – was I a kind of interactive playground for them that gives them food – I wondered if they ever put the whole of me together and know that I’m a huge mammal like them…like when they went by my heart did it remind them of their heart ?? or is it too slow to make sense to a mouse heart?

Do you wonder what the rats imagine is going on? There’s a lot of interesting ideas in your piece for me about point of view and scale and interdependency – the image of a habitat.

I’ve been working steadily on the text for the performer. And I’ve decided to take the work in a different direction. The bodybuilder/actor had a different quality than the direction of the work, so unfortunately I had to pay him for his time and replace him with another performer (Maximilian Balduzzi, of Urban Research Theater). But fortunately, Maximilian and I have an amazing connection through the work and, with exactly 7 weeks left, I am confident the work will flourish with his motivation, focus, and talent.

Two more excerpts:

The man, who grew up on the land, told stories around the campfire about wild animals he’d seen nearby. There was the one about the lion, and the one about the leopard. The next day, the girl went for a walk in the bush by herself. It was not a place she knew and the man’s stories were ripe in her imagination. She brought her little camera just in case. Hungry animals lurked in trees, behind rocks, waiting for her to pass into range before pouncing. After walking in a vein of short trees for a while the girl encountered an expansive sea of tall yellow grass, the stalks as tall as her. A narrow pathway parted the stalks, leading to a tall dirt mound, a sort of look-out. When she looked back to make sure she knew the way back, there was her father, jogging towards her. “You can’t just leave camp like that by yourself,” he said between heaving breaths, “who knows what’s out here.” “I’m fine,” she said, “and anyway Brett said I could take a little walk if I don’t go too far. I’m just taking pictures.” “It’s dangerous,” said her father. “I know,” she said, “let’s go to that mound in the grass.” The pair, one small and confident, the other tall and tense, started down the pathway. They were aware of every rustle behind the walls of grass, every shift in wind quickened the pulse in their veins. They reached the mound and climbed to the top. Grass everywhere. The wind shaped the flat expanse in whorls and waves. The girl took a picture.

The boy climbed out of the swimming pool. He had decided he didn’t need his inflatable water wings. They were for babies and he was a big boy. He tossed them at his father’s feet and said, cheerfully, “I don’t need these anymore.” Without a second thought the boy launched into the deep end and promptly sank to the bottom. He had never been a floater. The boy kept his eyes shut to keep out the sting of chlorine. All was silent. Whoever thought of a birthday party at a pool was an idiot. When they got home the boy’s father cured his soggy money with a blowdryer.

My brother is the best.

The structure! Thanks to my BRO JOE for whipping this up in less than 2 hours based on my 2D schematics. It’s an unfinished 3D rendering. Still need the top two frames where the 192 gallons of water will sit, the drains, electronics, lighting, audio, openings, camera turrets, and some more facing. Transparent surfaces are going to be opaque and treated. All 2×4, 1/2″ ply and 3/4″ ply. So Sexy.

Front View

Bottom View

Top View

Camera 1 View: very low, at water level. The lens will be able to capture the water (6in level) through the glass, and thus the underwater.

Camera 2 View: high up, left corner.

Camera 3 View: middle height, right wall.

Top View Through Water: View through 1.5 feet of water and 1/2″ thick polycarbonate. It will be more obscured, as the ‘window’ will be something like 3 feet square.

Top View No Walls

Top View No Walls No Floor

Front View No Walls

Front View No Walls No Floor

Image not to scale!

I made some sketches of the slope for the mountain to get a better idea of pitch, area and how much wood it will take to make it. I have yet to design the specific measurements of the 4×8 platforms that will make up the two slopes, but if my calculations are correct I will need 24 4×8 platforms, some of which will be cut at angles to accommodate the diagonal center ridge where the two sloped planes meet. The pitch is 24˚ when walking up the slope, but it’s something like 19˚ when walking up the ridge. Nice.

24˚ is rather steep, so I’m planning to make little flat pockets on both slopes, which will necessitate a bit more planning, and a bit more plywood to make platforms. The slopes will be mounted on a lattice of 2×4 pillars and cross-bracing. If one 2x4x8 pillar of doug fir can hold my weight (165lbs), then it shouldn’t be too hard to calculate how many pillars will be needed. I’m planning the assembly system and process. I’m hoping to borrow 4×8 platforms from a generous theater.

The full area of the sloped plane is 758.2 sq/ft.
The area of the footprint is 736.125 sq/ft (adding the area of the interior space, L1).

That’s a lot of wood… and a lot of bolts.

Ekphrasis is a, “rhetorical device in which one medium of art tries to relate to another medium by defining and describing its essence and form, and in doing so, relate more directly to the audience, through its illuminative liveliness.” (wikipedia: ekphrasis.) A work of art can describe or be derived from another work and become a separate piece with its own intentions and merits. More relevant in practice to the literary arts, this device is generally used in narrative-based work, but can be applied to any medium or conglomeration of media. Ekphrasis has a long history dating back to Plato’s times.

I use this device when engaged in the process of creating my own work. Notional ekphrasis. When the work is not finished, and still contained in a dream/imagination state, I transpose the ideas and imagery into a different form (from performance or sculpture into 2D collage into animated narrative back into a different kind of performance, and so forth). This helps me understand the visions that come to me while creating the work, to see them from multiple angles and allow the work to take its own shape rather than bending to my will. I am more of a steward of the ideas, or my conscious decision-making mind is. This feeling of channeling some unknown quantity from deep within, or without, is nothing new to the arts. Many artists work this way.

When discussing forms (basically ideas, perfection) in Republic, Book X, Plato use the example of a bed to talk about the transference of “bedness” in an ekphrastic process. What I love about this process of identification of pure essence manifested in physical form is the fact that one can identify some of the stages of the development of art over the last century or two. The third one reminds me of Cubism and early Picasso:

“For Plato (and Aristotle), it is not so much the form of each bed but the mimetic stages or removes at which beds may be viewed, that defines bedness:

1) a bed as a physical entity is a mere form of bed
2) any view from whichever perspective, be it a side elevation, a full plan from above, or looking at a bed end-on is at a second remove
3) a full picture, characterizing the whole bed is at a third remove
4) ekphrasis of a bed in another art form is at a fourth remove”

There is something in this process that I can point to in my art-making process and work into a lather. I see it already, but it can grow.