This was for an assignment in Commlab. We were supposed to use Photoshop to compose a narrative image. I thought the subject of shadow and reflection of light was interesting enough to portray in a collage. I'm satisfied with the way this turned out. It's amazing what range of colors I was able to get in such a very small space --and I do mean small.
La Jetee is a French film directed by Chris Marker (with music score by Trevor Duncan) and released in 1962. It's composed entirely of black and white photographs and sound. This constraint provides Marker with ample room to experiment with various visual and aural elements to tell his story.
The premise of La Jetee (The Jetty), is that Paris has been blown up in a nuclear attack and that mind experiments are being conducted on the protagonist who is "...marked by an image from his childhood". The narration and music seems dated, viewing the film in our 21st century mileau, but they enhanced the film.
Throughout the film, Marker uses sounds like the varying rhythym and intensity of a heartbeat, whispering, and flocks of birds to create and release tension. There are several sequences that stand apart. One towards the end in which the the viewer hears the sound of a flock of birds as a quick succesion of images of the protagonist's girlfriend lying in bed is flashed to imply breathing is very effective.
What resonates is Marker's implementation of still imagery and sound to convey the concept of visceral memories in a story about time travel. The images would stand alone without sound but it is the synthesis of elements that proves so succesful. La Jetee warrants multiple viewings to fully appreciate.
I went to the MOMA last Thursday to see "Out of Time: A Contemporary View" (and some of the Dada exhibition as well). One of the most interesting works was "+ and -", an installation by Mona Hatoum. The work is a large circular sand-bed with a toothed mechanical arm that draws concentric circular grooves on half of the sand-bed while it simultaneously smoothes out the other half. The armature rotates 5 times a minute,which is a steady enough pace to create tension in the work. As the title would suggest, there are clear visual cues to the positive/negative, destruction/ healing, and ying/yang as themes.
Additionally, there is an audible element to the installation if the viewer is perceptive enough to lean in close to the surface of the sand as the armature rotates. There is a soothing/meditative quality in hearing thousands of grains of sand shift and slide around.
My thoughts on the work are that as a minimalist work, "+ and -" is elegantly descriptive of its subject matter, inevitable cycles in nature, such as creation and destruction and the seasons of life.
The experiences we as viewers bring with us inform our perceptions of an artist's work, so it's telling to discover what artists choose to title their works (as well as write in their personal statements). I prefer to view the work prior to reading the title or the history of the artist. This enables me to have a more genuine dialogue with the work/artist, and to question what I or the artist(s) may have missed. In this case, "+ and -" is certainly an apropos title.
In Chapter 1 of The Language of New Media, entitled “What is New Media,” Manovich discusses five principles that distinguish new media from old. He identifies these five categories as numerical representation, modularity, automation, variability, and cultural transcoding.
What interested me most in the reading was the aspect of personal choice the author touched on in the last section, The Myth of Interactivity. The author states, “Although it is relatively easy to specify different interactive structures used in media objects, it is much more difficult to deal theoretically with users’ experiences of these structures.” P.56. It seems as though it would be relatively simple, if one desired to quantify in some sense user’s experiences with hypertext. This is already done with the use of cookies. There is software that records keystrokes and length of time spent on a web page. What becomes difficult is to see how long or how quickly a user is drawn to a particular element on the page (again, tracking software can detail this to a certain extent).
He then goes on to a discussion of the true nature of interactivity and whether the user actually has freedom in her decision process or is constrained entirely by the designer’s structure. Manovich wrote this prior to Open Source and Wiki’s. The introduction of these elements would seem to allow for more choice and random/serendipitous connections. The design of the hypertext links on the web page (i.e. interactive elements) is then not only left to one solitary person, but to potentially many hundreds of people of a variety of backgrounds. This would seem to allow for a user experience more inline with what Manovich is describing.
If interaction is a conversation, then the page(s) must in some sense emulate a human mind(s). In the case of Open Source/Wikis, it is more likely that the experience will be more authentically interactive.