topsy turvy

In the previous post, I mentioned I either want to do a large or little landscape for my panorama project. I have two ideas now, after viewing the work of Andreas Gursky, Sam Taylor Wood, Jeff Wall and Stan Douglas.

fig 1. Rough Sketch

1. “In Media Res” – large landscape

Excerpt from Stan Douglas by Philip Monk, 2006:

“We all begin in media res - in the middle of things. But what if the middle is not the entitlement of cultural inheritance, especially for those of us in remote North America who arrive historically late? Reception here only repeats the distance of periphery from the commerce of traditional art metropoles. With what voice could an artist articulate his place within art history at this receiving end?”

(Paris, Montparnasse) Andreas Gursky, 1993. This version is incredibly scaled down, his work is huge. This photo can be found in Andreas Gursky (TR647.G87 2001) in the ECU library.

Figure 1 shows a library landscape with a female observer (me) bewildered to the amounts of culture and information the Vancouver Central Public Library (my choice of site) holds. The other tail end would be another character who seems comfortable in the space. (This nods to a photo-construction seen in Jeff Wall’s work.) The reason why I’d pursue this kind of work is that my cultural heritage is four different things, but I have lived in Canada all my life. I am Filipino, Spanish, Japanese and Chinese, but I am not in tune with any of those cultures nor do I feel I fit in calling myself purely Canadian. I’ve made a video called Balikbayan (2008) about this disconnect, and the beginning starts with: “I am Canadian, but that always means something else.” I want to demonstrate that even though I am in a space of Western culture and also dressed in Western attire, that my character is sort of out of place.

Hopefully, I can get the right to take photos in the central VPL and get another character for my photo!

2. “Nocturnal Reconnoitre” – little landscape

Nocturnal = “by night”

Reconnoitre = “the searching of some thing or some one.”

A still from Sam Taylor Wood’s 16mm film Third Party. 1999.

The intrigue of doing a smaller landscape such as this is to put into scope a personal, intimate realm rather than a purely natural/urban landscape based 360 panoramic view. If I placed the camera in my house, the objects would reflect my character or personality. If I placed the camera in a cafe, it would probably either reflect the ambience upon subjects zoomed in on. If I placed the camera somewhere remote in a location, it would be like a third person objective observing the locale and its possible subjects. It could even pull into focus architectural aspects of pure form, for instance if I stuck the camera near a pipe/heater and rotated it to capture the texture of the floor, the cracks on the wall and the repetitive design of the pipe/heater. Rather than focus on a cultural viewpoint as the large landscape would, I could either do a purely formal work or a personal work such as Sam Taylor’s Third Party.

I know that Ed Ruscha’s approach to photography as indexical did not interest me as much as Sam Taylor and Andreas Gursky. This is due to the fact I appreciate Ruscha’s oil paintings over his panoramic photographs, but that’s a personal choice.

I’m still thinking about how to approach this. I’m still googling up images because I want to also view work done outside the formal/high art spectrum as well.

I googled: 360 panoramic pictures.

All credit goes to the artists on Flickr.

Manhattan Bridge

Castle Courtyard

Mars

I was taking a look on Wikipedia under “panoramic cameras”. Apparently the definition is that a panoramic picture is not defined by a long series of images but by the wide-aspect ratio of the work. There was no citation however, so I’m looking this further up.

I have a couple ideas so far for my project that encompass large areas, such as the chaotic Vancouverian snow landscape or the commercial strip downtown. However, I’m also curious about little landscapes, such as 360 perspectives of tiny areas of a home or interior, as if you were a mouse or a cat. I helped with the Richmond Art Gallery’s “Mirror, Mirror, Miniature Landscapes” art auction last year, which focused on minute details of everyday existence and I think this is where I gained some inspiration.

I’m not sure yet, I’m going to try both on Wednesday/Thursday when I take the photos.

Digital Exhibitions?

This is out of the time frame of this class, but VIVO seems to be putting on an interactive exhibition called Signal and Noise in April. The link is here. I think it happens every year, but this site was for the 2008 event. Perhaps it’ll be updated soon!

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About

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About Signal and Noise

VIVO Media Arts Centre presents the ninth annual Signal & Noise Festival; three days of innovative contemporary media art. Showcasing a spectrum of audio & video works, online games, live action performances and immersive installations, Signal & Noise is Vancouver’s premier alternative media event.

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signal and noise is presented by:
VIVO MEDIA ARTS CENTRE
1965 Main St. Vancouver BC, Canada V5T 3C1
P: 604-872-8337
E: info@vivomediaarts.com
W: www.vivomediaarts.com