Project #5: Interventionist Media

Artist Statement
I didn't so much want to poke fun at Game Informer (I enjoy their magazine, especially their own satirical pieces written by Darth Clark), as much as I wanted to use their game reviews as an avenue for what I did want to make fun of - the rivalry between political parties. It something I watch happen around me on a fairly regular basis, and I must say I'm confused. Why do we fight about each other instead of about the issues we disagree on? Why can't I have an opinion on political topic that is typically a Republican stance, and then have an opinion on another political topic that is typically Democrat stance, without being pegged as an indecisive independent?

When I hear one party talking about the other, I don't hear a tone of disagreement. I hear a tone that varies from dislike to true hatred. It's as if politics suddenly make us forget all our shared ground. Makes us forget the truth that deep down we all (for the most part) want the same things - we just have different opinions on how we should go about getting them.

Maybe we really do need a game that allows us to kill each other in virtual reality. Might release some of the steam.

Link to original webpage:
http://www.gameinformer.com/games/lego_marvel_super_heroes/b/xbox360/archive/2013/10/22/game-informer-review-lego-marvel-super-heroes.aspx

Art Event 2 of 3

Heeseop Yoon: Found In Lost
Sheppard Contemporary Gallery
UNR
10.8.2013 through 11.30.2013

The first thing I notice as I enter the Sheppard Contemporary Gallery on October 16th is that Yoon's work is installation art, or site specific art (whichever term you prefer). Thousands of thin stripes of black tape make up one huge interconnected drawing. It creeps along the walls - sometimes seeping onto the floor or inching up onto the ceiling.  I'm sure it would plaster itself across the windows if the gallery had any.

Yoon's work is inspired by photographs she takes of cluttered areas such as basements, workshops, storage spaces, and miscellaneous piles and stacks. She takes the photos, then recreates them with her thin black strips of tape. Taking everyday items, taking chaos, and then playing with line. She doesn't erase as she works, as she's trying to portray her altering and evolving perception of the "junk" she's recreating.

I note that up close the work is messy - crude even. Yet farther away the work is stronger, more purposeful seeming. It reminds me of the incredibly busy, yet very sharp and clean, sharpie art I've previously seen. Another thing I notice is the excessive amount of negative space in the gallery - the room is bare beyond that black tape and the initial table at the entrance displaying informative handouts. It aids the work more than I expect, countering the overwhelming persona the lines might take on if the negative space was absent.

I can't help but think of the Matrix as I stare at Yoon's work. There's cables, wires, plugs, fans, what looks like a work station hand saw, computers, remote controls, and various other machinery. There is a slight science fiction feel to the work, surely. And that other worldliness brings about a child like urge in me to reach out and touch the tape. Good thing I pull my hand back as I realize the inappropriateness of such an action, because another gallery patron is giving me an accusatory glance as I hastily make my way out.

Discussion Questions for Reading #4

Tactical Media
by Rita Raley

1.
The key (it would appear) for good tactical media is just the correct amount of veiling in regards to the medium. As with Jonathan Swift's satire "A Modest Proposal," some of the audience should be fooled. While some of the audience (one would hope the majority) should be privy to the satirical nature of the piece. If all are fooled, the artist's point is lost. If none are fooled, then the artist might as well have come out and told his audience his feelings without the art at all - and if he did that, who would hear him?
So, my question becomes, how veiled should tactical media be? Does it vary by audience? Or by genre (obvious and abrupt humorous tactical media versus morose and dry serious tactical media)? And when it does vary, it the more thinly veiled or more heavily veiled more successful?

2.
A common thread throughout tactical media (that I've noticed) is it's preference towards absurdity. Hyperboles abound - perhaps in attempt to get the artist's thoughts on a particular subject across. However, I wonder if this perhaps weakens the artist's argument after the initial shock factor has worn off. Once the audience has a moment to ponder, and they suddenly realizes how distorted a perception of reality they were fed, are they then less likely to listen to the artist due the extreme bias they now recognize? Or do they instead recognize the artist's need for such exaggeration, and thereby accept it as necessary to the tactical media as a whole?

Project#4: Video Reenactment

Adaptive Lines (2007)
Flora Wiegmann
http://www.ubu.com/film/wiegmann_adaptive-lines.html

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Video Reenactment

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Artist Statement

There were two aspects of Wiegman's video that I wanted to incorporate into my own. First, a moving body (or bodies) that moved with purpose. Second, the drastic, sudden, and slightly disorienting camera angle shifts. 

Next came the task of coming up with a concept. Though the subject of Wiegman's video could possibly be dancing, she could also be interpreted as doing some slow form of martial arts. Extending arms and legs suddenly becoming strikes. As I began to look at the choreography in this way - that's when my idea came to me. I would shoot a fight scene. 

$10 worth of Jack-In-Box bribery later, my 14 year old brother Michael, and my 19 year old brother Roy, have been clad in video game character costumes. Dragon Born from Skyrim, and Ezio from Assasins Creed respectively. Then it was simply choreography, countless reshooting, and maybe one black eye rendering punch. 

My ambition for this short film reenactment is that it makes my audience smile - possibly even laugh. Don't we all wish we could be video game characters at some point in our life? And if you answered no to that previous question, well, you're seriously missing out. 

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