Visit to Ipswich Art Gallery

Tuesday April 10, 2007

Today David and I met up at the Ipswich Art Gallery to look at the interactive Exhibition called “EXPERIMENTA VANISHING POINT”.

Spotter
– Hiraki Sawa, Japan, 2002 (represented by Ota Fine Arts)

This exhibit shows people observing planes, which are commonplace in todays society, but in this exhibit they are presented as wild creatures trapped in a domestic space.
The technology behind this appears to be overlays of video with manipulation of the size of the planes to fit within domestic spaces.

1 Parking
111 Crossing
- June Bum Park, Korea, 2002

This exhibit has two projected images on the wall. The display shows our everyday world of cars, which are being manipulated by a persons hands in a car park. The hands carefully place the cars and people walking in the space.
The technology again appears to video of a car park taken from a higher position, so that we are looking down on the car park. The hands are cleverly filmed as if they are positioning the cars.
What also held interest for me is the way this display had built boxes for the projectors that would also allow for a computer tower to be hidden inside. The power source was tapped to the floor and along the skirting. Different coloured tape was used and was very unobtrusive. The box was fully enclosed with an air vent at the back for the heat to escape from the projector.

The Shy Picture
- David Maclend and Narinda Reeders, Australia, 2005

The display is set with a screen within a frame set on a false wall set out from the real wall, allowing for the computer to be hidden. Mounted above is a video camera, which acts as a motion sensor. When someone comes within range the people in the picture run away and hide. They pop their heads out to see if you are still there.
The technologies here appeared to be LCD screen, computer, video camera, and customised software, and a video that loops.

Journey to the Moon
- William Kentridge, South Africa, 2003

William Kentridges hand drawn charcoal artwork is combined with Georges Milies who is an experimental filmmaker, video to provide an eerie film to experience.
The technology integrates both drawings, which have been animated with video and post production techniques to produce this work which was projected onto a wall.

Waterfall
- Duk-euin Ji-Hoon Byun, Korea, 2003

A waterfall of light particles, which are activated by standing in front of the projection and your shadow, produces the waterfall of the particles around the shadow. Moving of arms or body parts causes a change in the particles.
The technology for this relies on the tracking of the shadow and movement of the projected image.

Front Porch
- William Wegman, USA, 1999

This exhibit is of a dogs head on a mans body on the front porch, reading a newspaper. The dog appears to be more interested in looking around than actually reading the paper. This is a well produced idea.


Another exhibit displayed several different concepts on the one screen and they follow each other in succession They were:

“Some want it all”, which was of a sparkler running along a black wall and appeared to disappear into a person’s ear and come out of the other and continue on.

“15 Excavator” which is video of the an excavator which is being manipulated and positioned by hands, similar to a previous exhibit.

“Dog Duet” is also an exhibit by William Wegman (1974) and two very well trained dogs are watching something moving out of the range of the camera, and the dogs are intensely following the movement.

“Elevator No. 4” is a video that portrays an elevator that opens like a zip, and the people entering or in the elevator are distorted and pixelated. An interesting exhibit.

“Line Up” is a purely textual exhibit of the size and speed of the text is consistent with the emotion being written about.

Tools Life, Minim ++, Japan, 2001
This exhibit is of a table, which has various household items standing upright, if you touch one various projected; images are viewed on the table.
The technologies involved with this project appear to be touch sensors, projection and customised code for the interaction. This exhibit also allowed for multiple participants to use the space at one time.

Paraphysical Man, Shaun Gladwell, Australia
This exhibit was of a break-dancer against a wall. His reflection was above him, but it appears that he is upright.
The technologies involved with this are video that has been manipulated and projected upside down to give the illusion of him floating in the air.

Train No 8
This one I am really not sure how they have achieved the effect. I stood and watched this for quiet a while to try to work out how many layers of video had been used. The timing of the different layers moving and was warped at different speeds. I realised that the forefront was probably taken from a train, but that is about as far as I could understand what I was watching. Obviously a postproduction video editing program has been used but I will need to ask others as to how it was done.

House 11, the Great Australian Basin, Pennsylvania, USA, 2003
This exhibit was fascinating as both David and I were looking to see where the video looped and were unable to pick it. We watched for quiet a while before the video finished and restarted, hence no looping we had been looking for. Really interesting concept.

If I have misspelt anyone’s names or the details are not exact, I apologise sincerely and please leave a comment and I will change my mistake. I am having problems reading my notes.

This was a great exhibit and it was really interesting to see how much of our Studio work is aligned with the work being exhibited at the Experimenta Vanishing Point Exhibition.