-What are the different voices that Acconci uses when speaking in the work and to what means? What characters does he embody/perform?
Throughout the piece, Acconci varies his voice between three different personas: a frantic, disjointed voice that rattles off snippets and words that connect to one another, a narrative voice who remains fairly monotonous (and disembodied, along with the previously mentioned frantic voice), and the reflective voice that is used when Acconci himself makes an appearance in the performance. The first voice spews out an exhaustive stream of connected, singular words, and seems to be a vocal representation of the unconscious thoughts of the character in the performance, being said as they are felt and perceived by the brain. The second voice relays a poetic, but similarly disjointed story in a very narrative-driven way. Sometimes this voice accompanies visuals, and sometimes it speaks against a blank screen. It remains emotionless, and seems to almost tell the story from a different perspective, especially compared to the first voice. This voice includes the use of sound effects, but they remain similarly monotonous, giving them an uncanny feeling. The third voice appears when Acconci acts in the performance, and though it seems somewhat similar to the second voice in content, there is a deeply personal connotation to everything said then. Acconci seems to embody that of the "outsider" character in general, the description of the video mentioning revolutionary, artist, and prisoner. He plays the role of those "different" folk, and their perceptions of the events and of the world accordingly.
- Locate instances of nationalism as well as lone individuality in the work. What do references to nationalism “do” or emphasize with respect to our understanding of the story.
There are frequent visuals that allude to the idea of nationalism, such as maps and an American flag. And Acconci's dialogue and narrative speak of a variety of capitalist and industrial themes, such as his, in very basic sense, reference to automobiles and his lamenting of the confinement he feels from his existence in this country. The many allusions to war and death and the hints of revolution are also highly nationalistic themes, speaking in terms of personal response to the aftermath of a war. The phrases of "no country" and "we the people" make this a singularly American piece. As Acconci is supposed to be representative of an "outsider" figure, he presents the events and developments of the world, from industry, to political assassinations, in a sort of detached way. His character feels overwhelmed by the world. In a way, these references to American nationalism make this something of a relatable performance, and entices the viewer/listener to pick out recognizable events or emotions from his narrative. And the idea of the "outsider" in a political, nationalistic environment further conveys the thought of people who go against the norms of the society. Prisoners, revolutionaries, and artists are frequently known as those who are against the so-called social norm of their culture.
- How do the formal strategies (the look and how different elements are put together) of video, still photos, painting, film, and performance contribute to the content of the work? Provide specific examples.
Although the narrative included in the piece seems to have quite a few emotions being conveyed, the visuals that accompany it are very serene and some seem to have little connection to the words being spoken at the time. The talk of strokes, which seems to be in relation to painting and art, imposed over the images of a progressively aging man, appear to be unrelated to one another. The talk of war while visuals of maps and landscapes are being presented make the subject of the narrative more apparent. And the blatant use of American symbols quite obviously direct this as a criticism of the political and social situations of this country. Though at times Acconci's narrative gets rapid-fire at times, overall his words are fairly emotionless and betray little of the heaviness of what he speaks of. It evokes the feeling that these are the private musings of someone, and the tone betrays a sense of isolation and loneliness. This is matched by the typically empty shots of pictures and paintings of landscapes and buildings.
- How do you ultimately understand the narrative or story of this work? Please describe.
There is definitely a story to the work as a whole, but it seems disjointed and taken out of context, what he describes. This looseness relates it to a person's subconscious thoughts, and gives the performance a very primal, emotional feeling, despite the fact that words are used more than the sound effects. I interpret it as the musings of someone witnessing events as they happen over time, and trying to understand what results from existing in an ultra nationalistic, capitalist society. They witness war and death and feel the isolation that comes from living on the fringes of society.
Sunday, November 23, 2014
The Red Tapes
What are the different voices that Acconci uses when speaking in the work and to what means?
Acconci uses spoken word in a very concise and dramatic way. He repeats words in a normal voice about his actions relating to a specific act, such as saying "vroom, collision, break, get out, abandon car, find the money" while pictures of cars were shown to illustrate external actions of what is going on. In a huffy, low voice he says words such as love, desire, remorse, and repression- they sound like meditations, trying to invoke some kind of deep connection with the essence of these deeply emotional words. When he repeats the words "what do I say, what I do", the voice feels very neurotic and desperate. He says snippets of sentences- repeats sentences from stories that are out of context and vague- but I get the idea that he talking about committing crimes, dealing with disgusting thoughts, feeling out of his body and disconnected, whispering stories of traumatic traumatic pasts. When panning over pictures and objects, his voice sounds nostalgic when speaking specific words that refer to his past. He makes playful humming sounds, overlaps his voice, and sometimes there is a deep longing to escape in his voice. The voices sound very intimate, as if he is speaking from inside his head, from deep inside.There is also a point where he is repeating letters with mathematic relationships and temperature degrees, which translates to me as moving through space.
excitement about showing parents where their children died while serving in the military.
What characters does he embody/perform?
He tells many stories, and I am not sure if it is all coming from the same character or from different characters. In the beginning he claims to have no feelings, then later becomes very emotional and sounds desperate, and later tells snippets of stories that express an inability to express his feelings. (confusion?) He speaks of a traumatic past and of a childhood, someone who is stuck in a moment and can't scream, someone who went through electroshock therapy and is regretting things he didn't say. There are points where is it obvious he is speaking of a committed crime and says "Where's the body" and "tangled motives disturbed the evidence" He sounds like a remorseful criminal. He had to retrace steps to deal with evidence traces. He does say "I was the murderer" and makes me think there is some disassociative identity crisis. He felt helpless, seeing his body from afar as a murderer- this was the real him and he became his conception. At one point he sounds like a tour guide of the United States using different mediums of speech. He sounds Mentally deranged and the layered voices sounds demonic- maybe they embody what other people/society is telling him what to do and how to feel. Also, society is telling him to "remember" things such as government and self.Sometimes he is creepy with a playful undertone, humming in between his words- adding to the mentally deranged characteristic.
Locate instances of nationalism as well as lone individuality in the work. What do references to nationalism “do” or emphasize with respect to our understanding of the story.
He whispers words "national security" and "secret wars". I feel like the few parts of the video that could be translated as nationalism are sarcastic, such as when he says, "Here we are- the free state, the central state, the wonder state- to your right the empire state. All aboard" when pointing at the map and goes on a tangent using the word 'green'. He says he wants to 'Suck the blood out of Kennedy's head, sticking his fingers in the bullet hole', ect.- various disgusting things he would have done to him. He says "we have no country", which is perhaps an anarchist statement. At one point, his silhoette is in front of american flag and he says he has to keep moving to keep warm and that he is trapped by a rooffall, he feels buried alive. This translates as lone individuality to me. He's out in the cold, and his thoughts are 'that he sees and hears ghosts but there are no ghosts, no responses. These statements translate as lone individuality to me. He repeats'"We are the people"- he begins to show portraits of soldiers, scenes of warfare, government officials, and prison and makes bomb sounds- perhaps to emphasize how we really treat people in this country in relation to warfare.
How do the formal strategies (the look and how different elements are put together) of video, still photos, painting, film, and performance contribute to the content of the work? Provide specific examples.
The close-ups of Acconci's face and performance provides an intimacy to his thoughts because we can see into his eyes and feel as though we are having a conversation with him. The still photos invoke nostalgia. The landscape photographs with bell sounds/atmospheric sounds contribute to the idea of "topography of self"- the literal typography of landscape is a metaphor for the description of self. The video has an overall feeling of a collage, presenting objects and words that, by themselves may have no meaning at all, but in relation to eachother, tell a story.
How do you ultimately understand the narrative or story of this work? Please describe.
The story plunges us into the confusing, neurotic, disgusting thoughts that plague capitalism and war. The order seems like it is in reverse- telling us snippets of stories and emotions that are caused by corruption and war, and then later in the video, it reveals to us why this is happening with the display of the war and government photos and reference to Kennedy. I don't think that the narrator is telling the story of just one person- but of all those who have been betrayed by the United States. He is also expressing the frustration that the people's attempts towards revolution has ultimately failed. The elements come together as poetry, there is an abstract rhythm to it that is not linear in nature- it is a convoluted description- which is appropriate for the subject matter.
Acconci uses spoken word in a very concise and dramatic way. He repeats words in a normal voice about his actions relating to a specific act, such as saying "vroom, collision, break, get out, abandon car, find the money" while pictures of cars were shown to illustrate external actions of what is going on. In a huffy, low voice he says words such as love, desire, remorse, and repression- they sound like meditations, trying to invoke some kind of deep connection with the essence of these deeply emotional words. When he repeats the words "what do I say, what I do", the voice feels very neurotic and desperate. He says snippets of sentences- repeats sentences from stories that are out of context and vague- but I get the idea that he talking about committing crimes, dealing with disgusting thoughts, feeling out of his body and disconnected, whispering stories of traumatic traumatic pasts. When panning over pictures and objects, his voice sounds nostalgic when speaking specific words that refer to his past. He makes playful humming sounds, overlaps his voice, and sometimes there is a deep longing to escape in his voice. The voices sound very intimate, as if he is speaking from inside his head, from deep inside.There is also a point where he is repeating letters with mathematic relationships and temperature degrees, which translates to me as moving through space.
excitement about showing parents where their children died while serving in the military.
What characters does he embody/perform?
He tells many stories, and I am not sure if it is all coming from the same character or from different characters. In the beginning he claims to have no feelings, then later becomes very emotional and sounds desperate, and later tells snippets of stories that express an inability to express his feelings. (confusion?) He speaks of a traumatic past and of a childhood, someone who is stuck in a moment and can't scream, someone who went through electroshock therapy and is regretting things he didn't say. There are points where is it obvious he is speaking of a committed crime and says "Where's the body" and "tangled motives disturbed the evidence" He sounds like a remorseful criminal. He had to retrace steps to deal with evidence traces. He does say "I was the murderer" and makes me think there is some disassociative identity crisis. He felt helpless, seeing his body from afar as a murderer- this was the real him and he became his conception. At one point he sounds like a tour guide of the United States using different mediums of speech. He sounds Mentally deranged and the layered voices sounds demonic- maybe they embody what other people/society is telling him what to do and how to feel. Also, society is telling him to "remember" things such as government and self.Sometimes he is creepy with a playful undertone, humming in between his words- adding to the mentally deranged characteristic.
Locate instances of nationalism as well as lone individuality in the work. What do references to nationalism “do” or emphasize with respect to our understanding of the story.
He whispers words "national security" and "secret wars". I feel like the few parts of the video that could be translated as nationalism are sarcastic, such as when he says, "Here we are- the free state, the central state, the wonder state- to your right the empire state. All aboard" when pointing at the map and goes on a tangent using the word 'green'. He says he wants to 'Suck the blood out of Kennedy's head, sticking his fingers in the bullet hole', ect.- various disgusting things he would have done to him. He says "we have no country", which is perhaps an anarchist statement. At one point, his silhoette is in front of american flag and he says he has to keep moving to keep warm and that he is trapped by a rooffall, he feels buried alive. This translates as lone individuality to me. He's out in the cold, and his thoughts are 'that he sees and hears ghosts but there are no ghosts, no responses. These statements translate as lone individuality to me. He repeats'"We are the people"- he begins to show portraits of soldiers, scenes of warfare, government officials, and prison and makes bomb sounds- perhaps to emphasize how we really treat people in this country in relation to warfare.
How do the formal strategies (the look and how different elements are put together) of video, still photos, painting, film, and performance contribute to the content of the work? Provide specific examples.
The close-ups of Acconci's face and performance provides an intimacy to his thoughts because we can see into his eyes and feel as though we are having a conversation with him. The still photos invoke nostalgia. The landscape photographs with bell sounds/atmospheric sounds contribute to the idea of "topography of self"- the literal typography of landscape is a metaphor for the description of self. The video has an overall feeling of a collage, presenting objects and words that, by themselves may have no meaning at all, but in relation to eachother, tell a story.
How do you ultimately understand the narrative or story of this work? Please describe.
The story plunges us into the confusing, neurotic, disgusting thoughts that plague capitalism and war. The order seems like it is in reverse- telling us snippets of stories and emotions that are caused by corruption and war, and then later in the video, it reveals to us why this is happening with the display of the war and government photos and reference to Kennedy. I don't think that the narrator is telling the story of just one person- but of all those who have been betrayed by the United States. He is also expressing the frustration that the people's attempts towards revolution has ultimately failed. The elements come together as poetry, there is an abstract rhythm to it that is not linear in nature- it is a convoluted description- which is appropriate for the subject matter.
Leanne Sheth - Project 4 Proposals - 11-24-14
Project 4 Proposals
Within the past year of doing art projects and assignments, it has become incredibly apparent to how easy it would be to lie to my teachers and peers about personal experience that would inspire or influence my life. We are not graded on accuracy, and some facts observers have no way of checking. This concept inspired my first idea, which would combine sounds of strangers with my own performance piece. The sound aspect will come from myself calling suicide hotlines, and recording the conversations. I am still considering wether or not to include my own voice, I may only record one side of the conversation. The visual aspect will feature myself in a neutral "truthful" state, and as the piece progresses I will begin to change my appearance. I would like to find a way to make these changes "surprising" and unpredictable. I want the performance aspect of this work to reflect my deceit. I envisioned myself entering a bathtub and cleaning myself while actually becoming more dirty.
My next idea continues my experimentation using spoken word from my last assignment. I want to write a poem or speech and deliver it to a large group of people, similar to Dan Grahm's Mirror. As the piece progresses, I slowly want to add gibberish into my perforce, delivered in the same manner as my normal speech. By the end of the work, I will be speaking purely in gibberish, equally, if not more passionate about what I am saying, as if I had not noticed I stopped speaking english. This piece was inspired by the concept of rapture, evangelists are often speaking in "tongues" to show their body's loss of control to the higher powers. I want this piece to show the irrelevancy of our thoughts and opinions in context to the entire world/universe. We might as well be speaking in gibberish, time still continues regardless of our thoughts. I feel this piece would be appropriate to close the year with since it deals with time in this conceptual way.
My third idea deals with the contrast of realities and routine. I want to appropriate mundane things with specific uses; toothbrushes, lipstick, etc, and use them in ways thew were not meant to be used. For instance, I would apply lipstick to my eyelids, brush my hair with a toothbrush etc. This piece could also be minority altered to imply something about the feminine routine, and the insanity of preparations we make to appear more beautiful. To present this piece, I may use a split screen, one with a normal routine, and another with this alternate universe method I created.
For each of these pieces, I would like to consider experimenting with non traditional viewing methods. Perhaps a complex split screen such as seen in the video we watched in class that was Mondrian inspired. I would like to include spoken word, and confuse and interest the viewer with a different audio track to the performance. I may use multiple cameras to increase the aesthetic value.
Within the past year of doing art projects and assignments, it has become incredibly apparent to how easy it would be to lie to my teachers and peers about personal experience that would inspire or influence my life. We are not graded on accuracy, and some facts observers have no way of checking. This concept inspired my first idea, which would combine sounds of strangers with my own performance piece. The sound aspect will come from myself calling suicide hotlines, and recording the conversations. I am still considering wether or not to include my own voice, I may only record one side of the conversation. The visual aspect will feature myself in a neutral "truthful" state, and as the piece progresses I will begin to change my appearance. I would like to find a way to make these changes "surprising" and unpredictable. I want the performance aspect of this work to reflect my deceit. I envisioned myself entering a bathtub and cleaning myself while actually becoming more dirty.
My next idea continues my experimentation using spoken word from my last assignment. I want to write a poem or speech and deliver it to a large group of people, similar to Dan Grahm's Mirror. As the piece progresses, I slowly want to add gibberish into my perforce, delivered in the same manner as my normal speech. By the end of the work, I will be speaking purely in gibberish, equally, if not more passionate about what I am saying, as if I had not noticed I stopped speaking english. This piece was inspired by the concept of rapture, evangelists are often speaking in "tongues" to show their body's loss of control to the higher powers. I want this piece to show the irrelevancy of our thoughts and opinions in context to the entire world/universe. We might as well be speaking in gibberish, time still continues regardless of our thoughts. I feel this piece would be appropriate to close the year with since it deals with time in this conceptual way.
My third idea deals with the contrast of realities and routine. I want to appropriate mundane things with specific uses; toothbrushes, lipstick, etc, and use them in ways thew were not meant to be used. For instance, I would apply lipstick to my eyelids, brush my hair with a toothbrush etc. This piece could also be minority altered to imply something about the feminine routine, and the insanity of preparations we make to appear more beautiful. To present this piece, I may use a split screen, one with a normal routine, and another with this alternate universe method I created.
For each of these pieces, I would like to consider experimenting with non traditional viewing methods. Perhaps a complex split screen such as seen in the video we watched in class that was Mondrian inspired. I would like to include spoken word, and confuse and interest the viewer with a different audio track to the performance. I may use multiple cameras to increase the aesthetic value.
Ashley Long - Homework (11/19)
Project 4 Proposal
Relationships have always been interesting to me, the way people interact with one another whether it's people who don't know each other at all or friends that have known each other for decades. I also like thinking of the relationships between one person and the rest of the people in the world, the empathy someone can have for a huge expanse of people or the complete indifference someone could have towards a person that is in desperate need for help. That's what I want to explore in this project.
I would like to take a group of people - large or small, depending on how many I can get to agree to help me - and put them in situations where they have to interact with another person that they are completely unfamiliar with. I thought of using what I saw in the movie we watched as inspiration and having two people stare at each other for five minutes, but that seems like too simple and too obvious of a task. It doesn't require much cooperation and I don't think it would necessarily reveal anything. Therefore, I'm going to come up with a task that requires the cooperation between two people who know nothing of each other. I will record this interaction, possibly with added background sound although I'm not sure what I would use yet, and then follow this up with an interview of each person, asking them how the experience was for them.
My ideal scenario would be to place these two people across from each other in chairs, with or without a table between them, and to have them perform whatever task I come up with together in front of a white background, which will most likely end up being my living room. The walls are all completely white and I have a perfect space, although I will definitely need to work on fixing the lighting. I have already begun enlisting people in this possible project - currently having three available participants as of this post - and plan to record these events over a period of two or three days in the case that some of the participants are unable to come in on a specific day.
I hope to have everything figured out by the end of class on Monday so that I can get a head start on everything, hopefully having filming done a few days before the project is due (if not sooner) so that I will have sufficient time to edit. I am going to use my Nikon D3200 camera as well as a few other cameras simultaneously so I can get varied angles. I will also be using my Snowball Microphone to record the interactions to have unified sound quality. I will be thinking of what task(s) will be performed by the volunteers, possibly asking outside sources for advice. Ideally, I want this video to represent strangers working together, despite not knowing one another; a piece of unity regardless of acquaintance-ship.
Ideas
- My proposal is the idea I feel most strongly about. I would love to get strangers together to perform a task together to exemplify the idea of working together in spite of not knowing each other.
- A less communal idea I had involves someone cooking in the kitchen, paying attention to the utensils and ingredients they use. It would begin more or less normal, but eventually escalate to utter wastefulness where the person is wasting more food than (s)he plans to actually use. This would be representative of the wasteful consumerism that seems to be really popular, and has been for some time. I don't feel as strongly connected to this piece, but I would be interested in trying to play it out.
- Finally, I had an idea similar to Yoko Ono's or the Stanford Prison Experiment, but with a lot less actual physical harm done. It would involve inviting a group of people to draw or write phrases on one or more volunteers (one probably being me, in this case) that they would either like to preform or say to the person. This would need to include some sort of anonymity, otherwise the individuals wouldn't feel comfortable putting their actual feelings or desires in a public sphere. I feel the least connection to this piece since I feel like it's almost a watered down version of Yoko Ono's piece, but by the same token, I think it would reflect more of the inner thoughts than the plausible actions of people (i.e. someone might think they want to shoot another person, but they might never actually do it).
Red Tapes
Notes
whispery voice - narrator,inner thoughts? self consciousperson - talking about revolution
deep voice - emotions, up front thoughts
videos of himself vs videos of landscapes from book (intense music accompaniment, his voice joins in)
overlapping deep voices - multiple narratives/emotionless
map of america, lots of lines across
regular voice - just his regular self, narrator
videos of closed spaces, walks into the frame
pictures of cars, music, voiced car sound effects, narrative, moves into frame, telling a story?
more closed spaces, narrative, into frame out of frame, murder?
no imagery, a voice trapped, he was the murderer?
a floor with random things on it, random talking, found objects?, painting of leaves, picture of trees, pictures of landscapes, train narration, temperature narration, directions, back to the first objects, different states being stated
Times being stated as well as actions during that time, no visuals
silhouette, slow voice, talking about Kennedy's assassination, disgusting visuals
his face, lightning bolt behind him, other half of face, tornado?
different halves of face, different visuals
dramatic music, no visuals
images of buildings, walks into frame making sound effects
talking to himself, no visuals, fades out
floorboards and talking about nature and people, more landscapes, tables with paintings/pictures
whispery voice - death of son, leading listener, death of daughter, no visuals
finger trailing maps, double voice - "no country", "wild is the wind", upbeat music follows
silhouette in front of american flag, talking about moving to avoid freezing, buried alive, ghosts
whispery overlapped voices, image of two statue figures holding up a bar?, different images of statue figures doing the same thing
voice saying to "remember", no visuals
image of a man, vocal music, talking about strokes, man is now bald, altering the image of the man, man is aging (different man?), fades out
voice saying we are the people faster and faster, gets cut off
car sound effect, different images of people, slams hand against table
END TAPE 1
Thursday, November 20, 2014
Reflection
on the critique for my Sound project people were very interested on the idea of relaxation through my every day activity of cooking. The idea of having the siziling of the pan and some common sounds was good. however, people were more interested in hearing a lot of different sounds from the kitchen. I will try to record some more sounds, like the sound of placing pan on the stove, the sound of ice and water being poured on it. also people thought the sound of me eating would add a bit more to the project. I will try to change these small details and be able to tell a story with those sounds.
Wednesday, November 19, 2014
name exercise
I took a slow approach. Tried to focus on the activity at hand. Only was able to write Julian F in 5 minutes.
name exercise 11-19-14
Meditative. I wish I had more time, I wanted to add a border and maybe a pattern around the lettering. It's nice to let your mind go on autopilot and let your mind wander around the page.
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