Video Sculpture – Alan Winslow

Fitting In – Version 2

For our Video Sculpture final, Noah and I decided to re-work our 2nd project Fitting In.

Description:

Using the 1960’s artists collective, the Chicago Imagists, as a reference Fitting In explores the notion of accumulating to our surroundings. The viewer distorts their own body to fit within the exaggerated silhouettes. After performing for the frame, the viewer is then presented a six-second video clip of their actions.

Fitting In allows the viewer to confront their own experience of fitting into societal “traditions,” “practices,” and “norms.” The silhouettes are intentionally floating, distorted, or exaggerated, making them impossible to replicate, further emphasizing the endless struggle to keep up that many face. We believe that the impact of seeing one’s self will be more significant than presenting abstracted characters.

Inspiration:

Harry Who – Six Chicago-based artists from the School of the Art Institute – Jim Falconer, Art Green, Gladys Nilsson, Jim Nutt, Karl Wirsum, and Suellen Rocca.

Production:

For this version, we decided to scale the entire project up, and instead of using a projector, we opted to build the entire piece around a 48-inch monitor.

Harry Who often used alternative framing for their pieces. We decided to build our frame out of foam core and wrap it in fake wood paneling to stick with that style.

After completing the frame production, our Isadora sketch was re-worked to fit the new aspect ratios of the monitor.

Final Piece:

In our original piece, we projected on hand-painted acrylic sheets. To keep that aesthetic, we made painted layers in photoshop to layer over the video feeds. This broke up the glare and rich color of the monitor.

Interaction:

Output:

Going Forward:

Both Noah and I want to push this piece further and bring the interaction into Unity. We believe that the user triggers and mapping will be much cleaner and the overall software will be much more stable.

Experiments in AR

For this project, we were tasked with creating a live sculpture using AR or VR. I chose to wrestle with Unity and Vuforia to produce an AR experience revolving around two of my favorite things in NYC natural spring flowers and convenience store flower stands.

As much as I don’t like using single plastic, there is something beautiful about the flowers wrapped in plastic and the plastic curtains draped in front of the stores. These dying plants are getting preserved as much as possible. I don’t know; I’ve always been drawn to them.

I wanted to use the idea of plastic wrap and preservation to “protect” the flowers blooming on the trees around Brooklyn. I also wanted to experiment with the flowers at the convenience store.

First, I set out to photograph the flowers.

Back home, I took these images and made collages in Photoshop. To complete the image I added a layer of “plastic” wrap final layout.

Next, I built my scene in Unity. The goal for the VR experience was to have dead flowers trigger the sculpture. Luckily I had dead flowers in my apartment. Once triggered, the screen would be filled with the sculpture. I wanted the user to have to rotate the phone and look around to experience the whole piece.

Problems faced:

Getting the Unity build onto my phone. For some reason, every time I exported the build, it would make a folder, but the folder is empty.
Lighting on one of the faces. The sculpture works, but the lighting on one of the planes is always dark. I was unable to figure out that problem.
I thought the trigger would still be activated on the actual live flowers if it was lined up the same way as the image. That experiment failed.

In the future:

After I built this, I think it needs a sound element. I should record the ambient sound of the neighborhoods. I’d also like the trigger to be the actual dead flowers, not an image of them.

Fitting In

For this project, we were tasked with referencing an art movement. Noah and I worked together again, referencing Harry Who, a 1960’s collective from Chicago. Their work moves both Noah and me. The collective was made up of six artists who created paintings and sculptures of deformed figures, surreal wallpaper, and abstracted everyday objects. They were discussing the difficulty of fitting into this world.

Another component we were drawn to was that they painted directly on acrylic with acrylic paints to give a unique lighting effect.

Our idea:

Using Isadora and a projector, we will have the subject contort themselves to fit within a surreal Harry Who silhouette. The live video feed of the matter will be recorded then played back to the viewer. To get the subject/viewer to engage, they will be presented with a silhouette and told to fit in. After six seconds of recording, the silhouette will disappear, and the video will be played back on a randomly generated background (another reference to Harry Who’s a unique use of wallpaper in their shows).

Bellow is the production and piece documentation.

After presenting we came up with a list to polish this piece:

Hide the projector
Make the frame 2 or 3 times bigger
Clean up the silhouette
Have a way to present all the videos maybe in another room

15 minutes – Video Sculpture

Earlier ads for television placed the tv as a main point of entertainment in the home. A safe place for the family to get together and enjoy their favorite shows. As time moved on, our desire to digest media didn’t change, but the device did shape, portability, and interact with us. Modern televisions record our voices, images, and data but remain disguised in fun entertainment.

How it works: The camera on the top is constantly recording the room. The feed is run through Isadora and output in two channels; the first feed is set to a 15-minute delay and rear-projected on the main screen – our thought is that in a gallery setting, a viewer would encounter footage of a previous viewer. The main screen cycles off to show an iPhone in the back of the casing live streaming the camera feed every two minutes.

One of the hardest parts of the physical construction was to find a material that could be used as a rear-projection screen. The balance between opaque and transparent was difficult to find.

Until we landed on a screen-printing screen that worked perfectly.

We experimented with multiple designs and tools to relay the image through Isadora back to the screens.

Project manager Sherry.

Custom rear-projection screen.

View from the front with rear-projection activated.

View from the front with rear-project off and the live feed activated on the phone.

View from the front with rear-projection activated.

View from the top with a projector in the back.

Final view.

Video Portrait

For this video portrait, we have decided to stroll down memory lane and make a portrait of television/technology and its role in our homes and lives.

Early televisions were seen as a point of pride and furniture in the homes, with whole rooms dedicated to it. Today the role of televisions has diminished in the house. Instead of dedicating a room around the device, they’re designed to be hidden. On top of that, our relationship to media has changed; we’re digesting more content across multiple devices that isn’t as precious as it once was. In fact, some of our videos today are designed to be destroyed after a short period of time instead of archived and held on to forever.

For the piece, we want to present our memory of TVs in their glory while referencing the new technology’s prominence. To achieve this, we will deconstruct an old television and build a diorama inside that closely resembles our memory of living rooms of the past. The television inside will be replaced with an iPhone that will be along the back wall. There will be three live channels feeding into the phone – the camera on the phone, a camera in front of the viewers, and a camera behind them. The three inputs will cycle. Below are a series of sketches, renders, and experiments in feed transitions.

Television Render:

Experiments with Channel transitions in Isadora:

Light Sculpture Prototype

Assignment 1: Light Sculpture Prototype

For this piece, Jingyao, Nick, and I wanted to make a sculpture that relied on the light projected on it as much as the shadow is produced.

We were influenced by Tim Noble and Sue Webster’s work below.

Image from the artist website: Timnobleandsuewebster.com

Conceptually we were interested in exploring the theme of designed obsolescence and e-waste.

“About 6.9 million metric tons of e-waste was produced in the US alone in 2019, according to Global E-Waste Monitor, a research group that tracks electronic waste. That’s about the same weight as 19 Empire State Buildings. Of that, only about 15% was collected for recycling. And some of the minerals and metals being thrown away with our e-waste aren’t just valuable; they’re toxic.” –CNBC.

The article above points out the global scale of this problem, but we face the same issue on a smaller scale here at ITP, with projects being discarded after presentations. Recycling programs exist, for example, the ITP Junk Pile, but we believe this problem needs to be more seriously addressed.

For our piece, we decided to make a LED, an object that came to all our minds when we thought of ITP, using trash from the Junk Pile and a projector. Below is our process.

The Build: We wanted to create depth and clutter without losing the shape of the LED.

Testing: As we added layers, we needed to test the sculpture with a projector to make sure it was maintaining the silhouette.

Masking: We used Madmapper to mask the sculpture when the colored light was projected on it.

Mask Test: White light test to make sure the masking was working.

Presentation: When the piece is up and running, the projector cycles between a red light and white light. The red portion uses the mask to only shine on the sculpture while the white light washes over the entire wall revealing the LED shape behind.

To wrap up, we experimented with alternating patterns and colors.