tirsdag den 29. juni 2010

CHEAP AND CHEERFUL


At the moment I am zoning/ZOOMing in on on the concept of "Form Follows Finance". I believe that this is the keys issue, and should be well considered of us all, when we invade London in August.
Bumped into this project. It illustrates/demonstrates, the potential of of how a single material can transform its original purpose into different state. The project is made for under 400 Euros...

søndag den 20. juni 2010

Generation Correction

We are the generation of corrections and filters I am told by the swedish journalist
Jessica Gedin, listening to one of my favourite radio shows; Spanarna.

3 examples of these thesis:

# ClearPlay is a DVD-filter you can download to your player removing all explicit content seamlessly that
"enables your family to enjoy all of the great Hollywood movies you’ve always wanted to watch—without all of the junk you don’t want. You won´t even notice what you have missed, but you will be glad you did."

# The method
a soundengineer at Sveriges Radio has come up with to get rid of the sound of all Vuvuzelas beeing played at the World Cup in South Africa.
By adjusting your equalizer on the tv to filter out keynote 233 Bb or Bess and overtone 466, 699, 932 and 1165 Hertz, the sound of Vuvuzelas is almost gone.

# All the new tec you can find in a digital camera; make-up function, anti-shock-function (with a (side)effect making shaking things appear totally still, when filming I might add).

There is of course nothing new with correcting things we not satisfied with and perhaps not so mind-blowing, but when we are trying to automize it and combine it with modern technologies, there can be some really interesting consequences.

I´m thinking how this could be interpretated into a spatial context. How could a mechanism filtering spatial experiences function, and how would the influenced space look like?
What should be filtered? Or can it all be reversed? A mechanism showing everything that is hidden from our perception.


torsdag den 10. juni 2010

Towards a non-iconic multi-hierarchical society


First, an introductory remark; Due to some business in the far east (I have found myself quite locked-up actually) I´ve been rather absent from the project discussed on the blog, but is thrilled about the same and I hope from now on to be a part of it.
































With Jakobs post about a process led by some obstructions in mind, I can´t but bring up the american artist Richard Serra and his "verblist method".

"When I first started, what was very, very important to me was dealing with the nature of process. So what I had done is I'd written a verb list: to roll, to fold, to cut, to dangle, to twist...and I really just worked out pieces in relation to the verb list physically in a space. Now, what happens when you do that is you don't become involved with the psychology of what you're making, nor do you become involved with the after image of what it's going to look like. So, basically it gives you a way of proceeding with material in relation to body movement, in relation to making, that divorces from any notion of metaphor, any notion of easy imagery."


It could litterary be one of the obstructions or an inspiration to one. Working with these kind of actions leads to a a non-iconic process where the outcome is more likely to be a finding in some sort. A finding derived from the media, place in relation to the actions or in the method itself.

I think a process like this could fit well with our agenda of a non-iconic multi-hierarchical society.



More of Richard Serra in the documetary:`Thinking on your Feet´ directed by Maria Anna Tappeiner

tirsdag den 8. juni 2010

a lazer network


In a completely opposite direction from what JAKOB is proposing, I want to share this drawing I did the other day upon reflecting on my BRIDGE text. Here the site is viewed through the eyes of the train operator as he passes the site. The red line represents a tactical LAZER SYSTEM - which is meant to create and/or enhance the connection between the opposite sides of the platform/transportation-river.

SomeTHING attached to both points of depature for the lazer could attract audiences, thus creating a fleeting event, somehow establishing or re-affirming the connection between people on opposite sides, with opposite travel directions. Trains passing will of course break the connection, and become meaningful again as the river is clear of obstruction. Whether or not this idea encapsulates the ideas presented in the text is unclear and open for debate. EOF.

The chronic uncertainty vs. The perpetual order


It is a bit unclear what this image is doing here, but I like the graphics.

I have an idea, of how to collective formulate a framework. All of us could write one or two obstructions for the working process. This could be done without knowing what the others are proposing, so we collect 5-10 obstructions that create a set of rules on how to work. I would like to emphasize that the obstructions preferably should be process- rather than goal-orientated.

If we do like this I encorrage everyone to think open and wide, the obstructions could involve anything from sleeping hours, what and how to eat, how to commute, dynamic responsability distribution formula, materials/tools to use (or not to use), how (not) to communicate or who and in which way decisions are taken.

This text (I guess it will be a text, right?) could be written in advance, maybe on a specific date/time which will save us time to work while in London. Also, what is interesting is that we will know before we start exactly what we are doing, but in the same way not having any idea at all.

An additional idea is that someone is collecting the obstructions and putting them together in a travel/work_guide.pdf (also including useful adresses and stuff) that everyone can print just before the trip starts. In this way we will not reflect collectivly on the obstructions before we come to London. I like that. The chronic uncertainty vs. The perpetual order.

There are two rather obvious references : Dogme 95 and The Five Obstructions.

DOGME 95.
  1. Optagelserne skal ske on location, kulisser og rekvisitter skal forefindes fra starten og må ikke placeres på stedet til optagelserne.

  2. Lyden må aldrig produceres adskilt fra optagelserne. Musik er kun tilladt, hvis det spilles direkte under optagelserne, f.eks. i form af et bånd eller en plade, der kører mens scenen skydes.

  3. Kameraet skal være håndholdt.

  4. Filmen skal være i farver. Speciel lyssætning er forbudt, men hvis der er for lidt lys til optagelserne kan man sætte en enkelt lampe på kameraet.

  5. Optiske filtre er forbudt.

  6. Filmen må ikke indeholde overfladisk action, f.eks. er mord og våben forbudt.

  7. Tidsmæssigt og geografisk må filmen ikke afvige i forhold til virkeligheden. Filmen skal ske her og nu.

  8. Genrefilm er forbudt.

  9. Filmformatet skal være Academy 35mm film.

  10. Instruktøren må ikke krediteres.


The five obstructions

  1. Leth must remake the film in Cuba (but with no set) with no shot longer than 12 frames, and he must answer the questions posed in the original film; Leth successfully completes this task.

  2. Leth must remake the film in the worst place in the world but not show that place onscreen; additionally, Leth must play the role of "the man". The meal must be included but the woman is not to be included. Leth remakes the film in the red light district of Bombay, only partially hiding it behind a translucent screen.

  3. Because Leth failed to complete task 2 perfectly, von Trier punishes him, telling him to either remake the film in any way he chooses, or redo obstruction 2 in Bombay again. Leth chooses the first option and remakes it in Brussels using split-screen effects.

  4. Leth must remake the film as an animation. He does so with the aid of Bob Sabiston, a specialist in rotoscoping, who creates animated versions of shots from the previous films.

  5. The fifth obstruction is that von Trier has already made the fifth version, but it must be credited as Leth's, and Leth must read a voice-over narration ostensibly from his own perspective but in fact written by von Trier.



Post-post thoughts: The obstructions could also be assembled for the first time when we meet on site.