Sparks

The first event done at the Walker was entitled "Siren" by Ray Lee. We walked into a space that looked like backstage to me. I in fact found that space for this presentation very interesting. I still wonder how the performance of this would have been in an open auditorium instead of having concrete walls enclosing the sounds.

The performance was started one tone at a time. I like this in fact, because it gave us (audience) the chance to incorporate each sound to each other or by themselves. If say the sounds were set off at the same time I would have not gotten as much from that. As more of the tones are set off you get kind of a drone sound. Then the arms on the metal tripods were set to spin at different speeds, which caused a rhythmic pattern depending on where you were standing. This was also very interesting for me, because what I saw was the tripods which were lower to the ground were set off first, causing them to reach the maximum rotation speed first. So at one point in time I heard a rhythmic patter coming from high tones. As the lower tripods started to slow down the high tripods were spinning faster so then I got a rhythmic patter from different tones.

I liked the lights on the tripods very much. I think they added a visual effect along with the sounds, more so when the lights were turned off. That was sweet as heck. Here is a picture: http://calendar.walkerart.org/enlarge.wac?id=10820

More to come..........

Bathroom fun II

Upon revisiting the bathrooms of the P.A.C. I noticed quite a few other things going on. In addition to the reverb of the space, I noticed quite a few other sounds that i had not noticed before. This may have been due to the fact that the first door to the bathroom was propped open so many more sounds could enter the bathroom. The sounds that I noticed that were produced inside or from the bathroom include
*air being moved by the ventilation of the bathroom
*doors squeaking and thumping closed
*toilet flushes
*water from the sink
*hand dryers
*the slight buzz from the florescent lights

In addition to these sounds I could also hear many sounds coming from outside the bathroom.
*chatter from people in the hallway
*instrument cases being set on the floor
*the squeak of shoes on the floor
*water pipes from the adjacent womens bathroom

bathroom fun

A space that has really intrigued me for a while now is the bathrooms of the P.A.C. The reason that they intrigue me is the amount of reverb that is present inside of the bathroom. Since there are so many flat hard surfaces, sound tends to bounce around in the space. The other thing that really intrigues me is the double doors that lead into the bathrooms. I have never seen this kind of double door on any other bathroom around campus or anywhere for that matter. I'm guessing that they are used to dampen sound coming from the bathrooms, so as not to disturb the music or performances going on in the performing arts center. They also give the space some additional attributes. The reverb in the space between the doors is completely different from that of the bathroom itself.

Helluva Stairwell

So ive decided on a new space to potentially use for my final project. as long as everything works out. I will be doing a piece in one of the four massive concrete stairwells in the wicke science building. These stairwells are pretty unbelievable. Because of their shape and size they are incredibly reverborous. Short transient sounds ring out for a very long time and long sweeping sounds seem to completeley fill the space and swim about the space as they are constantly reflected about the walls.

The spaces are big enough, and interesting enough that Paul and myself have decided to each do a piece in these stairwells. We will either do installations in opposite stairwells or two in the same stairwell. We would like to create installations which contrast and/or compliment each other in some way. We are playing ideas concern duality and opposites. For the wicke building, unnatural and natural might be a good place to start.

These stairwells are also perfect for creating imaginary spaces. They are so massive and open that sound can be heard throughout, but your line of sight is restricted to a small section. Any amount of imaginary action can be created above or below the unsuspecting student. We tested this out and the effect is startling.

My favorite, very most favorite characteristic of these stairwells is the way its architecture resonates sound to the point were the volume seems to be the same no matter where the sound is coming from or where you are in the stairwell. A chime can play at the very, very top and at the bottom it sounds like the sound is coming straight out of the walls around you. This environment will be perfect for heterodining*? as well as many other effects.

Robert Irwin

I am a big fan of Irwin’s approach to art. I believe that many people spend most of their lives completely blind to all that is happening around them. The entire universe can be a very aesthetically pleasing place, but so much of what is happening in our day to day lives is overlooked. Sometimes it takes an artist to bring our attention to the things we miss.

Kantian philosophers believe that the only true beauty exists in nature. I believe that this also encompasses natural phenomena, like light and gravity. These things are beautiful because they have no finality, no purpose, no reason, or end. They inspire wonder and awe in us and have no answer. They are pleasing for us to experience but for no clear reason. A tree just is, colors just are, and sound just happens.

These things are truly beautiful and opposed to unnatural things which are not. Such as things created by man, which are fundamentally flawed by the purpose assigned to them or the means to an end they inevitably become.

It seems like the beauty of the natural world is often overlooked. At the same time, almost all men find pleasure in experiencing large scale natural wonders, such massive canyons, mountains, oceans, solar eclipses, and the starry night. However, these things inspire pleasure and awe because they are the sublime, and we simply cannot fully comprehend them for they are much too large. The beautiful which we can comprehend, but not necessarily understand, happens on a smaller scale. This beauty often is missed. Irwin finds it and portrays it in a way which we can appreciate and comprehend.

Robert Irwin finds ways to bring our attention to true beauty in a way which does not corrupt the natural perfection of the experience. Irwin is not a creator, but a guide.

My Secret Place

My preffered liar is under construction so i had to find a default liar.

I chose to go in the upstairs of atwood. In a little area with chairs thats next to some display cases.My spot was in the center of the seating aragenments.

On my right side was a lonely woman eating lunch. On my right was two Asian students speaking their native language. And after few minutes a couple of women sat across from me and and ate and conversed.

Besides these noises there were people coming and going pass me and around me allot of feet sounds and random conversation.

There was also a lot of noise coming up the stairwell from all of the constant traffic from some sort of mini convention going on.

There was also the sound of children because for some reason there were allot of kids in the ballroom.

There is also a constant drone from something either mechanical or electrical if you listen really close.

Irwin Vid

Robert Irwin is an artist that does allot of his work with out using a frame.

By doing this the public is never sure of what they are looking at. So some people get what he is going for and some people not and this is alright with him.

He does this by making it so the audiance may not be drawin directly to the piece, this is done by no frames or labels.

When making his artwork he took in to account that the lights could be used to create a rainbow effect and he also took in to account that the walls my destract from this. And that by adding a cable across the room it would increase the odds of having at least some people notice it.

The Organ, The Wind, The Baby

In the art gallery there were 4 different works.

One was broken it just said something about S video input so I did not spend much time on that.

The first one that I really noticed was the organ, probably because of the giant spinning skulls.
When I went to play it I noticed that certain keys were marked with black or blue bars, So those were the ones that I played. This is when I realized that its pretty loud. And I think this is why its not payed for to long by people that come in there. Other interesting things about it is that it does have a microphone set up and it also has a guitar jack, so I assume you can plug in to it with other instruments.

The Baby is the other piece that you notice almost instantly. This is a loop of what sounds like baby gibberish played constantly along with a colored projection. This piece is semi soothing but it is quickly ignored because of its consistancey.

The one that is often noticed last is a loop of wind and what sounds like a motorcycle. This was interesting because it rarely went off and when it did it only lasted for a few minutes. The best part about this piece was that it quite often startled people because you do not expect it. This piece also had a projection screen with it.

Robert Irwin's Art

Reflections on the floor, shadows on the wall, refracted light, colors overlapping and combining; a single Irwin work could generate dozens of artistic photographs, but the experience of the actual space trumps them all. Wish I could have seen his wire.

This week's assignment

I'd like each of you to return to the space in which you spent time this past week, and attempt to record an essential element, using the universities portable gear (from the library). Please note that I am asking you to focus on the passive sounds in the space, not you purposely adding sounds into it (although any sounds that are normal in the space, such as students talking, or footsteps, etc are fine).

Robert Irwin Video

After watching this video I did some research on Robert Irwin, out of my own curiosity. What I found interesting was that the work in which he talks about in the video was not the only untitled work that he did. From what I could find, most or all his works were untitled. (don't quote me on this because I'm not to sure about that statement.)

I really liked his thinking behind not putting a label on his works. Like with anything else putting a label puts a thought into a viewers head. But Robert was aiming for the responsibility of thought to be put in the viewer.

I also liked the comment he made about isolating an object that has become so common to the world, that is goes unseen. It is very admirable that he has worked on making common objects in a given room to be viewed in a new way.

I wanted to put up one of his works in the walker art center, but the web address won't show up on my post.

http://www.imamuseum.org/explore/artwork/718?