Project 5 (Mobilities)

For our Mobilities project, our assignment was to film four videos showcasing new and unique perspectives around Granville Island. Each video was to be between 30 sec. and 2 min. long and to follow a specific criteria. My partner, Louisa, and I captured five or six videos then singled out and edited (all Louisa) the ones we thought were the most successful. See the four videos we chose to use below.

1. a very public space

For this video, we set a camera down amidst a frenzy of pigeons behind the market—a very public space seen from a dynamic perspective.

2. a very public space rarely seen

Our second video was filmed inside the colourful tunnels inside the Kid’s Market. We gained permission from the supervisor to enter without charge. The tunnels are a space available to anyone willing to pay a small fee, but rarely seen or appreciated by adults. The maze of tunnels, dizzying patterns, and intense colours offer a fun and lively view of a common yet unfamiliar space.

3. an edge zone: the zone where a secure area abuts an area that is not secure

The edge zone you see was filmed near the Net Loft around a building under construction. We walked around the entire construction site which was surrounded by a thin yellow metal fence. We liked the movement and “trailing effect” of the fence in the video. As well, we thought that its colour and energetic quality would suit the overall, though unintended, theme of pandemonium of our project.

4. a performed gesture using the colour orange

For our performance piece, we purchased a large roll of orange construction paper. We filmed at two or three different locations around the island, exploring different ideas such as waving it around like a kite in the wind, running around, and rolling it. The strongest video in our opinion, turned out to be the simplest of concepts: dragging it. Met with the curious eyes of dumbfouned passersby, We collected our considerable mass of orange paper, now completely unraveled and semi-destroyed, and proceeded to walk back to the school from the market place.

Project 3 (Cont’d)

Due to the complexity and ambiguity of my original idea for my urban intervention project, I decided to focus on a more accessible or easily understood subject matter: smoking. No one in my immediate family smokes, though a lot in my extended family, as well as many of my friends do. I’m not completely against smoking, that would make me a hypocrite. I use to be a very heavy smoker during my last year of high school and while I was studying in Montreal. Although I no longer smoke on a regular basis, I will have a cigarette here and there.

What pushed me towards addressing this topic was an experience I had a late afternoon sitting outside Emily Carr. I was waiting for a friend on the bench near the bike racks next to Opus. A Visual Culture lecture had just ended as a crowd of Foundation students exited the building. I was surprised, even shocked, at the amount of first years that lit up. It was actually ridiculous. But what actually peeved me was the fact that those that were smoking were completely ignorant and inconsiderate of the people around them that didn’t smoke—I saw a lot of annoyed faces in the crowd—including myself. Three girls sat down beside me to my right. Can you guess which way the wind was blowing? My urban intervention is aimed at promoting awareness not only of what smoking does to your body, but to encourage people to be considerate and take account of those around them. It’s located on the wall at the bottom of the stairs of the South Building.

I also had another sign cut that read, “WARNING Do not feed the smokers.” I was going to place it somewhere on the seated area that runs along the side of the North Building as a play on “Please do not feed the animals” signs, but I decided not to because it seemed a little overkill to have two anti-smoking signs up. As well, it seemed to be slightly more antagonistic than I wanted.

Project 4 (Exploring Google Earth)

My Google Earth project maps five of the most memorable gong shows of my life. Below are links and descriptions to other projects and artists that use Google Earth/mapping I found interesting.

If you want to view my Google Earth project on your computer instead of using the plug in, right-click save link as ma_geproject.kmz and open it with Google Earth.

Gulags, Nukes and a Water Slide: Citizen Spies Lift North Korea’s Veil

On April 4, 2007, Curtis Melvin, PhD students at George Mason University, decided to start the North Korea Uncovered project. Using his own trips to North Korea and a network of curious amateur spies who had also been visiting the country as well as clues from photos, news reports, and eyewitness accounts, the project offers an extensive mapping of one of the world’s most secretive countries’ economic, cultural, political, and military infrastructures.

Version 18: June 25, 2009: North-Korea-Uncovered-Project-18.kmz

Bible Events Seen From Google Earth

The Glue Society is a creative collective based in Sydney and New York comprising writers, designers, art directors, and film directors. In a group of images known collectively as God’s Eye View, commissioned by Eric Romano of NY’s Pulse Art for their Miami art fair, they’ve vividly re-created scenes from the Bible as if captured by Google Earth’s satellites (using real satellite imagery). The work above, titled Moses (2007), depicts the parting of the Red Sea written in the Book of Exodus.

Where On Earth Is Waldo?

Melanie Coles’ 2008 Emily Carr Institute Graduation Project. Epic win—and It happened right in our backyard! How is it that I hadn’t heard about this until now?

Michael Druks

Michael Druks was born in Jerusalem in 1940 and grew up in Tel Aviv where he became involved in the arts. He first came to Europe around 1970 and soon settled permanently in England. Druks evolved his ‘geographical technique’ to provide a coded visual language of signs that are understood all over the world. At at time of making the Druksland print, the artist says he was particularly preoccupied with borders and boundaries, their social and political implications.

Project 3 (Urban Intervention)

Let me start my saying that I am not (though probably should be, and partially ashamed of this fact) one who keeps up with the politics of the day nor current global events and issues (unless they are extremely mainstream or of utmost importance). After all, my ‘Political Views’ section on my Facebook profile does read ‘Apathetic.

As I said, I generally don’t concern myself with social, economic, political issues of the day; however, I one of the things that I distinctly remember feeling strongly about was the government’s plans to harmonized provincial sales tax and GST. For those who don’t know about it yet or for those who want to know more, here are a few links:

The Globe and Mail; The Vancouver Sun; Times Colonist; Government of British Columbia

While the government and several bank analysts ensure that It will be better for BC in the long run, there is still a lot of controversy surrounding the harmonized sales tax. Looking at the comments left under the articles above, it is obvious that many are unhappy with the government’s decision.

I took photos of various locations around Emily Carr and Granville Island that I found interesting. The emphasis on ‘interactivity’ really stuck with me after last class, so I found myself taking pictures of things such as water fountains, vending machines, pay and display machines, etc. Here’s what I believe to be the better of the three or four other mock ups I had:

The location of this elevator is right outside the North Building near the parkade. According to Symbols.com, In the West, is a symbol for the hexachord, a series of four tones and one semitone or six notes, and for harmonics and harmony in general. The letters within the symbol obviously represent GST, PST, and the new HST. When the elevator door opens, the center circles (HST) will be split apart, virtually obliterated, leaving only its components (GST and PST) behind. I suppose this image could be placed on any ‘double door,’ given that its surface is suitable for the vinyl. To be completely honest, I’m not sure if my idea for the project is strong or legitimate enough. I’m a little worried that it may be a bit ambiguous. Any feedback would be much appreciated!

Update: Today’s informal critique of my project was quite useful. Some understood what I was trying to convey, while others seemed a little puzzled. I failed to mention that I am against HST. I admit that I probably ignorant when it comes to these things, but we’re already being taxed into the freakin’ ground! My negative position is communicated by the door opening and breaking HST apart. The fact that the doors come back together to restore HST speaks to the government already having made the decision and the inevitability of the situation. It is my hope that my urban intervention will encourage people to think about the new tax law in one way or another, and on a more macrocosmic level, their role in the reciprocal relationship between government and society.

Project 2 (Panorama)

I initially had some trouble using photomerge to splice the images I had taken for the panorama. I took multiple sets of photos at various locations using a tripod, making sure to have 30%-50% overlap between pictures, but Photoshop couldn’t piece any of them together. After the seminar at the Digital Output Centre with Carlos, I discovered that my photos weren’t the problem. As it turns out, anything before CS3 is significantly handicapped in functions such as photomerge–I was using CS2. In any case, I eventually got things figured out. Below is the image I’ll be using for the initial hard proof.

Update: After comparing the printed hard proof with the original image I created, I realized that the print seems to be more yellow than desired, slightly toning down or washing out the brightness and blueness of the sky. I’m going to try to fix this before the final print using curves and/or a photo filter.

Update: My image is a synthesis of graffiti art (something that has always interested me, though I am not a graffiti artist myself) and  a panoramic shot of Quilchena Park. At first, I wanted to juxtapose something urban with something ‘natural.’ After or hard proof critique session,  It was pointed out that I could have used an environment much less touched by ‘modernity.’ I realized that for me the project became less about the juxtaposition and more about the aesthetics of the piece. I didn’t want to remove the photograph of the park because I felt it worked too well with the graffiti. The graffiti act as coloured lenses or photo filters that alter the appearance of the park and the way that it is perceived. As well, It was my intention to arrange the graffiti in a way that corresponded to the ‘flow’ of the park in an attempt to insert a kind of energy or vitality into what would normally be viewed as a simple humdrum photograph. See the final image below.