tim when are you coming to nyc next? if no plan, how about this spring? remember when i said "want to do something"? that project is starting, still interested? steph months ago said she was into exploring, maybe you and me do something, you two do something else, she and i do something else, the three of us do something, that sounds like a four-thing interest-packed day think?
too many details = too much to sort through? well, this is how the project is going, and i figured this blog would focus on the projects - so, assuming you're reading this, you can skim or skip, right? let's say, then, that for now, i'm going to not worry so much about the posting of anything chess-related because the correspondence may be mundane but it's probably also where little decisions that end up really forming the end-game of the project get made. another email:
bonjour! have heard from jim and will call or email him soon. but you, you. first time (maybe only time? but who knows?) have three enticing options for your chesserific paintyness:
- your place, indoors
- your place, outdoors
- the park near my place (my first choice)
- my place
what would you like to do the most? i mean, where would you like to paint on a chessboard while a video camera looks down at the chessboard and records our every sure and false move?
hello and good night
got a few (extremely high-quality) responses from the initial "any interest?" query. it's me, scattered with one thing one day and another thing the next day, who have been a little slow moving forward.
but made a phone call (to t's "agent") and sent an email (to montclair, new jersey) and just reached out to michael (and believe we're going to do something so cool together), here's that email, for, umm, reading:
hey michael, how are you? so this is what i'm thinking, for us, to start - and want to stress anything i say is totally malleable by both of us ok?
what i'm envisioning as of 2007 april 09 is that you come over, with your "painter" program (you have a laptop?) and your wacom (if you're comfortable toting it, but i have one, we can of course share) tablet
i hang a big canvas with a chessboard on it, or maybe chessboard-patterned something (saw contact paper at hardware store near here) on the wall, projector faces that. we start with a black or white or grey background on your painter program. we paint, taking turns, with wacom. if can use two wacoms at once, wow, that would be cool - not sure if the machine can be set up that way. i only have one projector, if you have another one and could bring, would be amazing, but that's usually a rare situation.
anyway here's the kicker i want to do this a couple times because i'm also now thinking the one who isn't using the wacom computer paint could be using real paint, then we switch off, just need to be a wee-bit careful not to splatter paint on any new-tech equipment, sure that won't be a problem, just affirming we both feel the same way about keeping working stuff functioning (really trying just to assure you: michael i am not going to dump a can of paint on your laptop if you bring one over ok? do don't worry about this) (you can see i sometimes think in worst-case scenarios and build up from there)
anyway one more question can i have your permission to post pretty much any bit of our e-correspondence to my blog? and of course will remove anytime you want? but this goes up for starters? talk to you soon?
oh scheduling - this saturday is all-day bio-life-art discussion thing http://www.nyas.org/events/eventDetail.asp?eventID=8884&date=4/14/2007%208:00:00%20AM
and sunday i'm "playing" some "chess" in montclair i think (=hope) (although now it seems, would be fun for mr. montclair and team to come to nyc i bet) so maybe this sunday if you're free? otherwise, some evening would be ok? like, this friday (13th) or following wednesday (18th)? sun 22nd anytime?
this is a start right?
talk to you soon, call anytime tomorrow if you feel like it, hope you're well, spring is pretty much almost here
-erik
post-sending just realized duh, of course we should start (assuming "painter" program gives you background option) with either chess-pattern or even picture of whatever we're going to "paint" and paint on, whatever that chess-board option ends up being
18.4 miles today. reasonably hefty pack as well - two bottles of wine, three pairs of socks, three pairs of underwear, two pairs of long pants, bottle of water, thermos of tea, scone (last three items consumed en route) - also delivered a painting, carried it for a couple miles at least, was flapping in the wind quite a bit, in one of those large flat portfolio bags - carried a bag of dirt for a couple pre-backpack miles, first stretch (potting soil for spring project, courtesy of steph) (merci)
one thing i had been worried about was the cold (don't like it - matthew was suggesting november, initially, and i was thinking "most people wouldn't worry about the cold but i really don't like being cold") - anyway, no longer care about the cold. pretty much constant snow flurries haunted me throughout the day but i was sweating away undistracted
matthew pointed me to this distance-calculating site http://www.mapmyrun.com/, will try to keep better track of time now that i know it's easy to retrace the route
we're both conscious of wanting to get our speed up, so we've got a bit of time at stations, rather than in-between-points and just always trying to get to shelter - i figure eight hours a day, if we can get from one sleepspot to the next, would be confidence-giving, can always slow down and look at things super-intently, especially if you know you can speed up and get there no problem
after dinner my sister-in-law says "there are going to be mountains where you're going, right?" and i'm like "no way, we're strolling from hotel to hotel on sidewalks" but there will be a little bit of up-down it looks like, another matthew link http://www.amy.hi-ho.ne.jp/d08343/nsd/f32600.html (altitude shown in meters just below the map)
probably makes for a better view. didn't think i'd like being up on the bridge, not thrilled about heights in general, but no rain, fantastic (pictures not allowed, really strange feeling that the most beautiful part of the day not captured by a collaborating device)
if you click on #56, you'll see the beginning of the beginning
http://www.eriksanner.com/kisokaido_070407
last night sent out a link to this image
to a few people - and that was the next step in making "chess" happen - that picture has been in my head for a long time, years i guess, recently thinking things like "what if you sit with your backs to the table and throw paint over your shoulder behind you?" and "what if both 'players' have both black and white paint?" but that seems like later stuff, what you see is sort of the foundation thought
part of the reason i finally started blogging is that i'm receiving grant money for this project. so i figured it would be nice for new york city taxpayers to see what sort of work they're funding. yesterday created that illustration (which yes, took some time), wrote and sent this email:
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http://www.eriksanner.com/chess
does this like something you''d be interested in doing? or learning more about anyway, but gut reaction to that image, should be enough maybe? new project, will be blogging about it, want to invite you, it will evolve, you can have a role in that or not, would very much like for you to be involved at some point. if interested, please let me know. thank you.
-erik
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there are other people i want to invite to do this, more details on what "this" will or could entail to come
if you were at the cue how-to-present-your-art workshop with nina katchadourian, john zinsser, and mister fear-is-good.com, and i mentioned "doing a big collaboration thing with a bunch of people in a few months" then this is it and i haven't been able to find my little list of "must invite" names based on what i experienced during your presentation, please send me an email, especially whatsyername, you, the lady who was already doing something "chess" (but quite different, a maze)so saturday was a bit of a pre-test. if there are sixty-nine stations and we're planning on walking from kyoto to tokyo in about a two-week timespan, would need to average five pieces per day (photographing or videoing the elements, whatever we see there, which can later be placed into locations in the pieces).
chose four pieces (thought was random to start at 56 but later in day remembered only completed 55 of 88 temples on shikoku pilgrimage and think this a bit related to that)
one-hundred words about the kisokaido project:
my project will involve walking from kyoto to tokyo, a trek of roughly 330 miles. hiroshige’s series of woodblock prints “the 69 stations of the kisokaido line” (1834-1842) set along the same route will provide the compositional basis for my work. i intend to make digital collages, replacing all the elements in each of his prints with photographic and video imagery of the same geography present day. the individual pieces will subsequently be combined through time. for example, the background of #43 could be paired with elements from foreground of #32. this dynamic collage will be viewable online.
under five-hundred words about the kisokaido project (you may notice some similarities in the opening paragraph):
my project will involve walking from kyoto (the ancient capital of japan) to tokyo (the modern capital), a trek of roughly 330 miles. hiroshige’s series of woodblock prints “the 69 stations of the kisokaido line” (1834-1842) set along the same route will provide the compositional basis for my work. i intend to make digital collages, replacing all the elements in each of his prints with photographic and video imagery of the same geography present day. the individual pieces will subsequently be combined through time. for example, the background of #43 could be paired with elements from foreground of #32. this dynamic collage will be viewable online.
when approaching artmaking in general, or any specific project, the questions “what is timeless?” and “what is contemporary?” are always considerations. how can i make something relevant to people today, interesting to me, which pays homage to artists of prior generations?
currently, when initiating any new project, i also have a few basic ground rules, which could be broken, but more often than not i adhere to: 1) it will be a two-dimensional piece of visual art; 2) it will utilize technology to create a work which would not have been feasible in 1971 (the year of my birth); 3) it will constantly change, so although the work will remain identifiable, any time it is seen the viewer will see something which has likely never been seen before (by anybody) and will likely never be seen again (by anybody). as far as we know nothing in the universe is static, and the same can be said about clouds or a waterfall, which do indeed provide me with inspiration, but this is part of my still-developing criteria which enable me to paint despite having grown up at a time when paint appeared to be marginal and irrelevant, an era of atari and star wars and m*a*s*h.
when considering the kisokaido trek, and hiroshige’s work, the following seemed pertinent:
- hiroshige’s work was largely accessible, mass-printed for widescale distribution, not hidden in galleries or museums seen only by a select few (which led me to say “this project will be viewable online”);
- what he basically did, i believe, is firstly observe, and secondly, present his observations (of what was there, what was beautiful) to those who couldn’t take that kind of time or pay that kind of attention;
- the method of woodblock printing involves blocking out very clearly-defined areas of form and color in space, layered one on top of the other.
it then occurred to me to use whatever is currently visible on the kisokaido trek as elements in collages based on the composition of his works.
first lessons = hydrate; take a good map; be able to change camera battery or memory card while walking in the rain; this (kisokaido) is achievable
don't know why more than one name but that's presumably learnable. anyway seem to be same thing.
so recently i got a grant, after applying to several different ones, and there was a reception, and i met another artist, who agreed that the best part of applying for stuff is that it forces you to articulate what it is you are doing or want to do and helps refine your thinking and your projects. monday are two deadlines i've been looking forward to for months and months. kisokaido seems like a perfect fit for both. i've been really into building real-world pieces with dynamic digital components, both request a more web-based approach, usually i would just say "that's not what i want to do" and forget about it. but kisokaido has been beckoning web-aspect...
anyway can't do everything and right now will go take pictures and walk in manhattan, related to kisokaido, back-thinking to update another time
