project tracking
after creating and subsequently revising that what-i'm-working-on document (http://eriksanner.com/random/
erik sanner works in process
erik sanner works in process
editing (with sound!)
most of my work is visual, no audio. most of the video clips i edit and either include in work or post online are silent. but life mapping involved story telling - so i find myself in the unusual position editing sound along with the video. actually i'm starting with the sound - i have a pretty clear idea in my head of how i want the video to flow, i'm fairly confident i can synchronize it to match the audio if i can get the audio to do what i want. just want a few snippets, maybe three minutes out of eight hours of footage, but to get those bits, you have to sift through the entire thing - you can't zoom through the audio the way you can fast forward through visuals (or i can't anyway) - so i've been spending a lot of time recently editing. more time than i'd usually spend on a short documentation clip like this. but enjoying it - different is good, sharing work is what it's for, being able to show somebody what we did and how we did it is a necessary step in the completion of a project even though the art has been made and shown.
how we enjoyed traffic cones
not so many weeks ago was the absolute deadline to turn in the final report for my 2009 manhattan community arts fund grant. while filling out the form (http://www.lmcc.net/uploads/
http://eriksanner.com/random/
curating
have just begun curating bitstream new media. i'll be blogging there as well. here, i'm going to keep blogging about artmaking. i won't post curatorial stuff here, and i won't post stuff about my own work over there, i don't think. there may end up more crossover than i'm envisioning today - we'll see.
anyway, here's a link to my first post over there:
http://bnmny.com/?p=470
hope you enjoy it. please feel free to comment!
- erik
lives, mapped
won't have time to edit documentation video for some days, but last night was a lot of fun. we invited members of the audience to map their lives, we mapped our lives, and then we all told stories and got to know each other a bit better. people seemed very engaged, and i'm very happy with how it worked out. here's a still of last mapper ruthie crisscrossing the world.
invitation
http://eriksanner.com/random/2010/bronxartspace/life_mapping_and_summer_shade_invite_100302.pdf
life mapping and summer shade will be included in the synthetic zero group show of live performance, experimental film, and visual art curated by mitsu hadeishi at bronxartspace in march 2010.
justin, david and i will be live mapping only on wednesday, march 3rd, on and off from 6pm-9pm. ruthie, star of the video component, may make a cameo appearance sometime after 8:30pm. i hope you can join us!
if not, i‘ll also be there on saturday, march 6th, from 7pm to 8:30pm, hanging out and witnessing the performances and taking in the other projects in the show.
bronxartspace is located at 305 e. 140th st., #1a, bronx ny10454, right around the corner from the 3rd ave / 138th street stop on the #6 train. http://www.bronxartspace.com/mar2010.php
i hope that you can come by and see life mapping, summer shade and the other work – and i hope that you enjoy it when you do.
how did you come to this place in your life? what brought me to art, to painting, to collaboration, to new media, to living in new york city, to showing in the bronx? life mapping is a conversational, collaborative method of action painting in which overlapping webs illustrate turning points in the lives of the participants, culminating in the present moment and location.
the life maps began with footprints in freshly-fallen snow. participants imagined the snow as the earth and walked from place to place, city to city, country to country, sharing memories from each spot on the map, trying to find out what led us forward each time. when the initial life maps were complete, new animated life maps were drawn on a computer and projected onto the life maps we made in the snow.
on wednesday, digitally-combined footage of the experience of creating all of the previous life maps will be projected onto the wall. the area within the projection will represent the world, and the collaborators will then create new life maps by affixing colored tape to the wall. life mapping gives a relatively succinct, painterly answer to some questions asked over and over by generations upon generations of artmakers – where did we come from, and how did we get here?
summer shade is the final of four seasonal landscape “moving paintings.” each of these pieces seeks to convey my impression and experience of a time of year. although they rely on video and computer programming in order to change through time, each of these pieces is meant to be “looked at” like a painting rather than “watched” like a movie.
summer is all about relaxing, lying in a hammock... i wanted both the process of artmaking and the final piece to provide that feeling. my plan was to go to a park and film tree shadows on a portable movie screen. projecting the captured sunlight and shade back onto the screen in a different context would bring an outdoor summer sensation inside, in any season. above you can see sketches from that original plan.
after relocating to a new apartment with a patio in the back, i was able to sip homemade limeade while my video camera recorded peaceful moments passing, just as i had hoped to do in the park. every few minutes i moved the screen and the tripod, capturing different compositions. a breeze flowed through the tree leaves and the sunlight dappled on the screen, forming patterns of light and shadow.
after recording the shade, i wrote software which composites different moments of the footage, intensifying both the deepness of the shade and the brightness of the sunlight. due to the length of the video which can be composited and the variations of the shade patterns and the location of the screen, you’ll see a slightly different composition every time you look at summer shade.
life mapping
spent most of yesterday installing "summer shade" at bronxartspace.
http://eriksanner.com/random/2010/bronxartspace/about_summer_shade_100224.pdf
had been unsure whether i'd be showing more work than that - we had discussed maybe including "walking the nakasendo" or "life mapping." mitsu was wondering if i had anything performative or interactive in mind, and i said that "life mapping" was evolving towards a live mapping - not a traditional performance, something closer to action painting combined with storytelling. we decided that i'd present "life mapping" on wednesday - which meant that i spent all day today working on the piece. but to talk about the past several hours i need to go back a couple of weeks, and actually months (or years at this point) before that.
my "uncle" has a "farmhouse" in rural connecticut. my family ends up there about once a year. there's a beautiful, huge lawn behind the house, and every time i go, i think about projecting something onto it - but i never have, and i've taken my projector up a few times. anyway, all the heavy snow this year got me thinking about projecting onto snow. i don't like the cold so i'm not too keen on building snow sculptures and projecting through them - that would probably be really beautiful but i don't want to be out there messing around that much right now. but snow feels a lot to me like blank canvas. so when ruthie and i decided to go up to the "farmhouse" a couple of weeks ago, i took my projector (again), thinking i'd scratch two itches - project onto that inviting lawn, and project onto snow. on the way up, ruthie and i were talking about what all we'd like to do, and i was thinking about making tracks in the snow (which would be like drawing or painting) and what all we'd want to talk about, and that making tracks in the snow is a little bit like walking through life, you make some kind of mark but honestly it disappears, human life is not very long in the scheme of things - things like that. i asked her how she'd like to take turns telling each other our life stories, and she said she would like that. so, "life mapping" - we'd make a map of our lives, while telling each other about your lives. also had vague thoughts of staying cozy indoors and projecting drawings out onto the snow - wasn't sure we needed to be out there walking around leaving tracks. anyway, that was the beginning of the project - wanting to project onto that lawn for so long, experiencing this winter of beckoning snow, and wanting to do something together with ruthie that would be meaningful for both of us - not just asking her "hey will you please do x for me because i want to do this art project and i think it will be fun" but trying to come up with a project in which we really share something and get to know each other even better.
in this image, we have already completed our life maps (the horizontal tracks going from the tree at left across the image are the top of the world). right in the middle of the picture you can see the balcony i put the video camera (and later the projector) on.
here's a view from the balcony taken earlier, looking down onto the pristine world (only a few animal tracks, no human footprints). the two red straps mark the edges of the video camera's field of view.
after setting that up, we went out into the world to make our maps and tell our stories. here's a view from that video camera above:
our completed life maps:
later on, i drew animations of our life maps, and projected those out onto the life maps we had made in the snow:
this is an image of the same animation, but with a black background instead of white:
then we came home and i did some work on the video and kept thinking about what the next step would be. we talked about making a painting together and projecting the other stuff onto that. i started thinking about inviting other people to make life maps, about how to make it maybe an interactive piece, about how to somehow expand the project and the collaboration. i thought about using different color tape instead of paint, or getting people to draw (using a projection?) while other people make tracks in the snow, simultaneously - but just vague thoughts. and then yesterday i had some blue tape and some black tape i was using (while installing "summer shade") and i saw that mitsu had some red tape out, and i thought jeez, why keep thinking about this thing, why not experiment and improvise? recently i've been trying to do things i don't usually do. instead of saying "i make installations = moving paintings = non-linear non-narrative," and instead of tying everything back to art history, i'm trying to feel a little freer - not think so hard, not think so much - don't treat every project like a crucially important undertaking - just explore an idea, see where it takes me (or us), accept that it might not be the best thing i've ever done and that's ok, better to keep things light and keep things moving - do something for the moment, even if it doesn't fit into my dogma, it will probably have a contemporary aspect - but ultimately not to worry about that - most ideas are old ideas and most art is rooted in previous art - monet didn't need to be the first person ever to paint a tree on a canvas (lucky for us) - don't want to think about "has someone done something like this before?" = just want to follow my instincts, if it's well-trodden territory, i'll worry about that a year from now. at the moment, that's just not going to be a big worry of mine - i'd rather just think about what it is about a project which makes me want to work on it. in this case, it's learning about others' lives, trying to find new ways to "make paintings," and sharing bits of my life and methods with others.
anyway back specifically to where "life mapping" is going - so yesterday i saw the different colors of tape at bronxartspace and talked with mitsu about the piece again and about how i felt that there was a performative aspect which i wanted to explore (combination of action painting and storytelling) and i decided that putting tape on the wall while a projection was running on the same wall would be something i'd like to do with somebody. i knew ruthie had commitments wednesday so it would be somebody else. posted to facebook:
looked out back and saw another blank canvas (for justin and i):
wrote some emails (including some inviting david to join us wednesday). excerpts from the most relevant:
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sun, feb 28, 2010 at 12:17pm
re: brunch today
you and justin (i'll be doing something projected on top of you both, probably just lines, but maybe talking too, i'm not sure) saying, chronologically, where you've been (we'll take turns, like playing monopoly) and putting tape on the wall to mark where you've been. then, a strip of tape goes to the next place. then it goes to the next place. it's not a real globe, it's a map of the places significant to us.
maybe i'd be up there mapping with you and justin, or maybe my map would be projection not tape. justin and i will talk about it today. i'm thinking this goes on for maybe 20-25 minutes. also we videotape it and that can be used somehow if the piece keeps growing.
it will be interesting if justin and i do it, but i think more interesting with you, your map would overlap with both of ours, i think that would be so cool
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did some editing:
after a very late brunch with justin, we worked on our life maps, here's a view from the video camera:
here's a snapshot from a pocket camera which gives you a better idea of how i experienced the life mapping (you can see the video camera hanging above the door to my studio, above the ladder):
we made an animation of justin's life map and projected that (layered with the animation i'd made of my map in connecticut) out onto our life maps:
and that's where the project is now. i need to do some editing and get some sleep, and email with justin and david tomorrow. i'm thinking more and more that what's significant is facing "painting" and figuring out how we all came to art (david and justin are both writers). david co-founded the ape (aesthetic purposes exploration) group with me, and i first met justin at an ape meeting not so many months ago, so focusing on the significant things-that-drew-us-towards-art might work well wednesday.
works in progress
earlier this week liz asked me "what are you working on?" i realized i hadn't really prioritized projects in a while, or taken stock of where i was on some of them - so i responded by putting together this:
http://eriksanner.com/random/2010/wip/working_on_100226.pdf
the idea is that this will be an ever-changing document which will help me to keep track of what i want to be doing now, what i'm planning on doing next, what i meant to do and didn't end up doing for one reason for another - i realized there are projects i've thought of doing for several years now - i don't like that, i want to finish some of them up and move on to new ones.
here's an image from working on "life mapping" - a recently-begun work-in-progress which i also want to bring to a complete phase within the next few weeks.
it may have another incarnation as an interactive piece with viewer-maker participation, but i think the initial work is nearly complete.
the bridge
http://eriksanner.com/random/2010/the_bridge/five_second_invite_100217.pdf
http://www.supershortvideo.com/
i was invited to share a five-second video as part of a group show of five-second videos. i think it’s going to be fun and i hope you can join us for the opening.
from john:
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super short video!
a group show of five-second videos
curated by john tymkiw
have you ever been struck by a sidelong glance?
brief encounters always leave something open to interpretation.
and they can be more emotionally powerful than lengthy explanations.
this exhibition brings together a diverse group of filmmakers, artists and
creators to explore this idea in very short videos. just five seconds long.
enough time to say something – and show something.
yet short enough to leave room for imagination.
opening reception
wednesday, february 24th, 8-11 pm at secret project robot
210 kent avenue, williamsburg, brooklyn
http://www.secretprojectrobot.org
info@supershortvideo.com
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why i made a five-second video, and what i think about john's project:
when john first approached me about making a five-second video for the group show he was curating, i was hesitant. my work is typically non-linear non-narrative new media installations which can be looked at for one second or ten minutes (like paintings) rather than viewed from beginning to end (like movies).
however, i kept thinking about it. i want to do different things in my art and in my life, i don’t want to do the same things over and over – this would be something different for me. and it’s not like i‘ve never made pure video work before, i just don’t do it very often or take it very seriously. and i‘d recently been experimenting with some pieces which exist purely in the digital realm without a necessary physical component (e.g., this unfinished self portrait which can take several seconds to load, http://eriksanner.com/random/2010/self/self.html). i really like making art and sharing it with people, and i like being invited to do things, so i was motivated to both thank john for the invitation by making some work for his show, as well as the knowledge that he would secure a venue and the work would be seen by somebody. john is fun and i could imagine that a lot of the submissions would be fun. i like shows where an instigator of one sort or another says “let’s make something and here are the rules” – for example, not “let’s all make work about [the sensation of flying]” but “let’s limit our pieces to three colors each” – formal rather than thematic limits, this makes me excited. i would want to know what it’s possible to do with three hours, three colors, and three hands, for example. so “the rule is that it’s five seconds long” resonated with me – i‘vebeen involved on both ends of that sort of project before and typically enjoy it. finally, i had been thinking, a month or two earlier, about making
a short video (not five seconds short, but short). i‘’d had a very vivid and confusing dream which i‘d been thinking about using as the basis for a piece. i had pretty much given up on the idea, thinking that it would take too much time, wasn’t quite aligned with my goals for my work, etc. but could i condense maybe three minutes of dream time into five seconds of video time? an invitation, the funness of john and the likelihood of fun submissions, a potential audience, strict formal rules, and being able to go ahead and realize my dream, literally, with the pressure-relieving thought “it’s just five seconds!” – i realized yes this was something i wanted to do, yes this was an experience i wanted to have, yes this was something i wanted to make and share.
since submitting my video, i‘vebeen thinking about the contemporary nature of john‘s project. not only was all the work created in the last couple of months, but i think this show is an example of the experience of “everything speeding up all the time” we are all living through. five seconds seems short now, but not incredibly short –it’s not like a second or a millisecond or a nanosecond – you can count it out, you can imagine winning a basketball game if you still have five seconds. i think five seconds is longer than it used to be, and i think ten or twenty years from now, these videos will all feel longer than five seconds of our sensation of time in 2010. it used to take months to cross the ocean, now several hours feels slow, aren’t there faster planes? this is a sensation that is only going to accelerate, that when things don’t happen instantly, they feel slow. it‘s not just that “people aren’t as patient now”
or “as you get older, time speeds up” (probably both true) – it’s that we’re doing more things in shorter amounts of time, and we’re going to keep being able to do more things in shorter and shorter increments. what really struck me about the five-second videos is a memory i had from school when i was growing up. a teacher said that television networks were finding that cuts from one shot to another must occur at least once every five seconds or the audience would become bored. at least once every five seconds! television networks aren’t the behemoth powers today that they were back then, but i wonder, what do they say now?
don't want to give too much away, but here are two images from making "the bridge":
hope to see you at the show. in any case, will put it up online after wednesday night.
thank you john for including me, and thank you ruthie for starring in my dream!
