Preparations week ending 18th November

This week has been mixed in terms of success. ABOVE is a photo of the range of materials i began to use at NPT in order to develop the Antarctic theme VISUALS. I sourced material from the web on Emperor penguin lifecycle, krill(food) and their young. I also transferred images onto acetate and built a set of viewing/light binoculars [BELOW].

I have also been investigating how shadow and the human form can create tableaus. I am hoping to string each 'scene' into a narrative about penguins. It is really enjoyable to try to improvise in this way.

In terms of the AUDIO experiment; I was able to connect the Nimzy Audio Blaster to my laptop and play the Data WAV of the Emperor Penguins whilst we improvised each scene. I actually managed to amplify the entire floor of the main auditorium (!) which was pretty impressive.

Unfortunately, i discovered that the Nimzy unit can only be placed upon another hard surface and not 'fixed' - so in instead it is actually trying to amplify the OHP,the fishtank and the pyrex dish - and not the glass that contains the water!

The next stage in trying to set up a resonance pattern will either be via the piezo transducer (which i now doubt will have enough power to transmit - at least through the glass) or a waterproof speaker. I will hopefully be able to set up and try a few experiments using both at the end of next week with PA after the sound inductions. I hope to have delivery of the waterproof speaker by then. I have spoken to a sound engineer colleague who believes that the waterproof speaker will be the best direct means of creating a resonance pattern via partial submersion in the water.

An alternative is to wire up to five 100watt speakers via the NPT amplifiers and place the fish tank ontop (with a small volume of water) and transmit the resonance pattern that way. Seems a little overkill thou' ; )

I have booked the DAR3 room for 30th November as the actual deadline by which to video whatever i have to create a resonance pattern. I have struggled with the difficulties of setting up the experiment at NPT (No NSAD sound engineer and taking a video camera off-site) or setting it up at NSAD (no OHP or screen to set up visuals). Hopefully NPT will have a portable OHP - i will find out if this works with my glass/ water/ mirror set up next tuesdayPM (20th). Fingers crossed!

Monday (19th) I will be at my proposed research visit to the British library symposium with Marko Peljhan on the libraries of ice . I will also be going to the Imperial War Museum for the weapons of mass communication exhibition on Tues (20th).

I have been invited to a Tipping Point networking event at Tate Britain on 27th Nov - but i doubt that i can fit this into my working schedule at the moment. Beth Derbyshire and Yinka Shonibare will be leading some of the talks. Interestingly, Derbyshire has touched upon water and birds as subject matter herself. My attention was caught by a passage in in her artist statement: 'The element of drawing is present, whether it is a video sketch from nature such as birds in flight or a rolling wave, a photographic work describing a human gesture, or as in Message a live-event/drawing'. I am inclined to view each tableau (to use the theatrical term) that i have created as visual sketches.

Overview of preperation week ending 11th NOV

In previous weeks' preparation for the learning agreement, I came across the ITASC project:(Interpolar Transnational Art Science Constellation: Official project of the International Polar Year 2007-08) , which led me to the work of Marko Peljhan digital media artist: founder of MAKROLAB and currently the Fall 2007 SFAI Centre for Art and Science Fellow.

I will be attending a symposium 'POLAR: The Art and Science of Climate Change' at the British Library, London on Monday 19th November , where Peljhan will be talking at a 'show and tell' of different ice libraries along with other senior scientists and artists who will debate how these archives might well claim to hold the world's knowledge. This wil be a great way to see how the dynamics of contemporary ART/Science collaboration are developing using digital media.

Via the Peljan/INTERPOLAR connection, I came across the Media Shed in Southend on Sea (UK) who are offer raw weather data samples from the Antarctic region to download and re-sample at DataJAM sessions. Unfortunately, my timing was all out and I missed the opportunity to use Opensource software to graphically programme visual effects using 'blocks'. Nonetheless, It is possible to download these LINUX PureData/ ZIP files. Here I was able to source Zipped AUDIO WAV files of Emperor Penguins.

The link to bird imagery is important, as this has formed part of a shadow/ object theatre tableau I have been jointly creating as part of a puppetry performance course at NPT. The image of a bird eye (SEE IMAGE) is constructed from water, glass, a mirror, and an OHP. My course partner and I had orginally focused upon 'metamorphosis' as a theme, however, the improvisatory element of the course lends itself to investigation through experiment - so this was the strongest imagery we developed using the materials to hand. We will continue over the coming weeks to investigate transparency and light effects, as well as trying to define a performance style, puppets/ objects, sound and lighting.

[IMAGE ABOVE] Transparency and lighting effects are used to magnify 'arctic' conditions inside this snow globe.

This coming week: I hope to have a speaker which transmits thorough any flat surface delivered ( its called a Nimzy Vibro blaster ;)). Hopefully this will be in time for my Tuesday Performance course, so i can test the data/audio file of the emperor WAV in the theatre space. I hope to have amassed more glass recepticles (we're trying a pyrex dish and a small fish tank this week) to 'frame' the birds eye within ripples. I have already bought a Piezo transducer (for the value price of 69p!) in the hope that PA can tell me what to connect it to in order to transmit sound through liquid. I have a feeling that it wont be powerful enough - (PA suggested the Nimzy Vibro blaster speaker and amp ). It would be nice to check whether water (or oil) can transmit resonance patterns at all - ahead of altering the frequency and looping- (which i will need to do in the SOUND workshop). Anyway regardless i want to build the Emperor tableau into something beyond a resonance pattern - so all is not lost if the delivery man isn't on time.

Learning Agreement

I would like to explore the contemporary normative artistic/scientific approach to the subject of Climate Change using digital media. Contemporary collaborative art/science output has tended to converge upon on the Arctic Regions as a site where the dynamic effects of climate change are ‘visible’. This is evidenced in the output from the Capefarewell project.

My interest, however, lies at the heart of the human responses to anthropogenic climate change – an aim to provoke emotional engagement with the ‘disaster narrative’. I aim to investigate the interdependent and symbolic meanings of climate change, i.e that of Perceptions (cycle/despair/denial); of Culture (artifact/consumption/identity); and Situation (Eden/ Apocalypse/Babel).

As a starting point to this line of enquiry, I would like to utilize some documentary audio from the Antarctic region to produce a video work that will symbolically replicate the interdependence typified by the Emperor penguin and its life in the Antarctic region.

I propose to create a tableau using shadow theatre/ object theatre conventions that interact with audio recording. I will do this using Overhead projector, assembled objects, water, a playboard screen and various lighting methods. I aim to connect an audio transmission thorough the assembled objects and water and capture the resonance patterns projected onto the playboard screen using photography and video.

Finally - i've logged back in!

It been ages since my last post, as i've had recurring difficulty logging back into my blog on different networks : (

I have been busy researching for the individual Presentations we held on 1st November. My presentation ended up being rather too long with at least six different experiements that I wanted to undertake using differing technologies.

Experiment #1: Composite Portraits
Experiment #2:Warping Propaganda posters
Experiment #3: Still life colour change
Experiment #4: Antartic Data Jam download PLUS Live Object Theatre projections
Experiment #5: Web Conf Collective visual animation

SC advised to try to encapsulate all of these ideas into one. I'm not sure what i think about this prospect. I can see the logic. However, I envisaged each being of a particular aesthetic and i'm not sure that an amalgamation of all of these technologies would be a direction that i would like to go in. Perhaps that's my limitation. Nonetheless, I will think more indepth about the possibilities and draft something for next weeks tutorials.

I REALLY would like to be able to buy time until after i see the POLAR Arts Catalyst Symposium/ The Propaganda WAR poster exhibition at the Imperial War Museum and the TATE's The World as a Stage exhibition. ALL are on over November 07.

Two Artists at both events that work \on Climate change and art: Marko Peljhan and Simon Faithfull

Hello All

Here's my first post on the Hybrid Xhezza Blog.

I'm currently busy trying to think of what to put in my learning agreement.

I'm unsure whether its worth trying lots of different things or whether it's worth focusing it onto one specific line of enquiry. Guess that's up for discussion on Thursday.

Xhezza