hmmmmmmm k so im just going to lump this all into the one post to keep it simple and go by chapters
Brief of the plan from after mid semester reviews-
dance fest 2000
After playing with Final Cut a fair amount in the first half of semester i felt like i wanted to continue learning how to use it, I came across a video that mesmerized me with its technique of layering and pattern with movement called 'Choros' by Micheal Langan and Terah Maher. After watching it a few dozen times I decided I wanted to learn how they got the technique for it and play around with layering and trying to communicate a particular sense self presence with movement. This would be in the form of "I lost all concept of space and time because i was pullin such hard core shapes on the dance floor/bedroom" the kind of mental state that is often thought generally with an idea that the person is 'wasted' if they were to do it openly in public Artist Gillian Wearing's video 'takeover: Dancing in Peckham' shows this aspect. It's pretty funny
lGillian Wearing takeover: Dancing in Peckham – video
In my work i wanted to stay away from videos that looked like i was reenacting or glorifying drugs and partying, away from 'trippy for trippy's sake' (which is hard because i like patterns, abstraction, and colours) and away from something that resembled another narcissist shaking their ass for attention.
what i did want to do was:
- try to convey an untangable but instinctively relatable joy of dancing from somewhere between your gut and your primitive subconscious.
-depict a person that has brought themselves into a state of complete loss of self consciousness, reflecting the engagement between themselves and their body.
- To use editing techniques to really accurately show movement in the way it would feel for the person who is dancing
- To film those who aren't professionally trained specifically to showcase the beauty of spontaneous abandonment
- i think there's more.. i wanted to do a lot of things
anyway yeah so i put my efforts towards figuring out the set up for filming to then trial some editting to see if i could get the whole layering thing down in final cut.
- this was the result
This is where i thank my friend Rose and my house mate Toby for being champions and dancing for me
I then set up the AV room and had Rose and Toby come in for filming them dance. I tried to think of ways that would break us from feel self conscious and be aware that we were in front of a camera. So i had a system where one person would dance in the spotlight while the other two would keep boogieing in the shadows talking, giving encouragement, making jokes, basically trying to break the ice. When that person would get too tired or would want to stop they would indicate by saying 'tap out' and the next in line would have to step in. Initially it was difficult because it was still forced but by the time we'd limbered up we had a rhythm going which made things easier.
The editing after getting the footage was the hard part because i'd gotten so much, and being able to focus on what i wanted to convey and how wasn't entirely clear. So i figured i would least find bits of footage that seemed strong and experiment with what i could do with final cut and how the end result matched with what i was initially wanting to do.
so the result was a collection of videos playing with time, pattern layering, and positioning in ways that would try to convey to the viewer the concept of a moment engaging with dance
These are in order in which i finished editing them
Gertie
Most of the process with Gurtie has been mostly trying to figure out the meaning of her existence. at first it didn't bother me but after some thought there are so many different ways of interpreting what a monster siemese vagina symbolises. It seemed more apparent throughout the semester (for myself) that i had to be clear with my intent or else the novelty of the fun would wear off with the guilty feeling of being insensitive. So i started looking into feminism... or i started looking at the articles my friends posted about feminism on facebook but they had some relevant modern point about them.
'People may be more receptive to advocates who defy stereotypes by coming across as pleasant and approachable'
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-2433913/Feminists-man-hating-unhygienic-How-negative-activists-stereotypes-remain-barriers.html
So this campain has pretty brutal insight, these pic shows the first 4 suggestions when you type in 'women need to', 'women should', 'women shouldn't'
I tried this myself to see what would come up just in case, these are my snapshots
CHATTING WITH PETRA COLLINS ABOUT HER MENSTRUATING-VAGINA SHIRT
I’m always scared of people reporting me on Instagram because I don’t want to lose my profile so I have to block a lot of these people. Oh here’s a good one: “Next to actually seeing a girl shit, this is the worst thing I’ve ever seen. The woman is the most remarkable creation on the planet, but some lady things they go through… I’m not trying to see on a T-shirt. This is just mind-blowingly disgusting. This shirt on any beautiful body will instantly be a deal breaker, I’m sorry! But any publicity is good publicity right?”
Why do you think people get so grossed out by bodily functions that they take it too far and start oppressing people?
Menstruation—and also pubic hair—really freaks people out. There’s pubic hair in the drawing, which I guess is super shocking to people, even though I cannot get over that. I feel like I’m so sheltered in a way. I always forget that people are so close-minded.
Menstruation—and also pubic hair—really freaks people out. There’s pubic hair in the drawing, which I guess is super shocking to people, even though I cannot get over that. I feel like I’m so sheltered in a way. I always forget that people are so close-minded.
Grown women are taught to repress their postpubescent body or hide it. When you start puberty and you start growing hair you’re taught to shave it, because no one’s supposed to see it. With your period, it’s something that you conceal—no one’s supposed to know. It’s almost pedophilic—and I don’t want to throw that word around. But this feminine ideology we have, of the woman being a prepubescent girl, is how we’re taught to change our bodies.
I guess your T-shirt is the perfect visual symbol to combat that attitude, isn’t it?
Yeah. I was really inspired by… you know those really gross novelty shirts that make it look like you have boobs? I just wanted to reappropriate that and create a feminist, more aesthetically true drawing on one of those T-shirts that everyone can have.
Your Vagina Isn't Just Too Big, Too Floppy, and Too Hairy—It's Also Too Brown
http://jezebel.com/5900928/your-vagina-isnt-just-too-big-too-floppy-and-too-hairyits-also-too-brown
In this commercial for an Indian product called Clean and Dry Intimate Wash, a (very light-skinned) couple sits down for what would have been a peaceful cup of morning coffee—if the woman's disgusting brown vagina hadn't ruined everything! The dude can't even bring himself look at her. He can't look at his coffee either, because it only reminds him of his wife's dripping, coffee-brown hole! Fortunately, the quick-thinking woman takes a shower, scrubbing her swarthy snatch with Clean and Dry Intimate Wash ("Freshness + Fairness"). And poof! Her vadge comes out blinding white like a downy baby lamb (and NOT THE GROSS BLACK KIND) and her husband—whose penis, I can only assume, is literally a light saber—is all, "Hey, lady! Cancel them divorce papers and LET'S BONE."
i found all of the point quite interesting and it linked perfectly with Gurtie. Gurtie's in your face vulgar-ness i felt could happily sit within the spectrum of the 'confronting taboo of women's sexuality' and not be seen as derogatory. Although again it was more the specific points in the articles i was reading that was engaging and not what Gurtie was bringing to the 'conversation' on feminism. What i found most riveting was the continuous statements people would make about Gurtie without hesitation or smirk (this was after some time of her kicking around) that would give me endless amusement to hear people saying:
- oh can i come to your studio i really want to see your vagina
- Can i touch your vagina?
-so how's your vagina going?
- (to an engineering student and im paraphrasing) my friend could use your expertise, she has this vagina thing and she wants to get the labias to move and talk
-so-and-so wants to see you next door about how you can get your vagina to vibrate
there's more but these were my favourites
iv found myself saying
-hey can we swing past the op-shop i wanna find some toys i can put in my vagina
- sorry can't talk i gotta go drill holes in my vagina
theres more but these were the ones i noticed sounded strange
So Gurtie returned back to becoming a form of entertainment in her becoming a humorous entity that would get people into all kinds of awkward situations, which I feel in a strange way helps when it comes to the topic of vaginas in general as a humorous (or horrifying) gateway for the topic to be talked about. The articles i found were from facebook friends sharing them so i feel there is still people wanting to talk about it even if it makes others uncomfortable.
I still wanted Gurtie to be interactive, with time spent on the videos i didn't think i could fit time in for mechanizing movement and sensor sensitive programming with the ardwino.
In the op-shop i found a valentines day bear where you could record your own Valentines message for your lover... so i took apart the bear and thought that the record button and the talk button would be nice additions to hide under the hoods of Gurtie's clitori.
this way as far as representation and what message Gurtie's is communicating is directly influenced and changeable by the viewer
Her development into womenhood
Peeling the labias off the wax moulds
After extensively looking at the different types of hair Gurties flaps should have i ended up deciding a darker shade of brown than her already existing locks (they're both my locks)
So i found that even though i wasn't persuing Gurtie to have her lips
moving, without the mechanics i could see that if she could it would
look rather creepy (apologies i forgot video recorded audio as well as visuals)
A lot of time was spent trialing different ways of making skin-like texture with the latex
These pictures make Gurtie's hair look green and flaps too floppy, you'll have to meet her in the real life to experience her... uniqueness
No comments:
Post a Comment