MAYA CHAMI - MA DIGITAL ARTS

reading maeda on media

2012-01-21T11:35:00.001-08:00

Kamen Sine (Another Year), Solidarity with Palestine Day.

2012-01-20T08:34:00.000-08:00

TV spots based on the comic book "Kamen Sene" (Another Year), for the Solidarity with Palestine Day, commissioned by ESCWA, year 2009.

Directors: Lena Merhej and Maher Abi Samra
Music: Katibe 5
Animation: Lena Merhej and Karim Farah
Illustration: Lena Merhej and Maya Chami

Jonathan Jones: the meaning of 9/11's most controversial photo

2012-01-15T05:51:00.001-08:00

The article pasted below could be found on the following link: http://gu.com/p/3xj66
Relatively an old article, but I keep on referring to Jonathan Jones's vast knowledge that he uses in the right moments, and most importantly his generosity in the criticism field.

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The meaning of 9/11's most controversial photo

Thomas Hoepker's photo of New Yorkers apparently relaxing as the twin towers smoulder says much about history and memory

• See here for Framing the debate on the death of Gaddafi

- Jonathan Jones
- guardian.co.uk, Friday 2 September 2011 13.47 BST
- Article history

Thomas Hoepker chose not to publish this photograph in a book about 9/11. Photograph: Thomas Hoepker/Magnum

In the photograph Thomas Hoepker took on 11 September 2001, a group of New Yorkers sit chatting in the sun in a park in Brooklyn. Behind them, across brilliant blue water, in an azure sky, a terrible cloud of smoke and dust rises above lower Manhattan from the place where two towers were struck by hijacked airliners this same morning and have collapsed, killing, by fire, smoke, falling or jumping or crushing and tearing and fragmentation in the buildings' final fall, nearly 3,000 people.

Ten years on, this is becoming one of the iconic photographs of 9/11, yet its history is strange and tortuous. Hoepker, a senior figure in the renowned Magnum photographers' co-operative, chose not to publish it in 2001 and to exclude it from a book of Magnum pictures of that horribly unequalled day. Only in 2006, on the fifth anniversary of the attacks, did it appear in a book, and then it caused instant controversy. The critic and columnist Frank Rich wrote about it in the New York Times. He saw in this undeniably troubling picture an allegory of America's failure to learn any deep lessons from that tragic day, to change or reform as a nation: "The young people in Mr Hoepker's photo aren't necessarily callous. They're just American."

In other words, a country that believes in moving on they have already moved on, enjoying the sun in spite of the scene of mass carnage that scars the fine day. Indeed, I can't help thinking the five apparently unmoved New Yorkers resemble the characters in the famous 1990s television comedy Seinfeld, who in the show's final episode are convicted under a Good Samaritan law of failing to care about others.

Rich's view of the picture was instantly disputed. Walter Sipser, identifying himself as the guy in shades at the right of the picture, said he and his girlfriend, apparently sunbathing on a wall, were in fact "in a profound state of shock and disbelief". Hoepker, they both complained, had photographed them without permission in a way that misrepresented their feelings and behaviour.

Well, you can't photograph a feeling. But another five years on since it surfaced in 2006, it seems pointless to argue about the morality of the people in the picture, or of the photographer, or his decision to withhold the picture from publication. It is now established as one of the defining photographs of that day – with the 10th anniversary of the World Trade Centre's destruction approaching, the Observer Review republished it this August as the 9/11 photograph.

It is the only photograph of that day to assert the art of the photographer: among hundreds of devastating pictures, by amateurs as well as professionals, that horrify and transfix us because they record the details of a crime that outstripped imagination – even Osama bin Laden dared not expect such a result – this one stands out as a more ironic, distanced, and therefore artful, image. Perhaps the real reason Hoepker sat on it at the time was because it would be egotistical to assert his own cunning as an artist in the midst of mass slaughter.

Today, the meaning of this photograph has nothing to do with judging individuals. It has become a picture about history, and about memory. As an image of a cataclysmic historical moment it captures something that is true of all historical moments: life does not stop dead because a battle or an act of terror is happening nearby. Artists and writers have told this truth down the ages. In his painting The Fall of Icarus, the Renaissance painter Pieter Bruegel depicts a peasant ploughing on as a boy falls to his death in the sea beyond: it is a very similar observation to Hoepker's. WH Auden's lines on this painting in his poem Musée des Beaux Arts apply perfectly to the photograph: "In Breughel's Icarus, for instance: how everything turns away / Quite leisurely from the disaster …"

Stendhal similarly captures the dissonance of history in his novel The Charterhouse of Parma. A young man volunteers to fight for Napoleon at Waterloo, but instead of a defining moment of courage all he experiences are random, marginal, meaningless accidents on the edges of the great day.

History is not a heroic story, nor memory a block of marble inscribed with imperishable words of grief and rage. As Tony Blair – whose own response to this act of inhuman cruelty was to have such historic consequences – says of that day in his book A Journey, "It is amazing how quickly shock is absorbed and the natural rhythm of the human spirit reasserts itself … We remember, but not as we felt at that moment."

Personally I remember the shock of that moment perfectly. I have nightmares about it, which is strange, considering I am not an American and witnessed it only on television in Hackney, London. But I had come to love New York deeply and it felt like – it was – an attack on everything I held dear. Yet arguments about the meaning and, urgently, the response to this colossal act of violence started immediately. For every horrific account you can read of that day a horror has been caused, either directly or indirectly, by the "war on terror" that resulted: 12,000 killed by suicide bombers in Iraq …

And so, 10 years on, the meaning of this photograph is that memories fade fast. The people in the foreground are us. We are the ones whose lives went on, touched yet untouched, separated from the heart of the tragedy by the blue water of time, which has got ever wider and more impossible to cross. A 10-year-old event belongs to history, not the present. To feel the full sorrow of it now you need to watch a documentary – and then you will switch to something lighter, either because it is painfully clear that too much blood has been spent around the world in the name of this disaster, or simply because changing channels is what humans do. The people in this photograph cannot help being alive, and showing it.

Graphic Designer's Road Map

2011-12-12T03:48:00.000-08:00

http://visual.ly/

A visual history on design tools and the designer's toolkit.

2011-12-08T07:10:00.000-08:00

Two info-graphics pieces about design tools in history and present time.

Sources:

http://visual.ly/visual-history-design-tools?utm_medium=referral&utm_source=pulsenews

and http://webandvisualdesign.blogspot.com/2011/12/most-popular-design-tools.html?spref=fb

Hardware Hacking at Karaj

2011-10-20T07:38:00.000-07:00

I am participating in this workshop next Saturday.

Are you interested in hardware, interactive environments and electronic instruments but don't know where to begin? Have you ever wanted to create your own mixed-media installation with lights,sounds, images and motion? Do you wish you could design your own interactive Daft Punk set?

Well, all your wishes are coming true! Come to Karaj to gain new super powers like:

Controlling a force of nature to light lights, run motors, and make music (AKA basic electronics)

How to make a tiny computer do anything you want! (AKA Microcontroller programming)

Have a vibrating disk create beats to dance to (music synthesis)

We will be running a day long workshop with our very own hardware maker Guru, Bilal Ghalib, coming straight from the Michigan for your workshopping pleasure.

The workshop will cover fundamentals of electronics and programming micro-controllers with Arduinos, the easiest, fastest and baddest microcontroller platform in the world. Using entirely free and open source technology we will begin to experiment with developing your own mixed media project.

As a final project we'll split into teams and compete to create the best miniature Daft Punk music video! (Check this video for inspiration :http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sFZjqVnWBhc&feature=relmfu)

The winning project will be judged on:

aesthetics

use of skills learned

creativity.

AND danceability!

Date

Saturday October 22nd, 12pm - 5pm

Karaj media lab, Mar Mikhayel, Beirut. Address here

For info call Sima at: 03-871955 or email info@karajbeirut.org

Pre-requisites:

No prior knowledge of hardware needed.
Knowledge of programming a plus, but not required.
Only requirements are: a desire to learn and uncurbed enthusiasm!

Fees and Notes:

Space is very limited (16 lucky participants only)
Workshop fee is $25 (including hardware needed to build the project). Your spot is only reserved when you make the payment.
Snacks will be provided
Please bring your laptop. If you do not have access to one, we may be able to lend you one. Please email us at info@karajbeirut.org
IMPORTANT: if you are unable to pay via paypal, please contact Sima at info@karajbeirut.org and arrange cash payment with her

About Bilal Ghalib

Bilal Ghalib is an entrepreneur, robotics engineer and educator. He

has been tinkering with electronics his whole life and started playing

with Arduino in 2008. He loves sharing his passion for meaningful work

by promoting entrepreneurship. His interest in DIY technology drives

him to share the knowledge that people can do anything they want,

including starting businesses and building robots. He is currently

working in the middle east teaching electronics and promoting

hackerspaces through The Global Entrepreneurship and Maker Space

Initiative (gemsi.org). He is the co-founder of the hackerspace All

Hands Active (allhandsactive.com) and the design and print studio

Modati Studios (modati.com).

About Karaj

Karaj is Beirut’s first non-profit media lab for experimental arts, architecture and technology.

As a unique transdisciplinary platform in the Middle East, Karaj will forge a community of DIY

and opensource creators who will channel local frustrations into productive and creative

experiences. Karaj will become an active node on an international network of labs, with a

larger goal of advancing Lebanon and the Arab World as a region at the forefront of creativity,

technological innovation, and democratic change.

www.karajbeirut.org

The Value of Data Visualization

2011-10-20T07:27:00.000-07:00

The Value of Data Visualization from Column Five on Vimeo.

Implementing data visualization in our daily life could inform us better about the world we live in.

MADA show 2011 - Camberwell College of Arts, UAL

2011-09-07T03:42:00.000-07:00

General view of the show

MADA show 2011 - Camberwell College of Arts, University of the Arts London from maya chami on Vimeo.

Unit 2 Assessment

2011-08-29T09:22:00.000-07:00

1. Present, in the final exhibition, a resolved body of creative practice that has evidenced the systematic enhancement of your knowledge and understanding

Initially, my proposal arose to verify the breakdown of narrative in the VJing playground. At the end of unit 1 assessment, and after narrowing down the spectrum of interest into a clearer pathway, I realized that my main involvement with this project would revolve around autobiographical compositing through transitional digital objects in live cinema. Transitional digital objects would play the role of the moderator in the narrative, the elements that would drive the process, setting it in motion.

http://mayachamidigitalarts.blogspot.com/2011/02/schedule.html

At the beginning of unit 2, I started working on two different levels, the first that is creativity related and the other mainly related to the technique. I started searching for VJing and live cinema platforms that could meet transitions that I am aiming to use within the project. I realized that during a live show, there are only few functions of the software that I will be using.

http://mayachamidigitalarts.blogspot.com/2011/02/end-of-distress.html

On another note I was roaming around in Beirut, location hunting and I started finalizing the places which I was sure about wanting to include in the project, personal landmarks that I started photographing once I got my digital camera in February. On the theoretical note, I was reading (and posting on my blog) about artworks that are objects related to get a wider view about my next step or what comes after setting up the background layers of the project, that is the Beirut photographs or the outdoors context.

http://mayachamidigitalarts.blogspot.com/2011/03/objects-as-sculptures.html

http://mayachamidigitalarts.blogspot.com/2011/03/landscape-as-objects-sculptures.html

At this point, I realized that my project is going to be based on the idea of topping up layers to compose a universe and create a mood; that was a solution that I found reflective of how I started perceiving autobiography in the digital realm and that was also the result of the readings in Tarkovsky’s “Sculpting in time” where he suggests that “reproduction of real-life sensations is not an end in itself, but it can be given meaning aesthetically, and so become a medium for deep and serious thought”, and then later on he insists on the importance of building up a mood similar to our own (the person creating) to compose a genuine scene.

http://mayachamidigitalarts.blogspot.com/2011/04/reading-tarkovskys-sculpting-in-time.html

So here started the actual execution of the project, I collected all my “leftover” objects from childhood years, my photographs with some of my family members when I was five years old (my first memories) that I started rotoscoping. To rotoscope my family photographs was honestly an instinctive solution, the photographs were old, small sized and the negative did not exist, so I decided to digitize these photographs and I took refuge in this rotoscoping technique that, even though it was going to take me some extra time to achieve, but it was going to be quite practical for future use.

http://mayachamidigitalarts.blogspot.com/2011/03/5-years-old-at-gefinor.html

http://mayachamidigitalarts.blogspot.com/2011/03/me-and-mom-rotoscoped.html

http://mayachamidigitalarts.blogspot.com/2011/04/rotoscoping-me-and-my-sister-another.html

http://mayachamidigitalarts.blogspot.com/2011/04/practice-experiments.html

Multitasking was very useful, especially in moments when I found myself procrastinating, so instead of wasting time, I would start researching other aspects of the project, like for instance the technical details for delivery or I would explore further the technique that I already started applying and try to relate it to autobiography and to methods of retrieving memories.

http://mayachamidigitalarts.blogspot.com/2011/04/technical-details-for-delivery.html

http://mayachamidigitalarts.blogspot.com/2011/05/rotoscopes-and-memory-dream-and.html

At certain points, I was losing confidence in what I have started working on, research in similar moments was a saviour, I would start watching different kinds of animations which helped me realize that there is no right or wrong way to do things.

http://mayachamidigitalarts.blogspot.com/2011/05/kaizer-kaiser-by-kotaro-tanaka.html

http://mayachamidigitalarts.blogspot.com/2011/05/blossom-sara-bjarland.html

http://mayachamidigitalarts.blogspot.com/2011/05/wie-wer-leben-way-we-live-nikolaus.html

The feeling that something was missing was later on resolved when I decided to include again, one more layer, that is the interior of my grandmother’s house, where I spent a fair period of my childhood years, which also affected the compositions settings in After Effects, since I decided to, sort of, project my clips that were already created, into this new interior.

http://mayachamidigitalarts.blogspot.com/2011/05/meeting-with-cineast-ghassan-salhab.html

http://mayachamidigitalarts.blogspot.com/2011/05/pinocchio-clip-on-grandmothers-house.html

Finally, after studying the space dedicated to the show in London and after considerations of creating the live in the context where it belongs, that is Beirut, I presented a live show in an outdoor café with a capacity of approximately 80 people seated outdoors. Later on, another live was presented in an alley in Beirut, this time, I did not invite people, and it was more of a surprise projection for passersby.

Both lives were documented and later on edited using Final Cut Pro. For the final show in London, I will be presenting a split screen between the documentation of the Beirut live shows and an edited version of the clips with sound (created for this project). I have written the text for the soundtrack earlier and throughout the past two years, and for the final execution of the sound piece, I asked a tenor friend to read some of the long sentences and sing the less lengthy ones, as an improvisation exercise.

http://mayachamidigitalarts.blogspot.com/2011/06/final-sentences-sound-and-voices.html

http://mayachamidigitalarts.blogspot.com/2011/08/live-performance-and-edited-clips-final.html

2. Analyse and reflect coherently upon your own practice and its context in both written and verbal forms

Again, I will have to insist on the importance of the research paper that informed me much about my practice, and how the question itself, when it was finally formulated, made the development of my project clearer. Foucault’s statement on the “wholistic fictionalization of the past” and how “we ought to be paying greater attention to ‘discontinuities’, ‘ruptures’, ‘fissures’…” paved the way to start constructing scenes from a cluster of materials. So at the time when we had to present the 20x20 presentation, I was already foreseeing what was going to happen visually and what was going to be presented.

http://mayachamidigitalarts.blogspot.com/2011/05/pecha-kucha-presentation.html

Showing people some of the clips and taking their advices was also a good exercise, a filmmaker from Beirut remarked that the characters in the clips are mainly playing with the tools (or objects) that I am giving them, rather than playing around architecture, which he found more interesting. He concluded that these clips are not revolving about childhood but it is mainly childhood playing in the world of the adult/designer, which I found quite amusing and inspiring, even though I haven't thought of it that way earlier. So this started making sense and in a way I continued building up the rest of the clips with this idea in the back of my mind. Evocation became an element I use while building up my clips, like the elements that travel from one scene to another.

http://mayachamidigitalarts.blogspot.com/2011/05/meeting-with-cineast-ghassan-salhab.html

http://mayachamidigitalarts.blogspot.com/2011/05/may-3-presentations-feedback.html

http://mayachamidigitalarts.blogspot.com/2011/05/developing-project.html

I also needed to ask for technical advices about the software that I chose to use for the live and the equipments that might be needed, it was at this point that people seeing the clips started insisting on the importance of having music and how it will be setting up the clips’ rhythm.

And I did have to refer to many online tutorials to resolve technical matters or sometimes just to understand how to achieve a specific animation movement.

http://mayachamidigitalarts.blogspot.com/2011/06/feedback-on-clips-mike-and-paul.html

http://mayachamidigitalarts.blogspot.com/2011/06/feedback-on-clips-friends.html

http://mayachamidigitalarts.blogspot.com/2011/06/draftsound1.html

My last tutorial with Jonathan set me up once and for all, I was confident about what was needed to be done to wrap up the whole project and get prepared for the show.

http://mayachamidigitalarts.blogspot.com/2011/07/tutorial-with-jonathan-on-tuesday-july.html

The rest of the project was technical details that I was resolving one by one.

http://mayachamidigitalarts.blogspot.com/2011/08/final-music-edited-to-sound.html

http://mayachamidigitalarts.blogspot.com/2011/08/configuring-korg-to-modul8-notes-to.html

http://mayachamidigitalarts.blogspot.com/2011/08/list-of-to-dos-and-to-remember-before.html

http://mayachamidigitalarts.blogspot.com/2011/08/about-live-documentation-final.html

3. Summarise your overall progress and formulate a constructive plan for continuing Personal and Professional Development.

I see this MA as an extension of my previous skills in graphic design. Yet, I have never been more convinced about the idea that theory leads to practice. I have always thought that I do have some sort of “baggage” that could rescue me when I need to create. Nevertheless, this baggage now looks floating on a surface, I have gained confidence in exploring deeper and further, in details, even randomly, following a question, be it in books, in traveling and observing, or just getting exposed to other people’s ideas and debates. Now, a good project for me requires research, collaboration, intuition and technique.

I do not wish to finish this course, yet, I am eager to start putting my work out there, in the digital arts scene, where I can start remixing further my material, present live shows in different contexts, and try to connect through my narrative, with future collaborators.

Lately I applied to the “Cascade” workshop, and I am really hoping to get the chance to take part in it, an initiative which offers a creative collaboration across many disciplines to foster personal and professional development for fresh graduates “those who are about to embark in the creative and cultural industries”.

I also applied to the UAMO festival before course ends, and I got an approval on showing my clips in Munich, this alone encouraged me to start pushing further this project and helped me realize that I want to embrace this field and do what it takes to focus on digital arts in my coming years.

http://mayachamidigitalarts.blogspot.com/2011/08/transitional-digital-objects-will-be.html

Last summer, when I was doing an internship at D-fuse’s studio, I got curious on how in practical life things happen, so I asked about how one can make a living from creating clips. The response was that 60 percent of your time should be spent on doing independent projects and the 40 percent left should be dedicated to work on commissioned projects. I liked this formula, and I will be doing my best to make it work for my future plans.

Umbrella's article

2011-08-27T08:01:00.000-07:00

Matt shared this link yesterday, it is an article about the show.

http://www.umbrellamagazine.co.uk/umbrella-magazine/2011/8/26/umbrella-man-makes-it-to-the-london-digital-arts-show.html

Umbrella man makes it to the London Digital Arts Show

Anyone looking for some artistic inspiration in the capital should head over to the annual graduate show of the MA Digital Arts course at University of the Arts, which takes place between September 2-8 and includes – amongst others – the work of Umbrella contributor Matt Lee.

You might remember Matt for his terrific Indian matchbox collectionwe featured in Issue One, but since then he’s turned his hand to the moving image. His new project is called The Presence of Absencewhich, he says, “facilitates a dialogue between inside/outside and a tension between what is known, assumed and thought”. This, Matt assures us, is less puzzling than it sounds.

UAL graduate shows feature the work of students from across the globe who come together for two weeks each year to showcase the very best of the visual arts.

As well as Matt’s videos, other highlights include David Tatnell’s spooky time-lapse films of power plants, Maya Chami’s psychedelic animations and Melanie Menard’s excellent Ghost House project, which takes the form of something that always gets the thumbs up from us at Umbrella – a study of abandoned buildings.

Find out more here

to London and setting up the show

2011-08-27T07:43:00.000-07:00

My plane was delayed, we hovered over London for 7 times before we get the OK to land. Already, to start with, we left Beirut a bit late, the reason being "the European skies are congested"... After 2 hours commuting to reach the apartment, I was too tired to commute again to university. I first entered the exhibition space on Wednesday morning. I was freaking out about where will I find a screen to rent, and how will I build the plinth and the shelf, eventually, all happened so smoothly, thanks to Jonathan, and all my colleagues who had already created an atmosphere of DIY collaboration.

I was told to start with sanding my walls and then paint them, this is what happened, then we had to wait for the drying process, and since I didn't have my material on me, I just started removing some of the paint stains off the floor, I managed to place the shelve on the wall. Second day was mainly about hooking up the TV, checking the media player, which was later on replaced with a USB to diminish the number of requested plugs. Later it was setting up the image, figuring out the looping mode on this TV, writing instructions on how to turn on and off the project and finally placing the postcards and the business cards on the shelve. The last day was mainly checking on who needed help and giving a hand here and there.

Still need to unify all of the show's labels and we will be set for the final show!

Unit 2 Assessment starts on Tuesday morning, so I should be finalizing the write up for that now and post it in here.

live performance and edited clips final

2011-08-20T10:30:00.000-07:00

Below is the final edited version of the live documentation at bread and danny's as well as an edited version of the clips. It is this version that is going to be showing in the exhibit MADA 2011.

Maya Chami - live performance and edited clips final from maya chami on Vimeo.

tests on the tv screen

2011-08-19T07:39:00.000-07:00

I finalized the performance and the clips editing today and I will probably post them on the blog really soon, (when I get to a good internet connection). Today I tested the video on the TV screen at my friend's house, it worked well, I am satisfied with the final outcome. I hope this feeling doesn't leave me soon! I am still worried about a couple of matters to include building the plinth, renting the screen, but first and foremost, dragging my bags on arrival from the airport to the room. One thing I noticed today is that if I am using a screen, I probably won't need the speakers, so less kilos to go in the bag! also, the .mov from Apple Pro Res 422 didn't work on my media player, I had to re-render the final outcome as h.264.

That's it for now, I should start working on Unit 2 Assessment so that I don't panic on last minute.

On/Off Instructions for my project

2011-08-19T06:52:00.000-07:00

INSTRUCTIONS ON

1- Turn the screen on.

2-Turn the speakers on.

3-Turn the media player on, and from the remote control go to the video folder and press play on the only file in this folder on the media player entitled: "Transitional Digital Objects".

4-Using the media player remote control, go to home > settings > slide show interval time > set to 3 seconds.

5-Set the TV's screen mode to 14:9 (or check depending on the screen i am renting).

INSTRUCTIONS OFF

1- Stop the playing clip by clicking stop on the remote control

2- Turn off both speakers and media player.

3- Turn the screen off.

4- Unplug all equipments

another live.

2011-08-18T06:19:00.000-07:00

I went on Monday to do a "surprise" live at the Saroulla building, ground floor, in the space facing the building, this time no invitees! After vain trials to find an outdoor plug for the projector, I took off and decided to try another location. I finally went to the pub down the street, and I managed to convince the manager to do a show on the spot. It was early evening, around 8, so the place wasn't really packed, (people here start going out for there evenings around 9:30 - 10:00 pm). I managed to document some nice footage, I also edited this live and added it to the other live that took place at bread. Now I am waiting for the file to render!

Requested Items from Ina's list

2011-08-17T08:13:00.000-07:00

"List from ina's blog

Needed from everybody:

-On/Off instructions

-Artist statements

- Price of work / no. of editions (if for sale)

-Phone numbers in case of exhibition related emergencies

-Please put all the above in one .doc file

-Fill in the label details / prices even though they wont go on the labels:

(I am not sure if I understood this bit clearly).

-Contacts you want to invite to the private view: it will be sent out which day?

(This list has already been fixed, I will not include the emails here for privacy purposes)

-For cleaning: Mon 22 August - you all should come in between 10 and 11, not at 12 or 13 etc etc…

(I arrive on the 23rd of August at 11:30 in the morning, I should be able to place my bag in the room and head to university, I could make up the lost day with either invigilation rota or other tasks, like clearing stuff on show down)

-Bring some cleaning supplies, maybe some floor cleaners, or a mop or a scrub, bucket etc.

-We need to clean all of the floors, in both spaces

-Even if your work is not finished or installed, or if your space is clean already

-Everyone will help clean the floors in both spaces

-This is one show in two spaces, not two separate shows in two spaces.

-Once your space is ready you will help out anyone who is not finished yet.

-Once the floors are clean you can get back to work"

unit 2 assessment - brief from Jonathan

2011-08-17T07:16:00.000-07:00

UNIT 2 Assessment

Please note, we wish to assess all work carried out after the unit 1 assessment. Any work prior to that date may not be included.

Learning Outcomes

1. Present, in the final exhibition, a resolved body of creative practice that has evidenced the systematic enhancement of your knowledge and understanding

2. Analyse and reflect coherently upon your own practice and its context in both written and verbal forms

3. Summarise your overall progress and formulate a constructive plan for continuing Personal and Professional Development.

Assessment Evidence

1. Participation in the symposium (this is the 5 minute presentations you all did in early April)

2. Reflective journal and written paper evaluating your practice and future development (1000 words overall)

3. Practical work resolved according to your proposal and presented professionally as part of a the final exhibition

Curate your blog

You are required to curate your assessment. A separate page / section of your blog is required, with a title such as UNIT 2 ASSESSMENT. The idea of this is to indicate to the staff and your peers your understanding of the knowledge that you have developed over the unit. This is contextual knowledge, professional skills that you have developed. Knowledge that has been obtained though systematic rigour such as 'action research'.

The 'curation' requires the following:

• Create a new page / section within your blog called UNIT 2 Assessment.

• List the Learning outcomes.

• Under each learning outcome, you will need to evidence how you have achieved it. Remember learning outcomes require a minimum of 2 pieces of evidence - we expect to see 3 / 4 pieces of evidence. Use the 'Assessment Evidence' [listed above] as a guide to what you can submit. Remember much of your ideas / developments and contextual information will be contained in the blog, so use what you have already written

• Write some short notes about each piece of evidence, discussing how it relates to the outcome, and why it is included above other evidence – why you feel its important.

Remember that things that did not work are as important as the things that did.

Please make sure all liabilities are cleared – library books + fines, Halls of residence fees etc. Failure to do so will stop the release of your grade + result.

Timetable

22 August – Show build start

25 August – meal at Jonathan's house in the evening

30 August – Assessment starts - all evidence including the written paper must be on your blog by 09.00

1 September – final cleaning and preparing the exhibition space

2 September – show opens to the public

4 September – show closed for Sunday

6 September – private view 18.00-21.00

8 September – External Examiner visit - (he will want to meet some of you) & final day of the show

12 September – show comes down - you must come in a help to clear stuff away

13 September – final marks given out

Two important things about the show

You all need to agree an invigilation rota, to ensure all spaces are occupied by a minimum of two people. Any spaces unoccupied will be shut.

If your work involves a complicated set up to switch it on each morning, you will have to provide detailed instructions for whoever is invigilating that day, or come in each morning to set up.

iMovie Total Video Converter

2011-08-15T04:30:00.001-07:00

Before the live that happened in July 30th, I had a problem rendering my clips in After Effects to .mov format. There was a problem in my software and the only format that I was able to reach was .mp4, which doesn't work in Modul8. So the only solution I had was to convert my .mp4 clips into .mov, I used this software "iMovie total video converter", which turned out to be quite practical, very good speed as well. The thing is, you have to be using a Mac.

This is what the platform look like:

About iMoviesoft Total Video Converter Pro for Mac

"iMoviesoft Total Video Converter Professional for Mac can support almost all popular multimedia devices. It works as: iPod Video Converter, PSP Video Converter, iPhone Video Converter, etc. After easy and wonderful conversion, you can fully enjoy videos on your portable players.

Besides the main converting functions, iMoviesoft Total Video Converter Professional for Mac also owns powerful edit functions like Croping, Triming and Effect, etc. To some extent, it is a professional video editor.

Input File Format Supported

Video Formats: AVI, MP4, 3GP/3GPP, WMV, FLV, QuickTime(MOV,QT), MKV(Matroska), MPEG(MPEG-1/2), AVC, 3G2/3GP2, DivX, MPEG-4 DVR-MS, H.263, H.264, X.264, Xvid, MJPEG, MPG, DAT, M4V, ASF

Output File Format Supported

Video Formats: MKV, AVI, M4V, MP4, MOV, ASF, 3GP, 3G2, FLV

Audio Formats: MP3, M4A, AC3, OGG, APE, MKA

Output Device Supported: iPhone, Zune, Apple iPod nano/video/classic/touch/TV Out, Sony PSP, PDAs, Apple TV, Smartphones, Other Portable Media Players"

Codecs

2011-08-15T04:11:00.000-07:00

I asked my friend, he's an editor, about the different codes and what works for what:

For people working with an HD format:

They could use the Apple pro res 422 if they file was worked on a mac, but this format is not supported on PCs, so if they someone with a PC wants to open the file, it wouldn't be simple, they will have to convert it, therefore, maybe loss of quality.

So another best solution would be a more universal codec, that would be the H.264, which he recommends for less worries.

Now in my case, originally, I wasn't working on an HD format. My video's specs are 1024 x 576, which is not HD.

But after deciding with Jonathan to have a split screen (on the same monitor, the edited clips and the looping edited version of the live), I will have to place both clips in an HD format: 1920x1080 since this format fits better 2 clips than the format I am using.

I will have to render my files in Final Cut Pro, then take both rendered clips to After Effects which, unlike Final Cut Pro, doesn't resize the clip once I change the file size, and do the split screen operation from After Effects, and again render to H.264.

The file's extension will be .mov (which the WD Media player accepts in my case).

We should have the work backed up on a DVD as well for the show, just in case.

WD Elements play for the show

2011-08-15T03:57:00.001-07:00

This is the media player that I ended up buying, most of the electronics shop in Beirut do not sell the Western Digital brand, instead they would offer the iOmega. My friend told me that the iOmega she got was not working well and it caused several problems to include blacks when not needed and sudden stops in the middle of a video showing.
I finally managed to get one, this is it:
WD Elements Play, it is not heavy, supports most popular formats to include RMVB, H264, and MKV, works for full HD.
It takes the HDMI cable, but the cable will have to be bought separately.

File Formats Supported
Video - AVI (Xvid, AVC, MPEG1/2/4), MPG/MPEG, VOB/ISO, MP4/MOV (MPEG4, h.264), MKV (h.264, x.264, AVC, MPEG1/2/4), TS/TP/M2TS (MPEG 1/2/4, AVC), FLV (D1 resolution only), RM or RMVB 8/9/10
Photo - JPEG, GIF, TIFF, BMP, PNG
Audio - MP3, WAV/PCM/LPCM, WMA, AAC, FLAC, MKA, OGG, APE, Dolby Digital (inside video file only)
Playlist - PLS, M3U, WPL
Subtitle - SRT, SSA, SUB, SMI, MKS, TXT

Media Formats
AAC, MP3, JPEG, USB 2.0, Energy Star, Real Media, HDMI, SimplayHD, H.264, MKV, Dolby Digital

Package Contents

Multimedia drive
Compact remote with batteries
USB cable
AC adapter
Quick Install Guide

Transitional Digital Objects - the first edited version

2011-08-14T05:20:00.001-07:00

transitional digital objects - the first edited version from maya chami on Vimeo.

Transitional Digital Objects will be shown on the UAMO Festival 2011 in Munich

2011-08-14T03:42:00.000-07:00

I received an email from the UAMO festival stating that "Transitional Digital Objects (my MA project) has been selected to be shown on the UAMO Festival 2011 in Munich within the festival screenings.

The UAMO festival takes place from 27.10.2011 - 30.10.2011 in Munich.

For more information about UAMO [Urban Art and Media Organisation], please check the following link: www.uamo.info

Saroulla Building and Projection on Monday

2011-08-13T13:25:00.000-07:00

I will go tomorrow to this location (Saroulla building, where my father's office used to be located and that is facing my school) to take a better view and search for a good spot in the building where I could do the projection. Meanwhile here's a photo that I found on the net, shot by "Bluescape" and posted on "Panoramio". Originally this building embeds two cinemas, one still functioning and turned into a theater "Al Madina Theater" and the other cinema has stopped functioning in the early 90s (according to my father), and is being used as a storage space.

According to Al Madina Theater website http://www.almadinatheatre.com/, the Saroulla cinema was built in the late sixties and was abandoned during the entire period of the Lebanese civil war.

The projection I am planning on Monday does not take place inside the cinema, rather outside it, on the walls of the actual building.

about the live documentation - final decisions

2011-08-13T12:52:00.000-07:00

I had doubts earlier whether I would want to show the live documentation as well as the edited clips in the show, I sent Jonathan the edited version of the documentation to see whether it is necessary or maybe if I get rid of the documentation it would be better? Jonathan's opinion was that the 2 films do work together, they could be on the same screen side by side, and that maybe if the films are different lengths then maybe loop them until they are close in timing, I would then have different juxtapositions. Jonathan also mentioned that it would be good if I do the projection onto a wall or a background, a little bit the layers that I use in the animated film (the original plan, what we discussed during the tutorial and that was not applied accordingly during the live, as people helping me set up said that the colors were coming out too dull on the grey door at bread republic).
Jonathan: "This wouldn't have to be a formal live show with invited guests, I could imagine it just projected quite small, almost without people realising it is there, and then document the showing of it. Maybe the projection is very low, the projector kind of hidden under a table, and people are walking in front of it? I am just thinking of ways to connect the film even more to you home city. You have a good documentation of the live show with guests but is it worth more subtle, more hidden projections, without permission, maybe just for you, but putting the films back onto the surface of the city. Hope this makes sense, but obviously there may not be time to do this now, maybe these are ideas you develop in the future."

I was not sure whether I will still have the time to do one more live before traveling to London, but just now I decided to pull myself together and try another live maybe on Monday? I thought I could project live either on one of the walls of the Saroulla building (where my father's office used to be located, facing my school, and where we used to hang out a lot when we were kids) or on a surface at the GEFINOR building (where my mother used to work, and where we used to spend some of our Saturdays, waiting for my mother to finish work).

I will not invite people, whoever is passing could just stand to watch.

GEFINOR is not a very busy area at night (it is the one I use in the crane clip); and since Saroulla is on Hamra's main street, maybe this option will win? I will think more about these 2 options and decide tomorrow.

editing the first version

2011-08-13T12:38:00.000-07:00

I just finished editing the first version of the project, to include the sound!

I will export the material and will post the first version soon!

MA digital Arts 2011 - The Logo, Invitation and Website!

2011-08-12T07:03:00.000-07:00

The set identity for the show! Thank you Monkee for the logo. Below is the invitation for the private show!

Also, please check our website on the following link: http://www.mada2011.com/

"The MA Digital Arts course at Camberwell College, University of the Arts, London is excited to announce that it’s annual show of graduating student work is taking place between 2-8 of September 2011.

One of the things that makes the Digital Arts course at Camberwell unique is that it offers both an online and a face to face programme of study. This intensive programme is finally resolved when after months of online interaction, preparation and planning, artists from all over the world travel to Camberwell and install their work on-site.

This year the show features 17 practitioners from a diverse range of backgrounds including; Sculpture, Architecture, Music, Fashion, Illustration, Video, Graphic design, Programming, Hacking and Photography. The body of work on display is informed by a motive to explore and push the boundaries of digital technology and creative practice."

printed postcards and business cards

2011-08-12T05:57:00.000-07:00

Show Preparations: Chat Brief with Ina

2011-08-11T08:28:00.000-07:00

Today Jonathan invited Ina, former student, graduated last year, to join us for a chat session about the show and the preparations for the opening. It was a pretty fruitful session, here is the chat brief:

1-Show build starts on 22nd of August, we need to be there in the morning, we won’t need to take our work to the space until Wednesday 24th probably. Cleaning happens before assembling our work.
2-Once in the space, clean it up: Floors and Walls.
3-We will need to buy paint, sand paper, pollyfilla, floor scrubs, rollers and brushes, tape, cleaning supplies for the floor, wine, juice, glasses…
4-There is a B&Q on New Kant Road. It is best if one person goes and buy the supplies for everyone.
5-We might need to touch up the plinths if some of the projects require one.
6-There should be some in Wilson Road that could be moved to the exhibition space and we should be aware that these are heavy.
7-We should find out who is in charge of the build technicians, they will help us find things we might need like tables etc…, they could lend us drills and material.
8-Students will do most of the drilling, we might need to ask permissions for some of the holes and avoid concrete drilling!
9-We should avoid students only looking out for their own space, we need to sort out all the floors and walls and plinths together, before we start on your own.
10-Someone also needs to be in charge of making sure the online students who wont be coming to the showbuild gets their stuff up the way they need.
11-We need to send invites/promo next week with the website on these, after everyone has upload his/her material on the website
12-Delegate one person to send marketing.
13-We should we arrange the budget for buying general materials such as paint etc? Last year, they had a pretty big budget, they were 26 people, and they all paid around £70 each, they all paid in to Ina’s paypal account, and then she sent payments out and paid for supplies etc. that budget covered postcards, catalogs, posters, glasses, wine, juice, paint, brushes, tape, sandpaper, polly, etc etc.
14-So far in the space there are no spot light, only big light.
15-Last year the had 4 cases of wine, had one and a half left
16-Ask the permission from the organizers (Claire is on this list) for signage, and refreshments.

the live documentation - the edited draft

2011-08-10T11:02:00.000-07:00

This is a draft edit of the documentation of the live show of the final clips that I planned on July 30th, 2011, at 9:00 pm, at the outdoor of the Bread Republic café, Beirut, Lebanon.

documentation of the live show in beirut - transitional digital objects from maya chami on Vimeo.

from after effects to modul8

2011-08-10T06:52:00.000-07:00

This is how I saved the clip files from after effects to .mov to be able to import them to modul8, which doesn't play .mp4. No quality loss has been noticed, this turned out to be the best solution for me for this version of Modul8 (Version 2.5.0)

final edited clips - white heels

2011-08-10T06:45:00.001-07:00

transitional digital objects - white heels - 2011 from maya chami on Vimeo.

final edited clips - wave building

2011-08-10T06:29:00.001-07:00

transitional digital objects - wave building - 2011 from maya chami on Vimeo.

final edited clips - slide flower

2011-08-10T06:28:00.001-07:00

transitional digital objects - slide flower - 2011 from maya chami on Vimeo.

final edited clips - pinochio

2011-08-10T06:27:00.001-07:00

transitional digital objects - pinochio -2011 from maya chami on Vimeo.

final edited clips - plastic purple heart

2011-08-10T06:25:00.000-07:00

transitional digital objects - plastic purple heart - 2011 from maya chami on Vimeo.

final edited clips - crane

2011-08-10T06:24:00.000-07:00

transitional digital objects - crane - 2011 from maya chami on Vimeo.

final edited clips - bricks

2011-08-10T06:23:00.000-07:00

transitional digital objects - bricks - 2011 from maya chami on Vimeo.

final edited clips - buttons

2011-08-10T06:22:00.000-07:00

transitional digital objects - buttons - 2011 from maya chami on Vimeo.

final edited clips - ladder

2011-08-10T06:21:00.000-07:00

transitional digital objects - ladder - 2011 from maya chami on Vimeo.

final edited clips - marble

2011-08-10T06:08:00.001-07:00

transitional digital objects - marble - 2011 from maya chami on Vimeo.

the live documentation in the actual show?

2011-08-10T06:03:00.000-07:00

Concerning the documentation for my project.
In our last tutorial session, I agreed with Jonathan that I do a live show in Beirut, and show it along with 1 edited version of the clips in the final show in London.
I did the live in Bread Republic, an outdoor café in Beirut, and used 2 cameras, 1 front and 1 back to record the event.
Now I am editing the live, but I am finding the idea of showing the "Live in Beirut" in the show in London a bit useless, I could just upload it on my blog and instead show an edited version of the actual animated clips in London. The reason is: While I am editing, I am realizing that why would I want people to waste their time watching people, in another location, watching the same thing they are about to watch. I thought of splitting the screen: screen 1 documentation and near it screen 2: the video = then I thought it is unjustified and I don't have the split screen on my agenda, I didn't even research it for this specific project.
So I am thinking to leave the documentation for the blog and 1 version of the edited clip for the show. People wouldn't have the patience to stand still for more than 15 minutes watching 1 artwork.
I will be sending Jonathan the edited version of the live show to know what he thinks of all this and whether he approves my decision.

Business Card Final and Signed Proof

2011-08-10T05:56:00.000-07:00

size: 9x5 cm

quantity: 500

colors: cmyk front 1 color gray on back

This is the final design that I sent to print, proof was already signed.

Postcards Reshuffled and Signed Proof

2011-08-10T05:46:00.000-07:00

size: 15x10 cm

quantity: 200 each (as the difference between 600 and 1000 postcards was just 15$, this is why I decided to go with printing 5 front sides)

colors: cmyk front, 1 color back (same back for all)

Here are the final ones already signed the proof and waiting for the printing to be finalized.

transitions and flickering frame in FCP after exporting

2011-08-10T05:13:00.000-07:00

One thing I understood today:

After applying transition in Final Cut Pro, the first frame of following sequence will flicker.

I selected the clip in the timeline and then went Cmd9 to reveal the properties > it turned out that if the original clip was compressed using the H.264 codec then the outcome will definitely flicker after I apply the effect (say Dissolve) when rendered. It turned out that "H.264 is not a production codec and should not be used in FCP. The media should ideally all conform to the same format as your sequence; you certainly should not be using a codec that is based on interframe compression like H.264. That's for acquisition and for delivery, not for production."

the live documentation

2011-08-10T03:05:00.001-07:00

Bread Republic, Hamra, Beirut, Lebanon

30 July 2011, 9:00 pm

An outdoor café with a capacity of approximately 80 people seated outdoors.

The live show took place in this location. I invited my contacts via facebook only, since the place doesn't fit a huge number, so I needed to limit the invitation myself.

I didn't reserve the whole place, just asked the owner and organized the rest of the deal with the manager earlier that week. So some of the people were there for the invitation, and others were just hanging out when the live of the final project happened.

Feedback was very positive in general, A commented that viewing the clips edited instead of 1 clip after the other was essential, the layering in the live and playing bits and pieces of the clips added a "mood" that suits the audio and that is personal. T and R decided that the next time this should be played, I should ask Ziad Nehme, whose voice is featured in the audio, to participate live in the event, with a band if possible, other feedbacks were also encouraging and positive, these are the 2 main ones I adopted.

Some important issues to take care for future lives though:

- The sound's volume was a bit low, despite the fact that I had volumes of both speakers and the iPod turned all the way up. The speakers are purchases (for the show in London) were outdoor speakers, they simply don't do the job outdoors, on the street, when cars are honking and people on the street are talking.

- Self criticism:

I should find a way to be more relaxed in another live, before the show, maybe ask a performance artist or an actor/actress to give me tips that help me to freak out just before the live.

- When the software (Modul8) is shut down then run back, I should either remap the midi controller or upload the saved version of the edited buttons, otherwise, I will end up manipulating the live from the laptop screen!

An edited version of the clips is on its way, I will be posting soon here.

Postcards to print

2011-08-05T09:15:00.000-07:00

The back of the postcard for the final show to include statement + narrative biography.

And the fronts are below.

I will be printing 200 for each design = 600 total postcards.

more to dos and miscellaneous

2011-08-01T11:18:00.000-07:00

Some of these tasks were already done, still for future shows, it's good to have a list of required tasks ready.

For the media player, I was able to get the WD HD Element Play at the end, it functions well. I heard a lot of bad reviews about iomega, even though every other store here sells iomega and it was harder to find a Western Digital.

http://www.wdc.com/en/products/products.aspx?id=400

Tip for the future 1: Regarding the speakers and every other electronic, always test the product either in store or directly after you reach the house; Speakers weren't functioning, and the exchange was valid for a period of 10 days, the guy was nice enough to accept to exchange these.

Tip 2: Indoors speakers won't do a good job for outdoors, especially if we are working in a public space.

List of to dos and to remember before the live show!

2011-08-01T10:51:00.000-07:00

The live already took place last Saturday at Bread, an outdoor café in Beirut. I will be showing documentation soon! but first, I will have to upload the steps, one by one, for archiving purposes. Above is the to do list and the material needed for the live (prepared before the show). I should add on the list a multiple outlet for all the plugs! and a good surface (or screen for the projection) as the grey door was desaturating the colors in the rehearsal, so I had to replace the door with a white wooden board.

I will write in detail about some of the steps listed in the picture above later on.

Configuring Korg to Modul8 – notes to self (for future use)

2011-08-01T10:24:00.000-07:00

1- Plug Korg Mini before opening modul8

2-Launch Modul8 and open the project

3-Go to Mapping > Edit Midi Map

4-The different functions will become highlighted in green

5-Click on the function that you want to map on the korg controller, it will create white corners on the function you chose

6-Turn the button (or slider or press button) on korg, the one that you would like it to affect the highlighted function

or

7- Go to Mapping > Edit Midi Map to allocate the function to button, end of mapping!

8-If you want to keep the korg buttons and functions the same way all the time, you could go to Mapping > Save Map as Defaults.

9-To give the keyboard functions, same procedure could be applied using the Edit Key Map instead.

Happy Mapping.

FINAL - music edited to sound - part 2

2011-08-01T05:33:00.000-07:00

Earlier, we have worked on this option, a bit for upbeat towards the end, I could still keep it as an option for future use. This option lasts for 13 minutes approximately.

FINAL - music edited to sound

2011-08-01T05:24:00.000-07:00

I worked along with a friend* of mine on the layering of music to sound.

There are 2 versions we worked on, 1 is continuous and brings a soft ending, while the second gets a bit more vibrant towards the end.

This is the 1st option (the one I used for the live show in Beirut, I'll be explaining more about this live in another post), it lasts for 15 minutes approximately.

*He decided not to get accreditation and to remain anonymous, since it's editing sounds while he usually composes.

Logos Survey

2011-07-28T15:25:00.000-07:00

Results for the voting on the logo are out, Monkee's second option got the most responses, check below!

HTML of the QR codes

2011-07-25T04:49:00.000-07:00

mayachami.blogspot.com:

mayachami.wordpress.com:

I should print these on batches of A4 stickers, matt paper so they would not reflect on flash in dark spaces.

Invites for the show

2011-07-20T03:32:00.000-07:00

my option for the show logo 4

2011-07-19T06:25:00.000-07:00

the solution for the 2011 problem in the earlier version:

my option for the show logo 3

2011-07-14T04:44:00.000-07:00

fine tuned logo option for the show.

my option for the show logo 2

2011-07-12T07:39:00.001-07:00

my option for the show logo

2011-07-12T07:03:00.000-07:00

Revoting on the show name - Survey results collected -

2011-07-07T00:55:00.000-07:00

revoting on the name of the show closed, here are the results of the survey collected.

Ziad Voice Layer Final

2011-07-06T06:36:00.000-07:00

This is the voice layer, the sentences that I have written earlier are performed by tenor Ziad Nehme. I asked him to just give me a first draft, a brainstorm like singing, for the long sentences, I asked him to just read them. These are the joined clips, they were placed later randomly on the edited music layer. I randomized the sentences to manipulate the live clips accordingly.

The whole sentences topped up to 9 minutes approximately.

Ziad's other works could be found on the following link: http://www.ziadnehme.com/

Tutorial with Jonathan on Tuesday July 6, 2011

2011-07-06T06:14:00.000-07:00

1- Regarding the show, about the live performance:

I had 2 options:

- Option 1: To do the live performance in Beirut and show a showreel with the audience followed by 1 version of the edited clips

- Option 2: Ask for 2 spaces for the show (which is impossible) and do live show twice and show an edited version of the clip on a separate screen (this second option depends on whether there will be other people doing live shows as well, that way we can share the space and the equipments and so on)

Jonathan agreed that a live show in London would be much easier if there were 2 of us, there were last year for example and it worked well as they shared the equipment but not sure that will happen this year... He said that I may feel that showing it in Beirut and then showing a documentation video in London is not as good, but he thinks it would be better.

I thought that playing the live in Beirut places the clips in their context

Jonathan suggested that I show the documentation film and make it very clear that it is from a live performance in Beirut and that could actually be more interesting for people viewing it.

He then asked me where would I do a live performance in Beirut? I had a friend suggesting that I do a live in their collective space that is indoors, but I was thinking more on the street, which might require a lot of paper work: a permit from the municipality and a very good projector, and I will also need to ask surrounding places to turn off their lights during the projection…

Then Jonathan said he was hoping I would suggest outdoors and that he feels this could work really well... however, rather than having to plan a huge thing, I could do it on a very small scale, just a small projector, projected onto a street wall, not very big, even for just a few people...

I then thought of projecting in an outdoor café, located on the street and they have people coming in all the time, they should have a sound system, that way I could just plug my laptop on their system and a lot of the needed kit would be there already.

Jonathan suggested I could film at different cafés; film each one once, projecting onto their exterior walls onto tables from above…

Along the documentation video, I could have an edited version of the video as well running either on the same screen or on a different one for the London show.
Jonathan asked how would this change the work, the work has an intimate feel, a personal feel... he suggested that maybe the small scale is better. He asked about the film called "final bricks clip" on my blog, what would that look like projected even just A4 paper size onto a wall similar to the wall in the film?

For me the layering would work since I use a lot of backgrounds in the clips, the layers of the film and the layers of the projection surface.

Now I have to do my research on that and get approvals, this is also a good way not to ship so much to London. Jonathan suggested I bring a DVD or an HD media player if you I want an HD quality, or make both, as a back up
Jonathan suggested a hard drive media player, there are several like this http://www.amazon.co.uk/Western-Digital-1080i-Media-Player/dp/B002KQ2JKQ/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1309873533&sr=8-2
Good quality and small and easy to carry in a bag to London. They have several different output connections, not a projector just a player to connect to a projector or a TV, the Western Digital one should do.

Size wise, I don't mind any size for this show, as a lot of people are showing and I don't mind a reasonable size, so this could depend on division of the space of the show.

Jonathan mentioned him curating a show about 18 months ago and we showed one film projected about A4 size and about only 90 cm up from the floor, very interesting and made people look more closely
Like Mona Hatoum's piece, the throat video, it was projected in a plate on a table
The sound is not going to be played live; I am using the recorded piece.

2- Regarding the clips:

Jonathan thinks I can start refining what I have then show it live in one or more spaces in Beirut.

I asked if the clips look too beginner-ish since it is the first time I animate.
Jonathan thinks the clips have a naivety, which is fitting to the subject matter... The only thing I would say is about the pace and direction of the movement, meaning that the times when the images fade into the background seem to work much better... for example in the bricks clip, when the drawing moves to fit next to the white paint on the walls, it looks like a powerpoint slide movement, but when the image fades into the background, it looks much more interesting, when the skyline moves and foreground move, that is much more effective, so maybe use less movement of single elements, maybe even try with the fading into the background, not go all the way to 100 opacity, what if the images stop at 90%, so you get feel of them actually on the wall, maybe this will look interesting.

MA Degree Show space planning

2011-07-06T04:42:00.000-07:00

Jonathan's show space planning and my responses.

What is it?
This show is possibly the most difficult one you will ever be involved in, the main problem is that it is 2 things in a small space. It is firstly, a personal exhibition of your MA work and secondly a joint show of 17 artists. This is almost a contradiction!
Don't worry! You should enjoy the process of planning and thinking through the challenges!
The final show itself makes up a small part of your assessment, the learning outcome is to present a 'resolved body of creative practice' and this will be seen in the blog more than in just the final show.
The temptation in the final show is to try and show everything you have done, the better approach is 'less is more'!

How is it organised?
We would really like this show to be planned and organised by you the students, combining online and face to face. We have successfully done it this way for the last 7 years. The alternative is that I and other members of staff simply curate it and tell you what space you have and how to show your work. This is not ideal as you will miss out and a really important learning experience of planning and delivering the exhibition.

What do I want to show?
Answering the questions below, as clearly as possible, will help you begin to plan the space. Please be flexible, you can and should have big ideas but you also need to be prepared to adapt them to fit the space and the group nature of the show.
There is very limited technical support from the college, but amongst the group there will be enough skills and experience to cover the groups' needs. I may also be able to bring 1 person in (an ex-student) to help for some of the time. Personally, I have vast experience of curating, building and installing exhibitions and I am happy to give advice but if I get too involved you will miss out on the learning experience!

Construction and the environment
For many years, vast quantities of timber and chipboard, and hundreds of hours have been wasted building fake disposable walls for exhibitions, which are dumped in the landfill within days of being installed. This is not a responsible use of resources and we must be more creative in finding solutions to showing work. The space we will be using already has fairly good walls and is being used for the BA shows before us.
All the work you want to show and any construction or building must be agreed by the group and me, as course director, and paid for by the student. There will be some resources we can recycle and there are good options to purchase stuff nearby. Everyone will also have to complete a risk assessment form nearer to the actual exhibition.

Deadline for this form?
Tuesday 5 July 2011
Jonathan Kearney 16.06.11

Your name:
Maya Chami

What do you intend to exhibit?
Please be as specific as you can, for example: how many pieces do you intend to exhibit? What is the size of your proposed work/s? (Include a drawing if this is useful)

Size: Very flexible, depends on how we share the space. If I have to give a figure, probably wall width to vary between 1.20 meters and maximum of 2.40 meters.

First piece:
I will be doing live performances of my end project in outdoor cafés here and Beirut and will ask someone to film these shows. The Filmed material will include people sitting or walking or even reactions, some of the projected material, as well as the setting, sound and ambiance. I will then edit these filmed performances and have them projected in Camberwell.

Second piece:
I will have a version of the original clips edited alone (that is without the cafés setting), and will project this as well, since the showreel will not be showing the clips exclusively.

Both pieces (First and Second, that is the showreel and the edited clips) will be screened either simultaneously (2 screens on top of each other, near each other or facing each other, depending on the space that I get); or both videos will be screened on 1 screen each at a time, following each other.

Do you have any other specific requests?
e.g. power supply, a corner, floor space, or darkened area

OPTION 1:
- A wall
- A darkened area
- Power supply
- Projector
- Screen on a wall (if the wall is in good condition and has got a nice texture, I might get rid of the screen)
- A box to hide the media player and plugs

OR OPTION 2:
- A wall
- A darkened area
- Power supply
- An iMac 27 inch
- A box to hide the plugs

OR OPTION 3:
- A wall
- A darkened area
- Power supply
- A flat screen TV
- A Media Player
- A box to hide the media player and plugs

What are the Health & Safety considerations?
(please note that before the degree show you must complete a UAL Risk Assessment Form, which must be signed off by the course director who can help decide if further action is needed)

I am not familiar with Health & Safety considerations; maybe making sure the equipments don’t heat up risking a fire?

Andreas Gursky's Photographs: Analog or Digital?

2011-07-06T03:48:00.000-07:00

According to the White Cube website: http://www.whitecube.com/artists/gursky/
"Andreas Gursky makes large-scale, colour photographs distinctive for their incisive and critical look at the effect of capitalism and globalisation on contemporary life."

My first had just come back from the Sharjah Biennale few months ago, and he was carrying a book about Andreas Gursky. I took a close look at the book and the photographs inside, and at a certain point, I felt that if I had the same book in a digital format, that could have been more interesting, as I strongly felt the urge to zoom in on a lot of his photographs to see whether they were digitally manipulated or whether these were analogue pictures that were really true to the original scene photographed.

Siemens, Karlsruhe, Germany, 1991, Mixed Media, 200x170 cm

From: http://www.mots.org.il/eng/Exhibitions/WorkItem.asp?ContentID=64

Paris, Montparnasse, 1993

http://www.flickr.com/photos/culture-jam/4417833893/sizes/m/in/photostream/

H is for House by Peter Greenaway 1976

2011-07-06T03:23:00.000-07:00

I was watching the shorts by Greenaway, his early works, and "H is for House" caught my attention, specifically how the narrator enumerates things that start with H: hesitation, hopelessness, hitchcock, hybrid, havana cigars, handle, hoover... Shot in the English countryside, thus the serene atmosphere.

I tried to research further what was the implications of the enumeration, as I am interested in what Greenaway will have to say about indoors and outdoors and houses in general... I learned the following from Greenaway's official website. (http://petergreenaway.org.uk/)

Greenaway on H is for House:
"I'd just married and had a small kid, and we used to spend our holidays in Wardour; we stayed in a magnificent early 19th century house belonging to a friend. It was the most extraordinary area of idealized, romanticized English landscape, very redolent of Roman Catholic history; all sorts of violent tragedies had happened there during the English Civil Wars. It was a rather shutaway countryside, so it had a sense of great drama and romance - in response to which, I made a series of films, of which this is the first. It was couched in the whole business of naming things - as in the late paintings of Magritte, the confusion between nomenclature, ascribing meanings and words... I made this enormous list of every single thing I could find in the domestic rural landscape that began the the letter H, which when juxtaposed gave you all sorts of interesting connotations. My daughter Hannah was learning the alphabet and her voice is on the soundtrack repeating and getting things wrong - the wisdom of the innocent. It was also very much to do with concepts of Heaven and Hell and how those are interchangeable."

Name of the Show Survey Results

2011-07-02T02:12:00.000-07:00

KORG NANO KONTROL 2 From KORG

2011-06-28T11:54:00.000-07:00

The Korg midi controller that I might need.

Below taken from the website: http://www.korg.com/nanoSERIES

Compact USB Controllers

Meet the Korg nanoSERIES - The Most Compact Family of USB-MIDI Controllers Ever!

The Korg nanoSERIES provide a keyboard controller, a pad controller, and a studio controller with dedicated transport controls. Each of these USB-powered, slim-line controllers is designed to make the most of your valuable studio space, and is small enough to take with you on any musical journey. Place one of our keyboard controllers in front of your laptop, rest a pad controller on your music workstation, park a studio controller on your recording console - or anywhere else you need versatile control over your DAW, virtual instrument, effect or DJ software. Although small in size, all three nanoSERIES controllers go HUGE when it comes to functionality, yet their intuitive layouts provide extremely easy operation for any user.

So c'mon; meet the nanoSERIES!
The first on our list is the nanoKEY, keyboard controller, featuring a great-feeling 25-key velocity-sensitive keyboard that's ideal for song production. Each key on this USB-MIDI controller can also be set to send MIDI control data, further expanding its power.

Next up on our list is the nanoPAD, a pad controller featuring 12 highly responsive trigger pads, each one capable of sending up to eight notes - or eight MIDI control messages - simultaneously, in addition to an X-Y touchpad with roll and flam functions for realistic drum programming.

Last, but not least, the nanoKONTROL offers nine faders, nine knobs, 18 switches, plus a full transport section for expansive control; even a flexible note input mode to help you lay down your next big groove!

Feedback on the clips - Friends

2011-06-28T11:28:00.000-07:00

Yesterday, My friend mentioned that I probably should play the clips in a way, the more one looks at them, the more elements he/she discovers; as and example, he mentioned the cow scribble in one of the clips, how we can't really perceive it until it starts moving off the whole into the sky.

Today, another friend (tamara), looked at all the clips so far, and she had some interesting comments.

BUTTON CLIP:

- She liked the indoor/outdoor work.

- Found the paper in the background too graphical.

- Suggested to have the pony layered in front of the city.

- Found the edge of the indoor bed side counter too blurred. (maybe I should feather the edge?)

- Again, she would like the button to rotate.

CRANE CLIP:

- Problem with the scribbles (the red one and the grass bit), found them flimsy. (maybe I should try these more thick)

GEFINOR or MARBLE CLIP:

- She also wondered why the marble is not rolling.

HAND AND HEART CLIP:

I told her that there will be an extension between the body and the head so the head doesn't get suspended in the air, she suggested that it doesn't have to be a neck, could be another element that could work with the building.

- Later on, if this element doesn't work with the flower, I could remove the flower.

SLIDE FLOWER CLIP:

- She suggested to repeat either the flower color or any other element (maybe the heart from the hand and heart clip) in the pot on the side, it might create some sort of interesting visual.

WAVE CLIP:

- The top of the blue and white closet might be annoying, either extend the blue or do something else with the top part.

- When I reappear in the building, it's good to see me in more than one location.

WHITE HEELS CLIP:

- Work on the scribbles, how they disappear, maybe when they disappear, turn the lights on?

- The chandelier should disappear sooner around the middle.

- Maybe the chandelier at the end should be bigger and cropped?

- the white heels could just peak in and out, no need to have it go all the way down.

A General comment:

- I should watch the film: "Father and Son" by Alexander Sokurov

Feedback on the clips - Mike and Paul

2011-06-28T10:46:00.000-07:00

I showed Mike and Paul the clips and I got their feedbacks, some general and others clips related:

- Modul8 the software is fine, I won't need something more specific at this point.

- The Midi is just there for practical reasons, I could manage to operate directly from the software itself, it's just the buttons on the midi are more comfortable.

- Mike suggested I gather all the clips on one big composition, on some form of a grid and I could move from one clip to another, moving up and down on every other clip while they are playing, probably could zoom in and out of the playing clips as well.

- Paul suggested I dissolve and do some layering work.

- Mike and Paul suggested I cut the clips even further, making every other movement a new clip, in other words, split the clios more.

- Mike suggested I take elements from clips and save them as separate layers as well to enrich the whole performance.

- They both are insisting on the importance of music.

- A VJ could be sitting behind the audience unless he is part of the performance, "you don't want people to look at you, you want them to look at the visuals".

- When you connect the controller or the midi to the computer, you have to map the midi, making the computer key detect the controller.

- Paul suggested I use the ease in and ease out buttons.

- Note to self: Consider projecting on a LED screen?

FINAL - bricks clip indoors

2011-06-28T10:32:00.000-07:00

A new clip with my younger sister, a new character that will only show in this clip as part of the project. Actually this clip still needs refining and more editing.

transitional digital objects - bricks clip indoors from maya chami on Vimeo.

draft_sound_1

2011-06-25T09:53:00.000-07:00

here are some of the sentences in Ziad's voice, these will be later embedded within the sound.

Final Sentences Sound and Voices

2011-06-25T08:33:00.000-07:00

2 weeks ago, I asked a tenor friend Ziad Nehme, to try to read operatically the sentences I would like to embed in the sound layer of the project. I also contacted another friend (who would like to remain anonymous for professional reasons) to compose and edit the sound layer.
There is no one reason why I would like to include an operatic narrator in the project. I love Ziad's voice, and in the drafts he sent me (to be posted in another note) he reminded me of when I used to come up with songs when we were young, a very common boredom related exercise. Do children still do that?
Here are the sentences I asked him to sing, the long ones will be rather read.

- Transitional Digital Objects: Fluidity in compositing an autobiography or a failure to create a portrait of the whole?
- Look at me not falling apart.
- Look at my sister.
- Look at my mother.
- Look at me, randomizing the course of my events.
- Autocorrecting my autobiography.
- My arbitrary decisions are random.
- How can I embed meaning in my random life?
- At the age of 5 I was like a black and white film, silent until further notice.
- My communication consisted of muttering few words intermittently.
- My memories are abundant there’s a jungle in my head.
- I whistle in the vacuum to retrieve a memory.
- It is all so connected like threads woven with threads.
- It is all so connected like a contour of an amorphous form.
- In a football game, the player reads and anticipates the action of the other.
- In this game, I can read and anticipate the action of you, the other.
- The idea of restoration of dialogue is omnipresent.
- We were two kids, my older sister and I, living with our parents. Our entertainment was to watch the plants grow and the flowers blossom. My mother’s efforts in providing us amusement included, one day, an outing to watch a football game at the only playing field in the village. Upon our arrival, one of the players kicks the ball and the ball hits me squarely in the face. As my nose starts bleeding, my mom quickly takes me into her lap and places my head on her shoulder. She runs back with me towards our house to nurse my injury. That day, my nose bled so much it ruined the removable collar of my mother’s dress.
- The removal or reduction of the ‘bread and circuses’ from mass culture will threaten the continued operation of the market and society, as well as higher philosophical truth.
- Beirut had become a potential ‘winning’ project; the mere existence of the country on the map is a victory.
- The citizens reclaim symbols of the republic, the flag and the national anthem which otherwise are usually confiscated as the property of right wing nationalists.
- The delirious crowd, the intellectuals glued to their television screens, and the public literally colonized by magical passes or punches.
- “Voluntarism of imagination” on a small screen.
- The simulacrum of the field is a field in reduction, a micro-field.
- On ultra big screens: the ability to imagine is reduced to zero.
- The screen enlarges players, giving back to the audience, as in their early days of movie theaters, their childhood perceptions… a period where all adults appeared as giants.
- The relation between the public and the television screen is revealed at the end of the match; suddenly the event is no longer inside the screen, but totally outside it.
- The screen is reduced to its modest role as witness, or substitute with the mere task of giving older and sick people a reflection of what is happening elsewhere.
- The urge instantly felt by each viewer to meet the crowd. There’s something to share, something that does not exist outside the sharing process; and that is the object that the screen cannot contain. It is at the same time the victory and the limits of the media… the moment when television screens become abandoned by all those who rush to the streets to congratulate each other.
- It is not by accident that, twenty years later, I still recall the football hitting my face that day in my parent’s village. It has become the alarm that wakes me up every morning.
- A marble / A crane / My white heels key holder / A button / the Sun / Plastic purple heart / Ladder / Flower / Wave / Me / My sister / My mother.

FINAL - white heels clip indoors

2011-06-15T06:09:00.000-07:00

A new clip introducing one more object, my white heel key holder which was very spread at a certain point in Beirut.

transitional digital objects - white heels clip indoors from maya chami on Vimeo.

rough plan of space by jonathan

2011-06-14T06:49:00.000-07:00

FINAL - button clip indoors

2011-06-13T02:15:00.000-07:00

Two earlier clips which weren't quite convincing, I reworked them both and integrated them within a next context, and both clips are now merged into one. It is the following:

transitional digital objects - button clip indoors from maya chami on Vimeo.

Last years show invites

2011-06-11T03:03:00.000-07:00

Claire emailed me the examples of last years "postcards for the show which were on hand to be picked up by show visitors, thus a post-show self-promotion system as opposed to a pre-show generic invite."

Chris Milk and the Johnny Cash Project

2011-06-08T08:23:00.000-07:00

More storytelling forms, Chris Milk's project initiated before his Arcade Fire/Wilderness Downtown project, he had started brewing a web-based video, a memorial to Johnny Cash.

The project is on the following link:
http://www.thejohnnycashproject.com/

And everyone could submit drawings for the clip on the following link:

http://www.thejohnnycashproject.com/#/choose-frame

And the link to the Guardian article:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/pda/2010/nov/01/johnny-cash-chirs-milk

storytelling: Matthew Herbert: How I made a concert out of the Guardian

2011-06-08T08:02:00.000-07:00

"Something that appears quite temporary, quite disposable and turn it into a story."

"Matthew Herbert talks through the ideas behind One Day, a composition inspired by the content - and production - of the 25 September edition of the Guardian"

* The piece was performed by the London Sinfonietta on Saturday November 20 2010 at the Royal Festival Hall

Japan's cat's ear headset that matches your mood

2011-06-08T06:35:00.000-07:00

read the article on the following link: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-pacific-13694911

Intel Museum of Me

2011-06-08T02:27:00.000-07:00

Intel Launched the Museum of Me, an application that asks the user to connect to his Facebook account. Once Museum of Me accesses the user's profile information, basic information, wall, post items, photos, videos, friends' information, the application creates a visualization of the user's social self, under the form of a museum. Of course, this visualization, again, could be shared on Facebook.

The application does not store the information it accesses, also "Intel makes no representation that materials found in the Application are appropriate or available for use in other locations, and access to them from territories where their content is illegal is prohibited."

The outcome becomes a video tour of the virtual museum (that I couldn't save for a reason, not sure it is an option) and a photo gallery of the virtual visit that you could share on your Facebook page:

To create your own Museum of Me, visit the following link: http://www.intel.com/museumofme/l/index.htm

FINAL - wave building clip indoors

2011-06-07T06:34:00.000-07:00

transitional digital objects - wave building clip indoors from maya chami on Vimeo.

FINAL - ladder clip indoors

2011-06-07T04:38:00.000-07:00

transitional digital objects - ladder clip indoors from maya chami on Vimeo.

FINAL - slide flower clip indoors

2011-06-07T03:35:00.000-07:00

More cleaning up clips.

slide flower clip at grandmother's house from maya chami on Vimeo.

FINAL - crane clip indoors

2011-06-07T01:26:00.000-07:00

Still in the process of cleaning up the clips and layering them on indoors of my grandmother's house, to move on to creating new clips.

transitional digital objects - crane clip indoors from maya chami on Vimeo.

FINAL - gefinor clip indoors

2011-06-06T04:34:00.000-07:00

After playing this loop for over a month now, i think i am convinced that i am going to keep the elements as i first created them, i did some minor tweaking and i imported the clip on another background from my grandmother's house interior.

transitional digital objects: earlier loop on grandmother's interior from maya chami on Vimeo.

FINAL - hand and heart clip indoors

2011-06-06T03:54:00.000-07:00

transitional digital objects - hand and heart at grandmother's house from maya chami on Vimeo.

pinocchio clip on grandmother's house interiors

2011-05-31T06:34:00.000-07:00

Earlier last week, I had a conversation with Ghassan Salhab http://mayachamidigitalarts.blogspot.com/2011/05/meeting-with-cineast-ghassan-salhab.html and I was thinking about laying out the clips I'm working on over photographs from the interior of my grandmother's house, where I spent a fair period during my childhood. So finally I managed to go there and take photographs, I will post them on this blog later, but for the time being, I played around one of the clips, over laying it on one of the backgrounds. So now, with this formula, the new composition sizes are the following:

1024x576.

transitional digital objects - pinocchio clip revisited from maya chami on Vimeo.

classicists and modernists.

2011-05-31T01:58:00.000-07:00

Earlier this week, I was watching a Guardian video ( along with its article, could be found on the following link: http://www.guardian.co.uk/artanddesign/2011/may/27/week-in-architecture-art-banksy ), about Francis Terry, a classicist architect who had intervened over the work in "Banksy's Tunnel". He mainly restored/painted a facade over one of Banksy's guests artworks, one of the people who have been invited by Banksy, almost 3 years ago, to intervene (with their graffitis) on the walls under Waterloo Station.
What Francis Terry does could be found on the following link:

The classicist annoyed me, but I couldn't figure out why really, is it because I have just watched Banksy's film "Exit through the gift shop" and I sympathize with Banksy or whether Terry's artwork was too perfectionist and at the same time meaningless for my taste? Anyways...

The article Jonathan Glancey wrote (link above) is very considerate and opens up to different dimensions, much more valuable than my simple annoyance.

So 2 days ago, again, I was watching the Helvetica documentary (about Helvetica the font), and the documentary is very good, and both visuals and research are very well done... it starts with "Designers have a huge responsibility, these are the people who put their wires into our heads" and things start deteriorating, the irritation problem again, specifically whenever I hear modernists Jonathan Hoefler and Tobias Frere-Jones speak...

or when Bierut tears down old advertising to replace it with famous helvetica image:

I started wondering what is wrong with me and whether I am really in a compulsive hate mode? then again, in the middle of the documentary, things start to get better, when Paul Scher speaks, she says: "I was morally opposed to helvetica because I viewed the big corporations that were slathered in Helvetica as sponsors of the vietnam war, so therefore, if you used helvetica, it meant you were in favor of the vietnam war, so how could you use it?" and then Stefan Sagmeister who says: "I myself got fairly disappointed with modernism in general, it simply became boring. If I see a brochure now with lots of white space that has like six lines of helvetica up on the top and a little abstract logo on the bottom and a picture of a businessman walking somewhere, the overall communication that says to me is DO NOT READ ME, because I will bore the shit out of you, not just visually but also in content because the content will likely say the same as it says to me visually."

David Carson massacres the font "There's a fine line between simple and clean and powerful and simple and clean and boring!" and Michael C Place also intervenes in a very simple and nice way, even though he's not a Helvetica hater, he convinces you!
So helvetica is the corporate thing, not that I hate the font, but the pride of modernists experiences today are breaking me: geeks preaching and making jokes about how geeky they are!

George Orwell's 1984 - An Afterword by Erich Fromm about Utopias and Negative Utopias.

2011-05-28T04:11:00.000-07:00

I read the afterword written by Erich Fromm about the famous "1984", this text is so rich. I am mainly interested in more opinions about compositing worlds, so here comes the notions of Utopias and Negative Utopias, in different authors' works, among them: George Orwell, Thomas More, Campanella (the first time I hear about him), Andreae's Christianopolis, Zamyatin and Aldous Huxley, Below is the text if someone is interested in reading it.

-------------------

George Orwell's 1984 is the expression of mood, and it is a warning. The mood it expresses is that of near dispair about the future of man, and the warning is that unless the course of history changes, men all over the world will lose their most human qualities, will become soulless automatons, and will not even be aware of it.
The mood of hopelessness about the future of man is in marked contrast to one of the most fundamental features of Western thought: the faith in human progress and in man's capacity to crete a world of justice and peace. This hope has its roots both in Greek and Roman thinking, as well as in the Messianic concept of the Old Testament prophets. The Old Testament philosophy of history assumes that man grows and unfolds in history and eventually becomes what he potential is. It assumes that he develops his powers of reason and love fully, and thus is enabled to grasp the world, being one with his fellow man and nature, at the same time preserving his individuality and his integrity. Universal peace and justice are the goals of man, and the prophets have faith that in spite of all errors and sins, eventually this "end of days" will arrive, symbolized by the figure of the Messiah.

The prophetic concept was a historical one, a state of perfection to be realized by man within historical time. Christianity transformed this concept in to a transhistorical, purely spiritual one, yet did not give up the idea of the connection between moral norms and politics. The Christian thinkers of the late Middle Ages emphasized that although the "Kingdom of God" was not within historical time, the social order must correspond to and realize the spiritual principles of Christianity. THe Christian sect before and after Reformation emphasized these demands in more urgent, more active, more revolutionary ways. With the breakup of the medieval world, man's sense of strength, and his hope, not only for individual but for social perfection, assumed new strength and took new ways.

One of the most important ones is a new form of writing which developed since the Renaissance, the first expression of which Thomas More's Utopia (literally: "Nowhere"), a name which has then generically applied to other similar works. Thomas More's Utopia combined a most penetrating criticism of his own society, its irrationality and its injustice, with the picture of a society which, though perhaps not perfect, had solved most of the human problems which sounded insoluble to his own contemporaries. What characterizes Thomas More's Utopia, and all the others, is that they do not speak in general terms of principles, but give an imaginative picture of the concrete details of a society which corresponds to the deepest longings of man. In contrast to prophetic thought, these perfect societies are not at "the end of the days" but exist already - though in a geographic distance rather than in the distance of time.

Thomas More's Utopia was followed by two others, the Italian frier Campanella's City of the Sun, and the German humanist Andreae's Christianopolis, the latter being the most modern of the three. There are differences in viewpoint and in originality in this trilogy of utopias, yet the differences are monor in comparison with what they have in common. Utopias were written from then on for several hundred years, until the beginning of the twentieth century. The latest and most influential utopia was Edward Bellamy's Looking Backward, published in 1888. Aside from Uncle Tom's Cabin and Ben Hur, it was undoubtedly the most popular book at the turn of the century, printed in many millions of copies in the United States, translated into over twenty languages.1 Bellamy's utopia is part of the great American tradition as expressed in the thinking of Whitman, Thoreau, and Emmerson. It is the American version of the ideas which at that time found their most forceful expression in the socialist movement in Europe.

This hope for man's individual and social perfectibility, which in philosophical and anthropological terms was clearly expressed in the writings of the Enlightenment philosophers of the eighteenth century and of the socialist thinkers of the nineteenth, remained unchanged until after the First World War. This war, in which millions died for the territorial ambitions of the European powers, although under the illusion of fighting for peace and democracy, was the beginning of that development which tended in a relatively short time to destroy a two-thousand-year-old Western tradition of hope and transform it into a mood of despair. The moral callousness of the First World War was on the beginning. Other events followed: the betrayal of the socialist hopes by Stalin's reactionary state capitalism; the severe economic crisis at the end of the twenties; the victory of barbarism in one of the oldest centers of culture in the world - Germany, the insanity of Stalinist terror during the thirties; the Second World War, in which all the fighting nations lost some of the moral considerations which had still existed in the First World War; the unlimited destruction of civilian populations, started by Hitler and continued by the even more complete destruction of cities such as Hamburg and Dresden and Tokyo, and eventually the use of atomic bombs against Japan. Since then the human race has been confronted with an even greater danger - that of the destruction of our civilization, if not all of mankind, by thermonuclear weapons as they exist today and as they are being developed in increasingly frightful proportions.

Most people, however, are not consciously aware of this threat and of their own hopelessness. Some believe that just because modern warfare is so destructive, war is impossible; others declare that even if sixty or seventy million Americans were killed in the first one or two days of a nuclear war, there is no reason to believe that life would not go on as before after the first shock has been overcome. It is precisely the significance of Orwell's book that it expresses the new mood of hopelessness which pervades our age before the mood has become manifest and taken hold of the consciousness of people.

Orwell is not alone in this endeavor. Two other writers, the Russian Zamyatin in his book We, and Aldous Huxley in his Brave New World, have expressed the mood of the present, and a warning for the future, in ways very similar to Orwell's. This new trilogy of what may be called the "negative utopias" of the middle of the twentieth century is the coutnerpoint to the trilogy of the positive utopias mentioned before, written in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries.2 The negative utopias express the mood of powerlessness and hopelessness of modern man just as the early utopias expressed the mood of self-confidence and hope of post-medieval man. There could be nothing more paradoxical in historical terms than this change: man, at the beggining of the industrial age, when in reality he did not posses the means for a world in which the table was set for all who wanted to eat, when he lived in a world in which there were economic reasons for slavery, war, and exploitation, in which man only sensed the possibilities of his new science and of its application to technique and to production - nevertheless man at the beginning of modern development was full of hope. Four hundred year later, when all these hopes are realizable, when man can produce enough for everybody, when war has become unnecessary because technical progress can give any country more wealth than can territorial conquest, when this globe is in the process of becoming as unified as a continent was four hundred years ago, at the very moment when man is on the verge of realizing his hope, he begins to lose it. It is the essential point of all the three negative utopias not only to describe the future toward which we are moving, but also to explain the historical paradox.

The three negative utopias differ from each other in detail and emphasis. Zamyatin's We, written in the twenties, has more features in common with 1984 than with Huxley's Brave New World. We and 1984 both depict the completely bureaucratized society, in which man is a number and loses all sense of individuality. This is brought about by a mixture of unlilmited terror (in Zamyatin's book a brain operation is added eventually which changes man even physically) combined with ideological and psychological manipulation. In Huxley's work the main tool for turning a man into an automaton is the application of hypnoid mass suggestion, which allows dispensing with terror. One can say that Zamyatin's and Orwell's examples resemble more the Stalinist and Nazi dictatorships, while Huxley's Brave New World is a picture of the development of the Western industrial world, provided it continues to follow the present trend without fundamental change.

In spite of this difference ther eis one basic question common to the three negative utopias. The question is a philosophical, anthropological and psychological one, and perhaps also a religious one. It is: can human nature be changed in such a way that man will forget his longing for freedom for dignity, for integrity, for love - that is to say, can man forget that he is human? Or does human nature have a dynamism which will react to the violation of these basic human needs by attempting to change an inhuman society into a human one? It must be noted that the three authors do not take the simple position of psychological relativism which is common to so many social scientists today; they do not start out with the assumption that there is no suxch thing as human nature; that there is no such thing as qualities essential to man; and that man is born as nothing but a blank sheet of paper on which any given society writes its text. They do assume that man has an intense striving for love, for justice, for truth, for solidarity, and in this respect they are quite different from the relativists. In fact, they affirm the strengthand intensity of these human strivings by the description of the very means they present as being necessary to destroy them. In Zamatin's We a brain operation similar to a lobotomy is necessary to get rid of the human demands of human nature. In Huxley's Brave New World artificial biological selection and drugs are necessary, and in Orwell's 1984 it is the completely unlimited use of torture and brainwashing. None of the three authors can be accused of the thought that the destruction of the humanity within man is easy. Yet all three arrive at the same conclusion: that it is possible, with means and techniques which are common knowledge today.

In spite of many similarities to Zamyatin's book, Orwell's 1984 makes its own original contribution to the question, How can human nature be changed? I want to speak now about some of the more specifically "Orwellian" concepts.

The contribution of Orwell whih is most immediately relevant for the year 1961 and for the next five to fifteen is the connection he makes between the dictorial society of 1984 and atomic war. Atomic wars had first appeared as early as the forties; a large-scale atomic war broke out about ten years later, as some hundreds of of bombs were dropped on industrial centers in Euorpean Russia, Western Europe, and North America. After this war, the governments of all countries became convinced that the continuation of war would mean the end of organized society, and hence of their own power. For these reasons no more bombs were dropped, and the three existing big power blocs "merely continued to produce atomic bombs and stored them up against the decisive opportunity which they all believe will come sooner or later." it remains the aim of the ruling party to discover how "to kill several hundred million people in a few seconds without giving warning beforehand." Orwell wrote 1984 before the discover of thermonuclear weapons, and it is on a historical footnote to say that in the fifties the very aim which was just mentioned had already been reached. The atomic bomb which was dropped on the Japanese cities seems small and ineffective when compared with the mass slaughter which can be achieved by thermonuclear weapons with the capacity to wipe out 90 per cent or 100 per cent of a country's population within minutes.

The importance of Orwell's concept of war lies in a number of very keen observations.

First of all, he shows the economic significance of continuous arms production, without which the economic system cannot function. Furthermore, he gives an impressive picture of how a society must develop which is constantly prepoaring for war, constantly afraid of being attacked, and preparing to find the means of complete annihilation of its opponents. Orwell's picture is so pertinent becuase it offeres a telling argument against the popular idea that we can save freedom and deomcracy by continuing the arms race and finding a "stable" deterrent. This soothing picture ignores the fact that with the increasing techncal "progress" (which creates entirely new weapons about every 5 years, and will soon permit the development of 100 or 1000 instead of 10 megaton bombs), the whole society will be forced to live underground, but that the destructive strength of thermonuclear bombs will always remain greater than the depth of the caves, that the military will become dominant (in fact, if not in law), that fright and hatred of a possible aggressor will destroy the basic attitudes of a democratic, humanistic society. In other words, the continued arms race, even if it would not lead to the outbreak of a thermonuclear war, would lead to the destruction of those qualities of our society which can be called "democratic," "free," or "in the American tradition." Orwell demonstrates the illusion of the assumption that democracy can continue to exist in a world preparing for nuclear war, and he does so imaginatively and brilliantly.

Another important aspect is Orwell's desription of the nature of truth, wich on the surface is a picture of Stalin's treatment of truth, especially in the thirties. But anyone who sees in Orwell's description only another denunciation of Stalinism is missing an essential elemtn of Orwell's analysis. He is actually talking about a devlopment which is taking place in the Western industrial countries also, only at a slwer pace than it is taking place in Russia and China. The basic question whihc Orwell raises is whether there is any such thing as "truth." "reality," so the ruling party holds, "is not external. Reality exists in the human mind and nowehere else . . . whatever the Party holds to be truth is the truth." If this is so, then by controlling men's minds the Party controls truth. In a dramatic conversation between the protagonist of the Party and the beaten rebel, a conversation between the Inquisitor and Jesus, the basic principles of the Party are explained. In constrast to the Inquisitor, however, the leaders of the Party do not even pretend that their system is intended to make man happier, because men, being frail and cowardly creatures, want to escape from freedom and are unable to face the truth. The leaders are aware of the fact tha they themselves have only one aim, and that is power. To them "power is not a means; it is an end. And power means the capacity to inflict unlimited pain and suffering to another human being."3 Power, then, for them creates reality, it creates truth. The position which Orwell attributes here to the power elite can be said to be an extreme form of the philosophical ideallism, but it more to the point to recognize that the concept of truth and reality which exists in 1984 is an extreme form of pragmatism in whihc truth becomes subordinated to the Party. An American writer, Alan Harrington, who in Life in the Crystal Palace4 gives a subtle and penetrating picture of life in a big Anmerican corporation, has coined an excellent expression for the contemporary concept of truth: "mobile truth." If I work for a big corporation which claims that its product is better than that of all competitors, the question whether this claim is justified or not in terms of ascertainable reality becomes irrelevant. What matters is that as long as I servethis particular corporation, this claim becomes "my" truth, and I decline to examine whether it is an objectively valid truth. In fact, if I change my job and move over to the competitor, I shall accept the new truth, that its product is the best, and subjectively speaking, this new truth will be as true as the old one. It is one of the most characteristic and destructive developments of our own society that man, becoming more and more of an instrument, transforms reality more and more into something relative to his own insterests and functions. Truth is proven by the consensus of millions; to the slogan "how can millions be wrong" is added "and how can a minority of one be right." Orwell shows quite clearly that in a system in which the concept of truth as an objective judgement concerning reality is abolished, anyone who is a minority of one must be convinced that he is insane.

In describing the kind of thinking which is dominant in 1984, Orwell has coined a word whcih has already become part of the modern vocabulary: "doublethink." "Doublethink means the power of holding two contradictory belief's in one's mind simultaneously, and accepting both of them. . . . This process has to be concious, or it would bot be carried out with sufficient precision. But it also has to be unconcious, or it would bring with it a feeling of falsity and hence of guilt." It is precisely the unconcious aspect of double think which will seduce many a reader of 1984 ito believing that the method of doublethink is employeed by the Russian and the Chinese, while it is something quite foriegn to himself. This, however, is an illusion, as a few examples can demonstrate. We in the West speak of the "free world," in which we include not only systems like those of the United States and England, which are based on free elections and freedom of expression, but we include also South American dictatorships (at least we did as long as they existed); we also includ various forms of dictatorships like those of Franco and Salazar, and those in South Africa, Pakistan, adn Abyssinia. While we speak about the free world, we actually mean all those states which are against Russia and China and not at all, as the words would indicate, states which have political freedom. Another contemporary example of holding two contradictory beliefs in one's mind simultaneously and accepting them can be found in our discussion about armament. We spend a considerable part of our income and energy in building thermonuclear weapons, and close our minds to the fact that they might kgo off and destroy one third or one half or most of our population (and that of our enemy). SOme go even further; thus Herman Kahn, one of the most influential writers on atmc strategy today, states, ". . . in other words war is horrible, there is no question about it, but so is peace, and it is proper with the kind of calculations we are making today to compare the horror of war and the horror of peace, and see how much worse it is."5 Kahn assumes that thermonuclear war might mean the destruction of sixty million Americans, and yet he finds that even in such a case "the country would recover rather rapidly and effectively,"6 and that "normal and happy lives for the majority of the survivors and their descendants"7 would not be precluded by the tragedy of thermonuclear war. This view holds: a) that we prepare for war in order to preserve peace, b) that even if war breaks out and the Russians kill one third of our population and we do the same to them (and if we can, of course, more) still, people will live happy lives afterwards, c) that not only war but also peace is horrible, and it is necessary to examine how much more horrible war is than peace. People who accept this kind of reasoning call it "sober"; those who doubt that if two million or sixty million died it would leave America essentially untouched are not "sober"; those who point to the political adn psychological and moral consequences of such destruction are called "unrealistic."

While this is not the pace for a lengthy discussion on the problem of disarmament, these examples must be given in order to make the point which is essential for the understanding of Orwell's book, namely that "doublethink" is already with us, and not merely something which will happen in the future, and in dictatorships.

Another important point in Orwell's discussion is closely related to "doublethink," namely that in a successful manipulation of the mind the person is no longer saying the opposite of what he thinks, but he thinks the opposite of what is true. Thus, for instance, if he has surrendered his independence and his integrity completely, if he experieinces thimself as a thing which belongs either to the state, the party or the corporation, then two plus two are five, or "Slavery is Freedom," and he feels free because there is no longer any awareness of the discrepancy between truth and falsehood. Specifically this applies to ideologies. Just as the Inquisitors who torturted their prisoners believed that they acted in the name of Christian love, the party "rejects and villifies every principle for which the socialist movement originally stood, and it chooses to this in the name of socialism." Its content is reversed into its opposite, and yet people believe that the ideology means what it says. In this respect Orwell quite obviously refers to the falsification of socialism by Russian communism, but it must be added that the WEst is also guilty of a similar falsification. We present our society as being one of free initiative, individualism and idealism, when in reality these are mostly words. We are a centralized managerial society, of an essentially bureacratic nature, and motivated by a materialism which is only slightly mitigated by truly spiritual or religious concerns. Related to this is another example of "doublethink," namely that few writers, discussing atmoic strategy, stumble over the fact that killing, froma Christian standpoint, is a evil or more evil than being killed. The reader will find many other features of our present Western society in Orwell's description in 1984, provided he can overcome enough of his own "doublethink."

Certainly Orwell's picture is exceedingly depressing, especially if one recognizes that as Orwell himself points out, it is not only a picture of an enemy but of the whole human race at the end of the twentieth century. One can react to this picture in two ways: either by becoming more hopeless and resigned, or by feeling there is still time, and by responding with greater clarity and greater courage. All three negative utopias make it appear that it is posisble to dehumanize man competely, and yet for life to go on. One might doubt the correctness of this assumption, and think that while it might be possible to destroy the human core of man, one would also in doing this destroy the future of mankind. Such men would be so truly inhuman and lacking in vitality that they would destroy each other, or die out of sheer boredom and anxiety. If the world of 1984 is gong to be the dominant form of life on this globe, it will mean a world of madmen, adn hence not a viable world (Orwell indicates this very subtly by pointing to the mad gleam in the Party leader's eyes). I am sure that neither orwell nor Huxley nor Zamyatin wanted to insist that this world of insanity is bound to come. On the contrary, it was quite obviously their intention to sound a warning by showing where we are headed for unless we succeed in a renaissance of the spirit of humanism and dignity which is at the very root of Occidental culture. Orwell, as well as the two other authors, is simply implying that the new form of managerial industrialism, in which man builds machines which act like men and develops men who act like machines, is conducive to an era of dehumanization and comoplete alienation, in which men are transformed into things and become appendices to the process of production and consumption.8 All three authors imply that this danger exists not only in communism of the Russian or Chinese version, but that it is a danger inherent in the modern mode of production and organization, and relatively independent of the various ideologies. Orwell, like the authors of the other negative utopias, is not a prophet of disaster. He wants to warn and to awaken us. He still hopes - but in contrast to the writers of the utopias in the earlier phase of Western society, his hope is a desperate one. The hope can be realized only by recognizing, so 1984 teaches us, the danger with which all men are confronted today, the danger of a society of automatons who have lost every trace of the individuality, of love, of critical thought, and yet who will not be aware of it because of "doublethink." Books like Orwell's are powerful warnings , and it would be most unfortunate if the reader smugly interpreted 1984 as another description of Stalinist barbarism, and of he dopes not see that it means us, too.

Erich Fromm

NOTES:
1 The latest edition was published by the New American Library of World Literature, Inc., New York, 1960 (CD26).
2 It should be added that Jack London's The Iron Heel, the prediction of facism in America, is the earliest of the modern negative utopias.
3Cf. this definition of power in Erich Fromm, Escape from Freedom. New York: Rinehart & Co., Inc., 1941. Also Simone Weil's definition that power is the capacity to transform a living person into a corpse, that is to say, into a thing.
4 Alan Harringto, Life in the Crystal Palace. New York: Alfred A. Knopf Inc., 1959; London: Jonathan Cape, Ltd., 1960.
5Cf. H. Kahn, On Thermonuclear War. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1960, p. 47, n. 1.
6 Ibid., p. 74.
7 Ibid., p. 21.
8 This problem is analuzed in detail in Erich Fromm, The Sane Society. New York: Rinehart & Co., Inc., 1955.

Meeting with Cineast Ghassan Salhab

2011-05-28T03:56:00.000-07:00

I had the chance to sit briefly with Ghassan Salhab and show him the first clips a week ago to get feedback, and to see where I am standing at this point, here are the points that recap the meeting:
- He referred to Foucault's idea of "Le temps / Les temps", the plurality of the moment that could be seen from different points of view after having read briefly the paragraph about autobiography and stressing on "discontinuities", "fissures", ruptures" and so on...
- We discussed the idea of mixing elements in more than one clip, that is using the same element in different clips to create a rappel.
- He appreciated to relation to space in clips but found the clip with me and my sister on the huge building with the marble sliding too narrative for a beginning, but after I argued that it is not the beginning, that this clip could be placed anywhere in the sequence, he approved the use of this clip in another sequence.
- He remarked that the characters in the clips are mainly playing with tools that I am giving them (the objects) rather than playing around architecture, which he found more interesting.
- He concluded from the clips that they are not revolving about childhood but it is mainly childhood playing in the world of adult, which i find quite amusing, I haven't thought of that earlier.
- he suggested that I play around evocation, or keep evocation in the back of my mind when I am building up my clips, for instance the inflatable pony could make more than one appearance, it could be an element that travels all through the different clips.
- He approved that in the last clip I created: http://mayachamidigitalarts.blogspot.com/2011/05/developing-project-2.html I should get rid of the Arabic logo on the cement block and that it is too distracting.
- Ghassan also suggested that the pen clip could be more playful: http://mayachamidigitalarts.blogspot.com/2011/05/developing-project.html and that if I animate the pen buttons along with a color that appears on the black and white photograph, it could be of a greater impact.
- When I suggested placing all the clips (4x3) on different backgrounds, mainly shots from my grandmother's house (16x9), he approved and said that it could create a base to support the whole.
- Last before ending the meeting, he mentioned the idea of opening and finding stuff, childhood being all about objects that one finds after opening a box for instance "l'enfance c'est ouvrir et trouver quelquechose, faire sortir des objets..."

the art of oussama baalbaki

2011-05-28T03:06:00.000-07:00

Oussama Baalbaki, a Lebanese painter, had a show few weeks ago in Agial Gallery in Beirut. The show's title was "Rituals of Isolation" and title that resembles the painter in so many ways.
These are some of the paintings exhibited, I am mainly posting here the ones that tackle the objects subject. An excerpt of what has been said about the work:

"In Oussama Baalbaki’s (b.1978) new body of works, the painter’s eye recedes from the outer visual extent to the chamber’s setting. There, he observes his existence, in the same way he observes his “model”, in an implied psychic and an intellectual framework, using plastic means, derived from the monochromic expressionist realism sensibility. Works that pair features of Painting with features of Installation, to come up with a state of plastic synthesis deeply penetrating into climates of mystification and radiant ambiguity."

All the paintings are Acrylic on Canvas, and the sizes vary between and a meter to 2 meters width, the titles for the above canvases are in order: "The Perfect Mood", "A Persistent Midday", "Harmonious Posture", "Enlightment II" and "Untitled".

One of the earliest paintings I liked, an older work that includes a portrait of the main marxist figures portraits followed by an iron, all on the same canvas. I can't seem to find this one anywhere online though.

Article on Mark Leckey's art

2011-05-27T07:47:00.000-07:00

I wrote about Mark Leckey in my paper, here is an article from Jonathan Jones on latest show by Leckey.

Mark Leckey's art creates noise without meaning
The Turner prize-winner's Serpentine Gallery show sounds great on paper but is full of lumbering inanities

Up the garden path ... Mark Leckey's GreenScreenRefrigeratorAction at the Serpentine Gallery. Photograph: Ray Tang/Rex Features
Mark Leckey's exhibition at the Serpentine Gallery crept up on me unawares. In the lobby-like entrance area, posters and a fragmentary video hover delicately between meaning and meaninglessness while snatches of pounding music and robotic voices creep in from other rooms. Hesitant, a bit confused, I took it in like the noise outside a club, or popcorn scattered on a cinema carpet. Only when I entered a gallery overlooking Kensington Gardens where electronic devices chatter inanely in high-pitched voices against a painted green background did the reality dawn on me of just how terrible an exhibition I had stumbled into.

Leckey won a Turner prize in 2008, which goes to show you should never take these awards too seriously. His kind of art, studded with dense cultural references, appeals to a certain kind of academically minded curator because it seems intelligent and subversive – until you look at it. On paper, Leckey is a genius, a pop cultural messiah. He explores the anthropology of clubbing, the ironies of consumerism – both key in his (sort of) best work here, Fiorucci Made Me Hardcore – and the disembodied mystique of digital technology. He is a Marxist DJ quoting philosophy while he stacks up sound-systems to create aural sculptures.

Like I said – great on paper. But art happens in physical space, in the realm of bodies also known as the human world. In that world, Leckey does not get his ideas across. His messing about with speakers and screens does not come across as cool, but laboured and empty. The installation GreenScreenRefrigeratorAction with its bonkers talking gadgets and walls tediously coloured to reflect the park outside (culture v nature, geddit?) is one of the worst works of art I have ever seen in a serious gallery. It means nothing; it just makes noise to create the fiction of meaning. It is pompous and clumsy and utterly miserable for no good reason.

Does that sound like a certain British politician? Mark Leckey is the Gordon Brown of art – always missing his target and always seeming sorry for himself. There is a complete lack of fit between Leckey's vaunted interest in dance music and youth culture and the eerie joylessness of his art. Nothing, however, prepares you for the stupidity and arrogance of the central exhibit, BigBoxStatueAction, in which he has the insolence to juxtapose one of his own speaker-stack sculptures with a bronze abstract statue by Henry Moore.

Now, I am a long way from being Henry Moore's biggest fan. In fact, I think the current fashion for reclaiming him as a great modern artist is a bit silly. But great or otherwise, Moore certainly was an artist, and next to him Leckey scarcely looks like one at all. He looks more like a pedantic scholar of dead theories of culture, who belongs not in an art gallery but rather in some university library poring over 1980s copies of The Face.

He has scribbled a quote from the Victorian critic Walter Pater on the back of the speaker stack, calling on us to live always in a hard, gemlike flame of ecstasy. But I have rarely felt so far from that flame as I did among his lumbering inanities.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/artanddesign/jonathanjonesblog/2011/may/23/mark-leckey-exhibition-serpentine-gallery

new batch rotoscoped 4

2011-05-26T09:39:00.000-07:00

Same photo shoot session (ha) only, I wish to work on extending the neck in one of the loops, so that's it for today.

new batch rotoscoped 3

2011-05-26T09:36:00.000-07:00

Me in the Elefant shirt, that was my sister's originally, and that she wears in other loops, and which became mine after few years.

new batch rotoscoped 2

2011-05-26T09:33:00.003-07:00

At grandmother's house, in the navy blue striped dress, I was probably 7? my elder sister shows in the other part of the photograph, holding the bird in one hand, and a coffee cup in the other, giving water for the bird. I will not draw this whole scene, instead I will work along this theme in the clip.

new batch rotoscoped 1

2011-05-26T09:30:00.000-07:00

My young sister, cynthia, wearing her school costume, waiting in dad's office to go back home in the afternoon.

Developing the project 2

2011-05-23T06:14:00.000-07:00

This is the other loop that I developed, refer to earlier blog about this:

http://mayachamidigitalarts.blogspot.com/2011/05/developing-project.html

Feedback is welcomed!

Transitional Digital Objects - Another Loop from maya chami on Vimeo.

Developing the project

2011-05-21T07:55:00.000-07:00

I am still working on developing loops for the project, the animated movement is still hanging between sliding and overlaying. In the upcoming days, I will be trying with different animation techniques to see whether I would want to shift from what I am doing now to something more advanced or developed.

Meanwhile, what really matters in the loops for me is neither the movement nor the rhythm, it's the elements and the compositions.

Here is the clip I uploaded on my vimeo channel, I will be posting the other one in a different post once it gets uploaded. Meanwhile, if you have feedback on these, please do comment in here!

Transitional Digital Objects - Loops Draft 2 from maya chami on Vimeo.

Vue Infinite

2011-05-21T03:27:00.000-07:00

Today I learned about this software: Vue 9.5 that animates 3D digital landscapes. I am not very into 3D landscapes at this point, I find them a bit bulky :) but I would really be interested to explore something fine and organic along this world, not for my final project of course, sticking to 2D for the time being. So this post is mainly dedicated for future brainstorming. Here are some of the software's presentations:

Alex Webb: More is more

2011-05-16T03:33:00.000-07:00

Alex Webb's images have been called 'migraine photographs'. Geoff Dyer on the art of taking complicated pictures of complicated situations
Geoff Dyer
The Guardian, Saturday 14 May 2011
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USA. San Ysidro, California, 1979. Mexicans arrested while trying to cross the border to United States. Photograph: © Alex Webb/Magnum
Alex Webb is addicted to testing the limit of the load-bearing ability of his pictures: "It's not just that that and that exist. It's that that, that, that and that all exist in the same frame. I'm always looking for something more. You take in too much; perhaps it becomes total chaos. I'm always playing along that line: adding something more, yet keeping it short of chaos." This was in 2003; since then, Webb has found ways of piling on still more "thats", particularly in his images from Istanbul and Cuba.

Starting out, Webb's influences were Cartier-Bresson, Frank, Winogrand and Friedlander, and when he first worked on the Mexico-US border in 1975 he dutifully photographed in black and white – even as the terrain cried out to be shot in colour. But after a trip to post-revolution Haiti in 1986, he felt compelled to take on a massive additional complication. Politically and morally, an appropriate aesthetic response was demanded. "The world is a complex place and there are great dangers when you start looking at everything in terms purely of black and white."

So you start looking at it in colour.

The result: complicated pictures of complicated situations. When writing about difficult pictures or music or poetry, it's important not to forget, deny, or disguise one's initial (or enduring) confusion or perplexity. The purpose of criticism is not to explain away one's reactions, but to articulate and preserve them – in the hope that doing so expresses a truth inherent in the work. So it's reassuring that I am not alone in finding some of these pictures exhausting to look at. Dayanita Singh, the Indian photographer who took classes taught by Webb at the International Centre of Photography in New York, describes them as "migraine photographs".

Colour photography had gained institutional acceptance with William Eggleston's show at the Museum of Modern Art, New York, in 1976. Webb was part of the second wave of American photographers working in colour. His essential contribution was to ask the simplest of questions: if you are interested in colour, doesn't it make sense to go where the colour is? In this regard, he was following the same logic as Van Gogh and Gauguin, in painting, when they decamped to the blazing yellows of Arles. Gauguin, of course, went further, to the tropics of Martinique and Polynesia. (I wonder, is Webb's photograph of pilgrims bathing in the waterfalls at Saut d'Eau in Haiti a kind of documentary composite of – and homage to – Gauguin's Tahitian masterpiece?)

Wherever he goes, Webb always ends up in a Bermuda triangle where the distinctions between photojournalism, documentary and art blur and disappear. Even in Haiti, when he is most obviously "a witness to history", he is forced to recognise "the pattern of my futile efforts at news photography… I had missed the February 'revolution' and the fall of Duvalier; now, in April, I arrived to calm…" The most newsworthy pictures are offset by others that suggest that what we are seeing is both old and news. Sometimes this temporal double standard exists within a single image. On one side of the picture is human time and violence; on the other, the animal time of the dog, sniffing around. His cities are palimpsests in which one world is constantly peeking into or giving way to another, through windows, doors, posters, fading layers of paint.

Webb has said of Mexico and Haiti that these are places "where colour is somehow deeply part of the culture, on an almost spiritual level". That's as may be, but his is a world where certain instruments and tools – a spirit level, for example – do not make sense (the Bermuda syndrome again). Within his pictures gravity is rarely more than optional. There are often people's feet dangling from the top of the frame, as if it's a branch they're perched on. Or else they're hanging midair, like cartoon characters in the blissfully oblivious seconds after they've walked off a cliff; or floating upside down and sideways, weightless as astronauts. One way or another, there's a lot of suspense in these pictures.

guardian.co.uk © Guardian News and Media Limited 2011

hiraki sawa's "dwelling"

2011-05-16T02:03:00.001-07:00

Thank you Matt for sharing! I happened to see this video piece in 2008 at Istanbul Modern, and for a reason my friends rushed me out (or was it closing time?) I never got the artist's name, few days ago Matt suggests seeing Hiraki Sawa's work, and I finally realized that Dwelling was a piece I have seen, brilliant work! I really like the whole context and animation.