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“StormEye” An Immersive Art Installation
Click Here: StormEye Video
The project is an immersive art installation in Second Life, the centerpiece of which is composed of approximately 1000 primitive objects which are coated in moving video accompanied by a densely layered sound effects bed. This complex and dynamic object floats over a landscape which is composed of a grid of interlocking sculpty mega rims which Enfield manufactured using mathematical data. This derived from her work using real-world data from the USGS and NASA to create accurate models of actual landscapes within Second Life.
The video that rolls over the hundreds and hundreds of prims that surround you as you walk through was edited by Story using Final Cut Pro and Avid Media Composer.
Come. Walk through the storm, brave the faux elements and emerge magically dry. Be sure to grab an umbrella on your way in.
Artists' Statement
Also at play here are questions of mappings. Here the transformation of data is used to mimic and echo RL in SL, but not in the usual context of recreating RL but rather a transmogrification. What does it mean to use data collected for very different purposes, usually military or scientific visioning of the world, and then use that way of seeing to reconfigure data, playing with scale and surface texture? Can the poetic be elucidated through number crunching? Can we be successful in inducing awe in the viewer instead of a shrug?
It's been suggested that part of this piece is a flirtation with romanticism in that there's a parsing of nature in order to co-opt its power and impact. And there are references to the surreal with the juxtaposition of the StormEye with the landscape and in the clear blue of the Magritte clouds captured in the windowpane via which avatars exit the piece.
Also present is a certain irony in that the installation takes the supremely outdoor experience of a storm and brings it inside, where it's effective because it's inside. The viewer experiences all this mayhem while staying warm, dry, and comfortable.
See also: Ars Virtua's "@" exhibition. The quote below is from the announcement on
www.arsvirtua.com
"The Waxhead
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Deeper Truths
In sterile, dictionary language, photography might be defined as, "the process, of recording visual images", or words to that effect. I didn't actually look up the definition, but you get the idea. In any event, rigid definitions don't exist when you're talking about art.
Why Black and White?
Great novel's have a way of expressing profound ideas in ways that go beyond mere recitation of fact. One need only think of Upton Sinclair's "The Jungle", or Harriet Beecher Stowe's "Uncle Tom's Cabin". Just as great ideas are sometimes most powerfully expressed through fiction, the best black and white images speak to deeper truth. Black and white allows the artist to reveal a world invisible to the naked eye. In black and white, abstract shapes, contrast, and recurring patterns have a psychological impact and dignity often unrealized in color.
Photography began as black and white, or more specifically monochrome. Not all early images were truly black and white. Many had a brownish tint (sepia), and others even had hints of blue when the cyanotype process was employed.
If a relatively young art form can be said to have a 'classical' period, it would probably be that time when monochrome was the only option. The first photographs to be considered art were all black and white. I suspect this may have let to psychological expectations as to what a classic photograph should look like. Achieving a timeless look has much to do with why many masters of photography continue to work in this medium. From a purely technical standpoint, black and white prints simply last longer. Even the very best color prints degrade over time.
For reason's I cannot explain, some things simply look better in black and white. My personal rule when retaining images is......"If in doubt, throw it out". The last thing I do before deleting an image, is convert it to black and white. Most of them still get thrown out, however, just often enough to keep me doing it, I'm stunned by what I see in black and white. A ho-hum color image suddenly possesses that indefinable something that makes it a keeper. I've thought long and hard as to why this should be so. I don't have any answers.
I should point out, that most of my work is in color. I love color, and it will probably always be my primary medium. There are times, however, when black and white simple stands out. Digital processing has taken the black and white medium to unprecedented heights. Today's high end digital camera's and powerful computer software, give the modern artist control the masters of old never dreamed of.
Source: Patrick Simons, photographer, philosopher, seeker and wanderer.
Patrick Simons
Make high impact black and white art and SIMPLIFY…
Have you ever really thought about using black and white and how it could be so powerful and communicate so much, with so little? It's not just changing a setting on your camera, or desaturating your image in Photoshop. No Way - not even close. Black and white imagery is a POWERFUL way, maybe THE most powerful way to communicate your story.
I’ve often thought about why this is true – I think it’s partly because the first photographers didn’t have the option of color film, so they had to make sure that whatever they were photographing had creative impact for other reasons.
As color wasn’t really a consideration in these early years artists had to make sure that all of the other elements were strong, like the design, the shadows and light, the artistic interpretation, and the perspective. They knew that learning how to use black and white to add depth and meaning could elevate their work to completely new levels.
"OK, all this historical stuff makes sense," you say, "but why concentrate on black and white images when the wilderness is full of amazing and wild colors? How can making the image devoid of a rainbow of colors add value?"
Well, in many cases, deciding to create in black and white will be the ONLY choice to really tell your story in a dramatic way. And learning more about black and white values can be the most effective way to isolate and draw attention to your subject. Remember that sometimes color can be a distraction.
Simplicity = Power
By removing color as one of our composition elements, we are left with fewer details to consider, and so our attention can focus on other aspects. Scenes that work especially well in black and white are those that have strong patterns, textures, angles, tones, shadows and light perspectives.
What we are left with really, is the graphic design of the scene. You can make absolutely dramatic images with just black and white, and a range of grays. Knowing how to see past the color is a CRITICAL skill.
Source:Learning Black and White Photograhy
"Shack 2:Southern Salton Sea, Southern CA
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Create Immersive Art Without a Programmer:
KAMScript
Notice:
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This page posted July 19 2010
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