Project 4: Artist Statement

I think of my installations as conceptual, thought-provoking visual presentations to bring awareness and draw emotional connections or sympathy among the audiences. I like to incorporate a feeling of relatability or inspiration to the viewers through my installations, but also keeping a serious or political sense. My main goal behind most of my installations, especially this one, is to make the viewers deliberate and put thoughtful and thorough ideas together based off of whatever ideas or thoughts they may get from viewing my installations. The abstractness of my works is perfect for not directly telling the audience any details, but to give them enough clues to figure it out themselves. Not only do I want my installations to spread awareness and inspire change among the audience, but I also want to spread intellectual wellness and for my work to help serve as a tool that helps sharpen several people's mind. For a healthy intellectual wellness, one must keep their mind engaged or stimulated, and through the creativity, visuality, thinking, etc. that my installation provokes, I believe that my installations effectively influence people to consider a great deal of information and values. Installations, in general, are fantastic tools to sharped human's intellectual wellness, so I try to make my installations achieve that to my highest ability.

This installation was designed and created to serve as a call to action/awareness of the growing disaster that is our home and planet. Human activity and pollution has been and is continuing to be the largest cause of deterioration of our world, and damages it in a plethora of different ways. As humans live and produce waste, and the industrialization of society continues to grow, the issue of pollution is expected to continue to worsen to a dangerous level. Although this problem is so large-scale and there is a ton more work that needs to happen that is bigger than this installation, one of the best things we can do individually is to be more aware and do anything, no matter how small, to help clean up the environment. Although we would need just about everybody on the planet to work together to solve; a very realistic yet still very helpful solution can be inferred from this installation. The first part of my installation is to see who/if anyone is even willing to enter the installation space due to all the garbage that they would have to walk over. This is very important because it can show that if some people are too grossed out to walk over the trash in my installation, then they should be appalled by the same thing happening but on a tremendously larger scale. As the viewer walks through my installation, they should feel overwhelmed and disgusted, as they walk through trash and have to watch all of the filthy and deadly images of the proof that human pollution has destroyed the beautiful natural environment. The thick layer of garbage on the floor is to represent/depict how unaesthetic, ugly, and gross the sight of dense garbage is. The layer of trash I created looks very similar to the actual hunormous mounds of garbage in the waters, beaches, and land/dumps all over the world. Once the viewer gets to the end of the installation and sees their face in the mirror, they should feel a sense of either disgust or inspiration in themselves, as they notice that they have been part of the cause of the problem. I will also include a bag next to the installation, as a test/study to see if anyone participating in the installation would go out of their way and clean up the trash if they had a garbage bag ready and accessible to them. Hopefully, whether the audience felt disgusted or inspired, or something else, the installation will have made some kind of impact on them, and bring on a new and lasting perspective. That is my goal.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BwHR0T8xp9I

Project 4: Process Post #3

Once I had all the parts of the installation set up, the most important step began. This step was the planning/experimenting to find the perfect or most efficient spot to place the projector. The placement of the projector is so important for this kind of installation, for several reasons. First, because the space is so narrow and small, the viewer walking through it can easily block most of the projections with their shadow. Through lots of planning, moving and checking, I found that the higher up the projector, (above the participant's height) the better it will be, as their head/body is not protruding or blocking the light of the projector. However, when I put it up so high, it only projected on the upper half of my installation space, so I used some extra materials that I had to support the back of the projector to cover the right space. This process made me realize how art and an artist's final product is not just the main/only exhibit of art, but the whole process and planning that goes into an art piece is also a very significant component to the art, the artist, the information, and overall quality.

Project 4: Process Post #2

The setting up of this installation was very tricky. It took a ton of trial and error and experimenting to correctly and efficiently set everything up to the maximum possible potential. I had to try several other kinds of materials before I bought and decided to use the sheet/curtains that I used for my final showing. Some of the other materials I tried, such as plastic shopping bags connected together, a shower curtain, and large sheets of paper just either were not efficient enough to meet my satisfaction or did not allow for good visibility/clarity of the projections. I wanted the material to be symbolic for pollution, but decided that I valued the visibility of the projections over the symbolic deeper meaning; however, I think that the sheets are the perfect material to incorporate both to a great level. It was not too hard setting this up, but certainly not easy. The hardest part was finding a spot in the black box that I could set it up, then using the space and resources around to help make it great. Once I had everything in place, I cut a flap in the sheet where the mirror will be, and then began the task of figuring out the perfect placement of the projector.

Project 4: Process Post #1

Clearly I am not a very good artist or drawer, but this is my basic rough draft/blueprints for my final installation. It may not be very clear to others, but I understand and can read my drawings and what I'm intending to show or do in each sketch. Using these sketches helped me in planning, and helped me a great deal in deciding where it would be most appropriate and efficient to place the projector and all other props in order to maximize the quality of the installation and limit the amount of shadows present.

Installation Art Response: Chapter 4

Ari Felsen 
FMX 463 
4/23/19

Installation Art: Chapter 4 Reading & Response

          This chapter of Claire Bishop’s scholarly article, Installation Art, focuses more on examining and analyzing the concept of activated spectatorship as a politicized aesthetic practice. From the importance and effects of a viewer’s participation/performance in an installation, to the political/social effects/results that are correlated are the main theme of this chapter. The role that a viewer has on an installation may be immense, as their individual actions have the ability to completely sway or takeover the whole message and perception of a piece of art. Whether acting individually or interacting with another participant, a viewer can be integral to achieve the desired effect of a work of art. Straying from traditional art, such as paintings and sculptures, where the viewer’s only activity and role is to be spectating and is free of interactions; this concept of art is entirely interactive as it is designed to inspire/use the viewer to ‘activate’ themselves and engage their presence within the piece, using their own bodily materials, especially dialogue, thought, and discussion. This chapter stresses the relationship between art and the political world. Many artists and critics are recently understanding that the viewer’s active presence within an installation or work of art is much more political and ethical than when viewing more simple or traditional works of art. As the viewer has more involvement with a work of art, their social, political, and ethical engagement is far more in-depth as opposed to a viewer spectating a work of art.
          The use of multiple participants is very significant to this era/style of art. Artists’ method

of including multiple participants together to interact or communicate is extremely effective as it not only forces the participants to discuss and use their skills to understand the piece, but it also transforms the viewers, allowing them to view and deliberate the artwork as a collective community, rather than in isolation as a mere spectator. Instead of using the viewers as objects or pieces of the installation as a way to use them to express different perceptions, they are used much more intelligently as they become an even bigger part of the artwork and encourage discussion. There are other ways that viewers can participate as a community and have an integral value to the piece. For example, for the production/building phase of the 1981 exhibition, The People’s Choice, several people were invited to donate any objects that aren’t typically thought of to be seen in an art gallery. The social interaction and collaboration between all of the people who helped was the key component of this exhibition, as it was a much of the final display and was considered to be just as important as the final outcome. 

Artist Research 4

The artist that I chose to learn about this time is Mary Mattingly. Mary is an American visual artist, born in Connecticut and now based in New York City, where she works and displays a vast majority of her artwork. She studied at Parson's School of Design in New York, and earned her BFA from the Pacific Northwest College of Art in 2002.

Her work is all very interesting and conceptual, with many of her pieces being sculptures in site-specific locations. The props and sculptures themselves have their own meanings and importance, but her use of space/locations adds a lot more meaning and interpretations to her work, forcing the audience to think about what it means on in much more open-ended way, as well as understanding more what the artist [Mattingly] is trying to depict or suggest through her work.

Many of Mary's pieces look like they take a great amount of time, money, and labor to produce. This shows that she is very creative and precise, using a ton of organizing, design and pre-production to plan out the piece and the process to make it happen. It also shows that she is a go-getter, as she exemplifies determination, problem solving and risk-taking.

I have found that several of her pieces share a similar motif/theme. In many artworks by Mary Mattingly, the use of geometric shapes appears to be one of the main focuses of each piece. Mostly being spheres/balls, but she also uses squares and triangular shapes in some of her work. Being big, clear, and center, these shapes are clearly there for a reason, intended to be the main focal point and possessing a distinct message/purpose, supplementing or supplemented by the details going on around and in the background. Another thing I like about her work is in most of the photos/documentation of her projects, everything is typically centered and symmetrical. This reminds me of one of my favorite film directors, Wes Anderson. As many know, Wes Anderson's signature film style is symmetric shots of the subject on screen. Almost all of Anderson's movies are so enjoyable to me that as I was looking through the photos of Mary Mattingly's art, I thought of The Grand Budapest Hotel, and made me happy and enjoy her art even more from the good vibes it gave me!

https://marymattingly.com/DefaultMattingly.html

Project 4: Project Proposal

Polluter:

In the room, there will be a viewer who walks through the installation. As you walk through the space, there will be a series of videos/images projected along the walls/surfaces, and trash around the room and on the floor in which the viewer will have to either pick up (which most viewers probably will not do, but shows results from my experiment/hypothesis) or kick to the side. Another idea I can do, but is not necessary, is to spill some juice or liquid on the ground where the viewer will walk, to make their feet feel sticky, which will add to the vibe of dirt/pollution, as well as add another element of the sense of touch for the audience.

As the viewer makes their way to the end of the space/installation, there will be a figure or shape of a human, and on it will be a video projection of a person doing some sort of pollution, while standing close and looking into the camera. The viewer will then be able to lift a flap or some piece of cloth of the figure, to reveal a mirror underneath, with the viewer's reflection directly on it. The viewer watches as the polluter becomes the reflection of their-self.

As the viewer walks through, another experiment I can trial is having some fruits/food on branches that the viewer can rip off and eat if they choose. The fruits will be delicious, but it will go to serve the metaphor for humans taking the planet's food and resources.

In the beginning, I can include projections of nature/earth with lush vegetation and healthy heartbeat sound in background, and as you walk through it, the planet dies and is barren/plants withered and planet's heartbeat dies off.

Senses:
-Sight
-Touch (touching the trash/sticky floor, moving the flap)
-Hear (heartbeat, any other sounds)
-Taste (if they choose to eat a fruit)

Materials:
-Camera
-Projector
-Laptop, MadMapper
-Mirror
-Fruits/branches
-Trash, juice
-Sheets/materials for wall surfaces or surface to project on

Plan:
April 9-14: Research which materials to use (projecting surface, fruit branches)
April 15: Should have all materials acquired by this point
April 9-17: Get all videos/animations/footage to be projected
April 21: Should have set up the whole set-up at least once by this point, to make sure everything is right and don't need anything else
April 23: Plan out lighting and positioning of projector, to prevent unintentional shadows
April 28: Should have everything done/acquired by now... Now time just for practicing and run-through's