MANIFEST ORDER

At Hemphill Gallery on 14^th Street NW in Washington DC, Franz Jantzen’s Manifest Order is on display. All the works are cartographic assemblages. The images are printed using archival pigments. They are then mounted on aluminum sheets. Jantzen uses a digital camera to document a single plane from a constantly changing vantage point. The resulting images are assembled using hundreds of photographs in Photoshop. The final product is an inventive interpretation of the original location. Jantzen turned, twisted and pixilated certain elements within the each final piece, which creates an intricate maze of exploration for the viewer.

Jantzen has documented many historical sites such as the Uline Arena ceiling in Washington, DC and McSorley’s Bar in New York City. The images themselves are printed in large scale. The photographs range in size from 17” x 20” to an impressive 41” x 176”. They are all black and white, yet they are vibrant and saturated in deep blacks, crisp whites and a pleasing range of gray tones. Jantzen demonstrates a good use of negative space. In some images, he tempts the viewer with details and then fades out the necessary elements. It is a very interesting exhibit, so check it out if you get the chance.

Hemphill Gallery 1515 14^th Street NW Washington, DC 20005

“ If it makes you laugh, if it makes you cry, if it rips your heart out, that’s a good picture.”

Those were the words of the legendary Eddie Adams. He is just one of the Pulitzer Prize Photographers highlighted in the exhibit at the Newseum in Washington DC.

In the Newseum’s Pulitzer Prize Photographs Gallery, I was very moved by the world’s greatest news photographs. There were six floors of exhibits, but I am going to focus on the Pulitzer Prize Photograph exhibit. Every Pulitzer winning photo was represented since 1942 to the present. The exhibit was unsettling at times, with graphic images of the world’s history. More than once, I got chills staring at the images of war, famine and natural disasters. True to the human spirit, there were many photos that made me feel hope and some that even made me smile.

A very nice thing about this exhibit was it was very interactive. There was a movie in the center of the photographs that ran on a continuous twenty-minute loop. It highlighted a number of the photographers that had won Pulitzers. It was really fascinating to see the images that came before and after the “money shot.” I particularly enjoyed being able to hear the stories of the events unfolding around these journalists during the different situations they were asked to cover.

Many of the photographers were still visibly distraught concerning the different stories they had been asked to document for the world. There was an image from a mudslide in Armero, Columbia that Carol Guzy and Michel DuCille captured. She explained how the woman, who had been trapped in water for 72 hours, was talking and reaching out to the people who were attempting to get free her. Even though so many were trying to help, she ended up drowning because there was no way to release her from whatever was trapping her underneath the muddy water. Guzy expressed her disbelief that it was not possible to save this innocent woman. The picture that won the Pulitzer was the last shot before she went under. Guzy made it clear you cannot go out searching for a Pulitzer; you just have to be there for that moment between life and death. You just have to get that shot. The shot that makes you question whether you should of helped instead of staying behind the lens. The shot that wakes you up in the middle of the night asking why things couldn’t of happened differently. The images are haunting in a way that video is not. The still image is so powerful. In just one photograph a story is told to the entire world. These images have helped shape history. I can only imagine how hard it must be to strike a balance between doing your job and acting like a human being. 

 

 

Dreams

I went and saw an amazing exhibit at the Hirshhorn Museum. It is called The Cinema Effect: Dreams. Twenty-one different artists contributed to the collection. In Dreams, the artists use the digital technology and techniques of the cinema to create an almost hallucinogenic experience. I was transported into their worlds where anything goes…

Each artist had a different approach to his or her work, yet the major emphasis for all of them were consistent. To me, each piece focused on crossing into a dreamlike state of mind. Reality is definitely questioned. This was apparent from the start of the exhibit. I entered through a plastic sheet hung from the ceiling into a room shrouded in complete darkness. I accidentally bumped into a stranger that seemed just as confused as I was. As we exchanged apologies, I noticed a small arrow illuminated on to the floor. The arrow led me into many more dark rooms filled with whimsical and scary pieces of art. I felt as if all my sensibilities were taken away at the door and this made it very easy to focus on each piece. It was a three-dimensional full-body experience.

There are too many pieces to mention them all, so I will only give you the highlight of my trip. In one giant pitch-black room, I found Anthony McCall's You and I, Horizontal. This piece consisted of a projector giving off a large circle of light. The way one must enter the exhibit, the light is shining directly towards you. This definitely throws of your depth perception of how to get through the room and what exactly this beam of light is supposed to be doing. After allowing my eyes to adjust, I realized the beam was creating a half circle on the opposite wall. I actually walked into the middle of the projected light and it was like sensory overload. I honestly felt like I could have been on drugs or something. It was so fantastic to look into the light…there were cloudy rings that were moving all throughout the light. It was not smoky in the room, so I have no idea how this effect was created, but I definitely enjoyed it. This piece was very simple when it came to the elements required to create the actual finished product, but the mood that was produced as a result was intense. I felt as if I had been transported back into my childhood while being trapped between a state of consciousness and sleep. It was a very interesting and bizarre experience.

If you get a chance, check this exhibit out. Dreams runs until May 11, 2008. It really is an extraordinary experience.

 

UNCOVERED...

I am reviewing Uncovered by Thomas Allen. It is a book of photography that I came across on the Internet. It is very interesting work. His work is very unconventional. He takes figures from the covers of old pulp paperbacks, cuts them out and then creates a scene around them. The figures take on a three-dimensional look when placed into the wonderful moments created by Allen. 

The photos have a vintage feel, like something out of the 1950s or 60s. The images are kitschy, and some remind me of old pin-up girls and comic book pictures.Allen combines the figures with interesting everyday objects. His lighting in each scene is impeccable, making the flat figures appear to be coming to life. His use of shadows only increases the believability that these figures are not flat. 

Most of his photographs utilize shallow depth of field which works to his advantage. The scenes he creates are not to be taken too seriously. They are light-hearted and witty. 

Allen is inspired by a long affair with pop-up books and a fascination with the View-Master Stereoscopic toy from his youth. The scenes he creates are generally muted colors with the figures being the main pop of bright color. This definitely draws your eye immediately to the focal point of each piece. 

Overall, I very much enjoyed looking at Thomas Allen's work. I find it refreshing and innovative. Its always fun to create something new out of something old.

Addressable Memory

Addressable Memory, by Michael Takeo Magruder, is an exhibit portraying the landscape of the digital world using it’s own instruments. Magruder installation deals with the mash-up and composing of video feeds, mobile phones, video screens, news feeds, computer image processing and virtual reality. He blows up the images until they are pigmented and pixilated in order to really examine our connection and dependence on these tools.

The project consists of three rooms. The first room has large-scale prints and projections of pixilated video and camera phone images. Words are blown out and the images are severely abstracted. The color is divided into grids. Even the placards are made from small video screens. This is a nice effect. The images themselves are quite pleasing. Some are still recognizable, yet others have taken on a completely different persona.

The middle room has generative art prints that are created by software that produces compositions from “reprocessed digital imagery.” This room represents the meshing of sound and image, a “microcosm of both social and media networks.”

The third room is only lit by projections and screens that remix the audio and visual imagery that represent the mass media. The media “re-maps” the facts accordingly, and in this piece Magruder turns the attention back onto the media. Addressable Memory is an interesting look into how the average person relies on digital technology. It is rare that you will find someone that does not own or use a cell phone, computer or other digitally based technology daily.

In many ways, these devices keep us connected; yet Magruder exposes the disconnections that make up these forms of communication. Addressable Memory “re-presents the representations of the personal and institutional products of this machinery in a more contemplative and more contextualizing way, intensifying the use of technology to the point where the presence of that of that pervasive technology is again visible but the content and operation of that technology is defamiliarised and contemplatable.”

too bad he got reelected...

Check out the journey...

video.html

I am reviewing the Bikes against Bush Campaign that occurred live, during the Republican National Convention, in NYC during 2004. The protest was interactive. The participants used wireless Internet enabled bicycles that were rigged with custom-printing devices. The messages were printed with water-soluble chalk on the sidewalks of the city as the volunteers rode their bicycles. The chalk naturally  away within fifteen days, so it should not be considered graffiti. The text messages came in live, via the net, and each rider had the final choice of what which would be used in the project. No profanity or obscene language was used in any of these. There was only one “printing” bike, but other cyclists rode in support.

Apparently the creator/activist, Joshua Kinberg, was under surveillance during the protest. He was later charged and spent five months in court. The case was eventually dismissed around the time that George W. Bush was being inaugurated for his second term. It was a bittersweet victory for Kinberg.

I think this is a very provocative way to protest one’s political views. Since the messages were printed all over the sidewalks, it is inevitable that thousands of people will read them on their respective journeys. The messages plant the seed that get the average joe thinking about the issues important in any upcoming election. Hopefully, this will stem valuable conversations and debates between people from all parties. This was a very socially conscious protest aimed at encouraging people to look into the reasons why Bush is not fit to run this country. I bet it was a lot of fun to do too.

DISTANCE by Tina LaPorta

I am writing about an online art experience I found on turbulence.org.

It was called Distance: Disconnecting…

The series consisted of snapshots of the Tina La Porta's online communication. Text accompanied the images leading the viewer on a voyeuristic journey of the exploration of communication. This piece was interesting to me because we are doing a project in class that deals with the same topic. While the artist’s images seemed a bit outdated and uninviting, I think the concept works. The work investigates the “disembodied and dislocated nature of on-line communication”. To me, the disconnect between technology and people is getting wider every day. While the Internet is very instrumental in bringing people together, this work shows the loneliness one can feel when “connected”. Because the Internet is so readily available to most people, the opportunity to connect with others all over the world is virtually endless. When one is chatting online with another you are completely dependant on the other’s response for gratification. If they sign off before you are finished expressing yourself, you might feel a bit disappointed. There is also a sense of anonymity when on is communicating via the net. In some cases, individuals are only identifiable by codenames, outdated photos and so forth. La Porta distorts and pixilated some of her images to express this “disconnected” feeling. 

The online piece required the viewer to click through all the images. I think the artist utilized this instead of a streaming video in order to drive home the meaning behind the entire experience. I felt slightly disconnected from the entire piece. The images made me feel as I was a voyeur. This is a nice effect that La Porta captured through her work.