Photography Black&White

I have posted my final Assignment for photography black & white. Although it appears to be edited in PhotoShop, it is not. I used dark room manipulation to create this effect. 

Map for Audio Walk

Here is a map of the rout we will be takeing for our Audio Walk

Idea for Audio Walk

For our audio walk we wanted portray a person who feels they are losing there mind but in really they are learning they are dead and experiencing the supernatural effects of their afterlife.

We want our walk to be confusing and lead the listener to believe it is just the mixed thoughts of a schizophrenic then in the end it will be clear that they were experiencing something supernatural.

Our goal is to make the walk captivating, and create an emotional response from our listener.    

Audio Walk Group Members

These are my group members for the audio walk. Check out their blogs for photos and additional information and research.

Franchesca http://vintagge.wordpress.com/

Cassandra http://csteiner88.blogspot.com/

Research for Audio Walk.

Audio Walks & Sound Art:
My group decided it would be a good idea to research audio walks as I have never experianced one prior to this assignment. We want to explore different concepts and techniques to help us come up with an original idea for our assignment.

 

Janet Cardiff

Janet Cardiff is an artist known for her unique audio walks. Her walks are described as art which blurs the line of fiction and reality. After hearing her name in lecture I took it upon myself to research her works. One that stood out to be is called Killing Machine. What I found intriguing about this walk is how the sounds evoked fear within me. This walk was particularly interesting; I would love to create this kind of response with my listeners when they experience my group's walk.

Here is a link to the walk> Killing Machine

Laurie Anderson.

I also felt it was important to explore other artists who experiment with sound. One of my favours is Laurie Anderson. Laurie Anderson is most famous as a performance artist. One of my favourite works by her is O Superman. What I find interesting about this work is how Anderson breaks the boundaries of music by incorporating narrative, and miscellaneous sounds. I think it would be interesting to remix the Audio walk as Anderson does in O Superman. What’s unusual about this work is how a story is told through conversation. In songs emotions are discussed and sung about; Laurie uses music overlapping narrative conversation to tell the audience what the protagonist is feeling. I enjoy this because the listener is not being told how to feel they can listen to the sounds and have there own emotional response to the music.

Here is the video for O Superman.> Laurie Anderson, O Superman
 

Mood Music

I have been researching to see if there are sounds that trigger emotions to make our audio walk more dynamic and interesting. I have come across and website which has a article about a group of scientists who are working along side musicians to create mood music; music which triggers emotional responses from the brain. Click Here to view article> Mood Music 

I find this useful for our walk as it talks about mixing sounds into music to capture an emotional response from the listener. The article mentions how sounds like nails on a chalkboard can make the listener feel uneasy. The scientists have created a cd “Horowitz and Massey have made a CD called "Neuropop." The first track is designed to help people concentrate and starts out with a sound affect that helps the left and right hemispheres of the brain synchronize" I want to explore the effects of adding a NeuroPop into the Audio walk. I believe that mixing the soundtrack into the appropriate areas of the walk can enhance the experience for the listener participating. 

Here is a link to listen to a sample of the music> NeuroPop

Schizophrenia

Since the Audio walk will be "portraying" a schizophrenic person I believe that it is important to research the symptoms of the mental illness. I also think it is important to be sensitive to those who might suffer from the disease so that we are not to offend them.  

I have found interesting facts about schizophrenia on the National Center for Biotechnology Information website. The Website lists a number of symptoms that will be useful for the Audio Walk. 

Here is a list of symptoms I believe will be useful for the audio walk (symptoms very depending on the individual): 

• Thoughts "jump" between unrelated topics (disordered thinking)
• Paranoid types often feel anxious, are more often angry or argumentative, and falsely believe that others are trying to harm them or their loved ones.
• Disorganized types have problems thinking and expressing their ideas clearly, often exhibit childlike behaviour, and frequently show little emotion.
• Catatonic types may be in a constant state of unrest, or they may not move or be underachieve. Their muscles and posture may be rigid. They may grimace or have other odd facial expressions, and they may be less responsive to others.

Here is the link to the article> http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmedhealth/PMH0001925/

Bodies in Code

Hansen's Bodies in Code considers and addresses two questions, "what is your relationship with the body?" and "what is your relationship with technology?"

Right now in our time man is consumed by the growth and understanding of technology. Along with this fascination we are also learning more about our body’s biological and spiritual structure. My belief is that my relationship with both my body and technology is consistently growing and even overlapping.

Because the body and technology are completely different components there are always opinions associated with the dangers technology imposes on the body. There are many questions as to where technology may lead us in the future. Many fear the growth of technology and see it as a threat to mankind, potentially replacing human bodies. Others like myself embrace the growth of technology and understand how it benefits the body.  I view technology as an tool for the body, which extends its features and abilities. An example of this is in the article; Hansen writes about a blind man using a walking stick to guide him. The stick replaces sight allowing the man to feel his surroundings. The man may rely on the stick as it is a useful tool, and the stick thus it becomes an extension of his body.  

My Sketches.

Here are some of my sketches. It's unfortunate but the scanner cropped most of them. Enjoy anyways! 

The three drawings below are thunbnails from a seires of twelve drawings. They are all less then 2" by 3"