|
"Phobics"
|
Critique Reflection
For my piece, I have two basic ideas down, and it should be mainly focused around the Furby that I dismantled. One is inspired by Object by Meret Oppenheim, where I am considering using the outer fake fur fabric and covering an object with it in the similar fashion. My other basic idea involves taking the pieces from the mechanical part of the Furby and reusing them to make a new form. However, right now I’m unsure of what to do because there is a screw that seems to be glued in place and can’t be removed. Without looking at the parts and studying them, I can’t make a decision on what to do. Therefore, for the time being I’m assuming that I’ll be using the fur instead.
In the critique, we discussed the themes of the piece. The reason I took it apart is because:
While we talked about my ideas, we discussed some options I may have with this piece. I could take it in a direction focused around toys in a general sense and using them in an unusual way that can cause discomfort. I could use two other robotic animal toys that I own in conjunction with the Furby. We even talked about possibly parodying the idea of trophy animals, making a “fur rug” with the fur, or removing the heads of the other toys and mounting them like a deer head. In general, the critique did not reinforce what I was already doing, but inspired new ideas that I could also use. However, right now everything is a bit up in the air until I can be completely certain of what I want to do and what direction I want to take it in.
In the critique, we discussed the themes of the piece. The reason I took it apart is because:
- Furbies on their own make many people uncomfortable
- Taking it apart and viewing the individual parts makes people uncomfortable
- I wanted to do something I hadn’t done before.
While we talked about my ideas, we discussed some options I may have with this piece. I could take it in a direction focused around toys in a general sense and using them in an unusual way that can cause discomfort. I could use two other robotic animal toys that I own in conjunction with the Furby. We even talked about possibly parodying the idea of trophy animals, making a “fur rug” with the fur, or removing the heads of the other toys and mounting them like a deer head. In general, the critique did not reinforce what I was already doing, but inspired new ideas that I could also use. However, right now everything is a bit up in the air until I can be completely certain of what I want to do and what direction I want to take it in.
Inspiration & Research
This piece inspired by MMPI (Self Portrait in Yellow) by Tony Oursler with both direct connections in use of a projector and strange audio, and thematic connections. His piece is creepy and unnerving, creating what some call "psychological tension". With mine, I hope to create a similar feeling. MMPI is not only creepy because it is a doll with a projected face pinned under a chair, but also because the face talks. The projection is of the artist answering questions from the MMPI, the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory, which is a test for mental disorders that was used in the 1950's. He answers these questions, but no one there asks him the questions, making it even more unnerving if you aren't aware of what is going on. He's also answering these questions with a relatively stoic face and in a very flat, monotone voice, as if with no emotion. The whole piece is not only creepy, but it comments on mental health, and how it can affect people.
Planning
The first three planning sketches are for an idea that I didn't use for this project, inspired by Meret Oppenheim's "Luncheon in Fur". For this project, I for sure wanted to do something uncomfortable or unnerving. At first for this project, I planned to hide the mechanics of the Furby, only showing the face. However I realized it would be relatively difficult to put together something like it. I wanted to basically set up an "installation" inside of a box, and create what would essentially be a hidden compartment inside of a cardboard box. I also planned to make use of the speaker that came with the Furby, which never happened. At this point I also wasn't aware that I should re-purpose the power supply to the Furby, planning to use a 9V battery. This would've been bad because the entire Furby as a whole used only 6 volts, so the parts would've gone much too quickly.
Process
My grandpa helped me assemble the parts and create a machine that essentially just runs the motor continuously. Before taking it apart, the Furby itself didn't work, so the first thing he did was put batteries into the power supply and test that the power even went through the toy to begin with. It did, so next we looked for the cord that powers the motor. It was a plug that took two pins, handling the two currents.
We stuck two sewing pins into the plug, then clamped on two cords, one to each pin. Then those cords were clamped onto the contacts on the power supply. This caused the mouth to move, and the eyes to blink continuously, just the way I wanted. However, the eyes didn't blink satisfyingly, and I tried to affix the face part closer to the part that makes them move, but nothing worked. This is when we placed a part I call the "face mask", back on. This allowed for the right amount of tension on the face to make the eyes blink completely. My grandpa added some wire to the side of it and wrapped it around to make it stay there. Next, I needed the machinery to be relatively self contained. We decided that the best course would be to create a cord that just connected from the power supply to the motor in the same way. He took a plug that was also two pins from a set of mini lights, and cut the plug off. He took another set of two cords, stripped the ends, and soldered them together, then slipping a heat shrink tube over the cords and shrinking them to make the cord more sturdy. Then he soldered the other ends of the cords to the contacts on the power supply. Now there is a cord running from the power supply that plugs into the cord running from the motor, causing the Furby motor to run continuously. The next big part was putting together the installation components. The first thing I did was record the audio for the projected video. I took a list of common fears and listed them off with the phobia name and the definition. I used a program called Audacity to record and edit the audio, and I used a compression effect on the audio to make it sound more flat and have a more consistent volume. Next was creating the visual. For the visual, I used a picture I took of the sunset coming around my neighbor's house with my instant camera because I liked the general colors in the image. Then I put the picture into an app that creates a kaleidoscope of any image you put in, then will automatically animate the kaleidoscope. I recorded the animation using a screen recorder on my phone, then moved it to my computer to compile the whole visual. To edit the video, I used a free program called Lightworks. First, the video recorded oddly with black bars on the top, so I used the DVE function to zoom it in and make the video take up the whole screen. Next, I cut off the beginning and the end to remove the notifications that came up to tell me I was recording, and cut it shorter to be the same length as my audio. Last, I removed the audio track that recorded in the video and replaced it with my recording of my voice. I exported the file to an MP4. Last was putting the actual piece together. I put the Furby mechanics on a table next to a wall in my basement. Then I put up my projector, which was plugged into my computer, on the table and projected my visual over the mechanics. I recorded the video at the top of the page. |
Experimentation
When putting the visual together, one of the harder parts for me was recording the audio and making it sound the way I wanted. First was the eternal struggle to find a place to record, so I had to experiment with different spots in my house. At first, I tried my bathroom because there was nothing in there that continuously made noise, unlike the fridge in the kitchen and the fishtank in my livingroom. However, it proved to not work well once the heat kicked in and I was in a 24 square foot room with a microphone that was intentionally built to pick up noise in all directions. That led me the pantry, another small room that had no vents. It was far enough from the fridge to not pick up that noise too. This was also not great though once other people went upstairs and started walking around, talking, and watching TV. Now the entire ground floor was out. I was led to the basement, which was great for ten minutes until the neighbor's garage band started playing, and they practice in their basement until around midnight. Now was went I really had to experiment, because there was not a single place in the house that was terribly ideal for recording cold, unnerving audio. I pulled out a large comforter blanket and a mattress pad and took some test clips. Miraculously, I could record and the audio was mostly just my voice and occasional mic knocks.
The other instance of experimentation in this piece was in choosing what kaleidoscope effect I wanted. Basically, the app works by taking an image you give it, cuts it up, and it makes the kaleidoscope patterns. I had a few ideas for what I wanted to feed into the generator and use in the visual. One was an illustration I made of space that I also used in my first piece, my digital collage. I felt like it would connect the two well. However, I realized that the parts of it I covered up when I used it as the background were covered for a reason, because some parts were kind of ugly, and the ugly parts were highlighted in the effect. I also tried using a picture of the Furby skeleton itself, but the colors that it produced weren't particularly interesting.
The other instance of experimentation in this piece was in choosing what kaleidoscope effect I wanted. Basically, the app works by taking an image you give it, cuts it up, and it makes the kaleidoscope patterns. I had a few ideas for what I wanted to feed into the generator and use in the visual. One was an illustration I made of space that I also used in my first piece, my digital collage. I felt like it would connect the two well. However, I realized that the parts of it I covered up when I used it as the background were covered for a reason, because some parts were kind of ugly, and the ugly parts were highlighted in the effect. I also tried using a picture of the Furby skeleton itself, but the colors that it produced weren't particularly interesting.
Reflection
I'm relatively happy with the result of this piece. It's a decent bit different from my original idea, mostly because of how relatively misguided and unrealistic they were. Sure, having a plastic face blinking and moving on a "wall" would've been unsettling, but putting all of that behind cardboard isn't exactly a realistic endeavor. Plus, being able to see all of the machinery and parts working on it is also relatively unsettling in itself. I'm personally unsure of how successful it is at being an uncomfortable thing as I would like, considering that I've spent weeks thinking about it and building it and planning it out. I keep comparing the feeling I get while seeing it to the way I felt when I first saw my inspiration, however I was extremely young and wasn't prepared to be witnessing such a thing at the time, so feeling quite as unnerved isn't something that would happen to myself personally. Overall though, I feel like my piece can be considered successful just because of the concept itself.
In "MMPI (Self Portrait in Yellow", there is a lot of elements theme-wise and construction-wise that is related to my piece. First, there's an involvement of mental illness in both. The MMPI referenced in the title of Oursler's piece is used to test people for different mental illnesses and specifically, personality disorders. My piece lists off different phobias, and phobias are considered mental illnesses by the DSM, listed as a type of anxiety disorder. Anyone can have a severe phobia, and it can feel similar to a severe discomfort for some. My piece's goal was to be uncomfortable and unnerving the same way that "MMPI" makes me feel. My piece also includes an element of multimedia, where there is a projected video with audio to go with it. Both pieces are also considered installations.
In "MMPI (Self Portrait in Yellow", there is a lot of elements theme-wise and construction-wise that is related to my piece. First, there's an involvement of mental illness in both. The MMPI referenced in the title of Oursler's piece is used to test people for different mental illnesses and specifically, personality disorders. My piece lists off different phobias, and phobias are considered mental illnesses by the DSM, listed as a type of anxiety disorder. Anyone can have a severe phobia, and it can feel similar to a severe discomfort for some. My piece's goal was to be uncomfortable and unnerving the same way that "MMPI" makes me feel. My piece also includes an element of multimedia, where there is a projected video with audio to go with it. Both pieces are also considered installations.
ACT Responses
1. Clearly explain how you are able to identify the cause-effect relationships between your inspiration and its effect on upon your artwork.
My piece was intended to make other people feel the same way that Oursler's piece made me feel when I first saw it, being unnerving and creepy, but not scary in a horror sense.
2. What is the overall approach (point of view) the author (from your research) has regarding the topic of your inspiration?
"MMPI" is a very strange piece, and it makes many uncomfortable, but a lot of people still like it despite that.
3. What kind of generalizations and conclusions have you discovered about people, ideas, cultures, etc while you researched your inspiration?
People are attracted to things that are strange despite the negative ways it may make them feel.
4. What was the central idea or theme around your inspirational research?
How does his piece make people uncomfortable, and why?
5. What kind of inferences (conclusions reached on the basis of evidence and reasoning) did you make while reading your research?
People love his piece simply because it is bizarre and unusual.
My piece was intended to make other people feel the same way that Oursler's piece made me feel when I first saw it, being unnerving and creepy, but not scary in a horror sense.
2. What is the overall approach (point of view) the author (from your research) has regarding the topic of your inspiration?
"MMPI" is a very strange piece, and it makes many uncomfortable, but a lot of people still like it despite that.
3. What kind of generalizations and conclusions have you discovered about people, ideas, cultures, etc while you researched your inspiration?
People are attracted to things that are strange despite the negative ways it may make them feel.
4. What was the central idea or theme around your inspirational research?
How does his piece make people uncomfortable, and why?
5. What kind of inferences (conclusions reached on the basis of evidence and reasoning) did you make while reading your research?
People love his piece simply because it is bizarre and unusual.
Sources
http://collection.mam.org/details.php?id=7903
http://www.fearof.net/
http://www.fearof.net/