this week's meditations on art & science practices = the artists Jean Painleve, Leslie Thornton, and Natalie Jeremijenko
Read this article on Painleve called Fluid Mechanics , by Ralph Rugoff from Science is Fiction
see Leslie Thornton's work on Ubuweb
and Natalie Jeremijenko on TED.com
and please share your thoughts!
While Jeremijenko's ideas are aimed at an audience that is uncertain what significant changes they can make in our world. Some of these ideas are plausible, like the curbside gardens that remove toxins from street water, and some are more complex, like using solar powered heating in buildings. Her research ideas that include building texting rods for fish and ferris wheels for pidgins are not scientific in the sense that there is an expected result, but exploratory. What I got from her presentation was that people need to start understanding that "nature" isn't something you drive out of town to, it's the world we inhabit. Thornton's video was hard to decipher; all I really got was that she thought certain images were very enthralling. Rugoff's analysis of Painleve's films was actually very insightful; at one point he speculated that the uncanny tones of the films were derived from Painleve's close ups of micro-organisms which, since they function involuntarily and irrationally, caused us as viewers to doubt or disbelieve the playful motivations suggested in Painleve's narration.
ReplyDeleteI can see Rugoff's explanation of the uncanny in Painleve's films. I do feel that it's a stretch sometimes though. To take something familiar and make it unfamiliar is not the same as personifying an animal. I do think, however, that taking a human and looking at him differently evokes the uncanny. That reminded me of the cell lab we did. Seeing ourselves in such a different way, so unfamiliar, is pretty uncanny... I think that even came up in a class discussion after the lab. So cool.
ReplyDeleteIt is so funny to me how Painleve's films seem to humanize the creatures that are viewed.We are meant to identify with these creatures as well as be horrified, which is an odd combination of feelings. Painleve's narrations/scripts are one of my favorite aspects. I completely agree with what Rugoff says about the wittiness of the dialogue, I think it is both comedic and incredibly informative. Rugoff mentioned in his article how Painleve "mixes up our categories of human and animal." An example he provided that I found interesting was burlesque. The costumes that burlesque dancers wear transforms them into something fantastical. Rugoff noted that this aspect completely takes the viewers away from the physical form of the dancer. This is were he compares humans to animals(mating plumes, extraordinary colors) and shows one of Painleve's most used themes: dance.
ReplyDeleteI agree with what Michelle said about the cell lab from class. It is really intriguing to think that we are comprised of multiple cells. I love how we can see them up close!
Painleve's films have style. The narration has a comical yet intellectual and educational quality. These are curious films because though they have the scientific footage and approach, he takes the liberty of making suggestions about his subjects. The underwater footage certainly gives a flowing, dancing spectacle within the imagery. It seems as though he liked to play with the ideas of myth and fantasy. His films have a documentation aspect that is searching for rare information on nature. The narration helps give personality to the images.
ReplyDeleteAlso, Ubuweb has possibilities of rare footage. I am very interested in archives such as this. This concept of collecting these artists work here makes it exclusive to those who are aware of the website. I found some of the work more interesting while playing the radio as the audio and seeing how the images timed to the kgnu soundtrack.
www.kgnu.org