Project Proposal 04/04/05
Project Proposal
Working Title: Dance!
Dance:
Perform or participate in a specified dance.
Leap or skip, especially in an emotional manner.
Make somebody dance or lead somebody in a dance.
Talk misleadingly so as to avoid facing an issue squarely.
Get to a particular state by dancing.
Aims
The aim of my project is to create multi media installations exploring the contrast between hard edged political/geographical territory and personal territory.
This work should be:
• Clear and confident in its form
• An engaging self contained environment
• Well marketed
• The start of a growing body of work developed around specific core issues
Objectives
• Access relevant Film, Video and sound archives
• Learn how to use new software for final work: Motion, Soundtrack, Max/MSP (if relevant)
• Learn how to use new software for web site creation and webcasting
Dreamweaver, Flash, etc
• Find more efficient techniques for repetitive tasks when extracting frames from video/film footage
Rationale
From growing up in Northern Ireland I have always been acutely aware of political and personal landscape and territory, and of the fixed, polarised positions people tend to publicly adopt within areas of conflict. I wish to explore experienced and perceived personal territories within such areas - territories which are not fixed, and which can transcend geographical and/or national borders.
I am interested in how people position themselves and cope, within geographical areas deeply affected by conflict, and within their own emotional landscapes.
I wish to look at the influence technology has on the way we perceive and map the physical and personal landscape that we position ourselves within.
I am also interested in the relationship between older forms of media, relatively fixed within their physical structure, and new media, easily transformable into different incarnations due to the fact that it exists within the digital realm. I find the link between this idea and the idea of fixed national territory and unfixed personal territory interesting.
I want to work with film and video archives, extracting human figures from the footage, and placing them within neutral spaces on a screen, mixing
figures from different times and spaces. Removing their actions from the
context in which they happened, allowing the figures to perform a kind of
melancholic dance. The figure will also be thrown out of focus just enough to avoid a more instant catagorisation by the viewer, making each figure relate to a universal shared experience. Using footage from conflict zones (initially from N.Ireland), but extracting the specifics of the location, to suggest a more universal experience of people caught up within conflict and changing territories, touching on their dislocation, loss, willpower, strength.
This work will be like a kind of dance, with a soundtrack also constructed from archived material and newly recorded material, mainly voice and often abstracted. The sound will act as a kind of lens with an ebb and flow of focus, adding focus at points, hinting at possible narratives, then receding back towards a more abstract soundscape, drifting, giving the viewer only brief lucid moments. I see this work conveying a sense of time slowing and an opening up of space, of being meditative.
Outcomes
• The ability to carry out effective and efficient research
• A greater understanding of individual’s ways of processing conflict experiences
• An expanded knowledge of motion effects, interactive and web design software
• A sustainable working practice and professional skills to allow my practice to develop successfully.
Media
I propose to utilise Video, film, sound and photography to create work that could exist as an installation and/or web based work.
I will be using Final Cut Pro, Photoshop, Protools, After Effects or Motion, and appropriate web technologies as I also want to explore live manipulation of video and sound within webcast situations and look at the potential behind video phones for dissemination of work.
I also want to look into Max/MSP software and, in particular, the Jitter video element in relation to possible interactive installation situations.
Methodologies
I am researching into the recent history of conflict in Northern Ireland and the effects this has on the population and how they process/avoid processing this experience (self repression?). I have particular interest in how a population copes and continues daily life under these conditions, and the mindset that a conflict can create within the population of that area. I will look more at Blogs created by people within this and similar (ex)conflict zone as a way to hear other voices.
I will also look briefly at the history of physical mapping up to the present and the forces, both geographical and social, that have driven its development. I will research how people’s idea of personal territory has been affected by technological advancements and economic changes, like live “as it unfolds” 24 hour news, the reduced price of travel, faster affordable portable communication (satellite phones), Global positioning systems (GPS) telling us our location from anywhere on the planet. All these advancements have effectively changed our perception of distance and location, but do they simply give us the illusion of knowing where we are.
Risk assessment
Installation hazards: Free hanging screens need secured properly and projectors need to be fixed down (theft) with wires/cables secured to prevent trip hazards. Signs warning people of low light levels should be located at entrance to installation. Adequate number of plug sockets in space to avoid overloading. If installation has light trap it should be large enough to allow wheelchair access and regress in case of fire.
Timetable
Nov/Dec 04:
Contact Film/Video archives to gain access to footage from key events that I want to work with. Continue research.
Jan/Feb 05:
Start to work with archive footage, extracting desired elements from frames Continue research.
Mar/Apr 05:
Continue research.
May/June 05:
Continue research.
July/Aug 05:
Possible interim show Korea/Greece + possible visits. Continue research.
Sept/Oct 05:
Possible interim show. Continue research.
Nov/Dec 05:
Continue research.
Jan/Feb 06:
Mar/Apr 06:
May/June 06:
July 06:
Completion of final MA work
Reference
BOOKS:
MANOVICH, L., 2OO1.The Language Of New Media. Cambridge,
Massachusetts/London, England: The MIT Press.
HARRIES, D. ed, 2002. The New Media Book. 2ND edition. London: The British Film Institute Publishing.
BROUWER , J., MULDER, A., CHARLTON, S., 2003. Information Is Alive (Art and Theory on Archiving and Retrieving Data). Netherlands: V2_Publishing/NAI Publishers.
MILLER, D., ed, 1998. Rethinking Northern Ireland (culture, Ideology and Colonialism). England: Addison Wesley Longman Limited.
PAX, S.,2003. The Bagdad Blog. London: Atlantic Books (on behalf of Guardian Newspapers Ltd).
McLUHAN, M., 1964. Understanding Media. United Kingdom: Routledge and Kegan Paul.
BARTHOLOMEW, J., 1957. Bartholomew’s Advanced Atlas Of Modern Geography. Edinburgh, Great Britain: The Geographical Institute.
Ordnance Survey of Northern Ireland, 2003. Discovery Series Maps, Sheets 4, 5, 9, 14, 15, 20, 21, 29. Belfast, Nortern Ireland: Ordnance Survey of Northern Ireland. *
Ordnance Survey Ireland, 1999. Discovery Series Maps, Sheets 1, 2, 3, 6 10, 11. Dublin, Ireland: Ordnance Survey Ireland. *
* (these maps cover the all of the Ulster coastline)
WEB SITES:
MELAUGH, M.,2004. Conflict Archive On The Internet (Northern Ireland) [online] Available from: http://cain.ulst.ac.uk/index.html [Accessed 20th September 2004]
INDYMEDIA. 2004. Indymedia UK is a network of individuals, independent and alternative media activists and organisations, offering grassroots, non-corporate, non-commercial coverage of important social and political issues. [online] Available at: http://www.indymedia.org.uk/en/ [Accessed 20th September 2004]
CHRISAFIS, C., 2004. Racist war of the loyalist street gangs. [online] Guardian Unlimited. Available from: http://www.guardian.co.uk/race/story/0,11374,1120113,00.html [Accessed 20th September 2004]
CENTRAL SURVEY UNIT. 2004. leading social survey research organisation in Northern Ireland. Part of the Northern Ireland Statistics and Research Agency (NISRA) [online] Available at: http://www.csu.nisra.gov.uk/ [Accessed 20th September 2004]
MOFFATT, J., 1996-98. UK Military Pollution. [online]. Manxman Review, Isle Of Man. Available from: http://www.manxman.co.im/cleague/archive/modenv5.html [Accessed 20th September 2004]
WEINTRAUB, R., 2002. NASA (National Aeronautics And Space Administration). Looking at earth:Satallite Imagery. Available from: http://www.nasa.gov/vision/earth/lookingatearth/index.html [Accessed 20th September 2004]
GLOBALSTAR. 2004. Product coverage information [online]. Available from:
http://www.globalstar.com/view_page.jsp?page=coverage [Accessed 20th September 2004]
ORDNANCE SURVEY OF NORTHERN IRELAND.2004. Ordnance survey services for Northern Ireland [online]. Available from: http://www.osni.gov.uk/homepageX.htm [Accessed 20th September 2004]
MHUR, Dr. K./McKAY, Dr, P. 200? Northern Ireland Place Name Project, Information about the project and its resources [online]. Queens University Belfast. Available from:
(still to be brought up to date)
Working Title: Dance!
Dance:
Perform or participate in a specified dance.
Leap or skip, especially in an emotional manner.
Make somebody dance or lead somebody in a dance.
Talk misleadingly so as to avoid facing an issue squarely.
Get to a particular state by dancing.
Aims
The aim of my project is to create multi media installations exploring the contrast between hard edged political/geographical territory and personal territory.
This work should be:
• Clear and confident in its form
• An engaging self contained environment
• Well marketed
• The start of a growing body of work developed around specific core issues
Objectives
• Access relevant Film, Video and sound archives
• Learn how to use new software for final work: Motion, Soundtrack, Max/MSP (if relevant)
• Learn how to use new software for web site creation and webcasting
Dreamweaver, Flash, etc
• Find more efficient techniques for repetitive tasks when extracting frames from video/film footage
Rationale
From growing up in Northern Ireland I have always been acutely aware of political and personal landscape and territory, and of the fixed, polarised positions people tend to publicly adopt within areas of conflict. I wish to explore experienced and perceived personal territories within such areas - territories which are not fixed, and which can transcend geographical and/or national borders.
I am interested in how people position themselves and cope, within geographical areas deeply affected by conflict, and within their own emotional landscapes.
I wish to look at the influence technology has on the way we perceive and map the physical and personal landscape that we position ourselves within.
I am also interested in the relationship between older forms of media, relatively fixed within their physical structure, and new media, easily transformable into different incarnations due to the fact that it exists within the digital realm. I find the link between this idea and the idea of fixed national territory and unfixed personal territory interesting.
I want to work with film and video archives, extracting human figures from the footage, and placing them within neutral spaces on a screen, mixing
figures from different times and spaces. Removing their actions from the
context in which they happened, allowing the figures to perform a kind of
melancholic dance. The figure will also be thrown out of focus just enough to avoid a more instant catagorisation by the viewer, making each figure relate to a universal shared experience. Using footage from conflict zones (initially from N.Ireland), but extracting the specifics of the location, to suggest a more universal experience of people caught up within conflict and changing territories, touching on their dislocation, loss, willpower, strength.
This work will be like a kind of dance, with a soundtrack also constructed from archived material and newly recorded material, mainly voice and often abstracted. The sound will act as a kind of lens with an ebb and flow of focus, adding focus at points, hinting at possible narratives, then receding back towards a more abstract soundscape, drifting, giving the viewer only brief lucid moments. I see this work conveying a sense of time slowing and an opening up of space, of being meditative.
Outcomes
• The ability to carry out effective and efficient research
• A greater understanding of individual’s ways of processing conflict experiences
• An expanded knowledge of motion effects, interactive and web design software
• A sustainable working practice and professional skills to allow my practice to develop successfully.
Media
I propose to utilise Video, film, sound and photography to create work that could exist as an installation and/or web based work.
I will be using Final Cut Pro, Photoshop, Protools, After Effects or Motion, and appropriate web technologies as I also want to explore live manipulation of video and sound within webcast situations and look at the potential behind video phones for dissemination of work.
I also want to look into Max/MSP software and, in particular, the Jitter video element in relation to possible interactive installation situations.
Methodologies
I am researching into the recent history of conflict in Northern Ireland and the effects this has on the population and how they process/avoid processing this experience (self repression?). I have particular interest in how a population copes and continues daily life under these conditions, and the mindset that a conflict can create within the population of that area. I will look more at Blogs created by people within this and similar (ex)conflict zone as a way to hear other voices.
I will also look briefly at the history of physical mapping up to the present and the forces, both geographical and social, that have driven its development. I will research how people’s idea of personal territory has been affected by technological advancements and economic changes, like live “as it unfolds” 24 hour news, the reduced price of travel, faster affordable portable communication (satellite phones), Global positioning systems (GPS) telling us our location from anywhere on the planet. All these advancements have effectively changed our perception of distance and location, but do they simply give us the illusion of knowing where we are.
Risk assessment
Installation hazards: Free hanging screens need secured properly and projectors need to be fixed down (theft) with wires/cables secured to prevent trip hazards. Signs warning people of low light levels should be located at entrance to installation. Adequate number of plug sockets in space to avoid overloading. If installation has light trap it should be large enough to allow wheelchair access and regress in case of fire.
Timetable
Nov/Dec 04:
Contact Film/Video archives to gain access to footage from key events that I want to work with. Continue research.
Jan/Feb 05:
Start to work with archive footage, extracting desired elements from frames Continue research.
Mar/Apr 05:
Continue research.
May/June 05:
Continue research.
July/Aug 05:
Possible interim show Korea/Greece + possible visits. Continue research.
Sept/Oct 05:
Possible interim show. Continue research.
Nov/Dec 05:
Continue research.
Jan/Feb 06:
Mar/Apr 06:
May/June 06:
July 06:
Completion of final MA work
Reference
BOOKS:
MANOVICH, L., 2OO1.The Language Of New Media. Cambridge,
Massachusetts/London, England: The MIT Press.
HARRIES, D. ed, 2002. The New Media Book. 2ND edition. London: The British Film Institute Publishing.
BROUWER , J., MULDER, A., CHARLTON, S., 2003. Information Is Alive (Art and Theory on Archiving and Retrieving Data). Netherlands: V2_Publishing/NAI Publishers.
MILLER, D., ed, 1998. Rethinking Northern Ireland (culture, Ideology and Colonialism). England: Addison Wesley Longman Limited.
PAX, S.,2003. The Bagdad Blog. London: Atlantic Books (on behalf of Guardian Newspapers Ltd).
McLUHAN, M., 1964. Understanding Media. United Kingdom: Routledge and Kegan Paul.
BARTHOLOMEW, J., 1957. Bartholomew’s Advanced Atlas Of Modern Geography. Edinburgh, Great Britain: The Geographical Institute.
Ordnance Survey of Northern Ireland, 2003. Discovery Series Maps, Sheets 4, 5, 9, 14, 15, 20, 21, 29. Belfast, Nortern Ireland: Ordnance Survey of Northern Ireland. *
Ordnance Survey Ireland, 1999. Discovery Series Maps, Sheets 1, 2, 3, 6 10, 11. Dublin, Ireland: Ordnance Survey Ireland. *
* (these maps cover the all of the Ulster coastline)
WEB SITES:
MELAUGH, M.,2004. Conflict Archive On The Internet (Northern Ireland) [online] Available from: http://cain.ulst.ac.uk/index.html [Accessed 20th September 2004]
INDYMEDIA. 2004. Indymedia UK is a network of individuals, independent and alternative media activists and organisations, offering grassroots, non-corporate, non-commercial coverage of important social and political issues. [online] Available at: http://www.indymedia.org.uk/en/ [Accessed 20th September 2004]
CHRISAFIS, C., 2004. Racist war of the loyalist street gangs. [online] Guardian Unlimited. Available from: http://www.guardian.co.uk/race/story/0,11374,1120113,00.html [Accessed 20th September 2004]
CENTRAL SURVEY UNIT. 2004. leading social survey research organisation in Northern Ireland. Part of the Northern Ireland Statistics and Research Agency (NISRA) [online] Available at: http://www.csu.nisra.gov.uk/ [Accessed 20th September 2004]
MOFFATT, J., 1996-98. UK Military Pollution. [online]. Manxman Review, Isle Of Man. Available from: http://www.manxman.co.im/cleague/archive/modenv5.html [Accessed 20th September 2004]
WEINTRAUB, R., 2002. NASA (National Aeronautics And Space Administration). Looking at earth:Satallite Imagery. Available from: http://www.nasa.gov/vision/earth/lookingatearth/index.html [Accessed 20th September 2004]
GLOBALSTAR. 2004. Product coverage information [online]. Available from:
http://www.globalstar.com/view_page.jsp?page=coverage [Accessed 20th September 2004]
ORDNANCE SURVEY OF NORTHERN IRELAND.2004. Ordnance survey services for Northern Ireland [online]. Available from: http://www.osni.gov.uk/homepageX.htm [Accessed 20th September 2004]
MHUR, Dr. K./McKAY, Dr, P. 200? Northern Ireland Place Name Project, Information about the project and its resources [online]. Queens University Belfast. Available from:
(still to be brought up to date)
posted by Phsteve at 8:07 PM
