Archive for the ‘Pictures’ Category
“showing” party
Monday, November 2nd, 2009setting up for informal showing
Friday, October 23rd, 2009Michael working on Rope&Pulley, etc, etc, etc!
Heavy lifting
Thursday, October 22nd, 2009
details
Friday, October 2nd, 2009A typical email exchange:
On Fri, Oct 2, 2009 at 11:07 AM, Wendy Richmond <wendy@wendyrichmond.com> wrote:
Hi Michael
Yesterday was v helpful. I am reflecting!
Quick Q:
Was it hard to make those stand-alone stands for the digital frames? I think it wd be a good way to have a bunch of frames around the room for our showing, so I am thinking about buying some cheap lamps– approx 6 of them. ( we already have 2 that you made)
If it is easier, we could avoid having the cord run thru the pole.
What do you think?
W
MC reply:
They are not so hard to make… I’ve attached a picture of the parts… It is easier to not run the cord through the pole. Gaffer’s tape on the back will keep things in check.
Michael
Governor’s Island, Anthony McCall
Sunday, September 20th, 2009A beautiful projection installation in the chapel on Governor’s Island, by Anthony McCall.
Sound Inspirations
Thursday, August 20th, 2009
Act I – The HighLine
My father and sister came to visit this week and we spent a bit of time out and about in New York City. One of the places we visited was the HighLine – a recently opened park utilizing elevated space along the west side of Manhattan that was formerly a railway freight line. As we walked through one of the more “designed” areas of the park (pictured above) which passes through a building, I heard something which got me thinking about acoustics in a space. At certain spots in the space, I could hear music playing and in others, I simply heard the background. There were also spots where I could hear conversations around me more clearly. This got me thinking about the role of “obstructions” and surfaces in the context of this installation work.
This idea seems to resonate somewhat with Wendy’s last post about focusing sound.
What if the space had features which reflected the sound so it could be focused in different ways?
Act II – Moveable Type
I also revisited the “Moveable Type” installation at The New York Times building on 42nd St and found myself much more focused on the sound of this installation. In addition to the ambient sound design that accompanies the transitions between the scenes in the work, it seems to me that each of the 560 vacuum-fluorescent display modules also contains a speaker. This has the effect of providing localization to some of the specific transition sounds. I have a hard time imagining the installation without these sounds. While they are almost akin to “sound effects”, they seem to me to add impact to the visual transitions in a way that just feels right. The little clicks and zaps add dimension and context (perhaps through subtle sonic editorializing) to the information that is displayed. Without these sounds, the quantity of text is overwhelming.
I’m also thinking about the connection between the movement of the text and the way the sound reinforces the visual effect of that movement. They’re bound tightly together.
Act III – Fashioning Felt
The Cooper-Hewitt Museum’s Fashioning Felt exhibition gave me an opposite experience from the one I had while walking through the HighLine. Several of the works in the exhibition were acoustical panels made from industrial felt. I wasn’t aware of felt’s sound absorbing properties. Seeing (and hearing) how much the Diller Scofidio + Renfro designed conference room wall divider (a sandwich of clear polycarbonate between two patterened sheets of waterjet cut industrial felt) absorbed sound make me think of how this sort of material could be used to control the acoustic space of our installation.
My father and sister came to visit this week and we spent a bit of time out and about in New York City. One of the places we visited was the HighLine – a recently opened park utilizing elevated space along the west side of Manhattan that was formerly a railway freight line. As we walked through one of the more “designed” areas of the park (pictured above) which passes through a building, I heard something which got me thinking about acoustics in a space. At certain spots in the space, I could hear music playing and in others, I simply heard the background. There were also spots where I could hear conversations around me more clearly. This got me thinking about the role of “obstructions” and surfaces in the context of this installation work.
This idea seems to resonate somewhat with Wendy’s last post about focusing sound.
What if the space had features which reflected the sound so it could be focused in different ways?
Act II – Moveable Type
I also revisited the “Moveable Type” installation at The New York Times building on 42nd St and found myself much more focused on the sound of this installation. In addition to the ambient sound design that accompanies the transitions between the scenes in the work, it seems to me that each of the 560 vacuum-fluorescent display modules also contains a speaker. This has the effect of providing localization to some of the specific transition sounds. I have a hard time imagining the installation without these sounds. While they are almost akin to “sound effects”, they seem to me to add impact to the visual transitions in a way that just feels right. The little clicks and zaps add dimension and context (perhaps through subtle sonic editorializing) to the information that is displayed. Without these sounds, the quantity of text is overwhelming.
I’m also thinking about the connection between the movement of the text and the way the sound reinforces the visual effect of that movement. They’re bound tightly together.
Act III – Fashioning Felt
The Cooper-Hewitt Museum’s Fashioning Felt exhibition gave me an opposite experience from the one I had while walking through the HighLine. Several of the works in the exhibition were acoustical panels made from industrial felt. I wasn’t aware of felt’s sound absorbing properties. Seeing (and hearing) how much the Diller Scofidio + Renfro designed conference room wall divider (a sandwich of clear polycarbonate between two patterened sheets of waterjet cut industrial felt) absorbed sound make me think of how this sort of material could be used to control the acoustic space of our installation. working
Thursday, August 13th, 2009
Laptops are the main tool for now.
Morgan Library exhibit
Thursday, July 30th, 2009from “Creating the Modern Stage”
Alexandra Exter, Construction for a Tragedy ca. 1925
remember bill viola
Sunday, July 12th, 2009
for NYT
Thursday, March 26th, 2009
early sketches for New York Times CIty Visible