Reinventing the wheel or What it is.
Essentially, this a projector. There were two motivations that inspired this project into reality. An interest in anamorphic shadow imaging( an exploration of the transition from 3d to 2d perspective) and a strong desire to challenge our ability to creatively harness technology (an exploration of our capabilities). These emerged from our current missions on our artistic Journey. Namely, the re-designation of material (an exploration of functionality) and beauty at every step (an exploration in aesthetics). Perhaps most importantly, this project is also a thank you/goodbye gift honoring the amazing humans we discovered in Firenze. The details of the mechanism itself are meant to be interesting yet comprehensible so we will leave the details for the sculpture itself to express.
Unforseen wonders or what It means to us.
To us the most fantastic thing about art it's inherent relationship with discovery. To make something new, something different, one must explore. An explorer must either dream up a destination, and pursue it, or actively throw himself into the unknown, keeping his eyes and mind open while hoping for the best. The same can be said of the artist.
Roald Amundsen, a Norwegian, was the first man to reach the south pole and perhaps the last great explorer of the earth. While the frontiers of the earth's crust were disappearing (there is a cycle here perhaps) new frontiers were appearing. These frontiers were championed by the new explorers of the day. Scientists and engineers were exploring the possibilities of physical material and phenomenon, while artists and authors, as they have always done, explored the meaning of a life defined by the emerging frontiers of their day.
At Nearly at the same time that Roald Amundsen planted his flag upon the magnetic south pole, the projector, as we know it, was being shown, for the first time, to a group of investors in small office building in West London by Edward Muybridge. The projector shown that day represented, amongst many other things, the first step into a new frontier. The world of moving pictures. The projector, employing a strange dance between light and shadow, technology and art, would capture the minds, hearts and wallets of the men in that room and it would go on to capture many, many more beyond.
As a society we have funded massive explorations into the world of moving pictures and, as a result, it has taken center seat as our storyteller. The modern moving picture involves so very many tricks and so very much technology that while there is few people in the industrial world that have not been affected by this phenomenon of an invention there is even fewer (arguably no single person) who have an understanding of the magic involved.
We set out to explore this ubiquitous yet mysterious world, not with aspirations of a complete understanding, but as curious artists intrigued by the idea of an adventure into a well known unknown. We simply wanted to explore this invention in order to discover something and although an exploration does not necessarily entail discovery, it is, perhaps, the most likely activity to produce one.
The Ballad of the Bloos
While struggling to decide how to best use the limited number frames we found ourselves looping back around to ourselves. The bloo immediately struck us as the right shape for our avatar and with some work we found a way to fit the other parts of ourselves onto the plexiglass. We even found a place for our beloved sidekick, obama.
