Apologies, I’ve got really behind with this. I’ll have to update this in a few posts if I don’t want to leave anything out. (will add pics later). Now we have our studios, things have started to get busy.
Wednesday started with presentations from the peer advisors, Nina Czegledy, Willy LeMaître and Kate Rich. All very impressive. Nina and Willy’s work is very technology dependent and oriented – Nina works alot collaboratively with scientists and other artists on global digital projects that are very much on the ‘New Media’ circuit; Willy’s concerns are particularly vision and process oriented with modernist tendencies focussed on the question of appearance, so his work relies heavily on the processes of technology and its effects.
Kate’s work is less driven by technology itself and more conceptually oriented. Her work is socially and politically motivated and uses the tools of technology in the world around us to infiltrate social and cultural infrastructures and networks. I found her work the most interesting, particularly her love of sports as a ‘mechanism for survival in the cultural realm’ (her words). It was refreshing after seeing so much work that is heavily dependent on technology, to see her involvement in outside tree-climbing activities- where there is no use of technology at all! I’m with her there.
Following the presentations I made an appointment to see Robert, the technical line producer for the programme and the main point of contact for anything technical. I think he has a lot on his plate, trying to sort out everyone’s needs. Although there are other staff to liaise with for more specialist concerns, Robert seems to be the person who initially coordinates everything and tries to solve things in the first instance. I made an appointment to see him at 4pm, but because of having to answer to everyone’s needs, he didn’t get to me until after 5.
I am still no nearer to solving the live thing for my project and Robert admitted he also need to do more work/research on this. He asked if I could do a search on live Mac/streaming software (although I don’t really know what I’m looking for), and I also mentioned my concerns in relation to getting data from my GPS device so I can print out routes that I am running and track my progress in real time live.
Nina came by beforehand for a chat. Because she arrived late, she had not seen the artist presentations and wanted a sense of what people are doing. She was very encouraging about the live development of my project and was concerned about how it might be shown. I am quite clear that it should be made into some sort of event that is known about and that begins and ends at the centre (the New Media Institute), possibly outside. I am also clear that I will be working on some recorded runs in addition to the live output.
Started today with a swim before breakfast (my right shoulder is still painful, although better). The staff try to make themselves available between 9.30 and 10am each morning in case of any concerns. I had hoped to catch a technical person before 10 to get some advice, but when I got there at 9.45 people were setting up for the group mini- presentations that were starting at 10. These were 3minute slots where we were supposed to give a concentrated introduction to someone’s work that had informed or inspired our own.
I chose Harun Farocki’s ‘Deep Play’, that he showed at the last Documenta, mainly because of its focus on the construction and deconstruction of a live sporting event (a football match) and where in it you also have the tracking of the ball and game from each player’s point of view. Unfortunately, as it’s a 12 screen installation , it’s not an easy piece to show and I only had a fairly poor quality walk around clip from ‘You-Tube’. I kept wishing afterwards that I’d shown something else like Florian Slotowa’s ‘Museum Sprints’, which would have been much more straight-forward to show and more fun.
I came to the session in my running kit so that I could go out more or less straight afterwards on another run. This time I went out to Sundance Canyon via the Cave and Basin Trail and the Marsh Loop Trail. Great run- relatively flat through woodland and back through the marshes. The path looked like it is used a lot by cross-country skiers as there are tracks pretty much throughout. The snow is still quite deep in some areas, so it made the going quite slow. I came via the Bow Falls Trail but unfortunately access to the cliff-top and to the falls was closed due to the ice/snow. I had to cut back round to the bridge to find my way back to campus via the Bow River Trail on the other side of the river. Still, I managed just over 10 miles and it’s definitely a feasible run to record. Still struggling with my breathing though and had to stop briefly a few times. I hope I’ll be able to manage a non-stop run soon. I’d like to try some filming next week if I can.(Sorry no pics yet).
Scott, one of the other artists from the group, did an introductory session to ‘Second Life’ this evening. He is developing a project using Second Life and is part of a performance art group in Second Life called Second Front. It was a good introduction, but not one that makes me want to join up any more than I did before- I still prefer real life, myself.
Stayed in the studio late again- this time scanning maps of the areas in which I’m running. Don’t seem to be able to get hold of any maps that are detailed or large enough to work with in the studio.
Have spent the last couple of days trying to get used to the studio- however much I put things on the wall, it still looks too office-like. I managed to find a roll of thin white paper lying around by the lift so I have taken it. It will be very useful to cover the walls with and also if I want to do any drawings of my routes/runs. One of the other artists also found me some left over black-out paper on a roll, so I can black out the room if I need to. Unfortunately, it will only cover half the window space.
Yesterday morning the peer advisors met with the technicians and other staff to review the outcome of the entrance and technical interviews. This meant I couldn’t really talk to anyone about my project. I’m a little concerned about where to start technically with working out the live thing as there were a lot of things being bandied around at the technical interview which I’m not familiar with and I’d really like to make a start with some tests. I spent a frustrating morning trying to get the data from my Garmin GPS device I use to record my runs to transfer to some Mac software I just bought that it’s supposed to recognise the information and draw maps from. That’s something else I’ll have to ask about. GPS is just something I thought I might use as an additional tracking thing so the progress of my run can be seen in real-time.
The sun gets really strong in the afternoon around 3-4pm. By 4pm I’d had enough of being in the studio and I decided I would go for a walk up Tunnel Mountain. It was also to see if it could be feasible territory to run up. No I’m not that hard-core-(!) Tunnel Mountain is not really a mountain, it’s more like a large hill, also, the paths go across it laterally so it’s much more gentle than one thinks. It was worth the trip as it overlooks the whole town and you get panoramic views once you reach the top. I also went at the right time of the day, just into early evening, before the sun went down. Beautiful. The only down side was that because it‘s been quite mild and sunny over the last 2 days, the snow has started to melt and the paths were quite slushy and slippery. Definitely not a good idea to run in those conditions. Got back just in time to go to the campus restaurant for tea. Had hoped to go down town for a cinema screening at 7pm, but I would have had to rush so I gave it a miss. Instead I stayed quite late in the studio cutting lengths of white paper to fit the width of the wall.
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Last night we were also finally given our studio keys, so I’ve been able to check it out today. Unfortunately, I’ve been given one of the smaller office-like studios (see pic), which is a shame as it’ll mean that if I want to try out any projections, I’ll have to use another space elsewhere. I think they think that because I’ll be spending a lot of time outside with my running, that I don’t need a lot of space. Also, it has padded office-like walls covered in coarse grey fabric (!) and some plug points on the middle of the wall-space. This means that I can pin a lot of things to the wall and plug things in, but I can’t use it as a surface to draw/work on. Anyway, I’ve come in this afternoon and made the best of it by moving the table against the window (I have a fantastic view at least) and opening out the space. I’ve also put a few maps and trail info up on the wall to make it look more studio-like. At least I’ve made good use of the map-pins I found here. We’ll see- at least I’m right next to the computer room and on the same floor as the technicians, which is handy.
Did another run this morning and ventured a bit further out to the Vermillion Lakes Road (such a poetic name). This is just beyond where I ran the other day and it was really worth the trip (and the effort). Actually, it’s really flat, which is good. The views are spectacular – almost panoramic of the frozen lakes surrounded by mountains (unfortunately I didn’t have my camera on me, so I have no pics, but I will go back for sure). There was hardly anyone there and barely any cars came down- it was amazing and so peaceful, although a little windy. The run went well- I managed about 17km (about 10.5 miles), although I stopped briefly a few times to find my bearings and later on, to catch my breath- I’m still getting used to the altitude here, so it’ll probably take a while before I can do a long run straight through. I was very pleased with this though, and worth it for the scenery.
Finished the morning with a brunch at Susan Kennard’s house. Susan is the Director of the New Media Institute. It was really generous of her to invite us all into her home. We all brought something to add to the food and/or drink. It was a great thing to do on a Sunday and really welcome, especially after my run- I was starving!
Also met Nina Czegledy, who is one of the artist peer advisors (the others are Kate Rich and Willy Le Maitre).
That’s all for now- I’m off for some food before the canteen closes at 7.30 (I’ll be posting this later on). More soon.
A yellow School Bus arrived at the Banff centre yesterday morning to take us to Johnson’s Canyon. After a short drive of about 30mins we arrived and ventured out along the trail walk through the canyon. It was fantastic scenery of woodland, gorges and frozen pools (see pics)- a few of us hung back from the group so we could experience the calm. Well worth the trip apart from the disappointment at the end that the coffee shop was closed- had to go without the hot-chocolate I’d been fantasising about.
Got back to campus around 3-ish and spent the rest of the afternoon preparing for my presentation.
Skipped dinner as had to go over to JPL building, where the presentations were going to be held, 45mins early, to check all was working okay. Mine was quite straightforward as it was all on DVD. Was still very nervous though even though I’ve done this tons of times before.
Unfortunately, turned out I was scheduled last as one of the other artists has not yet arrived. As before, all presentations were very good, which made me feel even more nervous. Eventually, the inevitable came and it was my turn. It wasn’t as bad as I’d thought and I was able to speak freely (rather than read from notes), which was much better, although I think I spoke probably too quickly due to my nerves, but it meant I kept to time. Phew! Glad that’s over. Actually I had some very nice comments from some of the other artists, who said that they’d really enjoyed my talk, so can’t have been that bad. We went on to the campus bar afterwards for a well deserved drink.
