Sound Final Project Abstract 4.21.09

Mother Monologues

Mother Monologues will be a series of short videos that illustrate the communication between myself and my parents through language, all while minding the gap between what is said and what is heard. The video itself will be text as image on a black screen while the sound elements are primary the words spoken by my parents. The parts I am specifically investigating is what is lost in translation, both culturally, and aurally. These conversations with my parents that unfold in two languages is my visualization of the internal monologue that occurs in my mind. This reveals how meaning is interpreted and altered as language filters through the process of translation.

Through these secret recordings of mostly tableside conversations, my goal is to study the implied subtext that is not spoken. The question I am asking is, What do you hear when you listen between words? How do our minds fill in the missing gaps that aren’t literally or verbally expressed?

Interactive Final Project Proposal 4.15.09

Artists: Susan Kwon & Stacey Stormes

Concept:
The ideas we will be working towards for our final interactive project are: reverting the subjective gaze and scripting of the body as a form of communication. In this interactive video piece, we will investigate how people’s body language unassumingly reveal and purposely convey meaning. The tension is in when we pose our body to portray an outer image while concealing our inner selves. This constant push and pull holds viewers at arms length, mediating the physical with the psychological. The audience activates this idea by being in physical proximity of the video, whereas the absence of the viewer eliminates the video from playing out. As the viewer approaches the screen, the randomized video portrait will shift positions to either revert the gaze onto the viewer, confronting them as they draw nearer, OR subtly divert his/her gaze as the viewer draws back. The viewer completes this exchange with his or her gaze. An alternative to this idea is overlaying footage of inkdrops with the video portrait. Instead of a shift in the body, the image of the person will fade in and out of the ink. In this case, the ink is a metaphor for the scripted body that clouds over the person, shielding them from the gaze of the viewer. In both cases, the camera’s lens will be equated with the viewer’s gaze. We are also considering having more than one video portrait in the same space, all with slightly different reactions to the viewer.

Interactivity:
We will work with a video patch in MaxMSP, connected to the Arduino and the appropriate sensors. One or more of the following sensors will be used to activate and control the video by retrieving randomized video, ramping up or slowing down speed, and direction: Infrared for physical proximity and/or Force sensitive resistors to respond to touch & pressure.

Visual Framing of video:
Sitting portraits (possibly all females)
Crop figure to fit close to life-size on monitor
Vertical Format (monitor or projection will be displayed vertically at eyelevel.)
Nondescrip background or Inkdrops (figure can fade and emerge from here)
Back lighting for standing silhouettes
Picture frame mounted on monitor (sensors will be hidden behind the frame.)

Sound Ideas:
Some possible ideas for sound are: a loop of monologues by the sitter in the video portrait, addressing personal accounts of scrutiny, objectification, flirtation, surveillance, etc. In reverse, there might be monologues by initiators of the gaze, inner thoughts, remarks spoken out loud, responses in return, etc.

Sound Experiment Two 4.7.09

Part 1 Skinscapes continued
For my next sound experiment, I'm exploring a question brought up during critique week. After presenting raw footage of the 'InkCloud' (working title) video, I was asked why I changed my visual strategy by taking the human body out of the picture (see Interactive Experiment One). In response, I wanted the viewer's physical presence in the installation space to be the actual body that activates the video work instead of the representational body on the screen. The question I will be exploring is:

How can I use sound to bring 'the body' back into my video works that don't include the figure as a subject? OR in other words...
How can I imply the presence of the human body in my work without showing it literally/physically?

As an extension of my Sound Experiment One, where I recorded skin on skin contact and knuckles cracking, I recorded sounds of the body's impact against various surfaces: wood, carpet, tile, mattress, metal, glass, and water. I also continued to capture hollow areas of my body starting with the mouth: grinding teeth, fingers against cheek, breathing, and chewing. What if I take these subtleties of the body's sound and amplify it to the point of making these harmless sounds seem like loud, obtrusive noise? I'm wondering how audible the body, as a sound surface will be when juxtaposed with non-figurative imagery. Some of these collected sounds might pair interestingly with the InkCloud video.I think this experiment continues to build my sound archive of Skinscapes. Here's a link that explores a similar idea through a musical instrument called 'Skinstrument':

www.neural.it/art/2008/02/skinstrumen_how_to_generate_so.phtml
www.youtube.com/watch?v=JY21RyuwMbY

Part 2: Listening Between Words
This ongoing experiment is a continuation of recording tableside conversations of my family. I still pick up a lot of background noise from the zoom mic since most of the recordings are taken unknowingly in both private and public spaces. I'm working on transcribing the implied subtext that is not spoken. The question I am asking is, What do you hear when you listen between words? I’m not sure if this experiment is going to lead to a bigger project, but it’s worth investigating for myself on a personal level.

Interactive Experiment One 3.18.09

Live Ink Clouds
For my first experiment I knew I wanted to translate the act of live drawing into a large scale projection that the viewer can engage with either through proximity of the image or physical contact with the projected surface. Initially, I tried working with my Wacom tablet in Processing to create a simple line animation. I wanted the final outcome to have a stop-motion effect as the viewer scrolls over the screen to reveal the image. Instead, I choose to film a tank of water as I swirled in drops of india ink. This process simulated the visual aesthetic I wanted to achieve. The outcome is organic black shapes blurring in and out of the picture frame against the white background. There were three takes; each time I varied the amount of ink and the camera angle. The initial drop breaks across the white screen as it softly bursts in slow motion, trailing behind it a waning line. The slow drop and web-like drizzle cascade down and out of the visual frame. As the layers build up one, two, three at a time, a hazy fog of smoke-like residue is left behind. In post-production, I'm trying different effects such as reversing the video in slow motion and reflecting the ink cloud onto itself to be symmetrical like Rorschach blots.

The next step is to connect the video to MaxMsp (see image above) and control video playback with Infrared sensors attached to the Arduino. I might try juxtaposing the video with a live feed of the viewer. I would love to see the final video as a full black and white wall projection with the ink clouds gathering within close proximity of the screen, while concealing the viewer's own image. Further distance from the IR sensor would scatter the ink clouds.

Aside from being an extension of themes from my earlier video experiments this interactive experiment is the first in what I plan on continuing as a video series of dreamscapes. I'm collecting footage of extreme close-ups that obscure the subject, particularly the human body. This experiment with ink might serve as a visual source that would be a transparent overlay with the body, staying in line with my other inquiries that explore the body as a surface and physical transience. As for sound, I'm collecting audio sources such as skin on skin contact, cracking bones, grinding teeth, etc.

Some other interactive options I'm considering are:
The viewer can submerge their hand in water with the IR sensor at the bottom of the tank, OR pressure sensors embedded on surface OR computer vision, using camera as intel source for a live video feed of the viewer implanted in the video.

Sound Experiment One 3.3.09

Part 1: Skin Landscape
Using a zoom mic I recorded the sound that skin on skin contact makes. Using my hands, arms, thighs and legs, I brushed and moved across the surface of my body as I curled into myself, tracing the hollow space between my knees, elbows, ears, etc.
Playing the audio back, I picked up a lot of white noise when I had the gain turned too high. When the gain was on medium, there was little to no white noise, but the sound of skin was too soft to pick up. In a space with tiles, the noise seemed to have a low reverberation while a space with carpeting sounded more grounded. I'll have to try this experiment again in different spaces.

Part 2: Knuckles Cracking
As a simple extension of bodily contact, I recorded the sound of my knuckles cracking, bone shifting against bone. This produced an abrupt pop noise against the sound of my fingers slipping against each other. Again, I need to eliminate the unwanted background noise. I might try this test again with a windscreen.

Part 3: Translations
I was working on a merchandise catalogue and reviewing the item numbers with my cousin. Michelle has been working with my parents since she came to Chicago from Korea about ten years ago. She quickly picked up the English language along with some keywords in Spanish. She has a big personality and I was interested in capturing that through language since she has assimilated to Western culture quickly. Michelle's gestures and expressions also remind me of my mom sometimes and I'm fascinated with similar personality traits that are passed on through the women in our family. Listening back to our informal dialogue, it occurred to me that this was a study in language: oral, aural, written and cultural, and the way our minds fill in the missing gaps that aren't literally expressed.

Part 4: Tableside Conversations
I spent the weekend with my family since my brother was home from college. We had two meals together during which I recorded the duration of the meal. The first meal was in a restaurant and I had the zoom mic tucked in my purse, which sat on the table. The voices are faint amidst the background noise of the restaurant, but the individual voices are distinct. The second recording was a lot clearer because the mic was under the marble table on a carpeted floor in the dining room. This was an observation in which family dynamics and played out over a meal. In many instances I find that food is a communal experience that invites people to take part in nurturing the body and sharing conversation. I plan on recording a series of meals and conversations over the next few months.