Peyton's Time-Based Media Blog

Idea 1: Pineapple Observatory This project would consist of putting random test subjects in a room with only a pineapple (or any other random, inanimate object) and a microphone. They will sit there for several minutes and talk about the pineapple. They can talk about what it looks like. Details they start to notice. How it makes them feel. What they think of then they think of pineapples. I also plan to have pieces of pineapple that they can eat if they so choose. They can eat the pineapple and describe the taste or texture. Whatever they want. The video itself will consist of a voice over of the people talking while showing footage of that person staring at the pineapple.  The aesthetic of this work would be very experimental, scientific, and structured. I believe that art can be found within the monotonous order of things and doesn't have to be scripted. Idea 2: Clown for a Day This video would be a more scripted event. It would focus on a person who is wearing clo...

For this assignment I chose a piece by the late John Baldessari: Teaching a Plant the Alphabet. This video work is an absurd comedic piece that creates a dialogue about education and rote memorization. The video is over eighteen minutes long and consists of Baldessari repeating the letters of the alphabet over and over again. He holds up children's alphabet cards to a potted plant that is seated on a stool. He repeats each letter of the alphabet numerous times as if he expects the plant to learn the letters. I actually like this piece of video art because it's just incredibly absurd and time wasting. It reminds me a lot of the English comedy troop, Monty Python. They specialized in creating absurd comedy that lasted for very long amounts of time for no other reason than for absurdity itself. Monty Python's first feature film that employs a lot of this comedy came out three years after this work by Baldessari and it seems like the work of Baldessari could have been an inspir...

The best still frame from the Elusive Form project is probably this image. This image to me is incredibly dynamic. I love the contrast between the yellow and red and there is a lot of motion in this one still image. The image almost looks psychedelic to me and really sums up the meaning behind my whole work. This image captures a lot of what I am trying to say about the competition of thoughts for control of the mind.

Samadhi by Jordan Belson looks like what I imagine doing LSD would feel like. The piece uses a lot of circular animation, vibrant colors, and sounds that make me feel uneasy. It conjures feelings of both tranquility and anxiety at the same time. The assigned reading talked about the influence of Buddhism, Hinduism, and Taoism on western art. Ideas about the mystical aspect of reality were explored by avant-garde filmmakers like Belson, James Whitney, and Stan Brakhage. Samadhi is a perfect example of this influence. The reading stated that "Animation is the ideal medium through which to explore the dimensions of the inner world, the 'internal truth [...].'" Samadhi is a glimpse at the soul of a person. Inspired by yoga and meditation, this short film is supposed to show how people have two sides to themselves: physical and spiritual. The physical part of a person is in the real world. The spiritual part of a person cannot be seen or visualized in any way, it can onl...