Time, Through Windows
Posted by Erik | Filed under music, sound, spoken-word, video, visual, word
Time, Through Windows explores the perception of time, using the passage from spring to winter as a metaphor for the artist’s father’s cycle of life—from child to elder. Music and spoken dialog work in combination with video to create a six-piece narrative that invites the audience into an intimate durational experience. This work, presented as a circular grouping of six audio/video pairs, acts as a vehicle for the audience to contemplate that which might normally go overlooked.
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Tags: audio, cycle, durational, father, lens, narrative, perspective, rythym, spoken-word, video, visual
It’s All About Time
Posted by Erik | Filed under spoken-word, video
I am in the middle of the woods, looking for artistic inspiration. I was supposed to be here the year prior, but my father had succumbed to illness and I chose to stay with him. These woods are not real. They were brought here and planted to match someone’s design layout. I continue to walk for a few hours until I come upon something as out of place as a city-dweller visiting a fake forest a year late. I find a huge stone in the middle of this man-made wilderness. I study the stone, looking for signs of a struggle. I find none and turn away. And then, out of the corner of my eye, I see the rock has moved. This will take some time to figure out.
Though often overlooked, I believe the material surrounding the deliberate “content” acts as a lens by which we interpret that content. I explore this material in my work, looking for ways to present a unique perspective on the pedestrian. It’s All About Time investigates the perception of time and how that influences our lives and memories.
Tags: death, durational, father, lens, spoken-word, stop-motion, time, video, visual, voice
Controlled Substances
Posted by Erik | Filed under music, sound, video, visual
Controlled Substances is an interactive media installation controlled by the real-time RSS feeds it displays.
Tags: hunger, installation, interactive media, population, time, video, water, world
Standing Waves in Shoaling Water
Posted by Erik | Filed under music, video, visual
On December of 2004 I set out to teach myself some basic video production software. Midway through a typical tutorial I heard news coming out of Asia that gave me cause to drop everything and begin new work with purpose. On December 28, 2004, I composed a multimedia and performance piece, Standing Waves in Shoaling Water. Written from the perspective of an American in the US attempting to get detailed accounts of the Tsunami, the piece calls for a single performer, world-band radio, tape recorders, bell and pre-recorded soundtracks. This audio work was first performed at Columbia College Chicago in January 2005.
In researching for the music composition I came across fellow weblogger Hellmut Issels, who published his personal and incredibly moving photographs of the Tsunami in Phuket. I sent him a request to use a few of his photographs for the video incarnation of SWSW that I planned to attempt. Failing to receive a response I decided to credit Hellmut and press on with this student project. The final video piece is six and a half minutes, using a stereo mix of all original audio parts. I consider the project finished not because it is perfect but because it’s time to begin new work. Standing Waves in Shoaling Water was written in memory of those lost to the 2004 Tsunami, December 26, 2004.
I have had Erik in class on several occasions, and he has continuously struck me as a thoughtful, mature, disciplined artist. In fact, his submission work for acceptance into the Interdisciplinary Arts program was already among the most memorable works of art of any student I have had in my 10 years of teaching.
Jenny Magnus, Adjunct Professor, Department of Interdisciplinary Art, Columbia College Chicago
Tags: human, perspective, time, tsunami, video