Week 1

Faculty Exhibition:

The faculty exhibition, I found, was a enlightening resource to take in. I enjoyed seeing what faculty are currently working on, what they’re interested in, and see what can be incorporated into my own work in the future. Most notably, I was intrigued by Claudia Herbst-Tait’s Untitled Vibachrome piece. Prior to seeing this piece, I had not looked into printing on metal surfaces, but seeing this piece makes me want to experiment with the process in the future, as I loved how the light changed the composition and how clear the print was.

Readings:

O’Rourke, “Redefining Sculpture Digitally”

Considering the era that these interactive sculptures were made, they are quite impressive at a mechanical stand point. A testament to how far virtual sculpture has  come, and ambitious with its desire to evolve into a technology that has only recently been close to being fully realized. It leaves wanting to know how this work if made for the VR technology of today.

O’Rourke, “A Series of Digital Interactive Multimedia Murals” 

With how these murals are composed and stylized, they seem similar in many aspects to “mood boards.” Both the murals and mood boards arrange image, text, and other materials to convey a mood/topic, but these murals do so in a more abstract manner in addition to using audio, which is rarely used in mood boards.

MoMA PS1:

Fernando Palma Rodriquez: In Ixtli in Yollotl, We the People

This exhibition interested me the most, as I studied Aztec and Mesoamerican history quite heavily in undergrad. Knowing the deeper cultural meaning behind some of the pieces certainly enhanced my appreciation of them, and opens up room for different interpretations. Most notably the piece, Aquen tlailcahua to cuentla tlailcahua tlahtoltiliztle tlacayo, where it incorporates a stone metate into the sculpture, an item most used by mesoamerican women to ground corn and make tortillas. Young girls where taught to use them items early in their childhood, even significantly bound to them, as their placenta would be buried under the metata after birth.

Land 

This exhibition by Zhang Huan and Li Binyuan, was not at all close to my interests, but their contrasting themes of human futility to change nature and the power of the individual was impactful to say the least.

Seth 

This exhibition by Seth Price was uncanny, yet pleasing in a weird way. To see human skin amplified, enlarged, but distorted in the composition was a thrill. To me, it look similar to tanned skin, digitally stretched. It certainly grounds for potential ideas in the future, should I look back to it.