Who are the artists? Drew Browning and Annette Barbier – creative and life partners. Our art collaborative name: unreal-estates ..................................................................
How was it made? The trailing line forms were generated from motion capture data recorded with a Motion Analysis system using infra-red cameras and retro-reflective markers on the subject. (It would be possible to use less expensive, less exact capture technology, but this is what we had access to).
Why use motion capture at all? The practice of data visualization has become commonplace in numerous fields including the arts, the idea being that it reveals new information and allows the subject to be understood in a new way. Data can be mapped to other visual representations or to other mediums such as sound. For this piece we wrote software tools to analyze the data in time and space allowing us to find the right traces for a particular interval.
Fractals, for eg., can be instantly appreciated from an image, whereas understanding the theorems requires a highly sophisticated understanding of math.
Lev Manovich, artist and researcher, is a well known and articulate proponent and practitioner of visualization for understanding large databases. ...................................................................
What’s it about? Part of the idea for the piece is the relationship between human and environment, calling attention to human scale and presence in an industrial context. Is there an irony in using technology to do this? We think not, since technology is the medium in which we all live and breathe. It has become indispensable and enriches our lives in many ways. People with disability are a relevant example – assistive devices make it possible for many people to lead productive lives. And since technology is what we have used to compromise the environment, it makes sense to use it to try to restore balance. ...................................................................
How did it start? We have always worked in a way that favors neither content nor medium but engages in a dialog between them. So, surprising as it may seem, what looks like a straightforward self-portrait really started as an investigation of a tool – the mo-cap system – and grew into the story of our lives. Although this is not meant to foreclose on other interpretations of the work – for example, we were also thinking about the ability of data to make visible information that is normally invisible and the traces as representing the effect of an individual’s presence in the world. ..................................................................
What was the final medium? We used 4mm corrugated plastic, which was flexible enough to follow the vagaries of the fence but stood up to water jet cutting. The water jet gave us the ability to not just emulate but exactly follow the curves generated by the subjects’ motion. Installation took 1 ½ days, and we were assisted by Ron Ray, director of the Center, and Jim Zeske, fellow artist in residence. Ron’s idea, and we hope it comes to pass, is that when the work begins to deteriorate, as it undoubtedly will, the fence will be painted before removing the work, thus leaving yet another, more subtle trace of its presence in the environment. ....................................................................
Many thanks. Creating this piece in a residency context gave us the required amount of time undistracted by other obligations, so intense work over a two week period would otherwise have required two months on an ordinary schedule, and we’re grateful to the Center for the opportunity.
Paul (thanks, Paul) stayed late to help us, we got two sheets cut and will hopefully cut a few more tomorrow – we have 9 sheets so have to fit the work into the available space. Nesting the lines, you can get more out of a sheet than just the 5 that will actually be displayed in the vertical dimension. It would be so wonderful to use a material with some durability, stability and bling – like stainless steel.
Jack in the Pulpit
Mayapple
Trillium
The stream
We recorded motion capture data at Columbia College's Media Production Center in March with subjects doing two classes of activity - walking/rolling and yoga movements. The walking/rolling is destined for the fence adjacent to the facade of the studios that runs for 75' along Washington St., a highway-like street with not much foot traffic.
This is a mockup of a couple of cycles of the walking/running movement just to get an idea of what it would look like and what color material to use (black disappears). We went through many, many options in terms of where to put the work and what materials to use, finally settling on corroplast (corrugated plastic) which we will cut on the water jet machine here.
Also, we plan to use mo cap traces from various yoga movements/postures to engrave on stone, and will be doing some tests with stone of different sorts (of the stepping stone variety, but different substances like marble, granite, etc.) to see what doesn’t explode.
Here’s a mockup, and below some of the traces prepared for cutting. If the water jet ends up destroying the stone, maybe we’ll try sandblasting (have to send it out for that).
The idea behind all this has to do with motion capture as metaphor for our movement through time and the invisible influence we have on the world by passing through it.
