An artist interview about Tina Moore's participation in the Glocal Project

Can you describe how you have created alternative view points?

In order to capture alternative views of the world I avoided photographing from eye level. Instead, I attached my camera to my ankle when shooting in Portmore Cemetery and placed my camera in a clear handbag when photographing in Antrim Castle Gardens, by attaching the camera to my ankle at Portmore, also known as Laloo, I captured images that are rich with texture, grass often in the foreground, a mid layer of rocks or gravestone and a higher level of trees and sky. An eerie self-portrait, in which the camera cannot be seen, was captured in the reflection on a gravestone.


At Antrim Castle Gardens, the camera was placed from a higher viewpoint, in a bag that was placed over my shoulder. As I walked, the camera was able to move around capturing the remains of Antrim Castle, the woods, historical monuments and gardens. The effect created by the plastic in front of the lens enhances the composition and adds texture to the image plain. The odd look of the images takes on the appearance of older photographs, and I think is quite fitting for such a place with rich histories.

NB - each sequence consists of over 20 time lapsed photos

Artist Interview: Laura Campbell

Can you describe how you have used mobile technology to respond to the Glocal Project?

LC: I set my mobile to take 12 multi-shots as I poured red paint onto a canvas. By the time my action was complete, there were 60 mobile photo shots. A selection are illustrated here.

The writing and the final pictures are at odds with each other? What does it all mean?

LC: First of all, I have written "I like writing in blue paint" but have used red poster paint on a canvas. I am interested in the psychological effects that occur between recognising an event and understanding its output.

In psychology the Stroop effect is defined as the a delay or interference between an event happening and a post action recognition. In the case there is an interference in the reaction time of what the viewer sees, and what the participant has to do.

For instance when a word such as blue, green, red, etc. is printed in a color differing from the color expressed by the word's semantic meaning (e.g. the word "red" printed in blue ink), a delay occurs in the processing of the word's color, leading to slower test reaction times and an increase in the mind's own motor actions making a series of mistakes in undertaking the action. This effect is named after John Ridley Stroop in the 1930s.

What have you done with the images?

LC: I have transfered my mobile phone files at a photo store and had these printed out as a series of snapshots. The shots have been re-assembled as a flip book. I have made a 'paint stroop.'

I also loved how someone saw the book and thought the title referred to the work as being a film strip. Stroop after all could be slang in broad Scots or Irish for strip. What a perfect misreading of the piece! And what a fab way for new value to be assigned to it.

I am thrilled with the piece. Since individuals can flip through the work and experience the stroop effects within the palm of their own hands. It is the perfect cross-over of an immediate and intimate experience happening all at once. Isn't this what the Glocal project was about? About changing people's perspectives and expectations of interactivity ?

Artist Interview: Michael Leonard - repetition and duration

ML: My images are bound by the presence of the two motorbikes shot from above. The scene is animated by the different figures that pass through the frame. This series remains anchored because of the bikes repeating in each shot. This set of work was shot near Place de la Concorde in Paris.

What are your reasons to shot the scene from above?

ML: This perspective was inspired by the work of Rodcenko (see below) and his excitement at the new possibilities presented by the handheld camera to shoot city scenes and subjects from new
angles. Distance creates tension between forms and plays with what the eye can read.




What do you like best about the series?

ML: The last image in the sequence, as the girl exchanges a glance with the camera references my position perched on a level a few metres above, just outside the Musée de Jeu de Paume.

Artist interview: David Sproule

Can you describe how you approached the Glocal project in terms of finding and shooting from an alternative perspective?

DS: For this project I have taken photos of myself from a variety of unconventional angles. Using deliberately unusual and awkward positions for the camera, my aim was to produce a set of images that would be of some interest because they have a certain ambiguity. The most common repeating feature is my figure whereas the location or the nature of my surroundings and my position and relationship to camera are less clear and ambiguous. The pictures have had minimal treatment to improve lighting and colour contrast. I tried to think of inventive places to put the camera so as to produce pictures that would appear a little surreal.

Can you describe the photo shoots?

DS: One set involved using the dynamically varied and well lit structure of a bridge underpass. By placing the camera on a particular part of the floor and positioning myself between two support beams I was able to produce images in which perspective is exaggerated and the angles, in terms of their relation to the vertical, are somewhat vague too.

In the same location I tied my mobile phone onto my leg. Thought about some tricks and skateboarded my way through the underpass. Again I enjoy the ambiguity of the shots. Motion is captured but focus is not. It is only when the viewer stares long enough at what was recorded, can they guess what actions have led to the shots.

How about the odd aerial images? How were these created?

DS: This set of pictures was created by attaching a small camera again my mobile phone to a ball which I then through up in the air. I watched it the whole way, so as to make sure I caught it. Using the delay timer I was able to get some pictures from directly above me with me looking up. I was standing in the middle of a large open space and there is no evidence of any structure around me. So the pictures have a slightly strange almost fake look to them but they are very much real as evidenced by the concentrated expression which can be seen on my face.

Artist interview: Michael Leonard

Where are you? And what are you recording?

ML: This series looks at the Paris underground. The metro is often associated with the humdrum of daily Parisian life, summed up by the expression métro, boulot, dodo (metro, work, sleep).

How do you describe these works?

ML: These images capture some of the peculiarities of the subterranean world of the metro. Some of them are reminiscent of Paris Mortel, Van der Keuken’s portrait of Paris in the sixties.

The repetition in form and placement of the figures is uncanny.

ML: For me the ability to observe surreal coincidences between people and location is another way to locate unusual forms and perspectives. In this work, this repetition provides a platform of stillness and reflection amid the apparent monotonous cycle of métro, boulot, dodo.

Artist Interview with Daniel Hutchinson

Can you explain how you devised the project ‘Inside Looking Out’?

DH: From the outset of this project I consciously decided I was going to venture into the city in hopes of finding uncommon perspectives reflecting how we live in urban metropolises. I realised early on everybody that enters the city, tends to find themselves on the high street window shopping – gazing longingly into shop windows and at manikins.
So I thought what if it I could reverse the familiar gaze of looking into shop windows from the other side. I wanted to reverse this viewing process and make the store window, manikins, promenade, and passer-bys the focus of my image sequence.

How have the images been framed? What compositional rules did you chose?

DH: These photographs are quite strange and abstract but I liked this quality about them - new perspectives should not be too clear or figurative. The photographs almost seem to capture the sight line or perspective of the manikins. In the Glocal project, I liked the idea I could also play with the concepts of stillness and unusual view points.

Again its odd and unsettling to capture the manikins’ sight lines as they peer out onto the world know will not know or realise….I realise I am personifying these figures but I find it interesting since their gaze is a point of position the viewer will never occupy.

How do you view capturing different views on looking on the outside-inside?

DH: I was surprised in some of the more abstract photographs the buildings across the street became reflected and part of the window displays. By allowing things outside the photographic frame to enter it, new perspectives entered the scene that I had not anticipated.
....again I feel a little bit like French photographers Eugene Atget or Doisneau a purveyor capturing the changing city from both the in and outside.



Image left: Eugene Atget: Avenue des Gobelins (before 1926)
George Eastman House Collection; below: Sidelong glance
Robert Doisneau, 1948 © Estate of Robert Doisneau

Artist interview with Peter Marley

Artist interview with Peter Marley

Q: Can you explain more about the Iris-in and Iris-out effects you have adopted in your work?

A: In a world where the influence of pop-culture cinema and the subsequent filmic techniques are having a greater effect on how we, as artists, see the world it can be interesting to satirize their ingrained forms and structures. By applying the ‘Iris-in’ and ‘Iris-out’ filmic techniques of framing onto mundane scenarios the significance and composition is placed askew. In motion pictures there is a stigma associated with a harsh vignette that a critical action or crucial reveal is about to take place.

Q: Can you explain more about this phenomenon in popular culture and film?

A: A popular example of this would be the character entrances in FW Marnau’s Nosferatu (1922) or the pivotal scenes in Robert Weine’s The Cabinet of Dr Caligari (1920). By placing a harsh vignette (using a toilet roll tube slotted into a 50mm lens) around a solitary object the viewer is challenged to look again at the object and reevaluate the entire image.

Q: How do you consider your work produced for the Glocal project?

A: I am fascinated by the question and process of, “What is being excluded in the frame? The goal of this alternate method of taking photos was to playfully twist cinematic methods and as a result challenge the viewer to reassess common scenes and scenarios when they appear with intensified focus.

Artist interviews: Twy Miller and Peter Stephenson

Can you reflect how working on the Glocal project changed your photo practice?

Artist response: Twy Miller, May 2008

In creating the series Cat’s Eye View - it is critical to remember images never tell the truth. Despite the camera’s ability, be it film or digital, to capture more than minds can record, it is still only from the perspective of the camera, or the individual wielding the camera. Images carry the intellectual and cultural load of the photographer, whose responsibility is to step outside of boundaries and prejudices, to seek out those things of difference that convey to the viewer not only one’s personal perspective, but throw new seeds of inquiry onto fresh palates.

Differing perspectives requires a shift in thought; a useful tool in most disciplines where it is necessary to take another’s paws and appreciate a new intellectual process. In this instance a house cat is followed for a day and a night (vis a vis a hand controlled radio car and sometimes myself on my hands and knee.)

The angle from which the cat views the world is shown to be markedly different from our human view. Areas which are normally off limits to large limbed bodies become no more than roadways and tunnels, vantage points are examined from which the outside territory is kept under scrutiny, and there is the supremely important moment of mealtime. As cats do not experience colour vision, this sequence was photographed in black and white; adding another level of interpretation.

Choosing a new perspective leads to new initiatives, which in turn informs the photographer of further paths to walk and tunnels to scrutinize. While we have the choice of black and white or colour, we also have the path of what do we depict and how. Glocal has changed my mind's eye.


Artist Response: Peter Stephenson, May 2008
Northern Ireland

In creating this series of photographs, my aim was to challenge perspective and notions of movement. The premise for this series of images was to depicting a walk along the beach. To record these images from an alternate perspective, my mobile phone was taped to the my ankle and images were recorded as I walked along a beach at Hazelbank Park towards the sea.

For me this was purely experimental photography, which took inspiration from Maya Deren’s alternate perspectives in ‘Meshes of the Afternoon’ (1943). This project is open to future development and using more advance mobile telephone equipment would allow for a better quality of images.

GLOCAL IN SECOND LIFE! Phase One Point Five - More Speculation...

Our tiny little GLOCAL sign has now evolved to the size of a billboard (the little sign is still in the park) and has now been formally placed on top of the retail facade looking over the plaza of Canada in SL. In about a week, this will evolve further into a video-billboard but for now, it just has our newest logo. The billboard was not placed where we had originally intended but is good enough for our promotional and marketing purposes.

Hey there GLOCAL blog-readers!

We have some more progress to report on GLOCAL's presence in the popular virtual world known as Second Life:

1) We have received some price quotes on having the Surrey Techlab in SL. This includes both the architectural estimate and the land rental costs.

2) We have a billboard now in Canada in SL. In a few days, we should have our flash animation promo video embedded into the billboard for all to see.

3) The Surrey Art Gallery's Curator and Coordinator have been speculating some other islands such as the possibility of setting roots on the popular artists' community known as Odyssey Island (curated by Sugar Seville) as a place to host the entire Surrey Art Gallery.

Here are some more photos of our current situation for you:

This was where the GLOCAL billboard was initially placed.

Here is the GLOCAL Coordinator Newton Dinzeo inside someone else's retail space in the Canada in SL Plaza (trespassing allowed, right?)..Newton took this pic to get a better ambient view of the billboard outside. This space has some nice hardwood floors!

Here is a pic of Newton zooming out via flying in order to get a better sense of Canada in SL's overall island-shape... From this perspective, it looks like just one big box and not the conventional image of what an island should appear to be.

Here is the office space in the basement of Canada in SL that has been temporarily reserved for the (or perhaps just "one of many) Techlab(s).

Here is a pic showing Newton and Canada in SL's Manager Raine Renard inside of this reserved space...He thinks it would be good enough for a temporary Techlab, wouldn't you agree?

Here is a pic of Newton sitting in what might be one of the Techlab's immediate neighbors in the conference space below the plaza.

Here is Newton posing with Canada in SL's Decorator Pielady Smalls (who is also a member of Dancoyote Antonelli's Skydancers) and the architect, Sam Portocarrero from a subcontracted company called Dominion Custom Homes. They are figuring out how to embed our Flash promo animation into the new billboard...as you can see, Sam is scratching his head trying to come up with a solution. We finally figured out that the GLOCAL Artist Jer Thorp will need to convert the flash anim into a Quicktime Movie (MOV). Hopefully that will be ready later this week :-)

With regards to the company (Raine and Ramada), we got some price quotes for the space rentals and the building of the Techlab so we are moving forward.

Balloon Cam at Trout Lake Park in Vancouver!

GLOCAL's 60 Balloon Cam at Trout Lake, Vancouver from GLOCAL on Vimeo.

This video shows a 60-balloon cam created by the GLOCAL participant, Byron Peters.

This was launched from Trout Lake in Vancouver.

This is one of the many hardware solutions that GLOCAL is working on for their prototype exhibition in September.

GLOCAL IN SECOND LIFE! Phase One - Promotion and Speculation

Here is a portrait of GLOCAL's Coordinator Newton Dinzeo (Jeremy Owen Turner). Dinzeo is sitting on a tiny GLOCAL ad in the Edmonton-based Second Life property, Canada in SL. This sign may appear relatively insignificant in the grander scheme of things but in the weeks to come, GLOCAL will have a more solid presence in this increasingly mainstream metaverse. The faces on Newton's pants actually belong to the Coordinator himself in RL...His image was filtered via the first version of the Motion Sequencing Application (a free download on this blog) and then was texture-mapped as clothing. Newton Dinzeo has his own blog which you can check out here.

Hello GLOCAL Blog readers!

GLOCAL is finally getting down to entering Second Life and setting down virtually local and global roots there.

We have started with the placement of a tiny ad in the Canada in SL property and will be adding a larger and flashier billboard very shortly. In the long-term, we will also likely have the Surrey Art Gallery's Techlab reproduced in Second Life :-) At the moment, we are beginning the first phase of promotion and property/architectural speculation...Here are some more photos of our first official ventures into this Brave Not-So-New virtual world...

Here is a portrait of Newton sitting on one the GLOCAL signs. You will notice that this particular sign is close enough to the hot dog stand. This placement is intentional since we need to ensure that people will happen to notice our ad while eating their hot dogs! The best ad-placement is always near the refreshments :-)

This picture is not too much different from the last one except that the Coordinator is standing instead of sitting down...

Did we mention that Surrey is also in Canada? Some of you more worldly avatar travelers may have thought we were based somewhere near London but I think this picnic table will be a blatant reminder for you once you come over to visit us in-world and take a few pixel-bites off one of the available hot dogs (while quantities last, of course). One of the reasons we had picked Canada in SL was because they offer free advertising for Canadian non-profits and fortunately for GLOCAL, the project is hosted by the Surrey Art Gallery.

Here is a side view of the Coordinator sitting on the sign... In this picture, you can also get a sneak preview of our future billboard area...Do you see that turret at the top of the mall's plaza located in the middle of this screenshot? We plan to install our first billboard right on top of there...If you still cannot find it, not to worry...We have some more photos for you.

So, here is a close-up of this new billboard location. In this photo, the Coordinator is speculating the billboard area with his palm pilot (which very likely also includes its own GPS). Speaking of close-ups, this photo is a good excuse to show another close up of the Coordinator's official GLOCAL self-portrait-pants. ;-)


This photo is really just an excuse to show the...er... "back end" of the GLOCAL Coordinator's own personal...er...buttressing strategy ;-)

Another reason why we are considering a move to Canada in SL is because this property appears to be virtually quite close to "Vancouver" - well, at least a photo of Vancouver anyway ;-) Photo of Vancouver courtesy of the Graham Guru Photography Gallery.

The photo-shoot took all day because before we knew it, it was night-time...Wow, time accelerates quickly in virtual worlds, eh?

Please stay tuned for more developments on the GLOCAL Project in Second Life!

The Corbis website now offers the opportunity to download, print and assemble various funky paper pinhole cameras.


The Readymech pinhole are available in five designs which are downloadable as colour PDFs, complete with assembly directions - rather than inserting film -> trying placing a digital or cellphone camera on timer into the pinhole box to shoot some low tech looking images.

Toolkit Preview: Motion Sequencer

Throughout the course of the Glocal project, we will be developing and distributing toolkits which will allow artists of all levels to contribute to our content base. Software, hardware, and conceptual toolkits will be available on our website for download as they are completed.

The first software toolkit facilitates creation of the motion sequence grids that we have been posting here and in our Flickr and Facebook groups. Built in Processing, the Motion Sequence Toolkit creates grids from either live webcam input, or from pre-recorded video. In both cases, the application offers a different perspective on motion by separating it into still frames. Here is screenshot of the interface, in standard grid mode:

Here, we are seeing a motion history of the last 6 seconds of motion, displayed on screen as a grid (I'm holding a drinking glass in front of the webcam). You'll notice along the top of the screen that there are some controls (in blue). Using this control bar, we can change frame rate, frame size, and frame arrangement. We can make the frames very large:

Or, very small:



We can achieve a slit-scan effect by reducing the rows to 1:



Or by reducing the columns to 1:



This toolkit gives us a variety of ways to look at motion from new perspectives. Of particular interest is the ability to take pre-recorded video and render it in different forms.

The Motion Sequence Toolkit will be available for public download shortly. In the meantime, if you are an artist or an educator who would like to get ahold of a beta version, please contact our project coordinator and we'll help you out as best as we can.

Time Lapse Imaging

What Do I look like....when I'd really rather be sleeping?

Project work by David Timlin

[Click on the work to see David's portraits from midnight to 9am]

In responding to the Glocal project, David elected to employ time lapse photography. While time lapse photography is traditionally used to track and monitor environmental changes, David decided to use himself as the subject in this work.

In What Do I look like....when I'd really rather be sleeping? - the title alludes to the events that have been documented. In this artwork David mounted his camera off his bedpost and then set his alarm clock throughout the night to wake him hour on the hour. The documents reveal the juxtaposition of the subject being barely awake and responsive to the camera. Much like Vito Acconci's works of the 1970s where his performances reflected on the representation and the act of being psychologically observed, David extends these concepts to how the body can become a material object, gazed and out of context in both time and place.

Glocal - new ways of seeing

A key objective of delivering the Glocal project includes changing how users work and respond to digital technologies. 

In a world where digital recording devices dominate, shooting at eye level seems to be the most natural. What if this was altered? How would these other alternative views appear? 

In this project we look at changing perspectives (ie. by literally placing cameras and recorders at unusual heights or anchored positions) and how can we capture the everyday in unordinary ways.

As an artist assisting in the delivery of the Glocal project - I am interested in addressing the 'HOW' with the support and suggestions of the public. 

Recently I partnered with a series of UK artists to see what would happen when the digital camera was placed off tripod and away from the rational eye.

Below are the first observational works created by artist Sarah Gale. 

Pictures were devised by placing a camera on a timer under a plastic food tray. The results - meal time like no one has ever envisioned! 

 

GLOCAL at Winterfest 2008...

Self-portrait of Jeremy Owen Turner (Project Coordinator - GLOCAL - Surrey Art Gallery) with the other booth participants from the Surrey Art Gallery. For this photo, the Coordinator used the Glocal prototype interface.

Hello GLOCAL Project blog-readers,

As Coordinator, I have finally taken some time to reflect on my Winterfest information presentation on behalf of the Surrey Art Gallery and the Cultural Capitals of Canada Initiative. This mass-media event took place at Central City (Surrey Central) - more specifically, in the foyer of Simon Fraser University's School of Interactive Arts and Technology (SIAT).

As some of you might know, Surrey has been declared Canada's official Cultural Capital of 2008 so this was a landmark opportunity to showcase the latest in interactive digital media art and technology.

The GLOCAL presentation was a huge success. Many onlookers from every demographic description felt compelled to play with this interactive screen... Some kids had even begged their parents to return to my booth to explore the video processing application developed by the GLOCAL team and many people wanted to learn more so I managed to hand out most of the official GLOCAL brochures.

I believe the reason why the GLOCAL booth in particular had such a steady stream of activity throughout the day was due primarily to the fact that this interactive screen directly engaged the audience in realtime. The webcam was also mobile enough for each attendee to casually play with the viewing angles and by doing so, a unique video-mosaic was created straight out of their own imagination.

I think that most people who visited the GLOCAL booth felt they were directly interpreting the shifting sights of the Winterfest as if they were one of the performers being featured at the event.

As a result of this booth presentation, I think there will be sufficient interest from schools and individuals from the Surrey community to engage in both short-term and long-term workshops with the artists that comprise the GLOCAL Team.

I will have more photos from this event in a future blog posting but for now, here are some officially released photos:

Here is a portrait of Dan Nielsen (Project Manager - Surrey 2008 - Cultural Capital of Canada) using the GLOCAL prototype interface.

Photo by Rick Chapman. Here is what the official Winterfest sign looked like...

Photo by Rick Chapman. The GLOCAL Coordinator is pictured on the far right in front of his FUSION information booth. He is wearing a white t-shirt and standing not too far away from an over-saturated white TV screen that is suspended from the ceiling. The computer screen used to display GLOCAL's prototype software application looked really nice in person but the photographer had used a flash so the GLOCAL screen is not very visible in this picture.

Photo by Rick Chapman. Inside that illuminated window was where all our information booths were so you could imagine how powerful and loud the fireworks were since they were practically exploding right next to the building complex's facade. When the explosions first went off, everyone thought someone had detonated a bomb.

Photo by Rick Chapman.Here is another view of the fireworks display that occurred right next to the entrance to the SIAT building.

Photo by Rick Chapman. Here is one last view of the fireworks for Winterfest which by the way, had the keyword FUSION as its theme for this year....