Collage

 Lighting is bad, didn't want to risk putting it through a scanner..

Word-Weave

Faces

Icecream

Cheers

Soup

Puzzle

Dress

Artwork Proposal #2: Whiteboard

For my second proposed artwork, I decided to go with a site-within-a-site: the Whiteboard.

Working with the site-within-a-site theme of the object, I considered appropriate sites in which the empty whiteboard might be placed. Since the whiteboard is an interactive object, an empty board (and whiteboard marker) placed in a suitable location invites public creativity and collaboration.

So, placing a board on  a suitably unappealing horizon...

(Image Source:

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/55/Kolkata_cityscape.jpg)

I offer the passer-by a blank slate, an opportunity with which to create their own skyline. While the physical whiteboard is permanent,  the artwork becomes ephemeral, and ever-changing, as additions and changes are made to the ideal skyline over time and as different people add their input.

An alternative, perhaps less invasive installation might be to use a pane of glass or something similiar so as to not obstruct the entire skyline, but rather add to it and edit it at your will.

A variation of this would be to find a suitably more picturesque horizon, and place the large transparent 'whiteboard' in front, so that instead of blocking off a messy skyline with a sheet of white, the board gives passers-by the chance to mess up a blank skyline.

(Image Source: Murray Fredericks, http://altfotonet.org/blog/2010/05/23/FredericksMSalt236.jpg)

Forgive the badly drawn cityscape, but you get the idea...

Scale is important in both versions of this artwork - the bigger the board, the larger the canvas and ability for collaboration and intricate drawings, but the invasiveness of the installation also increased. With a smaller board, the invasiveness is lessened, but so is the visual impact and artistic potential.

Artwork Proposal #1: Vacant Block/Pool

So, for the first of my proposed artworks I chose to go with the empty block/pool I documented earlier.

I chose to use this site for my artwork because it was such a generic representation of an 'empty site', so I felt I could work with the contextual assumptions of this site to my advantage.

I considered the element of negative space that the empty pool represented - perhaps filling the pool would be enough to change the site considerably, but with what?

Also, how does the empty pool interact with the environment around it. Does it 'fit' better in the vacant block in it's empty state?

I set out to alter the pool's surroundings in order to give the pool the centre stage and highlight it's 'emptiness'.

By replacing the land surrounding the pool with water, it becomes instantly unrecognisable as a pool. Because, to us, a pool is either filled with water, or awaiting it's filling (as is seen in the original image), the water which surrounds the empty pool is more obvious than the 'intended' water which is represented by the empty volume, creating confusion as well as interest in the observer.

I then decided to further strengthen this this role-reversal between the empty pool and it's surroundings.

By filling the pool with 'land', it loses all identity as a pool - the land becomes pool, and the pool becomes land.

So, in order to retain some of the pool's original 'pool-ness' I included a diving board and ladder, items which with we associate together as a singular entity (a pool) rather than considering them each as individual objects, although they obviously are individual objects.

An anti-pool.

Empty Site #10: Fridge

Similiar to the wallet in that it can serve as a representation of a socio-economic state, the fridge's emptiness does not go unnoticed, as an empty fridge is a culturally recognised 'bad' state- that is, if a fridge is empty, the status quo dictates that it must be filled.

Does an empty fridge have more to say than a full fridge? What about a fridge filled with several identical items? Would you consider a fridge with a single item inside an 'empty' fridge? How many items before it becomes 'non-empty'?

Empty Site #9: Bed

Similiar to the chair as an empty site, a bed's 'emptiness' comes from our assignment of the word 'empty' to describe an unnocupied bed. Is a bed still 'empty' if it has an object in the same negative space as a person would occupy?

Also, the size of a bed does not affect how much of an object (or how many people) must be in the bed for it to be considered 'not-empty' (rather than full), i.e one person on a huge bed is just as 'not-empty' as one person on a tiny bed.

Empty Site #8: Drawer

The drawer is another site which derives it's use from it's emptiness, as the scale of it's emptiness is directly proportiante to it's usefullness, given that it's sole purpose is for storage.

Also noteworthy is the fact that a drawer is a site, within a site, within a site - a drawer, within a desk, within a room. Would changing one of these affect all sites, or only the site that was changed? How many objects must be in the drawer for it to no longer be 'empty'? If you saw a drawer with a single pencil in it, would you consider it empty? If not, what would you consider it?

Empty Site #7: Chair

The chair, in it's many sizes and forms, can be, in linguistic terms, defined as 'empty' when it is not occupied by a person. It's 'emptiness' is not simply a manifestation of negative space as is seen in many of the other sites - only when a person sits in the chair can we, in hindsight, observe the negative space and 'emptiness' of the chair.

Empty Site #6: Website

 

A literal interpretation of an empty site, www.empty.com is both a site about emptiness (if the name means anything), and a blank, empty website that is under construction.

What would a web user expect to find on a website with the name 'empty.com'?

Empty Site #5: Dryer

An interesting thing I have noticed when contemplating these empty sites, in particular those which serve a purpose only periodically rather than all the time, is that these empty sites seem to frame a waste of space that could be used for something useful in the interim as it goes unused - perhaps representative of the luxury of abundant free space that we take for granted in the First World.

The dryer is another one of such sites which is emptier for longer periods of time than it is when full. Outside of in a household, dryers exist mainly in laundromats - an example of a site-within-a-site, but outside of a laundromat it loses it's site-relevance.

Empty Site #4: Pool

A block under construction with an empty pool in the backyard.

Size/scale - how would you interpret a big house with a small pool vs. a small house with a big pool?

Is the pool there for utilitarian purposes, or just aesthetics? Do you need a pool so close to your house?

The frame of the pool for now almost represents the negative space of a house, hollowed out underground rather than a hollow structure above ground.

Empty Site #3: Bin

A smaller version of what is a commonly seen empty site - the bin.

The bin as a site relies on it's ephemeral emptiness, completing a cycle from empty to full periodically. Is a bin still a bin when it's empty, or only when it is storing rubbish? Could it still be considered a bin if it were filled with something other than rubbish?

Scale and placement, that is, the bin's location and size, can be viewed as directly relative to the bin's emptiness or 'fullness'. Does an empty bin mean a clean household, a lack of desire to dispose of 'rubbish', or even a strong recycling initiative? Does a larger bin mean a larger yield of rubbish, or over-compensation or an inaccurate prediction of rubbish output?

Empty Site #2: Wallet

The second of my empty sites is, unfortunately, my wallet.

Another example of a 'site-within-a-site', the empty wallet is as much a socio-economic symbol, representative of the 'poverty-stricken student', as a site itself. Scale is important - a larger empty wallet might indicate what has been, or what will be.

A wallet, in it's most general usage, exists to carry money - would filling this site with another object change the interpretation, and in turn, the meaning of the wallet? Do people perceive a wallet differently depending on the size of the notes inside? Does the empty wallet say more about the person as an individual, or can it be used to represent society on a broader economic scale?

What about the placement of the wallet? Does an empty wallet tell a different story when found in different locations, or does it have more depth when viewed out of context?

Empty Site #1: Whiteboard

The whiteboard is such an example of a site-within-a-site. The whiteboard is empty, and serves as both an object within a site, and a site itself - although it is not specific in that it 'must' be present within a particular site, although such locations exist in which a whiteboard has a different context, and as such, serves a slightly different purpose, eg. in a classroom vs. in an art gallery etc.

The site of the board itself opens up possibilities to a variety of ephemeral works when used individually, irregardless of the boards physical location, as well as opportunities for the board to exist as an empty site within a site.

It's interesting to note that the ephemeral nature of the Whiteboard as a site is one of it's most important features - it allows for collaboration and turns it into a very social art installation, as well as allowing for change, editing and new projects, representing an infinite number of possibilities.

Documentation of Empty Sites

For my next task I was entrusted with finding and documenting 10 empty sites. In finding these sites, I considered what exactly entails an 'empty site' - what makes a site empty, ephermeral emptiness vs. permanent emptiness, and empty sites within sites (empty or otherwise).

Site

Consideration of site, placement and scale often lead to interesting and unique art projects and installations.

'Site-specific' art can be simply an art installation in a location or site that is relevant in some way to the installation itself.

“OCEANOMANIA: Souvenirs of Mysterious Seas, from the expedition to the aquarium” - Mark Dion

'[The artworks] show different aspects relating to our understanding of the sea and the ocean. They focus on the ocean not only as a site for exploration and discovery but also as a site where there is often unregulated and invisible human labor and exchange and where the marvelous aquatic life and mineral resources are often neglectfully exploited.'

In any other location, this installation would produce a more 'novel' response, but by presenting the collection in an aquarium, the artist provokes a deeper and more direct response to the material in the context of sea exploration and presentation – what an aquarium is all about.

-

When considering site, placement and scale in an artwork, the artist must think about the artwork in relation to the site – how large is the site vs. how large is the artwork (scale), which specific area of the site will best present, compliment, juxtapose or frame the artwork (placement), as well as the traits of the site as a whole; the use, or disuse of the site, physical attributes and size of the site as well as the multi-contextual meanings and interpretations of the site.

(Site reference - http://www.moussemagazine.it/blog/?p=12563)

Empty Sites

Here are the of the 10 'empty sites' I had to document. More detail and explanation to follow.

Research-Bucket Integration

Below are some of the examples of the way I have integrated my bucket into the topic of my previous research, Light Painting.

Buckets made of light:

Light-Filled Buckets:

A first attempt, but a result nontheless.

Research: Light Painting

For our next task, we were asked to research 'something'. So, as a 'something' I've been meaning to look into for a while, I chose to research Light Painting, a type of long-exposure photography that involves using light sources to 'paint' words or patterns on an image. As the shutter is held open for a long period of time, light is 'burnt' into the frame and trails remain visible when the shutter closes and the image is processed.

(Rendez Vous - Light painting by Christopher Hibbert)

Through my research I learnt how to 'paint' with light in an image:

• Shoot in a dark room or at night
• Set the shutter speed of the camera to match a little longer than how long it takes to 'paint' the image
•  Set a shutter countdown and position yourself in front of the camera.
• Once the shutter is open, aim the light source towards the camera, and move it in brushstrokes, 'painting' the image.
• Wait until the shutter closes and check the finished product on the camera.
• Post-process in Photoshop, if needed. 

Use #10: Hourglass

By drilling a small hole in the bottom of the bucket and filling it with a litre of sand, water or some other substance which will steadily stream out of the hole, and measuring how much time it takes for the litre to be emptied from the bucket, a fairly reliable hourglass can be created.

Use #9: Hot Air Balloon

By attaching a large cloth balloon to the bucket along with a source of heat, a hot air balloon can be created, utilising the bucket as the basket.