Split Screen Tests

This week I have been focusing on experiments with split screens in my video projects. At first I had thought about incorporating one screen that contained words and another that displayed images, but then I started to try out a video that had overlapping imagery and how this mirroring reflects my ideas. The vertical lines that I display side-by-side reference the differences that result when one describes the same thing in separate languages. I heavily drew from Ludwig Wittgenstein's theories concerning language use, specifically how speakers must agree upon specific units of meaning in order for any language to function. By mirroring images of blinds, I showcase how the same object can be perceived differently, even if those differences are slight. I also referenced the ability of language to communicate things beyond what is literally said when I placed a shot of the sun and blinds side by side. Each image informs the other and this diptych reflects the meanings that can be derived from saying something like "the weather is nice today" or "you don't need your umbrella." These phrases do not translate literally to the imagery on the screen, but they do allude to clear skies and the start of a new day.

I took some feedback I received during the group show into consideration with this project that made me see the imagery of closed blinds as barriers that could make people feel trapped. After reflecting on this perspective, I thought the split screen effect would add an element of enclosure that alludes to the idea of language as inhibitor. I think this imagery works because it represents the limitations that we unknowingly experience in our day to day lives. Although I still want to maintain a meditative aspect to the video, I also know it is important to address the idea of language barriers and whether even the language one speaks can act as a barrier itself. 

Image and Sound

This past week I produced a refined video utilizing old and new imagery and an updated version of the poem in the "Philosophy of Language" post. 

In this new video I attempted to employ the ideas that I have researched and worked with throughout the semester, especially those of philosopher Ludwig Wittgenstein. In my video piece I reflect on Wittgenstein's idea of imagined autonomy and how speakers of a language must accept meaning in order for the language to be effective. I utilize words that do are not reflected literally through the piece but instead are meant to evoke a reflective view of language. Through the language utilized in the video, speaking not of windows and drapery but instead of a constant coming and going of day and night, I showcase how language can expand upon what it literally communicates. 

Philosophy of Voice

This week I researched the effect of sound in language. I came across the article "Voice in Philosophy," which talked about the influence of sound in human voices. Phenomenologically speaking, voices are simultaneously individual and communal. Although every voice is unique and cannot be replicated, each is also embedded with an uncanny trace of other voices that flow alongside it within a single current. It also pointed out that voice is distinct from language because it functions as an index that goes beyond what can be described by language. However, it is also "dependent on language, colored by language, and points to the taking place of language" (Waldenfels 1993, 65). This is important to my own practice because I am now working with my own voice as part of my piece. If I examine the different ways the voice itself is perceived based on whether or not a viewer can understand it, I think I can work with the audio in my video piece in a more effective manner.

In terms of my own practice I have mostly been trying to refine my video piece and am experimenting with ways of making a tactile piece. I am thinking of how different mediums can represent different representations brought about by language. I wonder whether a piece containing mediums like watercolor, acrylic, and charcoal would work cohesively.

Philosophy of Language

This week I conducted mostly general research on my topic. I ended up reading an article titled "The Philosophy of Language" which contained an overview of philosophical theories that have examined language and language use. One of the most intriguing portions of the article discussed speech act theory, in which philosophers viewed sentences as "tools for doing things, including a taxonomy of uses to which pieces of the language could be put" (The Philosophy of Language).

“Semantic information pertains to linguistic expressions (such as words and sentences), while pragmatic information pertains to utterances and the facts surrounding them.  The study of pragmatics thus includes no attention to features like truth or the reference of words and expressions, but it does include attention to information about the context in which a speaker made the utterance and how those conditions allow the speaker to express one proposition rather than another.”

The article used the phrase "it is sunny outside" to demonstrate the various meanings that can result from a single phrase. "It is sunny outside" not only acts as an observation of the weather, but it also lets the listener know that they won't need an umbrella, even though this is not what the phrase literally means.  Language is thus able to convey information beyond its literal meaning.

I think this article is useful to think about as I continue to work on my video pieces. I have thought about saying a phrase like "it is sunny outside" and then showing imagery like a basketball, an umbrella stowed away, or a summer outfit to show the plethora of meanings that a single phrase can conjure up. I think that through this, I would be able to explore one aspect of language that makes it so complex.

In terms of my own studio work, this week I have mostly focused on video projects/studies. I also decided to write a poem in order to link the meanings of the phrases I use in my video and to have better flow in the audio.  

English Translation: 

                                  The morning welcomes the tomorrow

                                  Within those instances arrives the desire to imitate

                                  The bodies that float in the sky

                                  Their lives, calm, that calm

                                  Soft in the sky

                                  In a dream that condemns them to disappear

                                  Like restless children that accompany the son

                                  And the moon

                                  That lulls them

                                  Guiding them through the celestial lights

                                  Their deaths and reincarnations

                                  Guide, in turn, the world

                                  From a past

                                  That they transform into future

                                  The unknown

                                  The morning welcomes the tomorrow

I did find one instance during this process to be of some interest. In one section of this poem, I described clouds as restless children. After I compared the clouds in the sky (feminine nouns) to children (masculine nouns), I realized that even though I was still referring to the clouds, I referred to them in masculine form, since I was using the metaphor of a child to describe them. I think this reveals an interesting way that language fluctuates and shifts.

In Pursuit of Digital Media

This week I researched the philosophy of digital media and I continued to experiment with different Spanish phrases. I also researched different foreign words that do not have an English or Spanish equivalent. Even though it is significant for me to focus on languages that I understand and have personal experience with, I think it is also important to display the importance of considering my framework through examining languages other than English or Spanish. I want my viewers to take time to consider the intricacies of every language.

Since I am planning to explore digital media and how I can use this medium to bring all my ideas together, I decided to research the philosophies that surround digital art. I wanted to explore the philosophies around it because I think it is extremely important to incorporate the medium's purpose alongside the work's framework. I found an article that discussed the philosophy of digital art and it mostly focused on interactivity and visual presentation. One of the most interesting points from the article mentioned that unlike traditional art making methods, digital art pieces are just one version of many that could have been produced, and as such, exemplify how that one version was carefully selected from a vast array of other options. In other words, a digital art piece forces the viewer to consider the choices and circumstances that brought the presented version into existence. I think this relates to language because a lot of what we know because of it is by chance. We could have been born into a society in which multilingualism is the norm, or a community that uses a different writing system that would cause us to see the written form of our language in a different way.

In terms of my own work, this week I made a video draft of what I would like to have playing beside a screen of fluctuating words and phrases. I tried to use imagery that encouraged a contemplative state of mind and I used audio that I thought would encourage my viewers to immerse themselves in the experience.

Inspiration through Video

This week I mainly worked with video since I haven't been able to experiment with this approach at all. I did some research in order to gather inspiration from other video artists and I ended up stumbling upon the work of Yorgo Alexopoulos. The work in his exhibition Transmigrations immediately caught my eye because of the color schemes and its unique format. 

 Images © Yorgo Alexopoulos

I also found myself responding to symbols such as the large red/pink circle behind triangular shapes, which instantly reminded me of Japanese art and its characteristic minimalism. I also immediately thought of the country's flag, and these associations reminded me of semiotics and how this ability to recognize symbols relates to language.

At first, I planned to solely focus on the aesthetics of certain video projects because I felt uninspired with respect to my own work. However, after discovering Alexopoulos's work and reading more about it, I feel greatly inspired to pursue something like this. In his installations, the artist creates an immersive experience by combining different mediums within the video, specifically paintings, drawings, video footage, and found images. I have personally wanted to produce a mixed media project since the beginning, and I think that exploring this artist's work would give me an invaluable source of inspiration.

In terms of my own studio practice, this past week I recorded Spanish phrases that I want to work with later on. I wrote down anything and everything that came to mind in order to have a lot of material to experiment with. As I examined what I came up with this week, I noticed that since I am working with language, I can use that to my advantage and work with different creative formats like poetry. After looking at the work in Yorgo Alexopoulos's Transmigrations exhibition, I wonder whether it would be worthwhile to consider having two separate video pieces: one with the imagery and the other with the text, both simultaneously shifting and responding to each other.

The Hyperreal

This week I was intrigued by French philosopher Jean Baudrillard and his ideas of the hyperreal. I thought that examining those aspects of our lives that provide ideals of reality relates closely with what I am studying about language. Both have to do with instances of objects that are meaningful only because we give them meaning. 

"Baudrillard, following Barthes and others, argued that fashion, sports, the media, and other modes of signification also produced systems of meaning articulated by specific rules, codes, and logics."

"The realm of the hyperreal (e.g., media simulations of reality, Disneyland and amusement parks, malls and consumer fantasylands, TV sports, and other excursions into ideal worlds) is more real than real, whereby the models, images, and codes of the hyperreal come to control thought and behavior."

Baudrillard's theories made me think of language as something that could also be considered to be part of that hyperrealistic realm. These ideas relate to my own questions about the impact of language on thought. I wonder whether or not languages limit us just as much as they allow us to effectively express ourselves to other people. In order to navigate through our world, we attach meaning to the languages that help us communicate with each other. But does this mean that the truth language makes of reality becomes more "real" than what it actually is?