Insights and Inspiration
Skillsets: Current and aspirational
My plans for this year were to increase my digital/technical skills and develop more large scale, interactive installations. I have worked with elements of light and projection mapping previously, but I want to push this further, learning to programme lights and sensors into my work. I have also been working with purely online pieces, which considering everything might lend itself to even more potential than I could have initially imagined.
I am currently partaking in several online courses, to expand my (quite minimal) knowledge of coding and programming.
These courses include:
- Introduction to HTML, CSS, and JavaScript
- Experimental JavaScript and Typography for the web
- Art + Code
- Interactive Media art with lights and sensors
- LED programming with Arduino
I feel that, to a large extent, my inexperience in the fields I am delving into, is actually a positive thing, as I do not feel held back by knowledge of what “can” and “can’t” be done. There are no limits to my imagination of what I can do with these technologies, as I genuinely do not know them. This creates an interesting mix of feeling complete freedom of expression, as well as being very limited in my immediate skillset.
Observation
Planning and Documenting
I will plan out a schedule for my online courses, to make sure I stick with them and to help avoid burn out. I have tried to spread out the purely digital courses and the hands-on courses and mix them with time to read and external activities.
As it is many new areas I am diving into, I feel it is very important to not over saturate my brain with too many inputs, and I try and stick to one online course a day, giving this my full attention, opposed to skipping between disciplines and coding languages.
The digital nature of my work fits well into the blog format and I will be documenting my process using posts, sketchbooks, short videos, and photographs.
I have been using Instagram to both document my work process, finished works, small explorations and side projects, as well as a platform for collaboration with other artists and students.
Reflection
Communication of ideas and processes / Presentation of outcomes
For my work I have been researching memories and time, the philosophies, physics, biology behind the cognitive and the quantitive. The conversations between neurons when recalling memories, the mind serving as an a actor, performing the memories though gestures in the mind, experiencing time vs. perceptions of time clocks computer time thinking of hours minutes seconds, digital memories, collective cyber conciousness.
I am planning an idea for an installation, the technical components of which I am working on learning now, that would involve creating a round tent like brainspace, which would serve as a kind of memory board, collecting aspects of different memories and placing them around the space. The memories can then be hightlighted when touched, though lines of lights like neurons shooting to the chosen memory.
As the physical works which I want to produce will require a lot of construction and large quantities of LEDs, sensors, and external power sources, I am working with maquettes and smaller scale paper models. I also want to work with digital sketches and potentially 3D modeling.
