Line Describing a Cone

Anthony McCall's take on the use of film and projection in art was very fascinating to read about. Using the projector itself becoming the focal point of an installation/film piece was an interesting idea, and although I would have had a better understanding if I were to see the installation in person, from the way he described it in the reading, he executed that idea superbly.

I would have liked to see Four Projected Movements in person the most, because it would be so cool to enter the projecting field, and to be seemingly trapped in a beam of light. I feel like in the future we can have monumental scientific uses for these projections; instead of studying the 2D projection on a flat surface, scientists and researchers could use the beam of light itself to form holograms (like Katherine pointed out), which would help give a model understanding of their subject of study.

Line Describing a Cone

The idea of film moving beyond the traditional two-dimensional format and occupying actual space reminds me of the holograms they use in Star Wars for communication.

In a way, you could almost think of McCall’s piece as sculptural. Although the substance of it is merely projected light, the form still commands a sort of presence that causes the viewers to respond and move around the space consciously. The limits of film as a medium are really only those you set on yourself.  It remains extremely manipulatable and blurs the categorical lines of 2D and 3D art. 

Line Describing a Flim

The series of works described in this reading sounded really innovative and engaging. The idea of looking at, not what is project, but the stream of light being projected seems like a unique idea that hadn't really been addressed before. However it also seems like something that could only be fully appreciated if seen in real life. The diagrams in the reading were not very easy to understand and did not convey to me at least what it looks like in real life. However it seems like there is a lot there could be do with this idea. The beam of light is almost a new medium halfway between a flat picture and 3d space. I'm not quite sure how this fits in with sound installation but I guess you could apply the same kind of thinking in order to use sound in a new way.

Sound Art/Installation Examples

Hi everyone. Welcome back. Here are a few videos that we're going to view in class and you can return to them here if you like.

Anthony McCall - "Line Describing a Cone" at the Tate



Anthony McCall's more recent work



Documentation of someone "preparing" a piano for one of John Cage's Sonatas



John Cage explaining Silence and Space



John Cage's Indeterminacy



Christian Marclay mini doc

Hot and Cold

I thought the concept of hot and cold media types was very interesting. An example of hot media, such as the radio, or cold media such as the televison because one is interactive and one is not is a radical idea that implements different types of media.But what I really thought was the most attention grabbing in this reading was what Margaret Mead had to say about the different media types. She said "We can program twenty more hours of TV in South Africa next week to cool down the tribal temperature raised by the radio last week". Here the reader can really tell the difference between cold and hot and how these different medias affect the listener or viewer. This is especially significant because different art mediums, no matter what the medium can affect the viewer. Just as a painting or video can change a viewers emotion or mood, the television and radio can do the same. This is where the radio and television, both as a hot and cold media, make an art medium.

Hot and Cold Media

            I had a difficult time following this article. It seems like an abstract theory that some guy came up with to describe media experience-- either hot or cold. He explains hot medium is an extension and advancement of something generic or “cold”. He says that hot media is high definition. In other words it is well filled with data. I do not really follow with his explanations and labels that he gives to mediums. The author states: “cool medium like hieroglyphic or ideogrammic written characters has very different effects from the hot and explosive medium of the phonetic alphabet”. I feel like his sentences are his subconscious thoughts and epiphanies written down in an article. I do agree that different mediums have different effects on viewers. However, I believe that you can’t name an experience because this is up to the individual. Perhaps someone thinks of a medium as big or small, black or white, or maybe thinks of nothing. Because he uses such broad titles like “hot” and “cold” to describe media experience, he may seem close to a theory since these two adjectives can encompass so many different attitudes. I, however, do not think that you can accurately calculate a media as hot or cold. Different people understand media differently, and from anther point of view, I will say that say I don’t agree or follow with his “theory”. As reliable information I would say this article is bogus, but as an abstract piece of writing I do think that his thoughts are very interesting and unique