Often we metaphorically use words or concepts involving fluid, water, etc. to describe both thought and time: We refer to a “Stream of Consciousness,” or “Torrent of Ideas,” and can say things such as “Thoughts flowed onto the page.” Furthermore, time has often been measured and understood by the movement and properties of water, specifically with regards to tides, “wet season/dry season,” and the apparent “ebb and flow” of time. In my own work, I would like to use this to explore the relationship between water, space, and change. While making the video, I specifically became interested in using water spatially as point, line, and plane.
In the video posted, the water of the fountain establishes a rhythm, or measure of time, metering the other portions of the film. The fountain is located outside of the Brooklyn Museum, and as a public space, is pretty well used: on weekends, the fountain is often lined by children, and the plaza around it is often occupied by skateboarders. At the beginning of the film, skateboarders jumping, and the sounds that followed, were placed next to the fountain, also jumping and making noise. After the opening sequence, a small stream and waterfall, found in Prospect Park, creates a constant sound, and also shows water moving from a horizontal to vertical plane. This scene then fades into footage that I took outside of a mosque in Bangladesh over the summer, and shows another, contrasting situation where people gather around water, and, in this case, use it ritualistically. This contrast as well as the fade in and out of footage was meant to correspond to an idea of fluidity in association that occurs while thinking about a certain place, topic, or condition. Over the footage of Bangladesh, the rhythm of the fountain is maintained, then the fountain itself returns.
The first intervention of the film is carved into the base of the fountain, stepping down so one would be at eye level with the existing ground, and the moment at which the vertical line of water moves to become a horizontal plane. The film then fades into water lapping up against a broken slab of concrete, offering another rhythm of sound, and a softer interaction between water and a hard surface (as a side note, Marc had suggested looking at this and the rest of the film in terms of the way that water can affect other materials, eroding them, breaking them, etc.). Fading back into the fountain, a closer look at the bottom of the jet shows this transition from point, to line, to plane clearly and dramatically. Here, the second intervention is shown as a series of channels carved into the stone, redirecting the water as it hits the ground.
The final footage is shown from the ground, looking straight at the curb bordering the fountain, and at the water jets beyond. Here, the third intervention shows a situation similar to the first, where a channel could redirect the water, moving it back to a kind of horizontal line.
Moving forward, I have to deal more with the actual experience of these events, first hand, and to move toward a language more specifically based on the idea of space constructed with water, and change demonstrated through this.
Before making the video, I looked specifically at Tarkovsky’s “Nostalghia,” and his use of camera movemet across thresholds and along edges. Also, I analyzed Robert Smithson’s “Half-Buried Shed,” and the way that corners and imminent collapse.
3 comments:
Thought as Fluid/Time as Fluid
Michael Toste
Often we metaphorically use words or concepts involving fluid, water, etc. to describe both thought and time: We refer to a “Stream of Consciousness,” or “Torrent of Ideas,” and can say things such as “Thoughts flowed onto the page.” Furthermore, time has often been measured and understood by the movement and properties of water, specifically with regards to tides, “wet season/dry season,” and the apparent “ebb and flow” of time. In my own work, I would like to use this to explore the relationship between water, space, and change. While making the video, I specifically became interested in using water spatially as point, line, and plane.
In the video posted, the water of the fountain establishes a rhythm, or measure of time, metering the other portions of the film. The fountain is located outside of the Brooklyn Museum, and as a public space, is pretty well used: on weekends, the fountain is often lined by children, and the plaza around it is often occupied by skateboarders. At the beginning of the film, skateboarders jumping, and the sounds that followed, were placed next to the fountain, also jumping and making noise. After the opening sequence, a small stream and waterfall, found in Prospect Park, creates a constant sound, and also shows water moving from a horizontal to vertical plane. This scene then fades into footage that I took outside of a mosque in Bangladesh over the summer, and shows another, contrasting situation where people gather around water, and, in this case, use it ritualistically. This contrast as well as the fade in and out of footage was meant to correspond to an idea of fluidity in association that occurs while thinking about a certain place, topic, or condition. Over the footage of Bangladesh, the rhythm of the fountain is maintained, then the fountain itself returns.
The first intervention of the film is carved into the base of the fountain, stepping down so one would be at eye level with the existing ground, and the moment at which the vertical line of water moves to become a horizontal plane. The film then fades into water lapping up against a broken slab of concrete, offering another rhythm of sound, and a softer interaction between water and a hard surface (as a side note, Marc had suggested looking at this and the rest of the film in terms of the way that water can affect other materials, eroding them, breaking them, etc.). Fading back into the fountain, a closer look at the bottom of the jet shows this transition from point, to line, to plane clearly and dramatically. Here, the second intervention is shown as a series of channels carved into the stone, redirecting the water as it hits the ground.
The final footage is shown from the ground, looking straight at the curb bordering the fountain, and at the water jets beyond. Here, the third intervention shows a situation similar to the first, where a channel could redirect the water, moving it back to a kind of horizontal line.
Moving forward, I have to deal more with the actual experience of these events, first hand, and to move toward a language more specifically based on the idea of space constructed with water, and change demonstrated through this.
Before making the video, I looked specifically at Tarkovsky’s “Nostalghia,” and his use of camera movemet across thresholds and along edges. Also, I analyzed Robert Smithson’s “Half-Buried Shed,” and the way that corners and imminent collapse.
I think there's a problem with the video...Re-encoding it...
Yeah...there's no audio in the second half...It may take a little while to re-encode, but I'm working on it.
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