Choose 3 terms from the list and define them in terms of concepts / ideas presented in Lev Manovich’s essay, Understanding Hybrid Media.
- motion graphics – “animated non narrative sequences that appear as parts of longer pieces.” I interpret the clip shown in class of Jeremy Blake’s punch drunk love to be a motion graphic.
- variable form – Manovich described variable form as it applies to Ann Lislegaard’s work, Bellona, in particular- how it shifts so slightly through the use of colour and ambiance that you are not sure if it is a new room or a place you have been before. Essentially, the same form can be reused, but shifted in a way that it seems new.
- metalanguage – “numerous grammars and styles” essentially a conglomeration of styles which form their own language. Styles which, when combined, turn into something different, something new.
Choose two of the artists that Manovich discusses in this article and write a short synopsis of their work and why you like it.
Jeremy Blake
Winchester Redux, by Jeremy Blake from AKTIONSART on Vimeo.
Jeremy Blake’s Winchester Redux is unsettling, violent, sinister, and spooky. It is an emotional journey of a non tangible narrative. The sound contributes to the anxious mood, as well as the way the images/paintings come in and out of focus. Farther along, we start to be able to make out some ghostly shapes, shapes of men with guns, alluding to Sarah Winchester’s story. The fuschias and reds are reminiscent of gunshot wounds, the pain of the haunters of Sarah Winchester’s house. Much of the film is out of focus, giving it an ethereal quality, blending one motif into the next. Suddenly, we are in the house, one of the spirits. There is an otherworldly narrative going on, that I don’t totally understand, but also think that I am not supposed to totally understand.
Ann Lislegaard
Ann Lislegaard’s work, Crystal World, is all about space and transformation. The lighting and shifts in perspective morph the work from one kind of space into something else- from an interior space to an exterior space, to an internal space to external space. The transitions are smooth and gradual, so that you aren’t really sure when the shift happens. There is a lot of room for personal interpretation, much agency given to the viewer in much of the film, except in specific moments when the audience is snapped into certain spaces which cannot be mistaken. Mentally, it is a sporadic shift, although not in the visual transition.
Digital Sketchbook 