From where you stand
a visual immersive experience about perspective by clarenz posadas
Artist Statement
“From Where You Stand” is a visual immersive experience about perspective. Throughout my whole life I've always felt smaller than other people around me because of my physical height. Though I don’t have the power to control my height, I realized I was in control on my outlook on life. Stepping back and changing how I looked at things helped me open my eyes to see that looking at something at a much smaller scale, height and everything else in between, becomes irrelevant in that nature. Your perspective changes from where you stand.
I wanted to create an immersive environment that would stimulate the viewers through audio and visual elements. My purpose is to shrink and expand the viewer’s perspective. I want to take viewers on a journey showing three different types of perspectives: worm’s-eye view, point of view, and bird’s-eye view. Each of of these perspectives plays a crucial role in order for my project to make an impact on the viewer. The purpose of the worm’s-eye view footage is to influence the viewer to feel exceedingly tiny due to the towering visuals. The point of view footage is meant to display an outlook that is all too familiar. Then lastly, the bird’s-eye view footage is to sway the viewer to feel enormous with the visuals that make the environment microscopic.
Prior proposal for project
For my BFA DMA senior exhibition for Fall semester 2016, I want to create a freestanding hallow immersive cube shaped structure/sculpture, roughly about seven feet tall. This structure will be a vessel for viewers to stick their head into to view a 360 degree projected video experience of various content. I want to base my video content around the concept of scale and perspective. Placed in an accessible position, there will be a box with three different buttons that will correspond to different perspective options. The first button will allow the viewer to view the world from an ant’s perspective. For example, tall blades of grass or flowers will surround the viewer. The third button will allow the user to view the world from high above, making the viewer feel like a giant. The middle button will allow the user to view the world from a more familiar perspective which will contain every daylife situations that are to normal scale. I would also like to incorporate the ambient noises from the environments that I will present. The purpose of my BFA show is to provide different perspectives on viewing the existing world around us. Everything can be interpreted differently, but depending from where you stand, your perspective changes.
I plan to construct a hallow cube structure/sculpture out of transparent spandex material, wooden dowels, and 3D printed connectors. The overall basic shape would be best a hallow cube with no base. I want to suspend the hallow cube with metal wires. I plan to laser cut and fabricate a box that houses the three different buttons. The buttons will have light up LEDs attracting viewers to press them. I will have two projectors placed on the top corners of the room opposite of each other. With the help of a projection mapping program such as HeavyM or VPT, I will map project my video content onto the egg shaped structure. The spandex material being semi-translucent will allow the video content to be viewed from the outside of the structure as well inside of the structure. The structure can stand alone and be viewed as a sculpture or it can be interacted with to create an immersive experience.
Mock up of the project in the gallery
Research paper
For my BFA project, I plan to construct a cube structure that will be suspended. The overall basic shape would be a hollow cube with no base. The cube will be constructed with wooden dowels and 3D printed corners and connectors. The structure will be about four feet off of the ground. I will have two projectors placed on the top corners of the room opposite of each other. With the help of a projection mapping program called MadMapper, which will allow me to map project my video content onto the cube shaped structure. I plan to shoot in different perspectives allowing and inviting the viewers to be immersed. The fabric I plan on using will be white spandex which will be translucent and will allow the video content to be viewed from the outside of the structure as well inside of the structure. The structure can stand alone and be viewed as a sculpture or it can be interacted with to create an immersive experience.
Virtual Reality is a computer generated simulation of three-dimensional images or environments that can be experienced through headsets with displays or screens inside. Virtual reality has already made waves in the technology and art world. The use of frames act as windows; allowing individuals to view an experience through different perspectives. VR is a highly experiential medium, it enables the viewer to feel present within their surroundings, making them feel more connected. People would consider VR to be the actual medium, but in actuality, one’s consciousness is the medium. VR would not have been made possible if it weren’t for the creative minds of photographers, cinematographers, artists, sculptors, and so on.
One of the first artists that greatly influenced me to create my project was Montien Boonma, a Thai artist and sculptor. Boonma is known for his art installations and sculptures. His work consists of traditional substances which include: herbs, spices, waxes, steel, and industrial materials. Boonma’s art installations are inviting and allow viewers to engage in an experience to use all their senses. Montien Boonma was the main influence on my project because he offers curiosity to his audience. I liked how his sculptures were something a viewer can experience from the outside as well as the inside. Most of his sculptures were free standing pieces which viewers were allowed to stick their heads into to experience the piece from within. I drew inspiration from his free standing sculptures. I wanted to create a piece that people can interact with and be a part of. Hence, I wanted to make a hanging cube that people can walk around and go underneath as well. His sculptures highly influenced the overall appearance for my project. Seeing Boonma’s sculptures had me wondering if I could push a free standing, experiential piece further and make it my own. With that being said, it brings me to my next artist of influence.
The second artist that I drew influence from was Yannick Jacquet, a projection mapping artist from Brussels, Belgium. Projection mapping is a key tool that Yannick Jacquet utilizes in most of his work. He is one of the founders of a visual label by the name of Antivj. Antivj is a collaboration of of European artists whose work consists of projection mapping, art installations, and live performances. They are a group of artists intrigued by projected light and its influence of our perception During the summer of 2015, I was fortunate enough to take a course with CSU Summer Arts at CSU Monterey Bay, where Yannick Jacquet taught about projection mapping. The most important idea that I learned from Yannick is that projection mapping is not the art, it is a platform to display or show one’s art. That resonated with me because it made me realize that projection mapping is all about the conceptual creative side and that content is crucial. Learning about projection mapping from a extremely talented artist like Yannick influenced me to want to incorporate it into my BFA show. I know I wanted to incorporate projection mapping into my project, but I did not know what the content would be. The next artist I will go into will explain my influence for the visual content of my project.
My main creative outlet used to be photography but it became to static for me. I wanted to branch out and find a more visually pleasing medium that I can incorporate photography with, that’s when video and film came to mind. I think that photography and video share common threads which made it easy to progress into. I was able to take photography principles and rules and integrate them into my transitioning into video/film. I’m still drawn to photographers for influence and inspiration. One of my main influences when it comes to photography is Jared Chambers. He is an Los Angeles based freelance photographer who specializes in commercial, portrait, and landscape photography. Looking at Jared Chamber’s photography makes me want to go out and explore and be outdoors. His work makes me want to visit the places he visited and shot. Jared’s influence on my project is the simple idea of exploring the world around us and taking photos to document it. Jared's main influence contributed to the way I shot and composed my shots for my visuals. But as a mentioned before photography became quite static and I wanted more. That is when video and film caught my attention.
Stuart Dryburgh is one of my favorite cinematographers. He was in charge of the cinematography in the movie The Secret Life of Walter Mitty. I saw this film before I even knew I wanted to get dabble with video and film. This movie resonated with me so much because of the cinematography. The shots in the movie were very powerful and visually satisfying. Composition and light are very important key factors when either taking pictures or filming video. Dryburgh's style has heavily influenced how I shoot and compose my scenes for my videos and films.
At first I didn’t know exactly what I wanted to show as far as content goes for my project, but having a strong background in photography, I know I wanted to make it visually pleasing. I started to look at my photography and I noticed that I liked to shoot to show scale in an environment. When I shoot for scale, it is just a reminder of how small human beings actually are in the world. Thinking about shooting for scale brought up the idea of perspective. I dug deeper into the idea of perspective and got inspired to create a VR project about perspective. Face virtual reality is a more restricted in terms of what you look at. Of course face headsets like Google Cardboard or the Oculus Rift will offer the viewer a different environment to experience but choosing what you look at and how you look at it is very limited. Cube VR gives you freedom to move around and look up closely to the art piece.
After thoughts
After successfully curating a solo BFA show, I have received plenty of feedback on my project. One of the comments that resonated with me was when someone told me that, "being inside the cube was overwhelming" and I asked if that was a good or bad feeling. He answered with, "Well, anytime you make anybody feeling any type of emotion being good or bad, I think the work is successful." It made a lot of sense to me and it made realize how right he was about art in general. Any time you can make anybody feel anything with your art, that is a step in the right direction. People were surprised when they saw people in the cube and were excited to feel immersed in the experience and the visuals. Other than having a good turn out with plenty of foot traffic in the Black Gallery, I realized how much work goes into curating a solo exhibition art show. You can never be too prepared for planning around something like a BFA show. I have grown tremendously as an artist by hosting my very own solo exhibition art show.