Response to Robert Wilson documentary

The Documentary we watched on Robert Wilson was thought provoking for a number of reasons. There is no question that Wilson is a visionary: innovative, talented, unique, driven, etc, but my question is this: what sets him apart form all the other innovative, talented, unique, and driven theater people out there?

The issue here is that Wilson, in the realm of Fine Art, is being praised for characteristics that are essential to Theater; namely that theater, on all levels, is a collaborative art form. Many of his works, particularly the earlier ones, put me in mind of Julie Taymore and Bread and Puppet. The key to these and other innovative performance groups (including Wilson's Byrd Theater) is that they seek out talented individuals and then tailor their performances to highlight these talents.

Likewise, I was similarly unphased by the way in which the documentary mapped out Wilson's personal experiences as inspiration for his work. I believe that if you look closely enough at any artist, their life experiences will somehow be reflected in their work. The trick, as an artist, is to figure out HOW to let these influences creep in, and on this point I felt that the film-makers were a bit didactic and heavy handed. Personally, I rely heavily on my experiences in my work. I think of my work as a way to celebrate and dwell on the things in my life that make me happy- I look to these experiences for inspiration, and as a whole the work is a reflection of my positive outlook and my values.

I did admire Wilson's use of time. I thought it was interesting to choreograph everything at such a slow and odd pace; it really goes to show how very little it takes to remove us from the ordinary. That is something I think about visually, and I'm sure I will think back on Wilson's work now that I'm working with video and have the opportunity to utilize time as a variable.

Jennifer Steinkamp

Blurb from San Jose Museum of Art:
Jennifer Steinkamp’s colorful digital projections envelop museum visitors in a three-dimensional sensory experience. Steinkamp, a Los Angeles-based installation artist, works with 3-D animation in order to explore ideas about architectural space, motion, and phenomenological perception. Influenced by the work of Oscar Fischinger, Marcel Duchamp, Bruce Nauman, Hollis Frampton, and others, Steinkamp uses visual illusions to generate a dialogue about the nature of cognitive experience and the psychophysical limitations of human perception. Her manipulation of images exposes the shift between objective and virtual points of view, thereby encouraging viewers to contemplate perceptual and philosophical notions of the real.


Artist's Website:
jsteinkamp.com


Corcoran Piece "Loop":
www.corcoran.org/exhibitions/previous_results.asp?Exhib_ID=153#

John Whitney Presentation

Images of Whitney with his Analog Computer:

http://www.siggraph.org/artdesign/profile/whitney/whitney.html


Stills from other Whitney films (#'s 3-6)
www.hirshhorn.si.edu/visualmusic/films.html#

Quote by John Whitney Jr. on using the Analog Computer:
I don't know how many simultaneous motions can be happening at once. There must be at least five ways just to operate the shutter. The input shaft on the camera rotates at 180 rpm, which results in a photographing speed of 8 fps. That cycle time is constant, not variable, but we never shoot that fast. It takes about nine seconds to make one revolution. During this nine-second cycle the tables are spinning on their own axes while simultaneously revolving around another axis while moving horizontally across the range of the camera, which may itself be turning or zooming up and down. During this operation we can have the shutter open all the time, or just at the end for a second or two, or at the beginning, or for half of the time if we want to do slit-scanning."

Information on other projects:
-in 1948 he was awarded a Solomon Guggenheim Fellowship.

- in 1949 he and brother James won first place at the First International Experimental Film Competition in Belgium for their film "Five Film Exercises"

- In 1952 he directed engineering films on guided missile projects.

- in 1958 he produced the animated title sequence from Alfred Hitchcock's 1958 film Vertigo, which is his most widely-known work.
link to 'vertigo' intro:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=pz46qS38OgM




Information on "Arabesque"
-the last film to be completed on the analog machine, and is considered the pinnacle of this medium
-funded by grants from the NEA and IBM