"chickens and eggs"

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spinning an endless circle series
slide projection, time endless 2006
see photo
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I am looking at the nature of the word "endless".


With the rapid increase of technological development, we come across the experiences of technology in our everyday life. The nature of the word "endless" might be changed or has already changed the way in which we encounter everyday.
The development of the computer might have changed the meaning of "endless" because we are able to save data in digital format. It means keeping the data endlessly without losing any qualities. Before this development "endless" could be used a circle of birth and death, which human, cannot change.


The computer development is actually changing the meaning of words and these developments will be endlessly continued by human’s strong desire. However, these technological developments gave many possibilities for video artists to make variety of images and to edit sounds.
Some artists investigated and experimented with projecting images on a variety of surfaces that objects, people, and screens placed in "unexpected locations", using video and slide projectors (e.g. studio Azzuro, krzystof Wodiczko and so on).

 

The ways of presentation created a different structure with more complex layers of meaning and "high visual impact", which used projectors. These machines show still and moving images and also they are able to play continuously and endlessly, using the repeat function.
To compare video and slide projectors, slide projectors have functions in lower technology, extend more time and are also requires human's operation. One of the biggest production companies has already stopped the product line of the slide projector. Despite this circumstance, a large number of artists still use slide projectors instead of video projectors.

I investigate especially on why they chose that particular machine for their work. In order to show this I will compare the characters of the slide and the video projector to examine what the fascinations of slide projectors are and why artists use slide projectors for their work.


I will also analyse three artworks through the keywords space, time and narrative in connect to my interest in "endless".
I am looking at Bill Viola as one of my reference artists. Viola's works suggest the fundamental question of birth, death and our existence. The question is impossible to answer, in the particular question of our existence. His work called "Nantes Triptych" (1992) shows three large-scale panels of projected images which consist of images of birth, death and a memory of childhood. Birth and death are repeated actions, which shows the endless circle of our existence.
I am also looking at Chris Maker's work called "La Jetee", 1962. The story is that after a third world war, scientists force the survivors to retreat underground. The survivors conducted strange time travel experiments in an effort to escape from present to past or future. During the film sound, narrated voice and whisper make layers and it's made of black and white still images. This work is related to death and memory.

 

Finally, the work named "Flower" (1998), which is made by Peter Fischli and David Weiss. They projected flower images on the same part of wall with using two slow-dissolve slide projections. "In this series they have sustained the pleasure, the sensual delight of flowers as a motif, making this one of their most disarming and convincing series of work". This series of work give visual pleasure of mixed images of the fascination flowers.

I am making a series of work called "spinning an endless circle", which includes an animation of an endless story and images of repeated actions or objects, using slide projectors and the sound. The Slide tray has an endless circle and also technically it is possible to show the images of slides continuously and endlessly. However, the slide projector could be stopped by a tiny accident, or technical hitch.


Computers are able to save data as digital format and it keeps the data endlessly without losing any qualities. However, both projectors are impossible to show the images forever. I would like to show this reality of transience through my work. As the projector changes slides automatically, the images show the simple repeated actions or an endless story animation.


My subject in the animation is "endless", upon which manipulation of a slide projector is explored by experimental sampling processes. The sound of the slide projector is used as an effective sound to the animation and represented the nature of the word, which is manipulated by a slide projector, contrives the repeated action.


This work challenges the viewers' understanding of the nature of the word "endless". Also it suggests re-consideration of the idea of sublime high technology, recent rapid increase of technological development and what reality is.