Patterns and Projections
Looking at the relative scale of things
De Geuzen: a foundation for multi-visual research* @ The Israel Digital Art Lab
November 2010
Workshop description
In 1977 Charles and Ray Eames released Powers of Ten, a documentary visualizing a series of zoom-outs. Gradually moving from the smallest of detail to the immensity of the universe, the film reveals different sets of spatial relations and how they are interconnected with each other. Patterns and Projections is a workshop exploring these ideas. We will be looking at the relative nature of scale and how perspectives shift depending on where you are situated. Rather than employing a mathematical or universal approach, we will be intuitively thinking about the body in relation to larger cartographies and contexts. Using OpenStreetmap, image searches, Wordnet and other freely available on-line sources, we will plot connections and build layers of information. By searching for patterns, weaving together narratives and performing maps on a human scale, we hope to document subjective cartographies and the richness of identities they depict.
Tags: mapping, performance, subjective cartographies, scale, projection, patterns, points of view, objects in the rear view mirror may appear closer than they are.
Preparation:
* Important! wear white clothing
* Bring images that might reflect you or your surroundings
* Come with a laptop if you have one, otherwise we will arrange for you to work on a desktop computer
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Related sources:
Cosmic View: The Universe in 40 Jumps (1957) by Kees Boeke: http://www.vendian.org/mncharity/cosmicview/pages/page06.html
Powers of Ten, Charles and Ray Eames (made 1968 and released 1977): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MUeFzvHz8Bw
Wearing Propaganda: Textiles on the Home Front in Japan, Britain, and the United States (2006) by Jacqueline Atkins http://yalepress.yale.edu/yupbooks/book.asp?isbn=9780300109252
Fitting wallpaper patterns (in Dutch): http://www.xs4all.nl/~desnor/wandafwerking/bb.patroonverloop.htm
Related De Geuzen projects:
The Dress of Mrs. Jeanne Terwen-de Loos: http://www.geuzen.org/current/archive/mapdress
Unravelling Histories: http://geuzen.org/blogs/info/2004/07/unraveling_hist.html
Looping the Hoep: http://www.geuzen.org/looping
* De Geuzen is a foundation for multi-visual research and the collaborative identity of Riek Sijbring, Femke Snelting and Renée Turner. Since 1996 they have employed a variety of tactics to explore female identity, narratives of the archive and media image ecologies. Exhibitions, workshops and online projects operate as thematic framing devices where the group investigates and tests ideas collectively with different publics. Characterizing what they do as research, their work is open-ended and values processes of exchange and critical interrogation.