Breathing Spaces

The article which I chose is "Walking as a Do-It-Yourself Urbanism" by Kenny Cupers.  I chose this article because I found the idea of "breathing in spaces" of the city interesting.  Postcards in London are distributed throughout the city and on these postcards are different "spaces" such as buses, the subway, phone booths, coffee shops and internet cafes.  The finder of the postcard is invited to explore these different places.  I think the city is an interesting place to explore in general.  There is much one can learn by walking through it.  I accomplished my Drift 2 sound walk in the city and felt that these ideas applied to me.  

One of the main points of this article is seeing how walking can transform urban space.  The presence of moving bodies can transform the urban environment for the walkers themselves.  Cupers touches upon the idea that the city is a place of a "fluid space of change and creation".  There has been a dichotomy of "the planners" as creators of the city and "the people" as the users.   The city can be seen as a place that is governed by rational urban planning or a place of alienation and darkness.  It can be seen as a space which is out of control.  

The ideas are relevant to me as a media artist because they show me that I should take advantage of my surroundings and explore them.  I should find ways to be creative with the environment and find these breathing spaces in the city.  There is a lot I can learn from this experience.  

Video Hardware/Software Response

I really liked using the Olympus camera.  I thought the image quality was really good.  It did everything I wanted it to.  I like the fact that it is simple to use and not a complicated piece of equipment.  Also, I like the fact that it is a simple electronic yet one can still make art with it.  

The Olympus digital camera was definitely easier to use than other digital cameras I have used.  It is very basic.  It does just what you need it to.  Other cameras I have used have been more complicated. 

I was able to successfully implement my capturing strategies of extreme close-ups and blurry images by any means possible.  The images came out even better than I thought they would.  The close-ups look very good and the blurry images are definitely as blurry as I needed them to be.  

In an ideal world, my camera of choice would have really good image resolution.  It would be able to capture things at night.  My camera would also have really good sound quality.  The camera would have editing functions so that one could make an image in sepia tone, for example.  My camera would also be water-proof.  

The editing software which I used for Drift 2 was Final Cut Express.  I have quite a bit of experience with this software.  I know it better than any other editing software.  I did projects on it at my last college.  I am absolutely in love with this software.  I think it's perfect.  It has everything a film artist could want.  Final Cut Express has a timeline and one can make the timeline as small or as big as they want.  It's really precise.  For example, if one wanted to put a certain clip 30 seconds into the movie, they could do that with Final Cut Express.  I will definitely use this software again for future projects.

"The Future of Music: Credo" by John Cage

I chose the article "The Future of Music: Credo" by John Cage because I like how he described the noises which we hear in the world around us as musical instruments. I think it is an interesting way to look at the sounds which we hear everyday in nature. The wind, the waves of the lake, birds chirping, and cars rumbling are all part of a massive symphony. It shows how beautiful the sounds of the world are. This also bears light on the idea that we as humans take nature's sounds for granted. We are too invested in our own concerns and desires to give any thought to what is occurring in our surroundings. We miss out on the music that the sounds of nature have to offer.

One of Cage's main points is that the sounds of nature is not too different from actual music. Natural sounds are being compared to instruments. Cage says, "we can compose and perform a quartet for explosive motor, wind, heartbeat, and landslide." Cage also discusses how percussion music is related to the noises of the world: "Any sound is acceptable to the composer of percussion music; he explores the academically forbidden "nonmusical" field of sound insofar as is manually possible." Another main point which Cage considers is in composing music, music puts emphasis on the group and incorporating the individual into the group. Music is of many parts. Furthermore, music is like a clock composed of many different components each working together to make that clock function.

The ideas in this article are relevant to my practice as a media artist because these ideas make me realize that the sounds that I will use to establish my final project are all part of a symphony. It motivates me to create something beautiful with the sounds I have collected. The article encourages me to combine the sounds in a harmonious manner so that they will have a glorious sound in the end.

Analyzing "The Art of Noises" by Luigi Russolo

The article I chose was "The Art of Noises" by Luigi Russolo. I chose this article because I found the idea of the world which surrounds us being completly filled with different noises, fascinating. Everywhere a person is, there is a different sound which is occurring. We hear various sounds in different places. These sounds is what makes up the world in which we live. This is the beauty which is a part of nature. People tend to take this idea for granted. Russolo states, "If we overlook such exceptional movements as earthquakes, hurricanes, storms, avalanches, and waterfalls, nature is silent." The fact that nature is so diverse in the sounds it gives is amazing. What would nature be without these noises? Silence.

One of Russolo's main points is by man's experimentation with sounds came the birth of music. Humanity began to delve more into sounds and began playing music as time progressed. The Greeks discovered the world of harmony. Russolo also claims that music has evolved over time. He says, "The ear of an eighteenth century man could never have endured the discordant intensity of certain chords produced by our orchestras (whose members have trebled in numbers since then). To our ears on the other hand, they sound pleasant, since our hearing has already been educated by modern life, so teeming with variegated noises." Music became more complex and became composed of complicated dissonant chords. Humans began to want to hear something different. Russolo strongly emphasizes the power of sound in this piece. He states, "The noise, therefore, is familiar to our ear, and has the power to conjure up life in itself". Noise is a substantial part of our lives. It is all around us. It has become a familiar entity to us. Yet there is also a mystery behind it. Sound never really reveals itself to us. It has surprises in store for us. For this reason, people desire to dominate noise so that we will be adorned with an exciting pleasure.

The ideas contained in this article are relevant to my practice as a media artist. By knowing that sound is an important aspect of life and has an effect on people, I can put emphasis on sound in my projects. Further, I can create films with excellent sound quality to have the audience enjoy the film and influence them. There can be soundtracks in my work. These ideas will give my projects a different feel as opposed to not exerting as much effort into putting quality sound in my work. Sound affects people emotionally and I may be able to stir my audience to an emotional degree. With stimulating music playing in the background of one of my films, people can be motivated. These thoughts are what I can put into practice as a media artist.

Research Questions

• Were you able to find places and spaces where you could really listen? Yes.
• Was it possible to move without making a sound? Yes.
  
• What happened when you plugged your ears, and then unplugged them? I could hear the lower frequency sounds when they were plugged and the higher frequency sounds when they were unplugged.
  
• In your sound log exercise, what types of sounds were you able to hear? List them. I heard a vent, paper torn out, stepping on leaves, stepping on sticks, backpacks rustling, jackets rustling, keys jingling, the sound of pen on paper, people walking on cement, doors opening and many more.
  
• Were you able to differentiate between sounds that had a recognizable source and those sounds you could not place? Yes.
  
• Human sounds? Mechanical sounds? Natural sounds? I heard people walking, people coughing. I heard the noise of a bus. I heard brakes squealing and the rumble of a motorcycle passing by. I heard the wind and the sound of the grass rustling. I also heard the sound of leaves rustling.
  
• Were you able to detect subtleties in the everpresent drone? Yes.
• Extremely close sounds? Sounds coming from very far away? I heard extremely close sounds but there were a few points I thought I heard the sounds of wind chimes from far away.
  
• What kinds of wind effects were you able to detect (for example, the leaves of trees don't make sounds until they are activated by the wind)? I heard the sound of the wind rustling through the leaves of the trees. I heard the sound of the grass rustling.
  
• Were you able to intervene in the urban landscape and create your own sounds by knocking on a resonant piece of metal, activating wind chimes, etc.? Sometimes.
  
• Do you feel you have a new understanding or appreciation of the sounds of our contemporary landscape/cityscape? Yes.
  
• How do you think your soundwalk experience will affect your practice as a media artist, if at all? It will help me appreciate the power of sound and will probably help me put more emphasis on sound in my work as a media artist.