Testing the Waters

Right, so it seems that there isn't an assignment this week either. It's a shame, but I understand that having so many assignment come in at once might discourage people from doing them, and not everyone is as determined (read: insane) as to attempt each one within the week it's set.

You may have noticed that I've been experimenting with the layout of the blog a bit. I including a link to all the assignment videos in the top right corner. Might also add a sort of contents list which will allow quick jumping to specific assignments, saving you valuable scrolling time and bypassing the rather awkward archive list system that blogger uses. What do you think, is that something you would want?

It sometimes feels like I'm in the minority when it comes to using blogger for these assignments, with most people opting for tumbler and youtube responses, so there's a part of me that thinks that the very medium I'm choosing to express ourselves by is counting against us. However, looking at the statistics page, it seems that there are a number of you who are interesting in reading how we tackle these problems, reading the ideas that go behind them, and the problems we had along the way. Though I'm sure that Lucy's pictures are a major factor in why anyone would continue to read these posts.

It also seems that a number of your have decided to share this blog with others. Thank you very much for this. It really does feel quite motivating to know that there are people who enjoy how we tackle these challenges enough to share them.

So, seeing as this week is essentially free from assignments, it would be nice to get to know some of you a bit better. Might even get clearer idea how many of you there are.

If you have a dedicated Art Assignment blog, put it in the comments.

If you want to share your art assignment tumbler and youtube posts, why put that down there too.

If you just want to tell us what you think of the assignment so far, ask us stuff, or even just say "Hi", comments all the way!

If your just here hoping for a new assignment response, sorry to disappoint. There should be a new one next week, but depending on how much time and ideas we get, we may do some of the older assignments again just for fun.

Assignment 3: Intimate, Indispensable GIF

After a two week gap, we finally get our third Art Assignment.

Video link in part of this sentence.

This one is the first assignment to date which is not a performance project. As such, it it the first in which the emphasis is on the end product rather than the process. Additionally, since the end product in this case is making a GIF, there isn't a whole lot that can be shown pictorially about the making of said GIF, unless you are interested in what GIF creating software looks like. It's going to be a picture light post today.

Here's the breakdown of the steps:

1. Think of something intimate and indispensable.
2. Depict it pictorially in some manner
3. Animate these pictures as a .gif file
4. Put it on the internet.
5. Fame and glory (sic).

You are currently reading the results of step 4, whereas step 5 is up to you and not us, so I suppose I need your help to become famous and glorious in order to complete this task to the letter. So yeah, help us with step 5.

Anyway, when I first watched the assignment it was late at night, Lucy had already gone to sleep and I was buzzing, thinking about what sort of things we could turn into a GIF. All sorts of things went through my mind like making a timelapse of something, doing a stop motion transformation, or even make a short film. But none of these things really answered the fundamental question, what was our intimate and indispensable thing?

The next morning, Lucy saw the assignment. We talked about for a bit, and came to the conclusion that it was us, that our intimate and indispensable thing was the time we spent together doing things like baking cheesecake, doing the art assignment, and taking many pictures of various Gromits.

Let's explain that last one.

First, are you aware of Wallace and Gromit?

If not, then fix that immediately and give this a view.

During summer last year, a ten week event was held in which 80 large statues of Gromit were placed all around the city of Bristol (and surrounding areas), each one decorated by a different artist, with their own punny name. The idea was that at the end of the ten weeks, they'll all be auctioned off with the proceeds going towards healthcare for children.

at the time of the event, Lucy and I had been together for about eight months. We had seen the Gromits around on our normal walks, but didn't pay them much notice for a while. Then Lucy found out how many there were and decided she wanted to take a picture of all of them. By this point we only had a few weeks left before the event would end, so we had to move fast.

According to the timestamps, it took us about 13 days to get them all, with the Bristol local Gromits being the first to go, and the outliers being left until last, including Gromits found in a farm, a little village in the middle of nowhere, in front of an arboretum, in Cheddar, and a station in London. (1 city... nothing but lies).

While Lucy took care of the photography side of things, I handled the logistics, planing out routes and digging through bus timetables (neither of us drive) in order to reach them all. As some of the Gromits were indoors, closing times became a constant source of aggravation (especially that stupid library that doesn't think Mondays or Wednesdays exist!). Some of the further afield Gromits were so remote, that there was a real danger of getting stranded with buses becoming once every two hours, stopping at invisible stops.

But we did it, we got through the hardship and struggle and collected several pictures of all eighty of them. And it is with these pictures we set about making our GIF.

The image was made using GIMP 2.8, a really nice free little program with an intimidating user interface. I recommend it to anyone who wants a good free GIF making software. There are 196 frames in this image, each one required resizing in order to fit the required dimensions. All the images were taken by Lucy last summer, displayed in order of capture.

As the photos were taken with no intention to do anything with them, sorting and sizing them was long and tiresome process that both I and Lucy contributed to. At one point Lucy cried out that she'd rather be studying her accountancy work than resize another Gromit. In a way, the process of making the GIF was not unlike the laborious process of tracking them all down and plotting their route in the first place.

But that's what makes it all so special to us. It was hard work, and at times we hated it, forgetting why it was we started this project in the first place. But with each photo collected, our determinism to complete the set grew, as did our excitement to plan out the next one.

Such memories and experiences of the journey made the destinations all the more memorable. They strengthened the bonds between us and set the precedent for more unusual endeavours.

We laughed, we got lost, we went on a lovely walk, it rained, we got wet, and it was an adventure. -Lucy

Others have done Assignment 1

No new assignment this week it seems. Instead we get to reflect and share on the accomplishments of the first task done.

As a reminder, the first task had us find the geographical midpoint between yourself and another person, then you meet up at that midpoint at a pre-discussed time and date with no communication until the stated schedule.

Firstly, I'd like to thank Bec for being the first person to comment on this blog, and tell her that I'm so pleased that these words could help her gain the resolve for the second assignment. You can see her efforts on her blog here.

Here is the video that shows of all our attempts. (You'll find pictures of mine and Lucy's around the 1:23 mark, which is a pretty great time stamp to get). Also a quick shout out to Meg (the lady with the baby in the video) who I've been communicating with on youtube, was one of the first videos I was of something completing this challenge, and reaffirmed that we weren't the only ones to meet in the middle from within our own house.

Do check out the youtube page itself to see links to all the other Art Assignment followers in the video description. This here is the link.

If you didn't make your way into this highlights video, please post a link to your stuff in the comments on this blog so at least I can have the chance to enjoy your accomplishment.

See you next week for Assignment 3!

Assignment 2: Stakeout

Here we are again for Assignment 2 of the Art Assignment.

Link to the accompanying video here.

This time, the assignment involves randomers, people who have nothing to do with the project being involved. This inevitably adds a flare of unpredictability into the mix, which is certainly what we got when we finished our project. But before we talk about the end, let's start at the beginning.

The steps for this one go thusly:

1. Get an interesting/intriguing object.

2. Place the object in a public place, where people can interact with it.

3. Sit and watch from a nearby place.

4. Document how people interact with this object.

5. Stop documenting when either the object is removed or there are no more people.

6. Upload results.

Again, Let's take step 6 as adequately completed, otherwise you wouldn't be reading the messages on this piece of internet. Also again, my wife Lucy was involved with the recording, providing you will all the visual commentary, with myself providing the written commentary.

So, let's begin with step one.

After watching the video, the first thing we had to figure out was what did we want to leave behind. We knew we didn't want to use anything that either of us would end up missing, so anything that had financial or sentimental value was immediately out, and when you're looking around your home for potential objects, that rules out quite a lot of choices.

Lucy then had the idea of buying a box of chocolates and leaving them out for people to take. It was an interesting thought, but I wasn't certain how willing people would be to pick up and eat chocolate they just found lying on the ground. She then suggested that we gift wrap it and leave it as a present, and that was it, our idea was set.

The chocolate themselves, easily bought with little hassle.

It suddenly occurred to me that this task was making the world a bit more like a videogame, in which there are random items on the floor for people to pick up and claim as their own. In particular, random gift boxes being left on the floor was reminiscent of one of my favourite RPGs, the Mother series (also known as Earthbound). Lucy had never played a Mother game (this will be remedied soon, I'm sure), but she too liked the idea.

 

These is what gift boxes lying around on the ground look like in Mother games (mother 2 and 3 respectively).

And this is what we had to work with.

We had a red ribbon, but only green wrapping paper. However, like a lot of wrapping paper, the inside was a pure blank white. Looks like we'll be wrapping this thing inside out.

After this project became a big Earthbound reference, I just ran with it, quickly making a message in MSpaint which resembled the games many text boxes.

Which was printed and stuck on the box, along with some information guiding them to the Art Assignment youtube page, so that they may understand why they had just found a a present randomly place in the middle of the street.

Before you could say "Fuzzy Pickles", Lucy had managed to wrap very neatly.

And this was the finished product.

The tag was a fairly late idea. We were afraid that anyone who looked at it might just assume it was a birthday present that had gotten lost and so wouldn't want to take it away. The message in the tag should clear any possible confusion up.

And so that was that, our Earthbound style present completed, we resolved to awaken early the next day for step 2.

We awoke at around 7 am, and left roughly at about 8. It had been a long time since we had been both awake and outside at the same time this early, so it briefly reminded us of our first couple of meetings waiting for the early bus. Very few people were around, and that was good, it meant we could nonchalantly leave the present on the ground, and get back to our view point without anyone noticing.

After some wondering around, we managed to find a coffee shop with seat overlooking the front-of-house windows, and quickly claimed the seats. Lucy ordered a drink while I looked around for good dropping places, and finished the breakfast sandwich I bought a few moments ago.

This was the spot, that square drain cover next to the pillar.

We needed a spot that wasn't directly in front of the coffee shop, so that they won't see us taking pictures, but it had to be near enough for us to see what they were doing. The good thing about putting it near the pillar was that it would prevent people accidentally walking into it, as well as draw their attention towards the ground. Putting it inside the boundaries of the square helped too by telling people that this present was placed here on purpose.

Placed for all to see.

It didn't take long for our conspicuously placed gift to garner some attention.

Setting up for this to become a long wait, I went to the counter and ordered a hot chocolate. When I returned, Lucy had been taking pictures in rapid succession with excitement on her face.

Someone had picked up the present, someone with a noticeable 96 embroidered on his jeans.

And just like that, Mr.96 started walking away. We thought that was the end, but then...

 Was...was he unwrapping it?

 He was unwrapping it! That little tint of green proves it, the presents wrapping was off.

And what's more, he went off to the bin to throw away some of the wrappings. 

And away Mr. 96 went, never to be photographed again.

We checked the time stamps on the camera, it took all of one minute to put the present down before someone picked it up. We were amazed it had gone this fast. In my mind, I had seen this lasting a lot longer, with most people ignoring the present, or giving it a quick glance before moving on, with the event culminating in someone stepping on it. But no, it was taken almost immediately. Lucy thinks this is because people like getting presents.

On our way out of the shop, having finished our drinks, we saw a street cleaner sweeping up the floor, not too far from where the present once lay. Perhaps it was to our fortune the gift was taken so soon. Had Mr. 96 ignored it, perhaps it would have been cleared away as though another piece of discarded debris.

Like the first task, it seems that our time spent in preparation had exceeded its execution. And again, I suspect that most people would have spent less time picking an object and more time watching interactions. I wander if this will become a running theme for us in the coming assignments.