Monday, November 9, 2015

60x60 Presenter's Mix (Exhibition Review)

On October 16th, the Fleischmann Planetarium had a video showing called "60x60" that showcased 60 pieces by different artists that were 60 seconds long. The compilation featured works that had been shown in a similar format before.

The videos were created by a handful of artists who didn't work with the sound artists beforehand so the two never really worked in tandem with each other. The sound pieces were really interesting when I closed my eyes but when I looked at the videos on the big screen, they just did not work. The videos were awful. They honestly looked very crude and were worse than the videos our class made. That doesn't mean that they are bad artists because they are talented in what they do, but their videos were just simply atrocious.

I'm curious what the sound artists think of the videos that were tacked on to their pieces. There was also a weird narrative in the middle with a creepy guy and it didn't work with the sound at all. I feel like the animations existed prior to 60x60 as the sound pieces did and someone decided to merge the two in a random chance operation.

Closing my eyes was the only way I could enjoy 60x60. The sound pieces played with panning, dynamics, and effects so well that my emotional state was poly-polar the entire time and I felt on edge. The sound artists has a real grasp on the effect that they were trying to evoke and they inspired me to get better on my own work.