Thinking about this project has been tricky for me. Mostly due to the fact that I would have to collect data. My major is Film and TV, recently I’ve been feeling the need to be more explorative in what I can create and call “art”. I knew I wanted the final outcome of the project to be a video with an audio component. After a lot of thinking and contemplation I decided to go about it in a more literal sense. I wanted the subject of the work to be shared love, passion and community which then turned to humanity, which then turned into individual people, and now is specifically artists. The idea is to showcase tens of people who share a similar love and need for art without showing their faces. Still I want to showcase each artist at their absolute core, I will do so by collecting DNA from these artists. The DNA will be my first data source. For this project a secondary and third source of data is necessary. The second will be audio recordings of the artists answering one vital question: Why do you love art enough to make it your full time career. Their recorded answers will then be used as the audio for the score. The third will be images of artists' work to be interspersed throughout the video. After collecting DNA I will put each sample under a microscope. I will use methylene blue to showcase the cells and photograph them in two different locations. Each person's DNA will have exactly two frames shown in the video interspersed between another person's DNA. This is because the pacing of the video should be steady and quick, showing each picture frame every half second. Showcasing the fact that artistry runs through millions of people and has been consistent evidence of humanity throughout time. It’s something that's alive. Interactivity is the main component to this project as well, the first example of interactivity is having the subject and data be actual human cells and recorded dialogue. A second example is the viewer, interacting with both images of artwork and DNA cells. It will bring the challenge of matching artwork to DNA. I plan on including each artist's portfolio in the caption of the video posting. This is in hopes to build community and introduce artists to one another.
A really cool use I envisioned for this was putting together a ga;;ery exhibit showcasing the artwork of the artists whose DNA is in the video. I would then project the video onto a main wall in the gallery and have the audio on repeat. I suppose it could act as marketing for the event as well as a piece of artwork itself.
In all the project is about shared values among large communities. Specifically the community of young growing artists who are still in the beginning stages of their identity as an artist. In class we will watch the video, and reflect on how it made you view yourself as an artist. I feel as if it will resonate with a lot of people since we are in art school. I also feel like this is something I would watch on youtube as a young person and be inspired by the diversity among artists. As well as the scientific aspect of seeing these people as dna cells.
Phia Greene
process work
