My name is Nicholas Buer.
I am a Video Editor and Motion Graphics Artist based in London and the South East.
This blog is a record of my research for an MA in Digital Arts undertaken at Camberwell College of Arts between September 2007 to August 2008.
For information regarding my FINAL SHOW PIECE: CLICK HERE
For Information regarding my contribution to the ASSEMBLY OF THE FINAL SHOW: CLICK HERE
For Information regarding my PROJECT REPORT: CLICK HERE
For Information regarding my progress with PURE DATA during this unit: CLICK HERE
For Information regarding my WEBSITE, which also acts as the host for supplement VIDEO, AUDIO and PHOTOGRAPHIC work created during this unit: CLICK HERE
For Information regarding CONTEXTUALISATION of work: CLICK HERE
I’ve got my website up and running. This site will act as a host for supplement video, audio and photographic work that I have created during this MA, and of which will not be part of my final show piece. I intend to continue to add to this site over the next month, and also beyond this MA.
When you visit they site, run the cursor over the dots of the image, you will find that some will turn red, and by clicking on these red dots you will be taken to a new window in which to view the work that you have found.
As my ideas evolve, so will my website. This investigative space will continue to act as the works virtual identity.
Since the mid-1990’s, Zoe Leonard has subtly altered the content of her art practice, turning away from earlier enquires into gender and sexuality toward extended meditations on how the affects of time can manifest themselves in objects and the relationship between the man-made and the natural.
Her series ‘Analog‘ is an ongoing archive comprising of several thousand photographs that is equal parts artistic venture and documentary undertaking. It catalogues the disappearance of handmade signage and storefronts on the Lower East Side of Manhattan, where she lived for over twenty years, as well as imagery from other cites around the world.
What I like about her work is that it never seems to dictate, it rather shows than tells, and this allows the viewer to create their own personal response to her sculptures and photographs. I also like the fact that she documents places that have, or potentially are in the process of being lost, and by doing this creates a new platform from which they can be consumed again through art and documentary. It reveals the beauty and tenacity of human expression in the midst of corporate monopolies and global economy.
Aaron Koblin is a digital artist based in San Francisco. He creates software and architectures to transform social and infrastructural data into artwork using processing, an open source programming language and environment capable of programming images, animations and interactions.
This work ‘Flight Patterns’ uses data from the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) to create animations that show the flight patterns of planes over the U.S over a 24 hour period. The flight paths have then been plotted to show the flight patterns and traffic density. Please see this site for more information.
Although this piece is not related to my specific line of enquiry, which is the non-space that is our roads and motorways, it is still an investigation into another example of non-space, and although the results are beautiful, fluid patterns, they also act a poignant reminder of our permanent presence and continuous activity within this non-space.
My reasoning for bringing this work to attention is for the purpose of my future development. I intend to continue to investigate and question the non-spaces of our modern society and to observe new ways of identifying with these spaces. The air space is probably the most challenging of all. It throws up new ways of perceiving time, as we travel across time zones into the future and also the past. It does not possess as much of a physical quality as its terra firma counterparts, and this consequently throws up new challenges as to how we affect it. It is also probably the greatest example of our modern, accelerated world, as our bodies alter to cope with the pressurised cabins and then readjust themselves as a result of literally traveling forward/backwards through time.
I look forward to researching this space further in the future, there is a lot of scope for investigation into this space and I feel it could lead onto some quite interesting work.
For the MA final show I am located in the corridor in the basement. This space suits my work aesthetically and conceptually (thanks to Adriano for curating the show and giving me such a great space!)
Conceptually, the corridor is a transitory space, it is the space in which all visitors to the show will have to pass through in order to see the other work located in the other 3 rooms in the basement (which by the way is looking great!)
As my work focuses on transitory spaces this space lends itself perfectly to my installation as visitors will inevitably have to pass through this space, the sensor will continually be triggered and therefore the work will be allowed to fulfill its intentions.
Aesthetically, I first intended to use a projector, my reasoning for this was that the space is quite large and I am the only one showing there. Although I like the idea of my work having to be found rather than seen, Adriano, as well as other students felt that by displaying something very small within this space would be unsuccessful. So I needed to scale it up and take full advantage of the space.
Even though we decided that the visual imagery would need to be large, I felt that I could still maintain the subtlety that my work intends to have by only using one sensor. By using one sensor there would be a relatively small, narrow area in which the work could be triggered, this will hopefully maintain an element of investigation for the viewer yet also the work (methodology wise) could still become lost.
The problem then arose that because the the corridor is quite narrow, I couldn’t get the distance a needed to make the projection large enough by using the parallel wall. This meant that I would have needed to project at an angle, and consequently the visuals would not have maintained their correct aspect ratio (it would have been a sort of sideways triangle as opposed to a rectangle)
To add to this I then found out that I couldn’t get a projector from the central loan store at Camberwell until the 23rd of June because they were all out on loan for the B.A. shows, and the 23rd of June was also assessment day! meaning that I couldn’t build my piece within the allocated show build time (16th to the 20th June) and as this space needed a lot of configuring I decided that it was not going to be possible to use a projector like I originally intended.
Moshe and Katrin were hiring plasma screens for their piece so I decided to jump on board and hire a 43″ screen for myself (thanks to Katrin for sourcing and organsing this 🙂 ) and as it turned out, this was a great decision.
Below is a diagram showing how I intend to install the work within the space.
The computer will be stored and powered within the storage cupboard located at the end of the corridor. The wires for the visuals and audio will be laid and taped along the skirting boards, over the door frame and underneath the door to the computer, this will keep all wires off the floor therefore they cannot be tripped over. The screen will be powered from the socket that is located opposite the cupboard door.
As it turns out, using a Plasma screen solves a lot of problems. It solved the aspect ratio problem as the video could now be displayed as it was originally intended. It solved the scale of the work issues as it was large enough to cater for the size of the space. It also solved my audio issues as before when I intended to use a projector, I would have needed to mount some small speakers somewhere above within the corridor, this would have equalled to more wires, more clutter and more conversations (if you can call them that!) with the building facilities management to pass all health and safety requirements. This decision cleaned up my whole vision, and as a result I have ended up with a final piece that I am much more happy to stand by.
We finally got all the materials delivered on Tuesday (17th June) to build the Plinths for the final show. We managed to get it all a little cheaper (£16 as opposed to £22) and the excess money was used for each individuals (who purchased a plinth) contribution to the final show brochure.
As it turned out we couldn’t build some of the plinths for the students showing in the I.T room as we were unable to remove the large table as it was firmly fixed to the wall, but the materials were offset as some of the students requirements (measurements and quantity etc) changed as the show build continued. So after a lot of discussion and five days of building plinths it all turned out ok! even though during this time I felt like I was working more towards a qualification in carpentry as opposed to digital arts!
I kept a record of the emails I sent whilst organising this element of the show.
My role as part of the DVD team was to create and implement the the motion graphics that will be used for the DVD menus. All of the graphics were created using Apples ‘Motion’, and assembled together within ‘DVD Studio Pro’.
1) Opening Graphics: First Play of DVD
2) Transition Graphics: Main Menu to Courses
3) Transition Graphics: Courses to Main Menu
4) Transition Graphics: Main Menu to Interviews
5) Transition Graphics: Interviews to Main Menu
6) Transition Graphics: Main menu to Events + Tours
I’ve decided to only blog my final project report, to view the full paper, including contextualisation and plans for future development. CLICK HERE
THE D.N.A OF SPACE
I have always been fascinated by the human race, the society we have created, and how we position ourselves within this man made world. The concept of identity has always been important within my work, and my practice throughout this MA has focused on how we identify, or fail to identify with spaces that exist as a consequence of society, the urban space. I began to research what contributes to our understanding and identifying of a place, and discovered its antithesis, the non-place. The writings of French anthropologist Marc Augé on the relationship between place and space acted as the foundation from which to base my research upon. According to Augé:
‘If a place can be defined as relational, historical and concerned with identity, then a space which can not be defined as relational, or historical, or concerned with identity will be a non-place’
Augé observed that spaces such as motorways, hotels, airports and supermarkets all embodied a new transience perpetuated by the onset of supermodernity. Augé argued that these spaces affected us in ways previously un-experienced, placing new demands on the individual and our levels of observation. He writes:
The plurality of places, the demands it makes on the powers of observation and description (the impossibility of seeing everything or saying everything), and the resulting feeling of ‘disorientation’ causes a break or discontinuity between the spectator-traveller and the space of the landscape he is contemplating or rushing through. This prevents him from perceiving it as a place, from being fully present in it.’
I based my proposal upon these observations. The challenge then become to locate the personal within these non-spaces, to find the landscapes true identity, to question conventional attitudes towards them and to understand how they affect us, and also how we affect them.
One of my objectives was to look at a selection of non-places that had the most relevance to me (these being the motorway, underground and the supermarket) with the intention eventually focusing on just one. Through a process my project eventually focused solely on the motorway as a space.
With regards to how this particular non-space affects the individual; I found that the speed in which we travel through the motorway contributes greatly towards the conventional attitude that many of us have towards it, which is one of boredom and repetition. On the motorway our senses are fragmented, where the sights, tastes, smells and sounds are reduced to a two-dimensional view through a car windscreen. As we accelerate through the space means we are always in a state of distraction, having to deal with a barrage of visual stimuli. Augé supports this when he wrote:
‘Space, as a frequentation of places rather than place stem in effect from the double movement; the traveller’s movement, of course, but also a parallel movement of the landscape which he catches only in partial glimpses, as a series of ‘snapshots’ piled hurriedly into his memory and, literally, recomposed in the account he gives to them.’
In many ways the motorway exemplifies how we experience our modern world, which is as one of accelerated movement buffeted by a constant flow of people and information where everyday experience is increasingly about a fast-paced flow of imagery. This led me to question that because of this accelerated experience, we have we learned to overlook the subtlety and detail of the landscape? And what consequences does this have on how we may identify with the space?
Our relationship with the motorway is transient and temporary, and like our experience of it, many examples of identity within this space also appear to be transient. Examples could be as fleeting as a bag that blows through and away from the trees that stand on the roadside, or the last dregs of a coffee cup emptied out of a car window temporarily staining the asphalt. No matter how slight, our movement through this space creates events, and these events all contribute to the landscapes complex identity.
The next contributing factor is time. Like all spaces, the motorway is shaped by the time we spend within it, every event that occurs within this landscape originates from an individuals act of journey through it, as this process is repeated, the space becomes shaped by the accumulation of events we advertently, or inadvertently impact upon it. Whether it be the cracks and marks within the white lines that segregate the flow of traffic, or the exhaust fumes from our cars slowly staining the undersides of the bypasses, we still affect it, and these events all manifest themselves within the space constantly reshaping its identity.
Finally, the combination of time plus events allows for a narrative to develop. Michel de Certeau (whose writings Augé draws upon for the basis of his own argument) highlights the importance of narratives that ceaselessly ‘transforms places into spaces and spaces into places’
‘There follows, naturally a distinction between ‘doing’ and ‘seeing’, observable in everyday language which by turn suggests a picture (‘there is…’) and organises movements (‘you go in, you cross, you turn…’)
This results in the authorisation of a journey narrative, which is compatible with the double necessity of ‘doing’ and ‘seeing’‘….histories of journeys and actions are punctuated by the mention of the places resulting from them or authorising them’ Through this process spaces become authorised as places, this makes it possible for us to identify with them as we attempt to relate to the narratives that define them historically, or as places of memory
Narratives are an important element for the comprehension a space yet I have found that the narratives non-places generate does not conform to this conventional process as defined by Certeau. The non-place creates a new type of narrative, an almost silent narrative, one that is ephemeral and like our experience of it, is in a sense, a transient one. The identity of this space can be found within the accumulation of subtle changes resulting from our collective presence within it. It may be that because of how we conventionally experience the motorway, in continuous transience as we travel at speed in our vehicles, we, as Augé observed, are never truly within it, physically and also mentally. We fail to relate to the space because it is not on our agenda to do so, we have little intention to recollect our experience of it and therefore fail to see the changes that are the result of our own actions, and because of this the spaces true identity becomes lost, it is not acknowledged by us, therefore not authorised and consequently never exists.
Maybe that why I am writing now, as an artist, to bring my observations to the attention of others, for there is an identity within this space that is comprehendible, it’s just that it defies conventional understanding of how we relate to space. I can see why people chose to visit places that have been shaped by history and are rich in literal narratives, for there is something to relate too, events to comprehend that happened there once in time, but for me there is something more poignant about discovering something within a space that would have otherwise been lost. It becomes more personal to you, something you can keep just for you, and for that I find these anonymous zones more challenging and compelling than spaces that have been previously defined by guidebooks and journey narratives now ready for our consumption.
I sat down with Moshe the other day and began work on the motion graphics for the DVD. This will be the visuals that will play on the first play of the DVD.
Moshe is working on the slideshows to showcase the students works. Katrin is working on filming and editing the interviews. I will be liaising with Marianne who is also shooting some of the interviews and editing her contribution to the DVD.
The plan now is to meet Monday, correlate all the material we have and build it within DVD studio pro with all the fancy trimmings for the final pressing. Should be fun 🙂 !!
Nicholas Buer 
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