Narrative Outline

Introduction: A short video clip that begins with a XCU of a balloon and zooms out to reveal a collection of balloons of all different colors. They are all, except one, popped with a pin, one by one.

Main Menu: The main menu will have the one remaining balloon centered with the words “up, down, left, and right” placed in their correct directional positions around the balloon. The background will be of a sky.

Transitions: The transitions will consist of the word that has been clicked on doing the opposite of what is expected. For example, the word “up” will move downwards and off the screen, tying in to the disoriented world of gravity that will be created in the short films.

Up: This is a video track of a balloon floating above a crowd of moving people walking through the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Wall. The balloon is stationary through stop motion and the superimposing of images.

Down: This is a video track in which reverse motion is used to show a balloon descending to the Earth. It will be floating downward next to the Washington Monument.

Left: In this video track, a balloon will lead an object or person through space instead of being pulled behind.

Right: In this video track, reverse motion will be used again to show a balloon being placed back together, piece by piece.

A World in Flux: Balloons

I've never quite figured out why  I have an obsession with the innate characteristics of balloons, but this has been a reoccurring theme in many of my creative projects.  (See my Flickr page.  For my Fine Arts Photography project I did emulsion lifts of individuals holding balloons in places that were reminiscent of their childhood.  I then placed the emulsion lifts onto inflated balloons.) For my World in Flux project, I would like to return to this theme and reexamine the meaning that can be found in balloons.  We know balloons defy gravity and float away at rapid speeds into the unknown.  But what would happen in a world where balloons were grounded by gravity or hovered instead of ascended?  In other words, a world that is distorted by the natural characteristics of gravity.  Perhaps this does not reveal a narrative more than a question of our surroundings.  However, I think through stop motion, reversing footage, and superimposing, such a world can be created.  Another inspiration of mine for this piece is this unbelievably constructed stop motion music video.  I know nothing about the artist but the work involved in it has become a sensational hit for many creatives.  It is inspirational to me that such time and effort was put into a music video to incorporate a more artistic feel that expresses the characteristics of the music being played.  I would like to explore this effect in my project.

What role does interactivity play in today's media and art?

In “The Fantasy Beyond Control” by Lynn Hershman, the perspective that individuals replace longing nostalgia, and emptiness with a sense of identity, purpose, and hope through interactivity is analyzed. It is evident that this was a new and exciting idea in 1990. However, today, interactivity within media is expected. While news may be fed to us over the television, individuals now have the ability to interact with their news online by leaving comments and filtering through the stories they wish to read. It is no longer fed to us in what is defined by Hershman as a “one-sided discourse, a trick mirror that absorbs rather than reflects”. Consumers with DVR are able to stop, playback, and rewind a network show whenever they like. They can fast-forward through commercials or go back to reanalyze a part of an episode. Moreover, the control that Hershman gave to users in her piece Deep Contact reminded me of a computer game I played when I was younger called The Sims. In this game, I would be given options on how to control a virtual character through their daily life as well as build their home. In this game, I was able to portray my own personal preferences and become one with the character. Therefore, the pieces that Hershman related in the 1980’s are still evident in media and today’s society.

The Interdisciplinary Approach to Liquid Architecture

As new art forms develop, many find their roots in the concepts and values of past art movements or disciplines. For example, Leonardo da Vinci may be classified as an artist of appropriation for his use of biology, mathematics, engineering and previous art types in creating his pieces. Therefore, art builds upon itself through the unique integration of different aspects of art forms to create new interdisciplinary approaches. One such development has been multimedia art’s use of animation to express architectural concerns, known by artist Vibeke Sorensen as liquid architecture. The work of liquid architecture involves the combination of music, imagery, and dynamic motion in different architectures that help enhance the art’s meaning. The architecture can be a physical space, virtual reality, or social construct, among other possibilities. By examining the work of Leo Villareal and Vibeke Sorensen, one is able to see how artists have been able to combine such concepts in multimedia art with architecture to create this new interdisciplinary approach. In addition, this art form is also being applied in other realms, such as a current advertising campaign launched by Tylenol.

One such artist that combines multimedia art with architecture is Leo Villareal. In his recently installed piece at the National Gallery of Art entitled “Multiverse”, Villareal created a complex light structure around the Concourse walkway between the East and West buildings of the gallery. Visitors can pass through this piece, which features 41,000 computer-programmed LED nodes. Using custom designed software, Villareal created numerous light patterns that are selected through chance and are highly unlikely to repeat during the time an individual views the piece.

In this piece, Villareal is incorporating computer animation technology with a physical architectural space. What makes this particular piece a form of liquid architecture is the way that Villareal has used the space in combination with digital technology and animation. He did not just place his work thoughtlessly into the physical space. Instead, he carefully crafted each design and LED node to fit into the space to further enhance the viewing experience and meaning behind the art piece. In addition, “Multiverse” not only incorporates the physical space but also the purpose of the space. This walkway in the gallery is used as a transitional pathway from one wing to another. Therefore, the patterns created reflect such movements. They also allow the viewer to feel as if they are being transported into a different realm.

Overall, the viewer experiences a completely new form of architecture that is dynamic and vivid. Even if they do not understand the meaning behind the piece, they acknowledge that it evokes a unique feeling for the space. By combining multimedia and animation to enhance the visual, spatial, and aural aspects of architecture, Villareal created liquid architecture. In an interview, Villareal compares his work to “creating a musical instrument custom designed for that space.” By integrating dynamic motion into this space, Villareal is contributing an artwork that fits into a new architectural model and interdisciplinary approach, just as creating a custom musical instrument will create an entirely new sound.

Another artist who has perfected liquid architecture and, in fact, coined the phrase is Vibeke Sorenson. As an artist who has spent the past three decades developing projects in this area, Sorenson can be seen as an expert on multimedia and architecture. She has developed the view that architecture is more than just a static, physical structure and instead incorporates the view that architecture can be dynamic into her work. She sees architecture in networks such as telecommunications, structures that are in sync with nature, and space-time relationships such as music. By combining these views of architecture with music, imagery, and dynamic motion, she has helped to create a unique architectural model and interconnected approach.

In April 1999, Sorenson displayed how multimedia that includes animation and live music can combine with architectural space to contribute to this unique art form. In the piece, entitled Lemma 2, two sets of two musicians performed on stages 2000 miles apart. However, they played together as one through speakers on each stage. In addition, animation was connected to respond to the musical gestures at the opposite location.


Overall, this piece joined two performance spaces as well as music and moving images to create a form of liquid architecture. This piece showcased how Sorenson was able to transform a normal musical experience into one that incorporates a more modern form of architecture; one that is virtual. Sorenson strategically analyzed the possibilities associated with this architectural space and made conscious decisions, such as how to incorporate animation that responds to distant musician’s movements. In this sense, she is examining the meaning of architecture and capitalizing on its advantages to develop her own architectural model.

This approach taken by Sorensen is comparable to the method Villareal followed when creating “Multiverse”. Both looked beyond the physical space of an architecture to its meaning. They also considered how multimedia art can be used to evoke the meaning and purpose of this space. Villareal used multimedia to enhance the purpose and feelings associated with a walkway while Sorensen illustrated the interconnectedness of musical and visual gestures through architecture. Overall, it is evident through such pieces that a new art form following an interdisciplinary approach has been created. This art form addresses architectural concerns in a new light through multimedia and animation. Furthermore, this discipline will continue to expand and evolve as artists engage in further exploration, just as Sorensen has done for the past thirty years.

But perhaps what is most interesting in relations to this evolving interdisciplinary approach is its applicability to a current guerrilla marketing campaign for Tylenol PM in New York City. In this campaign, an animation of six apartment building windows is projected onto a blank wall between Eighth Avenue and 31st Street. The windows begin dark but then three light up and show such animations as a coffee drinker pacing in front of the window, a cat jumping between beds, and a television watcher waving his remote. At first, it may seem like a clever advertising campaign in a city full of clutter. However, the agency that created the piece thought of principles similar to those that have been discussed as a part of liquid architecture. This advertisement creates a new architectural space through the use of animation. The agency explored the purpose of a blank wall and enhanced its appeal to the general public by projecting fictitious apartment windows, which are a common site in New York City. The purpose and feelings associated with this piece of architecture are enhanced, similar to the purpose of Villareal’s piece. The only main difference is that Tylenol PM created this piece to increase brand recognition and sales while Villareal created his for pure artistic purposes. However, it is evident that liquid architecture is becoming increasingly popular and is a new way to interpret the space around us.

“The Forest” by Ori Gersht, which is installed at the Hirshorn Museum, showcases trees as they fall because of unknown reasons in the middle of a forest. The footage pieces together shots of the stable forest and shots of falling tress with corresponding sounds. By showing this video art installation in a black box, the viewer is submerged into a dark realm. This allows the viewer to become more involved with the piece and not the surroundings of the museum. It is similar to the experience you feel when you watch a movie at a movie theater. When you are in a theater, you become highly involved with the movie due to this dark setting. You know to focus your attention and feel at one with the film. If you were to watch the same movie in your home, you may view it differently. Your dog may be barking at the neighbor, your phone may ring, or rain may be hitting the windows. Your understanding from movies is that a piece being played in a closed off and dark setting should be watched intensely and with a thoughtful mind. Therefore, this understanding is applied in a similar setting in an art museum. You focus and examine the piece in a solitude that is created through the dark space.

As I sat there watching “The Forest”, I wondered why these trees were falling and the irony behind the idea “if a tree falls in the forest does anyone hear it?”. I was fixated on the screen and my eyes did not wander. However, when I watched “Pomegranate”, which was on a main gallery video monitor wall, no such thoughts crossed my mind. I just watched it in appreciation and then moved on to the next piece. The space affected my ability to interpret “The Forest” and was effectively used.

Soundscape Project

Does the audience shape art or does art shape the audience?

I once went to see the Blue Man Group in New York City and was amazed by the show and its unique performance. I began to wonder as I sat there if the show would be the same if the audience was not as willing to become involved in the show. As John Cage writes in his essay, “Diary: Audience 1966", the audience is as much a part of art as the artist himself. This is apparent even today with the changing role of technology and websites providing creative outlets such as Youtube and blogs. 

In these realms, anyone can edit and provide their own art.  By allowing users to upload their own videos, YouTube is letting the audience become the author.  Furthermore, a person viewing the video may be inspired to make their own version or spoof of it.  This further fosters the development of art in the multimedia platform, blurring the line of whether or not art is shaping the audience or the audience is shaping art.  

Another example of the audience shaping art can be seen through a simple Facebook application.  Known as "wall graffiti", this application allows a friend to take a blank virtual space and draw their own "graffiti".  In this sense, the audience is given the paintbrush and control of the art.  Previously, a pre-determined work of art may have been the only option to post on the friend's wall.  However, demands from the audience have helped to develop such an application where the audience creates art.

Overall, it seems that the audience has begun to take an active role in shaping art.