The Camera Obscura

Ethan Jackson's camera obscura was an inviting exhibit. Since we saw the installation "in the works," it never-the-less was interactive and involving. The camera obscura, for a brief lesson in history, was constructed (in the Western world) during the Renaissance. I believe its most influential involvement was probably during the rise of the Dutch paintings of the 16th century, most notably Rembrandt and Vermeer. I am pretty sure everyone/Andrea is familiar with "Girl with the Pearl Earring." The author of the book (Tracy Chevalier), with the same name, addresses in great detail how the servant girl interacts with Vermeer in his art world, using the camera obscura to capture the image so he could get very detail painted onto the canvas.

It seems the most primitive camera has made a comeback. Mr Jackson invites people to see the exhibit, establishing the room (with retractable walls) as interior of the human eye. He had five lens situated along the wall, all parallel to each other. The images, from the outside, were inverted onto the wall inside. It reminded me of a quote by the painter Constantijn Huygens: It is impossible to express the beauty in words. The art of painting is dead, for this is life itself, or something higher, if we could find a word for it." This quote was dictated after he saw an image produced by a camera obscura. To him and the Renaissance, it represented life, a true reality away from the easel and pastels. Jackson seems to harken back to the Renaissance, adopting the principles of how the human eye sees and manifests images of the outside world into a dark room. Since we cannot look at our retinas, we can just walk on down to Kenneliworth and get a virtual reality of our world through our eye's point of view.

Projections, Projections, Projections

As the advent of spring break comes upon the weary, lack of sunlight film students, who spend more time in the basement of Mitchell, it is time to pause and reflect the mid-term thus far. The mid-term was not that bad, only I wish I studied the names of the artist a little closer, but hey, for the most part, I liked taking the test. Any test you can "rain man" through is a friend of mine.

Now, seeing that I should quit going on tangents and "follow orders," I found last Monday's screenings more tolerable and enjoyable. I actually found myself intrigued by the images flickering. Since the class focused on the projection machine as the artist, I felt its presence was telling me the story of the film through its loud "purring." Storm de Hirsch's THIRD EYE BUTTERFLY and LACES OF SUMMER were probably my favorite the entire day. LACES took an ordinary summer day, as she obsevred the changing tents and a red sail out her balcony. As you watch the images, you feel like Dorsky's philosophies of "heightening the act of seeing" are breathing down your neck. As the projection dictates the story, your eyes have no choice but to look at the images on the screen. It only takes the film expert to identify the sound of the projector, so they have no need to twist their neck to the back of the theatre to find the noisy equipment.

Now, THIRD EYE BUTTERFLY was interesing to watch just because of the angle I was seeing in. The double projectors were located just behind me, a couple of rows up. That day, I was sitting at an angle due to the recent injury I caused my ankle (no dumb jock references please. I have been twisting my ankle since 1996!!) Anyway, so I got the full experience of hearing the projector and taking in its presence through my left ear, while the sound of the speakers came into my right. It was a clash of sounds that de Hirsch probably strived for when making the film. The pyschedelic images captured the late 60s (along with the soundtrack), and since I am becoming a fan of installations more and more, I loved watching the different images that would pop onto the screen like a kaliedoscope. It was an enjoyment to have the projection tell me this story.

Finally, just another tagent. Between comtemplating about AVAILABLE LIGHTS projected box (it looked like the state of Wyoming at first, but then I concluded it was a movie about the changing seasons of Oregon, since the climate is completely different from West to East) and the camera obscura, I found NIGHT FALL only interesting for one purpose; my cell phone went off during the film. In the beginning of the film, the viewer is greeted with a loud bang as the image quickly flashes onto the screen (like a thunder and lightning storm). Anyway, as I was watching, my seat started to rumble. At first I thought, the sound is not that loud, but it is great if it can make my chair rumble. Little did I realize, it was my cell phone on vibrate going off. See, I got that invovled with the movie that I could not tell which way was up or down. Next time, the film should crank the volume, to make it feel as if the audience is in a thunder and lightning storm. How much fun would that be?!