Presence and Definition

I swiped this off the web. Hope it doesn't offend anyone.

Language is so subjective, and the art language even more so. Intuitive thinkers often have a difficult time interpreting messages and signals in contemporary works, leading to confusion and misinterpretation.

I believe there's a disconnect between those who make art and those who contextualize it, sometimes hinging around those who view--experience--it.

In positioning SIS for funding its completion and promoting its exhibition, I've come to carefully define what it is I'm doing in relation to what others are; this way I can say "My work is like..."

With truly experimental work--the likes of which involve various media--it's hard to qualify it if it hasn't been done--or at least, not often or by many.

True, almost everything has been done in one way or another. But multi-channel electronic media changes perception, as does the meaning of presence: time and space.

Is the artist present or is the audience?

Engineering Other Options

Found this on the web; looks like the lab at NYCCT.

Don't know why I didn't do it sooner, possibly because I had gone another route to find the engineer that I've had working on SIS up till now.

However, my travels brought me to the Electrical Engineering Department of NYC College of Technology. I stumbled through an open door to the end of a class in electrical circuit design.

Talk about luck!

After a brief conversation with the professor, he said he might have a student to work on the project, if he didn't do it himself.

How awesome is that?

This changes the objectives of the KS, Timing being the lmitation. 

A cup of tea?

The lessons learned are many; other ideas emerged from the experience. Incorporate or ignore these?

Even thoughts on the concept resurfaced as the piece did its job--uncovering nuances passed by or forgotten.

Expressing or describing an experience has proven to be difficult, and the crux of the matter. Compounded by the abstraction of the work itself, its highly sensitive nature may not resonate with others. Or, as some pointed out, that deep sensitivity might be the factor that many can identify with. As I've said before: Either it's for you, or it's not.

The resurfaced memories have nothing to do with being an artist. They have to do with the transformation of a fleeting memory into a consuming reflection coursing through my veins.

Cancelling Kickstarter

But, I will relaunch shortly.

Never did I have an idea that crowd funding was an industry with blogs, websites, books and consultants. It kind of kills it for me, since I thought it was a grass-roots initiative to get things funded in an arena that was less jaded, more open to experimentation.

Understanding fully that crowd sourcing is not a platform to qualify work, I thought that something like KS would be a place to get funding to finish a project.
Although energy must go into any venture that involves money, the sources for backers are so many and so varied that embarking on a campaign such as this without careful project planning and management is a guarantee for failure.

New Video on Kickstarter

So far, I've gotten great reviews.
It's a little lo-res on YouTube but looks great on Kickstarter.
It's fast and shows the work going from image, to schematic, to prototype to exhibition. It really tells the story.

7 Days

A new vid is going up later today.
The scripts sounds nice, all voice over. I'm prolly gonna make it the lead image.
I've only got 41 people, and I don't know where or how I'm gonna get the rest.
Someone who's knowledgeable has actually said campaigns like this turn around; hope he's right!
Anyone who's reading this, please visit and pledge.

http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1887749049/steel-ice-and-stone

And, I have other thoughts; I'll try to get them down later.

Updates, rewrites, major etceteras.

Posted two updates this morning, they're employ some scare tactics, I know. But KS is looking bad and friends are kind, but they shake their heads softly.
PAIN!
Anyway, gotta smile. This thing won't get done otherwise. Here's the post:

I was lying in bed this morning, looking up at the ceiling, thinking: what sets this work apart from everything else I've done? 

Steel Ice & Stone is big: The photographs are 4 x 5 feet. And there are nine of them! All set up in the exhibition space. With sound playing as you walk through by each panel. Everybody who saw the prototype exhibition—the prototype—was blown away. Think about the real thing!

So, please. Send this to friends and urge them to pledge. I’ve got barely two weeks.

http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1887749049/steel-ice-and-stone

Thanks for your help.

Love you all dearly.

Anita

Sure hope this works.

What Keeps It Going?

Made contact with an old friend yesterday on FB. He automatically posted my SIS link on his page. The KS response has been weak, I'm down to the every-other-day emailing.

Others who have done these have told me it comes together at the end, understanding why the recommended campaign is four weeks or less (some have said three is even better).

Others have said that the campaign becomes easier if you have an actual product of it rather than a memento of it (probably why the works in the limited editions have been successful).

I recalled a comment made long ago by the above-mentioned friend when I got up early and went uptown to photograph THE GATES (remember Christo's installation in Central Park?) in the freezing wet snow: "you gotta really love what you do if you get up in the morning to do something without someone telling you to". So, there it is. I love what I do. That's what keeps it going.

The Gates, 2004. Photographed with my panoramic camera.

Kickstarter Notes

When deciding rewards, especially as in my case which involves limited editions, a system for the backer to view must be devised for them to chose what they are going to get. In my case, the edition is one of the number of pieces in the installation.

Understanding Kickstarter

Please visit if you haven't pledged. Thanks. Kickstarter

Perhaps one of the reasons that Kickstarter urges its users to decide on a month-long campaign is that they've experienced the raw intensity needed to extract donations from backers. Similar to presidential campaign funding drives, an every-other-day email blitz with very little ego or pride will be launched.

A weekly pledge drive is not enough.

This starts next week, noting that this endeavor is a lot easier to do over a shorter period of time.

Making it easier to understand

I've written similar posts before: This installation is very difficult to describe in words and often in pictures as well. Obviously, it must be seen to be experienced.

It becomes quite gratifying seeing viewers interact with the work, I got an interesting FB comment from someone I don't know with regard to the Grace Gallery show:

Eva Daniela saw three guys staring at the gallery from the 11th floor not having a clue what this was about. i literally interrupted their conversation just to explain exactly what it really was b/c i think its so cool March 24 at 9:51pm · Like

Similarly, it's difficult to describe some of the rewards on the Kickstarter. So, here's a picture of one of the wall paper images with Ice 3. It's going on KS right now!

Sound Unit (yet again)

Latest ideas: 

1. Rigging a sensor, amp and speaker to a nano or shuffle in order to save power

2. Finding an MP3 player with camera capacity

3. Retooling an arduino with all the stuff it needs

4. Retooling the SMV unit with the new chip

5. Combining the arduino and the SMV unit into one with a new battery pack.