Mutoscope

More progress on the Video Mutoscope. The upholstery is well under way with the top button tufted stitched and padded. I have an order in for 66 blueberry buttons (blue glass spheres) with my glassblower with which to tuft the leather top. In the meantime, I will tuft it with stand-in buttons to get the padding and stitching right, then upholster it around the sides. Having the finished top will help me to play with the inside elements, and to finalize the design for the sides as I get ready to screenprint the logo and stitch strips of stripes down the sides. Before I upholster the sides, however, I need to nail down what my peephole and or holes are going to be, which is going to be a long process of trial and error, playing with internal and external elements, and deciding what is going to be where--should a person be able to stick their whole head in? One eye? Two eyes? Maybe there is a curtain that they or a performer standing nearby or laying on the top will pull aside for them to take a peek? I'm not thrilled with the look of the first projections, its a little boring and straightforward--the inside has to be truly magical, surprising, and worth the peek. I am going to go with a multi-layered backlit diarama with projection. And then there is the possibility of adding electronic interaction beyond the analog interaction of pulling back a curtain and peeking in. There could be a series of images and a light sensor which tells the projection to change. There could be a mechanical theatre with moving parts. I am going to continue looking at the Peepshow Images History I got from the Library, and ruminate more on some of Rodney Graham's work and the genius way he pairs elements.

The projected magic lantern (overhead projector) of my drawings is going well. The Eastman House Photo Archivist gave me a link to their collection of Magic Lantern slides, which are incredible to scan through. Ooh-Here it tis: http://www.geh.org/ I am working toward a narrative which has the Pioneer joining an itinerate performance group as The Peepshow/Video Mutoscope Projectionist, then things taking a turn which leaves here in the gallery with the box, under the box, inside the box?

I need to buy staples.

Here are the images of the box in progress:











I'm also curious about an interactive/microcontroller element to the peepbox, of course, and in researching what others have done I found the Swedish Artist Group Performing Pictures They could be a good source for ideas for interactive work. They've done some painting reenactments in peep boxes for museums.. this seems more like a "please touch" application than an artwork, but it gets my gears turning.

Considering interactive lighting:
http://www.instructables.com/id/working_progress_n_how_to_make_a_multilayered_a/

Itinerant

[Update to this posting, three days after the first] Getting Closer the final design Here:


This is one of several of my first designs of the Video Mutoscope Box Screenprinted Logo. The students in our Junior Design class gave me a superb critique of my designs this morning, and I'm working with their suggestions and this incredible book I found with an image from London's St Giles Fair circa 1890s of a sideshow cart. I am halfway through the building of the box (design on previous post). The latest dimension is 68" x 28". My brocade fabric came in the mail yesterday. I'm happy with it, but not thrilled. The design is more subtle than I was hoping. I was originally going to print right on the brocade for the side of the box, but I am thinking now that I will tea-dip some of my bridal silk which I used for the vegetables book and print on that, insetting the printed section in the center of both of the sides of the box. I am not sure whether the peepholes will be just on the ends or on the sides or both. I thought it might be fun if people can see each others eyes across the box. I also want to find a ceramicist who could make me some Mutoscope-style eye-pieces to inset in the peepholes.



Here is a summer face peering from behind a winter face:



(Please see above for a summer face trying but failing to block a peering winter face)

Back to Work in Alfred

After a relaxing month of travel to Boston's North Shore and Jacksonville, Florida, I am back in Alfred, scanning the drawings I was working on on my trip, and making a Pioneer book. The book will be the backstory of how the Pioneer lost her horse and wound up stranded in the desert, leading up to stills from the final Pioneer animations. It will begin with simple line drawings, to full color drawings, and end with video stills from the Pioneer animations. The beginning of the book will also be seen as a Magic Lantern Projection show with live sound and live projections during my May 2nd MFA show at the Elks Lodge in Hornel, NY. I am also starting work on a miniature theatre peepshow box to house the Pioneer installation in its new form. Following are some of the pages from the beginning of the book and preceeding is a drawing of the installation box.