Where 'Hex' and 'Organima' meet. (research focus and methodology)
This experiment will examine the tension between cgi modelling and craft materiality by working through the digital and analogue methods of making available to the contemporary animator.
This experiment will form a series of tests that focus on the way in which animation configures 'material' as an extended term. What is meant by this is that animator configures tangible and non-tangible as a thing one can handle, In this instance light will be 'handled', this will include the cgi 'voxel' or 'pixel', natural daylight and cotton thread (as materialised light).
The second focus will be to explore the ways in which animation can work with risk in the space between cgi modelling and craft materiality, examining what it feels like to use cgi as a craft medium, exploring aspects of control and the notion of the workmanship of risk. The use of light and materials with different levels of variance is useful in working with the notion of risk.
This experiment draws from the theory of McCullough, Pye, and Eglash.
On completion of these tests it should be possible to connect the research project within current interdisciplinary research that extend to the fields of craft, cgi technology and animation whilst also extending more broadly to visual arts research.
This work should illustrate experimentation within the space between craft materiality/cgi materiality, craft modelling/cgi modelling that examines further the tension in terms of attitude, risk, control and material culture.
Hex is one project of two that is currently in production. In practice process it is often the case that two aspects of the same line of enquiry are worked on concurrently. In this instance it is the illustration of the emerging research methodology. This draws from cybernetic theory, falling more towards organismic biology and evolution than Transhumanism or cyborg theory. The methodology is more interested in identifying emergent patterns within complex systems than the personification human-technology interface.
The emergent properties of a pattern of information is useful in thinking about craft Rythmn and iconic symbol systems. Is this the stuff that animation engages with ? Is this how contemporary can potentially animators think when working, in a sense, as hybrid practitioners? Is it possible to equalise two different thought structures that operate essentially with affordance and constraints to measure and control the workmanship of risk, methods of handling that animation engages within when working within cgi and craft as a hybrid form. (big question... Needs exploring in practice experimentation).
It is this aspect of handling, reconfiguration and hybridity that animation is ideally situated. Animation is historically situated within the development of tools, technology, natural processes and the limits of human physiology of the viewer. Animation deploys techniques and processes with the intention to create a contract of disbelief, using 'mystification' as a tool. 'mystification' is only possible if the viewer is willing to suspend disbelief, and is not privy to the constructed artifice of the animated film.
The relationship between how animation reconfigures 'material', handles seemingly 'mystical processes' and couches animate film in the 'supernatural' is a very interesting aspect of this research. It is the seeming control of the natural elements, the intangible qualities of light and material, create a sense of 'mysticism' in the viewer. This taps into the relationship human has to ecology and nature-culture, religion and spiritual beliefs. It uses humans fear of survival and the desires to control nature as a deeply rooted psychological needs.
Animation understands the psychological construction of 'mysticism', as a cultural construct based on what is known to be actual, possible and physical, while also constructing an artefact that deploys mechanistic techniques that work outside of the physical
physiological limits of the viewer, with the intention of compounding the notion of 'mysticism'.
This experiment will form a series of tests that focus on the way in which animation configures 'material' as an extended term. What is meant by this is that animator configures tangible and non-tangible as a thing one can handle, In this instance light will be 'handled', this will include the cgi 'voxel' or 'pixel', natural daylight and cotton thread (as materialised light).
The second focus will be to explore the ways in which animation can work with risk in the space between cgi modelling and craft materiality, examining what it feels like to use cgi as a craft medium, exploring aspects of control and the notion of the workmanship of risk. The use of light and materials with different levels of variance is useful in working with the notion of risk.
This experiment draws from the theory of McCullough, Pye, and Eglash.
On completion of these tests it should be possible to connect the research project within current interdisciplinary research that extend to the fields of craft, cgi technology and animation whilst also extending more broadly to visual arts research.
This work should illustrate experimentation within the space between craft materiality/cgi materiality, craft modelling/cgi modelling that examines further the tension in terms of attitude, risk, control and material culture.
Hex is one project of two that is currently in production. In practice process it is often the case that two aspects of the same line of enquiry are worked on concurrently. In this instance it is the illustration of the emerging research methodology. This draws from cybernetic theory, falling more towards organismic biology and evolution than Transhumanism or cyborg theory. The methodology is more interested in identifying emergent patterns within complex systems than the personification human-technology interface.
The emergent properties of a pattern of information is useful in thinking about craft Rythmn and iconic symbol systems. Is this the stuff that animation engages with ? Is this how contemporary can potentially animators think when working, in a sense, as hybrid practitioners? Is it possible to equalise two different thought structures that operate essentially with affordance and constraints to measure and control the workmanship of risk, methods of handling that animation engages within when working within cgi and craft as a hybrid form. (big question... Needs exploring in practice experimentation).
It is this aspect of handling, reconfiguration and hybridity that animation is ideally situated. Animation is historically situated within the development of tools, technology, natural processes and the limits of human physiology of the viewer. Animation deploys techniques and processes with the intention to create a contract of disbelief, using 'mystification' as a tool. 'mystification' is only possible if the viewer is willing to suspend disbelief, and is not privy to the constructed artifice of the animated film.
The relationship between how animation reconfigures 'material', handles seemingly 'mystical processes' and couches animate film in the 'supernatural' is a very interesting aspect of this research. It is the seeming control of the natural elements, the intangible qualities of light and material, create a sense of 'mysticism' in the viewer. This taps into the relationship human has to ecology and nature-culture, religion and spiritual beliefs. It uses humans fear of survival and the desires to control nature as a deeply rooted psychological needs.
Animation understands the psychological construction of 'mysticism', as a cultural construct based on what is known to be actual, possible and physical, while also constructing an artefact that deploys mechanistic techniques that work outside of the physical
physiological limits of the viewer, with the intention of compounding the notion of 'mysticism'.
