DEGREES UNEDITED

# 31 [1 April 2010]

No college this week - due to my being ill. I'm still recovering, so all I can do is think about what to do next. The college is also closed for Easter for two weeks, so it will be well into April by the time I next visit the studio. When I am feeling well again it will be time to concentrate on the video based kinetic elements of the installation. I have them in my head, but there will only be certainty once they are made and installed. I have asked to do a full test install in the college studio in April. If this is not possible then risk management suggests I will have to persue a slightly less ambitious backup plan. So mid-April is an important decision point.

# 32 [4 April 2010]

I still have a fuzzy head from being ill this past week, but needs must and I have to get back into the groove sooner rather than later, so today has been about clearing out the home studio (spare room) in order to make space to work while the college is closed.The hope is that clearing the studio will help clear the head.

Then I plan to complete the 54 outstanding A4 components for the outer skin of my installation (before I return to college in two weeks time - there are 81 components in all). I also want to (at least) start story-boarding the three animation components and if I am lucky even finish a version 1.0 of one of them. The question is can I get my head clear enough to make progress!

PS. Finding my name and blogger profile mentioned in this months a-n magazine (bottom of p38) brought a smile to my face and a welcome happy end to an otherwise bad week!

# 33 [7 April 2010]

Are you all aware of how good gaffer tape is at removing paint from walls? The spare room now has one wall that is almost paint free plaster. I had hung a large sheet of Fabriano paper and left it for a few hours, upon my return I found the paper on the floor and a large strip of the paint from the wall too. Thirty plus years of layered paint had peeled away, probably a testament to the first layer having been applied to a still damp top layer of plaster all those years ago when the house was built in the '70s. Still, never mind, the process of removing the loose paint was rather therapeutic and enjoyable.

Getting back to the paper, I was hanging it so as to work on some analogue components made using paper, graphite, permanent marker pen and a sealing layer of acrylic wash. The idea is to continue experimenting while I make the already planned components for the show installation. You never quite know when something new jumps out and demands to be included or at least explored further.

Also, I hadn't realised (until now) how electric that jumper is :O)

# 34 [8 April 2010]

After a bad week or so, today has been very productive, maybe this has something to do with the beautiful sunny weather!

Ten solid hours of work (three last evening and seven today) and another set of twenty seven installation images have been made, making fifty four finished and twenty seven to go. Colour has now become part of the outcome, moving the process one step closer to the kinetic video components that will appear on the inner surface of the installation. I can concentrate on these video components when the outer skin components are done. So twenty seven images and ten hours (work time) from now and I can switch modes.

I have an idea that might include mirrors on the inner surface of the installation pod, but this will have to wait for experimentation once I have the basic structure of the pod built in the college studio. The idea is to 'overlay' the kinetic components on the viewer via repeated reflection. This could change the video content so I need to make the initial experiments as soon as I get back to college.

Notes

The picture shows one of three strips of nine images made today.

I italicised video because I really don't see these components as videos, I prefer to think of them as sequences of codes presented with varying levels of certainty and uncertainty. Video just doesn't seem to be the right word, but it will suffice for now - once italicised.

# 35 [11 April 2010]

Today I am making more static-kinetic components. This experimental work is a precursor to the production of full kinetic sequences for the LCD screens in my final installation.

# 36 [13 April 2010]

Today I have been considering these related questions.

1. When does the virtual take over from the physical?

2. Do I see the virtual as simply another way of promoting my physical practice?

I am begriming to consider my virtual practice as being the primary practice which is then punctuated by related physical activity. Certainly many of my serial explorations can be (and have been) realised in the virtual on-line world, so where does that leave my physical practice?

For now, I plan to continue exploring both and let time and experience dictate how things unfold.

My virtual practice can be found via an ever expanding number of links, with work located (hosted) in different countries around the globe. For now (at least) my virtual audience is likely to remain much larger and diverse than any physical audience an undergraduate or recent graduate could hope to muster, so for now it represents the most important part of my artistic presence.

Primary web sites:

× http://revad.com
× http://codedimages.com

Secondary web sites:

× http://blog.codedimages.com (this blog)
× http://triarcle.codedimages.com
× http://circuare.codedimages.com
× http://squangle.codedimages.com

Community based web sites:

× http://revad.redbubble.com
× http://codedimages.redbubble.com
× http://triarcle.redbubble.com
× http://circuare.redbubble.com
× http://squangle.redbubble.com
× http://twitter.com/codedimages
× http://facebook.com/codedimages

Selling web sites:

× http://www.blurb.com/user/revad

Note: some community sites include the potential for selling although this is not my primary reason for being represented there. [EDIT] My #1 priority is to find the right space to install work and this applies equally to the virtual and physical worlds.

One final question comes to mind: how can I (or even should I) incorporate the virtual into the physical final show?

# 37 [15 April 2010]

I have been putting off making the final 27 components for the installation 'skin', these must be finished before I go back to college on Tuesday. I must also make a model of the installation, so lots to do over the next few days.

It is quite difficult to resist making more changes. I enjoy the exploration so much more than making the final outcome, so it can be hard to pin down what that outcome might be. Usually it might be lots of things and the final thing appears as time runs out and not a moment before.

# 38 [15 April 2010]

Another day is almost done and I have, once again, managed to avoid completing the skin components. I wonder, am I trying to tell myself something!

On the other hand the virtual web components are close to completion.

Maybe I will do the physical work tomorrow...

# 39 [16 April 2010]

Success, all 81 components for the installation skin are now complete and in the box (quite literally in a storage box for safe-keeping). I will be doing a test install of the complete set, probably first in the home studio and then the college studio, next week. I'll post some pictures when I have them.

In the mean-time I can move on and refocus on the kinetic screen based components for the inner surface of the pod.

In parallel I must do a scale model, so I can change various aspects quickly and check out different configurations.

I wonder how the other students have spent their time over the Easter break, it will be good to touch base on Tuesday.

# 40 [19 April 2010]

Today has been about two tasks:

- first, getting ready for tomorrow's return to college;

- second, making my first model of the proposed exhibition installation.

Getting ready for college was simply a matter of collecting everything together, all the work done over the Easter break, and packing it up to make transportation as easy as possible.

Making the model was the most fun, I have made it adaptable to allow for easy modification to show several different potential outcomes (on the same basic theme). It is not quite finished, so no photographs yet, you will have to be patient and wait a day or two!

I can't wait to hear what the other students have been up-to. Of course it may be that one or two haven't made it back to the UK because of the volcanic ash from Eyjafjallajökull.