Just a quick entry for now as I need to sleep. It's the night before the Open Studios (or rather the morning of by now).
It's been pretty hectic and I still haven't got where I should/wanted to be. Wasn't helped by the mail department holding onto the delivery of that component I was waiting for for 3 days. I finally went yesterday (Monday) with a tracking number, having found out that it had been delivered and signed for on Thursday afternoon. I was seething, especially since I had actually gone up there on Friday and had asked about it. This put me 3 days back, when I could have been testing things and making progress.
In the event, having got the component we did some tests yesterday using the wi-fi network , which worked to an extent but the image was breaking up appallingly and looked pretty terrible. We realised that this is probably due to the fact that the network for whatever reason runs well below capacity. I have noticed how slow the internet is before and yesterday when we were trying to work with this streaming, there were only 2 bars on the wi-fi network. We decided to have a word with one of the senior staff members to ask him if he could have a word with IT to see if they can do anything about it. Tom asked them this morning and typically,we heard nothing and then found that the person we should speak to had gone home for the day. That means there's nothing doing until tomorrow morning and I have the studio to prepare.
I was really disappointed with this at this late stage and because I was quite tired it really got to me. I decided to go for a run on campus in preparation for tomorrow and to clear my head.
There’s been a bit of a gap as things have got even busier in the work up to the Open Studios next Wednesday(25th).
Following the last post there has been some progress, but not in all areas: I still feel really behind with the live run, mainly due to waiting for a component to arrive, which has halted the progress I could have made. The component is an AV digital converter, which would mean that I would be able to connect my own (good quality) bullet cameras via the recording device to the small computer I’ll be carrying when I’m running(!). Using web-cams would be more straightforward and would eliminate the need to carry my recording device as the recording could be made at the receiving end. However, the picture quality so far has been pretty poor. I may still buy some better quality webcams, if I can find any that are the right shape to wear.
I finally did a couple of tests on Wednesday and Thursday to test coverage using the mobile network and using the Banff centre Wi-Fi network. Both work and have their limitations. The mobile network allows me an extended coverage so I can venture further afield, but we are limited with the streaming software we can use. The Wi-Fi network needs an open network and so limits me to devising a run around the Banff Centre site, which has coverage in most buildings on the site. I went around the perimeter route I had run earlier in the week to test where I was getting Wi-Fi coverage and Dominic found a way of making a recording from his end so we could see where I was going out of zone. We also tested whether when I did go out of zone, the streaming would shut down entirely, or whether it would just freeze or go blank and pick up again once back in zone.
The latter happened, which is promising, as I had always envisaged something like that happening, which says something about the failure and limitations of technology. I like that concept.
I finally solved the issue regarding where to show the projection of one of my recorded runs. Following my despondency on Tuesday evening I had a chat with Edwin (one of the technical coordinators). He suggested I show in one of the screening studios and we had a conversation about me making some frame supports that I could cover in paper and suspend from the tracking system just below the ceiling. After thinking about it for a bit, I decided against it. The screening room just didn’t feel right- it’s far too big and I would lose all sense of intimacy and immersion (it would also be at least a day’s work to make the screens). I felt I was trying to make something fit a space it really wasn’t suited to. I looked at the projection in my studio again- it wasn’t as small as I’d thought.
St. Patrick's day. Feeling pretty despondent. Had a frustrating couple of days. Kenny and now Dominic, who are helping me, are finding it difficult to make progress quickly. Although they seem to have spent some time trying to push on, things are not as straightforward as they seem. I had hoped to move on to the next stage by now, which is to actually start to test the range and signal outside. This will help me determine my route and how far I can go for the live run. I also need to practise the route. To get a feel of it, I went out yesterday (Monday) late afternoon and did 10 laps (14km) around the perimeter of the Banff Centre. It was hard work as it includes a steep climb, but it was great to see 2 deer watching me each time I went round!
Yesterday we also had a brief meeting about the Open Studios next week. I’m getting very nervous about this as I am nowhere near where I would like to be and it’s difficult to plan ahead. As well as the live streaming of the run, if it ever works, I’d like to show one of the recorded runs as a 2-screen projection. It should be straight-forward but I can’t seem to find a space that will accommodate it. My own studio space is too small.
We were told about other spaces that we can use if we need to. The problem with these is that most of them are formal single-screen projection studios. Although they have great systems within them, they are difficult to adapt to more than one screen. Other suggested spaces don’t seem suitable either: ‘The Other Gallery’ is a small ‘L’ shaped gallery, where it's possible to show 2 projections, but only far apart. My screens need to be at right angles to each other to get that sense of the view from each eye and of immersion. Using the corner of a room would be fine as an alternative, but can I find one? The only other space is an empty studio which has large skylights and an open top (unfortunately Greg from our group had to leave abruptly at the weekend for personal and health reasons).
I’ll make a point of speaking with someone 1st thing tomorrow as I’m really concerned and a little stressed. Spent most of the afternoon and evening today trying to make a go of it in my studio and was fairly optimistic at one point. I blacked out my window and its lovely view and covered it with a large sheet of white paper cut to size. It looked great. The adjoining wall has already been covered with paper, so it looks fine on the surface. Unfortunately, I can just get far back enough to project an acceptable image size onto the window screen, but not onto the adjoining side wall, even using a mirror. Feeling low and over-tired. Hope tomorrow's better.
Was determined to have Sunday off. Decided I would spend the day visiting 3 of Banff’s main museums.
Set off with Flossie, a Canadian artist who has lived in Australia for a long time.
We walked to the Cave and Basin Museum (site of the Banff original hot springs), following the trail. It was snowing lightly and the ground was very slippery with the ice underneath.We came to the Museum via the Marsh Broadwalk Trail, where we saw 2 of the smaller hot springs steaming away amongst lush green and white algae. It’s quite unique and beautiful.
The first thing we noticed was the strong smell of the sulphur as we walked into the Museum, coming from the interior pool in the cave. The Basin is a long disused outdoor bathing pavilion, which used to be the largest in Canada. Unfortunately due to persistent structural problems and low attendance, it was forced to close in 1992. There is also an adjoining mineral pool, which is now home to a rare species of snail. Despite the history of this site, I was a little disappointed: the display on the 2nd floor seemed a bit tired and didn’t go into enough detail.
Second stop was Banff Park Museum (Western Canada's oldest natural history museum). Now this was really worth a visit. When you step inside, it’s as if you’ve stepped back in time into a 19th Century eccentric explorer’s collection of stuffed animals, birds and insects. The rooms are wood-panelled and full of glass display cases that house the collection, which spills out onto the top of the cases and onto the walls of the building. It’s amazing. It was developed in 1895 by Norman Sanson, a former soldier and local meteorologist, who became the Museum’s curator and who went out and personally collected many of the specimens. Everything is here- mostly animals from the locality, but also some that have no relation to the area, but came to the Museum through trading networks.
Last stop was the Whyte Museum (of art, culture and history of the Canadian rockies). This was founded by local artists and philanthropists Peter and Catherine Whyte. Saw quite a stunning exhibition of landscape photographs by Canadian photographer Edward Burtynsky. They were obviously shot with a large format camera and showed amazing colour and detail. These documentary photographs focus on humanitity’s impact on the planet, capturing images of the land altered by mankind. Despite this they have a certain ambivalence and it’s difficult to know what the position of the photographer is regarding this.
Spent quite along time in an exhibition about the Luxton Family, local pioneers responsible for putting Banff on the map. It was quite fascinating, not least because of the three generations of women in the family who were very active and the strong ties the family had with the Indians in the region.
Finished the day with another group dinner and a screening of ‘Man on Wire’.
Three days behind with the blog so lots of catching up to do. Saturday was a fairly quiet morning. I had it in mind to do another recorded run in the afternoon, so took it fairly easy. It’s a shame that the library here isn’t open on a Saturday, as I would have liked to go there then. Went up to the theatre building to book some tickets for the evening to see ProArteDanza, a Canadian contemporary dance company. It’s great to take advantage of things like this that are on here and as artists we get a discount.
My run in the afternoon retraced the route I’d taken previously to Sundance Canyon, via the Cave & Basin and the Marsh Loop Trails. I didn’t leave until around 3ish as it was a little overcast in the morning and I was waiting for it to clear. Turned out to be quite a nice, mild afternoon. The warmer weather has started to melt some of the ice and snow, so it was quite slushy in parts; in other areas the snow was still quite compacted –easier to run on in some ways, but very bumpy, hard terrain. I’d forgotten that the route there is on a very slight incline so it was a little hard going as I neared the canyon site and downhill most of the way back, which was a lot easier. I even picked up a little speed. I like this route as it’s quite varied through forest pines and the purple/brown/ ochre colours of the marshland plants are particularly beautiful. On this route I was more or less the other side of the Vermillion Lakes, and so the mountains were also very much in view.
I managed to do a complete run without stopping and also got a complete recording on both sides. A successful day. Got back just in time to have a long bath, dinner and get to the theatre. I wore my special ochre velvet slacks for the occasion.
The performance was very mixed and varied- mixing contemporary with classical in both the music and the dance. It was very dynamic in parts, mainly in pieces that had the younger dancers and slow and considered in others, showing great strength and endurance from the older dancers. My favourite pieces were the one using Gavin Bryars’ ‘Jesus Blood Never Failed Me Yet’ and Handel’s ‘Lascia Ch’io Pianga’. Great, very moving music, which had older members of the company performing in pieces full of slow tension and experience. Very moving.
We finished the evening with a few drinks in the posh dining room bar for Ruth's (another of the artists), birthday. I sampled a highly recommended gin martini- fantastic but very strong! One was enough.
