Experimental

I have created this group as a discussion home for all related tasks that apply to us in the Dance Building. This will allow for other studying artists to see and understand what we are actually all about. Discussion might include topics such as choreographic tasks; student works season, our performance seasons, special study or even dance works that we have seen that we would like to discuss. Congratulations dancers, our first semester exams are now complete and good luck with the rest of the year. Fire away!

This group can allow for collaboration to take place as other artists and choreographers will now be able to seek and find dancers that are available and know what they are up too.

Collect and remix (or possibly perform) some of the music that are not particularly welcomed or even possibly annoying. The project will consist of at least one of such a remix, and will have at least an application for it. Multicultural audio tracks are very welcomed, (especially unwanted ones!).

The Bowl of Confessions Project

This is a social project designed to be interactive for those within the community of the Victorian College of the Arts. The following numbered steps will outline our proposal for this project. These actions will be the basis of this collaborative project that will fuse together our visual and auditory art practices.

1) Collect confessions from those within the VCA community. Collect these on recycled paper.

2) Use these confessions to construct scores for ephemeral musical performances.

3) Record and document these performances.

4) Weave the paper confessions into a beautiful bowl. A useful and beautiful object, made of sustainable materials.

Use this project as the foundation for larger collaborations outside of CFI, to develop operatic programs with visual art elements.

We will create an installation that combines the elements of drawing, video and sound. The idea is to create a portrait drawing and impose an identical layer of video on top of it, creating a "moving drawing". Similar to sketch animation, our work will combine drawing and video together in a work that will blur the lines between what's real and what's not, between motion and stillness. A video clip of a person's face showing a series of subtle changes in expression will be produced. Afterwards, the video will be cropped, edited, exported and projected onto a space. Once the correct placement for the projector is worked out it will then be traced and drawn to create an identical copy of the image onto a piece of paper or wall (canvas). We will then experiment with grading the video image to balance out the tones with the drawing, so that neither the video or the hand-drawn image will be too contrasty or dark and not take over. The trick is to find the perfect balance so that both video and the drawing overlap in a smooth and subtle manner.

Currently there are 3 members in the group. Audrey (drawing), Reinis (film) and Peter (music). This is a small group that will undertake a small, but interesting project that will require some interesting work like blue-screen filming, drawing, sound designing and we intend to make good use of everyone's skills.

Phase 1: Brainstorming
Phase 2: Filming the face (Wednesday, 1/04)
Phase 3: Editing - cropping, exporting (Thursday - Friday 1/04)
Phase 4: Setting up projection, tracing the face, drawing the portrait (1 day)
Phase 5: Grading video to match intensity of the drawing, testing (1-2 days)
Phase 6: Finalizing installation.
Phase 7: Creating a presentation video clip of the project (basically identical to the projection) - scanning, overlaying, exporting. Publishing the video to CC.

Group blog will be updated at the completion of each phase.

An exploration of de-humanisation, what it is to be human and the progression of humanity, without being too serious!

we plan to make a stop motion animation of robots dancing from a digital still camera. our group plans to combine our skills and fielfs of expertiese (ironic being bcause the school of film and televisiion is not represented in our gorup) to produce a film using vintage slides of chorus girls and dancers as inspiration.

our maing concept is centred around the juxtaposition between what it means to be human and what it means to be a robot and the film hopefully will contrast the human and robitic and portray a dialogue between natural and constructed worlds.  

An altered book “is any book, old or new that has been recycled by creative means into a work of art. They can be ... rebound, painted, cut, burned, folded, added to, collaged in, gold-leafed, rubber stamped, drilled or otherwise adorned ...” (www.alteredbookartists.com)

A collaborative effort to use books as a medium to express art and creativity. With the pages of books as canvas, members will pick a book of choice, and fill it with creative work of arts by circulating it through their friends and family.

At the end of the project, these books would be exhibited and perhaps even be auctioned off for charity purposes.

Inspired by The International Society of Altered Book Artists, this project hope to continue the promoting "altered books as an art form and to provide a Forum for the exchange of skills, experiences, and ideas through education, exhibits, and events" (www.alteredbookartists.com)

to create a performance which involves a huge number of disciplines in creative ways in order to create some form of puppet show!!

To build bridges of different sizes and different materials in various locations. A bridge can be so many things, we plan to explore the concept of a bridge, what it means and how the location, size and materials effect this. The presentation of these ideas will either be in documentation or as a performance/installation.

This group has been created to develop the collaboration of people who are spending some part or all of semester 1 2009 on secondment. In order to participate in the CFI Interdisciplinary Practice subject your are required to blog within this group about your collaborative experiences while on secondment and also develop a distributed, interdisciplinary collaborative practice through this virtual community.

How to begin:
1. Subscribe to this group
2. Write a short blog introducing yourself
3. Pitch an idea to the group
4. Form a group and being your project

The nature of this distributed, interdisciplinary practice/ project is dependent on its participants, but here is a some suggestions...
* pitch ideas to each other and form groups around ideas you find interested in
* preferably do not work on your own idea
* develop ideas that can be realised in a distributed way (note that your collaborators are spread across the world).

Also check out the subject group and subscribe to it... http://cfi.vca.unimelb.edu.au/research/2009-interdisciplinary-practice

Any questions?

Welcome to the Digital Repository Group

The purpose of this group is to discuss the various issues raised by creating a digital repository for the VCA collection. A number of working groups based around specific stakeholders needs (particularly school-by-school) can be formed from this group to develop a strategy for collecting and distributing the incredible content created by the VCA and its staff, students, alumni and guests.

The strategy

1. Consultation with stakeholders through this group, workshops and meetings
2. Develop policies for data management and organisational change
3. Deliver specifications both technological and managerial
4. Deploy the strategy in phases across the schools of the VCA

The beginning

At this stage we will begin a pilot project with the Music schools improvisation centre as a test case and consultation process. This will involve a data audit, development of format standards, metadata policies and rudimentary file system bank. This will then be converted into a social media distribution strategy and a commercial distribution strategy. These documents, standards, metadata and file system bank will form the prototype for deployment of strategy throughout the VCA after review and adjustments.

Feel free to comment on the above outline. It is only a draft and can be amended and edited as needed. Also feel free to add your own blogs, forums , events and links to this group using the side bar on the left. Enjoy.

Regards, Alex Gibson.

Here are the steps to getting a group...

1. Subscribe to this group.

2. Post an idea for other people to create.

3. Post a blog about yourself and how you want to be in a group.

Good luck.

This subject requires students to research or practice within interdisciplinary groups (3+ people) reflective of the diversity of schools across the Victorian College of the Arts; Dance, Drama, Film & TV, Fine Art, Music and Production. Each group will pursue an interdisciplinary project. Members may be sourced from outside the course/college. Once a group is constituted, students are expected to define a project they wish to fulfill. There is an accompanying Internet component to this course, for which there will be weekly instruction given during the lectures, as well as weekly consultation periods. If you do not have Internet access at home, access is available to all VCA students in the computer lab.

Interdisciplinary groups are provided with a tutor that can offer guidance and advice in the delivery of their project. The groups are required to present a proposal of the project and a list of members in the group to the Subject Coordinators. Each group will nominate a student representative as a contact person for the group.

This site will present a number of works in progress, experiments and forms of play based around my art practice.

This group will be focusing on my Masters by Research work in Sound Design at the School of Production.

The research I am conducting is based on the construction of an interactive audio system for performance environments. It will seek to explore and then formulate methodologies for audio control systems as creative and performance delivery tools.

A website for the thinkers, artists and common people of the world to discuss issues using all sensory mediums

about

Proposal
To organise an exhibition of various works by an interesting group of visual artists to be held in a residential apartment in Brunswick in July-August 2008.... details yet to be finalised.

collaborative arts group

For coming International student exhibition (Aug 2008), we discuss about our practices, theme and direction under the supervision of Neil Malone and Merrin Earth (VCA Art). Lots of interaction and fun stuff to get to know the other students from oversea.
Plus there are some occasional picnic, dinner, drink and Karaoke party!

This international students group is to exchange information and experience only international students are able to, in special situation like this in VCA. Each international student has uniquely creative skills and backgrounds, but sometimes they are forgotten and hidden among the local students.

Have you ever been frustrated communicating with people about your art practice?
Have you ever thought you wanted to talk to someone about your unique history?
Have you been wondering where you could show your work?
Have you ever felt 'not sure' about being in Australia?
Do you want to talk to someone, but not using international calling card, right now?

This will be great oppotunity to break the barrier and show your colour, your own art!

Students from all departments and degrees are welcomed.
Let's talk about your art in your language!
(though we usually talk in English to communicate...)

To create an accumulative online gallery of media artwork (text based, sound, film, animation and image). The site is divided into two sections: a main gallery and a working gallery. The working gallery houses a catalogue of minor works/fragments/half-developed ideas that may be used by anyone to create larger works for the main gallery. The main gallery houses finished works (that may be created entirely by the one artist, or conglomerate pieces from the fragments of other artists work from the working gallery). The only unifying elements to the works of art are: 1) any work taking place over time (i.e. film, animation, sound) must not exceed 30 seconds 2) they be created specifically for the gallery (since the emphasis is on the idea that the gallery as a whole IS the artwork) and 3) no breaching of other copyright material.

The Snowball Group Proposal.

Our proposal stems from the question of what it is we all hold in common as young artists from different disciplines, backgrounds and perspectives. Something we do all share is this place; whether it is totally new, only temporary, or somewhere we have known our whole lives, we all must make "homes" for ourselves in Melbourne this year. The way we identify with the environment about us plays a key role in the way we identify ourselves; and our role in the world about us.

The aim of our collaboration is to produce a short film about the city in which we live. We want to explore the relationships between ourselves and the built environment; in particular, what it is about some spaces that we identify with, enjoy, react to, etc.

Each member of the group will chose a location that is significant to them and document it in a way which will portray their feelings. As the film progresses from location to location it should hopefully provide a spectrum of emotions.

"Currently" contemplating "our" navels/creating an erotic music video "incorporating" opera or "doo-wop". Working towards a project that can be submitted or performed as part of Queer Collaborations 2008 in Melbourne in "June".

To create an artwork that combines all of our disciplines.

PROPOSAL
TMJJ’s project rotates around a shared concept of a collaborative installation. The intention of this installation is to have an altering and subversive effect on the perception of the viewer as they access the work. The installation will be located in the Tute Room of the Victorian College of the Arts Sculpture and Spatial Practice department.

Sound, lighting, video and ‘sets’ will be combined to create a scenario that at first appears understandable, rational and simple, but at closer inspection will be unnerving, destabilising and totally unexpected. Proposed materials and objects for this work are; televisions, theatre flats, hidden speakers, live feeds of sound and/or images and pre-recorded material. These media along with the existing architecture of the space will be amalgamated to construct two identical small rooms, separated by a doorway.

Surrounding this concept is a body of research and inspiration on which the collaboration will be grounded. Examples of research areas are; experimental music, beat poetry, constructed ‘room-like’ installations by other artists and horror/thriller films. Such ideas will provide a framework in which the installation will be located conceptually.

Each member of the group will explore and document the space individually using their own skills and expertise before an outcome is made. Frequent meetings will be held to hypothesise on the formatting and expansion of the general concept. Some of these meetings will be recorded and are a key element in the formation of the group and the documentation of the work's process.

The final work of this project will occur organically over two days. There will be a primary (trial) installation day on April 30, where initial decisions will be made about curating all ideas, objects, sound, lighting and footage. A second session within the space will focus on an actual finished work. The date for the final construction and viewing time for the final work will be May 16.

A bower bird is a small to medium sized native Australian bird.

Biologists from all over the world have for decades been curious as to the way in which the male bower bird builds his 'bower' to attract a mate...

The pigeon-sized bower bird constructs it's elaborate structure on the forest floor from twigs, leaves, and moss. It then decorates the bower with colorful baubles, from feathers and pebbles to berries and shells. Interestingly, the bower bird often uses the color blue as it's favorite choice of color to decorate the bower...

To get as many people involved as possible in a public flash mob.

Admin Group for the organisers of the Melbourne Flash Mob

Proposal
Our renewed project explores and interrogates orientation and the "welcome pack". As we near the end of our studies at the VCA we ask what have we learned and what do we wish to pass on. What truths do we want to tell and lies do we want to dispell? We want to provide the new VCA student, our audience, with a subjective and information rich resource that will help them navigate the VCA literally, socially and emotionally. We will be producing a prototype only. As with our original project, we want to make the consumer laugh. We want to mock and destroy convention whilst adhering to its structure....we want to be cheeky and interrogate the commerce of study

We, a broad cross-section of students from painting, drawing, drama, voice, improvisation and dance come together as a group of young artists wanting to expand our own art practice, gain valuable experience and make new friends through a collaborative project.

For our proposal, see the attachment at the bottom of the page.

To read about our reflections on the collaborative process of our group please see the attached document: Singing Whale/Wail Group Response

Welcome to the Synergy Proposal for the Third year collaborative contract project. The following information aims to clearly demonstrate the concept, process and hypothesised outcome of this group's Semester one project.

CHANCE?

Based on the techniques of revolutionary Contemporary dance choreographer Merce Cunningham, whereby dancers, musicians and visual artists work together to create a final performance, our group will aim to make a film in which all the six disciplines of the group will collaborate. However, in the tradition of Cunningham, the final outcome will very much depend on chance. Cunningham famously choreographs dances based on no music whatsoever and then invites renowned musicians, such as Sigur Ros from Iceland and Radiohead from England, to produce their own music without knowing the final dances. Occasionally, the music is even played live without any prior rehearsal with the dancers. Visual artists are also invited to create stage sets the are independent of the concept/choreography of the dance as well.

In the same way Synergy aims to create a film incorporating all artists from multiple backgrounds including: A visual artist (painting and installation based), a classically trained contemporary dancer, a producer deeply involved in working with stage productions, a Film and Television director, a musician ranging in various instrumental and electronic experimentation and an actor trained for stage and set. The depth and variety of these artistic fields have the potential for extraordinary results.