Camille Utterback
Why she is awesome:
1999. While people contemplated
the falling sky- Camille Utterback contemplated the catching and falling of
words and translated that into Text Rain.
(http://camilleutterback.com/projects/text-rain/).
Text Rain was an art interactive art
installation Utterback created a light sensitive projection that used motion
sensors to read the shifting light patterns as patrons entered her
installation. The light patterns were connected to a projector that showed the
images of falling letters, seemingly random, but formed the lines of a poem.
Depending on the level of darkness, the letters essentially rested on the
silhouettes of patrons. Patrons (users) were able to manipulate the letters as
they moved, and as soon as they moved beyond the range of the sensors (or as
soon as they could no longer cast a shadow), the letters continued to fall to
the ground.
In terms of interactivity, and actually
engaging audience/attendees with interdisciplinary art- Text Rain was able to accomplish two goals that I would love to see
in my work: 1) using video projections in a more (inter)active way and 2)
demanding audience engagement, so that their physical presence and movements
through the space directly impact what happens to the “art” in the space. Being
a theatre practitioner, I’ve had the opportunity to see a lot of shows, lives performances,
etc. Beyond the role of sedentary spectators who have been trained to applaud,
laugh, cry, hiss, boo a performance- the opportunities that Utterback explored,
showed a great deal of possibility for what we can do now.
From the video footage, it
appears that upon first entering the space, audience members didn’t realize how
the installation would be affected by them, but from the various video clips,
it’s apparent that as soon as the opportunity presented itself, there was
created a “state of play.”
A personal bias of mine… I guess
I’m just tired of arbitrary use of projections in theatre. We get it,
technology is there to be used, and sometimes it’s cheaper and easier than
building a bunch of flying set pieces. Furthermore, I pretty much exclusively
use projected images to frame my shows and performances. But I guess here is
where my hypocrisy diverges. I use projections in tandem with other electronic
and mobile devices in an almost Brechtian way, where I constantly want to
audience to be aware of the technology, and yet still be immersed in the
narrative story/experience. I use projected images because I have an affinity
to the aesthetic of images projected onto a wall, onto a body, displayed on a
screen. I just want to recognize how technology is an extension of who we are
in how we tell stories- and it’s a way to bring social media (instagram/vine/facebook)
into a physical space. Perhaps a poor attempt- it’s my way of opening a portal
to welcome in multiple layers of personal narrative and interactivity into one
single moment. What I mean is- we exists internally, externally, physically,
and virtually- we are each our own hub to hundreds of connections with varying
degrees of intimacy and relevance. I want to bring them all to the forefront in
a single performative experience.
The other reason I love Text Rain, because I’m trying not to go
on too much of a rant is of course, the poetry. Since 1999, other artists, students, etc. have explored this
piece further. One artist, Sam Gruber (http://golancourses.net/2013/projects/samgruberupkittextrain/)
re-implement the project to have the letters interact to crisper edges and
lines in the projection as opposed to a brightness threshold which is how the
original piece worked. In the link above, he is able to display the poetry within
the projection:
“String[] poem = { "I
like talking with you,", "simply that:
conversing,", "a turning-with or -around,", "as
in your turning around", "to face me suddenly . .
.", "At your turning, each part", "of
my body turns to verb.", "We are the
opposite", "of tongue-tied, if there", "were
such an antonym;",
"We are synonyms", "for
limbs' loosening",
"of syntax.", "and
yet turn to nothing:",
"It's just talk." };”
What
I love about Text Rain is that-
especially with the use of poetry, as you interact with the art piece, you
become the performer within your own show, but also, one is often left looking
for words. From the random collection or coalescence of words as they rest on
your forehead or shoulder, fragments of meaning that ultimately mean different
things to different participants are communicated. So in a public environment,
these individual experiences are unique to each person. This of course can be
argued… for any experience anywhere- but what I mean is that- I think that
these specific words, and word choices create unique images and frame/reflect
the individual memories of each person who walks into the installation.
This
is how I feel about poetry. As a budding Spoken Word/Slam Poet, and having immersed
myself into the Poet Community, I realize that the stylized performances with
super heightened text, rapid delivery, rhythmic breathing are tools that break
up the streams of conscious thought, that spew from the poets’ mouths. As
audience members, you are only ever able to collect certain images and ideas,
and leave with limited fragments of the piece- which is why we come back and
listen again, and why there is a strong sense of ritual and appreciation for
the live aspects of the performance.
I’m
just glad I was able to discover artists like Utterback, and pieces like Text Rain. For the first time in a long
time, researching and learning about this piece leaves me more inspired to
create as opposed to feelings of being unoriginal or redundant. I hope to utilize
the projection aspects of this piece, and the use of animated words to heighten
my live performance for Rice in Hybridity.
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