My focus for this project is centered around abstraction as imagery, surrealism, and dadaism. The project will include a sculptural drone instrument based on the simplification of a hurdy gurdy, crank and rosined wheel along 4 to 7 piano or harp strings, as well as a super 8mm film that has been abstracted by scrapping the celluloid and forming animations over the frames. In developing the structure for this artwork I changed the direction of the construction of this device multiple times. After making a scale model of the original instrument design I felt a certain disconnect from the perspectives I held going into the process of creating drafts of this work. After researching Japanese philosophies on the interaction of wooden materials, woodcraft, I was drawn to the idea of the relationship between construction and nature. It appears to me that in recognizing the relationship between the natural world and the creation of human habitats and devices, I can relay the ideas around abstraction that I have towards constructing the device. The first major design difference that will relate to the ideas surrounding Japanese wood craft is the use of mitre joints along the top and bottom bases. I will also hopefully be able to use hand tools for this project, interacting and ‘distorting’ the wood to make a work that ties into the idea of abstraction. Similar to how I will interact with the film stock. Below is a collage of updated sketches I have done for the instrument.

Here is the final description of my interests around this topic as well as the project itself:

‘Perception is not a passive response to external stimuli, like a reflex, but actively parses and anticipates external events’ (Minissale, 2021). Gregory Minissale expands on ideas around movement, abstraction, and perception in his book Rhythm in Art, Psychology and New Materialism, relaying the connection between brain activity, natural form, and ‘mind wandering’ to artistic form. For my portfolio project I am striving to create two artworks that explore these ideas surrounding the image of abstraction. These artworks will work in parallel as an exploration into abstraction as an image, and how the subjectivity of perception can physically impact the resonance of a landscape, sound, or person. 

My interests around creating works relating to these topics stems from my fascination of natural landscapes and natural form in art, the comparison of lo-fi sound and low-resolution images to abstract paintings and artworks, and the absence of form in composition, leading to the creation of material that excites and surprises me. Awareness in producing material inspired by theory and research as well as personal experience and practice leads to links between stimuli and realization, as well as deeper rooted ideas around the meaning of my work on a personal level. 

PROJECT 1: 

Sculpture for Music – Music from Sculpture – Music for Film – Film for Music 

Project No. 1, currently titled ‘sculpture for music – music from sculpture – music for film – film for music’, is going to include the realization and construction of a primitive instrument that will then be used in the composition of a film score for a distorted two-to-three-minute film of a landscape, shot on Super 8 celluloid. This concept is meant to explore abstraction as image, as well as links between abstract art, perception, and the natural environment. I am projecting both the abstraction of material and perception of the natural environment by shooting a landscape on filmstock, and then distorting the leader by scrapping over the leader, implementing my own presence in the process of capturing footage of a natural landscape as well as the ephemeral nature of medium in art. This is drawn from my own research into Dadaism, focusing on artists such as Hans Richter and Viking Eggeling, The instrument will be synonymous with the film piece, constructed solely for the realization of the image of nature. In deciding how to approach the construction of the instrument I am relying on traditional Japanese woodcraft and joinery techniques. Philosophy surrounding Japanese design promotes the importance of balance and harmony within habitat and nature. Pulling from these perspectives promoted by carpenters, designers and artists such as Makoto Fukada and Kenya Hara, I hope to also develop my own role in the link between the natural and constructed world. The instrument is a simplified and primitive hurdy gurdy, that will use a bridge structure similar to the construction found on a zither harp, producing continuous drones from a wheel on a rod with a hand crank protruding from the ‘front’ of the structure. 

This project expands on previous works of visual music I have created, as well as abstract audio – painting works including my submission for the Sonic Doing and Thinking module from year 1 titled ‘Portrait of A Mind’. The artwork was a painting I had done alongside a sonic movie illustrating a space representative of my mind at the time. I believe this work is an expansion of my earlier perspectives on abstract imagery and interpretation, as well as my current practice which I would relate to visual music, the reinterpretation of classic musical form, improvisation and psychedelic wooziness, and experimental sound for film.