Skyped Performance

For my skyped performance, I chose to tell a joke that was told to me by a great former teacher of mine, Rod Bennett. Mr. Bennett passed away in May of 2016 and this performance is a tribute to his great teaching and the legacy he left at Arroyo Seco JHS.

Final Project

What Now?

Artists Statement

At the end of the semester, as a final project, the question posed is “What Now?” We thought of innovative ways and new means of expression to tackle this query, and have found what we think to be is an apt expression of the state of our union. Our country is at odds with itself after our most recent election; facing the nexus that is the next four years in America, as well as the ever growing concerns of climate change and privacy. 

Google Maps is a tool widely used by people around the world. With the release of Google’s Street View in 2007, we were given the opportunity to better see the location of our searches, from the point of view of someone looking right at it, as opposed to the satellite view we were used to. But, capturing candid pictures of every square foot of road across the world comes at a price, an albeit funny one at that. Many people have seen the very random pictures that Google Street View has captured, from people in costumes to staged murders and so one. We thought that this medium not only captures everyday life, but can be used to peek into what current events are happening.

In our adaption entitle Now View, we take on the crises of today through the eyes of someone just taking a peek at the United States. We have combined the current hot button issues that face America today with the coincidental candids that could have been taken by Google Street View, almost as if you could quite literally see what was going on in the United States today.

Lectures/Exhibitions

Lecture 1

Lecture 2

Exhibition 1

Exhibition 2

HyperNormalisation

The documentary HyperNormalisation, made by british filmmaker Adam Curtis is a stunning

documentary comprised of found footage. It tells the incredible tale of how we arrived at such a

tumultuous era, where the government is powerless and aimless. Horrible news stories and

occurrences keep straying further and further from the norm. This film doesn’t try to interpret or explain

it’s clippings, but rather why we are unable to. It covers what is happening all over the world, not only

what’s big in the public’s eye, but how society has shaped and distanced itself to what is going on. It

highlights the contrast of the reality we live in and the reality we have created and shaped to fit our

demands. It covers the past four decades and how our current crises have evolved into what they are

now.

Christian Marclay Project

Many students chose to compose a piece using the music on the records they choose, while I took a technical approach to this assignment and explored what types of sounds I could get the record player to produce by altering records and other means.

Experimental Audio Tour

The Biggest Murder in the Biggest Little City:

A Historical Fiction Walking Tour

The assignment was to create a walking tour aided by no visuals or guides, but solely by spoken instruction. Given my enjoyment of creative writing, I decided to make an enticing story rather than a factual narrative, or museum like walking tour. After finding a map of the city of Reno from 1907, I worked out the present-day locations of the sites marked on said map and what resides there today. While the story is fictitious, there is basis in history, making it a historical fiction short story. All references to historical sites and historical persons are accurate, while their relation to the characters of the story might not be.

Enjoy.

Historical Map

Using concrete sounds and looping them, I created a snapshot of my life, therefore making a self-portrait of sound.

Paper Gramophone

The sound of the external speaker on the phone is amplified analogously.