TJ Wilcox’s Into the Air: Panoramic Object

In case some of you are looking for a show to see before school starts – I recommend the Whitney!

Just Passing By

Rooftop views are one of New York’s treasures.  The vistas stretch farther than one could ever see from the street, and up above the hustle, the city takes on a certain quiet peacefulness.  T.J. Wilcox’s current installation at The Whitney Museum,Into the Air, recreates the panoramic vistas seen outside his rooftop studio in an innovative 360-degree film installation.  Using four GoPro cameras taking regular high-resolution images every second from dawn to dusk, the film was then digitally sutured together into one frame and adjusted for projection on a curved screen.  Into the Air both recreates the proto-cinematic space of the panorama and engages with digital cameras and postproduction techniques and the cinephilia of recent installation art.

The panoramic time-lapsed day is interrupted periodically by six short films inspired by corresponding views out onto the city.  These shorts, on subjects such as his super’s recollection of seeing the attacks…

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Ten Thousand Waves at MOMA

Isaac Julien’s Ten Thousand Waves sets itself apart from the regular movies. Nine double-sided screens hung up on the wall, most making a circle and a couple in the middle gives whole new perspectives for the viewers. The installation forces the viewers’ eyes to move around to capture all screens simultaneously to get full experience. It feels almost like labor to keep twisting upper bodies to get 360 degree view but the experience is distinctive. Different images from the screens make the viewers feel as if they are in the actual place in the movie time to time. Sometimes its setting becomes a disadvantage, making me wonder if I am missing anything and found myself wondering for the best screen to watch rather than be carried away.

The movie depicts China and Chinese people. Many of the scenes were very recognizable and fit stereotypes of Chinese culture. Caligraphy, scenic mountains, and a flying woman are what we have seen and fantasized about China. They may seem cliche but I felt like Julien tries to establish such images as China’s past to refelct on modern China. Chinese military and Shanghai Tower are more modern China. When the flying woman flies over today’s China with skyscrapers, China’s history and present erode together. Julien shows the woman actually being shot in the green room which reveals the modern technology behind it. This made me think that maybe it is us that do not realize the present of China-we do not see the technology behind the movie, we only see the past of China, the exotic flying woman and the landscapes from the paintings.

It was an interesting experience. However, I wish the seating for the installtion was less efficient.

I thought it would have been interesting if the seatings moved 360 degree since we can only see 180 degree. Moving seats which moves according to each scenes can give full control to the director, making the viewers to view exactly the way he intended.

Isaac Julien

After spending the full 50+ minutes lying underneath the screens of Isaac Julien’s Ten Thousand Waves, I left feeling as though I’d gone through an all-encompassing screen experience unlike any screen-based experience I’d had prior. Once I realized that seeing the entirety of the piece at once was absolutely impossible while in the center of the installation, I relaxed and allowed the images to float over me, akin to the shots he included of waves and people floating in a river.

The installation deals with Chinese identity and the cultural shift from communism to capitalism. Many of the screens were filled with gorgeous images of Chinese capitalism, but a critique was always implicit (and often explicit). Many of the gestures were absolutely gorgeous; a man painting Chinese calligraphy on a pane of glass becomes a painting the second the man steps out of the frame. For one moment we are allowed to experience the image as a painting, followed immediately by hired laborers who clean the glass; a jarring insertion of capitalist toil and values against an otherwise pristine, sparse, traditionally Chinese medium.

The rhythm of the piece, as well as it’s all encompassing sonic and visual nature, allowed it to strike a balance between pseudo-zen moments of relaxation and release and the more high-intensity, dense, overwhelming sounds and images of modern day China. A great deal of the work seemed to deal with the loneliness of opulence; images of happy, fierce looking Communist legions are juxtaposed (and played simultaneously) with sparse, luxurious images with one woman, perpetually unhappy, surrounded by wealth but seeming to lack any interior fulfillment.

I couldn’t help but read into the sort of “making-of” shots as a very Brechtian gesture, “bearing the device” of the construction of the shots in order to remove the viewer from the captivation of their imagery. This self-reflexive gesture allowed the viewer to see inside the inner workings of the film and how it was constructed; the female “spirit of China” draped in white traditional garb once flowed through downtown Hong Kong gracefully, but we see her surrounded by a green screen and it becomes evident that she has been made iconic, made into something she is not, reminding the viewer that this is not just a simple narrative but a construction of the artist’s intent. Shots of the luxuriously wealthy capitalist woman riding a streetcar seem haphazard at first, but when we see the large camera crews, the production company scurrying about, and the tracking shots as they are being filmed, the viewer is once again reminded that this false narrative is just that: false, constructed.

These gestures did not remove me from the emotional freight of the work; for the entirety of my time spent there I was a captive viewer, engaged in all of the material present, attempting to draw connections between the various images he put forth and the screen-mounted sound environment he was able to produce. In the end it seemed an appropriate embrace of Chinese culture, and a simultaneous, scathing (if seductive and compelling) critique of consumer culture in China. The “moments of relaxation” he offered up, reminders of our temporal, metaphysical reality, were perhaps some of the most effective uses of space and sound for me, and for the duration of those moments I felt myself also adrift in the rivers of time (as cheesy as that might sound, it was an absolutely remarkable experience, one that happens all-too-infrequently in engaging with art).

All in all the work was one of my favorite art-experiences to date, incredibly well executed, and critically, aesthetically, spiritually, and emotionally engaging in ways that I’d never thought possible with art-making. His use of the space was the most effective I’ve ever experienced at MoMA, and I walked away from the piece in a contemplative, relaxed, and critical mood that I myself hope to be able to inspire in viewers.

Some favorite quotes:

All dreams are not your dreams. All desires are not your desires.

Worked to death, working to (till?) death.

A thousand waves

Isaac Jullien’s a thousand wave installation at the atrium of MoMa consists of nine giant screens hanging from the ceiling, with one screen on the main wall bigger then the other right. There is no distinct beginning and finish for the piece except for the only time all nine screens playing exactly the same scene and track at the same time after an approximately five second pause of silence on all the screen. Needless to say, most of the time not all screens are playing and almost the entire time, with exception of the beginning scene of busy traffic looping highway, different scene with different soundtracks plays on different screen. Although different, they are related to each other as though they are part of one bigger environment. The sound coming from different screens/speakers gets your head turning arou dye atrium, looking, searching.

The film has mixed of elements from modern and ancient, urban and nature, all related to this idea of “wave”. Whether it is the actual wave from the ocean or wave of moving cars and people, living the hustle bustle life. It also surround this traditional Asian woman in Shanghai monologuing about love, marriage and children; seemingly traditional duties of a woman. She walks alone around the seemingly prosperous city of Shanghai in the early 20th century. It also surround a mysterious ancient Chinese female figure, who seems to be out of this world. She flys, flowy in the windy air. She is introduced interchangeably with cut to modern life of someone preparing a man’s suit with a profile picture of a modern man at the side, traditionally for use of documentation. The connection seems to me to be a form of karma or recarnation between the ancient and the modern, could it be another idea of wave?

There is also an element of searching, with the ocean scene being shot with an outlook from a camera viewer. The cross in the middle and the numbers at the side and bottom is an indication of traditional film SLR camera. The camera points at the ocean, we we see, but does not take picture, as if the photographer is searching for the perfect shot.

For me, the idea if this piece is strongly in distributing different scene to specific screens that gets the audience turning, searching for the continuation of the story. Can you imagine how different it would make your feel about the film had it been play straight from one screen in the front as in a theater?

Ten Thousand Waves, Isaac Julien

Ten Thousand Waves by Isaac Julien is an immersive installation of film projections and soundscape that heighten the viewing experience of the sitters, successful particularly due to the treatment and understanding of the interaction between the physical environment and the viewers. I personally experienced this as revolutionary because I’ve always felt photography is always so limiting in many ways in terms of allowing the audience the full immersive experience of the photographer’s intent, and this installation made me think a lot about how one might go about breaking the boundary of the norm and go beyond the set rules of photography or film. I’ve constantly struggled with the idea of how I could stay within the narrative/storytelling realm of photography/film while figuring out an added, supplementary, or an entirely new medium altogether to maximize this immersive experience. This work was liberating because it released a lot of anxiety from the limitations I’ve been feeling of photography and video. All the more so because Julien’s thesis is very complex and ambitious (for all these different stories from different eras to come together and make sense), and the very fact that this idea was able to come across quite fluently proves that this type of installation is successful in providing the immersive experience. All these interplays of projection and sound were proliferated in order to create one immersive encounter of a scene or a reality. Some of the questions that came up: How is this different from the standard viewing experience of a movie theater or photographs exhibited in a museum? Is this to be categorized as video art? If this isn’t photography or film but both combined, is there a possibility of a birth of a new medium in which we can better experience reality? Is it even possible to attempt replicating an exact same reality? Is it possible to relive an experience? If these projectors were positioned in a circular placement to maximize the sense awakening, if they were not placed in a circle then would it have broken the spell? How many perspectives can one tell in a narrative without breaking the attention of the audience?  

Isaac Julien’s Ten Thousand Waves

THE visitor is take by the cinematic and beautiful sounds of MoMA’s atrium, where Isaac Julien’s installation Ten Thousand Waves is on show right now. The sound is the first thing one is struck with, sitting or standing underneath the giant screens. The sounds are enigmatic, elegant and the voices are beautifully synchronized with the projected image. My first thought was that the projections were in fact taken from the 2002 movie Hero by Zhang Yimou, where the swords men and women fight in ethereal landscapes, a movie defining visual grandeur. Maggie Cheung, who played the “flying snow” in Hero had a role in this installation as well. Hovering and flying, clad in the white filmy robes that accentuate the “flying” effect, across the cityscape and in various scenes. Cheung’s inviting and ravishing face invites the viewer to take part of her expressive emotions.

The projections also recall the aesthetic of Kar Wai Wong’s 2000 movie “In the Mood for Love”. Set in a 1960’s Hong Kong, where Maggie Cheung is playing a woman tired of waiting for her husband working abroad and falling in love with a neighbor instead. Julien’s projection is also a response to the tragic death of a group of Chinese cockle pickers, who were surprised by a tide coming in and cut off from the shore. Therefore the Chinese influence of the projections. Through the visually pleasing projections Julien is also trying to insert some social criticism; by showing different views of today’s Shanghai where the skyscrapers tower over the street life. A voice saying “communism gave way for capitalism” is heard and various scenes of people pop-up. Another scene is showing the calligrapher Gong Fagen drawing traditional Chinese signs on glass, which gets washed off by his apprentices.

The installation is set up so that no position is better than the other. One is almost forced to move around it to get a overview of it. Sitting on the small stools makes the viewer immersed in the projection. A culmination of the projection can be seen in the scene where a lady is walking across a room with a sweeping view over modern Shanghai, she sits down and answers the phone. The suspenseful and attractive sound accompanied with this segment resonates well with the eerie and apocalyptic mood of the installation.

China is a very fascinating country in a changing socio-economic phase that is highlighted in the projections by Julien. A powerful message is conveyed through the inspiration of Chinese culture and an elaborate installation.

 

 

 

Ten Thousand Waves

Upon entering the atrium of the MoMA one is faced with several grand screens placed in a strategic circular fashion. From the outside of the circular mass of screens the image of a woman can be seen swooning and speaking fervently without too much contact with the actual camera. The images are projected on both sides of the screens, so its viewable from the middle of the atrium and the outside-the images on either side however could be different. About four of the screens depict deep blue sea scapes, and abruptly switched to what appeared to be areal military footage, of a beach, and in the center, a target cross. With a mixture of abstract and minimal music, along with the voice-overs of women both whispering and speaking fervently, and the sounds of choppers, the experience is heightened for it is both overpoweringly visual and auditory. The amount of screens helps provide a feeling of emersion and the sound itself is a successful accompaniment to the haunting images. Upon observing the crowd you could see people lazily staring at the screens almost in a trance, which I found very interesting. It seemed like the viewers had been there for hours, just submerged among the images of waves. It is in this respect that Isaac Julien’s film installation is triumphant for it not only captures the attention of its audience, but also absorbs them in a truly sensory experience

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Speaking of creating microzones of privacy…

How about this “power nap” pillow?

http://www.hammacher.com/Product/Default.aspx?sku=84391&promo=search&query=KT+84391 

Ten Thousand Waves (2010)

Isaac Julien’s film installation, Ten Thousand Waves (2010) displayed in the Artruim of MoMA is projected onto a nine double-sided screens that allows the viewer the ability to move between screens through the dynamic space. The installation’s massive environment in the Artruim plays with the idea of movement and verticality, including sequenced moving images surrounded with sound and music of both Eastern and Western traditions staged in old and contemporary streets of Shanghai. Julien utilizes actors with cinematic qualities that reenact Chinese culture with its ancient myths through film making production. Through out the film Julien captures movement through the city of Shanghai, a fisherman lost in the sea and a women levitating and floating around which represents the fable of a goddess Mazu. The characters notion of movement in and out the screen is eye catching through the sequenced moving images of Shanghai’s environment revealing vibrant colors and literature that decorates the city. These moving images play as if it is one big screen through out the nine double-sided screen projection as the staged environment and actors move to one screen to the other. This notion of movement is very unique where these qualities aren’t viewed in cinematic theaters. In theaters the viewer is absolutely fixed in one position where as in this space the viewer can foam freely through the cinematic effect in Issac Julien’s film installation.

Ten Thousand Waves

I went to the exhibit at 11am, a half hour after the museums opens.  Even in it’s early hours the MOMA was filled with anxious art lovers.  I could hear Isaac Julien’s installation echoing from the second floor to the first.  Seven suspended screens circled the perimeter of the room, two in the middle.  The first thing I notice are the speakers and the sound.  The two center screens had two speakers each.  The surrounding seven screens each had an individual speaker.  The tone was tranquil and peaceful.   You had to turn your head many times because of the massiveness of the double sided screens.  I was constantly shifting, making sure I wouldn’t miss a single shot.  It was the sound that helped navigate where the audience is supposed to look.  Besides the sounds of water and the earth, voices would narrate the manifesto.  A deep man’s voice and a soft woman’s voice would interchange.  Whispers, moans, sighs, and breathing added to peaceful atmosphere.  The landscapes were breath-taking, various different angles (shown on different screens simultaneously) were shot of the same location.  What I enjoyed most about the piece was Julien’s addition of production scenes, showing the camera.  With nine screens the possibilities and opportunities are endless.  My favorite shots were of the woman in front of the green screen.  The audience can see how the artist used a fan to create the illusion of an outside atmosphere, and how the woman was attached to a puppeteer. The values of the screens changed from white to black.  The artist created an interesting atmosphere in the museum by painting Chinese characters on glass in-between himself and the camera.  The characters created a wall I couldn’t understand between his world and ours.  With a language barrier, the piece lost some of its importance, only to those who couldn’t understand Chinese.  Regardless of the speech, the installation was a relaxing virtual boat ride through China, that became uneasy at specific parts when the nature was stripped and replaced by trollies, traffic, and the city.  I enjoyed the space because not only did it provide seats, it welcomed lying down and looking up at the screens like stars.

What is it about this piece that is different from most video installations?

Similar?

How did the video transform?