Motion: An Exhibition of Essentialist Film and Video. - Artist Statement

Publication Type	Catalog
Authors	Ralph Hocking
Source	Munson-Williams-Proctor Arts Institute, Utica, NY (1999)
Keywords	people-text
Abstract	"The 58th Exhibition of Central New York Artists was devoted to video, film and multimedia projects - genres that have informed the work of a generation of artists - and the significant role that upstate artists, schools and organizations have played in pioneering and nurturing these no longer new media." Mary E. Murray, Curator of Modern and Contemporary Art at Munson-Williams-Proctor Institute. Institution/Organizer: Museum of Art, Munson-Williams-Proctor Arts Institute Site: Munson-Williams-Proctor Arts Institute, Utica, New York Curator(s): Knecht,John Exhibition Dates: October 2, 1999-January 2, 2000

Full Text:

ARTIST'S STATEMENT

I am writing this in April about a not-finished work to be shown in the fall of 1999. As far as I can predict, it will be about using computers to explore notions of imagery and sound as presented and generated by these machines. I am most interested in what the computer can do beyond emulation of the abilities of the usual, i.e., painting, slide shows, video tapes, films, and music.

There will be four to nine monitors. Each monitor will be connected to its own computer. Each of the computers will have one video and two audio outputs and will also be connected through its serial port to one "master" or "referee" computer. It is sort of a MIDI control. The Amiga computer has built-in capabilities that allow the generation of visual information and also has four oscillators that can create sound. It is also possible to store and recall images and/or sounds that are sampled from outside sources. It also has a speech emulation chip. All of this can be controlled (programmed) using software developed as a language to access all of the computers' capabilities.

Video-gathered images are affected by using methodology based in digital processing. Some imagery is changed by convolving, bit swapping and field manipulation. Three-dimensional illusions are the result of the latter. My interest is to create edges, or sets of possibilities within the computer in linear and disparate ways at times that may or may not be predictable. In other words, give back to the computer control over when and how the information will be presented. The randomness of offering is often the resulting art. Surprise is necessary to invention at some level. I want to ignore the surface metaphorics offered by most commercial programming and discover the abilities of the machine. This is an extension of work begun as a result of study based in making pottery.

Ralph Hocking
Installation works: Jump, diggit and Running

Motion The 58^th Exhibition of Central New York Artists

Munson Williams Proctor Institute, October 2, 1999 to January 2, 2000

John Knecht, Guest Curator