I am continuing to explore different ways to display the recordings of the Morse Code eyes that I have been working on. Initially I was convinced projection was the way forward, big, bold and in your face. However, through experimenting and trying out different methods I am wondering if small is better...
At the moment I am not dismissing any option and am still looking to explore various screen sizes, projection on walls, buildings or anything else that springs to mind. I am also considering performance and how at least two people could interact across a table, a room or in a public place. I have also taking the open and closed eye to create it as a binary code and see how it could either work printed or by speaking to a programmer to create a way it can flick between the two modes using Morse Code to send a message.
However, the current exploration is for it to be small, almost one to one, and at eye height. I have been looking at four different messages and four different people delivering those messages. For this experiment I was looking at messages that would suit the medium, I wanted them to be short and convey an 'overseeing' eye feeling. This is just one approach to the actual messages I have explored, on discussion with Tutors and peers there are many ways I can develop this. For example messages about the current communication methods of hybrid learning where I could play with what we have all been experiencing, ie 'You are muted', I can't hear you', 'bad connection, can you hear me'. I have also discussed creating a piece from a poem, a longer read or even part of the Official Secrets Act...
The messages I have used for this set of films are as follows:
Do you understand?
I am all seeing.
I am watching you.
Talk to me.
The first thing to do was to translate the messages into Morse Code and then ask various volunteers to be filmed very close before editing the film together, where I can crop in tighter, lighten and adjust as I see fit. Even using a macro lens I needed to tighten up the crop to just focus on the eye, this not only gives little distraction from anything else it also makes you start to see the eye function and operate as an organ and the detail can really be observed.
I AM ALL SEEING (HARRIET)
I AM WATCHING YOU (SAM)
TALK TO ME (JO)
DO YOU UNDERSTAND (ANASTASIA)
Once I had the films all sorted, equalised and made as a set of four it was time to start seeing how best to display them. I have tried the original projected and this may well still be an option for these or an alternative version but I also wanted to see how they would look on a small screen. The question was how to output and convey them as small images. The smallest screen available from the MRC was still about the same size as an iPad, I wanted to go smaller. After researching small screens and looking at the complexity of the connectivity I wondered if I could just put them on an iPhone and use it portrait, which brings it much closer to the real size. I then constructed a very quick and simple frame from some white card to allow the phone to be hidden and just the amount of screen showing that I wanted. These are crude at the moment but can be used as test pieces and if they work the question is how many do I create and how many phones do I need...
Sam - (I am watching you) Mocked up in cardboard frame.
Harriet - (I am all seeing) Closed to reveal frame size and shape.
Sam - (I am watching you) Loosely mounted on wall to give an idea of size and potential position.
The questions that are now posed are:
How many do I create?
How do they sit in an exhibition situation?
Do they all appear in one space, talking to each other or in several different locations?
What do I make the frame from - Plywood, cardboard, foamex board?
What size should they be - as mocked up? Larger to hide cabling?
Can they be hidden in the wall more?
Further iterations to investigate are:
Projection - wall, floor, on buildings
Performance
Further screens
Printed versions - messages
Using images as binary code and getting programmer to create
The messages - content, length, approach
Eyes hidden in the wall
In order to decide how to display these smaller eyes I booked a session with 3D to discuss options and how best it could work. Ideally I wanted them hidden in the wall but could also see them as blocks of false wall that would stand proud of the existing wall, this would keep things tidy and allow access to the phones to set them up and also give the appearance of them being part of the wall. It would still mean trying to conceal the cabling as they all need power. It was only on discussion though that the idea of actually replacing panels of the existing walls with pre-made pieces of MDF started to become a real possibility. The idea being that we remove existing panels of chipboard and create an MDF piece to the same size, cut a very small window out to view the screen and rout out an area to get the screen as flush to the surface as possible, this could be done down to 1mm. We could then make bespoke extension cables to give power to each phone, this can be concealed in the void behind the wall. Then it was a case of how we attach the panel back in. cabinet hinges were discussed, along with magnetic clips but it was felt it would be better to secure with screws and just remove them for the days of the show morning and night. This might change but would be a tidier and potentially easier thing to achieve.
All that remains now is to get approval for the idea and if I get the go-ahead to decide where to put them and whether they are put in various places around the uni or all in one place to give them space around them. I like the idea of keeping them together but also by putting them in various places it would fit in with the idea of being watched and observed and that there is no escape from surveillance. Below is a simple mocked up version of how they could look on one wall. I have placed the eyes at the eye level of the people I used for the filming.
To see how the wall was created and the process to get it how it finally turned out I have documented the whole production process in 'The Final Push' (https://carldurban.wixsite.com/website/post/the-final-push).
Below is the final wall with all the phones in place and working as a still image and a short film walking along to each of the eyes.
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