24 days and counting until everything effectively ends... well, submission of everything ends. I will still be looking to create past the 20th May and well beyond. We have our 2Faulty Collective, I have a provisional MA place at NUA. The future looks bright, the future looks creative. But for now it is the detail and getting everything ready for the end of my 4 year BA Fine Art course. There are many fingers crossed, not so much that i will get everything done, that will take time, effort and much list checking to ensure I haven't missed a trick. The fingers are crossed more for the technical issues I have given myself. Will the phones work, will they stay looping, will I be allowed to have them on charge all day, will the sound work, can I get all the connectors to work, how is the wall for the phones going to be constructed, should I be doing more, should I create more or should I just write a massive list and systematically go through everything... A list looks good.
Shiny Braille.
While I wait for a Group Tutorial to discuss everything for the phones in the wall I thought I could take a look at the large Braille Aluminium sheet and see if I could polish it up and get that ready, even if I don't know how to hang it yet!
I have researched how to make a piece of aluminium as shiny as a mirror, I wasn't looking to make it that shiny, just tidy up the marks, scratches and make a little bit shiny. I used several grades of wirewool, with a little WD40 before applying a polish for aluminium and magnesium. It has made a significant difference, it's just a case of do I leave it as it is or do it once more when I have all the hanging issues sorted. I think I will, it could be cleaner, smoother, shinier. Only another three hours of wipe on, wipe off...
In my blog post 'Adding sound to Braille' (https://carldurban.wixsite.com/website/post/adding-sound-to-braille) I detail the last stages of how the work came together. Below are a couple of images of the final piece in place, this can also be seen on 'Adding sound to Braille'.
Getting the eyes in the wall
The main part of my show and result of development over this unit in particular has been the Morse Code delivered by blinking eyes. This has gone from large projected eyes, me filming myself, creating films to then trying different messages with different people blinking the messages. The method of delivery has evolved and as described in 'From Big Eyes to Little Eyes (https://carldurban.wixsite.com/website/post/from-big-eyes-to-little-eyes) I am using a set of iPhones concealed within a wall. Sounds simple. It's not.
Getting the phones is one thing, making sure they all work is another and then getting access to them all to be able download an app to loop the videos is another. Then they had to all be charged, loaded up with the relevant film and PAT tested by the Estates Team at Uni. They passed, I have a set of stickers, now all I need to do is get them in the wall.
The original space I was allocated would have been a good one to use but the room was just too light, being south facing space, so after discussions with the Acting Head of Fine Art I have moved up a floor and around to a north facing wall. Even better this wall didn't exist so I just needed a frame work as the phones are going to be behind the wall and I need access to them every day to turn them on and set them up. However, when it came to the contractors understanding the plan they decided to build a wall... not just a wall but the back of a wall, exactly the bit I didn't want.
Before I started to remove the panels I had several chats with tutors and 3D to discuss the best route forward. The three panels with backs needed removing and the two with fronts needed taking off and then a hole cut in the back to allow access. There is a small issue of a door that should have been added to allow access but this had been blocked in.
The above pic shows it almost done, just the last panel to take off. It wasn't helped by all the screws being hidden, filled in and taped over and then about 5 years of paint on top. This has all been sorted and cleared now and the final two panels marked as to where to cut an A3 sized access space from the rear.
Next came the plan for 3D to make my new wall. I had originally x4 films and phones but with the jiggling of the space I had gained a panel and therefore needed a new film and iPhone. After more searching around I managed to get hold of one and create a new film. I also replaced one of the other films as it had a glitch in I couldn't get rid of.
DO YOU UNDERSTAND? (INDIA) - updated film, new eye.
For the extra film I went back to my sketchbook to think about a possible message and after thinking about 'You are muted' and 'I am trapped' 'Are you avoiding me?' messages that resonated along the lines of not being able to communicate, being locked in and discrimination I decided to go with 'Is there anybody out there?' this I felt was more appropriate to the scenario and concept and can be read in a variety of ways. A plea to the viewer, a request for help and one of isolation and being lost.
IS THERE ANYBODY OUT THERE? (RYAN).
Now all I needed was a wall. After several meetings and discussions with 3D they requested a plan for the panels with exact measurements. In order to get the phones as close as possible to the front of the panel they suggested routing out an area to about 1mm thick, this would give much less of a border and frame to each eye. I had also specified from an early stage I wanted the eyes to be at the eye height of the actual people who made the films, so this had to be incorporated into the calculations. I thought the best way would be to make up a scale drawing in Adobe Illustrator so I could see how it would look and also decide in which order the panels went as the sizes of the people used varied from 5'1" to 6'1". My plan sent to 3D is below, I certainly had to measure twice (actually three times) before committing to cutting them.
The next stage was for the panels to be cut out by 3D who put all the details in their CAD machine in order for them to be accurately cut. Then I can mount them, paint them and work out how to attach phones to the rear and supply the power.
Panels all cut and ready, with some help from the estates team we got them upstairs and I could start installing them. I started in the middle and gave myself clearance on the floor, knowing it wouldn't be level either end... because there was an area at the back that had been routed out to about 1mm thick it made the boards very delicate and these weak points had to be handled with care, it wouldn't take much to push through them. They were also causing a slight issue when it came to painting them as they were buckling slightly at the weak area because the paint was affecting the MDF, I tried to counteract this by also painting the backs which seems to have solved the issue to a certain degree, probably as much as I can and something I am aware of but not sure how much anyone else is.
All I needed to sort was how to fix the phones in place and finalise the issue of getting power to the phones so they could be left running the looped videos. After many discussions and options I managed to get the member of the estates team responsible for any electrics and we met in SG60. A really positive meet with an excellent outcome as he is going to run a separate spur off the ring and they can all be connected directly to the mains with a 5amp fuse so we don't need to add a set of extension leads to another extension lead. Now to test the phones in place!
Each phone has to be held in place and also be accessible to set up every morning and turn off every night of the show. After much discussion it was decided to create acrylic strips that can then be padded out with foam. All held securely and can be set up without too much fuss.
This wall is almost impossible to document, too far back and it just looks like a wall with five tiny black spots on, too close and you can just capture one eye.
I found the best way to document it was to actually film it walking along from eye to eye... as seen below. Still needs a bit of touching up and checking all the brightness levels, as well as getting a door or some sort of closure created but again the estates team are on it and I will have a concealed entrance to the end of the wall before the show.