User:Skipbrowne

A Perfect Day

A clear, operatic voice is heard singing a cappella, a 3 minute song on loop. It has an analog quality but has been converted into an mp3. The mp3 has been sent to a transmission facility in Florida and broadcast by a third party into space via high-frequency radio. A small book accompanies the recording, one volume and bound in chipboard cover that includes the title of the work and the artist's name. Measuring 5.25"x5" and with 76 white pages, it contains on the first page text, and on the following pages a tight, black continuous scribble. In the back of the book is a white CD, again printed with the title of the work and the artist's name.

The artist sings and records an a capella version of a song on a tape recorder. This recording is converted into an MP3 and sent via email to a man in Florida who possesses a high frequency radio transmitter. Using this equipment, sends the song into deep space. The artist employs an engineer to convert the MP3 into a visual incarnation and these images, along with the lyrics of the song, are transferred into a small book that exists as a document of the transmission.

I’m interested in the idea of a “perfect day” in relation to contemporary ideas about hope and sentimentality, temporality, and youth’s subsequent obsession with a singular moment as paramount to the future (to me, the word “perfect” is crystallized, definite) This idea of a “perfect day” or perfect moment is often examined in pop music, so I started researching songs with the words “perfect day” in the title. I found a song written in 1910 by a forgotten female writer who experienced great tragedy in her life, and was haunted by the story. As I have a background in music I wanted to try singing the song myself, and to allow it, like my idea of the word perfect, to become time-less (past-less and future-less). I decided the best way to do this was to record and send the song into space, where it would exist in a time frame inaccessible to those on earth. I wanted to have a visual document of the transmission as well and so had a book printed that contained the transmission visualized into a waveform as well as the lyrics to the song.

93.7

This work appears in an interdisciplinary journal, which measures 6”x9”, on pages 25 through 33. On white paper, the first page of the work contains a small box of text in the centre of the page. The next page contains an image that takes up approximately 75% of the page. Each following page repeats this pattern of text, then image.

A narrative is constructed from my own, and is based on true events. Along with making photos myself, I collected found images and text that support the theme of the story, from the Internet. I combined these visual pieces with the narrative text to create a PDF.

I’ve always been fascinated with/a lover of country music and culture, but couldn’t understand why, considering my upbringing/environment as a child and it’s lack of engagement and negative regard toward the subject. For this reason, I kept my positive feelings towards country music quiet for a long time. This project came about as I recalled an instance where I suppressed my desire to connect with and sing country music, at my 13th birthday party where we’d rented a karaoke machine. I wanted to support the experience with texts and documents related to the “country experience” such as rodeo statistics and photos of farm life, to spend time with and therefore possibly understand the origins of my stance.

Contenders

A silent video that lasts for approximately five minutes, that consists of images of women in varying states of upset, each for 10 seconds. Though the images are still, there is motion as the camera pans out. The image quality changes as video progresses, improving in quality. The expressions of the women also change, becoming more performative with each image.

On my computer, I watched the last episode of every season of TV show The Bachelor. I take multiple screenshots of the moment when the woman on the screen is being told she is not the winner. I collect these screenshots and choose the image that is the most emotionally effecting. The chosen images of all the seasons are edited together in a film. They appear in chronological order. As a new season airs, a new screenshot is taken and added to the end of the film.

I’d been heartbroken for a while and was watching a lot of Reality TV that centered around romance. Two things about this kind of programming interest me: the moment when, for the viewer, something funny and far away becomes sad and relatable, and the moment when we see (if at all) the contestant break the face they’ve put on for TV and show authentic emotion. In relation to my own struggles with romantic rejection, I started paying attention to the moment when the loser of the final two women on The Bachelor were told they were not the one. I was disturbed by my ability to relate and decided to examine this same moment from each season, of which there were almost a dozen, as I find creating collections and putting things side by side aid in my ability to understand things.