Judson Building, January 2007

I mixed two channels of video for this project-- a series of still photos of top-notch graffiti found inside the building, and an animation of fiesta candy captured frame-by-frame on the scanner. The colorful pulsating imagery alluded, again, to the history of the place both as a literal candy factory as well as its more recent use in its vacant state as a repository of eye-candy.

The San Antonio ice storm delayed this project enough to make it fortuitously coincide with the screening of Bill Daniel's "Who Is Bozo Texino," at the 1906 complex.



Here's a shot of Bill & I meeting, with Anjali Gupta present. For more shots taken by Justin Parr: check out: Future Worker Girl works over the ghosts of Judson Candy Company

537 Roosevelt, December 2006

A time-lapse video was made at 537 Roosevelt Avenue of two men removing graffiti from the wall in July 2007. The demonstration began by projecting this video onto the specific site where the activity had taken place.




Other images, such as foliage and water, were then blended with the original image. Because the top portion of the projection was lost, I decided to aim the projector at the southern section of the building.




In this way, the projection was much more integrated into the site. The original plan to project documented activity from the location back onto the location was an interesting idea to explore, however, it felt limited in its potential to transcend the elements of time and space as I had been anticipating.

From that point, I tried many different images from my library of video loops. The one that worked the best was an animation I had made from a book of Indian mandala art. The color and movement created a visual affect that was able to transform the specifics of the time and especially the space of the site.





The kernel of my initial thought still existed. That idea to project the painters I had videotaped onto the site they had painted had evolved on a conceptual level, through a process of trial and error, from those painters paining the wall into me paining the wall. They had painted white paint over graffiti while I had painted with color and light.

Krysztof Wodizco is an artist who uses recognizable figurative images in his site-specific projections to set up concrete allegorical relationships with the physical architecture and meaning of the site. What I have done with this particular projection can, on one hand, be seen in counterpoint to Wodizco's method. The non-representational imagery changes the surface of the building into a 20' tall moving abstract mural. The aesthetic experience of light, color, shape, rhythm, and movement could be enjoyed for its formal qualities alone.

On the other hand, it can actually be seen from a symbolic vantage point of positive, dynamic energy emerging in the south-Southtown neighborhood of San Antonio, which is slowly going through a process of regeneration. The action of the painters reclaiming the 537 Roosevelt building from signs of neglect (graffiti) is conceptually mirrored in my action of broadcasting light and color, bringing life and energy to the site.

Railroad Cinema, November 2006

Projection on the train as it crosses South Flores Avenue outside the Gallista Gallery and the 1906 Gallery Complex during the Second Saturday Gallery Walk.

Once it became dark, I wheeled out my cart of projectors hooked to the gasoline generator when the train came by. The imagery I'd prepared in the days leading up to the event was of some trains, shot right in the vicinity and digitally abstracted.

Library Cinema - October 2006

Channel 1 - library building

A series of digital still photographs of the library was created as a response to the Legoretta building's emphasis on geometric form. Digital alterations were then made to enhance the color and geometry of the compositions, and finally brought into a slideshow format.

Channel 2 - portraits

On Saturday 22 October, over 70 library patrons sat to have their likenesses recorded on video at the San Antonio Central Library. The footage was then digitized and manipulated to heighten the drama of the portraits. I was assisted in this process by two of my students (Alyosha Dotson & Stevan Zivadinovic).

The two channels were combined when the projection was introduced to the site.

test 2, September 2006

A long white wall with a large tree behind is the inspiration for the second test-run. I pull various images of trees from my library of video images (2003-2006) to project onto this site.

test 1, late August 2006

The new equipment arrives on the first day of the new semester, but the first test run is conducted immediately upon nightfall.


The image is big, bright, and breath-taking. The generator and projector are in perfect working order, and the spectacle draws an audience of neighbors and drivers passing by, including some who pull over to observe further.


I run through a series of video material created since moving to San Antonio (July 2005-August 2006), becoming acquainted with the scale afforded by the 4,500-lumen projector and sound of the 52db gasoline-powered generator.

Faculty Research Award Application

Faculty Research Award Application: Project Description

Principle Investigator: Leslie Raymond

Assistant Professor, Digital Media, UTSA Department of Art & Art History

A. Project Title

Site Specificity and Video Projection

B. Conceptual Background

1. Experimental Video Defined

Most movies and all broadcast television are businesses whose purpose is entertainment within a commercial environment. Television has only one goal: to sell you stuff; and the shows are there to get you to stay until an ad comes on and the ad is there to sell you something. Experimental media exists outside of those commercial constraints. This is what it isn't.

What it is, is more difficult to describe. The number of different types of creative visions that have been manifest in experimental media is incredible. There is experimental documentary, abstract video, experiments in new forms of narrative, humor, pathos, and every human emotion you can imagine. It is an art form that truly can move or disturb or excite you in all the ways that commercial media cannot.

- George Fifield, Director of the Boston Cyberarts Festival and Curator of New Media at the DeCordova Museum

2. Video as Painting

Perhaps the most common misconception is that [video art] is boring. This probably came about because some of it is quite boring. More often it appears boring because we are use to broadcast 'TV time,' which is short bursts of choppy entertainment. When we bring that same sense of time to video art, which is sometimes paced slowly and elegantly, we become impatient. That is when we must remind ourselves that all video is not TV and need not conform to its rigid structures. 'TV time' has become much more frantic in the last decades and this problem has increased.

Some video art needs to be watched in an entirely different way. You cannot watch an abstract video like a narrative video. It needs to be looked at like a moving painting. We are not use to this and it causes stress.

- George Fifield, Director of the Boston Cyberarts Festival and Curator of New Media at the DeCordova Museum

3. Public Nature of the Work

a. Mural Art

Human beings’ endeavor to visually interpret the world and re-present it for others is a major characteristic of the development of culture. Mural art, a very public form of art making, can be traced back 15,000 years to the cave paintings of Altamira and Lascaux. Today, mural painting remains an extremely viable form of enhancing community, stating social concerns, and beautifying neighborhoods.

b. Video Projection as Public Art

The precedent for site-specific projections has been set by such artists as Krzysztof Wodiczko, Professor of Visual Arts at Massachusetts Institute of Technology, who “creates art by projecting images upon the monumental architecture found in large cities. His ephemeral projection pieces last only a night or two, but they reclaim the city streets as places for discussion and heated debate” (Mark Vallen “Krzysztof Wodiczko: Illuminating Contradictions”).

4. Some Themes for Exploration

a. Introduction of images from the natural world into manmade environments

b. Site-reflexivity of data and images gathered from the site, digitally processed, and reintroduced to the site

C. Research Approach

1. Experimental - studio work conducted in order to develop a methodology for

Working within the designated constraints of equipment and site.

2. As defined by NASAD standards outlined in "Studio Art and Design Research: Multiple Relationships and Possibilities" paper presented at NASAD Annual Meeting, October 2005:

Art as Process - compilation, integration, and synthesis of

a. Medium

b. Technical, historical, and analytical knowledge and skills

c. Inspiration and aspiration

d. Ideas and investigations that result in a work of art

3. “The nature of experimental media is to investigate the formal structure of the medium and expand and explore its edges,” (Fifield) in this case the formal structure is the interaction between moving image and site.

D. Long-Term Effects on Research Program

1. The nature of this research will bring about an overall development of both technical methodology and aesthetic substance.

2. This public characteristic of the project is geared to create more civic awareness and interest in contemporary art.

3. Establishment of a portfolio in this sphere will extend the reach of work, notably of a highly-visible nature, creating viable options for inclusion in national and international exhibitions

4. After the research period, the equipment will be released to the Art & Art History Department for pedagogical purposes in the advanced video courses, as well as for graduate student research.

E. Budget Justification:

A portable generator and high-powered video projector are essential for the realization of the project. Acquisition of this equipment will allow for unlimited site consideration, enabling a full range of possibilities for public exposure as well as subject development in relation to situational concerns.

Fifield quoted from

Patrick, Tiffany “Moving Paintings,” Boston University Center for Digital Imaging Arts

http://www.newenglandfilm.com/news/archives/01august/fifield.htm

Vallen cited from

http://www.art-for-a-change.com/Krzysztof/krzy.htm