Time Travel Statement
Jeff Lovett
Artist Statement:
I am a time traveler and my destination is 80 years in the future.
I gather experiential data that consists of video taken of myself, by myself, on my exploration. Upon my return I create drawings of the unique architectural identifiers of the places I visit.
me⋅ton⋅y⋅my
[mi-ton-uh-mee]
–noun Rhetoric.
a figure of speech that consists of the use of the name of one object or concept for that of another to which it is related, or of which it is a part.
Dictionary.com Unabridged. Random House, Inc.
The Little Cities of Black Diamonds is a micro-region in Southeast Ohio and the locus for my research. This area prospered greatly during the coal boom from the mid 19th century until its crash in the early 20th century. When I am exploring these places I am experiencing them as the metonymy for a future world that has suffered an identical crash from the oil boom that is currently peaking.
Shawnee Main Street Expedition is a video to be viewed through a head-mounted display. The video was created using the Third Person Pack. This device is a wireframe backpack that provides a third person view by positioning the camera several feet behind and above the body of operator. The imagery captured by the camera is viewed live and recorded through the head-mounted display unit. On my expeditions this pack acts as my time machine, transporting me 80 years into the future. With this in mind, I am able to see relics from the past as a direct representation of a possible future and record those findings as experiential data.
Shawnee Main Street Silhouettes are drawings of the porches unique to the Little Cities of Black Diamonds micro-region. They are 14” x 17” marker on paper. These porches exemplify both the historical prosperity and the subsequent economic decline of the last 80 years.
My exploration of this micro-region as a historical metonymy for the next 80 years of our future gives me the opportunity to accumulate firsthand experience of this region.
It is my intention to continue my travels into the future and develop a stronger understanding of our trajectory toward this point in our future and what can be done to divert our course. I will continue to research and document my travels with the best time travel equipment that current technology has to offer.
Multi chair Hi Res BW invert
Multi chair Hi Res BW invert
Originally uploaded by Jeff Lovett
This is an early study for a body of work consisting of many drawings of an artifact from many angles.
A Plastic River
Video of the log jam in the Hocking River that is collecting all the garbage that normally floats down the 20 something miles to the Ohio not quite 800 miles later it merges into the Mississippi River only 950 miles from it's new home in the Gulf of Mexico and the greater Ocean System.
Plastic River from Jeff Lovett on Vimeo.
Third Person Pack Thoughts
This entry is an experiment in Open Source art making. I will keep updating my thoughts and interactions with the work, if anyone has any inclination to recreate
Titles:
Third Person Pack
it goes with the Aural Extension pack...
Third person may not get the video game reference.
Video Game View
Limits the scope of the work.
I'm stuck in a three word title for the piece.
Define:
What does the piece actually do?
The piece shifts your view point about 7' behind and 1' above it's normal location.
It limits your peripheral vision.
puts you in close contact with a computer
It creates an immersive environment within the the actual environment.
Thoughts:
One of the things I'm interested in with this piece is the way that it allows you to experience your experience. in that it amplifies your non visual sense which are compensating for the lack of traditional sight while it gives you a new point of view to incorporate into your perception of the environment.
The play between the traditional and immersive mediated experience is magic. When I'm wearing the apparatus, almost feel as though my physical sensations are mediated to make the video image more real. Almost like a full sensory package for a video game, or virtual reality experience.
One of the most interesting aspects of the work is the relationship that I developed with my contact with the ground. I became very aware of my feet and how they interfaced with the varying textures of the earth.
Along with a lack of peripheral you also loose the ability to look by turning your head. Turning your body to look is where I began to notice the perception of my self grow. When you turn with the piece on you back the 7' "tail" becomes the radius of your personal circle. While the physicality of the space is obvious and important, the perceptual experience of taking up that much more space is profound. It is as though someone has mounted your eyes in the air behind you.
There are also many digital concepts behind the work. The driving concept behind the work was in creating a device that is a like a methadone for die-hard gamers, Internet addicts and second lifers. While I find this line of thought intriguing and humorous, I feel like the work and, through it, the experience is much more viceral and at the same time more broad than that.
How concerned am I with the concept? Is it the experiment that I want to share?
In a studio visit with Matthew Friday, he suggested to me that my work should grow out of experimentation not concept. It is only now that I am becoming aware of the fact that this almost certainly will apply to use of these devices. The obvious question has been what to do with the piece.
I have a worry about it becoming a carnival ride. Although I'm not sure why I'm worried about that.
The real solution is to present it as:
- a carnival ride
- a performance
- a booth at the fair
- a gallery piece accompanying the sterile artifact of the object
- allow it to exist in scheduled individual experiences
- a video of a walk with no record of the device
- an experience mapping device
- an obstacle augmentation device
- etc.
It's early winter and I think the next month should be primarily exploration of the device.
Recent Posts
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- BLACK SEAM Exhibition and Opening Reception
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- The Crude and the Rare
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- Coal: A Bridge to the Future on Coal
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- Underground Cinema (á la Smithson)
- The Gavin Power Plant
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