Sunday, September 5, 2010

i'm not finished yet: some pictures

here are some pictures of the installation and opening. the series is called whisper.


feel free to share your thoughts, impressions, suggestions...

8 comments:

Dea Fischer said...

Edward, I am fascinated by this installation and this series. It is thought provoking, and I find I would like to spend time for contemplation and interaction with them. Did you find people stopped and gave them the time they demanded? Or just moved rapidly from one to the other? I am thrilled to see this on the wall, you've talked about them for a long time!!

Anonymous said...

Great Edward, thought provoking definately. Making people think...
(Cassie)

techne said...

i long ago accepted the fact that people have the choice to spend the time contemplating, ruminating, reflecting on my work. or not. as i write in my statement: "the work is insistent that the viewer or reader does some of the heavy lifting of interpretation." recognizing that, of course, i try to incorporate a "wow" factor - something that surprises, or shifts expectations, or creates new conditions for interacting with the work. that's how i try to 'hook' the viewer/ reader.

that said, there were a range of interactions. some people looked at the cover s and accepted them as objects/ images. once they reached the end and saw the label informing them that they could indeed touch the art and open the covers, they often did go through them again.

some people jumped right in, especially those who had seen recipes for kneeling, my previous installation. some people spent more time with specific pieces, rather than each one. and a few spent significant time with most of the pieces (and by significant i mean more than 30 seconds - studies have shown that the average individiual spends less than 2 seconds looking at a piece of art).

even more, i had a number of interesting discussions with people about the work - personal associations with the actual books, the installation, use of light, the texts. very rich. and some very astute and moving observations and responses.

and now to finish my next piece!

Josh said...

Its very cool to see these installed, having seen them earlier as mere jpegs!

I remember seeing a photo of 'recipes for kneeling', but only just hunted out the video - which shows it all much better. I think that is a really strong piece. I think this new one doesn't do some things as well as 'recipes' did. Something to do with the relationship between the star photos and the books. The books in this piece seem less part of the work, and more like a frame..Its quite difficult to articulate..

'Recipes for kneeling' reminds me a bit of the book of eli for some reason.

techne said...

hey josh,

i have to admit that i wasn't originally sure what to do with the covers for this series. what i liked about these particular covers was that they were simply aesthetically pleasing, unlike many of the other condensed reader's digests i possess. i wanted to use them as a series precisely for that reason.

i also liked the tensions/ contrasts created between the untouched or found, as-is or lo-fi, natural world exteriors and the obviously altered, cosmological images with more manufactured materials (plexi, transparency and lights).

but it's a good question. could i push or blur that more? i plan to explore that potential with a series of sculptural free-standing books with my own designed endcovers.

the books probably do function as more of a 'frame' for the texts/images in this series. i just wanted them to be pretty frames...

Victoria on Okinawa said...

Great exhibition, love the interaction of the pieces and the messages, leaves me wanting to see and read more. Thank you for sharing.

Dave Von Bieker said...

Great work Edward - I'm glad I got to encounter it.

I've posted my own thoughts and reflections on "I'm Not Finished Yet" here ...

http://www.iloveartists.ca/2010/09/im-not-finished-yet-is-not-finished-yet/

techne said...

thanks dave - i appreciated your thoughtful review of the installation. i think i will steal worlds within words for a future piece/ exhibition.