Project #3 Moving Through Space

Final Media Project #3_new from Daniel Plastrik on Vimeo.

Whitney Museum: Blog #4

Media 160, Spring 2018

I chose to visit the Whitney Museum as an alternative assignment and toured the exhibit on the fifth floor celebrating the artwork of the contemporary American artist Zoe Leonard. The display consisted of the artist’s photography and installations reflecting the use of compositional techniques of Leonard herself. One of the works was of a stack of suitcases presented in a color-coded pattern, evocatively conveying a somewhat bleak motif symbolizing the burden of one’s departmentalized past, serving to convey how human beings carry baggage of diverse hues and sizes. Another display involved a photograph of an aerial view shot depicting an urban landscape from a plane window, created by using an analog camera. It grabbed my attention because of the dramatic use of shadows Leonard uses to control what is and isn’t seen in the shot. Specifically, there is a shadow on the right side of the frame that prevents the viewer from seeing the whole content. The photograph conveys a sense of mystery and incompleteness, where you cannot discern all the details and either have to accept the shadowy blanks or imagine for yourself how to complete the image.  

Another eye-catching piece was a sculpture of a female figure, atomically laid out like the goddess Venus, only enclosed in a see-through coffin-like box and depicted nude but cut open at the torso. The tour guide explained how this presentation of the female represents an ideal of the female body while conveying deep ambiguity: the figure is both an object to be studied and an object of desire. The sculpture looked almost robotic to me, evoking fascination and repulsion. There was also a series of photographs, each depicting a severed human head in a bell jar, shown in a particular sequence. According to the tour guide, the centerline of each shot was positioned at the artist's eye level, so that the viewer is drawn to the eyes in the bell jar, picture to picture. One was drawn to the lifeless eyes, creating a chilly connection with the grotesque images. 

For the latter half of the tour, we were told about Leonard’s sociopolitical views, especially during the 1990s. Leonard is a feminist who feels deeply about climate change throughout the world and is committed social change. Her installation “Analogue” movingly depicts her concern about global warming in America, in Pakistan, and in Poland. In depicting ads for Coco Cola in her posters, she shows how the negative impact of corporate conglomerates and capitalism in general has manifested on culture and society, dictating the goods and services used that poison our bodies and our earth. Another installation, seen at the end of the exhibit, consisted of a myriad of postcards showing different shots of Niagara Falls. The tour guide pointed out that approximately 350 shots of this iconic location were used make up the totality of “Niagara Falls Landscapes.” To experience these posters as a whole transcends any single photograph, adding to the immense sense of beauty and natural wonder of the Falls. It transports one into a magical world, as all art should.

Extra Credit Blogging Assignment

Media 160 Spring 2018:

I was glad to have had the opportunity to attend the Hong Kong/New York Home Student Film Festival and Exchange event at Hunter College on April 5th. The films, and the discussion and reception that followed, created a unique experience that made me further appreciate the diverse artistic range of short documentary films created and presented by student filmmakers from both Hunter College and the Hong Kong Baptist University. It was an impressive line-up of aesthetic and cultural aspects reflected in each screened film. The documentaries that grabbed my attention most were the films presented by Hong Kong students because of their culturally distinct perspectives and subject matters. Greenland by Zhang Wang and Yellowing by Chan Tze Woon were two particular cinematic standouts. The former is an animated film depicting an existential coming-of-age tale of a boy evaluating his life while traveling on the road with his father. The audience is taken into a psychedelic-like dream sequence filled with abstract images suggestive of a deep and universal state of disconnection with the rest of the world. In contrast, Yellowing is a political narrative that highlights the 2014 Umbrella Movement in Hong Kong. This brief movement exposed the issue of oppression of Hong Kong civilians by corrupt law enforcers. The external struggle driven by a repressive system led to ongoing pressure for civil justice. The date of organized mass protest occurred on September 27th, which caught my attention since this is my birthday date; this made watching the display of social activism especially engaging and poignant for me. Two films by Hunter students were unexpectedly masterful as well. Kate Flynn’s Bay Ridge Ladies and Tarek Bouraque’s Ground Zero Peace each do a superb job in highlighting the determination and endurance of people living in impoverished neighborhoods in America. The films capture ordinary people’s commitment to making positive changes in their respective communities. Flynn’s film focuses on the lives of a group of church ladies keeping their faith alive in spite of their personal struggles with aging and loss, while Bouragque’s film follows what happens when a group of displaced Jewish worshipers are taken in by a Bronx Mosque due to harsh socioeconomic conditions. A universal theme of home and belonging connected these and the other passionate and meaningful documentaries shown at the Festival. It left me feeling a sense of hope and connection on both an intellectual and personal level.

Project #2 Final Media Audio Portrait

What I Hear: Blog 2

Media 160 Spring 2018:

I spent an hour from 12:30 to 1:30 PM in the afternoon of Saturday, March 17^th taking a soundwalk on the campus of Columbia University located at 116th Street between Broadway and Amsterdam Avenue in Manhattan. This is a primarily residential neighborhood at the northwest point of Manhattan, dominated by the University both on its campus and extended buildings beyond its gates. Upon arriving at the campus, the first thing I heard were the conversations of several groupings of young adults and students walking by in pairs and small groups, chatting freely in the public arena. Their voices were animated, joyous, perhaps reflecting the weekend status and the holiday spirit (it was, after all, St. Patrick’s Day), so there was a boisterous, cheerful, unhurried tone amongst these people that felt distinct from what I would anticipate when classes are ordinarily in session during a weekday.

In this somewhat pastoral setting, it was most striking that few individuals seemed to be looking at their smartphones, but instead were engaged in socializing or lost in private thoughts while walking on campus. One person could be heard noisily talking above the loud, grating sound of her wheelie tote being dragged along the cobblestone pathway. The wheels nearly drowned out her conversation with her friend, vying for audio attention against their chatter and the other outside sounds of street cars and buses.

It was a cold, windy afternoon, and the sound of flags being whipped by the wind and brittle tree branches rattling made the temperature feel even colder outdoors. The constant sound of birds chirping offset this chilliness, as I imagined they were singing praise for whatever sun was available at that hour. I also heard two solitary children playing by themselves: one was kicking a ball against a wall, the other rode a scooter. Two dogs playfully barked at each other, happy to have companionship, unlike the solitary sounds of the children playing on their own.

The loudest, most jarring and disturbing sounds came from a construction crew working a shift by the University library staircases, located prominently at the center left of the campus. I could distinguish noises from a motor engine running, a chainsaw, and bricks being stacked together with cement. These sounds permeated my experience during the soundwalk, so that they seemed to stay with me even as I walked further away from the construction site: I had expected the noises to recede into background rather than foreground sound. It was a constant distraction of noise that did not feel integral with the pastoral, weekend setting. However, it did not seem to slow down others’ private conversations or other human activity occurring around me. Another irritating sound noted was the frequent soaring of airplanes in the sky above. Heading to or from the nearby airports in Queens and Long Island, their engines were often close enough to be extremely piercing and intrusive. Activity and motion was reflected constantly by sound and audio sensations.

Project #1 Final

Central Park in The Day Time from Daniel Plastrik on Vimeo.

Daniel Plastrik's Blog 1

Media 160 Spring 2018:

I have been a passionate watcher of movies, especially Classic films, for a long time now. Thanks to the TCM channel, providing 24/7 showings of a range of movies starting from the silent era to modern times, and a family of enthusiastic film buffs who organized home "film festivals" showcasing Hitchcock favorites, WWII themes, and even the screwball comedies of the '30s and '40s,    I have become keenly aware of the fun and fascination of studying how a group of creative talent - from writers, directors, and cast - create a story to teach, expand, and inspire others.

I will never forget attending a special screening of Casablanca presented at the New-York Historical Society. I was in middle school then, finishing a semester-long course at the Society on WWII;  the screening was exclusively for students, and we had all conducted independent research on the historical context the film beforehand. Seeing this beautiful film on a large screen as it had been originally meant to be viewed was a revelation. Furthermore, watching a story about expatriates trying to flee Nazi-occupied Europe was personally moving as my own grandmother, now deceased, had fled occupied France during WWII and voyaged to Casablanca, only having to return to the Continent and remain in hiding as she actively engaged in Underground activities of resistance. She could easily have been one of the characters inhabiting Rick's Cafe, and I more easily imagined what it must have felt like to be her during this harrowing, dangerous time.

That is the power of film for me - it brings history to life; makes passions and tragedies tangible and real; entertains, distracts, informs and enhances human understanding and compassion.