March 4th, 2011

 

I stayed up all night in the gallery mostly setting up the installation pieces for the show.  There was the 3D Zeotrope which consisted of a table, a record player, a small television and a video camera.  There was the video display which was set up in a room off to the side.  It consisted of a large flat-screen television mounted on C-Stands and my monome ziptied to a music stand.  There was the music box table which would have 4 music boxes bolted to a coffee table in the middle of the room.  There was the dry erase animation stand, three sound installations consisting of an amplified paper cutter, my ikea finger piano and finally my wow & flutter device.  Of course there was also the Harmonograph table and the Pinto-graph, which unfortunately was missing it’s arms!  I thought they were in my backpack and they weren’t!  Luckily, I found them much later in the day in my toolbox of electronic components.

 

By morning I had the Harmonograph set-up and the video room half set-up.  I had a very long and very specific “todo” list stored on my iphone.  It was a little daunting how much I had to get done.  I was so extremely lucky to have Jenny there to finish off the taping of pictures to the wall.  (Like I said in previous days, without my friends this show would have never gone off)

 

I hit the road to collect my stuff.  I started at U-haul and bought four large-sized cardboard boxes.  They were going to be make-shift podiums for my three sound installations.  I had a square of plywood in my garage that measured 38 inches square.  It was left over from the construction days of my harmonograph table.  I realized that if I cut it into four halves they would be the perfect size to cap the cardboard box podiums.  I drove the wood to my dad’s garage and employed my dad to make the cuts while I continued setting up.  I stopped by the hardware store to pick up machine screws to attach the music boxes to the coffee table.  I went by my storage facility to pick up a little television for the 3D zoetrope setup except I couldn’t find my key!  I had to “borrow” the kitchen television from my parents house.  I needed more pens and paper for the Harmonograph.  I needed clamp-lights and batteries and lots of other random crap.   It was a very intense morning.

 

I got back with hours before the opening and I continued my work.  Chris Hill came through in the clutch because he made the rest of the trips for me while I set up.  I started with the 3D zoetrope.  I moved onto the cardboard box sound installations.  Inside each of the boxes was a small guitar amp which friends have so kindly loaned me.  Chris attached the music boxes to the coffee table.  I went on to the dry-erase animation stand and then ended in the video room.

 

I opened my 64 (video) fingers app on my computer, which is used to trigger my videos from the monome.  I began dragging my movie files into it.  I created something like 95 videos over the past year so it took quite a lot of concentration to make sure I was putting each one into the right button on the monome.  I began to play with it and suddenly realized it wasn’t performing well.  It would play about five videos fine but eventually would trip out and not play anything!  I had tested it a while ago and it worked fine but I probably dragged in a total of five videos rather than 95.  With 95 videos it was crapping out.  I decided to batch convert every video into Motion Jpeg movie files which is the recommended codec.  I crossed my fingers that it would work.

 

I then started setting up my salad bowl speakers which would be hanging around the television set amplifying the videos.  I discovered that I was missing a battery holder.  Thank goodness for Chris he was able to run to Orvac to pick me up another set.  (ah, friends!)

 

 

It was six o clock.  People started to arrive and I was sitting indian-style on the floor of the video room smelling of body odor and wearing droopy two-day old clothing futzing with my salad bowl speakers.

 

At about 7pm I left to go take a quick shower.  By the time I got back the show was in full swing.  The place was pretty packed.  My videos had finished converting and I repeated my setup with the monome.  By some insane stroke of luck my app performed beautifully with these new files and the video display was in full effect.

 

 

Whew!  I apologize for pounding all these details out like this but it’s all very vivid in my memory.  It was like I was running a race the whole week.  I’ve never experienced anything like it in my entire life.  I have been in situations where I might have to edit something in a very short period of time but nothing has compared to all the details involved in pulling off this show.

 

By the time everything was done I was prepared to drink.  I was excited to drink.  Not to digress but, I remember my editing teacher in college telling me once that the television directors of big sporting events, the guys who watch a giant wall of monitors and communicate with multiple cameras and editors, are prone to alcoholism.  It’s because it’s such a rush that when it’s over they went to let it all out at the bar.  Well, I experienced that sensation a little at the opening of my art show.

 

 

It was a wonderful night!  People were enjoying themselves.  All the stuff got played with.  Music boxes were being used, drawings were being created, dry-erase animations were being made and overall people were having a good time.

 

I pulled out the bubble-maker and ginormous bubbles were made right there on the sidewalk.  My friends Jeff and Chris mastered the bubble maker and entertained people for a couple of hours.  I would be hanging out in the gallery and suddenly you could hear applause in the distance.  It was another giant bubble that caused it.

 

The night couldn’t have been more special.  It will remain as an unforgettable memory that I will treasure.  Truly.

 

Near the end of the night, The Sweaty Caps and Altitude Sickness performed.  It was like a dream to see everything go off as it did.  It was a great night!

 

I had planned on filming the opening night with my camera but once it began I really didn’t want to.  I wanted to simply drink my sangria and spend the rest of the night hanging out with friends and enjoying all that was around me.  Luckily, my buddy Dantes had decided to film it.  He ended up cutting the video you can watch below  It’s pretty funny because Dantes made me out to be some kind of Willy Wonka.  Jenny and I cracked up into tears after watching it.

Thanks Dantes!

 

Finally, I need to reiterate that this thing could not have happened without the loving support of my family and friends.  I truly bit off more than I could chew and the people who dug me out of it were my friends and family.  So at this point, I want to simply shout out and thank some specific people.  Without the help of the people below I could not have thrown this amazing show off.

 

Chris Hill, Dean Ethington, Corky Nepomuceno, Ryan Steele, Colleen Wheeler, Shana Lengyel, Dustin DeLeon, Jeff Numainville, Danny Johns, Barbara Toennies, Todd Roisman, Mom and Dad, Rosie and Blaine and most importantly my wife Jenny!

 

THANK YOU GUYS!

 

I still have content I’d like to add to this post including the results from the Dry Erase table.  Stay Tuned!

 
Also I should note one mistake I made that is shown in the video.  Just before packing up my printer before the show began I knew I had to print the days leading up to today, the day of the show.  In the rush of that process I missed a day of cutting and mounting.  The days all blended into one and I ended up labeling the day of the opening as Day 362.  It actually should’ve been Day 363.