“Boyhood” is a coming-of-age drama directed by Richard Linklater, filmed over 12 years (2002–2013). It follows Mason Evans Jr. (Ellar Coltrane) as he grows from age six to eighteen, with his divorced parents.
Linklater wrote the script year by year, incorporating the actors’ real-life changes into the story, creating a unique portrayal of growing up in real-time. It was very impressive to watch this unique portrayal of the characters growing up in real time, highlighting how small, everyday moments shape a person’s identity, making the film a powerful reflection on the passage of time.
2. “Following Piece” – Vito Acconci
This is a month-long performance art piece by Acconci in 1969 in which he randomly followed strangers through the streets of New York City until they entered a private space. Acconci described the experience as losing his sense of self, becoming almost an extension of the person he was following. It’s an exploration of human behavior over time, with a focus on the mundane and transient nature of public and private space.
3.”Underground Circut” – Yuge Zhou
Zhou has created several pieces centered on the theme of temporal changes, and this is one of my favorites. It’s a collage of hundreds of video clips shot in New York subway stations. “Station to station, the movement of commuters in the outer rings suggests the repetitive cycle of life and urban theatricality and texture.”
They used 4 volumetric time-of-flight cameras that captured extreme three dimensional detail in sync. These cameras were exposed with a thousandths of a second delay from each other, 30 times a second, to not to disrupt the exposure from opposite cameras. I really like how this looks either like a ghost house or a doll house because we are able to see through the walls and the people inside the building moving.
02. Sympoietic Bodies
This film explores the anthropocentric and a post-anthropocentric point of view of our relationship between our human body and physical surroundings. In order to create this effect they used a digital camera, motion capturing, photogrammetry, point cloud scan, Kinect camera. It almost seems like we are peering into a very microscopic world and I was really interested in how there is constant slow movement with the piece.
Another project that I thought was analogous to this theme was Kamil Czapiga’s works. Kamil Czapiga uses magnetic fluids to mimic the sort of movements of a microorganism. He also composes sound effects that matches these videos. Although these two projects are very different aesthetic and pacing styles, both works feel like they are uncovering a world we don’t normally see in a microscopic level.
03. Volumetric Selfie
I could not find an external video link for this work, but this project is also working with volumetric cameras. It also reminded me of one of the depth cameras/ and the touchpad we have in the lab because not only is the facial feature disintegrating they only emerge once the person has entered a certain parameter.
I’ve been thinking about doing some sort of self portrait related to mental illness (don’t hold me to it though!!), so I decided to research other artists who have focused on similar topics.
Artist Daniel Regan used his medical records to understand himself through other people’s eyes. The piece places pages of his medical records side by side with self portaits taken around the same time.
I’m a huge fan of analog video/capture so this piece really interested me. I think her portraits have “quiddity” but they’re also a form of performance art which is really interesting.
Elizabeth Jameson uses her own MRI’s as self portraiture. I’m really intrigued by the idea of using “functional” imaging, like MRIs and X-rays as a form of fine art.
This is a simple capture of pupil dilation, I am interested in potentially capturing changes in pupil size with varying light exposures and/or caffeine levels.
2. A time lapse of a baseball game shot with the tilt shift:
The person shot an entire baseball game with a tilt shift lens, and then converted it into a time lapse. This was essentially the exact same as an idea I had for using the tilt shift lens for this project, but I was going to potentially record a CMU football or volleyball game. It seems this idea is a bit unoriginal, but still good to see what was out there.
3. The use of a pupil detection/tracking algorithm:
This video demonstrates the work of a computer vision research project to enable fast and accurate eye tracking. If I proceed with capturing pupil dilation or eye motion this could be a great tool.
01A Out-of-Body Experience, by Tobias Gremmler, Adam Zeke
The name is a fascinating visualization of an ethereal concept, where viewers experience a sense of seeing their body from a detached perspective. The project utilizes a combination of Kinect and Oculus to create a mesmerizing point-cloud rendering, which blurs the lines between the physical self and the virtual representation. I appreciate it for its technology to manifest an intangible experience like an OBE, which invites the audience into a deeply personal exploration of presence and perception, understanding reality from an external viewpoint.
01B Virtual Actors in Chinese Opera, by Tobias Gremmler
Created for a theater production that fuses Chinese Opera with New Media, the virtual actors are inspired by shapes, colors and motions of traditional Chinese costumes and dance. The project made me think of how costumes and fashion could reshape a human body.
I like its concept that blending traditional art forms with cutting-edge technology, which is fascinating in the context of temporal capture, particularly immortalizes fleeting, live performances in a digital space. This form of capture moves beyond merely recording an event, allowing the audience to explore nuance. For example, it explores how traditional Chinese opera costumes and gestures, when captured digitally, become abstract patterns of motion, revealing the spiritual essence. I feel like the virtual actor, rooted in tradition, becomes a new entity through the lens of reinterprets.
02 The Johnny Cash Project, by Chris Milk
I believe the ability to see individual brush strokes come to life adds a captivating dimension to the viewing experience. It invites deeper engagement, allowing fans to feel a personal connection to the artwork and to Cash himself. This crowd-sourced homage beautifully encapsulates the essence of community and shared experience in art, making it a poignant tribute to a musical icon.
Gif of The Johnny Cash Project, in which more than 250,000 people individually drew frames for “Ain’t No Grave” to make a crowdsourced music video.
03 Human Blur Series – Penang Blur, Sven Pfrommer
“This mixed media collection is a series based on photographs I took while traveling PENANG / MALAYSIA in 2015. Back in my studio I added painting and mixed media techniques and finalized the work on acrylic, metal, resin coated wood panel or canvas. All works are limited edition of 10.”
I’m impressed by the blurring effect, which evokes a sense of transience, aligning with the idea of capturing people in time—fleeting moments that cannot be grasped in full detail. Instead, I experience the layered complexity of movement, where people are represented as part of a flowing system rather than discrete subjects. This also mirrors the way memory often works: impressions of people are sometimes remembered as hazy or fleeting. Lastly, this abstraction of human figures eliminates individuality, allowing the viewer to focus on the essence of motion, light, and shadow rather than on personal identity.
