Gaijin X 3.0

Olivia and I have begun to think about version three of Gaikokujin Experimenta. I have already, only weeks after the show, found a way to make the processing speed of my drawing program increase exponentially. It can now render real time animated drawings at about 12 frames per second. But how do we use this processing power? Well, let me tell you a story about my vision for what gaikokujin experimenta has come to mean and possibly be...

Imagine you walk into a room that is lit only by a large LCD projection covering the entire wall opposite the entry. The projection is of a white screen. As you enter the space you notice a computer, video camera and the projector that are the source of the image. Suddenly an image is rendered on the wall. It is a line drawing made from black contours that have a scratchy loose signitory gesture. The lines are abstract, but they render a very obvious form of a human figure. When you take a step closer you percieve the image is animated. Then the conection is made, the image is of you. The drawing, this miving line drawing of black on white is a live image. You make an exagerated pose to test your theory, and sure enough the image on the screen makes the same exageratted gesture. The line between perfromance, audience and fine art drawing has been crossed. You are in a space that makes you the performer, audience and drawing simultaneously.

As you step outside of the hybridised room, there is another computer sitting at a desk. Upon further investigation you notice that the screen has several thumbnail images of drawings made by the drawing program. Also there is some instructions that ask you to rate the images on a scale of 1-10 for various qualities; composition, subject, humour, political content, etc. You can also view the full sized image and make ratings of the it as filled in by other people, some have marked their name, and others are anonomous. There are literally thosands of these drawing thumbnails and each can be rated. There is also a function that allows you to see images that have been rated high, or low, for particular categories. You rate a few images and then go and look at some of the other sorks in the show. Later that day you hear a crowd chatter near the drawing machine you had been playing with earlier. You take a look an see a 10min performance by a young woman inspired by Japanese butoh. The performance denotes images of crowds, evolution and subjectivity. After the performance she invites the crowd to interact with the drawing projection and the rating program.

Then some months later you are interstate and you see another exhibition by the same artists. Infact it is basically that same show, with the live drawing projection and the computer drawing rating program. But now there is a new element. The walls have 19” aluminium mounted photographic prints of 20 drawings taken from the drawing rating program. They are titled according to their ratings for composition, subject, humour, etc. The image that is most highly rated is last in the show. It is an image of you, when you did that exaggerated gesture the first time you realised how the piece worked. You cannot buy the work, but there is information about a website were you can download the images for your desktop, printing or whatever you want.