t e l e m e t r y

new site for janet

Sat, 20 Apr 2013 07:55:00 -0700

You might have noticed that this site has been pretty static for a long time. As the Galores go their separate ways, so shall their web sites...

I have a new site, janetgalore.com. It's still getting filled out, but it's good enough to share now. For all Janet-related information and observations, please go there instead.

I'm not sure what we'll do with this site yet, but for now I've redirected most of the Janet-related pages.

shark attack on english bay

Tue, 10 Jan 2012 20:06:47 -0800

We had fun at the Vancouver Polar Bear Swim this year. More pics at flickr.

This was our 6th year at the Vancouver swim. Our tradition has become to attend a party or two in Seattle on New Year's Eve, head up to Vancouver by 1am or so, and arrive at the Sylvia Hotel by 4am depending on weather and coffee breaks. We sleep in, get breakfast, and head to the hotel lounge to march out with a bunch of other polar bears, most of them singing a version of "High-ho, high-ho." We join over 2,000 costumed revelers, all hyped up to jump in the water and start the year off right.

My favorite part of all this is seeing people you don't know just once a year in this huge celebration. Over the years, you become annual friends. We seek out the viking guys (now with little viking kids), the Elvis, the reindeer and santas, the "Neptune" guy with the horn who stays in over 20 mins, the balloon boy, the towel guy.

It's the opposite of online social networks (people you know but don't really see in real life). It's a visceral celebration with strangers drawn together for a moment once a year. A relationship with one simple dimension that somehow means a lot.

happy 2012

Sat, 31 Dec 2011 15:15:12 -0800

palindrome - full version

Fri, 30 Dec 2011 15:29:02 -0800

Here's the complete version that stands on its own as a true palindrome. Two hands fight over and play with a knife in a lonely and liminal world. Here, time is fluid: rushing forward, slowing, suspended.

It's better suited for viewing in a theater, or at least, in full-screen mode with your lights off and some decent speakers.

palindrome

Sun, 11 Dec 2011 22:49:24 -0800

We just wrapped up the show "Don't Assume I Cook" at the Northwest Film Forum, led by mezzo-soprano Janna Wachter. The show was one of a series of experimental evenings featuring work that combines live performance with film and video. I did two animations for the evening, and also performed as a paparazzi shooting video of Janna singing Donizetti's "O mio Fernando." It was great fun, and I think a very successful show.

One piece, "Palindrome," started with Janna and Victoria Jacobs performing a live dance that involved working with and fighting over a folding rocking chair. At the climax, they swing the chair in circles in a rhythmic motion. As the lights fade on the dancers, an animation fades up, showing two hands with a folding knife doing a similar motion, but in an alternate and much creepier universe. The moves that the hands do with the knife loosely follow the moves of the dancers, but in reverse starting from their ending, so the piece taken as a whole is a physical palindrome. I'm not sure how much of that was obvious to the audience, but I think at least the animation served as an interesting reinperpretation of the live performance.

Here's the animation for "Palindrome."

This was my first After Effects project, and I'm happy to say it looked pretty good on a big screen, despite being filmed with a consumer point and shoot (Canon S95) with completely natural light. Edward was the cinematographer and directed my hands. Christopher MacRae created the wonderful ambience and other sounds. There's significant bass rumbling that doesn't come through on most computer speakers, sadly.

The other animation in the show was a slight variant of one I did earlier, called "In Situ." I will post a link to that soon.

I hope to get links to the performances as well that I'll include here.

20th anniversay in hawaii

Thu, 15 Sep 2011 21:12:00 -0700

We celebrated our twentieth wedding anniversary in Hawaii... Big Island, Kauai, and Oahu.

beijing in the spring

Sun, 10 Apr 2011 08:02:00 -0700

Photos from an amazing trip to Beijing, my first time there. It was a work trip, but we got to take a day to do some sight-seeing. After this, we headed via Singapore to Australia.

remembering jim

Mon, 21 Mar 2011 22:25:00 -0700

We lost our dear friend, Jim Acord, on January 9, 2011.

We created a site to host photos, information, and links: jameslacord.com.

Here are some photos on flickr...

sub-art residency

Fri, 26 Nov 2010 18:39:00 -0800

In August, I had the delight of traveling to Ra�anj, Croatia for an arts residency called sub-art. (See previous post: subaqueous.)

Ra�anj is a rustic village on the coast of the Aegean sea in Dalmatia, across from Italy. Artists gather there for a few weeks each summer to create under water art works, or art that is simply inspired by the sea or being in that place. Besides the incredibly clean waters of the sea, I was taken with the limestone that permeates everything on that coast, and forms the islands.

I had intended to work on an animation I've been planning for years, but instead decided to focus on the present, and respond to what was around me without a lot of project planning and analysis that I habitually practice in my job.

Here are the films that resulted.

Der Gesteingeist

This was a site specific installation. The film is more of a study for future projects than a complete project. I wanted to have some interaction between the digital character and the real world, and the sea is such a primal force in this place, it was natural to use water. The limestone rocks are characters unto themselves. Gesteingeist is a made-up word, loosely translated as "rock ghost" or "rock spirit." The German language is widely spoken in Ra�anj, and also by my good friends who helped me make this installation.

Brazda na vodi (swirl)

This film is meant to be contemplative and experiential. I wanted to embrace chance and the subconscious, to get away from a narrative. The result is being in the moment and the motion, not paying attention to any specific thing. Within the rhythmic wash of sound and motion, fragmentary images pop out: a hand, the shore, a swim suit, a foot, the clouds. Our brains are always looking for a story.

Disortion field

This is a study of the natural movement and distortion effects of water.

Walk

An ambient little film, walking under water.

oberhausen & berlin 2010

Mon, 13 Sep 2010 21:04:00 -0700

Here are photos from our trip to visit Sara and her family, and friends in Berlin.