So the dealio is, the viewer is meant to approach St. Lucia, a disengaged figured and the only source of light in a dark room. The viewer takes from her proffered bowl, dark fleshy raspberries that resemble eyeballs. The viewer ingests the raspberry and touches the piezo speaker which blows the candles out and 'blinds' the viewer.
The image of Lucia has been in my subconsciousness since I was young, reading Swedish literature given to me by my father. As the artist I am now, I am always interested in customs found in popular culture; things like the glazing over of facts, sweet foods as a communal trope and organized religion is fascinating, and I find myself often attempting at subverting it and recreating it a way that brings the roots of the custom to light.
In the case of St. Lucia, she was martyred by getting her eyes gouged out, hence she is the patron saint of light. On December 13th European countries, mostly Sweden and Italy celebrate St. Lucia's holiday by singing and processing and handing sweets to viewers. Sweden actual has a full hour special of music and performance in celebration of St. Lucia and the whole holiday has been completely secularized.
I wanted to film in the black box, but because of finals it was constantly in use, it definitely is a little cheazy with the white apartment trimmings, so I'm sorry about that!
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The imagery in the documentation is pretty powerful in the closeups. I think the blond hair was better suited to your concept. I'm not certain why anyone would press the piezo. If you are meant to blow out the candles, I can give you my code for how to blow out the LEDs like I did in my project using a piezo vibration sensor. And while the raspberries are fleshy, I actually think white grapes better resemble the consistency, shape, and wateriness of eyeballs. Obviously I'm nitpicking because overall your project was very successful. Though I wouldn't have known the story if I wasn't in the class, I'm definitely intrigued by the idea that I'm supposed to approach someone who can't see me whose eyes look gouged and bloody. There's certainly an irony to someone being the saint of light which is only sensed through sight, not smell, taste, touch, or hearing, and it's the only sense she doesn't have, and you did a great job of highlighting that irony in your project. Thanks for the documentation and great job!
ReplyDeletethanks for the feedback emily! It was really helpful
ReplyDeletei'm really glad you got your project working again! I thought your video was very nicely put together, the music really helped set an atmosphere, if you had presented the project in class- would you still have had the music? I think it makes a difference. I know the video itself is not your project, but I did want to say that the close up shots of the lights flickering were really quite beautiful. The juice from the raspberries in the bowl also really resembled blood. I like this mixing of elements that are both gruesome and beautiful at the same time. It's like you had mentioned that the tradition is held at christmas time, a happy and joyful occasion- however the details of how the eyes were gouged out is usually unsaid. I agree with Emily about having people blow on the Piezo sensors instead of pressing them down, but overall I think your project was really successful - you should submit it to the Fine Arts Juried show. :)
ReplyDeleteI also enjoy your concept, and the tension between the sweet cutesy traditions with their gruesome history. I enjoy the theatricality of the crown, with the blindfold and the makeup. I do prefer pressing the piezos rather than blowing, because it reflects the violence of the eye-gouging. I do think that you should find a more clear way to express to the audience that they are supposed to press the piezos; I am not sure how, but perhaps as part of the action that gives them a raspberry. I also think peeled grapes would work better as eye-substitutes, but the raspberries do work in a pinch. I am sad that you had to scrap the beautiful old-style bulbs you started with, but the LEDs in this video are still lovely. The music is a nice touch.
ReplyDeletetypically in a lot of churches they have electric candles that you press once you drop money into the offering. So by pressing the button, your lighting a candle in prayer.
ReplyDeleteThank you guys for the feedback! And yeah, emily I'm definitely interested in the more sensitive sensor instead of my piezos.