CPS: Week 5. OOO.

Week 5: 

Object Oriented Ontology 

IF THE ATTATCHED VIDEO DOES NOT LOAD, IT IS AVAILABLE HERE:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lO4eNhsIEnI

In response to the theme of Object Oriented ontology, I made a short animation centered on objects decoupled from their human uses. I used sounds from the Youtube Audio Library and Adobe Animate. 

By using recognisable prank toys, I am drawing attention to the disconnect between the purpose of these objects when in human use, (colourful, loud objects used to facilitate intentionally chaotic human interactions)  and the purpose of the objects when totally out of the sphere of human awareness (which, I assume in good faith, is quite still and unenergized). I was inspired a lot by Max’s use of The Nothing Supercut every shot of Seinfeld with no people in it, but also Pierre Huyghe's Zoodram series, which was inspired by the unpeopled night lives of aquarium animals. In one article on his work, journalist Dylan Kerr remarks, “Huyghe’s presentation seems to highlight the fact that these ‘objects’ exist in realms inaccessible to humans—the museum’s doors close at night, but the crabs don’t seem to care.” I’m intrigued by non-peopled spaces inaccessible to objective human understanding and wanted to contrast what I assume about them with the social world created by and for human-centric fun. 

The work is similar to that of Dr Katz or The Staring Competition from BBC’s Big Train in its use of intentional animation jitter. I haven’t found much theory on how animation jitter causes the emotional effect that it does (if you could recommend some theory I would appreciate it) but generally the jitter is applied to living things, people and animals, while the backgrounds stand still. It gives the impression of an animatable object standing still but still living, often anticipating movement. By applying this to a whole space from the background to the foreground, I want to give the impression of a totally living, navigable, animated space and then draw attention to the lack of movement within that space. 

It fits into my 2D animation practice by experimenting with new types of movement whose effects are valuable but which I have not utilized before. This was also my first fore into exploring non-human centric narratives.

Kerr, D. (2016, April 8). What Is Object-Oriented Ontology? A Quick-and-Dirty Guide to the Philosophical Movement Sweeping the Art World. Artspace. https://www.artspace.com/magazine/interviews_features/the_big_idea/a-guide-to-object-oriented-ontology-art-53690

Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn. (2013, January 7). Dr Katz Professional Therapist Episode 1 - FULL EPISODE. [Video]. Youtube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CWaNSfkWb6s

Christopher Scott Knell. (2014 March 14). Seinfeld: Nothing Super Cut. [Video]. Youtube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=StGksELo9Vs 

Paul Price. (2012 August 9). Big Train 43rd World Stare Out Championship Finals.[Video]. Youtube. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DkI85Kt10e4