Dancing Cranes (2002/03)

The concept and the structure of the project were developed collaboratively by the artists of localStyle during a research trip in Thailand. It was decided that the work would contain 10,000 frames (of animatography) as a reference to long-standing Asian traditions in which cranes symbolize wisdom and peace, and the number 10,000 represents infinity. This temporal framework was determined mathematically, resulting in an approximate duration of 6 minutes.

Dancing Cranes does not present a linear figurative story; yet this is unambiguously directional. It is an abstract narrative, one that develops as a result of the arrow of time, where the sequential presentation of frame after frame is the shaping mechanism inducing the viewer to construct an interpretation. Not wanting to seduce the viewer with illusionistic space, the relationships between elements (and their relationships in time) are highlighted by the synthetic space that has been created by strategically de-emphasizing the third dimension. The moving image-stream incorporates time as the fourth dimension, combining both basic and complex aspects of visual perception with hard-edged geometry and spatial proportion. Color-function, geometry, rhythm, and spatial/temporal ratios are basic resources which are used to develop a flexibly-decodable universe.

Some of the sociopolitical dimensions of a work which attempts to subvert our inherent biases by making us question what we see and hear might be obvious; some are less so. Here, a commercially-available software package - favored by professionals for representational film-effects usage and corporate branding purposes - is subverted and employed in creating non-commercial, non-figurative digital animatography.

In order to optimize the potential inherent in radically conceptualizing an aspect of cinematic practice - dramaturgy, it was necessary to maintain precise control over the timeflow. An open form, or one with interactive facets in its structure would not function best in this case; there are many examples which rely upon the associational powers of either representation or text itself to engage the viewer's narrative instincts. Since one part of localStyle's ongoing project is to reduce sign systems to their fundamental levels, representational imagery was excluded as a conscious strategy to redirect the viewer's attention to other aspects of their temporal experience.

The composed soundscape exploits rhythms which are constructed, deconstructed and reconstructed to simultaneously engage the body and misdirect the mind. Specifically, the choice of an asymmetrical meter (13/8) with a very fast tempo (555bpm) opened up possibilities to create a temporal grid that would always be unstable, analogous to the centrifugal force of an off-center object spinning rapidly. At the same time, this pulse-design is subtle enough to be overlooked by the casual listener, who might experience it as conventional dance music. The sound design makes selective references to various aspects of a multi-continental range of cultures as another strategy for eluding the type of simple categorization that leads to complacency. These references are incorporated at all levels, from the deepest structure to the surface.

Sight and sound operate in contrapuntal partnership, where the intention is to produce a layered experience; the pacing of events is designed to converge at strategic points, and to diverge at others, maintaining both independence as well as coherence.

Eyes dance, ears blink.

© 2004 localStyle