Research Proposal (Senior Thesis)

Lennertson Megan

August 26, 2009

SENIOR DIGITAL FILMMAKING WORKSHOP I

Fall 2009 Semester

Faculty, Cyan Meeks, cyanmeeks@earthlink.net

Instructions: Fill out form, print, and hand in to instructor. Make sure form is stapled. Also, post on your Blog site.

SENIOR THESIS PAPER PROPOSAL FORM

Working Paper Title: Constructed Site Specific Installation Artwork

Proposed Topic(s): This paper is a continuation of topics involving Differentiating Space and Place, as well as our relationship to it, and how it relates to itself. Through studying this topic I will be addressing the artists responsibility in altering public spaces, how spaces can be altered through installation work, and the importance of site specificity. I will be addressing artists who focus on Max MSP/ Jitter light mapping, and projection, as well as sculptural and mixed medium artists. An emphasis on experience, and how the experience of work can be better than the work will be a cruicial part to the research.

Purpose of proposed research (what is the significance of your investigation?): The research is a continuation of my quest to understand space and place, this time with more emphasis on experience, intuition and how that ties in to the previous research. Through developing knowledge with these subjects I will also run across questions, which is what my work offers, a solution to my questions.

What is the relationship of the proposed research to your current work? My current work is research driven, and is derived from questioning the subject at hand. The research process is very important for my work to be solid both conceptually and aesthetically.

How does this research fit into the larger context of theoretical, historical, and conceptual and cultural issues? Questions of Space, Place, Experience, and intuitition are culturally differentiating. I believe that my work ties in heavily with both science and philosophy, and questioning how we have been previously influenced which we were never even aware of. This question is similar throughout every culture and in history, and is often interpreted differently. I think conceptually this is relevant to our culture, and also crucial to personal enlightenment.

Describe research paper in 4 sentences or less: A conceptual and philisophical glance into how we, as humans, perceive space and place, and the significance of altering the experience of those spaces and places.

Discuss your research methods (fieldwork, written materials, screenings, interviews, etc.): My research will be done by starting off from last semester where I had finished researching how we experience the space around us. I will take a much more in depth look at what it means to experience and alter the spaces, rather than to define space and place. The book I left off with, and have started on again for this semester is Programming the Universe. It was written by a man from MIT who invented the first quantum computer. Through studying quantum mechanics I hope to study the smallest universes in our universe and to come to understand atoms so that I can essentially speak with them and have them output information for my work. Reading and researching current installation artists in the field will help me to establish further ideas on my work. I will also work on writing while researching, questioning and solving questions as I go. Any appropriate screenings on what I am researching will be found and watched, interviews with the artists on their related ideas will be helpful, and much fieldwork will be needed.

List resources you already have to conduct this research:

Literature- continuing with the ideas of Kant, Plato, and Socrates

Library in Kansas City with every available document I could want from NASA on how to build everything down to an entire packet of papers on a single bolt, as well as a contact who works there

The Internet for researching and finding new artists

My previous work to build off of

List all “experts” you have or will have consulted with:

Dwight Frizzell - MAX MSP installation artists and contacts

Paul Scott - Mechanical Engineer who work with designing the first laced glass, and very knowledgible with quantum mechanics.

Patrick Clancy- Quantum Mechanics, and he studies Ideas quite similar and related to mine.

The rest will come as the research progresses, depending upon my findings and need for other "expert" resources.

How will this research act as a vehicle to your artistic and professional growth?

Research provides me with a historical and conceptual background of the information I am working with, as well as challenging my abilities on MAX MSP (which is newer to me). Through expanding my knowledge on these subjects, networking, and practicing my research with fieldwork I should be growing to be reading to be put into the professional field.