I want to combine digital imaging and installation for my BFA project.   I plan for it to be a series displayed as an installation. I will  be focusing on developing still images using my camera, Photoshop, and Lightroom.  There will be an emphasis on digital photography and photo montage.  I will realize my piece using monitors as a means to display it in the gallery.  In order to bring my vision to life I will be using skills from classes both inside and outside the art department.  I will be using Photoshop and a DSLR camera, both of which were taught to me in Digital Imaging and Digital Photography classes, in addition to the knowledge I already possess.  I have found that taking philosophy, psychology, and sociology classes has enhanced and continues to inform my art and my worldview.  All of this experience has challenged me to create more thoughtful and creative artwork in my medium.

My idea is to expand on my final Advanced Digital Imaging project.  I am inspired by a multitude of scientific theories about the universe and the nature of reality.  I have been doing research on the Holographic Principle, the Heisenberg Uncertainty Principle, the black hole information paradox, space time, String Theory, and quantum mechanics.  I am also informed by things I have learned in my Philosophy classes like Plato’s Theory of Forms, determinism, and the simulation hypothesis.  The ideas I have taken from my research and want to incorporate into my BFA project are as follows, information cannot be created or destroyed, it is (in theory) possible for information for a 3D world to be stored and spread on a 2D surface, and everything could be data, able to be manipulated and edited.  I want to focus on the nature rather than humanity or technology for this piece, but both of those things are also an integral, and consequential part of the overall message I want to communicate, that being the world is not concrete, static, or maybe even real.  I want people to think about these things and their consequences, hopefully do some research of their own, and draw their own conclusions. 

My series will focus on nature, and I want there to be no evidence of humanity in them.  Although one of my goals is to have people consider the implications of living in an unknown world, my concept is ultimately about something bigger than ourselves, which is why I want to focus on nature for this series.  The basis for quantum mechanics, that information cannot be created or destroyed will be replicated by manipulating parts of a photo to create something that looks completely different and diverse from the original, while being part of it at the same time.  I will also use the Holographic Principle, which states that it is possible for information for a 3D world to be stored and spread on a 2D surface.  I will represent this by stretching the photo and overlaying parts onto the image, creating a visual, (with artistic liberties) representation of the concept.  Finally, I want to incorporate the simulation hypothesis by displaying my series on monitors. 

As for how I want to display my piece, I did some research on various types of installations that I could do.  I am thinking that I want to display the series on several smaller monitors put together to form one picture, and the picture will cycle through my series so that only one is showing at a time.  I am thinking about having different color profiles on the monitors to further support my thesis, which in simplest terms is that the world is not what it seems.  The monitors would be mounted on the wall, with no gaps between individual monitors.  For now I think the monitors should be uniform in size, but that might change when I have a clearer image of the final product.  Different makes and aspect ratios might be interesting.  The image on the monitors would change every minute, and it would take 10 minutes to completely view the piece, which means I have to create 10 strong images for the series.  As for the size of the whole display, I think ~5’ x 3.3’ (60” x 40”) would be an adequate size, because that is a size that takes into account the aspect ratio of the photos I will be taking.

Production Calender

Required Equipment List

• DSLR camera
• 9 monitors
• Photoshop
• Lightroom
• computer
• flash drive