Making of: Optica
Hello all,
Yesterday’s meeting points
Optica
Dates: April 14 to June 16, 2018
Opening: Saturday April 14 in the pm
Curating: Ray and ad hoc committee
Content : afterlife documents and individual works, previously shown or brand-new (a bit similar to the book contents)
Deadline: December 22 (files in the hard drive, afterlife drawer in Post Image, with small workprints, and/or WeTransfer to Ray and Jin (and you can cc everyone as well).
Archive
We need updates! The last update was in May 2016. Same delivery system.
December 17 – Potluck at Raymonde
******Holidays Party ***** and more brainstorm about the upcoming show.
On December 25, 2017 5:33 PM, Bogdan Stoica wrote :
Dear Afterlife friends,
I hope you are all having a great time and that you are surrounded by the loved ones during the holidays. Wish you lots of love and happiness!
Bogdan
On Dec 31, 2017, at 2:38 PM, celia perrin sidarous wrote:
Happy New Year!
HUGS! XOXOX
On Sun, Dec 31, 2017 at 8:13 AM, Jessica Auer wrote:
Dear all,
Thanks for the lovely messages. I’m sorry I missed the holiday dinner! I am back in Montreal and looking forward to catching up with you in the New Year.
See you soon!
J.
Xxxx
On Sun, Dec 31, 2017 at 1:03 PM, Chih-Chien Wang wrote:
Welcome home Jessica!!!
Happy New Year everyone!!!!
xxxx
Chih-Chien
On Dec 31, 2017, at 5:44 PM, Gwynne Fulton wrote:
Happy new year all! Best wishes from our little orchid farm in the mountains outside Manizales!
January 8, 2018 – Next steps
Dear all,
This is a final call for images (prints) and videos for the upcoming show / screening.
Deadline this Thursday, January 11, 17h
Chih-Chien, Jin, Velibor, Bogdan and I got together yesterday to initiate our selection for the Optica show and Cinematheque screening.
We started making some selections/juxtapositions, but we feel we don’t have everything yet.
And the same goes for Bogdan’s work on the video collage.
We already have lots of materials from the afterlife shows, and book, and we have the archives. Therefore this call is for individual works (new or previously shown).
We need prints to work with. Please bring them to Velibor at the Post Image lab, before Thursday, end of the day. If for any reason you cannot make prints, please send us the files (Celia, i am in touch with Clara about this).
For videos, please send them to Bogdan via WeTransfer (or contact him if the files are too big). He will make a rough timeline that will be accessible via Vimeo, and we will be able to view it and comment on it.
About theme and content, we have made a list of keywords that can be useful. Outre-vie / Afterlife is the title of the show, this is already a broad theme to work with ! We are planning to juxtapose works that echo on each other.
We want to finalize the selection by the beginning of February — from Feb 5 to March 5, I will be in India !
Let me know if you have questions
Thanks a lot !!!!
xx
Raymonde
January 30, 2018 – Info please
Hi Jessica,
i guess we missed each other yesterday.
So.. We are continuing the selection, it is getting close to something real and concrete !!
We are thinking of 7 of your images : Dusk, Birdwatchers, Sunrise at Baer, Landscape, Holar, Marco Polo, Mural, and Tourists at Flarrargljufur. I assume Dusk is in a small lightbox, right ?
Can you let me know the sizes of everything (or projected/suggested size), the type of print, and if they should be framed (not everything has to be framed but those that are already framed can come as they are). They can be mounted, not mounted, pinned.. we might come up with suggestions as well.
I am working on a maquette and will share it as soon as i have everyone’s approximate sizes. Then we will confirm everything and come up with a timeline.
I am attaching a few «walls», not everything is the right size of course, some might be quite small and some other bigger.
It will be a BIG show !
Let me know what you think. And… asap ! Thanks thanks !
Best,
Raymonde
February 9, 2018 – Velibor Božović – Preparations
I just made files that I will print so we can cut individual images and start playing. I think that was the plan (correct me if I’m wrong). Out of curiosity I moved all the images to two “walls”, one big and one small (Raymonde’s files), just to see how crowded it would get. I preserved the “original” sizes.
This is everything from big walls 1 & 2 when assembled on one small wall:
This is everything from the walls 3, 4 & 5 when put together on one big wall:
I will print these 42″ on shorter side, so prepare for lots of cutting on Friday.
All this if we want to keep working with “original” sizes… So let me know if I should change approach… If we want similar sizes for all images then the individual files need to be resized. I can’t do that at this point. Let me know.
🙏 V.
On Sat, Feb 10, 2018 at 12:36 AM, Raymonde April wrote:
Hello my dears,
i still can’t believe that i’m here again. It feels like we were here yesterday.
I like the crowded look. Maybe we will lose a foot or 2 on the 3,96 m for the lighting system..
Would write longer but.. I have problems sending messages from my Mail app..
So, i’ll make it work for our skype WhatsApp meeting on Friday. 10-11 for you ??
Let me know.
Le 10 févr. 2018 à 22:03, Chih-Chien Wang a écrit :
Hello hello!! now we are all connected virtually!! can’t wait to have the meeting on Friday. I like the fact being able to see all the images at once. That’s nice! Thanks Velibor!
Yes, I think we would do lots of cutting from these two assemblages!!!
See you soon on Friday!!!!
Chih-Chien
February 12, 2018 – Preparations – Progress report
Hi there !
Am getting over the jet lag !! Had my first full night sleep, i feel like myself again !
Am also documenting the progress on the roof next door.. Lots happening. One should be there 24-7.
Been to Carter road yesterday. Same same same !! except our lovely works aren’t there. Breezy, busy.
So, i have cut all the images. I am playing around Velibor’s maquette (see below).
Will keep looking at it.
Am thinking that i’d like to revise my own selection so it makes a more coherent series.
Fragmented inside the large work is good, but when extracted separately they look too random. It is probably the same for many of us.
For now i’m not adding or changing images, just looking at sizes, but maybe it opens up a couple more possibilities. To be discussed on Friday.
The way Skype works here !! we might not be able to have a detailed discussion, so i’d rather come prepared with stuff for you to look at.
I don’t think it will make much difference when it goes back in the big «workspace» wall but it might add a layer of joy !!
Miss you all ! xxx
Ray
2018-02-18 8:30 GMT-05:00 Chih-Chien Wang wrote :
Hello Raymonde and all, thanks for the updates!! Yes, I think 6 inches from the floor is not enough… 8, 10 or even 12 inches from the bottom might be safer. The grouping would probably need to be re-arranged, and there is the wall 2L to use… I am wondering if it’s better to have the room 2 full with image on all walls, or if it would be an interesting option to have a space with less images… The dimension of the wall seems to be good!!
Also, for my images I am thinking of making a slight change: the blue water would be resized from 28×42 to 16×24, and Shaore blue would turn to vertical (portrait) orientation. I am also thinking it might be okay to remove Shaore blue depending on the overall arrangement.
have a lovely weekend everyone!!!
Chih-Chien
Le 19 févr. 2018 à 22:26, jin kim a écrit :
Hi Raymonde,
I think images going to the floor would be interesting but at this point, it might be better to plan thinking that it won’t. Spreading out and spilling onto the other wall, more like a U-shape could work too. This means the sequencing will change, I guess.
The room FULL of images…. that sounds epic. Maybe we can do this with what we have already…!
Jin
On Tue, Feb 20, 2018 at 9:26 AM, Raymonde April wrote:
Hello there !!!! Been playing with the layout of Space 2
In version 1 and 2 i used our whole selection, and in version 3, I edited some images out to fit 2 walls. There is one foot from the floor (in gray).
We can also probably fill the whole 4 walls by adding a bit more space and maybe a couple more Mumbai banners… I’ll check that after lunch — and a nap.
Love you miss you xxx
Ray
On Tue, Feb 20, 2018 at 7:23 PM, Chih-Chien Wang wrote:
Hello hello Raymonde!! thanks for the maquettes!!! The left wall seems to bring in interesting dialogue! It’s mysterious and responding to the whole space!! It’s totally a different structure comparing to the four walls with all images!! Not sure which direction to go yet…
xxxx miss you as well!!
Chih-Chien
Le 21 févr. 2018 à 11:39, Velibor Božović a écrit :
Hello R.,
I like 3 walls. I am not sure about banner(s)… Something large like that could diminish the effect of the crowded walls. Don’t know. Maybe there should be no images on that wall at all?
Maybe we could just have a text on that wall… about the exhibit, or something? Quote? Also, I have a proposal to change my selection… attached. Any thoughts? Dos, donts?
V.
February 20, 2018 – Video nouvelles
Allo Bogdan,
comment ça se passe pour la vidéo ?
Ici, il fait chaud !! Ram est là et on ne fait rien de la journée. Oui, je travaille un peu sur les maquettes de l’expo.
J’ai fait un WhatsApp avec Velibor Jin et Chih-Chien.
Faudrait peut-être qu’on se parle pour voir comment on présente la vidéo à Optica (et qu’est-ce qu’on présente exactement).
Je pensais une grande projection, non ?
Bon, je vais travailler encore un peu sur l’accrochage mais en principe on veut remplir la salle 2 avec des prints, et la salle 1 avec la vidéo, des vidéos et (quelques) objets. Maquette très préliminaire ici. On veut faire un petit mur à l’entrée de la salle. C’est à suivre…
Ils avait un chantier de déconstruction juste en face de mon atelier lorsque je suis arrivée. Les artistes qui étaient là avant avaient tout tout filmé déjà.. On se dispute pour les sujets !
Maintenant je suis de retour dans l’appartement d’avant. Les corneilles sont toujours au rendez-vous !
On Thu, Feb 22, 2018 at 7:14 AM, Raymonde April wrote:
Hello hello,
I have rearranged from the cutout images, it was fun to do on the apartment floor with the ceiling fans. I started with our walls as they were in my Montreal studio and.. surprise ! they all fit inside 3 walls (except for one image by Jessica that i found under the bed the day after..
Velibor, I replaced your selection and included all the 5 new images, all 20 x 30 except for the kleenex landscape at 16 x 24 (?).
Chih-Chien, i rescaled your blue water and rotated blue Shaore.
I brought back my film images in one set and rescaled Adrienne.
We still have to fine-tune the individual sizes but the 3 walls combination works well, i think. Leaving the fourth wall blank, or with text could be just fine. I agree that anything there draws a lot of attention. But, we can talk about that on March 2nd (my god, time flies!)
xxx
Ray
On 22 February 2018 at 19:13, Chih-Chien Wang wrote:
hello hello, the new arrangement looks great! It feels quite balanced and dispersed without too much attention on specific parts. The mixture of B&W and color seems to work well! I am curious which wall will be kept blank? Probably 2 Rear I assume… I am not against having images on the forth wall, but I believe it’s delicate and could also be powerful if the selection and arrangement works out well.
Very excited for the development!!!
Chih-Chien
February 23, 2018 – Jinyoung Kim – Rép : Question sur les murs
Getting tighter! Sizes work well and much better balanced in this arrangement. All of the new add-ins from Velibor also looks great.
So… if we want the have something on the 4th wall, that’s another long wall, right? That will be a lot of images in one room and leaving the large wall empty may give some silence in the space.
I do agree with CC that choosing what’s going on that wall will be quite something – perhaps the banners (like 3 of them) would work?
Time does really fly…! Already close to March. xxx
Jin
On February 23 at 12:54, Velibor Bozovic wrote:
This is one long wall, on the right, smaller wall opposite from the door, and even smaller wall next to the door. The big wall on the left is empty for now.
I don’t think banners would work on that wall. It would diminish the experience of these 3 walls.
It could be something minimal or simply just some text. Turn off the lights on that wall… maybe a spot light on whatever is there.
I would keep the banners for FOFA.
On Sat, Mar 3, 2018 at 9:26 AM, Raymonde April wrote:
Allo, yesterday was a great meeting.
Couldn’t resist.. I played with the lexicon.. just screen captures from the book pdf.
If we have only the French text, it fits the long wall. We can have the English version on a separate sheet with the maps identifying the images. Also, the intro paragraph could be on that sheet and not on the wall…
Now, i will write that long email…..
On 5 March 2018 at 11:46, Chih-Chien Wang wrote:
Hehe… it’s good you tried it Raymonde!! I feel the size could be smaller and the distance between the blocks of texts could be greater. So there are more space amongst each texts… Viewers would be quite close to the wall to read the text and could look at the rest of the room from a distance…
See you soon!!!
Chih-Chien
On Sat, Mar 3, 2018 at 10:07 AM, Velibor Božović wrote:
I like it. Also, one language only, French of course, so we don’t get arrested. I would not put the same thing in two languages. Though, I don’t think the letters should be that big, but it’s a question of design.
V.
On Mon, Mar 5, 2018 at 2:04 PM, Jinyoung Kim wrote :
I agree with having only French on the wall and English on a separate sheet of index. This would be great to have in the image room.
Also I went to Optica to “feel” the space again this weekend, and realized they are smaller than I imagined. It was a great idea to have the wall for the projection room, because when I was there, the daylight came through the room and it didn’t do a justice to the projection they had there. Which means, Velibor’s books may get a lot of light during the daytime.
Anyhow, just wanted to share that hehe
Welcome back Raymonde!!
March 3, 2018 – Velibor Bozovic – Books
Just a quick and dirty visuals of the possible book arrangment as I was playing on my shelf.
Books are divided here into decades (1900s on top 1990s on the bottom). The width of the “shelf” would be about 22″. And the height of the whole thing could be about 110″ in case everything is arranged vertically.
BtW, I am missing 10 years.
Any comment should be very much appreciated.
March 3, 2018 – Optica show selection and developments
Dear all, many things to talk about !!
I’m still in Mumbai, coming back tomorrow night, and I will be in Montreal on Monday evening. Quite a ride. It’s been wonderful.
Chih-Chien, Velibor, Jin and myself have been working hard on the Optica show!! We have set up on some ideas for the 2 spaces but will need a bit of brainstorming. Therefore, we will have a potluck on Sunday March 11, starting at 15h. Don’t be late !
First potluck in 2018.
List of points :
1- Room 2 will be full of images on 3 walls and possibly a text (possibly Gwynne’s lexicon from the book).
I am attaching the maquettes. One one wall, one medium wall and one short wall, with the other long wall with no images.
After much discussion, we have decided not to include framed images in that space. The idea is to evoke a studio wall, work in the making, therefore a diversity of medium is welcome. It can be eclectic but has to be balanced too. Please check for your images and confirm the size, the kind of print (inkjet, chromira, vinyl etc), the surface (glossy, matte, etc), if there is a white border, and how you wish to have them on the wall (magnets, pins, tape, adhesive vinyl, etc- no mounting). Installing will be quite tricky, so please be as precise as possible.
Please note, i made the maquettes according to the sizes that you’ve given me ! But the way they look might make you want to adapt slightly. The maquettes will be revised again ! If there is a blatant problem that you see (my image can’t be beside that image etc) let me know. The grey parts are part of the walls but ideally no print goes there (lighting system on the top, and 12 inches distance from the floor).
Hm.. if you forgot the size that you have given me..
Just open the 3 attached screen captures in Photoshop and assign them the following image size : 156 inches high @ 15 pixel per inch. You will see a blur but can select your image and see its size.
2- All the prints should be ready in the first week of April.
You print your own ! So please make sure to have your bookings in advance. I will check with Velibor how much is left in our prepaid allocation in Post Image, that might cover some costs.
I have written an application to FOFA and the Vice-rector’s office for exhibition costs, God knows when we will hear about the results. And Optica is paying an artist fee of appr. 300 per artist.
3- For Room 1, some of the content is still open. We want to have a big projection of the new Afterlife video that Bogdan is working on, and other works such as, sculptural works, video works, light boxes, framed images (?) books, objects.. We have some things in mind of course but suggestions are welcome.
4- Installation will be on the week of April 9. Optica has technical help but we will need some more.
5- Roundtable about Afterlife at Optica on May 5th, 13h-15h. Who will participate ? How do we do it ?
Well.. that’s it for now !
Namaskar ! See you very soon !!!
Le 4 mars 2018 à 14:32, celia perrin sidarous a écrit :
Hello Raymonde!
Je te souhaite un bon retour à Montréal et j’ai bien hâte de te voir et de vous voir tous. Voici des réponses —-
– Les maquettes de l’expo sont superbes! Et je serai du potluck le 11. Fait légèrement gênant… je n’arrive pas à repérer mes images à cause de la faible résolution des fichiers, oups! Je les vois mais j’ai peur d’en oublier, est-ce que ça te va si j’y jette un oeil précis lors du potluck, sur ton ordi? Merci!!
– Les images seront imprimées sans faute à temps pour la première semaine d’avril, et je me penche sur leur matériel et le mode d’installation. Je te reviens. Je réfléchis également à la pièce 1.
– Je commence mon installation à Parisian à la fin de la semaine qui précède le montage à Optica, je verrai donc comment je suis en mesure d’aider avec le montage. Je te reviens également à ce sujet plus près de la date, mais si possible j’aimerais contribuer.
– Le 5 mai je ne suis malheureusement pas disponible pour la table ronde, j’ai une activité à Parisian ce jour-là, il y a une visite commentée à laquelle je dois être absolument…
Merci et à très bientôt! xxxx
Celia
March 11 – Potluck meeting at Raymonde
20 mars 2018 – Plan de montage + liste équipement
Le 20 mars 2018 à 12:22, raymonde april a écrit :
Allo Marie-Josée, voici quelques détails. Il y a des choses qui peuvent encore changer (bien sûr).
Salle 1
Mur du fond : une grande projection vidéo de préférence couvrant tout le mur (écouteurs ou son ambiant? pas décidé)
Mur de gauche : un écran télé (idéalement encastré dans le mur, mais ça peut se discuter.. )avec des écouteurs.
À l’entrée, un petit mur comme prévu.
Dans l’espace créé par le petit mur, directement en entrant dans la salle, une collection de livres déposés sur des tablettes (fournies par nous), avec une bande son très discrète et localisée dans cet espace (voir photo- les tablettes sont fixées au mur individuellement).
De l’autre côté du mur, une photo 8 x 10 encadrée.
Peut-être quelques autres objets, petits, ne nécessitant pas d’installation spéciale.
Salle 2
104 photos (+ ou -) de diverses grandeurs et divers médiums (jet d’encre, transparents, C prints, tyvek, chromera, etc) épinglées sur 3 murs.
Un texte sur l’autre mur, soit en vinyle découpé, ou imprimé au jet d’encre sur des feuilles de vinyle autocollant. C’est le lexique tiré du livre, version française.
Pas de cartels mais un plan schéma sur un petit document, identifiant les auteurs et les infos, et aussi, la version en anglais du lexique.
On pense encore à développer quelque chose de plus installatif dans la salle 1, avec peut-être 2 grandes projections en plus (un peu semblable à l’expo qui est là maintenant dans la salle 2) mais il va falloir faire quelques tests. Penses-tu qu’on eut venir essayer des trucs dans la galerie pendant que c’est libre ??
Tu m’appelles si tu as besoin que quelque chose de plus précis.
Raymonde
April 10-13, 2018 – Installation at Optica
May 5, 2018 – Artist talk at Optica
