art project Help

WRXminion · 10-10-2006, 08:53 PM

Alright guys, I got a weird one for ya.

So I?m an art student in college.

I'm working on a project for my "integrated arts" class. Here are the rules, 1) integrate 3 arts, 2) something to do with social change.

After a lot of thinking, (the hardest part of being an artist) I came up with this idea. Don't ask me where this came from... I have no idea... well maybe I do,

I'm going to use my empty 60-gallon tank. It is similar to a nano cube, with a built in filter. It has a really high flow pump; it's like 400gpm (or what ever the standard is). The outlet for this is on the top right side. The filter box creates a black background. It has two-175watt pc, one actinic blue or what ever it's called.

In the middle of the tank I?m going to put 3 dividers with holes. They will be practically touching. The outside dividers will be fixed in place. The inside one will slide up and down. when the middle divider is in the up position all the holes will match up. when it's down it creates a wall.

Left side of tank will have:
four, 6" piranha (I already have these)
white vinyl letters on the black background that read, "nature's course" or something that conveys a similar message.

Right side of tank will have:
Hundreds of feeders. so many you can't see the background.
White vinyl letter that say "People For Ethical Treatment Of Animals" or the ilk
On the right side of the tankwill be power heads... lots of them.. they will point left.

How it works:
viewer will do some action (not sure what yet) that opens the gate, and turns the power head on. the goldfish will be forced threw the holes (which are too small for the piranha to fit past) to the other side.

The message:
At first the viewer will not be able to see the ethical image in the background. Once the viewer has killed goldfish he will then see the message and question his own actions of sending goldfish to death. At the same time the idea of "nature" will disappear because the goldfish will fill the left side of the tank. The piranha though hungry, will not eat all the goldfish. Also next to the tank will be information about how PeTA kills animals in their shelter, yet wants complete freedom for animals. (if you want some more info on it, look up Penn & Teller?s ?bull****? show about PeTA on google video). The idea is to make it feel like a ?museum of science? piece. This will add another layer to the meaning. This comments on the influences of science, and statistics on social norms. Usually it?s groups like PeTA that are paying for good PR from scientists.

Help I need:

How do I set up the tank? how many power heads will i need to force goldfish across the tank? i can get the actual dimensions if this will help.

where/how can i get barriers that will not be permanent... i would like to reuse the tank.

I?m thinking of setting up a pulley system so the viewer pulls a string which raises the middle gate, and completes a switch so the power heads turn on. i don't want them to run the whole time or the goldfish might be pushed around tell they die... and that?s just mean....

I got the tank used a month ago. It has bio balls and a sponge filter. It had a fancy goldfish for a few weeks... but he got sick and died... I?m not sure if it was the tank. He was in another tank with two other fancy goldfish that died. I moved him into the 60 in an attempt to save him. I would like to clean it somehow before I put my piranha in. Maybe I should just throw a school of tetras in there to build up the bio I need? But this might not be a problem because it will only be in place for a week and I can do water changes. Not only that but I?ll constantly have to replace/move goldfish.

There are also calcium deposits on the tank. how can i get rid of them? I want the tank to look clean.

Anyone know a feeder goldfish wholesaler?

Any other advice/comments/ideas/suggestions/flames are more then welcome!

Oh btw this will be on display at Colorado University? hippie central. I will defentatly get video and pics for you guys.

EDITED (to fix meaning)

asahlin · 10-10-2006, 09:15 PM

brilliant, absolutely brilliant!! I hate PETA and I am a vegitarian

kudos to you

I am no help with the set up, but I do love your idea

WRXminion · 10-10-2006, 09:19 PM

err forgot to add one thing...

It's an art project, so each person will take something diffrent from it. If you can think of any diffent meaning that can be found in this project, please tell me.

Edit:

Thanks ashlin. I'm not a vegitarian..... nor do I really care about animals past the use they give me.. be it companionship.. or food. But I do belive in karma, It's not okay to cause reasonless harm to animals.

Loman · 10-10-2006, 10:00 PM

WRCMinion,
Certainly a provocative idea. I have mixed feelings/emotions about it (and I actually agree with what I believe is your intended message). This will be fairly grotesque to most people and probably diametrically challenge the academic Establishment in many regards. Have you thought through this aspect of the project fully. I realize art is somewhat in the eye of the beholder but this would be pretty graphic I think. It demonstrates a natural process but one that people are generally uncomfortable around.

WRXminion · 10-10-2006, 10:16 PM

Loman: Yes I have thought about this.

I'm sure that it will cause quite abit of rabble around campus.

But nothing gets PR like censorship on a collage campus... especialy art... and especialy CU Boulder. And any news is good news for a young artist.

Tommy Gun · 10-10-2006, 11:56 PM

I also see your point and as a Master's Degree student right now, I understand the politics behind campus life and struggling students, whether they be art students or any other for that matter.

However, have you thought about some of the negative affects you could have on your audience? I mean, through the use of your cryptic message, you could put yourself in a position of being the person who forces another to kill. True, it would most likely happen to the fish anyways, such is nature, but I do not think that everyone is going to see things quite that way. Especially on a campus full of impressionable minds who tend to be liberal in their thinking.

My opinion, and this is not to down grade your point or opinion is that Howard Stern is and was the best shock jock the world may ever see. I do not think that by adding death to your art, you can surpass him. Those 'days' should be over by now.

I also feel, from reading your comments, that you are not in as much awe of nature as some people in this world. When you say things such as...."Thanks ashlin. I'm not a vegitarian..... nor do I really care about animals past the use they give me.. be it companionship.. or food. But I do belive in karma, It's not okay to cause reasonless harm to animals."... you make me feel like you are certainly in this mode of thinking more for the death than for the art. Trust me, as a former soldier who has seen enough death for all of us, death is not art in the slightest meaning of the word.

Like I said though, your point is well thought out and the idea of getting your audience to think in a different way is something you are going to be very capable of doing. Why then, couldnt you just create a tube for the goldfish to pass by the pirahnas without the chance of them being killed or injured? I think that this would still make your point but add some relief to your audience that this was just a lesson in what could have happened through their choices, instead of allowing them to be the executioner? This would also help you to maintain some ethical and moral peice of mind while still conforming to the immensly huge definition of 'art'.

So, some food for thought (pun intended, which would also make a great title) is that as far as pirahnas go, there is no such thing as a "fish too big". As you said, you already have the pirahnas and so you should konw this.

WRXminion · 10-11-2006, 01:12 AM

Tommy gun:

Thank you very much for your comment. I will defiantly think about it.

You took my words the wrong way. Sorry, I have my own logic when it comes to writing. I might think of animals as a means to ends, but that does not mean I don't care about them. I love my fish, dog, cat ect... but if came down to my fish dying or a human... then kill my fish. When you feed your fish bloodworm's.. that is a living thing... when you eat fruit it's a living thing.. thats life, deal with it. The problem comes when we start to value one life over another. The other problem is when we put our fears and insecurity of death off on animals. Who knows maybe a goldfish being eaten by a piranha is equivalent to use reaching nirvana.. or heaven... or what ever you think happens.

but your right about putting people in the position of killing something when
they didn't know what was going to happen, and that is not cool.

I guess I'll have to put up a big disclaimer, "please read this before pushing
the button. If you don't want to possibly see the circle of life, and blood,
then do not pull this"

I guess I am going down the path of "shock art". But I have good reasons for using it...I'm not just shocking people for the sake of shocking them, there is a deeping meaning and thought behind the piece. and Howard stern is not the best shock artist ever...Just because you are well known does not make you the best.. a great example of this is music... any list of "best bands ever" will never have anything older then the 60's... look up a guy named Chris Burden. He basically started the idea of "shock art" in the 70's. There was also a guy in england who would throw his own body fluids.... all of them... at his audience. His ultimate goal was to kill himself on stage... but he died of a heroin OD.

I don't think I'll downgrade the death. It just won't have the same feeling and
emotion... it will turn it into a novilty... and that would just trivialize
death more then it already is. I'm sure you, being an soldier, know that real
death, when you can smell it, is much more impacting then just an image, or the
hint of death.

"Our jobs as artist is to make the viewer see the world our way, not his"

Thanks alot for your openions..I really am thinking about what you say... even if I do blow of your argument... it's great to see my work from someone elses eyes... it's the best way to perfect it.

Loman · 10-11-2006, 07:53 AM

While names are being bantered about let me add the the one I thought of when I read the original post, Alfred Hitchcock. One of the reasons Hitchcock was so powerful was he would get the audience to really want some thing (in this case to see the message behind the feeder fish). Then when he gave them what they all wanted he did it in such a way that the really had to question there motives for wanting that it the first place.

I do not want to get overly political but the message is one that deserves some attention. For example I know in Ohio we have a huge problem with deer. People do not want to open up the hunting season because it will cause more deer to die. But the imbalance in the population and food change causes deer to die in a really bad way not mention the additional car accidents etc. I do think that people must accept a certain aspect of the circle of life.

We all enjoy fish to some level or we would not be on this forum, but the reason we do is that we get utility in the form of aesthetics etc. from them. In general I think for an animal to flourish it is generally safeguarded and used by humans in some manner.

WRXminion · 10-11-2006, 04:37 PM

Loman:

Great points. I really like the hitch refrance... I didn't see it at first, but your right. I'm a really big fan of movies, and I take film classes when ever I can. Maybe those classes seeped into the back of my head.... crazy.

I was actually trying to think of a way to film this already.... I then thought of putting a laptop in the stand and brodcasting a live webcam from behind the fish tank.

Tommy Gun · 10-11-2006, 05:50 PM

WRX,

First, I am glad that you didnt take me wrong on my posting. It is hard to only have written communication and get a complete point across.

I think that taking out the surprise element for your audience is going to give you just as good results for you. I am 99% sure you will run into at least one or two people who are going to think it is 'cool' to kill or want to show off for his/her friends. I think then, in my opinion, your challenge will be to get them to actually think and realize what they have just done. Sort of like killing a mosquito, we do it all the time out of instinct because when they bite, it hurts. No one ever stops to think that they just ended a life. I am not trying to debate the ethics of that, but instead give you some insight into how you can actually get someone to stop and think this way for a change.

It is easy to say that murder only applies to one human killing another human. I have seen death and smelled it. I can honestly say that the smell of death the instant it has just occured is much more powerful than the smell of death weeks later, when it just plain stinks from rotting. I have read a lot about how smell may be the single most used sense by any mammal and our minds can remember a smell much more than a vision or a touch. To be honest, I do not think of myself as an overly emotional person or a very political person, but once you have witnessed death first hand, and see the reality set in on the dying person's face that this is the end, your life will change. It is much worse when you are the person who is the cause of it all.