frquency0d
// key words
false reality
surveillance
awareness
analog tech
identification
covid19
israeli society
3d printing
glitches
time
perception
Now that my audience had been introduced to this unnamed character [later 0d] in my third year film TSS [and ex0d], and, considering what we were going through globally during the covid19 pandemic, it was vital for me to establish a line of communication to express the thoughts, theories, and ideologies I was having as an artist
throughout the pandemic.
The social platform known as instagram was used as a digital canvas in which I artistically and articulately would communicate concern through critical thinking; often expressing the internal dialect I was having with myself through stories. This gained traction in the artistic communities and I shortly after found myself within a very unique multi-communal underground scene during the covid19
lockdowns - Jerusalem.
I remember 'crawling' out of a caved event to inform the module instructor, Sharon Balaban, that my plans of directing a short series have changed since I had been documenting the strange events that were occurring around me. This documentation was unique in that it was filmed using vintage technology during 'apocolyptic' times [2020].
Her response would later become one of my greatest lessons, not just in the artistic sense, but for life. "zoom in; zoom out". I was deep underground, in what almost felt undercover; this was my zoom in. She was stressing the importance of zooming out; returning to the surface to reveal my findings and to convey them artistically.
During this time, the country of Israel was faced with aftershock lashes from the covid19 pandemic. A series of demonstrations against former Israeli Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu were conducted on a tri-weekly basis. The social material documented from these events contrasted the communal ones being filmed underground.
Unbiased, my intentions were to compare and contrast the analog material. And, to compare and contrast the social documentation with my very own. I began to save and archive the visual content from the instagram stories I was producing. This portrayed the internal documentation I was undergoing while documenting the occurring
external ones.
research
\\ [r]evolution - Considering the times, something revolutionary felt like it was unraveling before my very eyes. Covid19 had settled in and society's response was challenging the democratic structure. This pointed to areas of hierarchy and anarchy, as well as with authority and
population control.
I drew inspiration initially from authors Aldous Huxley, and George Orwell. Pink Floy's Another Brick in the Wall was another source of inspiration and provided good visual reference.
In general I was interested in exploring social behaviour and governance.
// [false] reality -
This was accommodated by further philosophical research, and demonstrated by marxism, and in the writings of Franz Kafka.
If marxist theory tells us that it takes something [big] to happen for the wheels of civilization to start moving forward, than it was my belief that covid19 was the torque power for my internal transition as a human being on the globe, and in the cosmos.
But, I am just a small part of something bigger. For the first time I was able to analyse three major layers to my existence: Myself on the micro level, the Israeli society and where I fit in it on a meso level, and finally, the globe, and the impact I can make on a macro level.
// zoom out - For the 'zoom out' phase of the project, I took inspiration from artists Nam June Paik [above], and from, Grant Kester's, The Sound of Breaking Glass, Part I: Spontaneity and Consciousness in Revolutionary Theory.
- During periods of political repression the relationship between aesthetics and politics, and between private and public expression, undergoes both erosion and reconsolidation.
process
// vhs[c] - I first came across a vintage VHS-c palmcorder with 700x zoom at a second hand shop in the Nachlaot neighborhood of Jerusalem. To my surprise it was fully functional after a few repairs. I quickly learned its language, and together we spoke the unspoken words visible only to the eye.
The palmcorder's zoom abilities gave me the advantage of distance. Incognito, I was able to collect large amounts of footage while analysing society through
indirect criticism.
// ig - The second layer of the work deals with the reflection of my inner journey through personal documentation in the form of instagram stories.
Parallel to the growth and nourishment of society, which I was documenting at the time, I too was growing, becoming aware to the many challenges that will be faced by humanity in the years to come if things continue to unfold they way they have been.
This helped me focus on changing myself, rather than wanting to change the world. And, changed thyself I did. This change, later reflected outward, inspired others in my immediate circle to think differently. This was my method for changing the world - to focus the change on me while I was communicating the change with the world through my expressions.
// a-glitch - I proceeded to convert the analog [video] material into digital files and placed the content onto the editing table to begin dissecting.
I started to pick up on a series of unique frames that we know to be, “glitches”. I extracted, collected, and archived hundreds of [analog] glitches. [aka - a-glitch]
But what is a glitch, and how does the camera interpret and/or capture time, then print it for us in a visual form?
These glitches seemed worthwhile, and demanded further investigation.
Ironically, when exporting the stories from instagram, I noticed something similar was happening with the digital material as it was with the analog. Here too I extracted and archived all of the digital glitched frames [aka - d-glitch]. No edits were done to either versions of glitches. If you zoom in to the green area above, you'll notice a glitch in the matrix. Analysing these frames raised further curiosity and I was advised to thoroughly investigate their existence.
// 3d - Personal interests and further exploration led to the 3d extrusion process of selected glitches [both analog and digital]. I wanted to give depth to the flat, 2d images. Perhaps there was something the glitches could tell me in 3d form. Something
was missing.
This thought later would be applied to the suggestion of monumentalization provided by Sharon when the project had commenced in late ‘20. The glitches were moved to a 3d software where I began testing and further analysing this unique object 'of time'.
At this point I needed to feel what the camera was telling me with her glitches; not hear or see necessarily. I needed to feel something more than the image itself had to offer in its familiar form. It was necessary for me to try to translate these images in 3d since what I was looking for, I knew, would be within the depth of the image, in and around the 'unseen' form I have been researching.
// branding - Around this time, my social circles [both online and in person] began to identify me as the0d; given it was the ig handle I was using while trying to maintain anonymity.
Since there seemed to always be active engagement between myself and my followers it seemed necessary to establish a unique line for communication - frequency 0d. [https://www.frequency0d.art/].
A QR code was generated and printed on a deck of poster designs for the frequency0d exhibition. A few printed on fine paper plus a stack of 300 acrylic postcards, individually cut out and
signed [0d].
// id0d - 300 personalised bracelets were designed using
original media from the a-glitches archive. Each bracelet was
cut and prepared by hand. The contents on the bracelet included the exhibition details, a directive QR code [https://www.frequency0d.art/] branded with the poster image,
and an information box including the wearers personal information.
The bracelets were designed as personal invitations [ie. 179/300] for the people within my social circles, or in other words, tuned into frequency 0d. They are numbered and include the invitees name, instagram handle, and a small personalised QR code directing the scan to the wearer's instagram profile. If you see someone wearing their id band, exchange scans so that you can expand your social circle.
// preparations - for
the frequency0d exhibition
had commenced. This entailed
a transition from software to hardware - the translation of my findings. Here I was tested by the capabilities of vintage media technologies. Also by physical capabilities considering I singlehandedly had taken over two floors [5 rooms in total] in Bezalel's underground to showcase
the exhibition.
Working with so much equipment in such a large space helped
me to develop my
organisational skills. I suppose being a bit OCD
helped too.
14 x 90's Sony television
14 x streamer
4 x early imac
1 x 90's imac
3 x projectors
3 x epson printers
1 x 3d printer
4 x cctv cameras
3 x HD TV
etc.
outcome
The frequency0d exhibition was held in the academy's lowest floors, wrapped in concrete with no cellular and local internet connection. A password free, 'not secured' Wifi was established and supplied to the spectators of the exhibition.
Galleries 306-310 were reserved for the frequency0d exhibition. 306 - the greeting/happening room. It is the first part of the experience. snacks and drinks were provided. This gallery led the spectators to gallery 309 [aka - surveillance room]. The surveillance room overlooked the main gallery beneath - 310 [aka - the mammoth was a lower bunker area with high ceilings]. The surveillance room also had a thin strip of one way mirrored glass used to observe a [sometimes] improvised performance conducted by myself in gallery 308 [aka - the interrogation room]. This performance was recorded and projected in the main gallery [live] through a two meter closed loop cctv camera. Three other closed loops were setup using 90's televisions and cctv.
Approximately 12 90's televisions played the instagram stories I had archived. It was interesting to see a new form of medium on the vintage technology. A lot of the material was compromised during the conversions, I used this to my advantage and got creative with it. So, sound was corrupted, frame size was differentiated, glitches occurred, but it all added to the experience.
The vhs material was projected on two separate walls. There was success in what I was attempting to achieve. One television was placed vertically on a wall showing the dialects and glitches from my instagram stories. One 90's imac was playing a loop of the 3d rendering process. This was also interesting in terms of hybridising the technologies. [see video below].
Two epson printers spit out hundreds of glitches during the exhibition. The papers were scattered on the gallery floor eventually.
// interaction - begins with scanning the frequency0d QR code either from a poster, postcard, or bracelet. The audience is opted to provide data and are given the option to 'unlock qr' [not functional atm]. The landing page is a map of the exhibition with instruction. A brief description of each layer
is addressed.
The personalised QR codes generated for the id0d bands appear from time to time on the vintage television sets between stories, making the audience a part of the exhibition while provoking data and privacy concerns.
The closed loop surveillance, id bands, data collection, footage projected, and dialect read, certainly correlated with the message I was attempting to convey. All in all it was a major success of what later would come to be coined as 'zizo', for "zoom in; zoom out".
// monument - The cherry on the cake for this project were the three 3d printed [to scale] versions of glitches. It was one thing analysing them through 3d software, and another observing the 3d object with touch. The delicate prints resembled fossils, some even with an extruded time stamp. It still blows me away to think of how these images capture time. From something filmed with my eyes and hands, captured onto vhs-c, and converted digitally to transform a 2d image into a 3d physical object. It literally is a fossil! [more on video above]
All in all, there was great success in establishing a line of communication [aka frequency0d]. The greatest thing taken from this experience was the adoption of
the 0d alias.
evaluation
// communication - With more time and resources I would like to further develop the id0d concept. Perhaps incorporate them into the ex0d design somehow. Can we incorporate our digital identities with our physical ones?
[see bi0d]
Our current identities stretch far beyond the traditional. What will it look like in 100 years from now? What access and convenience can they provide? Will they be how we communicate? What data will they reveal?
It was of great importance for me to observe society through artistic critique before indulging in any scientific interests, and quite frankly, perhaps the best choice I ever made. Studying Screen Based Arts, has given me a perspective on the world, society and myself through analysis and critical thinking. My evaluation of this has led me to the pursuit of the master’s programme I am currently enrolled in - Innovation Design Engineering.
Someone told me during the end of this chapter in my life to stop talking about a revolution and to start doing something about one. And so slowly, ever since, I have been working on becoming a better human being. This is a new era, and with it, the birth of 0d. It was time to take my vision to the next level!
