MUSIC 256A
Mollie Redman
WARNING! If you have worked a corporate job, this video may product feelings of anxiousness, high blood pressure, or worse, nightmares. Watch at your own risk. Viewer discretion is advised.
Note: Mollie was not harmed in the making of this video, however, Mollie did have nightmares throughout the span of the project.
Thank you to Tommy Hessel for providing photos of my old desk and photos of me at my desk.
After completing this project, I am not sure it was a good idea to unearth the trauma from my corporate days. I have learned that not enough time has passed for me to think about this time of my life without repurcussions to my mental state. Maybe that is why great artists are mad (if so, this is why I won't be a great artist, I would rather be at peace). Back to the point, Cog in Space explores the feelings of the monotonous corporate grind which breaks when the corporate grinder receives a teams call. It is at this point the corporate grinder realizes they are trapped with no way out. The only thing they can continue to do is work until the end of eternity...
Press "I" to move in the coffee cup
Press "-" to drink the coffee
Press "+" to fill the coffee
Press "P" to add papers
Press the Down Arrow to close the eye
Press the Up Arrow to open the eye
Press "{" to remove the eye from the scene
Press "O" to remove all objects from the scene
Press "1" to start the teams call ringing sound
Press "2" to start the video
Press "3" to rotate the camera horizontally, press it again to stop it
Press "4" to rotate the camera up, press it again to stop it
Press "5" to rotate the camera down, press it again to stop it
For this idea I wanted to reimagine my old desk at work. I have been wanting to create art based on my corporate experience for awhile, but I first needed some time to recover from the experience. I am now in post-recovery and feel like I am able to explore all the mundane details of my previous life. I want to show the course of an average day through the single perspective of looking at my desk. I plan to add a lot more details and trinkets. The user interacts with the piece by typing on the keyboard. The more you type, the faster the day goes by. For now the sounds environmental, I want to add some additional sounds like people walking by, or chatting with coworkers, but I am not sure what else to add.
For this idea I was inspired by those short-form videos in which AI somehow merges multiple unrelated images together through some crazy looking interpolation. I wanted to emulate this effect of moving between different worlds by zooming in and out on different objects until you arrive at a completely new world unrelated to the previous.
I recently had friend visit who was obsessed with trying a pop-tart. I couldn't understand why this could be so exciting, but when I saw them go through the process of toasting it (who even does that) and then eating it, it inspired me to reimagine the experience of making a poptart. Finding joy in the mundane.