Ontology

Ontological Statement

Ontology is the study of being. This project is an ontological inquiry into the nature of being vis-a-vis the narrative construct. The ontological statement seeks to describe the basic categories and relationships of being to define entities and types of entities within the project framework, and their inherent challenges.

First and foremost, I am interest in the existential and critical inquiry into the nature of space itself (i.e. that which is within meets that which is without). The material world dictates a certain dimensionality, and its inherent schema of 2d/3d projection and absorption space is the context.

The contextual space of a performance and/ or event affects its narrative outcome. Cinema isolates the viewer in a seat, in a dark room, to provide the essential components of a linear narrative experience. Non-linear narrative experiences developed within architectural and/or performance space can draw context in ways which cinema can not. This opens possibilities between the medium and the context, between artist and viewer, between nature and culture.

The problem and challenges of the project are shared by any effort to define “narrative”. As Roland Barthes writes in his essay Introduction to the Structural Analysis of Narratives, “The narratives of the world are numberless.” Therefore, the possible narratives of a system designed to propagate narratives is exponentially complex.

Beyond complexity, I am also addressing challenges inherent to any ontological inquiry including,

What is the nature of narrative subjectivity
Is this a compelling path to explore as a natural storyteller?
Is the complexity inherent in the proposed system an obstacle to completion?

The narrative inquiry I propose addresses aspects - and the arbitration of - meaning as conveyed through narrative contexts and their subjective interpretation by the viewer such as,

Who am I?
Why is this compelling – or not so – for me?
Why this effort to recontextualize the narrative experience in (yet) another way?

The following analyses will be undertaken,

Analysis of the image plane in 2d space
Analysis of the narrative construct within filmic space
Exploration of dimensions of narrative construct - projection, absorption, & generative processes

The following are pre-conditions for the existence of 2d perception,

Physical - Our bodies must be present
Material - It is constructed of objects
Dimensionality - It has perceived limits in the space/ time continuum

The following are pre-conditions for the existence of “a narrative”,

A story delivered within space/ time
Depicts highly subjective realities
Anthropomorphic/ anthropocentric, Subject/ Object

The research application of narrative synthesis includes experiments in digital video and programming designed to test narrative contexts and experiential phenomenon as mediated by computers in space/time. The project is set out as a kind of Zen koan in that it contains aspects that are inaccessible to rational understanding, yet that may be accessible to intuition. It is my hope that the experimental contexts will inspire the following activities,

Application development – MAX/MSP and Processing performance and installation tools
Opportunity to explore the complexity of narrative theory and subjectivity
Opportunity to explore intuition, analysis, emotions

Installation and Performance Concepts

An exploratory cinema which intermingles projected narrative sequences with live performance sequences occurring in real-time, in an existing place, in multiple locations, or within micro/macro scopic space. In previous work, I referred to this process, in natural geographies, as “Filmic Actions”.

A multi-screen cinema space installation highly tuned to user presence. Pre-determined narrative sequences and/or combinations of audio and video are driven by user proximity. This system could also use detectable objects that a user must carry to activate the system. In the Lacanian sense a “transitional object” that assuages the process of differentiation. I am interested in Lacan’s mirror phase as a technical matter, but also in the further elucidation of “transitional phenomena” as these phenomena relate to narrative synthesis.

Event-driven performance tools for theater, music, and audio/ visualists interested in real-time narrative synthesis. An simple example being content-typing schema applied to database stories rendered in real-time vis-à-vis keyword association. For example, a song, a note, or a gesture (imbedded via MIDI or Quick_Time text tracks) contains the keyword “blue”. Once activated, all database clips associated with the keyword “blue” reorganize the narrative hierarchy for next-in-line display within the visual sequence.

It is my hope that the viewer is imbued with a sense of context in their everyday lives. And perhaps realize that their perception of things is not necessarily as they actually are, and that reality is in fact sometimes a projection of our expectations and desires. And finally, that those desires and expectations sometimes engender negative outcomes.