Artist web site for Chris Basmajian, an interactive video artist living and working in San Francisco, California. http://basmajian.net en-us Chris Basmajian Tue, 13 Oct 2009 11:57:00 PST For this collaboration with Invisible Venue (IV), Chris Basmajian has mined the legacy of the Loma Prieta earthquake by incorporating varied recollections of the event in the production of a text-based video. "Moment Magnitude," the resulting work will be presented in an unsanctioned public screening in the West Oakland memorial park along Mandela Parkway at sunset, on the evening of the 20th anniversary of the quake. http://basmajian.net/news/2009/moment_magnitude.html Christian L. Frock Thu, 03 Sep 2009 11:28:00 PST Invisible Venue seeks your participation in an upcoming collaboration with San Francisco-based artist Chris Basmajian for a project titled "Moment Magnitude." http://www.invisiblevenue.com/ Chris Basmajian Wed, 22 Apr 2009 17:50:00 PST In this piece the viewer moves in front of a video camera and looks down into mirrors on the floor to read a story by Scott Hutchins about a fisherman hunting a nun-eating shark. http://basmajian.net/work/tread_water/ Chris Basmajian Wed, 22 Apr 2009 17:50:00 PST In this piece, viewers connect with a tale of international kidnapping, as they disturb text and image by moving in front of 2 cameras or on the far side of a rear projection screen. http://basmajian.net/work/capture/ Chris Basmajian Sat, 18 Apr 2009 19:59:00 PST You know that art and egos go hand in hand. But what would it be like to have your ego on display? Be prepared to be a part of the art at the upcoming event, "The Heap Presents: Altered Egos" at Space Gallery on May 1, 2009. http://basmajian.net/news/2009/altered_egos.html Chris Basmajian Mon, 23 Mar 2009 16:00:00 PST The writing is on the wall, literally. It is also on the floor, in the air, and on the screen. The evidence reveals a plot to perpetrate upon the public new fiction, poetry, music, and interactive video artwork at ArtHouse Gallery's upcoming event, "Words+Music 2: Tales of Betrayal and Revenge" on April 16, 2009. http://basmajian.net/news/2009/words_music_2.html Chris Basmajian Thu, 04 Dec 2008 00:00:00 PST A festive reflective balloon is placed between a video camera and a projection which combines the video with a photograph of the Hindenburg disaster. As the balloon moves, its image shifts beneath the static layer of the photograph. When the balloon moves from between the camera and the projection, the chain reaction of video feedback appears to animate the photograph. The layering of the photograph over the metallic surface of the balloon evokes the daguerreotype, a popular early type of photograph. Daguerreotypes were sometimes preserved in cases filled with inert gas. http://basmajian.net/work/lighter_than_air/ Chris Basmajian Mon, 24 Nov 2008 00:00:00 PST This piece includes 3 excerpts from the Godard film Alphaville, which imagines a world controlled by an evil computer named Alpha 60. The viewer stands in front of a hanging light bulb, reflecting the action onscreen. As the viewer moves the light bulb, the action is replaced by 2 other short excerpts from the film. The light bulb element exists in multiple ways: as a physical object, as an optical interface, as a reflection on the screen, as part of the content of the film excerpt, and as a mask cutting through the layers of imagery. http://basmajian.net/work/cant_hear_the_music/ Chris Basmajian Wed, 19 Nov 2008 00:00:00 PST This piece features a famous long tracking shot from the film Frenzy. In this shot, the camera follows a serial killer and his next victim up a staircase to the killer's apartment, and then backs down the staircase and out into the street. In the piece, the viewer stands before a projection of the film excerpt and a proximity sensor. The excerpt is divided into segments of equal length. The segments are played in order, but the frames within each segment are played backwards. The length of the segments depends on the distance of the viewer to the piece. When the viewer is farthest away, the segment length is the entire length of the excerpt, so it plays continuously backwards. As the viewer gets closer, the segments get shorter, creating a violent, lunging effect. When the viewer is closest, the segment length is one frame, so the excerpt plays continuously forwards. A sense of temporal and spatial ambiguity is created when the backwards motion of the camera is viewed in reverse. http://basmajian.net/work/uncle_bob/ Chris Basmajian Wed, 19 Nov 2008 00:00:00 PST Viewers walk past a camera, triggering motion-based video capture. The captured loop is displayed on a screen twice. On the upper half of the screen, the loop is divided into equal length segments. The segments are played in order, but the frames within each segment are played backwards. At the end of each cycle of the loop, the length of the segments increases. The lower half of the screen displays the loop reflected and played in normal sequence. http://basmajian.net/work/keeping_up/ Chris Basmajian Thu, 30 Oct 2008 00:00:00 PST New Work by Chris Basmajian will be on display at ArtHouse Gallery in San Francisco, Thursday November 6th, from 6:30-9pm. Chris Basmajian Wed, 29 Oct 2008 00:00:00 PST "Attention Hog" by Chris Basmajian will be on display in the Net dot lounge at "Live Herring '08", a new media art exhibition at Jyväskylä Art Museum in Jyväskylä, Finland, from October 29th to November 23rd, 2008. Chris Basmajian Wed, 06 Aug 2008 00:00:00 PST The fallacy of the false dichotomy presents two options as the only available options. This type of thinking frequently finds it's way into social and political rhetoric, attempting to ascribe a sense of identification from without. In each of these works, a word defines the border between image sequences of the viewer, which are in varying states of temporal flux. The word itself has no positive appearance, but is only recognized as a difference between the changing images. The title of each work and the text in the image are parts of a common rhetorical phrase, while the temporal and interactive effects suggest the rest of that phrase, creating imaginary relationships between text and image. http://basmajian.net/work/false_binaries_rhetoric/ Chris Basmajian Wed, 06 Aug 2008 00:00:00 PST The works in this series capture live video of the viewer, and translate each grayscale pixel's binary representation (electronic data) into a black or white representation (visual) to create a binary (1-bit) image. These arbitrary translations introduce the difference between the two forms of representation as noise. Compared to a typical 1-bit threshold image, this noise can increase the image's perceptual resolution. http://basmajian.net/work/false_binaries_black_and_white/ Chris Basmajian Fri, 25 Jul 2008 00:00:00 PST "Attention Hog" by Chris Basmajian will be on display at "Art of the Game", a one night art show and fundraiser at NYCResistor in Brooklyn, NY on July 26, 2008 at 9pm. Chris Basmajian Mon, 30 Jun 2008 00:00:00 PST Graphemes are the smallest meaningful individual characters within a given writing system, such as letters, punctuation marks, mathematical operators and musical symbols. For each work in this series, a grapheme defines the border between image sequences of the viewer, which are in varying states of temporal flux. The symbol itself has no positive appearance, but is only recognized as a difference between the changing images. The title of each work is the symbol's standardized Unicode character name. These titles hint ambiguously (or not so ambiguously) at the logic of the temporal and interactive effects, creating imaginary relationships between text and image. http://basmajian.net/work/graphemes/ Chris Basmajian Mon, 30 Jun 2008 00:00:00 PST Mathemes are the symbols developed by psychoanalyst Jacques Lacan in an attempt to build a system of scientific notation around his elusive and often contradictory ideas. Lacan's writings lead readers to continually varying interpretations, and his Mathemes were a self-conscious attempt to move beyond mere words. In essence, they are stand-ins for concepts that cannot be completely described by convential language. For each work in this series, a matheme and its mirror image define the borders between mirrored image sequences of the viewer, which are in varying states of temporal flux. The symbols themselves have no positive appearance, but are only recognized as a difference between the changing images. http://basmajian.net/work/mathemes/ Chris Basmajian