Artist Lecture-Shimon Attie

Not only was Shimon Attie's Lecture invigorating but intriguing. The works that I was particularly drawn to were the one's that he did in East Berlin and in The Lower East Side of New York. Not only was I drawn to them because they were interactive but because the outcomes were what I want the outcomes to be with my own work. I have thought about taking images and words and using them in the pieces of the houses that I am currently working on. I have never known how to go about incorporating these means and I know that I don't want to go about it the way that Attie has but now know that it is a way that I can take my work in the future. I love that people were able to interact with the work that Attie was doing. In the images from East Berlin the residents of the village were able to see and walk in front of the buildings as he projected them onto the buildings. The residents were also able to talk and comment on the images to Attie since he was there while he was projecting. He was able to see first hand how his work effected the people. In the work that he did on The Lower East Side he again was also able to see the reactions of the people as they would read what their neighbors had wrote about coming to and living there. I want to be able to take photographs of the houses that I am working with from the past, before it the houses became dilapidated and incorporate them somehow with the photographs of the houses that I have taken. I also want to incorporate things that people have told me about the houses or what the owners say about them. I am still not sure how I am going to go about doing this but know that it is possible and not cliche. Anyway it is something for the future. The other works that Attie showed were the works that he did in Wales and for the race track. I found these to be very interesting, the reason being is because they got you to think. For the project in Wales his goal was to portray the villagers in a different way than the way that the rest of the world has looked at them since the avalanche. The entire time I was looking at the people in the video I was wondering who they were, where they lived, and why they chose to the profession that they did. I think that what Attie wanted to accomplish he did. When the rest of the world looks at these people they will not see a tragedy but an inspiration and another normal human being. The project with the race track was really (for lack of a better word) cool. I have been to races and used to take pictures at a go-kart racing track, so I could relate to this piece really well. The owners wanted Attie to capture the essence of the race track. This he did. Not only with the images but with the sound effects you really felt like you were at the race track watching these things unfold. Attie's work of with the light boxes was monumental. I would have loved to see them in person. The way that he portrayed the people and the alternate images that he chose made you feel something, anything. Not only were the images impactful but also was the way that he showed them. Using a light box and putting them into the water. He said that he used the water because water symbolises memory, the memory of these people coming to America. I really want to watch the films in whole but unfortunately have only been able to find one at the library and one on the internet which was too expensive even for my taste. Hopefully some will pop-up in the future.