Technology opens a new pathway through the labyrinth of enlightenment and allows a transcendental movement through which a spiritual awakening emanates. The most vibrant display of this phenomenon is through the art of filmmaking. For my creative work, I made a short film and throughout the process I reached a heightened level of my work, my spirit and myself.
The two elements behind the structure of a film, sound and vision, play an equal role in the effect and intensity of a piece. Oskar Fischinger a German filmmaker influenced the work of John Cage and Edgard Varese, juxtapositioning a new generation of thinkers to argue the theory behind what music is and how it affects the spirit. Fischinger “ went to theorize that an object's characteristic sound was an emanation of its spirit, therefore documenting the unity of the outward, material world of science and the inner truth of spirituality” (Patterson, David New York 2002).
This theory further displays the meaning and message behind the soundscapes of our lives, creating an empowering mode of reaching a spiritual place, transcending oneself through a moment in time just by being. In regards to the visionary aspects caught through the camera lens, watching the production of a painting, the birth of something new is in itself a spiritual journey. Gilles Deleuze's philosophy behind "any-space whatever" and the notion provided that directors have their own truths behind space and time (Deleuze, Gilles France 1983) reacts with the presentation of film, making it a personalized work even during the sounds of silence for any Woman With a Movie Camera (Vertov, Dziga Russia 1929).
My personal journey reflects the sounds and images of my own spirit. At first denying a self-recognition for a knowledge of music, I felt lost. This turning and turning of my monkey mind (Robertson, David Brisbane 2007) prompted me to research musicians who paint (painting, an activity I feel close to, although a relatively new artistic endeavor for me), seeking out Portrait of JO (1976) by David Bowie and “The Drawn Blank Series” by Bob Dylan. The oil on canvas painting, the inaugural element of my process was originally intended to be a work supporting the theory of synaesthesia after studying Kandinsky's journey to find the inner sound in Composition IV and Georgia O'Keeffe's Music-Pink and Blue. Kandinsky and O'Keeffe were both pushing the boundaries, invigorating the inner sounds of fine art, thus igniting a spiritual element making it far more than a representational form (Brougher, Kerry et al. London 2005).
Due to my access and interest in cinematography, the moving image and sound recording I instinctively decided to film the process, thinking it may be interesting to watch my painting come to life, hear the natural soundtrack created and to edit the short piece, constantly toying with the idea that this film could be my work as opposed to the painting by itself. Viewing the recorded images accompanied by the sounds of suburbia I realized how much my environment affects my condition and how without my camera, I wouldn't have reached this spiritual regard for life. Postulating a wider view of the world, the sounds and images of the universe, connecting to my passion for filmmaking and technology, I reached a new level of my identity and spiritual nature.
The revolution of the digital world opens avenue of expression and accessibility, making the use of soundtracks a personal motif throughout the works of Agnes Varda, Jean-Luc Godard and Sally Potter (Goldmark, Daniel et al. California 2007). John Cage's 4:33 or Stan Brakage's Window Water Baby Moving are two examples of a highly stylized framing of sound and image that proceed to invade personal ideologies, transcending the artists through their work, therein gaining a purpose for themselves and their love for life (Vaaske, Herman New York 2002). I argue against the ideas of Daynor Missingham and David Sudmalis after watching their video installation, Die Eigenheit 2007, in which multiple images of a sonogram written over with the words "we do not have anything."
Their argument behind the loss of humanity through the advancement of technology only serves to put fear in the audience and an ongoing paranoia that one-day nano technology or advanced robotics will take over the world. Other images of computer chip boards, data processing and the multiplying man, take away from the film in a sort of escapism in which humans have little choice against this revolution when in fact we are the pioneers of the movement. As everyone is entitled to their own opinion, the harsh representations of the video show a lack of human spirit altogether. Our human condition motions us to categorize and put all things in terms of binary opposition. Creating a sorting mechanism between good and evil, right and wrong is one characteristic of humanity that detracts from the spirit. Regarding technology as right or wrong is not the point, but finding a useful avenue to present the inventions of man, the advancement of someone's work and using it to make something new secretes an everlasting breath that feeds the mind and body to continue living and being.
When it comes to spirituality, for me, the most important ideas come from the fellow man and the inventions he creates. Technology today allows for a profound interconnectivity between others. Providing connectivity through technology only works to drive for the spirit of an individual, seeing the possibilities and the opportunities to express, share and guide others. To have the strength to encourage others through film, to send a message through the technological thinking sphere, equals the pathway to my spirituality. By watching the film many factors take a role. My teacher YoAv Gabbye for showing me how to use oils, creating depth, my parents, Jim and Marge, for giving me my camera and to myself for coming to a new country if only to hear the cicadas riveting throughout the night. Carrying this film with me or showing it to people I meet will give others an insight into my life, the sounds and images of who I am and where I've been. I have worked for others to see something that will never happen again, in the same way, time or place, to share a story, to share a truth about myself, with a nod to technology and the spirit of mankind, whatever the truth may be.
