McCoy, Jennifer and Kevin

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https://hdl.handle.net/1813/3916

We are interested in creating projects about how human thinking is structured through genre and repetition, and the role that technology plays in those processes. In order to focus attention on these structures, our work takes a formal analysis of narrative as a point of departure, reexamining television series, films and classic science fiction literature, creating installations, net art, or live events from what we find. Our method is to interpret mainstream visual culture from the pre-digital era by crossreferencing and reconstituting the original material into a non-linear repository of content available, much like all computer data, for selective viewing and manipulation. We are interested in adding to the history of machines used to create moving images, from magic lantern theaters and zoetropes through net art.

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2004 Rockefeller New Media Foundation Proposal
McCoy, Jennifer and Kevin (2007-10-23T19:28:09Z)
Traffic is a robotic video installation that miniaturizes and automates the entire film production process to produce a story that examines the culture of the car, comparing it to the culture of cinema and computer networks. As our cinematic starting point, we will examine and recreate iconic elements of the chase scene, the road movie, the drag race, and the traffic jam. We will use custom computer software to control small moving cameras, moving set elements, and recorded dialog so that a short narrative can be projected in front of the viewer as they watch. The small, dollhouse scale set allows the viewer to spatially explore what they experience temporally through the video projection. We are interested in using computer technology to investigate what is called "film magic"- the propensity of even the most sophisticated viewer to understand and, at the same time, be drawn in by illusionistic cinematic effects. Traffic will create and reveal these effects simultaneously with their product. Newer media is often used to understand the cultural conventions of older forms. The history of industrialization and mechanization has often succeeded in miniaturizing, streamlining, and automating complex processes. We are interested in both the mythology of progress this presents and in the inherent pathos of its inhumanity. Traffic, by placing these metaphors of data flow and mechanical automation within a narrative framework, will underline the double nature of this mythology of progress.
2005 Rockefeller New Media Foundation Proposal
McCoy, Jennifer & Kevin (2007-01-23T14:25:41Z)
The Story of Jennifer and Kevin McCoy is an on-going project in which we restage scenes from our lives as they intersect media and culture. The pieces consist of miniature film sets, dozens of live miniature cameras with computerized switches, and video projection. For our fellowship period, we intend to develop site-specific installations as part of this series of works. To date, we have completed stand-alone sculptures using a similar form and one site-specific work that has ignited our interest. This piece is installed at JFK's Terminal 5 and uses the architecture of the space as a backdrop for our miniature scenes. In new site-specific sculptures, we intend to research and develop strategies for the wireless transmission of images across farther distances, enabling the scattering of the fragmentary physical scenarios across larger and more unorthodox exhibition venues. In our proposed project, we will miniaturize narrative fragments, some from our lives and some from fictional scenarios. These parts are crosscut and interwoven to create a highly mediated form of autobiography in which our personal mythologies are made indistinguishable from our experience as spectators of media. Formally, we are interested in the difference between the three dimensional unrealistic space of the models and the realistic simulation the computers and cameras can create. Motors are also used in this work to further the sense of cinematic illusion.
2003 Rockefeller New Media Foundation Proposal
McCoy, Jennifer & Kevin (2006-12-04T15:10:20Z)
Soft Rains is a robotic installation that miniaturizes and automates the entire film production process to produce a stylish film-noir tale. We will use custom computer software to control small moving cameras, moving set elements, and recorded dialog so that a short narrative can be projected in front of the viewer as they watch. The small, dollhouse scale set allows the viewer to spatially explore what they experience temporally through the video projection. We are interested in using computer technology to investigate what is called "film magic"- the propensity of even the most sophisticated viewer to understand and, at the same time, be drawn in by illusionistic cinematic effects. Soft Rains will create and reveal these effects simultaneously with their product. Newer media is often used to understand the cultural conventions of older forms. The history of industrialization and mechanization has often succeeded in miniaturizing, streamlining, and automating complex processes. We are interested in both the mythology of progress this presents and in the inherent pathos of its inhumanity. The title, Soft Rains, is taken from a Ray Bradbury story about an automated house that goes through the motions of serving its family, unaware that a nuclear apocalypse has destroyed its inhabitants. Like Bradbury's house, our robotic set creates its story absent of filmmakers and actors, creating narrative without human presence. Our script is also centered upon a search for human presence in an automated environment. Flashbacks and hallucinogenic imaginings are intercut with this simple narrative gesture. Shadowy interiors and tracking camera movements work together to create a noir-like, expressionistic atmosphere. The robotic set will create classic effects'of the genre like the chase sequence, suspenseful cross-cutting between locations, and point-of-view camera shots.

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