Author: jgodinho

Fermentation Symposium Proposal

The theme I have picked for my symposium project is experimental fermentation. My inspiration for this project is an exhibition by Maria Simmons.

Similarly, I will be fermenting different ingredients in a jug to preserve and create a concoction. These concoctions will consist of edible material so they can be tasted during the symposium.

The notion of drinking fermented liquids with my peers follows the symposium theme as it relates to the origins of a symposium. I will be experimenting with different techniques and recipes to create differnt samples to try. These recipes will include different fruits, spices and other consumable substances. I plan to make a grape, berries and apple concoction, as well as a mead. Mead is a honey fermentation. These concoctions will ferment for around 30+ days.

Within the presentation I will present a poem about fermentation and potentially other sources of written material that compliment the fermentation theme. I will also include artists that also focus on fermentation, preservation and similar themes in their practice to relate back to experimental artwork. I will also present a sound piece or video piece of moments during the fermentation process journey. This may include sounds the fermentation makes and process videos of the fermentation.

The history of fermentation and its origins will also be an aspect in my presentation. For example, fermentation practice was created in the Neolithic era and enjoyed by a plethora of cultures throughout the ages. Another aspect I will touch on is my findings. I will explore which fermentation process worked best, which recipe is most enjoyable, etc.

The reason that I am passionate about this topic for my symposium is due to my experimental 2 class. Maria Simmons was my professor and her passion for this topic inspired me. She did a demo on fermentation and gave a small artist talk about her fermentation practices and the art she creates. This broadened my thoughts on non-traditional art that can be created. Maria communicated her concept beautifully though her exhibition and fermented concoctions which was interesting to me. I also worked in a wine shop this summer and had the opportunity to learn about fermentation for some of the wine we sold. To add, I think having a tasting with my peers is an engaging and new experience to add to my symposium. The tasting relates directly to my current job as a bartender and my wine tasting job during the summer.

Live Art Ritual – Chai

My live art ritual incorporates a video and live performance of me making chai. Chai is a ritualistic drink as it’s a traditional beverage that is had daily in many Indian households. Chai is a nostalgic drink for me personally because it reminds me of sharing meals with my family as a child. I was inspired to make chai as my ritual due to my recent efforts to learn how to make traditional food and beverages from my culture. To write my script I took the original recipe and cut it up into pieces and picked them randomly to create a new order. This became my script to follow in the video and performance. The significance of “rewriting” the original recipe into a new script speaks on my learning process. As I have been practicing making traditional food and beverage, it has been trial and error for me to find the perfect recipe. By creating this new script I think it resembles this notion of trying something new and learning in the process, even though it might not turn out the way you expected.

The new recipe script steps

☆ Magic Moments ☆

Audio

Sound Object – Intimate

For my sound objects, I was inspired by the belief that when you put an empty conch shell to your ear, you hear the ocean through it. I wanted to replicate this idea on a larger scale and create a tactile and auditory piece. Additionally, I wanted to explore this idea further by applying it to other objects. The teapot worked well with this notion as it has handles similar to a shell, and a spout that is the perfect size to put your ear too. The shell played a quiet sound of ocean waves crashing that was only distinguishable when you held the shell to your ear. The teapot played sounds of a boiling kettle and liquid pouring. Likewise, these sounds were only heard when placing your ear to the spout. With these sound objects, I wanted to explore how I can contain sound and make it an intimate experience for the listener. These two objects paired well as they both have sounds in relation to water and liquid. This similarity causes the sounds to sound the same, almost like white noise.

Intimate – paper mache, wire, cardboard, tinfoil, paint

If I were to think about expanding the work I would start with how I would display it. Ideally, I would display the shell on sand and the teapot on a stove top. I like the idea of domesticating the objects and placing them in an environment where they look natural. I was also thinking about creating more of these sound objects to continue the series.

Tea Time

Ocean Shell

Speculative Video

With this video, I was trying to speculate how living in your dreams would feel. I wanted to recreate that sense of spontaneousness in dreams that makes sense when your dreaming. But becomes hard to explain when your wake up. I wanted to translate this idea in this video. I was inspired by segments from my own dreams and stories from my friends about their dreams. I tried capturing how location in dreams can be confusing and fast changing. I also wanted the dream segments to feel as the start and ending were ambiguous similarly in dreams. One dream segment also had to touch on dream cliches such as dying in a dream or your teeth falling out. So I incorporated the sandy landscape to drowning segment. I used found footage, found 3D scans, my own 3D scans, and AI generated voices as my source materials.