Yaddo Return, Digital Diary - Entry II, Fall 2003__ Kaaterskill Clove -- Lynn Small & Dennis Paul_

The waterfall…at once presents to he mind the beautiful, but apparently incongruous idea,
of fixedness and motion - a single existence in which we perceive unceasing change
and everlasting duration. The waterfall may be called the voice of the landscape,
for, unlike the rocks and woods which offer sounds as the passive instruments
played upon by the elements,
the waterfall strikes its own chords,
and rocks and mountains reecho in rich unison…
THOMAS COLE - from one of his notebooks

This code was writtten in 1995
as a work-around for the then limitations
of the web. A video clip was the only thing we did not have on our viewart site and we wanted to add one but were dismayed by the time it required to download.

We decided to be creative
in finding a solution and determined
we went back in time
to the very beginnings of motion pictures.

What you are seeing is an looped, 8 frame
animation captured from our video
- sort of a flip book -
which downloads in a fraction of the time
a videoclip would have taken.

It was an interesting solution and caused a bit of stir when it was put on the web.

Most thought they were watching a video and wanted to know how we got it
to play so quickly,
about 1/10 - 1/20 of what it should
have then taken.

Since that time the codecs have changed and with these shifts in code the world has changed as well.

In 2003 we created a 6-minute video trailer for this work-in-progress,
the links below will take you to a 40-second video web clip:

Windows Media

QuickTime

PLEASE NOTE:
No single channel video can adequately demonstrate
the immersive quality of this multimedia installation.
Our original SoundScape is a holosonic, 5.1 surround-sound field
and the space that encompasses the environment
will have multiple wall and floor projections playing simultaneously
with additional feeds to LCD/Plasma monitors.

We hope to demonstrate the possibilities inherent
in new projection systems
and the interdisciplinary learning aspects
of digital media modalities.

Referencing Thomas Cole
and the birthing of American creativity,
not only in art
but literature and environmental philosophy as well,
we endeavour to use the new brushes
of the digital dialetic
to create a pointer to 21st century art
and perhaps
the future of the book
and learning

WALKING ALONG THE WALL OF MANITOU

Arriving from Yaddo at dawn,
I was greeted with the first snowfall of the winter.
A light dusting had made a pristine scene
mine were the first steps
other than these traces...

From Thomas Cole's very last entry in his notebook:

February 1, 1848 - My birth-day.
Once more has the wheel of life revolved,
and again advances on the untried road of another year...
The past year has had its afflictions;
but yet they have been light in comparison with its blessings.
Amid many interruptions, consequent on the business of the estate,
(which business is very distasteful to me,)
I have been able to make considerable progress in my pictures,
and hope to finish them before the coming year is gone...
I have myself been much ailing this year,
probably from want of sufficient exercise.
This winter has been a very unpleasant one.
Last night it snowed,
and we are glad to see the black,
unsightly landscape covered with the pure mantle.
The sun shines,
and the heart rejoices in the change.

This birthday entry was,
along with a letter written on the same day,
the last writings of Thomas Cole
as he died ten days later at the age of 47.

As morning arrives, Church skies follow us still.....

It has always given me joy to walk the Wall of Manitou, it is timeless and speaks of wonder...

Walking in the footsteps of so many who have preceeded us brings me closer to a sense of creation.

As morning fades I regretfully leave the Escarpment Trail as I must see Thomas Cole's home.
The restoration work which has taken place in the past few years since I visited last is incredible.