Threshold: Liminality-Ethereal Galaxies
Kari Everson | Spring ’20 | Studio
Prompt:
As second semester, first year graduate students, you are at a threshold or liminal space entering into a your second year of your graduate studies. The term liminality is a psychological, neurological, or metaphysical subjective state, conscious or unconscious, of being on the threshold of or between two different existential planes, as defined in neurological psychology a liminal state and in the anthropological theories of ritual by such writes as Arnold van Gennep and Victor Turner.
“During the intervening liminal period, the state of the ritual subject (the “passenger,” or “liminar,”) becomes ambiguous, neither here nor there, betwixt and between all fixed points of classification; he passes through a symbolic domain that has few or none of the attributes of his coming state.”
— Victor Turner
Overview - Ethereal Galaxies:
Extremely delicate and light, dream like atmospheres; in a way that seems almost too perfect for this world. There is said to be multiple galaxies and we are just one of the many. Ever wonder what the others might look like?
My project is a three image series alluding to the idea of what other galaxies might look like. Using photography, video, coding, and augmented reality (AR) to achieve these ethereal atmospheres to give the viewer a full experience into my imagination.
Reflecting:
When looking back on my process and steps that I took in this project, I would say that self-learning/teaching and research were key in producing my final outcomes. Research because I need to figure out what liminality was and what it meant to me. Self-learning/teaching because this project required a lot of steps, actions, and technological systems that I wasn’t used to. Overall I’m extremely happy with my final products but the process in getting there was tough for me. Usual when I’m given a prompt for a new project I usually have instant ideas of what I might want to do for the project but this project wasn’t so easy. There were a couple different factors that made this project tough for me: I was having trouble figuring out what liminality meant to me, I’ve never worked with AR and the idea of starting now was daunting, I was away in Amsterdam, and the abrupt remote learning due to the world pandemic we are all experiencing right now. After getting over these stages and getting a better footing in the project is when I really started to enjoy myself.
Liminal:
Internet Definition-
- relating to a transitional or initial stage of a process.
- occupying a position at, or on both sides of, a boundary or threshold.
Research Found-
It is when we are betwixt and between, have left one room but not yet entered the next room, any hiatus between stages of life, stages of faith, jobs, loves, or relationships. It is that graces time when we are not certain or in control, when something genuinely new can happen. It is the ultimate teachable space.
Unconscious (subliminal) >>> LIMINAL >>> Conscious (supraliminal)
My View-
After doing research I’ve come to the conclusion that liminal to me is the “in-between” stage, the grey area. Being in a dream like state between “stages”. Liminal to me is also being “spacey” cognitively. And honestly I feel that anything can be liminal.
Phase #1 - Mood Boards:
Making the mood boards helped flush out the ideas when figuring out how to convey this project. I collected posters, typography, lyrics, liminal definitions, performance pieces, photography, and architecture.These were the categories that I knew I wanted to work with. The second round of mood boards I played around with my own materials and creations to see what worked in achieving liminality. I came to the conclusion that I wanted to work with my own photography, video, geometrical patterns, and music.
Phase #2 - Artivive:
Creating the images in Artivive was daunting at the beginning. I was worried that it was going to be harder then it was, so I put it off as far as I could. Once I started creating the pieces it was super easy. I actually enjoyed using AR for this project and I look forward to using it in the future. I knew what photos I wanted to use but I didn’t quite know what AR layers I wanted to use and what feeling and aesthetic I wanted the photos to exude. The first round of iterations was experimental. I tested out different motion graphics and music, seeing what story each one could tell.
For the first round I came up with 4 different images:
- Window - with geometrical spider web pattern
- Water - with floating blue particles and water that would spray towards the viewer
- Blended canal photograph - with an old grain effect and 33mm camera effect
- Blended faces photograph - no AR layer (backup option)
Phase #3 - Final:
From feedback in the first round of iterations I realized that I needed to relate my AR layers to the photo and that one of the strengths in my photos are the colors that are being shown. They are all filled with vibrant colors so I wanted to play this up. The water one was working really well and knowing that is when I realized I wanted to work with the idea of galaxies. We’ve been told that there are multiple galaxies out there and that we just occupy one of them. Not knowing for sure about the other galaxies to me is very liminal. And the thought of space itself is liminal too. So for my final I kept the water image and window image (but changed the AR layers) and then I added a new image, one of a view of the top of an art exhibition that I saw a couple years ago. The third photo was rich in color like the others and resembled a little town skyline view and I knew that I could create something “magical” with it. I also combined different tools to create this “galaxy” effect (Pixaloop app, Aftereffects, Indesign, and Videoleap app). I chose music by Billie Eilish because I find her music very beautiful, haunting, ethereal, and magical.
Final Galaxies:
- Photo 1: Title - Stagnant (Song - everything i wanted)
- Photo 2: Title - Current (Song - Ocean Eyes)
- Photo 3: Title TimeLapse (Song - lovely ft. Khalid)
Ending Thoughts + Coronavirus:
Overall I enjoyed the outcome of this project and I’m proud of what I produced under the circumstances and situation that we are all in. It’s been an interesting time doing this project while being in a liminal state ourselves. This virus has put much of the world in limbo and making education virtual, has been a task in itself.
