Blink Blink Blink
A MultiMedia Composition
By Kevin Hodgson


This is a personal experiment from 2006 that sought to mix to mix poetry with emerging technologies, including web presence, embedded video and audio files. My attempt was to replicate the theme of shifting personalities through the video montage.
So how do you experience Blink Blink Blink?
You'll notice there are three video screens. Simple press "play" -- starting with the eyes first -- and all three video screens should play simultaneously. One piece of advice is that if you center the screen on the face, and then stare at the nose/text/poem and allow yourself to lose focus, the effect is more powerful. The videos become their own face.

The written poem itself is found at the bottom of this page.



 

 

nosenosenosenosenose
NOSENOSE
NOSTRILNOSTRIL
0 0

 

 

Blink Blink Blink

They say that eyes are windows into the depths of the soul
so what does it mean if there are multiple frames, multiple windows,
multiple voices,
converging and diverging behind the dancing curtains of these blue-green retinas?

Familiar shapes.
Forgotten signs.

blink blink blink

Instead of imagining strangers looking in and watching me become myself,
I am the stranger looking out,
a scarecrow nailed to a post viewing the dispersing pixels
through the lenses of time and shifting personalities
and yet seeing nothing but the vast emptiness of the landscape around me.

Familiar shapes.
Forgotten signs.

blink blink blink

The world shimmers silently from this side of the stage
in an eerie show of light and dark,
figures draped in sadness, bathed in laughter, drenched in confusion.
A conversation takes hold voices casting shadows across the walls,
demanding room, elbows engaged, anger refracted, joy reflected,
and the eyes dont lie: the turmoil is real, dangerous, troubling.

Familiar shapes.
Forgotten signs.

blink blink blink

I am thinking of collage, a collection of things stored away in the attic
and quickly forgotten,
memories misplaced in cloudy mason jars sealed tight for the ages
as the echoes of what remain still linger, still lingering, even now,
just on the edge of understanding.

Familiar shapes.
Forgotten signs.

blink blink blink

The eyes wont lie: the battle rages
and the one to open the last mason jar releases the emotions into the night
and disappears.

Familiar shapes.
Forgotten signs.

blink blink blink


Special thanks to all the intrepid volunteers of the National Writing Project's Tech Matters 2006 in Chico, California, for allowing me to zoom in and made videos of their eyeballs. I have no idea what they thought of me but they were game to be included on this project. And now their eyeballs are global orbs. -- Kevin
PS: An audio reflection of the creative process is also part of this project and can be listened to here.


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