Janie Geiser
Visual Performance Artist and Experimental Filmmaker
http://www.janiegeiser.com
Ghost Algebra
Invisible Glass
The Red Book
The Reptile Under the Flowers
Select one of the works Janie Geiser presented in class. Describe what you saw. Describe her techniques of bringing inanimate objects to life and how meaning is derived from placing objects together or one after the other.
One of Geisers pieces that really stood out to me was Ghost Algebra. When Geiser first stepped on the stage, i did not expect anything dark and dramatic to be shown on the screen. However, i was surprised when a creepy, dark video animation was the first thing she played. the piece was basically a reflection of her view of the world in general. she explained before showing the animation that she felt stressed and overwhelmed by things going on in the world. The piece featured dolls, turning wheels and spinning dots-- all things that could be considered psychedelic but at the same time was mainly blue, green black and red (or at least thats how i remember it.) The one thing that stands out to me is the sound effects-- children screaming and crying. the combination of these aspects gave me a creepy feel. There were objects free floating and spinning around in the piece which helped to build up the feel of the piece, making the object expect that something was going to happen. Over all, this piece was extremely interesting and did a good job at creeping me out, in the most positive way.
ReplyDeleteIn Ghost Algebra Janie uses her collage technique to display her feeling of nervousness about the worlds condition to the viewers. She uses stop-motion animation for this film, which allows us to believe that the figure (the young woman doll) to seem like she is alive in her little world that Janie created. She used different zoom techniques that heightened the sense of fear and her audio was really important for this piece as well. She placed the young girl next to the scanned picture of the bunker for WWII looking into one of its windows which made the viewers nervous because there is an uneasy feeling we get when 2d and 3d are placed together sometimes. and in this case the 2d was very real to her and creates a weird feeling. also Janie placed a horse in one scene laying on the ground cut in half. then she filled the horse with red liquid. this made it seem like it was dead and bleeding. This was something that made me feel very uneasy. she repeats these juxtapositions many times throughout the film to have the viewers feel uneasy. and the objects that she choses accomplice that feeling very well.
ReplyDeleteJanie Geiser’s “Ghost Algebra” was a short film comprised of found objects and their meaning when placed next to each other to create a disturbing, nervous film. She uses warping colors with spotlights highlighting something behind the moving colors and patterns to bring focus on that particular object. A small doll of a girl moved around this imaginary landscape, looking into a bunker (a photo from old Czech war photos in a book), and seeing the violence war created, along with humanity in general. She brought her objects to life through movement, of course, but also with putting something identifiable next to it for viewers to connect with the film and its meaning. This was not as obvious at first, but at the end, such as where red paint was splattered over objects we recognized, such as a toy animal or a cut-out of a leg, the audience connects the red liquid to be blood. Janie’s use of such objects to create meaning in her film was well done. She kept the mis-en-scene in her cohesive presentation of story through the unique techniques throughout the film.
ReplyDeleteIn "Ghost Algebra," Janie Geiser utilized found objects, images, and sound to create a very unsettling, dream-like film. It is part of her series called The Nervous FIlms, and certainly embodies the name. Her juxtaposition of objects contributed to these nervous feelings, as well as the music and children sounds that accompanied the images. One example of how she brought objects to life was when she showed the doll, but in other scenes, showed her silhouette moving across an eerie forest. This not only gave the sensation that the doll was real, but also the unsettling feeling that someone was watching you from behind. Other movements of inanimate objects contributed to this feeling as well. The use of the bird paper with the cut-outs, made you feel as though something was not as it should be. By rotating the bird heads as well as placing other objects behind them, she invoked the sense of death and even insanity. An especially strong instance of placing objects together to create meaning would be her use of red paint. By filling it into things like body parts and the cut off bird heads, the viewer would instantly associate the paint with blood and understand the feeling of death in the piece. Throughout the film I felt as though I was watching something closely related to Hitchcock's Vertigo; the old music she used was very similar and largely invoked suspense and being unsettled, as well as the spinning and misplaced images that contributed to a nightmarish feeling.
ReplyDeleteKit Trowbridge
DeleteZoe Allen-Wickler
ReplyDeleteGhost Algebra
In the first piece Geiser showed, Ghost Algebra, she created a nervous world balancing along the edge of hope and hopelessness. Before showing the piece, the artist described her uncertainty with today's world. I felt that the film reflected this accurately - jittery movement, the use of black to blot out most of the scene except for a small peephole, abstract pattern overlays and rather bizarre objects all helped to build this uncertainty and also a bit of sense of danger or unease. The sound also helped enormously - screechy noises, repetitive words, fades, and children's voices all added a sense of immediacy in the film. The color palette was limited, so that when the bright red of blood appeared, it's effect was pronounced and shocking. Geiser brought inanimate objects to life especially through their interactions with one another. The movements were generally not large, but subtle, such as when the main doll figure seemed to whisper into other characters' ears, and when the bird cutouts' heads moved as if looking around nervously. The juxtapositions of the characters among each other as well as other objects or colors really defined them, bringing out meanings that would otherwise remain unseen. This happens because when two things are placed near each other, similarities and differences are displayed clearly, and one can imagine the interaction between them. Geiser used this to her full advantage to show a scene of confusion and anxiety about the world.
In Janie Geiser's piece, "Ghost Algebra", there were images, and shots of film collaged together. By using film and stop motion animation, she was able to bring primarily two dimensional illustrations and pictures to life. It was a part of the series "The Nervous Films", which deal with the unrest and worry that Geiser feels about the world we live in. We don't know where it is headed and how to deal with it. This was evident in the "Ghost Algebra" through the found objects brought together in an obscured way. Though no real plot line was given, it began with the doll figure looking into the old bunker that she found in old war images. Through this hole, it seemed there was chaos. Feelings of unrest were created in shots by using bright lights, spinning patters, misplaced and skewed objects. Film was layered to bring together two images, creating a new connotation. By placing seemingly random scenes one after another, she was able to take the viewer away from the idea of plot and place them in a new, unorganized setting.
ReplyDeleteKatelyn
Invisible Glass
ReplyDeleteThis piece was most intriguing and most interesting to me, because it was one of Jane's pieces that I could functionally understand. The work she previously shown was very abstract and difficult to understand, and even when she explained what the piece was about, I still found myself lost. But the invisible glass really captivated me. I was impressed mostly with the flow of the environment she used to portray her story, and how there were some full scale objects and some small scale objects, but the relationship and incorporation between the two was so effective. The dolls were very simple in detail, but her overall set was outstanding. The actor who delivered the talking portion of the scene was the best part. His low, full voice added an eerie sensation to the dark, dim-lit set which was simply intriguing. The way the characters moved were interesting, seeing how a group of people sometimes moved a single doll. This all was apart of making her show effective. The objects, and the timing of some of her scenes, collectively made her meaning to come together. Geiser makes sure that every senario is thought out so that one event leads into another to make the story cohesive. This piece by far did that.
The first piece Jane Geiser presented during her lecture was called Ghost Algebra. It was one of a series called the Nervous Films. She was inspired to create this piece by the growing anxiety she had about the world around her. She felt over stimulated by the problems we face as human beings globally as technology allows us to be more connected and aware of what is happening. In this piece, a reoccurring figure was a blonde plastic girl doll. Throughout the animation, the doll is set up against numerous backdrops and is placed with various different objects such as bird cut outs, grass and photographs. She brought life to these objects by making them animated. Her technique for animation was stop motion. This technique helped give life to her objects as well as set a creepy mood for the piece. As Jane said during her lecture, meaning is derived from placing objects together or one after the other. This was especially clear to me when she placed the girl plastic figure against the black and white photograph of the bunker. The contrast of this innocent girl figure to the photograph created a juxtaposition between sheltered innocence and the harsh reality of war. This combination of objects was reoccurring which helped suggested that this is a reoccurring theme through out history. It also helped the audience understand the original inspiration for this piece, one recognizes the doll as herself.
ReplyDeleteIn Janie Geiser's piece "Invisible Glass" she incorporates the use of puppets and a miniature theatre set that all contribute to the sense of tension that is the focus of her piece. By using extreme contrast in lighting and and unique puppetry, Janie achieves a sense of discomfort amongst the audience. This piece is based on an Edgar Allen Poe story that details a loss of identity and sense of self. Although actors are involved in the piece, they are not meant to be a focus point, as they are used simply as tools to help move the puppets. To bring the puppet to live, Janie uses a layering technique that allows the puppet to take on multiple identities. Furthermore to make the puppet more realistic, Janie shows the passing of time by having the puppet change in size (signifying a change in the puppet's age). To emphasize the meaning of her performance, Janie is very careful about what objects she puts next to one another. In this piece, it is the popular use of various mirrors that really emphasize the meaning of her artwork. By showing so many mirrors, Janie creates a sense of confusion about differentiation between real and imaginary. Furthermore, the changing of the set conveys how quickly life/reality can change, and therefor how hard it is to make confident assumptions and understandings of one's reality.
ReplyDeleteThe first work that she showed us was "Ghost Algebra" before she actually started her presentation. It definitely had a very strong impact that caught my eyes. I saw the doll, or the woman, who was the main character of the film, birds, cows, bloods, digital images, layers of images, numbers, and etc. It was really hard to actually "understand' the meaning of this film since there was no narration and everything was in layers of two dimensional objects or images. Besides that, it was very interesting to see how non-living objects or images can be brought to life by placing them together or one after the other. Although the viewers "know" that they are not alive, the film still showed the movements of the doll, the nervous feelings that the woman might have had, and the storyline. Another interesting feature about this film was that I as a viewer was able to sense the nervous and scary emotions of this film although I was not able to fully understand the whole film. So, I think this film was made of good images that could tell show the feelings, the objects (mostly the objects that we can find easily around us in our real lives), and the layers of the objects and images that brought everything to life.
ReplyDeleteIn Janie Geiser's piece "Ghost Algebra", she uses the style of animating objects. She leaves out an official story line because she relays to the viewer that he or she should personally take away a story that means something to that viewer. I enjoyed her decision to personalize this piece because it can relate to almost any audience.
ReplyDeleteThis piece is so successful because she beautifully layers sounds and evokes certain emotions through a sound collage.The sound aspect of this piece is extremely important because she uses this approach to create an entire backdrop that sets the entire mood for the piece. At one point I felt creeped out from the bird and cut out head visual, and at another I felt joyful from the beauty of the wooden girl. These emotions were not only triggered from the visual aspect of the piece, but from the sounds she choses to pair the visuals with.
Ghost Algebra is a piece by Janie Geiser that left me with the strongest impression. In this piece, she used a wooden figure of a girl as the main character which moved along the scenes. She also used montage technique to put together other objects in the piece such as a book from Czech that talks about WWI, patterns of circles and lines, illustration of human body parts and so on. The whole piece gives the audience a feeling of unease and almost disturbing. What I think is most unique about this piece is that there's no straight forward story lines, but the way she combines the elements together created a stronger emotional reaction for the audience, as she described it as "emotional narrative." The found sound from old records and children used as background also added to the atmosphere of "nervousness."
ReplyDeleteI was absolutely blown away by Janie Geiser's work. Her ability to evoke emotion was impeccable, along with her use of narrative and sight specificity. The Red Book was especially compelling to me. Her somewhat stark and primitive drawing style along with her choice to use a red white and black color palette immediately set the tone for the piece. It's dark and dreary yet undeniably beautiful. I felt as if the piece was a secret. Only Janie understands the true meaning of this piece yet it is accessible to all viewers, for an individual narrative can be created in the mind of each viewer. Her ability to layer images was beautiful and meshed nicely with her adio. Her pieces are clean, seamless yet raw at the same time. They have an art brute quality about them that I particularly enjoyed. I had the fortunate of having dinner with Janie last night along with some of my fellow interarts students. Being able to talk to her about her inspiration and creative process was invaluable. She does most of her work by hand and is not especially into technological manipulation. This was a breath of fresh air to me, to see that there are successful artists working in technological realms who do not solely rely on the computer to generate their artistic output. Her ability to incorporate actors along with puppets of a small scale was also very captivating to me. Her ability to juxtapose human beings along with miniatures in the same piece of work made me rethink scale relationships as well as traditional rules of theatre.
ReplyDeleteThe Reptile Under the Flowers seemed to me to be the most unique of all Ms. Geiser's pieces. In this work, the author told a story through a series of scenes, each played out by puppets in separate diorama sets. In order to view the work, the audience had to look in at the scenes through small peepholes. The peepholes gave the audience a unique and intimate view of the space and the action that was taking place. In the diorama designs, Ms. Geiser also played with lighting effects. Each diorama was illuminated to give a ghostly glow that would draw the viewer to the set. Often, the scenes inside the sets were projections of actions that were taking place outside of the dioramas. The audience members would simultaneously be standing next to the actor playing out the scene in real life, and looking in on the projection of this action. Through all these very unique decisions in the set and design of this piece, Ms. Geiser succeeded in creating an entirely unique audience experience. I am curious to know just what it would be like to be one of those audience members. Still images and descriptions of the piece cannot give us a real sense of the piece, as its effect hinges so much on the audience's individual experience.
ReplyDeleteJanie Geiser's "Ghost Algebra" was a part of her film series "the Nervous series" which conveyed her sense of anxiety about the world that we live in today. Ghost Algebra was a montage of many different images and sounds that flowed seamlessly together. Some of the images were representational (i.e- birds, dolls, etc.) while others were more abstract. By using these inanimate objects and bringing them to life through stop motion, it created a creepy and austere vibe. The film also had a strong dream-like quality as well. All these random images flashing from one to another somehow made sense to the audience, which is what a dream is like. Another aspect that helped provide this dream-like quality is that we could only see these images through a small circle, signaling that some parts of the images are left out or unclear. Overall, I thought it was a very thought-provoking and fluid film. However, my only criticism is the use of the doll. I thought the doll seemed cliche, expected, and distracted from the vivid realness these other images and sounds created.
ReplyDeleteJane Geiser is a visual performance artist who works on using found objects in her pieces. This, I thought, was shown in her piece, Ghost Algebra. Dolls, puzzle pieces, illustrations, and many more objects were used to create the visual aspect of this piece. The visual aspect combined with the sounds of children playing and wind blowing helped to create the eerie and dangerous tone. The movements of the objects create a staggering look and red liquids eventually pool in the bodies of objects. These items alone bring the objects to life with pulsating blood and unsteadily interacting with one another. They also portray meanings of nervousness or fear.
ReplyDeleteAnna Parker
Honestly, the first thought that came to my mind when I saw her Ghost Algebra was that this film is very weird and creepy. Most of her work had a dark background and a small hole which it like the audience is looking at the film through a little hole. She used innocent objects such as children's toys and small birds. I think it is very interesting that she used those innocent looking objects with very upsetting objects. Ghost Algebra was about her concerns about the world, and I think using those objects was very successful since watching the image made audience worry and nervous.
ReplyDeleteIn Ghost Algebra, we are bombarded by imagery of children, birds, old military footage, red paint (blood) and a blend of other miscellaneous motifs that combine to make a very dark, brooding, and unsettling animation. Geiser makes objects come to life through her process of simple, yet effective, animation that may only involve a simple rotation of the object to express a point and her use of layering and lighting. During most of the film, Geiser juxtaposes an action clip with a stagnant backdrop. The two play off each other and create a very dramatic interaction between "character" and "setting". Additionally, her use of atmospheric sounds add a feeling of life (and in this case, a desperate, dreary, and depressive life) to the simple doll characters. By placing objects next to each other, she is able to create an entirely different context than the two objects have separately. For instance, a girl doll on her own is quite different than a girl, looking through a WWII bunker and seeing images of men dying.
ReplyDeleteJane Geiser is a performance artist who animates objects. She is best known for her use of ambiguity and explorations of memory and emotional states and exceptional design. My favorite piece shown during the lecture was "Ghost Algebra".In this piece Geiser uses effective imagery such as children, dolls, birds, and the military. This is a good use of ethos and really allows the viewer to connect with the piece. Throughout the piece you cannot help but feel uncomfortable by the erie and mysterious sounds. Another aspect that contributed to the feeling of the overall piece was the use of stop motion. It enhanced the mood of the piece incredibly. Jane's use of placement of the images also contains meaning. The order of the objects within the work, when following each other, interact and intertwine seamlessly and naturally.
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