InSight-s: A Multimedia Installation in Three Continents

SECOND LOCATION

Palcio da Cultura, Praia, Cabo Verde.
November 22nd - December 12th, 2010
ENGLISH PROSPECTUS(.pdf):
InSight-s: A Multimedia Installation in Three Continents

Palácio da Cultura, Praia, Ilha de Santiago, Cabo Verde.
Segunda-feira, 22 de Novembro a 12 de Dezembro, 2010
PORTUGUESE PROSPECTUS (.pdf):
InSight-s: Uma Instalação em Três Continentes

 
Photography by Frank Mullin

This art exhibition is a culmination of two years observing whales off the coast of Plymouth, Massachusetts while assisting the Humpback Whale Ethogram Project, conducted by Carol Carson at Bridgewater State University’s Biological Sciences Department and New England Coastal Wildlife Alliance– NECWA, a non-profit organization that dedicates their efforts to the protection and conservation of marine wildlife.

The collaboration has compelled me to better understand these enormous and complex creatures and inspired me to incorporate them in my artwork. Using sculpture, digital photo-collage and video, I celebrate their beauty and humor, reflect on their likely extinction, and consider the industries that have developed around them.

Whaling once sustained the economy and enriched the cultural life of Portugal and the New England colonies. In this spirit, I have been coordinating the traveling of the works to whaling locations, starting in Providence, RI to Praia, Cape Verde, Lisbon and the Azores, Portugal.

Glass shadow of Atlantic white-sided dolphin. Skeleton on loan by NECWA - New England Coastal Wildlife Alliance. Frank Mullin Photography
I utilized glass tubes resembling chemistry pipettes that could speak to the idea of the measure of liquids, in this case, non-existent whale oil. The pattern displayed on the window as well as the small glass chemistry pipettes are arranged to follow the sonic pattern of humpback whale songs transcribed as audio waveforms. The resulting visual compositions also resemble financial charts— as the ones documenting the whale oil prices on the market and chemistry composition graphs, while also setting a visual referent to the measure of an animal’s liquid contents. Frank Mullin Photography
The other prominent element utilized in the exhibit is visible, yet immaterial— light. I was interested in illuminating spaces with a variety of light intensities and purpose, to utilize a metaphor for the depletion of whale oil for light. Frank Mullin Photography
Prints The initial step with this limited edition series was to acquire one hundred sheets of a rare hand made Gampi paper, the last batch of a now retired paper craftsman in Japan. The imagery sources for the four collages come from engraved navigation map details from The Whaling Museum in New Bedford, video stills from my whale watching and photography by Frank Mullin. They are meant to veil the digital composite to resemble fog, or a different time in the past annals of whaling. Titles left to right: Stellwagen Bank Surface Breach First Trip to Feed Los Azores: Point of Interest Barrels and Degrees Price for framed artwork, as limited edition prints, series of 5 $600 each $550 each— set of any two $500 each— complete set of four Four digital archival collage prints produced by Ted Peffer at IOLabs on adhesive acetate, tacked sewn by the artist on hand made Gampi paper, mahogany frames by Joel Taplin. Frank Mullin Photography
Audio One And Mostly One Humpback Whale, Compass recordings, Author Paul Knapp Track 1: One Humpback Whale 24:54 Track 2: Mostly One 24:53 Paul Knapp has been working in the British Virgin Islands for twenty-five years, not to see whales, but to hear and record them, from a 13-foot inflatable dinghy with a hydrophone listening device submerged under water with a 50-foot cable. Knapp documents whale songs, fascinated by how they constantly evolve/change or are creatively recomposed. He kindly agreed to this creative use of his tracks. For more information, please visit http://www.listeningtowhales.com/ Glass/aluminum compositions $75, $100, $120 Frank Mullin Photography
Video The New England Coastal Wildlife Alliance– NECWA has been focused in creating an Ethogram for the study and education of humpback whales behaviors to aid in their preservation. This Ethogram is a set of photographic, geo-location, whale IDs, drawings and video of whale behavior, to later be compiled as a searchable database of humpbacks out of Plymouth into the Stellwagen Bank area. I have been privileged to video document whale behavior and also pass on camera skills to other interns. The footage in this installation contains video highlights I accumulated during Summer-Fall 2009 and Spring-Summer 2010. Frank Mullin Photography
A video clip I recorded of Tracer, a young humpback whale near Provincetown, MA.

Sponsors and Support:
The Rhode Island State Council on the Arts, RISCA Center for the Advancement of Research and Teaching, CART Bridgewater State University
Cornish Associates
New England Coastal Wildlife Alliance, NECWA
The Whaling Museum, New Bedford MA
Cape Verde University, Uni-CV.
Pedro G. Carvalho, Cape Verdean Consulate, Boston