How to End It & Nagging Ideas for Living Arts

I’m almost done with scene 4, but I’ve reached the part in the soundtrack where the sounds are very faint and subtle, so I’m thinking I want the animation to match that.

Also, I’ve been thinking that I like the idea of doing a pastiche of a Tulsa promotional film/presentation for our Living Arts installation. It could still have Oil and Religion as it’s two main focuses. In fact, all of the things we included in the mocumentary would tie back to those themes, mimicking the way PR people sometimes will stretch associations to the point of incredulity.

We have discussed, though, how we want to avoid merely parodying Tulsa, which is not hard to do. At the same time, a more abstract or surreal approach to our method and presentation could help us prevent that. For instance, Nathan and Mindy had the idea of including a version of “The Channels,” the new, crazy development idea for the river, in the promotion. However, our version would float above the river in a sort of Gulliver’s Travels type way, above Tulsa but not of Tulsa (in fact, that could be it’s motto). By combining things we’d actually like to see happen in Tulsa along with parody of the plans of The Channels developers, not to mention surreal and highly aestheticized imaginative spaces, we can attain a neutral, if still critical, pastiche. Of course, the issues of oil and religion can tie in in several ways—the floating above can be spun as a way to “get closer to God” and the island could be powered totally by “recycling fumes from the refineries below” etc etc.

I’ve been keeping this diary for a while now, but I think making it a blog would not only allow us to share information when it inspires us, but also to use it as a portal to Mindy’s server where we could store larger files, such as flash, jpgs, and mp3s. Even if they don’t like the idea, I’d like to keep it for my own benefit and keep my notes there. I hope they're up for it because I think ultimately that the blog could serve as a supplement to our final project for our audience by documenting and including the process into the final product.