.....draw a cowboy
Preview 11 April 6-8pm
Exhibition continues to 21 Apr
Wed to Sat, 12-5.30pm
......draw a cowboy has developed from an interest in the growing exploration of digital authorship. This collaboration between artist Sean O'Keeffe and programmer Steve Bulcock focuses on methods and structures of authorship in relation to computers and drawing.
Taking inspiration from the Michael Crichton's 1973 film Westworld O'Keeffe and Bulcock have employed motion tracking software to explore the choreography of action within the classic horse opera. Their research aims to visualise this data as drawings which focus on recreating key visual elements from a range of classic Westerns. For this exhibition The Searchers, Shane and The Magnificent Seven have been transformed as linear animations.
O’Keeffe and Bulcock propose an exploration of digital authorship and drawing within interdisciplinary practice.
Project History and Development
Using data capture software to analyse moving image, O'Keeffe & Bulcock aimed to consider aspects of visualization, such as movement and measurement, which provide data to underpin a “rational” system of drawing.
During their research they proposed ways of visualising extraneous variations that are based on factors influencing authorship, such as environment or disposition. The aim was to map and interpret the ‘irrational’ or subjective data in order to affect what they were defining as circumstantial influence on the digital drawing system during the making process.
Outcomes were anticipated to take the form of large scale wall mounted plotter/printer installations which execute drawings while receiving live stimuli derived from the gallery, audience or surroundings.
...draw a Cowboy presentation event, June 2006
For Habitat, VIVID's 2006 Architecture Week programme, the artists inhabited VIVID's newly commissioned creative work pod in their attempt to digitally define the quintessential Cowboy.
Inside the pod they used data analysis software on 25 classic Westerns to create a series of digital drawings for projection onto the pod’s exterior. The software used was adapted from that used for crash test dummy simulations and tracks the movements and measurements of the actors to identify the essential characteristics of Cowboy legends such as John Wayne and Clint Eastwood.
Steve Bulcock explains the story behind Draw a Cowboy
"I'm interested in the level of awareness and understanding people have on the intricacies and processes involved in digital drawing. Many years ago, I was at home and I had my ZX 81 computer plugged into the TV when a friend visited and asked what I was doing, I explained that it was a computer and I was typing in a drawing programme and he seemed really interested. When I came back in the room after making a cup of tea, he announced that he thought the computer was a load of rubbish and a waste of time. I looked at the screen and saw he had typed in “Draw a Cowboy”-expecting the computer to have a working knowledge of a “Cowboy” and to be able to draw it straight away without any other input."
"Even today with many more people having access to computers, there’s a huge lack of understanding about the capabilities of computers and the internet – people expect computers to have social knowledge, and to be able to apply information to other scenarios to make lateral connections; essentially many people expect computers to be able to respond like human beings.”
