Humanity jumped forward into agreat chapter of cohesive and mediated ways of thinking when we invented the written language. We suddenly had means of description, without an in person-interface–a way of projecting into the minds of one anotherthe lighting, tones, and textures of stories, symbols, memories, perceived futures; or, images. Often, moving images.We discovered a way of compressing into learned symbols what was previously unquantified data. “There were this many trees, and the leaves were this hue of green.”Largelyall it tookto fill in the gaps between the image compression into transmission into decompression, was empathy. “I bet the sky was a deep beautiful blue above those that many trees”–though that is a conclusion more than it is conclusive. We then leapt into a new chapterof communication, one that we’re still at the earliest stages of, with the photograph. It is both a more andless compressed method, generally larger in transmission size butmuchfaster toencode, as well as decodeand register in the mind, yet of a potentially more limited scale than the spoken word. Pairing with thisnew, highly accessible level of mimesis, coming along just a few decades later, was the recorded sound.

This has created a disconnect, for many reasons. Time and space do not compress similarly across the photograph and the sound recording. Sound, to our ears, tends to make the most sense redistributed at a 1:1 playback time. The still and moving image have far more leniency. The meaning of a sound can be contextually warped by differing imagery while the image with a poorly “linked” sound will not fool as many recipients.

The distribution of both has scaled massively and spun out into seemingly endless formats. The more accessible andmanipulatable the media has become, the less our ability to follow through on the original intent of communication. Or perhaps, there is simply too much data from too many angles without an in-person interface attached. Our understanding of our media, on its very surface level intent of retelling or teaching, has been throttled.

Flour, sugar, water, a rising agent, and butter. Maybe some maple syrup. I made either a pancake, or a waffle, and both sizzled.

My work takes a humanistic view from socio-political and philosophical perspectives. It is driven by a need to relate the human experience to a larger cosmological story. My work directly deals with the duality of urban landscapes and the natural world along with the violence, injustice, ruin and renewal born out of that duality.

As a two-channel installation, Crossing the Bar is a meditation on migration, identity and resistance. It looks at the sea as a bridge that connects borders and histories but also a mechanism for reshaping identity and the resistance that comes with that reshaping. It explores the sea as both a beaconof hope, a graveyard of death and traversing the sea as a metaphor in the internal and external struggle in reshaping identity.

Michael Jack Chernoff is an intermedia filmmaker and critical media artist. His satirical narratives, landscape documentary, and new media installations explore global solutions by investigating how materials and culture shape human identity and determinacy. His practice-based research is an intermediary production by combining archaic video media tech with new media computing in order to establish genealogies of media technology along with the parallel development of human identity under the effects of technologies. His research archive is primarily focused on constructing the relations of cinema with digital computing through the qualities of video signal but as determined by the practices of television programming. His films and art also explore accessing media via glitch, durational landscapes, forming perception, and speculative design.

Michael’s professional career has crossed over into the fields of videography, studio portraiture, and independent film production. After years of experimenting with media occupation he chose to return to academic media. He is currently earning an M.F.A. in Media Arts Production from the Department of Media Study, University at Buffalo (SUNY).

Outside of his practice Michael is also highly interested in forming his own brand of media production education by teaching media theory and instrumentation as a way for students to know their own methods and materials for media making.

As a media art installation, Always On, is an incorporation of archaic video technologies with the digital video streaming platforms and will be placed strategically in the gallery so that visitors become incorporated with the “live performance” of the exhibit. This exhibit involves many instances of Analog-to-Digital video conversions for old media to signal new content. It also layers visitors into divisions of performance depending on the video output.

Visual programming inspired me to attempt visualising the designing process. Designers are required to complete a draft form with the ability to operate software at a proficient level, spending time editing details. However, different software has different requirements: some of them, by sacrificing the amount of freedom in choices of design to make the process easier, less time consuming and more unified as results. The benefit of costing less time figuring out technical processes is to be able to associate with a greater range of studies. For instance, an architect does not require high coding skills to write programs, a sound engineer does not require high coding skills to write programs. These are all associated with computational elements without actually learning a computational language which makes the design process easier (utilising both skills in one action).

The apparatus is designed as a simple version for expressing the idea of linking the design process and computer language on a larger scale. In this model, designers can use less effort to design a rather clear proposal so that people can have better efficiency in practising their ideas. My goal is to increase the accessibility of design so that people can spend less time studying design but still have the same quality.

I want to draw people into the space, encompassing them to use all of their senses. This is essentially an escapist environment yetI want for insight tobe formed. This experience would ideally help everyone who experiences it in one way or another.

Interactive piece that has multiple levels to it. The main focus is similar to my own thesis, of causing joy and reducing stress. In order to do this, I want to create an environment that is playful, attracts attention, and is memorable.