)From THE RESURRECTORY
From RUNNING DOG W/ CACTUS
Moving Image Installations
J I M B L A S H F I E L D
Architectural / Dimensional Installations
Electro Umbilico 2004 / Aluminum Fabrication / No media
A sweeping exterior redesign of the Portland Community Media building as part of the facility's new identity. An 80 foot aluminum umbilical cord droops languidly across the side of the building, seeming to connect the existing Don Merkt sculpture (an abstract TV set) with a huge abstract plug shape above the newly designed entryway facade. Designer PUBLIC ART / Commissioned by Portland Community Media / Regional Arts and Culture Council (Portland)
A sweeping exterior redesign of the Portland Community Media building as part of the facility's new identity. An 80 foot aluminum umbilical cord droops languidly across the side of the building, seeming to connect the existing Don Merkt sculpture (an abstract TV set) with a huge abstract plug shape above the newly designed entryway facade. Designer PUBLIC ART / Commissioned by Portland Community Media / Regional Arts and Culture Council (Portland)Dream of the Scarlet Crustaceans 2002 / 5 minutes / Digital Media / Live Action, Animation
In this 4 block long visual installation (above), commissioned by the City of Las Vegas Arts Commission, a woman with a suitcase and a barking man with a mop battle it out for dominance amidst the flying red crustaceans, thunderstorms, rapidly multiplying one celled organisms and exploding universes that electronically inhabit the ceiling above the heads of the gamblers, tourists, and assorted low strollers who hang out on Las Vegas' historic Fremont St. Writer, Director, Editor PUBLIC ART / Commissioned by the City of Las Vegas Arts Commission
In this 4 block long visual installation (above), commissioned by the City of Las Vegas Arts Commission, a woman with a suitcase and a barking man with a mop battle it out for dominance amidst the flying red crustaceans, thunderstorms, rapidly multiplying one celled organisms and exploding universes that electronically inhabit the ceiling above the heads of the gamblers, tourists, and assorted low strollers who hang out on Las Vegas' historic Fremont St. Writer, Director, Editor PUBLIC ART / Commissioned by the City of Las Vegas Arts Commission
another room images and sound of an oversized (projected) dripping sink dominate the recreation of 12 famous murders by the Scottish medical cadaver suppliers Burke and Hare. In a far room the medical examiner succumbs to frequent lacunae, tumbling to the straw covered floor amidst projections onto walls of phrenological charts and suppressed evidence. Video Designer, Lighting Director, Interpretive Collaborator
VIEW SCENES FROM THE RESURRECTORY HERE at the Liminal website
VIEW SCENES FROM THE RESURRECTORY HERE at the Liminal website
Running Dog with Cactus 2004 / Installation / 5 minutes / Digital Media, Multiple Projectors, Chair / Live Action, Animation, Digital Compositing
In the corner exterior windows of a busy downtown store, a squeaking and twisting animated cactus demands attention on the floor in front of a yellow office chair. As water reflections begin to infest the space, a red silhouette of a running dog emerges on the back of the chair and gallops in harmony with the cactus. Now the back wall erupts in sudden imagery and sound-- some kind of mythical machine or chamber has materialized behind the chair as the running dog leaps in size and joins the imagery on the back wall. In a small conflagration, the chair is perhaps electrified, the organic machine seems to wind down, and the room returns to "normal." Director, Photographer, Editor Commissioned by the 2004 PDX Film Festival
In the corner exterior windows of a busy downtown store, a squeaking and twisting animated cactus demands attention on the floor in front of a yellow office chair. As water reflections begin to infest the space, a red silhouette of a running dog emerges on the back of the chair and gallops in harmony with the cactus. Now the back wall erupts in sudden imagery and sound-- some kind of mythical machine or chamber has materialized behind the chair as the running dog leaps in size and joins the imagery on the back wall. In a small conflagration, the chair is perhaps electrified, the organic machine seems to wind down, and the room returns to "normal." Director, Photographer, Editor Commissioned by the 2004 PDX Film Festival
Evolution of a City 1997 Glass, Welded Steel / Permanent Architectural Installation Digitized and Programmed Photographs / 12 Hours
An interactive architectural installation in period style integrated into the renovation of Portland, Oregon's historic city hall. The interactive site tours every corner of the city through the digital display of over 750 rarely seen archival photographs emphasizing the changing landscape of the previous 80 years. Neither didactic nor sentimental, the installation challenges current pop notions about representation of the past. Designed, directed and curated by Jim Blashfield in collaboration with Carol Sherman, SERA Architects PUBLIC ART / Regional Arts and Culture Council (Portland).
An interactive architectural installation in period style integrated into the renovation of Portland, Oregon's historic city hall. The interactive site tours every corner of the city through the digital display of over 750 rarely seen archival photographs emphasizing the changing landscape of the previous 80 years. Neither didactic nor sentimental, the installation challenges current pop notions about representation of the past. Designed, directed and curated by Jim Blashfield in collaboration with Carol Sherman, SERA Architects PUBLIC ART / Regional Arts and Culture Council (Portland).
EVOLUTION OF A CITY
Riverwalk Multi-Media
A three part public art concept selected for future funding as part of Astoria, Oregon's waterfront revitalization project, RIVERWALK.
The Dream Space: A Magical Realist Exploration of Place (concept images, above) is a multimedia performance using multiple video projectors, animated and composited images, sound systems and audio design to transform a common, recognized site (building and nearby environs) into a theatrical dream space.
Based upon historical research, oral histories and past uses of the current space, the performance strips away time and common identification to get at the soul of the building and the place it occupies. The Dream Space is factually based, but that is just the start.
A three part public art concept selected for future funding as part of Astoria, Oregon's waterfront revitalization project, RIVERWALK.
The Dream Space: A Magical Realist Exploration of Place (concept images, above) is a multimedia performance using multiple video projectors, animated and composited images, sound systems and audio design to transform a common, recognized site (building and nearby environs) into a theatrical dream space.
Based upon historical research, oral histories and past uses of the current space, the performance strips away time and common identification to get at the soul of the building and the place it occupies. The Dream Space is factually based, but that is just the start.
From THE DREAM SPACE
From DREAM OF THE SCARLET CRUSTACEANS
Above, a detail from the 4 block long image above Fremont Street
Below, the entire 4 block length of the video installation
Above, a detail from the 4 block long image above Fremont Street
Below, the entire 4 block length of the video installation
Future Installations
Circulator 2011 Digital Media / Four Channel Video / Audio / Steel / Wood
Circulator, comprised of 7 interrelated "portals" (one of which is imbedded in the floor) is a damp, playful and ever metamorphosing dream that places participants at the center of a vast metaphorical and associative evocation of the watershed. This 7 screen, 10 minute meditation on the nature of water and the ecosystem occupies center stage at the Brightwater Environmental Center. The facility, completed in 2011, is located north of Seattle's Lake Washington. Producer, Director, Designer / PUBLIC ART / 4 Culture
Circulator, comprised of 7 interrelated "portals" (one of which is imbedded in the floor) is a damp, playful and ever metamorphosing dream that places participants at the center of a vast metaphorical and associative evocation of the watershed. This 7 screen, 10 minute meditation on the nature of water and the ecosystem occupies center stage at the Brightwater Environmental Center. The facility, completed in 2011, is located north of Seattle's Lake Washington. Producer, Director, Designer / PUBLIC ART / 4 Culture
ELECTRO UMBILICO
Conveyor 2010 / Digital Media / Video / Audio / Enclosure
Described as "an aquarium of ideas" and a "garden of natural forces", the five screen video installation, Conveyor, is a metaphorical investigation that roams far and wide, from images of ships on vast seas, to explorations of mysterious systems of reciprocating energies, and Sisyphean dog toys on endless journeys. This
Described as "an aquarium of ideas" and a "garden of natural forces", the five screen video installation, Conveyor, is a metaphorical investigation that roams far and wide, from images of ships on vast seas, to explorations of mysterious systems of reciprocating energies, and Sisyphean dog toys on endless journeys. This
20 day reformulating meditative experience-- "a presence rather than a presentation" which explores "conveyance" and its associations in their "most apparent and least obvious forms" is now a permanent part of the central atrium of the Port of Portland's new headquarters building, designed by Zimmer Gunsul Frasca Architects, Portland, Oregon. Producer, Director, Designer / PUBLIC ART / Regional Arts and Culture Council
From RIVERWALK
From RIVERWALK
It is a documentary as recalled from a dream, a dream that now becomes manifest in the real world. Part real, part fantastic. Sponsored by Astoria Visual Arts
Above, conceptual images for two additional proposed Riverwalk installations.
Above, conceptual images for two additional proposed Riverwalk installations.
From CIRCULATOR
The Resurrectory 2005 / Video, Light and Sound Installation and Performance / Digital Media, Multiple Projectors / Animated stills, Digital Compositing
For seven weeks the Portland Art Center was transformed into the three stages of The Resurrectory, a theatrical installation by the Liminal Performance Group. In this dark and earthy space a doctor sings of arcane medical practices in 19th century Scotland while a draped body goes through transformations (projected video animations) from life to medical speciman, through death and return to the earth. In
For seven weeks the Portland Art Center was transformed into the three stages of The Resurrectory, a theatrical installation by the Liminal Performance Group. In this dark and earthy space a doctor sings of arcane medical practices in 19th century Scotland while a draped body goes through transformations (projected video animations) from life to medical speciman, through death and return to the earth. In 
Right, visitors take in one of the 20 evolving scenes-- each a day long-- which unfold during the course of CONVEYOR
Compositing artist Zak Margolis and Jim Blashfield work on a sequence from the 7 screen CIRCULATOR
