Finishing the Audio Tour

Midweek greetings! Due to my rather large workload, I've decided to post a couple of blog posts this week. Yesterday, I completed my biggest job since organizing the exhibition's columns: the audio tour script. After last week, I decided to dedicate more time and energy in writing the scripts for each column. As such, I spent collectively 6 hours Monday and Tuesday writing the script for the second half of the tour. One column was rather difficult, as the entire thing was just landscape after landscape. I had organized it to contextualize some of Point's surroundings, but talking about it was a bit harder. Instead of writing about the subject matter, I decided to write about Point's experiences in the region and how different it was compared to the Flathead territory.

This process was repeated about ten times the past few days, as each column provided a different challenge. But by Wednesday night, I had a strong paragraph written for each column. I am particularly proud of one column which tells the religious evolution of Ignace, the son of a Salish chief. Opening with his baptism, the column charts his eventual Christian burial and funeral. The audio tour reflects this, telling the story of Ignace's first interaction with the Jesuits, the context of his baptism and the weight of his funeral on the community.

After completing the audio tour, my next task is one of particular difficulty: recording the tour. My script is concise, simple and informative, and in the coming days I plan to be recording either today or tomorrow. Furthermore, the musician I talked about a few posts ago will be recording his music most likely this weekend, so hopefully by Sunday the entire exhibition, columns and audio tour will be completed. Till then!

Audio Tour Script

This week I delved into the herculean task of writing the audio tour for the exhibition. Having never written anything like this before, it took me a quite a bit longer than I had originally believed. Before, I assumed I could get most of it done rather quickly. However, each column required essentially its own small story that needed to be told in a few sentences. The greatest problem that could arise during the exhibition is a lack of steady movement along the drawings. Quite simply, I need to make sure people are moving.

As such, each paragraph I wrote for the columns needed to be succinct yet clear, entertaining yet spartan. Instead of my original plan on writing separate sentences for each drawing, I decided to write paragraphs for each column. The first few were a little difficult to write a narrative for, primarily because they were landscapes that offered little in the way for storytelling. Therefore, I wrote the tour in the early columns to provide contextualization. The first two tell the story of Point's journey across the plains, and the third presents the overall geographic landscape of the area. After that, each column tells a short, semi-enclosed narrative that highlights both the subject matter, themes and chronological/geographic background if available. All told, I was able to get through about half of the total columns before the week was over, so this coming week I'm going to write the rest of the tour and record the audio tour for the exhibition.

Apart from that, this week was relatively stable. Apart from the time demands for the audio tour, I was able to get through most of what I wanted to accomplish. Now that I have some practice with writing audio tour scripts, I think that I can complete the entire audio tour by Monday or Tuesday. Afterwards, I'll record it by the end of the week. Until then!

Beginning the Audio Tour

During the last few weeks, I have been organizing and titling all of the pieces that are going to be exhibited next summer. After accomplishing that, I have started on my next task: the audio tour. After emailing with my adviser, I wanted to limit the overall scope of the tour. Simply said, I didn't want it to be too long or too short. Accordingly, I spent the majority of this week writing out a rough draft of the audio tour that I am going to be editing and then recording in the next week.

There is some question regarding the technical aspects of the tour itself. My adviser and I are not sure what format the tour will be, either uploaded to Youtube or merely an MP3 file to be accessed by the guests. As such, I didn't want to possibly waste time on formatting any files. I began the week laying out all of the drawings on my table and sketching some basic notes on general narrative themes that might appeal to audience members. Next, I recorded any and all notes I wrote on each piece that can be used to describe each drawing. Geographic and chronological information, the majority of which I researched in the middle weeks of this semester, are going to be the majority of what I'm including in the audio tour. After sketching down all of this information, I began weaving together what I believe will be an exciting and informative tour that guests can listen to. I also contacted a local guitarist I know of who can provide an original score for the tour that, in my mind, can express the somber tone of Point's experiences.

This next week will now be spent completing the writing section of the audio tour. I am near completion with the final section, and I think I can have it finished by Tuesday. After that, I plan on renting a microphone and recording the audio tour by the end of the week. Editing and developing the audio files will happen later, but by the end of the week I plan on having a rough cut of the audio tour that will be featured during the exhibition next summer. 

Till then!

Readjustment and Titling

This week began with a bit of an emergency. As it turns out, a percentage of the paintings were double sided, meaning that some of the drawings I had organized into the columns couldn't be exhibited. This caused a small panic among the interns, as I had organized all of the columns very meticulously according to their themes. But luckily, fate was on my side. For one, another intern/assistant for my adviser had looked over all of the double sided drawings and posted them online. And two, when I looked over said list a couple of days ago, I discovered that the majority of drawings that were double sided I had categorized as "miscellaneous." These were mostly random drawings of flowers, animals and foliage, and I generally discarded them whilst organizing the exhibition. As such, despite this small panic, I was able to maintain the integrity of the organization of the columns. Everything was ok!

The second main task for the week was a lot less exciting: titling all of the drawings for exhibition, Given the limited space at LUMA, each column can only feature the titles of the drawings. As such, for the rest of the week I spent simply giving titles to the drawings. This was a slow but steady process, and it didn't take me much time. I spent the majority of the semester with these drawings, and had learned much about their subject matter, themes and purpose. Each piece belonged to a specific part of the narrative, and their titles generally responded to their place in the story. In one column, one detailing the spiritual life of Ignace, I named each piece to encapsulate one part of his life. The first: Ignace's baptism; the fourth: Ignace's funeral. Other drawings, particularly landscapes, I had chosen for that column mostly for their contextualizing purposes. Two drawings depicted mountains, and I chose to name each one a different name depending on what they depicted.

Apart from these situations, this week was remarkably quiet compared to the past few. The most major task-organizing the columns-was behind me the next major one-writing the audio tour-lay before me, For this week, naming the various pieces took priority.