Part of:

People:

Neil M. Denari (archive creator)
Duks Koschitz (animator)
Michiharu Shimoda (graphic designer)

Title:

Project records from Neil Denari

Date:

1994 - 2004

Level of archival description:
Series

Extent and medium:

4003 digital files (1 GB)
73 photograhic materials
7 drawings and reprographic copies
5 ephemera
2 video cassettes

Scope and content:
The Project records from Neil Denari series, 1994 – 2004, consists of records produced by Denari for his show “Interrupted Projections” at Gallery MA in Tokyo, Japan. It documents the development and final design for the principal architectural installation built on the third level of the gallery, as well as related materials displayed on the gallery’s fourth floor. The series also contains photographic and video documentation of the exhibit, the show catalogue, and promotional materials.

The series includes 4003 digital files (1 GB), 53 slides, 21 transparencies, seven drawings and/or reprographic copies, two VHS video cassettes, one exhibition catalogue, and a small amount of promotional material comprising one large and two small posters, one postcard, and one t-shirt.

The majority of records date from 1994-1996.

Denari used a combination of physical drawings and digital modelling to draft the design for Interrupted Projections. The series contains one ink drawing and one transfer print with plans and sections of the third floor gallery space, two reprographic copies of drawings with elevations and plans of existing conditions of the third and fourth floors at Gallery MA, and three graphite hand drawings of the installation.

Digital files in the series include two original Softimage databases containing full and partial 3D models of the installation, as well as one forward-migrated database containing models compiled from the two original databases. The original models were created in Softimage ’95 on Windows NT and will not open in contemporary versions of Autodesk Softimage. The forward-migrated model database was created by members of Autodesk’s Montreal office for the Archaeology of the Digital exhibition Complexity and Convention and will open in Softimage 2014.

Each Softimage model database is made up of several directories that contain information necessary to render all models and their animation into a “scene” (such as textures, lighting, camera movements, etc.). When the Interrupted Projections models were migrated, the information from all directories in both original databases was compiled into the Scenes directory of a single database. These updated scene files (SCN) contain all the elements needed to render the models without the need for additional directories. Each scene file has a corresponding scene TOC file (scene table of content), which can be used to further modify the information in the scene.

Scene files in the migrated database contain full and partial models for Interrupted Projections, including one animated scene that follows a camera path through the interior and exterior of the final model. These files document the various stages of design work for the project, as well as Denari’s use of animation features in Softimage to visualize and study the spatial character of his drawings.

Project collaborator Duks Koschitz created additional animations of the model that were edited and shown on the fourth floor of the exhibition. A compilation of his work is included on a VHS tape in the archive. The video, which spans one minute 16 seconds, contains four animations that move around the 3D gallery space. Koschitz attempted to reflect the concerns of the project in the movements of the camera, focusing on details such as the fictional company logos or curvatures in the surface of the model.

The majority of photographic materials in the series are digital renderings of the model, comprising 38 slides, 14 diapositives, and seven digital images. Photographic materials also include images of the completed show, including seven diapositives that document the built work from various views on the third floor of Gallery MA, as well as the exhibition of materials on the fourth floor. A small number of slides document the exhibit open to the public, and include images of visitors interacting with the Sony Navicam. Most of the diapositive photographs and a small number of slides were taken by Fujitsuka Mitsumasa, a photographer of architecture based in Tokyo.

A second VHS tape in the archive provides in-depth documentation of the Interrupted Projections exhibition, containing 45 minutes of raw video footage that explores Gallery MA and surrounding areas of Tokyo.

The Interrupted Projections book contains in print the text and images from the installation and website. It was written by Denari and designed by Michiharu Shimoda, a graphic designer and underground trip-hop artist who was also responsible for the design of the fictional logos used in the exhibit. The book acts as an extension of the content of the show, as well as exhibition catalogue, and covers Denari’s other projects represented in the show.

The series also contains a small amount of promotional media for Interrupted Projections, including one large and two small posters, a postcard, and a t-shirt.

Reference number:

AP168.S1

Physical characteristics and technical requirements:

Digital files in this series must be viewed used Softimage 2014, available on the CAD workstation located in the library reading room.

Arrangement:
Material in this series is arranged at the file-level according to material type, based on the organization done by Denari in anticipation of being donated to CCA.