Everyone you know, everyone you knew, and everyone you will meet- whatevever you know about them, and your entire relationship, began with an introduction. When I realized this, I began to look at the word “Introduce” not as the field, but as the door to get there. An introduction is the first step, the surface layer that leads to a deeper, fuller, and more substantial knowledge of who a person is (or what anything is, for that matter).

With that in mind, I set a collection of boxes out along the line. Each one had a question written on it, with paper available for people to answer. The questions were; “Tell me about your day,” “What is your greatest dream or ambition?” “What is your favorite thing to do?” “Make a quick sketch of yourself” “Decorate the paper however you want” and “Write a quick memory.” Most of these were placed in Harder hall or Cohen Studio, however, one unfortunate box got placed in the engineering building, and thus got no answers. What I draw from this is that Art students are undeniably and irrefutably better than engineering students, and that engineering students as a whole are boring.

However, I took the answers I recieved and recorded them, and projected them through a pot turned upside down. I decorated the inside of the pot with the sketches and decorated paper people put in the respective boxes, as to put faces to voices, as well as lend a more abstract introduction to each person’s own self-image, and how their mind works. As a whole, I wanted the project to show how the quantity of information and experiences that can be gained through something as simple as an introduction.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YghJzJY5y0A&feature=channel_video_title

Introductions to new people, to new things, to new places, and new ideas are very surface-level. In an introduction, information is displayed, and given. It’s not coded, or analyzed, and it’s not more than the tip of the iceburg. But an introduction leads to all those things; an introduction to something is the baseline for getting to know it better. In order to delve into the mysteries and secrets of something, you first have to meet it. I wanted to capture this duality in reference to the line: what, after all, IS the line?

The outside of the dome (which I am using a large planter for) will be covered in photos of mundane, superficial sights on the line. Something that anyone could see walking down it; a basic overview. On the inside, however, will be representations of all the things it’s possible to learn about if you dig a little deeper: If you work with, and expand on the introductions you witness on it (And thus, be introduced to even new things). The people on the line, the things on the line, the places: they all have stories. And to tell them, I’ll use everything from paintings to ideas collected from the people themselves.

Idea #2: My second proposal was an installation. Two chairs, and little more than that, besides a set of instructions. I would set them out, and have people sit in them, and simply introduce themselves to each other. Weather they continued the conversation after that is up to them: the simple act of introduction letting the minds of the victims being to work, and process what the true nature of an introduction is.

Idea #3: My last idea is something of a Line-Cross-Over. There are so many different parts to the line: I would introdice one half of it to the other. For example, the polar opposite sides of the line are forest, and a parking lot. Following the idea, the parking lot (Cars in the form of hotwheels, and possibly cardboard/tin foil automobiles) would be introduced to the forest, where trees, leaves, and foliage would be inroduced to the parking lot, and so on with the corresponding parts of the line. The contrast would highlight how much environments so close to each other (Inside vs Outside, forest vs parking lot) are still such utter strangers.

Here, I photographed things I found that had to be introduced by a human presence.

The construction means a new building is being introduced to the Alfred State Campus:

For example: the name tag with the sun behind it in this picture may make it seem sincere and helpful,

While in this picture it’s coming across more sarcastic, and possibly commenting on the idea of service people being treated more like a means to and end than people.

Here are some other situations I put the name tag in:

“This party is stupid.” He said, sitting on the couch next to his closest friends. Of course, he’s in college now, and this was back in high school: so he doesn’t actually remember the names of these people, or really what they looked like, or even if he liked them or not. He just really knew that they were friends at the time, and it’s all insignificant now anyway, because there’s really only one thing that they ever did for him. That he remembers. And it happened at this stupid party.

Let’s just call them Darth and Spock.

“Shut up, Ryan,” Spock said, playing some sort of video game, and apparently losing. “The girls haven’t gotten here yet.”

Ryan looked around the small-ish room of tenth-grade boys– sitting around with donuts and cheese-doodles playing video games in isolated groups around the T.V and computer– and hoped to himself that the girls would never get there.

Another twenty minutes passed. And Ryan changed his mind, he wanted at least someone interesting to talk to, and no one at that “party” was much into talking.

After yet another ten minutes, he couldn’t take it anymore. He exploded. “SPOCK! This party is stupid! You’re stupid! I hate your guts and I should never have made friends with you, I’m leaving!”

Well, at least that’s what he remembers saying, and he distinctly remembers storming out of the house and never associating with any of the ever again, but it went more like this:

“SPOCK!…”

Spock and Darth didn’t turn their heads from the T.V. Spock was winning now.

“I’m going to get like, a drink or something. Do you want anything?”

“Nah,” He said.

“Get me a soda.” Darth said.

“No.”

And he walked to the kitchen. At this point, he distinctly remembers climbing out the window, putting on his sun glasses, whipping out some sort of really, really clever pun, and riding away on his motorcycle with Natalie Portman sitting on the back.

Instead, he opened the cabinet, pulled out a glass, and winced as every other glass on all the other shelves came crashing down to the floor with it. Standing in the pile of broken glass, he peeked around the corner to the other room. None of them had moved.

So he searched the room for a broom, but could only find a dust pan. Walking around the house, stepping over guys with their faces in Gameboy DS’s, he found a vacuum. Dragging it into the kitchen, he found an outlet and began to clean up the glass. Just a few seconds after a particularly large chunk of broken glass got sucked up, the vacuum started to make some loud, crunching noises and tearing sounds. Panicked, Ryan tugged at the cord to unplug the machine. But he was having a difficult time, so he tugged harder. Before he really knew what was going on, the outlet burst into flames and the vacuum exploded. He looked into the other room, and none of the boys had moved.

Going to the sink, Ryan yelled to the other room; “Spock! When are your parents getting home?”

There was a pause. “I don’t know, like, maybe in a few hours.”

He turned on the water, and stretched the hose as far as it would reach. With sweat beading on his forehead, he pulled the trigger. He let out a sigh of relief when he saw the water reach the flaming outlet, and he became slightly more anxious when the outlet sparked, fizzled, and then exploded into flames so high, the ceiling caught fire.

The door handle wiggled. Ryan froze.

Before he could so much as stop the flow of water from the hose, the door slammed open, and three girls walked in like they owned the place.

In the middle was probably the coolest girl in the tenth grade… Rochelle. He’d never met her, but he’d seen her in school, and he’d heard about her. It was love at first sight.

The other two girls went and did something. He doesn’t really remember, but it seemed like they vanished. Or maybe they were never actually there. It doesn’t matter. He also could’ve sworn she was wearing a skin-tight, black leather jumpsuit, but she always claims she was in a hoodie and jeans.

“Are we burning Spock’s house down?” She asked. And smirked. “Cool.”

They looked deeply into each others eyes for a moment, and then laughed.

“I think we should put it out.” She said, after they stood there for a minute or two. Or maybe it was longer. It was long enough to start getting kind of awkward.

“Why don’t you… try and find a way to put out the fire on the ceiling?” he asked, trying to be seductive.

“Alright,” she said, and sauntered by him. Bewitchingly.

It seemed like only a second she was gone, because he completely zoned out, thinking of the life him and his new soul-mate would have together.

But when she came back, she said “I turned on all the faucets upstairs. The water should come through and put out the fire down here… we don’t have anything to worry about.”

“You’re brilliant…” He sighed, and stroked her face.

“I know,” she said, smiling. And they walked out of the house together, holding hands.

They walked for a long time; all the way to the little park by the lake, looking at nothing but each other the entire way there.

“Rochelle?” Ryan said, getting down on one knee.

“Yes, Ryan?” She said, holding her heart.

“Will you… follow me to college?”

“Of course I will!” She screamed, jumping at him. They hugged each other so tightly, felt the bond they shared as if it were tangible, and heard each other’s heart beats. Or, they both remember it at each other’s heartbeats. In reality, it was a procession of fire trucks and other emergency vehicles with blaring sirens driving in the direction they had come from.

And they did, eventually, follow each other to college, after an entire high school career of bliss and togetherness. And, it seems apparent, that they continued their happily ever after in Alfred, New York.

1. As Samantha got off the bus, she would never have suspected she would be tackled by a girl hollering in a british accent; “HAVE YOU MET MY FRIEND? YOU SHOULD MEET MY FRIEND, SHE’S LOVELY!” She took it rather well. We’ll be friends forever.

2 & 3. Next, we hunted down two boys making thier way innocently along. Shuyler again introduced me, and again, there was a real connection between me & Schuyler and Ed & Jacob. (Jacob was kind of quiet and awkward about it, but Ed played along nicely. Thanks, Ed.)

4. After feeling as though we sufficiently weirded out induviduals at A-state, we decided it was time to make an entire group uncomfortable simultaneously. As the bus pulled up to the stop, and let people out, me and Schuyler preyed on those that could not escape. We yelled out introductions (Still in a british accent) to every person that came off the bus. We got perhaps two waves in return, no names, and a plethora of odd, dirty looks.

5. After this crushing disappointment, I– in a desperate attempt to fulfill the longing in my soul for reciprocated social interaction– waved at a car full of people (A wave can be a simpler, more unofficial form of introdction). They stared at me, and drove away.

1. I ran into Hannah, who was also working on her “Line” project, and Valerie introduced me as such: “This is Stephanie Bahor, she’s from Ireland and loves pickles!” (Only the name part being true. I’m pretty sure Hannah wasn’t listening. And if she was, she didn’t believe Valerie.) We had a short conversation about the Line, and I ended up letting her borrow my camera to take pictures of her project (I learned that her word is “Tubular”). As before, our shared experience of Foundations significantly changed the introduction, and what the introduction led to.

2, 3, & 4. In Cohen Studio, we came across Dan, Kate, and Camille. Being over-enthusiastic, Stephanie and Valerie both introduced me as seperate people. Stephanie introduced me as an Ex-Convict (To which I got the reactions; “I can see it,” (referring to my face) and “Why’d you quit?”) Valerie introduced me as a reincarnated barbarian. But the three soon lost interest in my introduction, and moved on. (Camille escaped before I could take her picture, and Dan was completely unaware that a picture was being taken at all.)

5 & 6. To Schuyler and Belle, Stephanie introduced me as “A tree.” Because Schuyler was also doing her Line Project, and because her word was “Dramatic,” she said “A tree?! Thats BEAUTIFUL!” and then started to cry.

After this encounter, Stephanie became too shy to introdce me to anyone, because we were arriving on Alfred State campus, and I guess the poeple at A-State are pretty scary.

7 & 8: So when I ran into Ryan and Rochelle (I couldn’t take a photo of them), I first introduced myself, and then introduced them to each other. I also asked how they were first introduced: they met in high school through mutual friends at a party.

Unfortunately, I wasn’t able to keep the specimens in my collection. But when there is a certain word that dictates, defines, and fabricates the lens through which you see things: and when that word happens to be “INTRODUCE” its hard to keep your mind from jumping instantaneously to this: introducing yourself to people.

And that is exactly what I did. I walked The Line for the thousand-and-sixteenth time and introduced myself to whoever caught my interest, and who didn’t seem to be too busy to make my acquaintance. (Or who didn’t ignore me.)

The first ten people I ran across, I simply said; “Hi, my name is Stephanie. It’s nice to meet you, what’s your name?” (And “Can I take a picture with you?”)

1. I first met Elizabeth, I forgot to ask for a picture. She most likely thought I was mentally unstable or intoxicated, and walked away before I got more than her name.

2 & 3.  The next two people I met were Rob (Right) and Dan (Left). I got hand shakes, a picture, and names, but they didn’t feel like striking up a conversation. They must’ve been in a hurry.

4. The next person I ran across was Mariel. I found it interesting how our history and prior knowledge of each other made the introduction both less awkward and more fun. It changed the introduction, because I already knew her name.

5. A similar situation happened in my fifth encounter, where I ran into AJ (also from my class) and introduced myself to her. Because we knew eachother already, we exchanged a bit of conversation before moving on: She told me about her Art History test that she hated, and didn’texpect to do well on, (I believe in her) and that it happened to be “Art of The Pacific Isles.”

6. Next, I found a gentleman sitting on a bench. His name was Christian, and I gathered that I made him feel awkward (I found that this reaction was getting old, fast), and he agreed to take a picture with me. Because I found him in the art building, I assumed he was an art student, and because I had never met him before, I assumed he was an upper-classman.

7 & 8. I ran into (I assume) two professors conversing in the art building. Consequently, one’s name was also Stephanie(Right) (she commented on our commonality) and the other was Hope (left). When I asked for their picture, they concluded that I was doing an art project, and asked about it. I went on to describe “The Line” and my mission in relation to it. I took note of Stephanie’s exceptionally green eyes.

9 & 10. Aaron (left) and Brian (right) were, I gathered, very different. When I introduced myself to Brian, he smiled, and seemed unperturbed. However, Aaron looked at me like the creature from black lagoon. And when it came time for me to ask for thier picture, you should’ve seen his face. He turned to give his buddy, Brian, a wide-eyed, incredulous look, but when Brian agreed, he did as well. He thought he was all-that. I liked Brian better.

My name is Stephanie.

I don’t really prefer one over the other,

But my friends usually call me Steph.

Whats your name?

It’s absolutely,

positively,

A pleasure to meet you.

To Introduce: As defined by Dictionary.com:

1.to present (a person) to another so as to make acquainted.

2.to acquaint (two or more persons) with each other personally: Will you introduce us?

3.to present (a person, product, etc.) to a particular group of individuals or to the general public for or as if for the first time by a formal act, announcement, series of recommendations or events, etc.: to introduce a debutante to society.

4.to bring (a person) to first knowledge or experience of something: to introduce someone to skiing.

5.to create, bring into notice, use, etc., for or as if for the first time; institute: to introduce a new procedure.

Aren’t INTRODUCTIONS a pain? Watch this breif instructional video, and never have an awkward inroduction again:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C0eu8OQ-cfQ&feature=related

 

Here are a few introductions that went down in history:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i3W5GDkgf2w

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g2wD5TaMf2k

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h6sj89xgnl4

Introduce, Introduced, Introducing, Introduction

Afterwards, for another exploration (Exploration #17, Instant Sculpture), I put the objects together in a sculpture. I let the sculpture be more intuation based and controlled by the objects themselves, rather than forcing them into a shape that was less natural to them. The sculpture is like a puzzle; I put the objects together in places they fit best. Some of the objects ended up not meshing with the others well, and were left out. This is my result: