It is Monday. I am composing an email. The sun is setting upon the building outside my window. 

The shallowness of the winter sun projects a stark shadow on the wall beyond. 

Next to this stark shadow lay a soft, gentle shadow. 

Each lay there, together.
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Perhaps tomorrow they won't cross paths but for today, they are friends.

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A multimedia project interested in gaining a deeper understanding of the everyday. The everyday is not something ordinary or banal, (although that might be how it is perceived). Our lives hold more beauty and depth to them than we give credit. Our minds are incredibly complex. They consume and store immense amounts of information. This information is not all bundled together in events such as holidays and birthdays. Rather, so much of our memories are of the everyday. The everyday is composed of millions of moments. These moments are the essence of life. 
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(Perception of the Everyday) looks to visualize the idea of the everyday. Here before you is my everyday while abroad. The everyday is fast moving. The moments come and go before you may be ready. During moments, we live…  After the moments, We think.    We analyze.    We dissect.    We connect.    We hypothesize.

Given the fast moving nature of the everyday, these moments are only shown briefly. Each clip has a number which corresponds to a plate of text. This allows the audience to re-experience the memory through these thoughts, analyses, dissections, and hypotheses. 

Maxwell Rodencal - 2019 - Milwaukee, WI

001_Stroller Highway

A place where the worlds of work and home intersect. The stroller highway. Mothers are accompanied on their midday stroll by their children. Getting fresh air, the mothers are met with businessmen who also come to this place in search of fresh air. But it is more than that I imagine. The fluid nature of this boulevard has to be what brings these men here. Perched on his bench, the old man has a live film before his eyes. With subjects moving through the screen, stories surface, develop, and again move on and out of frame. The curious man sits on the edge of the bench. Not as an owner of the bench, but an observer. But an observer not quite complacent with just observing. The man yearns for interaction. The bench looks almost as if it will tip over if a stranger does not bring it back to equilibrium by joining him. The boulevard is no longer only a destination with fresh air, for it has become a place of possible interaction.

003_Bonjour

Two friends exchange greetings outside the public market. In a town where very few people speak my language, I am forced to seek out any information I can to fill the unknown gaps of my understanding. Bonjour, a word that means far more to me than any other word in the french dictionary. Within this setting bonjour, a word that simply means “hello” turns into that of connection, familiarity, and friendship.

011_Auditorium

Three girls prepare their choreographed piece in the shadows of the art museum auditorium. Although it is dark and out of sunlight, the reflection off the glass of the auditorium foyer has become their favored dance studio for its coolness, studio mirror, and low profile location.​

026_Flea

Three girls prepare their choreographed piece in the shadows of the art museum auditorium. Although it is dark and out of sunlight, the reflection off the glass of the auditorium foyer has become their favored dance studio for its coolness, studio mirror, and low profile location.​

036_Beauty

The collaboration of the architect, singer, and painter in perfect harmony. The point in time which all works come together to produce something special. Most experiences only ignite several senses at a time, but with an abundance of senses, your experience is heightened. Visiting even your favorite cathedral in the world could be underwhelming until you experience the feeling of the wooden floorboards creaking from underneath your feet as you pull the handle of the oversized door open. The voice coming from far into the naive projected from the podium echoes through the grand hall.

040_David

The sculpture of David, much larger in person than one might have thought shines above all of the unfinished works from the past. The unborn sculptures live in the gloomy hallway, gifted only with artificial lights not bright enough to capture their true beauty. The rough surface of their skin unfinished appears purely scrappy leading visitors to what they really came for; David. With an abundance of light, David's perfect human figure in contrapposto gets all the praise. The once quiet gallery is filled with noise from the ill-mannered guests.

041_Recycled Prayers

The clanking of votive candles break the silence in the cathedral as they fall into a plastic trash bag, never to see light again. Although he is in quite a hurry, the custodians boss stops to assign him additional tasks for the day.

049_Axis | Access

Ducks travel from far and wide along the central axis to be greeted by a friendly man willing to sacrifice his afternoon snacks in exchange for an interaction with nature in the world's greatest (man-orchestrated) garden.

054_Time Stamp

The city, country, and world, interconnecting at a single point in time maneuvering amongst one another. Each life for a brief instance has the capacity to disrupt/ warp the path in time in which others exist in the world.

067_The Magazine Stand

Out in front of the cafe, the people really act as advertisements for the establishment. What is their demeanor? How are they dressed? Are they eating or just having cocktails? Are they doing things I want to be doing? These people have become a living magazine stand for this cafe. We may not realize it, but we are commonly interested in the people rather than the place itself. They are doing the advertising for them.

073_Leaves

When I think of leaves, I think of Fall. Dry leaves rattling from the branches above as the wind sweeps through. Trees shedding their beautiful leaves onto the green lawns. Leaves being raked into piles by rusty old rakes rattling back and forth as the individual forks get pulled back by tiny loops of grass. Neighborhood kids jumping into piles of leaves and laughing with one another. Every memory I have had with leaves, I have been engaged audibly in some way.  One of the quietest rooms I have ever been in. It was surrounded by walls of leaves. It is my only memory with leaves lacking sound. But it was quiet. It was beautiful.

079_Cool Calm Collected

There is something so odd and entertaining watching Parisians act in public. A city on the move. Yet everyone always appears so calm, minding their own business. They are in their own world, unbothered by their surroundings. Everyone is in a hurry, yet at the same time, no one is in a hurry. On countless occasions, I have watched people run to get into the train. They are so close, then the doors shut in their face. They suddenly lost interest in that train. It appears they didn’t even want to take that train. No emotions. No Frustration. Everyone simply turns around and waits for the next train.

083_Ice Skating

Something about this space reminded me of a skating rink. Foreign personalities dancing around one another. Everyone is dancing to the same song. The voids between pairs or groups are inviting for new dance. Each group moves among the others. Perfectly gliding between obstacles, finding new ground. The openness of this space allowed for so much intertwining of individuals. I could spend hours watching one pair of skates weave through the masses. Losing vision. Then finding them once again. Focusing on one pair of dancers, I could imagine watching them slowly wander into the sea of other dancers.

096_Air-crate

The only air entering my lungs is recycled, stuffy air which is unlife-like. Looking down from afar, the city is out of my grasp. The only life I can connect with is the flashing at the end of the wing which unlike I, is being spoiled with fresh air. Meanwhile my body and self suffers, trapped in this vacuum of stale air with all of the other obnoxious travelers. Them like myself, sit uneasy in the long narrow room eager to reconnect with Earth. The only sign of circulating air is the sound of it being blasted out of a mechanical nostril from above.

103_Isolation

So many times I have seen these human hamster balls. Looking into understanding why people pay to play in those, does it make any sense at all? It is very hot out and this is your chance to interact with the cool, refreshing water. You can laugh and play in it. Or just relax in it. But once you get into this ball, what is the actual experience? Isolated from fresh air, and the cool refreshing water you wished to interact with in the first place. These balls are purely teasers. This is the closest you will ever be from interacting with water without getting the rewarding experience in return.

(Perception of the Everyday)

Above is a limited selection of plates corresponding to the film from the full exhibit.
The full exhibit was originally displayed in the SARUP Alcove in the Fall of 2019.
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For any additional questions or comments, contact Maxwell Rodencal at mcr254@cornell.edu