A splitchef trial- Final Project Test Run (my perspective)

 

Disclaimer: Do look at all our OSS for the roles and perspectives  of all the different players and moderators involved!


 

For our final project, Dion, Joel, Bryan and I wanted to utilise an idea of a 3rd space cooking project to fulfil all elements we have learnt from Experimental Interaction. We call it Split Chef.

Essentially, this project entails two group of people: the moderators and the players. The players will further split into two sections: one being the cooker who looks at the drawings while the other one is the drawer. The moderators will be the one ensuring the process is running smoothly and ensuring the project is not compromised in any way.

The project starts with the drawer drawing out the ingredients needed and showing it to the cooker through Insta-live. The cooker will have to identify and guess, afterwhich proceed to buy all of the ingredients. This applies for the later section where the drawer will draw the recipe and the cooker looking at it to guess how to execute the cooking process.

DIWO applies where we use many people’s action to snowball into a final product. Glitch applies when we see an ingredient out of its conventional usage or capability, since the cooker would not know what the ingredients are for. 3rd space is used through the completely “handicapped” Instalive drawing communication without linguistic cues. We also hope to use Instalive’s comment section as a crowdsource opinion/helpline.

 

If you haven’t seen the video on any of Dion, Joel and Bryan’s OSS, here are the videos of the test run.

As a moderator, we wanted to ensure the sanctity of the project is run through, which was to create a dish through non-linguistic communication via a 3rd space, and without prior notice of what the dish. It was tough ensuring that there were not any loop holes that would tarnish this purpose.

Set-up

The set-up was difficult as we had to think of a recipe that would involve several elements, and we couldn’t ask Bryan or Joel for opinions since they were the players for the test run.

The recipe we are going to use have to avoid all of these potential problems:

Number one, the dish couldn’t be too easy to replicate or have too little fundamental steps of cooking. Pasta would be too easy since its boiling noodles and adding a heated sauce. There weren’t dexterous steps that can be complicated with non-linguistic cues like drawing.

Number two, we have to select players according to how we want our final project to be. Essentially there are players who have stronger cooking instincts as cooking is an process drawn on experience, and that experience can change how the players approach this project. For example, Joel was experienced enough to understand that some ingredients selected was theoretically “correct”. He picked out lime after seeing the previous ingredient of tobasco sauce.

Number three, we have to ensure a strict budget in case the players assume that there is an ingredient needed that wasn’t on the intended recipe. For example, Joel bought a bag of dumplings thinking that it was the key ingredient, where it is in fact, shell pasta.

Shell Pasta- Dumpling

Number four, adding on tho the shell pasta. It is not actually a key ingredient, but in fact it is an ingredient used to throw the players off a linear thought. This is done so because we did not want the players to assume that they are cooking a specific dish because they are seeing some key ingredients, such a as the tortilla wrap they had bought prior to this.

Tortilla Wrap

Number five, if you have seen Joel’s OSS, you would know that a small chicken was bought in the process of grocery shopping. As a moderator, this snowballed a chain of wasted time since the chicken took a longer time than expected to defrost and this would be a problem on the actual shoot day since we would be asking people out of this team to perform the SplitChef routine. We would have to dissect this problem of time consuming glitches without interrupting the sanctity of this project.

A last minor problem, the lady at the supermarket wasn’t very happy that Joel and I were filming inside the supermarket. But at that point of time, we were mostly finished, so oh well.

Cooking

The cooking process itself was involved with a lot of trouble shooting.

Number one, the pantry we borrowed was ideal as it was near the supermarket. We had followed Lei’s advice of choosing a location near the market in case the players lose their mojo of cooking since we do not want the excitement of the project to lose its momentum. However, we did not know how thick Hall 2’s walls are as the walls completely blocked out our phone’s data and wifi. This created a heap of mess as our 3rd space communication was impeded, and that was a problem since this communication is what builds our project. We had to borrow wifi from a student living beside the pantry, but that wasn’t ideal also since the wifi itself was 1 bar and barely sustaining.

glitched out so bad

Number two, as moderators, we did not prep the area well as we lacked in a lot of equipments. We did not have enough oil or even a  chopping board, which was quite a comical sight.

chicken on the pantry
panning the pans

Number three, we had to familiarise the environment. Even though we brought pans (courtesy of Joel’s house), the induction cooker there was crazy and didn’t work well with his pan. This resulted in only one working induction and this might be a problem on the actual day.

Number four, as moderators we do not know how extensive we want to be with our rules and regulations. In this project, we function on the idea of non-linguistic cues as highlighted before. However, when we see the process of the cooker and drawer “communicating”, we can more or less tell if they are heading for the right direction. In cases where we can tell that certain decisions wouldn’t end well, we do not know if we can allow the cooker to proceed out of the drawer’s direction. For example, our friend Zhen qi who helped us draw, drew a “20s”beside a chicken. This created an assumption on Joel’s part to cook the chicken for 20 seconds, which was ludicrous. He asked if he can continue cooking beyond the 20seconds and we didn’t know how to proceed from there.

This snowballed into a lot of problem as  we realised that we had to be strict with our rules in case the project falls out of its initial intentions.


Lastly, since I was on site with Joel, the cooker, we experienced a lot of problems communicating with the drawers, Bryan and Zhenqi, as well as the other moderator, Dion. We realised that there were a lot of set up issues in accordance to the camera angle and time spent waiting. Breaking this into two points: Firstly, it is a process thats bent heavily towards a strictly timed process, we tend to forget that and waste a lot of time idling or waiting for things to happen. Secondly, this time wasted maybe unprofessional on the day itself when we invite people to play Split Chef with us.

 

Overall, it wasn’t that bad of a test run as it allowed us to see the minor defects in the process. There were small hiccups here and there but overall the ideation was clear and smooth. Looking forward to the actual shoot.

A room of lights: Micro-Project 7 Video Selfie

Project 7 pushes us to seek out our own online identity by using a short clip to express ourselves. With a camera, a location, some soundtrack and numerous retakes, we attempt to create an identity we want to become.

The location I chose to shoot my video in would be my hall room, which is just a representation of anywhere that I find comfort in, where I can be myself and squirm away from the terror of everyday life. Identifying a place where I can be myself helps to generate the alter-ego I want as it is often the side of you where you hide from the rest of the world.

Video timeline:

In this video, it starts off with a blank and black page. Then a flicker of light shines as the soundtrack of SuperMario plays. My alter-ego, being myself, on the white faerie light in line with the increasing beat. Then as the beat gets stronger, I switch the colourful faerie lights on. Thereafter, as the rhythm continues, I on a colourful lamp, switching the shades according to the beat of the soundtrack. As the rhythm descends, I off the lights one by one in sequence of how I on-ed it.

This video identifies my alter-ego as an art student, I love to explore colours and light as a medium. In graphic work, colours play a role in pushing characters to the foreground. In form crafting, lights help to give soul to the sculptures. In photography, colours and light are trapped within a frame, forever petrified.

Hence, I enjoy having a work environment where there are lights and colours as they are visually stimulating, pushing my art alter-ego to the surface. The video shows the actual arrangement of how my desk is typically like everyday.

Music choice

I chose Super Mario’s soundtrack as it is upbeat and it has an intrinsically colourful visuals. It has a strong implicit memory and nostalgia for students my age as it was the game to play growing up. It has a colourful theme and design, shaping how I see the world.

Influence

This video is similar to the one I did for last semester’s project, linked as : https://oss.adm.ntu.edu.sg/bren0022/a-coffin-project-4-poetics-of-time/

This video stems from another perspective as it describes more of the way I think or function. Colours and light are visually stimulating, thus helping me to brainstorm better.

An add on to the James Turrell influence explained in the OSS post highlighted above, I find light and colours able to speak more about a space. Colours and light help to identify the characteristics of a space, telling its story to the audience, which is what I strive towards as an art student.

Answering the questions

This video helps to alter identity as in a physical sense, the audience have never travelled into my environment of comfort, such as my desk full of lights, hence it is a character never before seen. It is a persona only perceivable, but not touchable. This means that communication only runs in on direction and that is from my alter-ego, to the audience. This creates a strong sense of control as an artist, pushing out an identity I want to be perceived by the audience. Doing so, identities can be concealed as I show what I want to show.

The lights around me contribute to building a character as without it, it is only a blank and black screen. The lights help to blow up details and highlight features. Not only is the light physically functional, it is also symbolically specific to me. On the foreground, the lights help to make the visuals of the video interesting, hence making my alter-ego pop out against the dark walls. Within the psychological construction, audience understand that the lights are there for a reason, resulting in colourful flashes shown in the video.

A Kokopelli’s Sound Shaper part 2- Finalisation

After the first review, we had a lot more interesting ideas given by Cheryl as well as the class. We know that there were a few changes necessary to make the final work even better, as listed below:

  • Remove the “kaze” shell that covers the inner mechanics of the final product

  • Tighten the mechanics and ensure that parts and pieces do not fall out of place

  • Install a “pin ball” mechanics to amplify the sound that runs through the final product.

First review

We thought it was interesting to have a pin ball machine installed on the back of the final product as through this way we could control how long the sound can be shaped into. However, it would be a hard task as the design is structured to serve a specific function, which is to mimic a Japanese fan-like wings. In attempts to creating a  pin ball machine at the back, we would have to structure the space properly to ensure maximum efficiency.

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Pinball Machine Brainstorm

We added wooden panels into the design as we intended to create a stronger percussion/acoustic sound when the marble is dropped into the system. It emulates a pinball machine, with each panel placed slanted at an angle to facilitate the marble falling into funnel catchment area.

First Design
Wooden Stoppers

Apart from the usual wooden flanks to direct the pin ball down, we inserted small wooden poles into the system, this is to create a longer soundscape as the marble has to move through the wooden poles to reach the catchment area, shown above.

wooden planks

The placement of the wooden planks are also interesting as we had to place it at angles where the marble can flow down smoothly and making sharp and strong sounds, without being stopped at any point.

final pin ball layout
experiment with planks

We experimented with bamboo poles by heating it, allowing the fibres to be softened enough to bend. This bend allows the marble to roll and create an undulating sound of movement, however, it didn’t work out. We also tried to use the curved bamboo pole to hold down the pipe that serves as a tubing for the marble, but that didn’t work very well in terms of enabling dexterity.

Softening the hose

We also used the heat gun to make the hose more malleable, creating the tubing that directs the marble into the pin ball system.

Mechanisms

Hole in tube

We used heat gun to soften the hose, which allows us to easily cut through it to create a hole that allows the marble to fall out of. This hole becomes the input that directs the marble downwards, through the pinball machine.

Obstacles

These wooden poles or planks act as redirection method common in most pinball machine. They not only elongate the sound of the final product, but also allow us to create a composition of mix and matches of sound. For example, the sound of the marble hitting the poles or the sound of the marble rolling down the wooden plank at an angle.

catchment area

We created a catchment area through the shape of a funnel that is detachable. We called it the cartridge. This cartridge allows us to insert it into the base of the product when catching the marbles. However, when we are restarting the pin ball system, we can take it out to transfer the marbles to the other cartridges.

Pinball

The final composition of the pinball machine as shown above.

The Cicada’s wings

Demonstration

spreading of the cicada wings

The video above shows the demonstration, as well as final presentation of the cicada wings. The clip highlights the sound achieved with the final product.

Visualisation

perspective drawing of the product with kokopelli
joel as the secret cicada
spreading the wings
perspective drawing draft

Range of movement and sound lexicon

 

sound lexicon

Learning Points

Although the presentation wasn’t fantastic in terms of the execution, where the marbles did not come out of the system efficiently, we understood that there were errors in the choice of material. This choice of material could have been more sustainable and dexterous, such as wooden panels pointed out by Cheryl after our post-mortem check.

Wood would have been an easier material to create a sturdier structure in terms of holding everything together. The acrylic board and styrofoam of our product did not hold together due to prolonged wear and tear. It was functional in terms of its intended mechanism so that is good.

A crocodile king and his dentist

A description of a crocodile and plover bird’s perspective, senses and movements.


Billabong King Crocodile-  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JfcUXdWIyaA

The King looks for lunch (03:58)

The Billabong King Crocodile is a massive creature, scaring the little crocodiles in the river with his status as the alpha crocodile. He stares into the murky water, waiting for the right time to ambush the tinier crocodile. The Kings eyes, ears and nose are built on the top of his skull, allowing him to see, hear and smell even though he is completely submerged. His acute sense of smell allows him to smell food distances away even when the water is too murky to see anything. He stays afloat in the middle of the river, motionless like a statue. Swift but quick, he sneaks up the little crocodile with food and slams hard into the little crocodile, forcing it to release the food.He relies on his acute sense of judgement, a force imbedded into him by nature, judging whether a particular situation is necessary for him to react or not.

The Billabong King is graceful in the water, swerving from left to right like a snake slithering on land. Its tiny arms gently raised afloat in the water, not touching the ground at all. With one push, it propels forward like a jet of water, ambushing the little crocodile. It grabs onto the duck with its jaws, locked shut. It unlocks its jaws and allows the duck to be swallowed whole, it munches and munches, finally swallowing the last of the visible feathers. Satisfied with its recent meal, it slowly seeps back into the river bed, descending down with grace.

The Egyptian Dentist Mr Plover (2:10)

The Plover bird- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_LT2TCARZmE

Mr Plover the Dentist came flying over, even though Mr Plover normally only helps African Crocodiles, deciding to comfort the King after hearing his sad life.He flew over the vast sky, but flying against the wind current was too difficult with his tiny little body. He went down a few metres to the gentle wind, gliding over the forest with breeze. The rustling of the tree could be heard as Mr Plover flew through tree branches with ease. He saw the King

Mr Plover sits on the King’s opened mouth, picking out food for himself, while cleaning the King’s mouth at the same time. The King was due for an infection. This was mutualism as both the King and Mr Plover benefitted. This is a symbiotic relationship.All Mr Plover could see was the darkness that began from deep within the Kings throat, pinkish hue that brightens out into the gummy flesh. Each and every peck chirping onto each tooth- and the King had many teeth. Mr Plover held onto his footing by grabbing on one big tooth for support. The roof of the King’s mouth became a shelter for Mr Plova to hide from the sun, pecking away while the King laid absolutely still, in case he got hungry again.

The King has a throne fight (8:08)

The King swims around the river with his eyes above the surface, patrolling his territory. He swerves from left to right, gently, just so to focus on the environment for enemies or potential mates. His movements start from his snout, jiggling in a wave-like motion to his tail, in an undulating S-shape. The moment he spots a foe, he slips back into the water like a shadow disappearing upon touching light. He reappears in front of the enemy, staring into each other, motioning in circle to test out each other’s patience. No one blinks.The king raises his scaly body that is covered with hardened scale to intimidate the enemy, only to receive an equal response. He uses his massive tail to slam the challenger, swerving a whole 360 degrees. The enemy gets pushes back a whole metre. The king wins. He follows and pursuits the challenger, with his head above the water and nothing else but ripple following his movement, similar to a jet-ski propelling overthe water. The loser swims away in a desperate plea.

The King finds a Queen(10:49)

The King travels a great distance to find the rumbling sound made by his potential Queen. The King blows bubble out of his snout to increase his libido, enticing the Queen. Bubbles made it adequate. The Queen raises her snout, allowing the King to come and make royal babies with her. (Censored)

The Queen finds a home on land(13:37)

It is a pity that the Billabong King Crocodile is destined to live a life of solitude. He leaves the Queen to fend for herself and  the Queen went off finding a home for the children and her. She paddles across the river with her eyes above the water level, this time with less grace and agility. The Queen steps out of the water and  onto the land to set up her home, fiercely protecting the nest she built. She waddles alternately with her front left leg-hind right leg, and from right leg—hind left leg. Pop and 80 eggs came out. It was too dark to see anything.

The King misses her (15:50)

Its the morning after she left. The King cannot move as it was too warm. He just laid there motionless on the ground. The nearby wallaby came out to play while the king was motionless on the ground, where he was slow and weak. The King goes into the water, lurking in a distance, staring at the every movement of the wallaby. The strategy of the King is clear now, looking from a far, proceeding over by lurking within the water, hardly a ripple, and then jumping out with his jaws open at 12 meters per second. Breakfast. He swerves from left to right with the wallaby in his jaws, again in an elastic S-shape, tearing the wallaby into pieces.

(24:15)  The King cannot move on a hot day. He depended the vessels on his scaly back to be heated up by the sun. This meant that he couldn’t move for a long while. He just laid there by the riverbed, with his jaws ajar, staring into the distance for preys or predator. He opened his mouth to cool down and  could then thin clearly from the heat.

The Young Prince (28:30)

A few months past and the hatchlings broke out of the shell. The little prince has to withstand the. cruel world and try to survive. The only difference between the Prince and the King is that the Prince can only hunt for food on land. He is an adaptable hunter by blood. He waddles across the muddy field, chasing after mudskippers and crabs, who are much easier and less mobile targets, albeit satisfying. He pops his head forward to eat the mudskipper, and promptly plod back into the water.

A research critique 3

In micro-project 5, we embarked on the art of destruction, referencing to glitch art and the Ant Farm style.

 

(https://oss.adm.ntu.edu.sg/dion0011/micro-project-4-the-art-of-destruction/) 

Our project (the bucket) explores on three main themes, consisting of: functionality, death of functionality and rejuvenation of said functionality. These themes fall in line with the theories we have learnt from the multi-directional approach of glitch art and the flexibility of Ant Farm teachings, which I will explain below.

Breaking visual expectancy (problems?) -> Functions

“The bucket” explores on the themes of problems and accidents with the directions of the glitch art manifesto, which mentions that glitch art deconstructs the complex assemblage of technology, tricking audience into a flow of expectancy and breaking it afterwards. We are using this flow of expectancy audience withhold regarding a bucket of clean water, thereafter breaking its visual imagery of being clean by dirtying, then breaking that flow again by “cleaning” it with tissue paper and soap. We are embracing the bucket of water’s loss of functionality as a problem. This leads to the situation of being dirtied becoming an opportunity to break the metaphorical state of a useful function. The audience would not expect the claim of using tissue and soap to “clean” the water, breaking visual expectancy. This shock tactic would not be true without the contamination of the bucket of water.  Dirtied water tends to be ignored once it no longer serves the purpose of cleaning.

Transformation of functions

The bucket undergoes two transformation in infinite cycle, from its original state, to being dirtied and then “cleaned” again- over and over. This transformation is done through the physical contamination of the water, thereby destroying its sanctity. We are denouncing the functionality of a dirtied bucket of water, as well as the physical capabilities of tissue paper to “clean” dirtied water. Through this act of destruction, the bucket of water becomes a metaphorical symbol of change. The audience’s expectations are placed upon the clean bucket of water, fully aware that its capabilities of cleaning are no longer available once its dirtied, but by adding tissue, we are rejuvenating its functions. This draws reference to Marcel Duchamp’s style of using found objects. Like “The Fountain”, we are replacing the function of an object we found with an idea that we claim that can work. The function of the urinal as a high art, parallels to the function of the dirtied water being clean, as well as the tissue cleaning the water. In reality, the tissue paper becomes soggy upon touching water, and said action of cleaning is only comprehensible with the artists’ explanation. However, the said items does transcend its physical state into a metaphorical purposeful showcase.

Redirection Art Direction

Glitch and destruction functions as forms of art with its capabilities of redirection, it utilises the inherent connectivity that objects have to its function, mentioned by Jon Cates in his Hyper-allergic article. There are a thousand ways of interpreting a situation, in glitch terms, nothing is ever “broken”. Glitch and destruction is a form of artistic expression as it seeks to find an elevated way of thinking. Using our project as an example, the artist intentions stands on the metaphorical understanding of functions, mainly the water and the tissue. Using the audiences’ expectation and breaking it after, we inculcate a shock tactic and denunciation of forms that can be seen in famous artists like Rene Magritte and Jackson Pollock. This idea of redirection of the norm stems from the fundamentals of art history. Chuck Close breaks the conventional way of painting hyperrealistic works by using woodblock units to build up a portrait, which denounces techniques of realistic work done Gustave Courbet. Picasso challenges the understanding and portrayal of perspectives, denouncing the methods of Michelangelo.

Chuck Close
Gustave Courbet

 

A super super participation

This project aims to engage a group of audience with our self-constructed social identities, it commences- 7 March 2018, 1239Hs.

 

The link below leads to the facebook page that housed our experiment.

https://www.facebook.com/groups/1073658579438522/videos/

My first post featured a vlog explaining my nightmare, kickstarting the chain of videos and photographs I would post later through the day. I thought It was important to show my face for the first video for the audience to know who the social identity revolved around.

 

Throughout the entire day, I posted predominantly videos instead of photographs as I wanted to engage the audience as much as possible, since videos involved sight and sound, I tried to change location as much as possible to create an interesting narrative.

 

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The timeline of my day was as follows

12noon: Wake up and telling people about my nightmare

1p.m. Head to School

2p.m. – 5p.m.  Interaction with friends, featuring Naomi and Nokwan from Monday Class, and Clemens the Camp chief. Inclusive of a Live story telling by Clemens

6p.m. Head to Artfriend, montage for proof

7p.m. – 10p.m. Head to Pioneer Junior College for photoshoot

11p.m. Went back to ADM

12mn Head to Extension Coffeeshop for photoshoot and some supper

1a.m. – 2a.m. Have supper with friends

3a.m.- 5a.m. Miscellaneous activities in Hall.

Sleep

11a.m. Breakfast. (End post)

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This project aims to craft a social identity and it was interesting as I had to record footage from previous days, while wearing the same shirt I would eventually wear on the Super-participation day. This was because I wanted to employ most of my time with activities that people would find interesting, instead of just myself talking. Hence, the usage of the same outfit tricks the audience into thinking that I am within the same time and space as when the post was made, creating the illusion that the 3D space can be live time, which is false. Doing so, I create a social identity I want the audience to see.

Also, apart from my own social identity, I took to my advantage of including people around me like Naomi, Nokwan and Clemens. This inclusion of other people apart from myself helps to create an interesting narrative, as if watching a TV show introducing new characters to the storyline. Each of them have their own identity on the superpaticipation timeline and helps to make the postings more interesting be it conversations, games or features.

 

 

https://www.facebook.com/clemens.davidtan

An interesting easter egg would be the clothes of my friends, as they were not informed to wear the same outfit. Do spot when those videos were taken.

https://www.facebook.com/nokwann

 

Reflections from this activity is heartfelt and genuine despite the nature of social media presentation. I found this exercise to be tough as it was difficult keeping track of posting and timing, even on a genuine posting terms, having to constantly update my life on social media was not my cup of tea. I even found trouble managing the activity when it was past 3a.m., asking Bryan if he were doing the same. *Which occurs to me after that that I could have included an audience poll for whether if i should sleep or continue updating, but there would not be people awake at that time to do so.

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