Project 4: FINAL pt 2 – Amen, lol

F I N A L   I M A G E S

High Res Photos

A R T I S T   S T A T E M E N T

Amen, lol is a photographic series birthed through me questioning my relationship with my religion. The creation of the pictures allowed me to explore what my Catholic faith is to me through the use of and/or reinterpretation of symbols and imagery from Catholicism/Christianity.

P R O C E S S

 

P R E S E N T A T I O N

Painted on red line with blood acrylic and glitter
Glued on pearl beads on the fake drawn-on eyes
Glued on a sequin border around the square
Dripped candle wax all around
Crumpled, torn and on the floor

 

I D E A T I O N   A N D   E X E C U T I O N

Hi! Read this post for some background information on the ideation process for the concept of the series.

As a summary – religion has been a huge part of my life. It defined me. Being a Catholic informed my decisions, my values, the way that I lived. I genuinely believed in the religion, even though I didn’t understand much of it, and even though I questioned it. In the recent years, I started to lose that genuine faith. I realised that I had been believing in the religion blindly my whole life, and I didn’t bother to learn more about it anyways.

This project was a chance for me to revisit some of the significant symbols in my life and reinterpreting them as well as expressing the idea of some sort of rebellion or change, amongst others.

It started with a lot of looking at other artists. Other than the artists Bryan mentioned, the website artandcommerce.com he mentioned was also a great source of inspiration.

The main influence on my methodology is the French photographer-painter duo Pierre et Gilles (watch a video on them on my previous post).

I was inspired to look at props differently and explore physical manipulation of the printed photographs.

This video below was also enjoyable in understanding that photography can be interpreted in many ways, and it’s the message that is brought across, or hidden in the pictures, that matter in some cases.

T H E   V I R G I N   T O O

 

This photo is supposed to mirror “The Virgin” photo in this series. This is me dressed as the devil, indicated by the horns and red attire and body paint, wearing the same white headpiece and in the same pose. As is in religious art, the devil has had many depictions (omg look at the mosaics they’re so beautiful), but I chose to do a more popular, graphic representation so as to trigger a more instantaneous association. Instead of lilies, I hold a bunch of roses – romantic, lustful, controversial, rich. I also roll my eyes, showing that I’m in a mocking gesture. I didn’t specifically plan to mirror the white version, but amongst the many other pictures I took, I felt that it was the best to describe the duality that lives in me, and how silly it is, my pretend-holiness.  This character is blunt and funny, almost provocative and daring, with a more revealing outfit, adorned with artificial items but realer than the white Mary.

What I would do differently/improve: I’d get the highlights on the body to shine more, and get the whites of the eyes to stand out more. I’d also forgotten to try taking pictures with the lights on the horns on!!!

This photo was really fun to shoot as it was the last one shot and going all out with the body paint, I just had fun taking pictures with all the different props I had!!!

 

T H E   A N T I C H R I S T

 

The main feature in this picture is the red tear. To make it more visually striking, I cropped the image and printed it as such. I also used paint and glitter to extend the red line beyond the frame.

I was researching on the tears of Mary as a start, as it is a popular symbol that I often saw in pictures or depicted on statues (even on the 2018 Met Gala – Heavenly Bodies: Fashion and the Catholic Imagination – see here)

From what I understand, the tears are a popular symbol because Mary and Jesus wept tears of sadness, and tears of blood that represents the blood of the world. There is something about the tear that makes religion so much more relatable to humans, that it does not expect humans to be so perfect, that sadness and sacrifice are involved.

By using this image of the tear, I tried to depict a nonchalant expression, expressing my feigned apathy, yet the tear of blood overflows and signifies my sadness, slowly spilling out as the “evil” inside me makes its way out.

What I would do differently/improve: Maybe I could’ve tried a version where the red tear isn’t neatened up so much, and from there I could compare whether I liked the more structured or the more organic one. Add a highlight on dat eyeeeee

 

T H E   V I R G I N

 

This is a photo of me as the Virgin Mary, in a white dress, plastic white lilies at hand and a halo made out of Chinese calendar paper and toilet tissue. There are many depictions of the virgin Mary, and religious art has transformed so much over the many centuries (which is so amazing omg). This article by The Economist was an interesting short read on the many symbolisms of Mary. Also, I have to say Wikipedia gives a great summary (I feel my past art history professors’ stares).

I based my pose and photo on this picture. The sacred heart was another symbol that was on my list, but decided not to pursue in the end. (I wanted to get an actual heart from the market lol then I thought omg I don’t even eat heart, it would be a waste and my vegan friends will shun me then I tried looking for a plastic heart but Halloween season is over :’)) The white lilies symbolise purity, and the halo has often been omnipresent in depictions of Mary as it separates her from women in general, she was the perfect mother and the perfect virgin, not an ordinary woman.

In me dressing up as Mary, I tried to show this play pretend where it’s kinda funny, the lilies have a tag on them and I’m wearing this gorgeous, ridiculous halo made out of calendar paper and tissue. In trying to embody Mary, I illustrate the ridiculousness of using religion to feign holiness and purity, through the materials used.

What I would do differently/improve: I can’t quite remember why I decided not to edit out the background to be completely black, but maybe I should’ve tried that and also cropped the picture a little bit more to further mirror “The Virgin Too”.

 

T H E   P A S S I O N

  

This is a picture of the stained glass in the Church of St. Alphonsus, or widely known as the Novena church. I overlaid it with pictures of a lit and burnt matchstick.

I wanted to feature a flame as it symbolises passion. The main story I wanted to tell through this image is that the match, which represents me, burns with a passion for my faith that is very bright, but it was short-lived and I am left burnt out and weak. The stained glass sets the stage of the Catholic church, which represents Catholicism.

What I would do differently/improve: I like the image, but maybe I could also explore other ways to depict them together more cohesively, in the image itself and together with the rest of the series.

 

T H E   E U C H A R I S T

  

One of the first images that came to mind. There’s something about close-ups of body parts that is equally creepy, disgusting, yet intimate and emotional at the same time. The image of the cross against the tongue/mouth (it tasted ew), to me, primarily symbolises the act of consuming the religion. It also parallels the act of receiving the body of Christ, as you would at the end of a Catholic mass where the congregation would line up to accept communion. A piece of unleavened bread similar to a wafer (not that I know cos I’m not allowed to take it yet), called the host (also called hostia, sacramental bread, communion wafers??? lol), symbolises the body of Christ. You take it as part of a sacrament called the Eucharist.

  

“Truly, truly, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of man and drink his blood, you have no life in you; he who eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day. For my flesh is real food, and my blood is real drink. He who eats my flesh and drinks my blood abides in me, and I in him. As the living Father sent me, and I live because of the Father, so he who eats me will live because of me. This is the bread which came down from heaven, not such as the fathers ate and died; he who eats this bread will live forever” (John 6:53–58)

Immortal bread? Dang. Not immortal in the physical sense though – mind you. Honestly I am finding out so much about the host and the communion by trying to write this and realising I don’t know jack shit and researching and realising that I was only participating cos apparently that’s just what you do in church.

The image is altered such that it looks almost perfect, shining – exactly how spotless and easy I hope believing in a religion was to me.

What I would do differently/improve: Make the crucifix stand out even more. Remove the magenta tint from the highlights and get them shining.

 

T H E   D E V O T I O N

  

This Bible was gifted to me by my family for Christmas a few years back. I was very happy to have received it, and it became a great source of consolation for me for the next few years. I would go to it when I needed some strength.

In the previous iteration, I featured a scene with candles burning atop a Bible, covering it in dripping wax, with star sequins all around.

There was no indication to the viewer that the book in the picture is a Bible, and there were other interpretations involving candles, books and stars, so I decided to explore another take on this idea. I took a simple picture of my bible.  I remembered that it had “Holy Bible” on its cover, but apparently it didn’t, so I wrote it myself with a gold pen HAHAHA. After printing, I used a lit candle and dropped wax all over the photo, taking care to cover the “Holy Bible” words, but not completely.

The Bible represents my faith and the candles represent my devotion. Candles are widely used in my experience as a Catholic. In my family, we would light candles up in prayer. Often we would say our names when setting the candle up. It symbolises our presence.

At the same time, candles can also represent the passing of time, and them melting into a messy puddle shows negligence – in an almost poetic manner.

Together, through this image, I tried to illustrate my investment in devotion and prayer without paying attention to understanding the religion itself. The candle wax covers the bible, across the border of the photo, covering the words of “Holy Bible”, ironically because I was spending so much time praying, to a God I claimed to know.

 

T H E   W I N D O W

This glittery, made up eye represents a sort of evil for me. As the Catholic community that I was in was a more conservative one, I have often felt the need to dress in a reserved manner. I understand and respect the need to dress appropriately in a place of worship, but outside I felt like a hypocrite for wanting to dress up, and by dress up I mean loudly or vibrantly, and not necessarily in a revealing manner. I should feel free to dress the way I’m comfortable with. The sequins and glitter represent that guilty extravagance for me.

The eye is not only a huge part of an identity, it is also the window to the soul. Right in the centre of the eye is a distorted picture of an angel, which represents the ‘evil’, defiant, distorted side of me.

Other than that, the eye is also part of the symbol called the Eye of Providence. It represents the all-knowing God, with a triangle around it to symbolise the holy trinity. The eye in this photo does not only symbolise looking into my true self, but also that God sees and knows who I truly am. What interests me about this symbol is that it has associations with the Catholic church but also the Illuminati and the eye of the dajja (devil), so it becomes ambiguous, and somehow becomes an example for how symbols are often given meaning by humans, through association. How valid do these symbols become, then?

 

T H E   B L I N D

 

I laughed so much making this photo. The eyes are hilarious! Look at how earnestly and blissfully this girl is praying, but also look at how f a k e this is!! lol. In the past, I prayed with all my heart, confessing my crimes, asking for forgiveness, for help, to protect my loved ones, etc. When I started to become conscious of my faltering faith, it felt weird to pray – who was I talking to? I felt that I was only doing because humans needed someone or something to rely on, to dump their troubles upon, to relinquish responsibility for their fate, to pin an explanation to the unexplainable.

This photo expresses how blind I was in my faith, praying to a God I didn’t know.

Me putting on fake eyelash lolll

What I would do differently/improve: Maybe I could have explored adding highlights or shiny parts to the background and eyes. 

 

T H E   R O S A R Y 

The rosary is a significant symbol of Catholicism for me. To me, it distinguishes Catholics from Christians (don’t get me started on the countless denominations pls). My mother would also often pray the rosary and when I finally learnt how to pray with it, I did so during important or trying times. It helped me keep track of my Hail Marys. It was interesting because prayer beads are something that is also widely used in other religions, such as Buddhism and Islam.

The rosary here symbolises the Catholic religion to me. I am shown with my hands behind my back, bound by a rosary. Here, what I am simply trying to show is how I felt restricted and bound by my religion. Yet, it was something I accepted, as shown by the lack of struggle.

Through this project, what I realised is that I only felt bound because I didn’t fully understand what I was involved with by participating in the religion.

What I would do differently/improve: I would explore a more close-up shot with the lilies framing the hand and rosary closer, and a wider shot too. I would also like to try to make it look more uncomfortable, and to make the rosary dig in to the flesh even more. 

 

T H E   R E D   H A N D

Main idea first came when I was watching this music video by Cuco.

Screenshot from Cuco’s “Keeping Tabs (ft. Suscat0)” music video directed by Cirqua

A pretty simple representation of the devil – but somehow I was really interested in the use of body paint after seeing this. I wanted to use body paint!!! I was thinking of using other colours – but there were too many other connotations / possible misinterpretation. Blue – Smurfs, Krishna; Yellow – yellowface; Black – blackface; Green – Hulk, etc. Hence, I stuck to red – it’s a strong, impactful colour, and can have many interpretations.

After reading up on flower language in Catholicism, I settled on using the most basic, significant flower – the white Lily. It symbolises “Mary’s Immaculate Purity”. I went to the flower market with the intention of getting fresh lilies and baby’s breath, or other pretty flowers. However, after seeing the plastic lilies vs the fresh lilies, it struck me how so much prettier and convenient the plastic ones are. I thought it was apt to represent my faith – how fake it is.

Actual devotion would be like handling actual flowers – you need to take care of them, trim the leaves, put them in water, add flower food, wait for them to bloom, and even then you wouldn’t know whether it would bloom nicely. Not two flowers are the same. Yet, with the plastic ones, they look great, are permanent, and need no upkeep.

At the same time, the red hand represents my vices, my other side, or my true self. I tried a few different hand positions, but I felt that the simplest one spoke the most and its ambiguity leaves room for interpretation. I thought the middle finger was funny, but this position where the hand seems to be just reaching in, relaxed, maybe about to touch the flower, I thought was so soft yet the colours make it striking. You can’t decide whether the hand is invading the space, about to taint the apparent purity of the flowers, or does the hand actually coexist with the lilies?

After the first presentation, I further edited the photo to remove the yellow from the lilies so they appear even whiter.

T H E   P I C N I C

This picture depicts me, dressed as Mary, having an apple in a picnic with fruits and wine (actually Ribena lol I included the cartons). At the same time, I am Eve, and this depicts the first bite, the first sin, the first disobedience. In the photo, I am seemingly in a picnic, with a few items “hidden”. They include the jar from which the apple was presented (in “The Candy”), and a toy snake, amongst others.

I took a few different poses in this scene, and spent quite some time deciding on which expression and pose would be apt, as they would tell different stories. I liked all of them, but I settled on this one as you could see almost a change in the character –  you know that this isn’t the same Mary you saw in “The Virgin”. With the bite made clear through the bitten apple, and with the red finger tips and smeared lips as extra visual cues, it is hinted to the viewers that the bite changed the character, that it is almost contagious. I look into the camera knowingly, acknowledging that I took the bite, that there is a change in me.

What I would do differently/improve: After looking at it again and again, I’m not sure if the red boxes around the jar and the apple are working… I don’t think I need them. 🙁 

 

T H E   C A N D Y 

 

A recurring symbol I wanted to have was the red hand. Along with the other pictures in the series, it could be concluded that these hands belong to the red devil/Mary in “The Virgin Too”. The main symbol in this photo is the apple, shiny and delicious, inviting. It represents sin, and all the knowledge of the world. It alludes to the scene in the Garden of Eden where Eve, egged on by the serpent, consumed the fruit of knowledge that God had forbidden them to eat.

Now the Lord God had planted a garden in the east, in Eden; and there he put the man he had formed. The Lord God made all kinds of trees grow out of the ground—trees that were pleasing to the eye and good for food. In the middle of the garden were the tree of life and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.

16 And the Lord God commanded the man, “You are free to eat from any tree in the garden; 17 but you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for when you eat from it you will certainly die.”

The Fall

Now the serpent was more crafty than any of the wild animals the Lord God had made. He said to the woman, “Did God really say, ‘You must not eat from any tree in the garden’?”

The woman said to the serpent, “We may eat fruit from the trees in the garden,but God did say, ‘You must not eat fruit from the tree that is in the middle of the garden, and you must not touch it, or you will die.’”

You will not certainly die,” the serpent said to the woman. “For God knows that when you eat from it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.”

When the woman saw that the fruit of the tree was good for food and pleasing to the eye, and also desirable for gaining wisdom, she took some and ate it. She also gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate it. Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they realized they were naked; so they sewed fig leaves together and made coverings for themselves.

– Genesis 2:8-9, 16-17, 3:1-7

The hidden message in my photo is that consuming the apple was Eve’s choice. The serpent coaxed her, but it was her decision to take the apple, eat it and give it to Adam too. This is shown in the photo through the pretty jar held by the red hands, idle but inviting. The hands present the apple in a shiny glass jar (actually plastic and from Daiso lmao), and the human hand (with normal skin colour) is the one lifting the lid off the jar, actively reaching out to the forbidden fruit. Through this picture, I wish to express that as humans, our sins are our own decisions and we should take responsibility for them.

 

What I would do differently/improve: I’m not sure what I don’t like about the picture, but maybe I wouldn’t have done the green gradient at the background, which gets weirder the more I look at it. It’s too bad because content-wise it is one of my favourites. Maybe I should have tried a black or dark background instead, so that the jar would pop out more. The reason why I wanted to have the green was because the jar was blending into the background a little too much. I also had fun making the glitter apple in real life, but forgot to use it for the shoot, and tried to photoshop it in, but I could have just added the glitter on the physical printed piece anyways.

 

T H E   P A S T

This is a simple picture of me praying, overlaid and slapped on a church background (more specifically the Church of St. Alphonsus a.k.a. the Novena church). Signifying the past, when I used to go to church, the photo illustrates how I was in church, yet not really. I loved to go to church to pray, but less often did I enjoy or was invested in mass or any of the readings. I often fell asleep (guilty lol). This was the past.

Funny thing is, I actually attended mass to take pictures of the church (The angel in “The Window” was also from this church haha), which I hadn’t done in a really long time. It was nice to pray again, but I still fell asleep lol.

 

O V E R A L L

The photos were arranged in a mindful manner, and viewed together, was meant to give certain hints or information that would help understand other photos in the series. For example, “The Antichrist” was placed above “The Eucharist” as the strong line fell perfectly continuous to the chain of the rosary. This was meant to sub-symbolise the blood of Christ materialising into the body of Christ. Another example is “The Virgin”. With this photo, hopefully viewers understand that the same character is in “The Rosary” (through the white dress). Similarly, hopefully viewers would get that the red hands belong to the “devil-like” character in “The Virgin Too”.

 

R E F L E C T I O N

Being distant from my faith the past few years, my excuse was that I didn’t have the heart to get to know my religion a little better.

This project has allowed me to confront that ignorance and explore my faith a little bit more. In no way is my work 100% comprehensive of my experience, or meant to be informative for the audience, but it was a good and really fun experience getting to find out more about the meanings behind the different symbols and why we do things as a Catholic through researching, sourcing for props and materials, and doing the shoot itself.

This has been a really fun class, and I’m glad to have met Bryan and the classmates. Easily one of the best and most memorable classes I’ve had in my experience. Thank you to everyone!

 

Project 3: First Part – Amen, lol

F I N A L   I M A G E S

 

C O N C E P T   /   A R T I S T   S T A T E M E N T ( I S H )

Amen, lol is a photographic series birthed through me questioning my relationship with my religion. Through the creation of the pictures, I set out to explore what my Catholic faith is to me through the use of and/or reinterpretation of symbols and imagery from Catholicism/Christianity.

 

P R O C E S S

^Shot on Canon EOS 7D Mark II, aperture f/3.2, shutter speed 1/100, ISO 800, focal length 59 mm

 

^Shot on Canon EOS 7D Mark II, aperture f/5.6, shutter speed 1/60, ISO 1600, focal length 42 mm

^Shot on Canon EOS 7D Mark II, aperture f/7.1, shutter speed 1/20, ISO 1250, focal length 55 mm

 

I D E A T I O N   &   E X E C U T I O N

(Here comes the long part cos I just love to talk sometimes lmao so read if u wanna this is all super extra info and for personal reference)

Through the many weeks in class, we have been exposed to many inspiring artists and photographers. The ideation for this project started when Bryan asked us to borrow a book on a photographer’s specific works from the library. I didn’t have specific photographers in mind, and spent some time just browsing. I ended up with Christopher Anderson‘s SON, Nikki S. Lee‘s Projects, and Pierre et Gilles‘ Pierre et Gilles: Double Je, 1976-2007. I was inspired by Anderson’s use of light, Lee’s characters, and Pierre et Gilles’ style and elaborate mise en scene.

   

In terms of concept, I was deliberating on exploring family relationships, music, or the Jakartan food/visual culture, as I tend to lean towards more personal topics. However, I wasn’t so sure, and neither did I feel too inclined towards any. It was only when I thought about religion that I felt I could come up with something meaningful, and have fun in the process.

As someone who is in the midst of soul searching, there was a great fear in me to face this topic as it would mean that I would need to confront my original faith and my doubts about it. 

Watch the video above to get a glimpse behind Pierre et (and) Gilles’ workflow (and their dazzling abode)!! It’s really cool to see their extensive preparation documented in a video. From sketching and planning to props-buying; taking test shots; Pierre shooting; printing on a large canvas; applying varnish; Gilles using paint to deepen colours, add highlights and glitter; and finally adding and decorating the frame, which they regard as an extension of the canvas and serves to complete the piece!! So extra, so gaudy but so good??!!!

Ok so I was inspired to use Catholic symbols along with other funky materials. I thought that I could explore using man-made or flimsy, temporary (transient?) materials like plastic, foil, aluminium and paper to represent me making light of this ‘situation’, or how silly religion feels to the logical me, who recently realised that I had been believing in the religion blindly my whole life.

But r e a l l y, at the same time, I’m questioning the authenticity of my faith – when I had it. I said I believed, and I genuinely meant it, but looking back I didn’t understand shit about Jesus, Catholicism, religion, or life even!?!? So, what was it that I believed in???

After some sketching and brainstorming I chose 3 ideas to try to pull off.

Here’s the story behind the pictures:

 

One of the first images that came to mind. There’s something about close-ups of body parts that is equally creepy, disgusting, yet intimate and emotional at the same time. The image of the cross against the tongue/mouth (it tasted ew), to me, primarily symbolises the act of consuming the religion. It also parallels the act of receiving the body of Christ, as you would at the end of a Catholic mass where the congregation would line up to accept communion. A piece of unleavened bread similar to a wafer (not that I know cos I’m not allowed to take it yet), called the host (also called hostia, sacramental bread, communion wafers??? lol), symbolises the body of Christ. You take it as part of a sacrament called the Eucharist.

  

“Truly, truly, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of man and drink his blood, you have no life in you; he who eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day. For my flesh is real food, and my blood is real drink. He who eats my flesh and drinks my blood abides in me, and I in him. As the living Father sent me, and I live because of the Father, so he who eats me will live because of me. This is the bread which came down from heaven, not such as the fathers ate and died; he who eats this bread will live forever” (John 6:53–58)

Immortal bread? Dang. Not immortal in the physical sense though – mind you. Honestly I am finding out so much about the host and the communion by trying to write this and realising I don’t know jack shit and researching and realising that I was only participating cos apparently that’s just what you do in church.

The image is altered such that it looks almost perfect, shining – exactly how spotless and easy I hope believing in a religion was to me.

 

Pretty simple. The main items are the Bible and the candles. The Bible represents my faith and the candles represent my devotion. Candles are widely used in my experience as a Catholic. In my family, we would light candles up in prayer. Often we would say our names when setting the candle up. It symbolises our presence.

At the same time, candles can also represent the passing of time, and them melting into a messy puddle shows negligence – in an almost poetic manner.

Together, through this image, I tried to illustrate my investment in devotion and prayer without paying attention to understanding the religion itself. The Bible is untouched, unread, its pages sealed by the wax dripping over, ironically because I was spending so much time praying, to a God I claimed to know.

Main idea first came when I was watching this music video by Cuco.

Screenshot from Cuco’s “Keeping Tabs (ft. Suscat0)” music video directed by Cirqua

A pretty simple representation of the devil – but somehow I was really interested in the use of body paint after seeing this. I wanted to use body paint!!! I was thinking of using other colours – but there were too many other connotations / possible misinterpretation. Blue – Smurfs, Krishna; Yellow – yellowface; Black – blackface; Green – Hulk, etc. Hence, I stuck to red – it’s a strong, impactful colour, and can have many interpretations.

After reading up on flower language in Catholicism, I settled on using the most basic, significant flower – the white Lily. It symbolises “Mary’s Immaculate Purity”. I went to the flower market with the intention of getting fresh lilies and baby’s breath, or other pretty flowers. However, after seeing the plastic lilies vs the fresh lilies, it struck me how so much prettier and convenient the plastic ones are. I thought it was apt to represent my faith – how fake it is.

Actual devotion would be like handling actual flowers – you need to take care of them, trim the leaves, put them in water, add flower food, wait for them to bloom, and even then you wouldn’t know whether it would bloom nicely. Not two flowers are the same. Yet, with the plastic ones, they look great, are permanent, and need no upkeep.

At the same time, the red hand represents my vices, my other side, or my true self. I tried a few different hand positions, but I felt that the simplest one spoke the most and its ambiguity leaves room for interpretation. I thought the middle finger was funny, but this position where the hand seems to be just reaching in, relaxed, maybe about to touch the flower, I thought was so soft yet the colours make it striking. You can’t decide whether the hand is invading the space, about to taint the apparent purity of the flowers, or does the hand actually coexist with the lilies?

It’s challenging to confront the reality of why I’m on the edge of my faith… and the results often make me, and maybe some viewers, uncomfortable, but I think it’s a good reaction.

Overall, I’m having a lot of fun.. and also learning about my religion. HAHA looking forward to completing the rest of the photo series. Also watching American Horror Story (“watching it for class”) and I’m loving it!

 

 

Project 2: Landscape – Peach Apocalypse

F I N A L   I MA G E

C O N C E P T

This photo was taken in Serpong, just South of Jakarta. Inspired by the colours of a Jakartan dusk, I tried to recreate the pink wash using the context of a cityscape. The sky casts a lazy morning glow, bringing warmth to the otherwise blue existence of the concrete city.

P R O C E S S

Shot on Canon EOS 7D Mark II, aperture f/5, shutter speed 1/400s, ISO 100, focal length 24 mm

  1. Cleaning – Cleaned out minor details like a lamp post and a tree.
  2. Red Channel Mask (Highlights and Shadows) – Brought the contrast up to make the clouds more visible.
  3. Colour Balance – Make the photograph cooler.
  4. Selective Colour Filter – Make certain colours stand out more.
  5. Solid Colours – Tinted the photo with the main colours of blue and pink.
  6. Building – Coloured the two stray buildings blue to blend in with the rest of the foreground and buildings.
  7. Gradient Mask and Solid Colour – Added colours using gradient as it creates a more interesting composition, and mimics a film burn.
  8. Noise – Added non-monochromatic grain for a more film feel.

Click here for the Photoshop .psd file

Project 1: Portrait (Updated)

F I N A L   I M A G E 

C O N C E P T

In this shoot, I tried to capture an affectionate moment between my friend and her boyfriend. They’re both from Indonesia, but while my friend goes to NTU, her boyfriend goes to the Technical University of Delft in the Netherlands. They were from the same high school, went their separate ways, reconnected and became a couple. Being in an LDR, they don’t get to physically meet each other often. When her boyfriend came to visit, I asked if I could take pictures of them, cos I’ve always found them cute together. Stepping into their personal space, I find myself allowed to share and capture this intimate moment between them.

 

I D E A T I O N   &   E X E C U T I O N

Earlier on the semester I took test shots of my friends, and was happy enough with them that I wanted to use them, but I realised that I didn’t shoot in raw 🙁

So I went on to plan another shoot with my friend, whose boyfriend, incidentally, was visiting. Without getting my hopes up, I proposed the shoot and thankfully, they were willing to do it! I thought it was a great opportunity to have fun, and to end up with something memorable, as we shot on the day that he was leaving Singapore.

We met up in Chinatown and went to a random alley. We planned to do a much more elaborate, experimental look, so I brought a luggage of loud clothes and makeup with me. Due to time, we ended up just taking photos of them in their own clothes, but I think it ended up giving a really nice pop of colour.

Later on, I just randomly tried using the huge sheet of translucent cloth I brought, and though the wind made it challenging, it was quite fun experimenting to see what works.

P R O C E S S

  1. Cleaning – used the healing brush and clone tool to remove any distinct imperfections. Also used the clone tool (1st submission I forgot what tool to use so I actually used brush HAHA it kinda worked tho) to fill in some parts of the hair to naturalise the edges and fill in emptier parts and the sideburn.
  2. Dodge and burn – brightened and darkened some areas to even the skin tone and lighten lines and dark circles, cos nobody wants to know about how we burn the midnight oil.
  3. Separation frequency – using the Colour and Texture layers, I gaussian blurred the skin out for that healthy glow we love but can’t maintain.
  4. Cleaning 2 – I went back to heal more areas, including the mouth areas (teeth) and some uneven surfaces around the sideburn and the male model’s hairline.
  5. Liquify – I used liquify to smoothen the slight bump on the boyfriend’s nose, narrow it down a little bit, and smoothened out my friend’s chin (a.k.a. removing dat double chin).
  6. Sharpening – I did a high pass layer, but lowered down the opacity and fill to only about 10%, as I figured that I much prefer the blur as it emphasises the glow, and enhances the lighter feel of the photo. Similarly, I added grain to even out the editing processes, but not too much that it would take away the lightness of the picture.

Technical specifications
Shot on Canon EOS 800D, Aperture f/2.8, shutter speed 1/250s, ISO 100, focal length 24 mm

    

After Critique / Final Submission Improvement

The above documentation and process is of the second try after the critique. I decided to add another cleaning layer and re-do the liquify layer, as I was really irked with how my friend’s sideburn turned out with the uneven skin.

These are some of the additional parts that I decided to edit after the critique:

  • Both models’ necks
  • Both models’ mouth area
  • Area under female model’s nose
  • Area above female model’s eyebrow
  • Removed high pass and grain since it did not contribute to the light and glowy mood of the picture

Takeaways/Afterthoughts

  • I really enjoyed this project as I like people as a subject matter.
  • It was fun to get to know Photoshop a little deeper.
  • The critique made me realise to be more meticulous.
  • After the second revision, what I think I can still improve on is getting the hair texture right, especially those at the edges. I think I’m still learning to find that natural balance.
  • Also, I am still scared of liquify.

Click here for the Photoshop .psd file

 

Scott McQuire

The Media City: Media, Architecture and Urban Space

Performing Public Space

Here I will be writing down some of my notes and observations I made while reading this chapter. I felt that whatever written resonated quite a bit with my experiences as a digital consumer and user, especially in today’s age. Written in 2008, it is interesting to see that some of the discussions are still relevant, and how some of their speculations about the future (i.e. now) came true.

The definition of a public domain is described as radically changing. Right now, I think that it has changed, and is still changing – it does not have clear boundaries. With digital media becoming ever more pervasive, the public domain no longer needs to be bound to any physical space, and it exists everywhere.

In the 1980s television screens morphed from a domestic, small-scale appliance, to a large-scale screen. Once in the homes of the people, it has moved also into the cityscape, becoming “one of the most visible and influential tendencies of contemporary urbanism“.

The development of the global network has eroded geographical boundaries. It has also diminished a clear distinction between private and public space.

“… media space subsumed more and more of the roles once reserved for public space”.

Public venues and piazzas, congregation spaces have been overshadowed by the screen. Electronic displays are everywhere. Not just big screens on the streets or on buildings, think something closer to yourself: the one in your hand – yes, your phones! The third space, a.k.a. the internet, while digital and has no physical manifestation, is in itself a public space, no? It is accessible by everyone and it is a place where people, strangers or not, interact with each other. This came as a realisation to me – it has been sitting in the back of my mind.

With public screens all over the streets and mobile media devices in everyone’s hands, with these plastered all over our existence, we have transformed into consuming media 24/7. How will this pervasiveness alter the dynamics of the public space?

The reading goes on to describe how this has significantly changed human interaction – one that becomes very dependent on media, screens and the internet. Simmel wrote that “the characteristic experience of the modern city is living among strangers who remain strangers“. In the modern city, a common social condition is mutual anonymity, where there is civil indifference, a getting by with your own business kind of living.

This I found exceptionally true in our present time. Everyone is interconnected through the network, yes, but at the same time everyone is disconnected. Always on our devices, we are staying connected with people over the third space, but int he first space? We now rarely interact with people on the streets – we get on with our own lives.

In an Asian context, or at least in my personal experience, especially, I feel that there is this culture of not interacting with strangers, for the potential dangers that it may bring. “… expression was relegated to the private sphere of family life. Silence and uniform behaviour emerged as defensive mechanisms for appearing in public. The result was a public culture privileging looking over talking, detachment over engagement.

While there are significant differences between the analyses of public space proposed by Sennett, Berman and Benjamin, all three writers share a sense of the importance of a public culture in which people interact, not as voyeurs, consumers or commodities, but as active agents able to understand, and thereby alter, their own social situationIn their analyses the street constitutes a vital theatre for the formation of a specifically modern consciousness.

Is there a need to systemise the street’s benefits and pacify its dangers? Will we succeed in taming the street?

The great towns have become too dense for the security of their inhabitants and yet they are not sufficiently dense to meet the new need of ‘modern business’

In a world where speed is integral and efficiency is valued over most things, what have we forfeited in our attempt to achieve more and more?

Antoine Geiger – SUR-FAKE https://www.antoinegeiger.com/sur-fake

More on the media space becoming also a public space accessible for everyone, Virilio summed it up: “The screen abruptly became the city square“.

Alternative means for virtual participation in a collective social life is presented by our devices. Social life is increasingly becoming a retreat to the private, rather than the public. It is a paradox at its best.

Other than that, the line between private and public also blurs in the sense that the more we are engaged in the digital public space, even if within the confines of our own home, there is still the emergence of a ‘surveillance society‘. As the private space merges with the public space, there is still a need for privacy, for security. Questions on trust are raised – “social interaction becomes increasingly dependent upon the collection and checking of large volumes of information about individuals.” At the same time, however, “surveillance sometimes becomes a mirror for experimental constructions of the self.

It was interesting – I have always thought that surveillance had a slightly more negative connotation, but I never thought that it could be a medium for self-reflection. When we are alone, we release our true selves. When we are being watched, we tend to put on a mask, we speak differently, act differently, move differently. When we don’t know that we are being watched, our true selves show up and that’s when we can watch ourselves objectively and be critical of ourselves.

Some urban interventions have the purpose of alerting people to their imprisonment by urban routine.

As Hegel demonstrated long ago, there is a fine line between the master and the slave. The technological environment needs to know what we like, or at least what we do , in order to anticipate our needs. But at what point does ‘anticipation’ become a neo-Weberian ‘iron cage’ for shaping behaviour?

How scary is it that everyone is consciously, willingly, letting their lives into the complete grasp of technology? Even after saying this, it’s not likely I will do anything about it – any consequences do not seem very real. It’s convenient, it’s a part of my life. I embrace it and am a passive consumer.


I have visions of techno-hipsters with bluetooth headsets jammed in their ears, capturing 15-second video clips of the urban ‘condition’ on their phones and texting knowing messages to their hipster-doppelganger pals in line behind them on the flaneuric boulevard of derives. (Beaudry 2006)

Chills. This was written in 2006. This is the truth of our society now. We are more and more becoming like androids, inseparable from technology.

The next part talks about the role of new media art in public space, which is to provide an alternative to showcasing art strictly in art galleries, in too carefully curated spaces, with a notion of highbrow exclusiveness that intimidates the layman. There might be audiences who might never cross that threshold, and new media art in public spaces can intervene in that: if people won’t come to art, bring the art out to them.

New media art in public spaces can then become an integral part of the construction of social relationships.

As Sennett and others have emphasises, public sociability is not natural; it needs to be learned, nurtured and practised. In an era in which public space is dominated by spectacular ‘brandscapes’ and pacified by the distributed technology of surveillance, new forms of public interaction facilitating qualities such as collective participation and unpredictable collaboration hold increasing social importance. In this context, the role of artists using new media to construct experimental interfaces in public space can assume strategic value.

In Lozano-Hemmer’s works, he tries to “introduce interactivity to transform intimidation into intimacy“. I really liked the way he put it, and I feel that this is a great mantra to keep in mind when creating for public spaces.

Let’s be real, people are scared to interact with other people. I’m scared. Public artworks have to challenge this animosity between strangers in order to bring them together, to enjoy the work and the space together.

“To create a delicate balance between personal participation and collective interaction, between active engagement and reflective contemplation.

Overall, this reading has made me think about the ways to approach creating works for public spaces, about media, architecture and the urban space. There are many considerations to creating work this way, and I hope that eventually I would be able to reach my own understanding of this particular form of art-making, and my position as an artist with the potential of redefining the urban space.

 

Hand In Hand: The People Who Built NTU

C O N C E P T

The Chinese Heritage Garden is an important piece of architecture to not only NTU, but also the Chinese community in Singapore and Southeast Asia. It was a key administrative building when Nanyang University was first built, and have been preserved in its original grandeur even to this day.

Once a library, a student hub, a bustling building, now the CHC sits calmly, serving as an exhibition gallery, museum and library.

The first thing that struck out to me was the groundswell of community support in the fundraising process. It felt very heartwarming, and there is a huge sense of togetherness, of unity and strength in each other. I can’t help but think that they play a huge part into making what we have now possible, and that they are truly a huge part of NTU’s foundation.

As students now, we do not have that sense of connection to NTU’s past and how it was built. We only care about the now. Through this projection mapping project, hopefully I can bring to light that people – just like us – normal people, were involved in building NTU, and I hope to feature these people and give them the recognition they weren’t able to receive.

I decided to make people the main focus especially after watching Agnes Varda and JR’s documentary film, Faces Places. There is a personal connection to stories of the people and the spaces they were in, and in this context I think that the people are a huge part of CHC itself as an architecture, and likewise was CHC an important part of these people’s lives.

 

R E S E A R C H

My main reference for the occupations of the people involved in the fundraising is from (this book). It is astounding how there were no borders as to the demographics of the contributors. High or low income, high or low social status. Merchants, business owners, taxi drivers, labourers, associates, people from various organisations, and even the entertainment industry – yes, nightclubs!

I want to showcase the variety, and I want to showcase that while they are so different, they came together, bound by their Chinese heritage, for a common goal of improving Chinese education out of China, which ultimately led to the building of NTU.

After reading up on the history of NTU, I am not so sure whether it could be said that NTU is a continuation of Nanyang University, which in 1980 was merged with the University of Singapore to make the National University of Singapore (NUS). NTU itself was an upgrade from Nanyang Technological Institute, a leg of the NUS. However, I still do feel that irregardless, their histories are interconnected and are still a huge part of what made NTU today.

To get a better understanding of the time period in which CHC was built, and the architecture’s importance, I read up about 1950s Singapore and China. Just after the Second World War, China went through a short period of Communist Revolution, and Singapore was not even independent yet. It was a weird period – which left me very appreciative of their efforts. I feel that we get to enjoy the good stuff, and I feel thankful that I live in an age where everything is more open, and there is progress on all kinds of field. Education is one of them, and I am grateful that I am able to pursue higher education.

This would not have been possible without Tan Lark Sye’s initiative, and without the support from the people at that time.

Another aspect that I researched on was the Chinese culture itself. What was it like in China, and what was it like in Singapore, in Southeast Asia? What were the Chinese people like?

In one of the publications I read, “Changing Identities of the Southeast Asian Chinese Since World War II”, I understood that after the intensity of WWII, with changes in the Chinese mainland government and with the gradual independence of Malaya and Singapore (former British colonies), Chinese residents were forces to choose whether to return to the communist mainland or to stay as Southeast Asian citizens.

With this, and with lacking support from the government in Singapore at the time, the Chinese were running out of options because they could not work for not having higher qualifications. This was a basis as to why they came together to build an overseas Chinese university – which I find must have been a pretty crazy feat! The more I find out about them, the more I gain an appreciation of my environment now, and the more respect I have for the people back then who helped make it happen.

 

S T O R Y B O A R D

 

C O N T E N T

Video

The alumni reminisce about their days in the CHC, how it used to be a library and how they would head over to the nearby canteen to have breakfast together. As the main administrative building of the university, student life here was bustling. They even had their graduation ceremony there.

These were screenshots taken from the video. I can use these photos and add effects to make it seem like they are film rolls too, so that it would go together with the old film footage style.

It was interesting to see this student’s analysis on the architectural features of the Chinese Heritage Center. It gave me a better understanding of the building itself and inspired me to take the separate elements to use in the projection mapping, such as the octagon.

Video Footage

Music

At first I was also looking at using percussion for the soundtrack, since the beats are really useful for making an impact in how the projection plays out and corresponds with the audio. I wanted to merge it with the song 买糖歌 (Mai Tang Ge) to add a little bit of variety. I realised that the beats were off, so they didn’t go well together. I have not succeeded in finding one with beats that go along with each other, so I think just using one song is okay for now, but I also wish to add sound effects to describe the 1950s atmosphere better.

买糖歌 (Mai Tang Ge) was a popular song that was originally from a 1943 movie called Eternity, a controversial Chinese film that was made in Shanghai, which was occupied by the Japanese in World War II. It is a style characteristic to the time, glamorous in the entertainment districts, and I feel that it is an apt accompaniment to the projection. Some of the people from the 1950s might be able to recognise this song and feel a greater connection with the projection.

These entertainment districts in Geylang, with Happy World Amusement Park at its core, were also involved in the fundraising for the university. The money gathered from the performances, in one of which Mai Tang Ge was performed, were donated to the funds for construction.

I was thinking that it would be fun/interesting to have the lyrics or translation on the roofs like subtitles you see in karaoke, but I wasn’t sure if they would be significant or contribute to my concept in any way.

 

R E F L E C T I O N 

I am really glad to have taken this module, as it was out of my comfort zone. I wanted to force myself to learn something new, since I am someone who works best with external motivation. Through this module, I learnt a lot about projection mapping, and got myself to learn After Effects too.

The readings opened my mind about how interactions work, how screens can be used. I was never a good reader of non-fiction, but by learning to do this, I have found that there is a whole other world of knowledge that I was missing out on. I might not be as scholarly, and I might not fully understand the complexities and the concepts in depth, but at the very least now I have a better idea of the medium that I deal with, and the potential that it has.

I now know better how to navigate around this practice of art-making, how to be thoughtful (a reading from another class), how to make things that are not just superficial.

For the project itself, I wish that I spent more time working on the prototype. I got a little stuck just reading up about the Chinese communities at the time, China’s Cultural Revolution, the impact it had on education both in China and outside. I strayed a little too far from my main concept about featuring the people who helped build NTU, and the people who benefitted from it (the students and staff). Although I felt that it was good to know, but that was it, good to know. It did not really help to provide any content for the projection since it was not in the scope that I was planning for. In the end, I do not regret reading up on them, but I felt that I could have managed my time better and prioritised better.

If I were to bring this project further, I hope to maybe conduct my own interviews with alumni so they can tell me what days in the CHC were like. I also hope to be able to source for more authentic footage of Nanyang University at the time, of the opening ceremony or just life there. So far I have not succeeded in doing that, and have only found several footage of the general 1950s Singapore.

I could maybe add another element to this project – which is about the present day. Since I am focusing on people, maybe I could feature the people who built it, the people who used it in the past (peak) and the people who use it now (decline and rest). However, maybe just focusing on the timeline of the past would keep it more aesthetically coherent.

 

R E F E R E N C E S 

Bartels, Deanna T., and Felicia C. Eppley. “Education in Mainland China.” Social Education 59, no. 1 (1995): 31-37. http://www.socialstudies.org/sites/default/files/publications/se/5901/590109.html.

“Chinese Community.” https://eresources.nlb.gov.sg/music/Media/PDFs/Article/e5105f6e-0371-4b57-94e9-933158c09cc4.pdf.

Carstens, Sharon A. “Chinese Publications and the Transformation of Chinese Culture in Singapore and Malaysia.” In Changing Identities of the Southeast Asian Chinese Since World War II, by Jennifer W. Cushman and Wang Gungwu, 75-78. Hong Kong: Hong Kong University Press, 1988. https://books.google.com.sg/books?hl=en&lr=&id=USbxAQAAQBAJ&oi=fnd&pg=PA75&dq=chinese culture in singapore in 1950&ots=XpFR3Mt9E8&sig=HoWc1I8qDYzL86wD2tdfhhs3dzE#v=onepage&q=chinese culture in singapore in 1950&f=false.

Ker, Sin Tze. “Let the Nantah Spirit and Name Live on in NTU.” The Straits Times. January 21, 2016. https://www.straitstimes.com/opinion/let-the-nantah-spirit-and-name-live-on-in-ntu.

Gu, Jiafeng. “Harmonious Expansion of China’s Higher Education: A New Growth Pattern.” Higher Education 63, no. 4 (2012): 513-28. http://www.jstor.org.ezlibproxy1.ntu.edu.sg/stable/41429096.

Kusolpalin, Pattarin. “Nanyang Technological University.” Infopedia. March 09, 2016. http://eresources.nlb.gov.sg/infopedia/articles/SIP_2016-03-09_132926.html.

Martin, Mayo. “From Gay World to Pop Yeh Yeh: When Geylang Rocked the ’60s.” CNA. March 13, 2017. https://www.channelnewsasia.com/news/lifestyle/from-gay-world-to-pop-yeh-yeh-when-geylang-rocked-the–60s-7980364.

Wang, Gungwu. “The Study of Chinese Identities in Southeast Asia.” In Changing Identities of the Southeast Asian Chinese Since World War II, by Jennifer W. Cushman and Wang Gungwu, 1-22. Hong Kong: Hong Kong University Press, 1988. https://books.google.com.sg/books?hl=en&lr=&id=USbxAQAAQBAJ&oi=fnd&pg=PA75&dq=chinese culture in singapore in 1950&ots=XpFR3Mt9E8&sig=HoWc1I8qDYzL86wD2tdfhhs3dzE#v=onepage&q=chinese culture in singapore in 1950&f=false.

100 Lights/Pavilion

If given 1 light, I would let it hang from the top of the middle of the cubic room on an extended wire. It would swing around constantly (with a mechanism to keep this up)

I feel that there could be many associations to this visual, and the interpretation would depend on the audience.

Moreover, there would be interesting shadows cast on the walls, and the scene is ever changing.

If given 10 lights, I would put it in a circle on the ground, igniting some sort of cult-like vibes.

If given 100 lights or more, I would pile them up on the floor, with all lights off except for 1. Don’t mind the stock photo with the watermarks, but here’s one for illustration purposes:

PAVILION

For the pavilion, I spent some time wondering what is iconic to Singapore, and I would say there are many. A lot of them are landmarks and architecture. When I thought of food items, like the White Rabbit candy or haw flakes, as Singaporean as they are, I still also personally relate them to my childhood in Indonesia, hence it doesn’t feel as explicitly Singaporean to me.

Looking at my friends’ choices, I was thinking of not choosing the same things, so in the end I came up with the traffic light!

This is something I closely relate to Singapore. The order it brings, allowing for an actual space to cross instead of jaywalking, making it efficient so people would actually use it (unlike in Indonesia), reflects Singapore’s orderly image in a way. The blinking green man and the beeping sound is something that is overlooked, but I feel is close to Singapore.

The inclusion of the beeping sounds would in addition create a soundscape, which I think would be really interesting!

Study of Spaces – Physical

T H E   L I O N   K I N G

The Lion King musical opened on Broadway in November 1997. Based on the 1994 Walt Disney Animation Studios’ animated feature film of the same name, it is one of the biggest, longest-running musical productions in the world.

I went to watch The Lion King musical last August, and it was my first actual musical experience, which I had been looking forward to since forever. And I can say, every single cent was worth it. Sure, I knew the story and the songs well, but the musical brought this beloved animation to life in such a way that I never imagined would be so enchanting.

The elaborate sets, the props, the costumes, the stage design, they all culminate in an entertaining and memorable show. At almost every moment, I loved how they translated the moments on screen to a spectacle on stage.

Click here to experience a 360 degree view of its opening scene.

P E R C E P T U A L

A musical is a stage, a performance. I feel that it employs many different mediums to deliver a story, a show. The medium is not only the acting and the music, there is also the stage design – everything from sets, props, costume, makeup, etc, and the external marketing and publicity plans.

The audience, while they are only seated in the comfy chairs, are perceptually engaged in numerous ways, mainly through sight and hearing. In Lion King, most of the audience would know of the story from the original animation. The directors of the show then has this challenge to present the story in a completely different way through song and dance. With the advancement of technology, sets are brought alive on stage through movement and lights.

A R C H I T E C T U R A L

I feel that architecturally, this production was very rich, and it did not disappoint. They were designed in a way that would support the story, but also created a visual masterpiece. There was a good balance between elaborate and simple, and even the simple sets were as effective.

The costumes and puppetry were also the highlight of the show. It is one thing to bring a theatre to live, but it is another thing to bring an animal kingdom to live on stage with human actors.

I loved how they did not restrict themselves to simply replicate real life, but they did it in a style that was both pleasing and culturally expressive.

Overall, every single detail contributed to enhance the space by tenfolds, creating an out-of-the-world experience for the viewers, who feel like they were transported to another realm, another dimension.

C U L T U R A L

The Lion King was written based on the Pride Lands of Africa. The musical showcases the African culture through the artistic department. The Swahili language is also featured, with accurate representation in the actors themselves.

The colours leaned towards a majority of warmer tones, which invokes a sense of warmth in the audience, and this also relates to the sun, and the overall atmosphere of the African setting. Other than that, there are also vibrant colours that enliven the scenes. Overall, the colours used in each dance piece, each scene, were carefully coordinated to create different moods which matched the settings of the different scenes.

I M M E R S I O N

Other than the show being really big in terms of scale, with almost life size costumes, tall giraffes, large elephants, there are a few other features of the musical that helped to create an immersive experience for its viewers.

Breaking the fourth wall – the performance was not limited to the stage. In multiple parts throughout the show, performers zoomed through the aisles, or danced amongst the audience. This brings the audience themselves closer into the heart of the performance, and experience the dancers and costumes in closer proximity. The whole theatre becomes the stage.

The actors also interacted with the audience and addressed them, engaging them and making them feel like a part of the performance, which makes it feel less of watching a screen, a framed stage. There were also jokes that were specific to Singapore, which I felt was entertaining as the Singaporean population that watched it felt a deeper connection – it was also something funny and memorable.

Study of Spaces – Screen Based

G E O R G E S   M É L I È S   –   L E   V O Y A G E   D A N S   L A   L U N E 

I can’t recall when I first encountered Georges Méliès, but I was reintroduced to him and his works through the movie Hugo, which was directed by Martin Scorsese. I’m not entirely sure how accurate the information presented on Méliès was on the movie, but it did give quite a bit of insight of how Méliès was said to work. I felt that the reproductions of his sets and some behind the scenes of his films gave an apt visual to the documentation of his processes.

One of the forefronts for science fiction, Méliès started off as a magician, an illusionist. When he encountered the Lumiere Brothers’ film, which at that time showed only scenes of real life with motion, Méliès immediately saw its potential to experiment further.  I feel that he brought over his interests from creating illusions in real life, to creating illusions on screen. This was novel at the time, and pushed the boundaries of filmmaking.

P E R C E P T U A L 

A lot of Georges Méliès’s films are fantastical, they are fictional dreams brought into reality, with early VFX that brought what was once impossible into vision. He was already doing this in his performances as a magician, and his mind as an inventor helped him demonstrate his illusions, however the camera and film helped him bring his work to another level. He was able to have more control over the final piece, without the limitations of a live performance.

He cut the films and pasted them back together, pioneering film trickery, or effects as now known, he had crew to paint over each and every frame, he built a whole glass enclosed studio, he housed over 20 000 costumes, he was over the top and it was awesome.

Bringing his stories across, the viewers are able to enjoy the effects created, and their emotional states are invested since they are introduced to a new form of entertainment.

The films were not made with the point of replicating reality, so there is a fun element to it, with the expressions and body gestures of the actors amplifying the scenes with their interactions with the sets and props.

This is especially more so because the movies were silent, with no dialogue. Hence, the narrative had to be delivered through visuals and music alone.

A R C H I T E C T U R A L

In his glass studio, he created elaborate sets that are many times almost dream-like. These are very similar to stage design. It is as if they were for stage performances and theatre, but recorded instead. These were what early sound stages were like. This way, he was able to explore the mise-en-scène and cinematography of his works.

In such a limited space, Méliès was able to create a sense of depth and volume by playing with planes and scale. By using elevated, depressed and overhead planes, he was able to redefine the space according to the kinds of settings he was going for. This creates a believable space in which the viewers could imagine the three dimensionality and the extension of the space beyond the frame.

C U L T U R A L 

At the time, films were only starting to get popular after its invention. Even though the Lumière brothers stated that the cinema was an invention with no future, they were proved wrong as it has now developed into one of the most prominent mediums of expression in history, with advancements continuously being made and boundaries continuously broken and redefined.

I found this a good short read on the early start of cinema, and what the culture was like, defined by different takes by different artists, inventors and filmmakers.

In Le Voyage Dans La Lune, the culture of theatre and fantasies was showcased through the idea of heading towards the moon and finding extra terrestrial creatures.

I N T E R A C T I O N

While films do not create an immersive physical space for the viewers, I think that when done right, it could create an immersive mental space, when viewers are engaged in the film and can feel themselves in it. I think that Georges Méliès was able to do this in this film, as he made people and sets and movements that were understandable and relatable.

I also feel that the sense of wonder also creates another effect that engages the audience’s imagination, just like how one could be engaged through the words in a book.

MOCAP with Biju

This was an unexpectedly eye-opening session. I came with no expectations, and left with a new insight on greater possibilities of projection mapping and interactive design.

I appreciated how Prof Biju started out with the very basics by disassembling a camera, to understand how an image is created. After this, he moved on to talking about projectors, and how the function is reversed, hence the further away the screen, the larger the image a projector produces.

He showed this by projecting a donut on a board, and moving it back and forth. As the board moves, we can see the donut changing shape and location (on the board).

The next thing he showed us shocked me. As the board moved, the donut stayed the same shape and size, and stayed in the same position on the board. W   H   A   T     I   S     H   A   P   P   E   N   I   N   G ???? And then I immediately thought, OH so that’s what the trackers are for! They track the position of the board in the 3D space, and the software live alters the digital image so that the projected result would stay the same. This output seems simple, but it is so cool to see the image changing in the software according to how we position the board.

Basically, if the board is further away, the image projected would be larger. To counteract this so that the image would stay the same size, the software scales the image down, so the resulting projected image would be smaller and hence would appear to be static. The same goes with position. If the board goes left, then the image would adjust accordingly, with the projection staying the same as if nothing changed.

This made me think of how this could be used in performance and projection mapping, in which objects or people are the subjects, and they can be moving around while the projection on them adjusts to their position automatically, improving efficiency in production.

Of course, in our day and age, it is not surprising to see that this technology had already been implemented.

These remind me of moving sets, and I feel that the incorporation of this technology helps to improve accuracy and minimises mistakes since the humans move organically, and there is no longer a need to completely match a pre-recorded projection and match the exact locations, as now the projection would adjust accordingly.

Another example is the usage in dance performances. This had been done many times before, but they were rehearsed to get the timing and position right. This technology again eliminates the need for that precision, as through live motion tracking, the projection would be able to adjust to the performer.

Lastly, I found this exploration interesting. They mentioned the many different ways in which dynamic projection mapping could be implemented.