Feligood – Page 6 – Hopefully, these are very good school works

Hello, My Name is…

Feliciana, and I’m moody.

ONE: The idea is my mood changes as fast as MRT. Trigger me, and within a few minutes you will see a different me. Well, this is a hyperbole. I’m not that wild. I still can control my self.

TWO: in this abstract pattern, the different moods are represented in different color and lines, for e.g. the calm me is blue with straight lines, angry me is red with messy sharp lines, etc. I am dynamic and actually really expressive. I am able to show different colors of myself.

THREE: “mood swing” is the inspiration. Well, it’s like swinging your baseball bat. The ‘tip’ of my mood (which is my face), can change as the swing rotate.

Reflection:

This is a fun mini assignment. My favourite card is the first one, because it’s effectively communicating the message and relatable to the audience (MRT TV screen).

Research Critique: Virtual Bodies in the Third Space

Virtual Bodies

There has been a lot of questions and wondering about virtual bodies in the third space: human bodies which are not in real flesh but in their digital display, like what we see on a screen. We can see them, we can hear the sound of the movement, but we can’t touch them.

With the increasing usage of digital media and the Internet, our ‘selves’ seem to be able to separate our ‘bodies’.

…the increasing acceptance that the ‘self’ can exist apart from the ‘body’ in online activities and remote erotic encounters such as phone sex. (source)

Other daily examples of this phenomenon is Skype-ing and e-relationship with fictional or non-fictional people.

With the aforementioned examples, these questions arise: are our selves really separated from our bodies? Is ‘disembodiment’ in this digital era really happening or is it just a myth?

Artists explore this topic by making arts with the concept of interaction between the physical and the virtual (Telematic Dreaming by Susan Kozel, The Big Kiss by Annie Abraham), and the conclusion is:

For them, even the experience of seeing is not disembodied; it is visceral. Seeing is feeling.

kolajsb10

Annie Abrahams, The Big Kiss, 2007

One of the big shot artists who explore about virtual bodies is Annie Abraham.

She is a Dutch performance artist specializing in video installations and internet based performances. Her work challenges and questions the limitations and possibilities that are implicated when internet users communicated from one to another by the use of new media known as cyberformance (source).

Her work, The Big Kiss, used webcam technology to unite participants in a shared third space/electronic space. Then, they will attempt to kiss each other. The questions are…

What’s contact in a machine mediated world? What’s the power of the image? How does it feel to kiss without touching? Does the act change because we see it? What does it mean to construct an image with your tongue? And is there still desire? Does the act provoke it? What’s contact in a machine mediated world? (source)

My Opinion

culkin-shocked-face shocked-t9n-face

Even though I am not a part of the virtual bodies shown in the video, I do still cringe whenever I watch it. I am not used to such ‘view’ and even though this kiss is ‘not real’, as a third party I am still as affected as watching a ‘real kiss’. Somehow, I found it even grosser because their lips and tongues ‘touch but did not touch’. I am partially irritated as well, I can’t explain why.

From this experience, I do agree that seeing is feeling. No matter how hard we try to ‘disembody’ our minds from or bodies, they are still closely connected, unless all of our senses are ‘disconnected’ from the experiences e.g. not seeing we kiss someone we don’t know in the third space.

Hence, the statement below is proven true:

The dislocation and fragmentation of the body in digital performance is an aesthetic praxis which deconstructive critics have hungrily grasped and mythologized, holding up the virtual body as the central icon (immaterial, disembodied), whereas in actuality, it operates as an index, as another trace and representation of the always already physical body. (source)

I can’t imagine doing that ‘big kiss’ with an unkown guy, and being watched by many eyes. OMYGOSH.

WEEK 4 Journal: Reflection on Presentation

Being the first group to present this semester was a challenge:

We had only one week to prepare
We had no idea what was the standard of the class
We were quite busy at that time and it was pretty difficult to arrange a meeting for all of us to meet
We were new faces to each other. We were lucky that we could work together immediately despite we just knew each other.

And after overcoming those challenges, we are satisfied and happy with our presentation. Some of the good points about our presentation are:

Well-planned flow
80% original pictures
Organized slides
The use of different ‘props’: banana, jasmine air freshener, candies, 360Degree Video, in order to bring a more real experience of the temple.
Interaction with audience (quiz)

However, there are parts in which we can improve:

More formal attire for presentation would be good, e.g. blazer, shirt
Wearing the same color as a team
Time-management and more thorough content selection. We did our presentation more than 20 minutes and we might have done better with more practices.

Overall, that was a precious experience 🙂 and personally, that was my best presentation so far.

For the rest of the class, always do your best 😉 if you have the time to improve on whatever you are doing, just improve it :).

PS: we went to this Buddha Tooth Relic Temple as well! it’s so grannddddd

Research Critique: Sensing Garments & Smart Textiles

Sensing Garments

These garments are made to gather information on posture and movement of the user. The current project discussed in this essay is about upper limb kinesthetic garment (ULKG) which is aimed to aid rehabilitation process for post-stroke patients.

ULKG use electricity conductive silicon rubber and graphite smeared on the fabric, hence allowing the garments to conduct electricity to the sensors on the ULKG and the glove. No external wire or cable connected to external electrical components is needed, hence making the garment to be wearable and comfortable.

Moreover, with sensors accurately located on specific muscles and joints, ULKG is able to calculate the just-right amount of movement, hence movements made by ULKG on the limbs of the user will be natural and smooth. This will allow post-stroke patients to have natural muscle memory. And, as ULKG automatically adjusts the current, pressure and movements on the patient, no physician is needed to monitor the rehabilitation process. Rehabilitation can be carried out more conveniently anytime.

Smart Textiles

Smart textiles are often called electronic textiles or e-textiles. These are textiles with electronic and interconnections woven into them, making them intrinsics to the fabric, hence no external component is needed for them to function.

E-textile is divided into three subgroups:

passive smart textiles: only sense the environ
ment/user using sensors.
active smart textiles: sense and react to external stimuli.
very smart textiles: sense, react and adapt to the c
hanging circumstances.

Hopefully, with the development of e-textiles, our future everyday clothing can serve as intelligent personal assistants that can be brought anywhere anytime.

This essay also explains pretty detailed explanation on how to create e-textile, hence showing the plausibility of commercializing it. For e.g., basic chemistry method such as electroplating is mentioned to be able to create a smart material called treated conducive fibers.

Conclusion

The first essay has a more specific topic than the second one. The first essay talks only about sensing garment and its direct application to ULKG and the glove. In the other hand, the second essay’s focus is about the possible manufacturing process of e-textile without explaining clearly the direct application of different e-textiles.

Both essays complement each other: e-textiles, which comprise sensing garment, are feasible to be made and have potential to be commercialized because they can be applied to make clothes with high functionality in the medical, artistic, sports and any other fields.

[Week 1 Journal] What Type of Learner Are You?

So, I took the test first, and my best intelligence is Kinesthetic. Here is the order:

Kinesthetic
Intrapersonal
Linguistic
Interpersonal
Logical

The five intelligences are more than 60% of the the chart, and it is surprising that, despite being an artist wannabe, my visual intelligence is not my strongest.

However, I do still think that I am a visual+kinesthetic learner in real life. And i’m definitely not an auditory learner because listening to online lecture only without writing anything/looking at a moving lecturer is totally boring. I will doze off or get distracted.

The Virtual Embrace

This visual touch doesn’t give a tactile sensation for we can’t feel the skin of each other. However, the feel when we did it is the sense of accomplishment because it is not easy to control our virtual body in order to be in sync/to touch the other virtual body at the same time. It’s not just about muscle coordination but also timing and patience. The scale matters too and to match the scale with each other is difficult.

Research Critique – Biometrics

Biomimicry is an approach to innovation that seeks sustainable solutions to human challenges by emulating nature’s time-tested patterns and strategies. The goal is to create products, processes and policies – new ways of living – that are well-adapted to life on earth over the long haul.

Hence, for a wearable to re-contextualize biomimicry, it has to have a quality imitated from natural processes and able to solve a human problem. And the project that suits this concept almost perfectly is the Aero Sports Bra by Karolina Cengija and Becca McCharen.

The Aero Sports Bra (worn under the dress) will detect the level of perspiration, respiration and body temperature and respond accordingly. For example, when the user is panting and sweating or even angry, the bra will open slightly to cool the upper body parts.

We used shape memory alloys with the goal to give it a more organic transition.

The bra is of biomimicry context because they are made to imitate the smoothness of how our body naturally changes temperature, heart rate and perspiration (article) so that our body will stay in the best comfort physically and emotionally.

However, the technology used is not yet ready to be commercialized, hence it won’t hit the market in the short run.

She is keen to emphasise, however, that these are not yet garments for sale. They are experiments that will help uncover what’s possible for future wearable technology.

In the other hand, the price of producing such high-end technology will be likely to be costly. In my opinion, this wearable will cater only to a smaller market: the upper class ones. It might be a sustainable wearable technology, but it might not help everyone for not everyone would be able to afford it in the short run.

Micro-Project: Video Double

Chinese Chipmunk

Am I an aspiring chipmunk?

Actually, I simply like chipmunk, and like chipmunk, I want to be an artist who is fun and happy with artworks which evoke the same bubbly feelings :). And for me, facial expression is a small thing with enormous artistic effect.

Research Critique: Costume and Textile

The performance is called “The Space Between Us”, choreographed by Utam Moses and composed by Eric Lindsay. This performance was held in April 2010 in the United States. This performance shows dance choreography with costumes that can generate and control sound with the help of pressure and flex sensors. Designed by Amy Burell and Jay Garst, this costume allows the dancer to be able to control the strength of the audio according to the strength of his/her movements, hence making the dancer not a slave of the pre-composed music. It is not stated whether this project use open source technology or not but I think it did use OSS because this project would not happen without the networking between talents from different fields (choreographer, musician, costume designer and engineer), which would be much easier to achieve with the help of OSS. Moreover, the complexity of the technical aspects would require a convenient shared storage system, which could be done using OSS.

In my own opinion, this project is jaw-dropping and one-of-a-kind. Most of the time, people would like to create costume technology which something to do with lights (or other visual matters) instead of sound. A lot of sensors would have been used all over the body to make this marvel happen. I think this would need more than just creative minds but also the scientific ones.

EGO – Final Assignment

:: EGO ::

:: RESEARCH&INSPIRATION ::

1. Red Hongyi || 2. Groerhs || 3. @ibird_art

The concept/style that I pursued for this assignment is illustration+digital collaging, slightly different from the inspiration I have searched. I prefer digital collaging rather than traditional arranging because it allows more flexible process and permutation of final results. Traditional arranging requires a lot of different materials and the color would be more ‘inflexible’.

I chose to use quite a number of my hand drawn pictures to make the whole panels uniquely me. Most of the times, hand drawn lines are individualistic.

:: PROCESS&INSIGHT ::

I am a dreamer, a fantasizer. The idea is about opening my brain, and you see what is in side. The first image is a trial to see whether this illustration of brain good enough to be in the collage or not. I use analogous colors from pink/red to blue/purple, with the intention to give clearer depiction of fantasy.

I am pretty handy. The idea is having a hand that can act like mechanical tools, hence my hands are quite versatile in making things, repairing things. I got the inspiration from a doctor who suddenly ‘foretold’ me that “there is something about your hand. Don’t work for others. Work for your own.” And some friends do tell me that I have magic hands. The analogous colors of red to yellow are chosen as they gave the impression of working. When you are tired your face turns red, I guess?

I am willing to help. I want to be a blessing for others. My hands are meant for benevolent things. Hence what i can think of to symbolize ‘blessing’ is dove. And to apply design synectics, I replace the wings with my hands. It gives the impression that with my hands, I fly to others, helping them and sprinkling blessings. At first i found difficulty how to make the composition smooth. The 2nd picture looks patchy, hence I try unhide certain layers and the color of the wings help a smooth transition from illustration to photo. I used split complementary colors of light purple, blue and yellow for the bird – aesthetic purpose. I add the tree as a ‘background’ because when I tried, it looks just nice, reducing the ‘rawness’ of the image. For the tree background, it is complementary colors of green and red. I use the original color of tree and its fruit to give more natural look to the image.

But my heart is often consumed by jealousy. This deadly sin fades little by little as I grow older, but it still lingers there, poisoning me. Green is the color of jealousy, and a snake is chosen with the intention to depict ‘evilness’ and ‘toxicity’ of the the green jealousy. A heart is chosen to depict the kindness, humanity – which will be gone if jealousy consumes them. The line background is suggested by a friend and no, it’s not my style. Then together with the previous Benevolent hands image, I add the tree background. The difference is, the trees here are dead – because of jealousy. And for real, jealousy kills the humanity in us. The benevolent hands will not act the way they should be if the snake is still in our heart. Complementary colors of red and green is chosen – the red is ‘spices’ to the image; sub-ordinate role.

To me, important virtues that I want and have to have are not just maturity and wisdom, but also youthfulness no matter what age I am at. Going to stay young at heart. I am inspired by my mom and some other parents who are still able to connect with modern teenagers and youngsters, but at the same time mature gracefully. To symbolize the wisdom and maturity, I purposefully chose owl and purple (color of wisdom). The youthfulness is depicted using rainbow and the happy silhouette. I delete the random tourist places at the feet of the owl because it looks redundant with the title. I wanted to depict youthfulness with the trait of being adventurous and exploring, however I think the silhouettes are enough to depict that.

I can’t deny that sick personality would make the most beautiful angel ugly, but in today’s world, looks are important too. Hence, if I can have both inner and outer beauty, why not? the flawless back skin is to depict outer beauty, and the garden inside the ribcage is for inner beauty. I chose roses because it’s the universal symbol for beauty and at the same time expression of love and other positive feelings. Red is for love and compassion. White is purity. the butterflies are to add aesthetics.

I want to be a pro fashion illustrator. Hopefully, as I graduate from ADM, I will already obtain the skill and the fame as a fashion illustrator, not just locally but internationally. Illustration: Elie Saab Haute Couture SS2015.

And hopefully, being a fashion illustrator is lucrative, making me rich. Nothing’s impossible, right? Yeap, hopefully in 5 years time I ‘print’ money by ‘inserting’ my illustrations ;).

The pictures in the third column of the final work have multiple and intertwined meanings. To summarize:

:: The whole thing shows a progress of drawing an illustrative portrait – my portrait. I draw parallel to self-development/improvement = as more lines/shadings are added to my life, I will be better.

:: So, the final result of the portrait is intentionally made to be the Ideal me because me in 5 years time may not be ideal yet. I may take more than 5 years to be ideal, right?

:: me = looks like a goddess. I am fantasizing myself as some fictional character.

:: better me = me is like a deer, animal that symbolizes kindness, maturity.

:: ideal me = other than using the finished picture of my portrait, I add make up to ‘her’. I don’t wear makeup now, so I think in the future I would be more ideal with makeup. The rose at the side lips to show that I speak beautiful, kind words. And i have wise friends like the owl!

:: me in 5 years time = me as fashion illustrator, will think a lot of illustrations.

:: ORIGINALS ::

Some of the images used are made by myself.

And my portrait and its processes.

:: REFLECTION ::

I am happy doing it. Even though I admit it is a bit last minute for the execution, I am satisfied that I can use the style that I like. More importantly, I feel that after this assignment, I can draw illustrations faster and better. Applying as many design synectics as possible is challenging actually, I spent more time planning then executing the final works, but it is really worth-doing. I want to make more ‘smart images’ that can talk to the viewers without words.

And thank you, Mimi for your guidance 🙂 I am exposed to many new skills thanks to your teaching in class and also the assignments <3.

The best is yet to be.