Month: March 2018

[PDP] Reflection on Rose Bond & Matt Adams

March 27, 2018 / / 0 Comments

Rose Bond, an Canadian artist, was a guest lecture on Friday where she shared her works. I was fascinated how she incorporates narratives together with digital media where she uses projection and sounds. It is interesting where the sounds from the installation is combined together with the city sounds.

Gates of light was the installation that attracted me. It is a interesting combination of sounds with visuals. Without even understanding the concept or background of what was going on, I still could understand that the year reflected together with the visuals. It showed a narrative piece where there was an active audience who were viewing the artwork.

Photo & Video Credits: http://rosebond.com/work/gates-of-light-2004-2007/

She briefly mentioned about the use of projectors to portray the narratives of the 120-year-old Eldridge Street Synagogue and its dynamic immigrant neighbourhood. I hoped that she would have given me more insight about her design process of how she thought of using specific visuals to match the various sounds and the research she had to do to actually get to the final product.

The other works she mentioned also deals a lot with projection and animation where I can see the progression of traditional medium: film strips to the digital medium: after effects in her works.

 

Matt Adams, an UK artist, who deals with interactive arts and games in a creative manner. I was fascinated where he incorporates both interactivity and game play together. I felt that he uses a lot of human interacting with the platform he has provided. The use of space, interactivity and game play all in one piece was amazing.

Kidnap, the first work presented gave me the impression of fear and unable to do anything within my control. It stimulates the process of being kidnapped and later on being helpless in an enclosed space. It’s interesting to see the participation level to experience the process of kidnap and being locked up. I felt that it was a live performance art piece where online audiences could participate in the environment. It seems that the audiences were surveillance cameras watching the ‘captives’ doing things inside the enclosed space.

I was amazed by the elaborate planning done by the team as they were inspired by the notorious Spanner Trial. The amount of research needed to be conducted together with the approval of people consent was a tough process. It reminded me of modern day context where we are being kidnap by social media or the internet where they have all our datas with or without our consent. 

Photo Credit: https://www.blasttheory.co.uk/projects/kidnap/

The other work that I could be a platform for me to further develop my FYP idea was desert rain. The idea of having different people in a closed environment to play a digital game by using projection to showcase the digital environment was fascinating since it was a time where digital had some limitations. After having experience the virtual space, the participants were lead to a physical environment where they learnt more about how these people they were suppose to find were involved the main topic: Gulf War.

I enjoyed this piece the most as it incorporates the element of game play, narratives, performance and interactivity. I felt that the process of ideating the idea and having to execute the installation was so detailed. I thought that I could incorporate the element of a digital side and later bring the audience to a physical space to experience the idea of a living room environment. 

Photo Credit: https://www.blasttheory.co.uk/projects/desert-rain/

Photo Credit: https://www.blasttheory.co.uk/projects/desert-rain/

[Int Spaces] See Yourself Sensing – Rebirth

March 27, 2018 / / 0 Comments

Rebirth
By Hannah Kwah En Hui & Putri Dina Andyana

Final Documentation Video

About

The main objective of the project is to distort the space. We wanted to limit the area of vision and movement of a person through this project.

Brainstorm Sketches
Idea #1 – Arm/ Hand Illusion

The first idea is a play of illusion where a person places his hand inside a box and the hand/arm will be seen at a different place. 

Idea #2 – Sound Space

The second idea is inspired by ASMR. When sounds are nearer the line of vision of a person opened and vice versa. We felt that it was tough to execute this out and there were several implications to take note of.

Idea #3 – Moving Dining Table & Chairs

The third idea is restricting the movement of a person by limiting the space. Cardboard chairs and tables will be created and attached to a person or people through a shirt where they will act as furnitures.

Idea #4 – Tetris

The fourth idea is inspired by the game tetris and optical illusion. Each person has a different pattern outfit where they have to combine the patterns with others to create the intended pattern. 

Idea #5 – Lightbulb shaped costume

The fifth idea is having a light bulb shaped head wear with cloth draping around to restrict the vision and movement of a person. We wanted light to penetrate through the head wear by creating cracks on it.

Final Concept

After discussing, we decided to go with the idea of the lightbulb shaped costume. We felt that it would be interesting to play with limiting vision and movement at the same time. We thought of a new name for this project, Rebirth. The white cloth reflects spirituality and the lightbulb looks like a lotus shape which reminded of our art history class hence the title.

Behind the Scenes

We did some sketches which we wanted the head wear to look like. We tried cutting out some samples to try making a lightbulb shaped/ beach ball shape. There were some issues in creating a lightbulb shape so we decided to change the shape a little. The individual shape still remains the same.

We decided to make the shape bigger so as to fit the head size of a person. We cut out a paper template which we can follow.

We used the template and traced it on cardboard. Afterwards we stick the pieces together but along the way we realised that placing 4 pieces together the head of a person cannot fit inside it. We changed it to 3 pieces instead and the head could fit in.

Next we sew the sides of the cloth together so that it would go over the person without having any gap in between.

We tried out the cardboard head and the sew cloth individually.

Afterwards we combined the two together and tried out the product while walking.

Final Photo

[PDP] Brainstorming ideas for FYP part 2

March 15, 2018 / / 0 Comments

Specifics:

I thought of doing an video installation with stories to tell where there will be 4 panels or more of people’s thoughts of what family means to them or what they would like family to be? There will be head phones attached to these panels and after that there will be a puzzle piece that will fall out. These puzzle pieces could be where people could write down what family means to them and bring them home or piece together with the bigger picture.

References/ Inspirations:

‘1999’ by Liu Ding
About the work:
“1999,” is a sound installation by artist Liu Ding. It is an episodic narrative about the cultural life in China in the 1990s. The artist uses telephones in his installation to unfold a series of so-called ‘telephone calls from the past.’ The work consists of recorded quotes and pop music of the 1990s. These texts were written by Liu Ding or excerpts taken from interviews Liu Ding conducted with Chinese artists and critics active in the 1990s.

http://www.shanghaibiennale.org/en/artist/detail/10/11.html
http://www.randian-online.com/np_feature/from-memory-to-archive-remembrance-and-amnesia-in-the-works-of-liu-ding-2/

Personal reflection:
I found this installation interesting where the artist uses the telephone to communicate the life of China in the 1990s using a familiar device, telephone. The installation enables the audience to listen to different stories or music from the past to understand the background of contemporary art. I could incorporate the idea of interviews or my own personal stories through a sound installation and people can hear them.

 

Autel de Lycée Chases by Christian Boltanski

About the work:
Autel de Lycée Chases is a photo and light installation by Christian Boltanski. Autel de Lycée Chases means Altar to the Chases High School. The artist uses black and white enlarged photos of Jewish students from a Viennese high school, 1931. He place the photos which do not give any clue to identify to connect to these individuals. The installation is most likely hinting at the Holocaust as it seems like a monument for the dead. There is light shining on these photos which may suggest hope alongside loss. Boltanski intermingles emotion and history, sentimentality and profundity in his work.

http://artmuseum.princeton.edu/collections/objects/42505
https://www.guggenheim.org/arts-curriculum/topic/christian-boltanski

Personal reflection:
I found it quite disturbing in terms of the colour used by the artist. It is interesting where he plays with photos and light to create the mood he wanted to convey through the installation. I could think about how to place the panels in a interesting way or make the videos or photos in a specific mood to create thoughts and conversations among people. 

 

Life Needs Internet by Jeroen van Loon

Installation:

Website:

Video:

About the work:
Life Needs Internet is an installation created by Jeroen van Loon. The installation shows 8 handwritten letters from different people about the influence of the internet on daily life. The video portraits and letters are combined together. The artist wants to portray the evolution of the global digitalisation and it’s impact on different cultures through this installation. He also created a website to document how people feel about the internet through handwritten letters.

https://jeroenvanloon.com/life-needs-internet-2012/
https://jeroenvanloon.com/life-needs-internet-online/

Personal Reflection:
I feel that this installation is quite similar with my idea of stories even though it is in different context. The use of handwritten letters is something personal and reflects about a person’s thoughts. I felt that I could incorporate the use of website where I could let more people contribute their own personal stories and create a giant puzzle via a digital platform. The installation could be a video of the myself/ others or an object relating to my/ others stories.

 

Feedback/ food for thought:
1. Look into the process of learning – figure out the puzzle form

  • Digital form – write down on a digital platform and create the whole image through images or words (contribute to the website)
  • Physical form – write down on actual puzzle pieces or have images of puzzles that people can relate to, encourage them to write down their thoughts and piece all together to create a bigger picture.

2. Create an anecdote of 1 part of the story using the puzzle piece

  • For example – the cause of why there is a brokenness between the relationship between my grandmother and myself

3. The framework can start from my family then move on to interview people about their own personal relationships (collect stories)

 

[Int Spaces] Analog Dollhouse

March 14, 2018 / / 0 Comments


About Project:
I wish to create a dollhouse where people can either interact with the rooms or each other when they enter inside. Through the individual spaces it allows individuals to freely explore the other rooms or even have a sneak peek to other rooms. I wanted to create individual and common public spaces where people go to so that they are able to think of the familiar environment they are in.

For the digital aspects, I thought of exploring sounds that differs from the environment you look at. It allows you to think and experience the room differently too.
Some considerations for digital aspects: add in a video for the TV screen where people can look at themselves or the outside environment.

Video documentation:

Next steps:

  1.  Explore different ways of making the dollhouse interesting to interact
    – different box sizes & orientation which people can enter in
  2. Add more furniture to make it as a whole instead of individual objects
  3. Try out different environment sounds with the different box sizes

[PDP] Brainstorming ideas for FYP

March 2, 2018 / / 0 Comments

In class brainstorming (Turning points in my life):

Feedback & areas to focus/ explore:
Different family culture – background of various culture
Explore the topic of family relationships among different generations
Sound narratives
‘Beauty silence’ in families

Family relationships
Personally I have a broken relationship with my grandmothers as they prefer boys more than girls. From that point I wanted to find ways and means to get their approval. It is finding a missing jig-saw puzzle in my life. As I talk to others about their personal relationship, they mentioned about parents being too busy with work which resulted in them having a strain in relationship.

Family is an important factor in our lives whether we want them or not. I want to explore the missing parts of lives and probably create thinking among people about relationships and their own personal background which will result in their interaction with loved ones.