Final Presentation Slides

Links provided by LP during presentation:

Sweet Barrier Reef (2009) by Ken + Yonetani
http://kenandjuliayonetani.com/en/works/sweetbarrierreef/

‘The Lagoon Cycle’ Exhibition by the Harrison Studio.
https://theharrisonstudio.net/the-lagoon-cycle-1974-1984-2

An undersea robot has dispersed microscopic coral larvae
https://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2018-12/quot-rmw121218.php

Going on from here, the main question I need to be certain of is what type of art am I aiming to produce? For sure the concept is set to plastic debris and its effect on corals but now I need to do more research on whether I wish to heighten awareness? create a product to help collection of waste? What kind of tone? Cynical, Serious, Hopeful?

Following on, these questions will guide my thought process and solid my idea.

2nd Presentation Slides

This presentation is going to be facts heavy, and it’s going to feel like a marine-biology science-y presentation. But, through my research, I picked out 3 fascinating facts about Corals I want to work with.

We had a previous sharing on rough ideas we wanted to work on for FYP, I presented on Coral Bleaching and the follow up question from that sharing was what is happening specifically to Singapore’s corals? https://www.sea-circular.org/news/cobsea-and-national-university-of-singapore-launch-database-of-marine-litter-research-from-13-asian-countries/

More on COBSEA: https://www.unep.org/cobsea/

Database found here:
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1r4aCVQeCS1cj_Rhip82yVTNNnxkWDgFwbEIHCR_oASk/edit#g
https://cil.nus.edu.sg/research/special-projects/#polllution-from-marine-plastics-in-the-seas-of-asean-plus-three

*wide-ranging generalist coral species are build to survive in deeper waters

This idea is to highlight the problem about plastic waste, but in order to have it focused specifically on Corals, I am hoping to incorporate the concepts of Coral Dating or Coral Soundscapes. I am not too sure how I wish manifest it yet but here are some artist references:

Artist Mel Chin Floods Times Square With Virtual Reality Art to Sound the Alarm on Climate Change

Fish Hammer

Disruptive Devices

https://thestrawpocalypse.com/

Reflections on Designing for The Digital Age Reading

These days, I find that the term ‘UIUX’ has just been randomly thrown around, a buzz-word of our time. I have also always just assume it was for only related to the tech field but after this reading, I have came to realise that this principle can also be applied to physical products, and services. Such designs are grounded by the root idea that it serves human needs and goals within certain constraints.

The reading makes mention of Alan Cooper’s Goal-Directed design.

One interesting thing I picked up from the reading is the question: Will it help users minimise work? under Principles. Work can be cognitive, visual, memory and motor. Truly this is why user survey is important. Sometimes, there are challenges that cant be seen because they are internal struggles. It seems that to have the best user experience is to have smoothest and simplest pathway towards the user’s goal. However, I have came to realise how skewed this idea can be. Speaking from personal experience,  sometimes, because an experience is so seamless, the fact that there is almost no “thinking” needed, I have managed to sign up for brands newsletter that I have no recollection off or auto check boxes has got me signing up for trials that I am not keen on. While reducing the work overload would help with the user interaction, however, going a further step to enriching the experience would be to balance the manipulative patterns. Afterall, if I have to take the extra steps to be aware of these dark methods used against me then it back fires the initial idea of minimising work.

Another interesting pointer shared is Framework definition under Process. It mentions that Persona and scenario are the primary drivers of basic framework. It is broken down to interaction framework, visual framework and industrial design framework. Being an interaction designer, sometimes I struggle with idea of “how functionality is grouped and how the personas will accomplish the most critical tasks”. I am starting to feel that there is a streamlining of design styles and everything are starting to look similar. EG old person naturally means bigger fonts, teens means more new technology to engage, kids means nothing sharp, intuitive movements. Hence, I think if I were to follow this scheme of using personas into my FYP, the personas need to be distinctive, unique individual, that should not be able to be blurred together with everyone else. Completely fictional stories of imaginary people based on little or no research bring no value for the design process and in fact, can in turn back fire. Poorly constructed personas is very much linked to the credibility of this technique.

I really enjoyed this quote: Any good method is a living thing that continues to evolve and grow. Indeed, while there are many recommendations, and structures around, I think human behaviours is consistently evolving and what this means for designs is to not just blindly follow trends or get stuck in frameworks, but to consistently be innovative that are targeted and well-researched for its user.

 

Reflection on Project Management Reading

Chapter 2 started off with “Project Management is an outcome-oriented process”- Daunting.

Of the 6 project management goals, I would like to elaborate more on ‘To reach the end on time” and also “To reach the end meeting everyone’s expectations”

‘To reach the end of the project”
Through out my time in ADM, I never understood what it meant to reach the end of a project. Every submission, if given more time, I could always think of pointers on how I would further improve the project. Sometimes, makes me wonder, if really I was given the time, how much time would I need? Is there really such a concept as ‘The End’? When will I ever be done with a project?

This reading opened my eyes to the idea of goals vs objectives. It describes ‘goal’ as universal targets that are common to all projects while ‘objectives’ are specific to your own projects. The idea of an “end” is not so much a dead end, but instead being able to meet a set of objectives. In the my head, how I saw this was, objectives has different degrees/ extent to them, and so if I am aiming to fulfil level 2 objectives and met them, even if I did not make it to level 3 objectives, because I have identified what I wish to achieve at the beginning and achieved it, I have ‘reached the end’. And this obviously will not be the end-of-the-road for the project, instead I would view it as an emotional closure for anyone working on a project. In my opinion, knowing just when to declare a work of art finished after working it for months can also get very blurry, so setting objective that are measurable and quantifiable as mentioned would also help artists build a healthy relationship with their art pieces.

“To reach the end meeting everyone’s expectations”
Personally, if given a chance to work as an individual, I would gladly choose to because I have pretty much spent my uni days running away from potentially disappointing my group members. So, I was quite surprise to see this as a goal. Reminds me that as much as I seem ‘alone’, I really still have to rely on others to get things moving such as eventually the person coordinating the FYP show, my mentor prof, even to the smallest role of people running the various machines. I foresee FYP teaching me to be open to feedback, what others have to say about my progress. All while I do not loose myself incorporating others into the process.

 

Personally would wrap up Chapter 5 with the sentence “Properly planning the greatly increases its chance of success” in however I choose to define success. As my own project manager, I have to understand my work well enough to plan it properly and be wise enough to know when to seek advice. While I am still not entirely certain of what a FYP entitles, I also wish to be someone flexible to adapt to unforeseen sceen circumstances.

 

Post-trip to NGS reflection

One of the takeaways I had from the session on Thursday was that each art-piece within the exhibitions were not just independent works but instead, they are all co-related. Well that may already seem very obvious however, i felt that the relation was not just bounded by the title of the exhibition alone but even in the way they interacted with one another.

Aki Hassan’s ‘Weighed down by an Uplift’ explores the idea of support systems right in front of Kin Chui’s station 13010 which takes the form of an alter. Upon stepping on the pedal of Tini Aliman’s ‘Pokoknya: Organic Cancellation’, its sound, as well as those coming from the various exhibit, all gets amplified. Stephanie Jane Burt’s ‘Dressing a Window’ stand right in front of the descriptive wall of ‘Time Passes’, which both draws inspiration from the novel ‘To the lighthouse’.

To me, this almost seems to be reflective of the bigger picture during the Covid period. While we were all “trapped” in our physical homes, there were many social issues now brought up and re-evaluated, but these overlapping conversations all essentially boils down to asking ‘How should we be?’. This crux presents the idea that there is power in connection. Connection referring to the hope that all the artists were holding onto, that even though might have different starting ideas, when placed together in the same room influences each other to be integral in shaping this place to become a better home.

Diana Rahim’s Intervention is the piece I am choosing to explore further today. This piece caught my attention because I came to realise how desensitised I was to the structure of the public spaces around me. I have always just took it as it is, without knowing that my physical body could be subtly controlled this way. When Samantha brought up the part on her experience with Diana to put up the tassels and the flowers, I had so many thoughts running through my mind. I guess we have truly been so passive with our relationship to our public space that visual images are just not enough. It is to an extent that we need something literally skinny and sparkly to have kids coming up to play in such spaces or to even realise of its existence. Maybe the concept of spatial justice just isn’t apparent for us and we cannot see the effect such barriers have because we are so privileged? After all, we are not the ones having to look for a bench to sleep on at night. Taking it to another level, it was also the artist’s way of intervening with the space. She is literally stimulating modifications to existing systems, just instead of merely raising awareness. Almost as if she is saying “This is how it could potentially be. How do you like it?”.

Diana Rahim is a writer and photographer who often calls into question whether a capitalist city-state Singapore has moulded the way we have access to basic human needs and daily life. She started the journalling under the hashtag of #sghostilearchitecture. In the midst, she noted some interesting points, one of which being,

Does it work? To be honest was its effectiveness ever the priority in its installment? Or was it just some money spent to signal that “something was done” by authorities, to show that they responded to (some) citizens’ needs and that they care about public safety? Sometimes a barrier is a barrier, sometimes it’s a signal, a proof.

While this quote is referencing the barriers protecting citizens from e-scooters, truly makes me wonder, who are the government really orchestrating this barriers for? Because right now, to me, as someone who is about to set foot into the working world, it almost feels like a warning saying “You better work hard and earn money if you don’t to be a victim of these subtle weapons”. And if these are “subtle weapons”, why is it we only have a say in the colours of our HDB flats and almost nothing else about our public spaces?

She also sees a recurring theme, not just in the aspect of hostile architecture but the detachment we have from feeling the full weight of things have already been integral to our lifestyles. From culture, class, or religion, even to the way we pick out our food. What I hope for myself is to have a desire strong enough to first be critical and notice the patterns because it is subtle until it isn’t.

Response to Social Practice Art

Not sure why, I always had the impression that ‘Social Practice Art’ was isolating, that it was only available and created for the ‘alternates’ of society. After delving into the reading, I have came to realise that it was the complete opposite of ‘anti-social’.  However, I have to admit I struggle deeply with the contention of such a practice and having it labelled as ‘Art’. Hear me out as I attempt to break down my thoughts through the various points brought up in the reading.

“merely a vague aesthetics of progressive uplift”

This phrase, perfectly sums up what I was struggling with as I read the article. It really pushed the boundary in terms of how I viewed Art. Made worst because I assumed I had a pretty liberal view of Art.

While this is definitely not the focus of the artist mentioned in the text, but I can’t help but question “Are people just listing this sort of practice under ‘Art’ just so as to allow what they are engaging with, to be made legal under Art cultural property laws?” “Are people just trying to protect what they have done to help others under the name of Art?” Especially since most of these pieces always seem to alert law enforcers because of its subtle rebellious nature.

the category of “social practice” attempts to forestall the problem of its own incorporation into the system by deliberately removing itself from commerce and making outwardly avowed political solidarity part of its defining trait.

This line paints ‘Social Practice Art’ as an in-between of politics and art. But upon more research, to me, it seem that no matter how much emphasis it has put into it being detach from the notion of commerce, by wanting to have a foot stepped into the Art field, it almost seems impossible to escape the commercial market.

In the above video (at 17:11), it demonstrates how a gallerist was vying for the gold tarps of Olga Koumoundouros: ‘A Notorious Possession’, which was a social-sculpture-cum-housing-protest. This suggests that components making up the process of executing such a genre of work has unintentionally became a sort of commodity.

Bridging across, then it got me to think if this sort of art then unintentionally practices the sort of notion behind: “The White Man’s Burden”(1899). The (imperialist) interpretation of this poem proposes that the white race is morally obliged to civilise the non-white peoples of planet Earth, and to encourage their progress (economic, social, and cultural) through settler colonialism.

When an artist attempts to bridge sociopolitical driven into art, where do we draw the line between being exploitative of the marginalised communities for the sake of Art and truly wanting to create Art to bring action to a certain cause/community?

In fact, the ability of this brand of art to still enrage social and aesthetic conservatives may well be the strongest evidence that it is still worth engaging with.

One of the most interesting aspect of this Social Practice Art Form that intrigued me was there being no need for excessive call for participation. These days, an exhibition going on at a certain museum is always coupled with (flashy) advertisement around. If there was to be a performance happening, collaterals would come floating by. But with this Art form, is seems as if people just stream into, participate, contribute, to the project at hand without the need for persuasion. I think this seems to enhance the fact that- exactly because people subtly recognise an issue around, which is why is it so easy for audience to just be drawn towards part taking in the project. There doesn’t even seem to be a need for a call to get people to being aware of a particular issue, and wanting actions need to be taken, subconsciously a mob is gathers to complete inherently good acts. It presents people with purpose. This in an of itself is a powerful tool to get the community to questioning the paradigm society has created.

Just like how the ‘Art and Craft’ movement in the mid 19th century played out to provide an alternative to the cookie-cutter industrial boom then, there seems to be a parallel when analysing ‘Social Practice Art’. ‘Social Practice Art’ exemplifies a strong desire within the community.

In conclusion, through wrestling and tearing apart this reading/ and more, it made me re-evaluate on my (twisted) perception on Art and my own artistic practice. What is it exactly do I want to bring across with my Art? I have always framed Art as an umbrella of aesthetic structures that is meant to provoke ideas, anything beyond that what an idea I have never explored, or never questioned. Hence, to me right now, by bring ‘good acts’ into the context Art, seems forced (even though I know it’s not) and unnecessarily extra. But one thing I cannot deny is, looking at the bigger whole, it is just our duty to humanity, Art or not, to help where help is due.