MINIMALISM REVIEW

Untitled
Donald Judd

1969 – 1971
Aluminium and transparent synthetic polymer resin
Felton Bequest, 1974
Collection of National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne

This was one of the longest pieces I’ve experienced in the whole show. There’s something about it that draws me to it. It’s endless void? It’s structureless configuration? The fact that it’s not another painting, nor does it seem very much like a traditional sculpture either. I found myself staring deeply into the inner surfaces of Untitled, mesmerised by how deep the reflections ran and the angle of which the edges seem like they run off into the infinities.

I was curious, have always been about mirrors, and I guess this was eye boggling enough for me to choose it to review. Upon research, I found more about Donald Judd, a philosophy and art history major that became an art critic turn artist, who was looking everywhere for his own unique spin on what art is to him. As most young artists in the 60s, Judd was mostly started with abstracted paintings. Even from his early works, it was clear Judd was unhappy with his medium. Creating depth in his paintings to break away from the traditional two dimensional surface. This two dimensionality led him to produce works specifically on walls and finally three dimensional structural art forms.

Judd coins the term Specific Objects that celebrates the unconventional, specifically the unconventional aesthetics and methodology that is common within paintings and sculpture during the 60s. By using industrial materials,

Judd removed he artist’s studio any hands-on art making…

This was an important step to pushing the conceptual artist movement. Judd would put up multiple exhibitions by MoMA and Whitney of his Specific Objects work and would eventually settle down in New York and Texas, where he built homes specifically with his permanent Specific Objects in mind.

In many of Judd’s works, he emphasises a lot on Space and how the Space in between is as important and is part of the artwork itself. This is an interesting concept that I’ve yet to hear of. Artists and painters spend years perfecting the use of negative space whilst Judd is applying this concept on three dimensional sculptures.

His concept of space when applied to this piece speaks volume of his methodologies. Thoughtful consideration has been put into the material and concept of Untitled. I can only assume the meaning of this piece stems from the reflection of reality, 2 sided, similar to the inner and outer sides of the structure and its materiality. The duality between the material itself and the anti-material, the space, would be part of this 2 sided concept. However, as per Judd’s artistic statement, it is clear that the space and material are one, the art work, and thus the 2 sides of a flipped reflection exists both together and not together at the same time.

To be featured prominently near the front of the exhibition, it is quite surprising most people would glance over this monolith. From my own perspective, Judd’s approach to art is neither binary nor non-binary, for it is the in between and nothings between these two terms.

Night To Light

Interestingly enough, the first two interactions I’ve had with Night To Light were centered around i Light. Which kind of says something I guess.

Night to Light is a festival organized by National Gallery with support of NAC and is usually held in January. This year, because of the glorious Singapore Bicentennial Edition marketing going on, we already have 7 ongoing art events(not that I’ve been to most) but this has led to some confusion with the casual Singaporean going out for a nice date in Clarke Quay.

The projection mapping show by Brandon Tay caught my eye. It was an interesting curatorial decision that led users throughout the different monuments that had projection mapping facades on it.

There was an interesting story that was being told throughout because of the connection at the start and end. Almost like an exquisite corps. This enabled me to understand that there may be more to meets the eye with not only projection mapping, but also the ability to transcend traditional storytelling techniques.

Thoughtful Interaction Design

Chapter Review of Thoughtful Interaction Design by Jonas Löwgren, Chapter 1: Introduction

Having taken User Centred Design and User Experience & Interface Design while in exchange in the states, and Design Thinking now in ADM, it has become increasingly apparent that as Designers, we hold a kind a power and that power comes with responsibility.

The chapter is interesting as it not only touches on the possibility of human-machine interfacing but also how interaction can be traced into a multidisciplinary approach to design.

As the book describes more profoundly, “This leaves us with a situation where the designer wields significant power, and with such power comes responsibility.” Designers are essentially the creators, the guides and the craftsman of ideas that change the future but after reading the first chapter, it seems the author’s emphasis is not on what we wield or could possibly wield, but in the perhaps, more ethnical aspect of how we as Designers should approach our solutioning from a more thoughtful understanding.

Being thoughtful seems to resonate closely with the common design process of empathy for users, but I think without reading beyond the first chapter, it seems that being thoughtful is understand there is no right way or correct answer and that we need to always put our users in mind and accept feedback, critically.

To become thoughtful, it seems the author feels is something that is sensed, not taught or followed. As an advocate for the sprint rapid prototyping process by Google(even bought the book), I find this book sort of teasing me in sort of a Forbidden Fruit kind of way. I’m curious to purchase this book and continuing the read and see how prototyping methodologies, design thinking processes and the inherent ability to hone a design sense differs.

(Also found myself enjoying the read a lot more after knowing the author of the book is from MIT, my dream graduate school. Kind of stuck in the Roland Barthes theory.)