March 2017

There were 3 posts published in March 2017 (this is page 1 of 1).

SHE WANTS ELEPHANT SO I GIVE ELEPHANT

Research and Process for 3D proj 1: Gifts

1.initial concept & interview

My initial thoughts for the project is to comment on gifts meant for acquaintances. (Since conveniently we are assigned clients whom we are not closed to)

When we have to give gifts to those whom we know little about, we tend to choose the gift based on the keywords or superficial informations collected. Such as their hobby or their favourite colour. However such approach seldom result in choices that are useful/meaningful for the receiver. This exchange is somewhat meaningless and troublesome yet we are forced to give gifts out of common courtesy.

From my first interview with my client, Namita, I gained a few keywords:

  • She is an animal lover ( She is a vegetarian because of this)
  • Her favourite animal is elephant
  • She treasures gifts prepared with thoughts/love and doesn’t really care about the monetary value
  • She like the film Interstellar and other films by Christopher Nolan
  • She prefers simplistic design than decorative , pale/dull colour than bright

So based on my initial thoughts, I considered giving her a gift carved from ivory, which is relevant to the keyword, elephant, and is carefully crafted with effort, but conflict with her love for animals (and since ivory is so expensive I’m planning to use clay to mimic the shape/ texture of ivory crafts).

Initial idea was to mimic an ivory craft  source:https://www.aliexpress.com/item/Chinese-style-classical-home-decoration-horse-horn-decoration-ivory-crafts-entranceway/1919884330.html?spm=2114.40010208.4.12.M7B5Ir

 

 

2. Consultation & Research (and how I got stuck)

After forming the initial idea, I went through a consultation with Peter, who gave me a few keyword to research for presentation:

  • Trojan horse
  • Illegal animal trading
  • Personal Gifts with No Monetary Value

Click on the picture to see the content of research:

3.GETTING STUCK

However the research does not lead to any new development. At this point, as I talked to Namita, I begin to like her personality. As a result, I am reluctant to carry out the idea of deceiving gifts. And for me it’s rather difficult to start working on the project when I start feeling hesitant towards the idea, so the project was left in stagnant. oh well 🙁

4. PROGRESSSSSSSS

During a discussion with Jia Zhen about useless gifts (her keyword for research), we begin to question the definition of “useless”. Should a personal gift with sentimental value be considered useless? If the item has no practical value, but carries a significant meaning for the owner (e.g represents a precious memory or evokes emotional comfort) Should it be considered useless?

The answer is very subjective. My client, Namita, treasures personal gifts and their significance. Her favourite gift ever received was a letter from her cousin before she left India to study in Singapore. The letter itself does not carry any critical information, but it is significant only to Namita because of the relationship she has with the cousin, as well as the thoughts and well wishes put into the letter. She told me that she treasures gifts given by close friends and relative even if they proved to be useless in practical means.

While I was brainstorming for the project, I mentioned to Jon & Dawin that Namita’s an animal lover and her favourite animal is elephant. In response, they brought to my knowledge the term “white elephant”.

white elephant
noun
a possession that is useless or troublesome, especially one that is expensive to maintain or difficult to dispose of.

This newfound information gives rise to a new development of the project. The term can be a commentary on the attitude we have towards personal gifts. People who treasures personal gifts, like Namita, would keep and hoard them even though they have no practical use. Which is in fact a troublesome habit. The gift is only meaningful to the specific individual and have absolutely no use in another person’s eye.

I start visualising a container, in the shape of an elephant, for containing the personal gifts that she receives.

(and funnily the elephant container would resemble the trojan horse )

below are part of the sketches that lead to the final product.

 

and then I didn’t finish it on time cries oh man feel so bad , fortunately Peter still accept the work which i will put in the next post yeah

DON’T THINK TOO MUCH

Research on Sound Art + Idea 2

During my first consultation, Michael dragged the stool against the floor to show me as an example , the action itself brings to mind a work by Mona Hatoum (that I really liked).

Mona Hatoum

Mobile Home

 

http://artasiapacific.com/Magazine/59/DomesticInsecuritiesMonaHatoum

“Between two metal police barriers are a suitcase, various tables, children’s toys and fabric swatches, all attached to taut motorised wires that pull the objects back and forth, connecting stability at home with law and order.”

In the installation, things that make a home, things that are supposedly familiar to us , are made mobile. The constant shifting of the objects makes us feel unease, the stability of residence is gone and replaced by insecurity.

I just think it’s so elegant to project such emotions/ feeling onto the viewer effectively with simple movements and arrangements.

Zimoun

While looking for inspiration I came across Zimoun’s work and was immediately fascinated by the simplicity of his sounds sculptures. Simplicity not just in the visuals and materials used , but also how purely experiential the works are. Looking at the work, I don’t feel compelled to find out if there’s a story behind it , but is content with looking at the motions, hearing the sound.

To read more on the performative and experiential value of art you can read:

http://www.walkerart.org/collections/publications/performativity/experiential-turn/

 

Breathe in, Breathe out

object: Drying rack

We used the old drying lab in semester 1.  I find the sounds made by the old drying rack both scary and fascinating. The echoing rattling noise by the metal parts and the spontaneous cracking sound of the spring when I lift up the layers are mesmerising and yet alarming.

The sounds, together with the tension of the spring that can be felt via the movement of the  metallic layers, offers a performative value that I would like to use for this project.

Set-up :

All layers would be lifted up (in diagonal position) and joined together by nylon string. The bottom layer will be pulled down slowly(by a mechanism that is yet to be found), pulling the rest of the layers down at the same time, against the tension of the spring, creating the sound all at once.

The pulling force will gradually come to a stop before the layer falls back to horizontal position, and release the layers slowly, allowing them to be pulled back to the diagonal position by the spring.

The movement described above should be looped. Forming a slow and contemplative rhythm resembling that of breaths.

This work does not have any elaborate meaning or concept behind but focus on the performative value offered by the object. Striping off its usual function and re-contextualising it as an instrument to generate sound.

Problem: I’ve yet to find any means to pull and release the bottom layer automatically.

SOMTIMES SHE TALKS TO ME AND I REPLY IN NOISES

Research on sound Art + Idea 1

 

FROM ACTION TO SOUND TO LANGUAGE

Nina Katchadourian

currently based in Brooklyn, NY

Talking Popcorn

 

http://www.ninakatchadourian.com/languagetranslation/talkingpopcorn.php

“ A microphone in the cabinet of the popcorn machine picks up sound of popping corn, and a computer hidden in the pedestal runs a custom-written program that translates the popping sounds according to the patterns and dictates of Morse Code. A computer-generated voice provides a simultaneous spoken translation.”

What interest me about the work is the nonsensical idea of trying to translate and understand sound generated by non-living object.   It playfully invite us to relook at how we communicate  through the sounds we made. How the sound we made are converted to languages, how language gives meaning to those sound and allow us to deliver complex ideas simply through the sounds we made.

 

FROM MARKS TO SOUND TO MUSIC

Melissa Tan

Singapore

“If you can dream a better world you can make a better world or perhaps travel between them”

melissa-tan 630x431xsingapore-biennale-thesmartlocal02-png-pagespeed-ic-ataxzyeaoe

https://www.singaporebiennale.org/melissa-tan.php

http://thesmartlocal.com/read/singapore-biennale-2016

 

A more poetic approach to similar process (of translation) by Singapore Artist, Melissa Tan. While the Talking Popcorn translate sound to meaning, Melissa Tan translate texture to sound via mark making and the mechanism of a music box. Both artist take spontaneous and non- living object, and translate their marks or actions into something meaningful by using a medium (morse-code/decoder and music box ). The illogical yet playful process fascinates me.

 

LANGUAGE:  SEEN _______ HEARD ______ SPOKEN______

Audra Wolowiec

currently based in Brooklyn, NY

(                      )

103787511-09072016-wolowiec-01-bomb-137

http://bombmagazine.org/article/748097/audra-wolowiec

“As the parentheses in the show’s title suggest, the exhibition placed the in-between spaces in spoken and written language at its center. How do we read (                      )? As silence? Parentheses? Space? Breath? A gap? Wolowiec is not presenting conclusions. She is inviting the viewer to investigate the ineffable.”

Okay I’m still trying to wrap my mind around this one , but what I like is how it makes you re- look at the way we translate text we see into the sound we make. Again questioning the meaning that comes with sound and the visual that evoke sound.

 

 

I was telling Michael all these without having any solid ideas, at the end of my babbling, he asked me to look at the brief (oh ya the brief oh shit)

“Don’t think too much” he said ” Just find the object “

“Okay” I replied ” I’ll think about it”

 

Idea 1: My Sound is Emo

Object: Printing Press (Found in 2D room)

How do we express in sound without words?

A cry? A scream? A sniff? A sigh? A laugh? What if we use sounds that are even more raw, sound that had less association or labels to them, what do they express?

Just like mark making, sound making can be used to express emotions. In this project the intention is to use printing press as a medium to create sound using different found materials.

The found materials will be made into a “music score sheets” in forms of a cardboard, zip lock bag or a box (description of examples on next page) and sent through the printing press to generate sound.

Each  given “score” will have number at the top corners which indicates the size of the gap that the “score” should pass through.

( Removable margin will be marked on the printing press for more precise adjustment) 

Other than using a single material in response to a specific emotion, different materials can also be used together to create a composed piece.

The aim, is not to showcase the scores made by the artist. The examples given merely serve as stimuli to open up more possibility of sound for the audience to create on their own.

By re-contextualise the sound heard in our everyday life, and realising their expressive quality, this project aims to heighten our awareness to the sound in the surrounding environment, and the quality of different sound in a playful and explorative way.

Examples of “Music score”:

Annoyed: two sand paper with the rough side facing each other

Disgusted: two metal sheets with loose clay particles in between

Distracted: pill box, with small magnets in each compartment, as it pass through the metal printing press, the magnet will (hopefully) create a “spontaneous percussion”

Fear: a plastic bag with raw, moist meat inside (NOPE MICHAEL SAID NO MISSION ABORT)

Despair: bamboo sticks ( bending and cracking of the stick)

Terms &conditions

The audience should feel free to use any found materials to make a “score sheet” to produce their own sound. (After all, the association between sound and emotions can be quite subjective) under the condition that :

  • The music score sheet should not damage the printing press,
  • The materials should be contained within the score sheet (no loose pieces dropping out)
  • No living thing (or part of it) should be sent through the printing press

Safety precaution:

  • The metal parts which will come in contact with the “score sheets” will be covered in metal sheets to prevent any potential scratching/ damage of the machine.
  • Warning labels will be placed to prevent audience from reaching their hands into the gap of the printing press.

 

For a very very long time we didn’t talk to each other, and when we meet again it’s as if we’ve lost the secret code that we never had.

She talks to me in words but they disintegrate before reaching my brain. I reply in noises, hoping that she will understand.