SYMPOSIUM HYPERESSAY

In this symposium essay, I would like to discuss about how the third space is able to blur the lines between reality and the digital space. I will be focusing and drawing examples from the keynotes from day 2 and 3.

I was very fascinated by the ideas and concepts that were brought up by Matt Adams. As what he had mentioned, projects by Blast Theory explores the fictional bend of myth-making, story making and how political reality interconnects and collides. His attempts to question relationships and the intimacy between strangers in the third space, in particular, was something that hit and had me thinking.

“My One Demand”

This project is a reflection on the things you wish but cannot get. There is a connection between the audience and Maggie. It is different from watching a film in the cinema, there are questions proposed, and answers and participants are acknowledged after a set time. It felt like a conversation, with the screen showing the city’s scenery as Maggie talked. There is the intimacy created through the storytelling. The fact is, there really isn’t. But it feels as if there is a connection and the cinema became a space, for the audience to become vulnerable with the work. And when the final question came, asking the audience about something they wish they could change, but couldn’t. That was a very personal question. It was a moment for them to acknowledge these moments of vulnerabilities by giving them a chance to write it out. There is something about being able to see what others had answered and seeing their own answers on the screen. That moment of tenderness between the strangers in the room created a sense of connection between them, that they are not alone.

Moments of vulnerabilities

 

“Annie Abrahams collab”

The collaboration between Annie Abrahams and collaborators using their hands is something possible only in the third space.

It is a space that people can interact with each other regardless of their location in real time. (there is still a factor of lag which is present in this collab)
Boundaries are collapsed and a sense of intimacy and closeness is created between the collaborators despite being in different locations.
There is also the freedom to do whatever I want, and there is no need to think about the consequences of my actions.
There are no restrictions, the third space is somewhere that I can truly express and do what I want.

 

EXPERIMENT INT: MICRO-PROJ 5

Members: Minjee, Nokwan

Medium: Video

 

Our project was based on the idea of seeing cooking as a form of art and destruction at the same time. When we cook we take something perfectly fine from nature. We ‘destruct’ it to ‘create’ a dish only to ‘destruct’ it again by consuming it. Recipes were ‘destructed’ and accidents were embraced when we realized we had too much bacon but no fridge to keep it. As an result took conventional recipes and interpreted in our own way. Examples will be adding bacon strips to Ramen.

RESEARCH CRITIQUE 1: CROWD-SOURCED ARTWORK

I T ‘ S  S T O R Y T I M E  !

 

Members: Celine, Joey, Naomi, Nokwan

 

Our work involves each participant to contribute their sentence to form a story. With a time limit of 30seconds, they are required to scan through what was already written and then, add in their own. There’s a set of requirements (limitations) imposed however:

  • A character must disappear
  • A plot twist must be included

We further drive the difficulty up by placing 3 ballot lotteries for 3 people.

 

…The process is as important as the outcome, forming relationally aware peer enactments. – (Marc Garrett, 2014)

 

Compared to traditional art making by single artist, our work was based on contributions made by the participants. The process in which the story was made is as important as when the story was completed. Our work doesn’t just look at the completed piece of artwork at the ending, it was also about the experience and process the participants went through.

Real time interaction and reaction is something very unique in open-source practices. Seeing how their own contribution reflected in real time on the artwork encourages active contribution. The final artwork produced would also be very unpredictable and therefore be interesting.

 

Similarities/Differences from examples shown

SIMILARITIES

  • Human Clock: Contributions (pictures/sentences) to the final piece of artwork are made at the point of time.
  • “Cut”: Contributions are made on the spot. A sense of uncertainty in introduced in the audiences as they might not be the first ones to want to contribute a specific area to cut or a certain sentence to the artwork.

DIFFERENCES

  • Human Clock/The Sheep Market/Crowd-sourced Dating: The audience are not in a controlled environment. The audience are not obliged to contribute to the project. For crowd-sourced dating, the responses given by the audience can be very opened in a sense that it could be anything.

 

REFERENCES

DIWO (Do-It-With-Others): Artistic Co-Creation as a Decentralized Method of Peer Empowerment in Today’s Multitude. Marc Garrett. February 2014.
https://marcgarrett.org/2014/02/12/diwo-do-it-with-others-artistic-co-creation-as-a-decentralized-method-of-peer-empowerment-in-todays-multitude/