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After finishing with the research portion of Yishun, I have found that I did enjoy

taking photos of the architecture. However, the photos around Yishun about

HDBs and HDB motifs did not really interest me. I had initially pitched to Shirley

that I wanted to do something along the lines of a industrial park mama shop

that had personal value to me. However, after revising my plan and thinking it

through carefully, I wanted to do something different from what has been done,

sort of.

 

When we started on LOCALE, we were given a look at zines done by seniors

previously. One thing I noticed was that almost nobody did photo shoots /

included people in their zine. They were solely focused on elements presented

in their area of research. I was certainly excited about this as I would be doing

something more ‘original’ in that sense. On the contrary, I would have trouble

finding materials to reference. Whatever was the case, I do like a bit of challenge.

I was inspired to do this zine by this image I found on pinterest. It had a very

simple street wear element which I liked.

As a start, I decided that these were the things I had to complete.

  1. Plan and execute a photo shoot in Yishun.
  2. Have them edited.
  3. Layout of zine.
  4. Illustrate quirky elements of Yishun with the chosen images.
  5. Colour correction.

Photo shoot

I have never done a photo shoot before, so I went on youtube and watched a

bunch of videos on what to prepare/plan and execute on the day itself. I pulled

in two friends (Lisa and Shawn) to help with the shoot. I had also asked three

of my friends(Jia Hui, Jessical and Praveen) to model. Sifting through the

photos that I took from my research, I settled on a location at BLK348B. This

location took me by surprise as I cycled through the Yishun neighbourhood

with a dslr on hand. I really liked the clean look it presented; contrasted to the

old neighbourhood it is surrounded by.

I didn’t really focus too much on this location until I reviewed my photographs

and concept. To do more research on the location, I went on googlemaps to

find more photos.

After reviewing the location, I asked my models to bring clothing that were

mustard yellow and turquoise to fit with the location, and red for contrast.

I looked up some photos on pinterest to reference the look/vibe/poses I wanted

for them.

Shooting took about 3 hours and we managed to finish it in a day (30th March)

These are some of the photos taken. Some are behind the scenes.

Layout + Editing

I spent the longest time editing and settling on the layout. With over 600 raw shots,

I was rather indecisive and unsure of what photos to use for my final zine. I had to

change them from time to time. However, I really enjoyed this process as I began

to understand what I wanted out from this zine. After choosing the photos, I then

had to decide on how I would place my photos to make them interesting.

At this point, I started placing my images into my desired layout, which I have

gained inspiration from these current layouts.

Cover page:

Zine spread layouts:

Layouts I tried

Cover Page

I roughly stuck to this cover as I thought it looked good.

I did mask some parts of the Fashion word and put in

the Yishun text into the cover page. I had plenty of text

all over the cover page but I decided to remove them in

the end because the clutter was unnecessary and there

wasn’t much text that I wanted to include. I did include a

‘March Edition’ at the bottom to contextualize the zine.

Page 2 and 3

I decided to scale down the photo as I didn’t want the photo to eat up the entire

page. This way, I was able to design more onto the zine and not simply rely on

illustrations.

Page 6 and 7

Initial idea for my pages. The entire spread kind of felt abit block-ish and

uncomfortable. I rearranged the photos later on to form a nice ascending gra-

dient from left to right.

 

Some masking and editing I done:

Patterns and shapes

In my final zine, you can see that I have certain elements with lowered opacity

and shapes that interact with one another. I decided to do a

polka dot pattern/motif on my page 4 to draw the reader’s attention. At one point

I felt slightly too ambitious since I am using three programmes concurrently

(Photoshop, Indesign and Illustrator).

Masking and placement

After the shoot I researched on some weird happenings that have occurred in

Yishun. These would help incorporate the unique Yishun element in my zine.

Note: I did not reference everything 1:1, I had made my own creative changes.

Some of these happenings were:

Man brings cow into lift

Cat murders

Man murders wife

Giant moths and caterpillars

Slashing incident

Illustration

Shirley encouraged me to use Illustrator for the drawings. As I am usually

more inclined to using Photoshop for drawings, I struggled to get started

on illustrator. However, I did manage to get myself to sit down and watch

tutorials on illustrator. I thought, since I had to use it in the future anyways,

I should learn on my own as well. I was happy with my progress and I followed

Shirley’s advice; to draw Yishun-quirky elements onto the existing images

to create interest. Some of them were drawn on photoshop to give a more raw

feel to the images. These are some of the drafts:

I took a photo for reference to draw for the scary looking hands ->

 

I decided not to do illustrations for my cover page to hold the suspense for the

readers, as to not expose my zine elements for my viewers.

I used Photoshop to create a map for Blk 348B location. This was how it looked

in the process.

 

Colour correction

Original colours used.

Colours I chose in the end (after consultation with Shirley) as the initial

colours were very saturated and kiddish.

Fonts used:

I had to spend time to find the fonts that were suitable for my zine. From what

I have researched, I could tell that ‘street wear’ fonts were pretty basic, which

made sense, because they followed that of street signs or metro signs. That,

essentially, makes it street-ish as it borrows elements that are true to its form.

I tried out several fonts, namely:

Conclusion:

I was generally pleased with the pace and results of this project. As I had to

sketch out what had to be done beforehand, I was able to give myself ample

time to segment each step so that I can submit on time. There were a lot of

work to be done, and I knew that it wouldn’t be possible to churn out a zine

in a short amount of time. I took my time with every step, changing bits and

pieces and asked my friends on how to improve it. Shirley’s week by week

consultation kept me up to speed and made sure I was able to produce

something to consult and change on a weekly basis.

I felt that the photo shoot was the hardest/most stressful one to plan for as I

was constantly worried that the shots did not turn out the way they should

(or according to my mood board) and it rained for a bit which really threw me

off as I wasn’t sure when it’d stop. Overall, I am glad to be learning something

new with every step and this project forced me to go out of my comfort zone

to experiment and develop my own style. I am immensely relieved that I

abandoned my previous idea of industrialized mama shop to a streetwear

zine.

 

References:

https://www.pinterest.com/cheahruihong/yishun-inspo/

https://hypebeast.com/

Why Yishun is the most terrifying place to live in Singapore

For research process of Yishun,

check out: https://oss.adm.ntu.edu.sg/rcheah002/locale-presentation-yishun/

Thank you for reading!

 

 

 

 

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1 Join = 1 Flick

The objective of the work is to allow the crowd to participate in my conditioning. An example of conditioning is training the test subject to react to certain triggers, in this case my group has conditioned me to react to a new ‘joined’ notification by anticipating a flick on my forehead.

We uploaded a post on Instagram to preempt the audience of our project but we did not reveal the purpose of it. Then, we started an Instagram live video that can be accessed by my followers. We started off the project by using tickling as an action and using likes as a trigger. As the participants were either my friends or acquaintances, they enjoyed the little exercise quite a bit by leaving comments such as ‘I spammed likes, tickle him harder’ and so on. They did not take it seriously as they were able to feel satisfied with low consequences as ‘flicking’ was not inherently dangerous. After a while, I stopped reacting to the tickles as I was used to them and the participants were able to spam likes on a live story, making the reaction less responsive.

We decided to create a better conditioning by changing it to flicking my forehead as an action and joining/leaving a comment on my live chat as a trigger. Whenever someone comes to watch the live video, a notification will appear and state ”XXX joined”. When that happens, either Li Xuan or Han Yun will give me a flick on my forehead. After awhile, I become accustomed to the feeling of getting flicked whenever a new person joined, and I had some anticipatory reaction even when the two of them did not flick me. At that point of time, I still flinched whenever new somebody joined as I was conditioned.

The creators of the project were both the crowd and the test subject (me). Without the participants, the work will not achieve the intended outcome as I will not get flicked and be conditioned. It was different than the classic conditioning done by Ivan Pavlov – refer to https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iawj42z4dPM , as my project involved a crowd that was essential to making the conditioning work. Unlike his experiment having a constant, mine did not have one as my participants were a variable. They were able to choose whenever and how many times they want to appear.

How are we so sure that the participants (my friends) would join the live chat and watch me get flicked? We based it off the schadenfreude experience. Schadenfreude is the experience of pleasure, joy, or self-satisfaction that comes from learning of or witnessing the troubles, failures, or humiliation of another. It is one of four related emotions or concepts. Hence, we were sure that my friends would want to see me get flicked. Indeed, there were some who left the room and rejoined just to see me get flicked more than once.

We had to switch up the project as we did not get the intended response whilst using 3 phones as Li Xuan and Han Yun’s friends did not know me and did not care to inflict pain on me. Additionally, I learnt that having a controlled group of participants were important as the context of the audience would affect the intended outcome of the work.

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The spray paint area in front of the ADM car park; where I had spent many hours(one day in particular) to finish up a 3D project, captured a still memory of my dilemma. In a flashback which I can perfectly re-enact, Jasmine(classmate) and I were staying back late to complete our 3d project over the weekends. Holding two spray cans in my hands, I was tapping my feet and pacing up and down the spray painting area, thinking about my next step of my 3d assignment. Late hours and hard decisions were a constant in my ADM experience, and I have chosen this space as it brought me back to the moment of dilemma, an alternate space of thoughts and ideas.

 

This alternate virtual space I created was characterized by my creative thoughts, layered into rooms of hypothetical outcomes and boxes of imagination. The ‘messiness’ and past graffiti on the walls made me ponder on the decisions these ‘street artists’ have made, be it for fun or had meaning behind them.

 

The outdoor space that distinguished itself from the rest of ADM was almost ‘open-source’, where people can edit, add upon or even remove (by covering over with spray paint), and that in a way modifies the alternate space as a new user of that space comes along. It is also possible to change the space alone or with others, as it is not bound by its physical properties and changes with the intent of users.

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Task 1:

Consultation with client. My client was Fatin, and on our first consultation she wanted a desk organiser. As a rigid object, I found it hard to work with and was not easy to come up with a ‘special’ desk organiser, as there were many organisers already made. It did not resonate anything unique about Fatin. I asked her a few more questions about the organiser to add onto the idea and consulted my professor Peter on the subject.

After much thought, I consulted Fatin again and asked if she wanted anything else. This time round, I asked specifically if she had any memories, whether good or bad, that she was comfortable to share and create something to represent that memory. She shared with me her secondary school teacher, Mr. Wee, who would pick on her and make her stand in class for no good reason. He would also shout at her face and caused much emotional hurt to her. I asked what she liked as well, so that I had a wider angle to work with. Fatin enjoys collecting items, such as ring tabs and chains. Her favourite colour was red, but I decided to use blue as a contrast to what she liked (as she detested the memory of Mr. Wee). I used other metallic objects in replacement of ring tabs and chains as they were easier to rust (as part of her story, the relationship between the two deteriorated over time). This was my process, I thought about the design of the bag first.

I gathered my metallic objects (iron and steel based) to rust. I used a solution made of vinegar, salt and hydrogen peroxide to rust the objects. Firstly, I threw the objects into a pail, poured in vinegar for a duration of 5-10mins, and then added hydrogen peroxide and salt. The solution made the objects in the pail bubble up, and formed a thick layer of foam. The objects started rusting, and I left them in the solution for half an hour.

https://youtu.be/bImH4jAjCzw –Link to my rusting process

In class, I bent the copper wires and soldered them together to create a frame for my bag, and used pvc roll as my bag (I glued the pvc plastic together according to the dimensions. I sew a zip on the bag for practical purposes (for ease of adding and removing objects from the bag). I placed a cone on the top of the bag to funnel in the salt that represented Fatin’s saltiness towards Mr. Wee. The items in the bag represented the frustrations and restrains of their relationship, and the rawness of the degradation she felt. This was the final product.

I used copper wires for the bag strap to represent how uncomfortable the emotional baggage would be for her, and added salt into the bag for demonstration in class. Some of the items in Fatin’s bag were not rusted, to show the process of her deteriorating relationship.

Feedback: The styrofoam balls I had placed in initially to represent salt was not removed. I did not do so as it was able to absorb the rust from the metallic objects and gave an overall ‘gross’ and dirty feel to the bag.

Reflection: I was surprised how I was able to work with the objects and create a clear narrative to my work. I really enjoyed the process and am glad that Fatin really enjoys the product I made for her! The bag was more non-functional and more conceptual as I had hope for it to be.

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Task 1

We were told to bring objects that either had meaning or we just have in our possession from our homes.Initially, I brought a few random objects that did not really have a meaning, some items from secondary school prom and etc. One of which was a marble, which represented my fear of them when I hear them bouncing on my ceiling (I live on the highest floor). These objects did not provide me a good idea of what I wanted to do, so I went home again and flipped through my memory box. These boxes were all filled with past letters written to me, some of which were very well thought and designed. Most of them were birthday and Christmas cards. As I read them, I was reminded of how fast time has flew and how fast I grew up. I have gone through so ‘many’ life stages at this point, remarkably JC to army to Uni in such a short span of time. These letters meant a lot to me, and were among the few items I choose to keep after renovating my room.

Task 2

We were told to make a shadow box using the idea/concept that we got from the items we brought. I did not want to use the conventional shoe box as advised. Instead, I wanted to create a shadow box that represented life in a way, and I coined it as ‘The Game of Life’ box. I wanted it to look like a game box, a Gachapon machine as the element of randomness and curiosity was present. The idea of not being able to choose what you received intrigued me, just as how we aren’t able to choose what we get from life. This progression in life was taken from the idea of growing up from my letters. My items were carefully chosen; they were:

  1. Slinky (To show a transcendence of time, a connection)
  2. Polaroids (Memories of different time periods)
  3. Wrist coins (Childhood game)
  4. Game Capsules (To encase my items)
  5. Fairy Lights (To bring out the ‘game’ element)
  6. Old Phones (To show a progression of upgrade of technology in my life)
  7. Army items (As a ‘phase’)
  8. Ring (received on my birthday)
  9. Clipboard to write my game instructions

The rest were for design purposes.

This was my process; I started off my thinking of how I wanted to build my box.

After the brainstorming, I brought my items and glued my boards together as a start. I was careful with the process
because I was afraid of mixing up the steps of creating the box.

I did not use the ply wood for the middle platform as I wanted it to look clear.

After this step, I coloured the board with spray paint. I screwed in the nuts as well for the middle platform.I tried out the layout for the box as well.

After gluing everything together, placing the items and attaching the fairy lights, this was the final product.

Reflection:
I really enjoyed the process, even though I was not familiar with drilling and gluing things together, it was nonetheless exciting to carefully plan out a box that was meaningful. At first I thought really hard about spray painting the box, and I went ahead with it anyway as I knew what I wanted it to represent (The colours faded at the bottom to show the progression to dull, mundane adulthood).

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Roman Ondak
(Slovak, born 1966)

Measuring the Universe

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I found Roman Ondak’s work really special, the simple gesture of recording down the name and particulars of each individual
that went to the exhibition according to their height created a thick line across the room. The work has personality,
creativity and most importantly, to me, it was created through individualism. In participatory art, the artwork grows along
with the participation, and watching the exhibition unfold was really interesting. Roman Ondak portrayed how simple it is
to create an artwork through our uniqueness.

Erwin Wurm

(Austria, 1954)

Ice Head 2003

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Erwin Wurm invites participants to interact with the art pieces, which have holes in them specifically for the participants to stick a limb in and pose for a photo. With the involvement of the participants, the art piece, which initially seemed mundane and uninteresting, suddenly comes to life and also has a little bit of humour embedded in the participatory art. In a way, the art piece cannot be recreated in that exact setting, making it more intriguing and unique.

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Concept

Influence.

I want to show, through a series of simple drawings created by 10 participants,
the presence of influence we have on each other, whether in a big or small way.
I folded 2 A4 cardboards, attached 2 different flowers on one end of the cardboard,
and cut a hole on the other end.

The presentation went as followed:
The 10 participants would be separated into two groups: One would be able to see
what each other have drawn, the other group would not be able to do so.
They would go take turns to enter the classroom, and the participants were not
allowed to communicate verbally. They would then insert one hand into the cardboard box
and feel the object, and draw whatever they felt the object was. There was a little twist
to this, I switched the boxes around after the second person from each group had drawn their
drawings. The third person from each group would then draw a different object, and because
they were not allowed to communicate, they would not know that it was changed. The group
that were allowed to refer to one another’s work ended up drawing similar items even though
their objects had changed.


The group that was not allowed to refer to each other’s work drew objects of their own interpretation. I explained to the class afterwards that my point was made, that we were inevitably affected by one another, and this extended much further than simply drawing flowers from a cardboard box. Consider influence in a bigger context, such as in our daily lives. We are affected by the choices that others make, such as giving bad reviews to a particular movie and bringing down its ratings. We would always check the reviews of a movie before watching, and would more often than not skip the movie if it had terrible reviews.

Feedback:
The objects could have had more difference to make the participants think twice about what they were drawing.

Reflection: I was glad that I was able to convey my ideas through a simple participatory work, and with a revision, I believe that the work could have an educational aspect for the younger generation and possibly educate on the importance of having individualism.

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Brief:
Combining many of the lessons and concepts of drawing we have covered so far, your assignment is to design a composition that depicts at least 6 people in a queue that you feel would be interesting to record. The space you choose should have opportunities for you to draw interesting perspectives, objects, textures, etc.

The drawing must be done on location and from observation.

I had drawn this at the Canteen 1 drink stall. The main goal I had set out for was to create a naturalistic drawing of the location, making it convincing and clear the foreground, mid-ground and background. The figures were rather hard to capture in real time, so I had to do a lot of figuring out, especially for the shirt folds and shades. I had focused greatly on the use of different tones to create a hierarchy. I felt that it was important to emphasis the lightest light and the darkest dark in the drawing. The solution that I came up with was tied together by the positioning of the light source for the character.

Feedback that I received:
Tables could have been drawn in a more convincing spherical shape;
and toned according to the drawing.
The shadings on the middle character, especially below the pants, was inconsistent with the rest of the characters.
The shading on all the characters should have been consistent.