Tag Archives: social

Experimental Fashun

April 23, 2018 ROS FARZANA 1 Comment

Our project involves the public on the streets and online. Bala and Felicia were the interviewers, while me and Yueling were the models.The interviewers’ jobs were to walk around Bugis, Sim lim square, NAFA and SMU. The models’ jobs were to pick out 5 outfits/accessories from each category, and list them down as vague descriptors. Below is an example of the list:

While the interviewers walk around and find people, the models are on Facebook live with them. Since we had to be at home with our outfits, me and Yueling accompanied Bala and Felicia in the third space instead. Facebook live was to also to show the public on the street how we look like, so that in a way, they can gauge what looks(or sounds) good on us.

This experiment projects culture and identity through fashion. Since we were going to interview and ask people from different areas, age groups and ethnicities, we can see a stark contrast in the way they have chosen to put together an outfit. In our interview, we managed to get someone from Thailand and Malaysia. The outcome was funny. The outfits turned out whacky and fun. The colours don’t even match. But that was what made the whole project fun, the results were unexpected. It could be seen as a glitch in the ‘online shopping’ trends, where what seems or sounds nice online might not be true to reality.

The locations we went to had different demographics. For example, Sim Lim square is known as the ‘geeks’ place. When Bala went there there were mostly middle aged or older people. On the other hand, Felicia went to SMU, NAFA and Lasalle area, where there were more young adults and students.

There are differences in the kind of outfits people chose. For example, the younger people would choose monochrome or ‘trendy’ clothing. The older generation, on the other hand, chose more colourful and decorative outfits, such as stripes or kebaya(a traditional Malay outfit).

After which, we collated the pictures of our outfits and posted them on Instagram. We used the story poll feature on Instagram to allow people to vote which outfit they preferred.

This is our Instagram page:

https://www.instagram.com/xperimentalfashun/

After which, we boiled the 4 most voted outfits down to 1, asking people to comment which outfit they preferred the most:

From my observation, people were more responsive and willing to participate online as compared to the public on the streets. It was difficult for Felicia and Bala to get people to participate in our project.

Overall, I found this project fun because it was an open concept. It was also interesting to see the public’s opinion being involved. The end results of the outfits were interesting to see.

Here’s the link to our video!

Research

Social Broadcasting // Social Art

March 20, 2018 ROS FARZANA 1 Comment

Annie Abrahams is a Dutch performance artist specialising in video installations and internet based performances. As seen in Angry Women, her works are usually collective interaction. In her research article Trapped to Reveal, she thinks that ‘performances also reveal ordinary, vulnerable and messy aspects of human communication’. I feel that her work Angry Women really resonates with that statement, and I will explain this further.

In Angry Women Take 5, there were 8 women in the video broadcast. The video started with a woman talking in French, then another woman screamed, continued by mother, and then another. Their screaming voices were merged together and you can no longer know whose scream is whose. The video continues with subsequent talking, but it is chaotic and unscripted, thus the scene was just screaming and angry women who wanted to talk at the same time.

Since the whole performance is based on social broadcasting, it can be said that social broadcasting has made it possible for Art to advance and be pushed for a greater meaning and cause. Angry Women is a work that perfectly suggests the messy and vulnerable side of the human communication, as seen from the emotionally vulnerable screaming women.

Annie Abrahams has described social broadcasting a perfect medium for live performance as it can ‘study human behaviour without interfering in it’. I agree with this method of social broadcasting as the internet has now become a common and daily thing in our lives. Using it as a medium for study won’t make it as much of a difference as we are so used to the internet. We will carry on what we normally do, as the internet has become a familiar medium to us, despite knowing that it is for a performance piece, for example.

In conclusion, social broadcasting has further pushed the opportunities for art and its meaning, allowing us to make great social art.