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ASSIGNMENT 2A – HELD . WORN . CARRIED – WEAVE (Task 1: Object Studies)

February 7, 2019 / / 1 Comment

Assignment 2A is broken down into 2 tasks. Task 1 is Object Studies which is the one that will be covered in this post. Unfortunately, I wasn’t well and could not make it for class. Therefore,  I had to try and pick things up via the internet. Thankfully, we did Orthographic Projection studies before in class which aided me in completing some parts of it.

Task 1 requires us to study the form of a chosen object that is either held, worn or carried. I chose a hair dryer as I figured that it would be quite interesting to study.

I attempted the Orthographic Drawing of the Top, Front and Side View of the object. I scaled it down to 1:2. I started off by breaking down the hair dryer into 3 parts. Then, I measured the length, height, diameter (if need be) and pen it down on the graph paper along with a rough mini sketch of the dryer. I then divided these measurements by 2, measured and drew it onto the graph paper. I start with light sketchy lines and darken it as I got the the shapes out. The easiest way for me to get the measurements out, since the hair dryer had a lot of curves, was to lay it down on graph paper and mark it out. From there, I collated the measurements and did the maths.

Example of marking out the measurements of the object

The challenges for the Orthographic drawing was definitely drawing the curvatures as well as getting the details in. The base of the shape was also not easy to achieve. I had to be very systematic in the way that I work in that I had to attempt things, one at a time and get all the measurements right first before moving on. This allows me to get the proportions, sizing and scaling, more or less the same.

Photo of Orthographic Scanning

Next, the second part to Task 1 is a 2-point perspective drawing of the same object.  This was the one that was most challenging to me since I was also absent from class. I can’t seem to visualise perspectives and therefore, putting it down onto paper, in proportion has always been a problem for me. I decided to watch some videos online and mimicked the tips given.

I sketched a lot of circles that helped me visualise the shape better.  This took multiple tries before I was somewhat satisfied with the base shape. The problems I had were mainly the proportion and also the perspective of the circles.

The videos I referred to were:

Photo of Perspective Scanning

 

ASSIGNMENT 2A – HELD . WORN . CARRIED – WEAVE (Task 2 (Pairs): Weave Technique Studies)

February 7, 2019 / / 1 Comment

This is Part 2 of Assignment 2A which was done in pairs. I was paired up with Ik Hwa.

Going into this, both Ik and I had no clue as to where we should even begin as we were both inexperienced in weaving. We started off by doing our own self-studies by watching videos provided by Sherry. We explored other videos when we met up to attempt the project. At first, we contemplated between the Hexagonal and Octagonal Pattern. However, as we went on with our research, we realised that the Octagonal Pattern was a little too ambitious as a first attempt. In contrast, Hexagonal was a little too simple and we want to attempt a pattern that was somewhat challenging but doable. Upon pinning several images on Pinterest, we both decided that we were going to settle for the Pine Needle pattern.

Looking through our Pinterest pins, we realised we were both drawn to the lanterns/light 3D pieces. We felt that the Pine Needle pattern would suit what we were going for as well. It will allow the light to be emitted through the tiny spaces. It also fitted the aesthetic style we were going for.

2D

We soaked the rattan provided by Sherry into water. This helped soften and moisten the rattan to allow it to be bent into shape without much fraying and breaking. The idea is that as it dries, it will retain the shape that we’ve created when it was wet and malleable.

We first had to create a 2D flat weaving pattern (20x20cm) and measured our rattan strips before anything else.

We had trouble starting it off as it needed to be stuck to a strong base to be pushed into place.

Hence, we laid the vertical rattan strips in a row with 2cm spacing between each strip.  We stuck it down to a piece of paper with masking tape and secured it further by placing it under something heavy.

After which, we started weaving with the horizontal strips. It went well at first and the rattan strips were secured tightly to each other without much struggle.

However, as we went along, it got tighter and tighter. Even after using pliers to assist the tightening process, it was still challenging and trick to get the strips to be pushed close to each other. We even tried moistening the rattan again which didn’t help much as well. The whole process was extremely time consuming.

We discovered that the reasons for this:

1. The vertical rattan strips were exactly the same size as the horizontal ones which did not create much space for the rattan to be pushed up and be secured.

2. The strips were not long enough which resulted in them being propped up as we went along since it got tighter.

The final result for the 2D weaving:

3D 

Knowing the problems we encountered and the reasons behind it, moving forward, we took note of all of it and rectified our errors.

For the 3D object, we drew inspirations from Pinterest and sketched out our idea on paper.

Again, we couldn’t figure out as to where we should begin. Hence, we started watching videos on youtube on wicker baskets etc.

Main video reference:

I had a previously used MDF board which I had cut into a circular shape. I brought that which we used as a base.

Since we had a problem with spacing in the 2D model. We decided to add two vertical strips (attached together) instead of one and kept the distance between each other to be 2cm. We marked the circular board according to the width of the two pieces of rattan.

After which, Ik used a hammer and a sharp object to create a inserts/slits into the MDF board.

Mimicking the steps from the video reference, I then inserted the rattan strips through the inserts and secured the remaining rattan at the bottom using the same braiding-like method used in the video. This was challenging as the rattan kept sticking out. Hence, we secured it with clips until it dried into shape.

We then started weaving the horizontal strips through the vertical ones. It was a much smoother process compared to the 2D model when we were still exploring the weaving methods. The rectification of our previous mistakes really mad a difference in making the weaving neater. We also taped the rattan together to make the process easier as the weaving did get a little complicated.

We wanted to add battery operated fairy lights into the 3D model. Hence, I brought it back and inserted the fairy lights before finishing it. Before that, we had discussed that we wanted a space between two sets of weaving as it will allow more light to be radiated out of the model to fit its functionality.

Finished the model off by bunching up the rattan and wrapping a piece of rattan around it. I tied it off with two knots (one in the front and the other in the back).

Overall, Ik and I are quite satisfied with our outcome despite the several hiccups we had. We learnt quite a bit about weaving and have a better understanding of the material.

One thing we would have done differently, given the chance, was to switch up the rattan for a thinner one like a cane or actual pine needles as it would create a better effect.

This is a video of our process:

https://drive.google.com/open?id=1LAm5d1_Ycq3WpK6PY4QIBu_hNXfzjeFU

Final results for 3D weaving:

 

Not lighted:

Lighted:

 

Micro-Project 3 – Together Split

February 6, 2019 / / 0 Comments

Micro-Project 3 was probably one of the most challenging one yet but definitely the one where I had the most fun.

For this project, we were required to create a final piece that was a collaborative effort. We all had to work towards a common goal to produce ONE final art piece.

Lei introduced this concept to us by making us do a quick class activity. This was a surrealism game called, Exquisite Corpse. In a group of 4, we folded a piece of A4 paper into 4 sections. Each person had to draw according to the word/description given by Lei. This part of the drawing was to be continued by the next person who was not allowed to take a peek at the previous drawing. This continued on and we all got to see the final piece as we unfolded the drawing and see how our drawings connected to each other. In this case, we each get to draw a part of figure (person/creature/etc) which combined to form the following.

Afterwards, the Micro-Project 3 was introduced. The idea behind this project was to use a streaming platform that could connect the 4 for us in a group together, to produce content in a third space via Instagram video chat. We all had to be in different locations and we had to produce a final piece that would have a sense of continuity amongst the 4 of us!

Before we decided on an idea, we attempted to match up our faces to see what we could work with. However, we failed miserably as seen from the photo below.

Hence, we used a different approach and planned things beforehand.  Our main objective as a group was to have a dance choreography, singing a simple song that we all knew a.k.a. the Alphabet Song. We did not coordinate our dances but we did coordinate certain movements as it moves along one video to another to create an impact and to attempt to create a shape.

Click for final video

There were so many challenges that we faced. We all separated to different locations and ended up communicating via the video chat. This was especially challenging as firstly, communication was an issue. The timings as to when we spoke led to it being messy as we didn’t know which person was talking to who. There were times where we just gathered in person to discuss which wasn’t ideal given the nature of this project.

Another challenge we faced was coordinating the steps with each other. The positioning of our hands had to be in the right directions to form the shapes we wanted to create through the screen. This was especially difficult to coordinate given the fact that at times, the signal could be interfered and someone would end the call. Due to that, the positioning of each person on screen, would change. After several tries, we figured out that that could be solved by the timing in which each one of us picks up the call. Hence, we did that and coordinated the moves again.

We attempted a total of 4 times before we got the final video. Even so, we couldn’t get the audio to work. We did check to see if turned on the audio while recording the screen but it didn’t work. Hence, what we had to do was to recreate the audio separate from the video and edited it into the final piece.

All in all, although it was the most challenging micro-project we’ve done, I felt that this was the most fun I had. Creating content with other members and listening to everyone’s creative input was helpful to create the final piece. It was also interesting to see how each of us interpreted things.

That being said, to answer some questions,

1. Which project did you feel you had the most creative control? Why?

I felt that Micro-Project 1 was the one where I had the most creative control. This was because everything was entirely based on my own creative direction, my point of view, my curation of filters to use, etc. That’s when I felt that I had the most creative freedom. Micro-Project 3 was the one where I felt I had the least creative control given that we all had to work towards a common goal but had to do things together and work cooperatively. Sure, we could all chip in to give input, but ultimately, we all had to agree and come to a compromise which I feel limits one’s creative exploration.

2. Which project had the most unpredictable outcome? Why?

Personally, I felt like Micro-Project 2 had the most unpredictable outcome. This was because that although we had some control over what our participants get to choose since we curated the choices, we still were not able to control their responses based on the polls we did. The participants had full control given the choices we provide. Therefore, I feel that that was the most unpredictable outcome as we could not have be sure of the choices our participants made collectively.

3. Which project best illustrates the concepts of DIWO & Open–Source? Why?

This is tricky given that all the projects resulted into a final piece that involved a collaborative effort.

If I had to choose one, I would say that Micro-Project 1 illustrated the concept of Open Source best while Micro-Project 3 illustrates DIWO best. To me, they’re slightly different; DIWO & Open Source.

Micro-Project 1 illustrates the concept of Open Source as the hashtag, collectively, as an outsider, it provides a more holistic insight into the life of an ADM student. It was a collective effort from differing opinions and views. Therefore, I felt like viewers are able to take what they may and interpret things accordingly which essentially highlights the strength of Open Source. I see Open Source as an inspirational outlet where people come to share their common knowledge.

Micro-Project 3 illustrates DIWO best because it involved the thorough and active participation of all the members to work towards a roughly planned common goal. As the name suggests, I think that the concept of Do-It-With-Others involves people working towards the same objective and building on each other’s ideas.

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ASSIGNMENT 1 – AXONOMETRIC DRAWING

January 30, 2019 / / 1 Comment

For this first assignment, we learnt Orthographic Projections before attempting to create an instruction manual based on a lego-built of our choice. The objective is to create a clear manual for others to follow and re-create my built.

This was to be done via Axonometric Drawings, specifically, Isometric. Apart from Isometric, Diametric and Trimetric are other branches of Axonometric Drawings. Along with those, we also practiced some Oblique Projection Drawings.

Sherry, our lecturer, provided us with Lego pieces for us to come up with our desired built. I decided to build a Dollhouse. As a kid, I was never really into dolls nor was I into girly things. As I got older, I realise that I missed out on the fun of it all; dressing up dolls, having tea parties in dollhouses. Hence, this is my simple take on a dollhouse that I never had, reliving my childhood as an adult.

Here are the different views of my Lego built.

Below are the raw drawings of my Lego pieces.

I realise that although my built looked quite simple and compact, there are many pieces that went into building it as I use quite a bit of “platforms” to raise the height of the built and create bases for my roof and base.

Some pieces from the above drawing were not drawn correctly, which I did not notice at first in Pages 1-2. Page 3 were the corrections of the pieces that were not drawn correctly due to the mistake in perspectives.

Lastly, the photos below are my Instruction Manual for The Dollhouse. I tried to make it as clear as possible with minimal steps per box. I chose to have a clean design with pastel tones for simplicity and to allow maximum focus to the instruction itself. I added small rounded boxes in each step to indicate the pieces needed for that particular step. In addition to that, I placed arrows to indicate the direction as to where the Lego pieces are supposed to be fixed.

The designs software that I used was Photoshop at first but halfway through, I switched over to Illustrator as Photoshop was too consuming to assemble the pieces.

Micro-Project 2 – Crowd-Sourced Art

January 28, 2019 / / 0 Comments

Crowd-Sourced Art was the second Micro-Project that was done in class. We needed to build a quick and interactive experience where we required the participation of others via any social media or online platforms.

What is the content of the work and who is creating it?

My partner, Jessie and I first brainstormed ideas. We both agreed that ADM was filled with weird items lying around. That was where our idea started. A classmate from the previous semester had borrowed a cup from Canteen 2 and haven’t returned it ever since. Therefore, we started with that! We both figured that given the short time span given to complete our project, we had to keep the timing of the responses on polling and the posting of the videos/photos in mind.

In general, people are attracted to things that were revolting (just based on experience). It creates a reaction. Henceforth, our idea was to create an experience for our participants where they get to choose edible items that generally don’t go together but will be placed in our drink. The intensity gets higher as the food items get more and more revolting.

Firstly, we went to find the cup at the Basement floor and took a photo of it and posted it along with a poll. The choice was whether to wash the cup first or just take it for use.

The majority of the voters voted for us to just take it for use. After which, we proceeded to give the option to our participants whether we should use tapwater AKA NEWater or get water from the cooler. As expected, most people voted for the NEWater.

To make it more interesting, we then decided to give the option for participants to virtually add M&Ms or Spicy Chilli Tapioca Chips to our drink. Of course, they picked the Tapioca Chips!

We then included a video for them to watch us add the chips into the water. Safe to say, it wasn’t looking good. You could see the oil separating from the chips and into the water.

The second to last option was whether to add Yoghurt or a Tandoori Chicken sandwich to the drink. The majority of them chose the Yoghurt! Along with that also, we added a video to see the extent of the damage done by their choices.

The last and final option came as a surprise for our participants as we wanted to keep the suspense going, knowing that people would probably be wondering if we were going to consume the drink or not. Hence, we made the participants choose whether they wanted me or Jessie to consume it.

For the final option, we decided to have it Live with our real-life participants who were our lovely classmates and lecturer! Majority voted for Jessie to drink it. So we recorded the live session of Jessie consuming the drink! It was not a fun experience for her but certainly so for the rest of us!

Some challenges:

Originally, we wanted to make it more cost efficient while having a higher intensity by using condiments and seasonings provided in Canteen 2 such as chilli flakes, parmesan, soya sauce, etc. However, given the time limitation, we had to resort to being resourceful in ADM itself. Another challenge was also the fact that it took people quite some time to respond. This could be due to the timing when the stories were posted on Instagram.

Now, to answer the rest of the questions that were intended for this post:

Where does this work take place?

It took place via Instagram and we went around ADM to create this interactive online experience!

How does this work involve social interaction?

As mentioned above, people are very much attracted to things that are revolting and suspense. Therefore, by doing polling on Instagram and creating a mini story-line for our viewers, we were able to attract them to participate in our interactive experience done via polling. Collectively, they were given the option to basically determine what goes into our drink.

How is your crowd-sourced project different from one that is created by a single artist/creator?

Our crowd-sourced project differs from a single artist/creator through the unpredictability, biasness as well as the inclusion of the freedom of choice for the participants. In addition to that, it created a virtual interactive experience for our participants.

In our interactive experience, we gave our participants the freedom to choose between two option. Although it’s not necessarily an ideal number of options, we were limited by the features. Hence, there is still a certain biasness to it given that we dictated the two option. However, it was still an unpredictable outcome as it was collectively controlled by our participants as well.

In contrast, if a project was not crowd-sourced and done by a single artist, that would mean that the project would be a lot more bias as it involves the opinions, thoughts, and decision of the creator. The interaction with the participants would be minimal to none which is basically what crowd-sourced art requires.

Both crowd-sourced and single artist artworks have their strengths and weaknesses. It all depends on the message intended to be conveyed as well as the motive of the artist/creator.

Micro Project 1: Creating the Third Space

January 18, 2019 / / 1 Comment

For this in-class project, we were tasked to go around ADM and take a picture/ pictures of an object or space that holds a meaning and is unique to the individual. We then had to post these photos on Instagram with the hashtag, #1010adm in which the collection of posts from other classmates created a virtual space online. It was pretty cool and interesting seeing the school in the perspective of different individuals. Interesting fact! What we found out was quite amusing! The collection of photos from our class came out to have a thematic flow in which the photos created a mysterious persona.

Here are the collection of photos that I took.

1.Why did I choose this space or object to photograph?

This was a space located in the basement floor of ADM. There is this particular room along the corridor of this floor which holds a very fond memory of my first semester in ADM. It was a place where my classmates and I used to spend our time (and many overnights), mugging for exams, completing projects after projects while having crazy conversations along the way.  They were times that I really looked forward to after lessons in school.

2. What are some of the characteristics of this alternative virtual space I had created collectively?

One of the characteristics include the thematic persona as mentioned above. It created a mysterious outlook from a viewer’s standpoint. This space that my classmates and I created collectively were mostly architectural posts or close-up of objects or space. What stood out was that the posts involved spaces or en route to the space that held a significant memory or experience of individuals. A story lied in every post.

As individual posts, mine, collectively,  were a series of photos that depicted the journey to the my “safe space” and the specific objects or view that I favoured in my secret location. I curated the photos in a way that they involved close-up shots instead of wide shots as I felt that it interpreted my thoughts more exclusively.

3. Under what circumstance will this alternative virtual space change?

I believe that there are a couple of circumstances which I will list below:

  • The turnover of students
  • The change of the physical space due to interior redecoration etc
  • The time period in which the students that took these photos are in – When we have graduated, we would probably feel differently about these spaces and the memory might not be as vivid or it could change in other ways that would change the interpretation and persona of this virtual space that was created collectively
4. How does this project relate to what we discussed in the lecture regarding co-creation, the concept of Do-It-Yourself (DIY), Do-It-With-Others (DIWO)?

In this project, we got to experience both DIY and DIWO in which DIY was when we were given the creative freedom to capture photographs that we had to complete individually. This means that we created were not influenced by anyone else and they were unique individual perspectives. The DIWO comes in after when we looked at the posts collectively under the hashtag #1010adm. These were a collection of posts from other classmates where they were seen as a whole. This was a collaborative effort in creating a virtual space online of ADM through different  perspectives to create a page that represented the insights from the students studying in ADM.

Cut Piece - Source: artnet

Yoko Ono’s Cut Piece

January 16, 2019 / / 0 Comments

Yoko Ono is a Japanese Multimedia Artist whose work also encompasses music, poetry, film, sculpture, installation, paintings and performance art.

Yoko Ono – Source: www.biography.com

Diving into one of her most famous pieces, the Yoko Ono’s Cut Piece have been staged five times. This remained a key piece in the Fluxus* Art Movement. This piece first debuted in Kyoto, Japan,  in 1964 at the Yamaichi Concert Hall.

Yoko Ono provided no context to the performance except providing an outline of the instructions which was to have the audience to cut a piece of her clothing, one by one, in which they could take the pieces they cut, home.

The question that will be addressed here is:

How does it alter the way an artist or designer create the work, when there is an interactive component?

First and foremost, having an interactive component, as one may know, will bring about a lasting impact on the participants. This is because, as shared in class, memories are connected to the emotions. It brings about a neurocognitive change. Every experience is unique. There is no possible recreation of the exact experience. Therefore, the experience of one audience member may vary and differ from the next audience member.

In this case, Yoko’s piece may or may not influence the audience members in choosing an area to cut or how much to cut. The actions of the others may influence the ones that come after to participate in the performance. The reason for this is that every audience member may very well cut a piece of Yoko’s clothing on their own terms, according to what they feel is appropriate or what they would like, etc. However, there are others who may be influenced by the actions of the rest that came before them. This highly depends on individuals.

Therefore, the way the artist create the work with an interactive component may involve the manipulation of resources to play to the advantage of the piece. This means to say that if the artist have a specific message that they may want to portray, their piece can be altered in such a way that it could sway the audiences to prove the artist’s standpoint. However, this also depends on the participants because in a way, everything else could be controlled but the audience is taken to be a variability.

This is very much visible in Yoko’s Cut Piece where in the beginning, the participants were hesitant and cut small pieces of her shirt or skirt. As the performance goes on, they became more daring and start cutting up bigger pieces. There were some participants who cut off the front of her undergarment and straps. Highly likely, this happened because people drew inspiration or seek approval of others during the performance. When they witness someone cutting up a bigger piece or a more risque piece of clothing, that is seen as approval or as the ‘okay’ to test waters and experiment further. In my opinion, this also is dependent on the personalities and values of the individuals on whether to experiment, follow or stay in the safe zone.

Hence, in order to create an interactive art that is effective, impactful and provide a long-lasting memory, this involves a proper understanding of human behaviour and psychology. Observational skills will come in handy! In comparison to creating a still art piece, an interactive art piece needs to be able to grasp the attention span of the audience when it is in motion/action.

*Fluxus was an international, interdisciplinary community of artists, composers, designers and poets during the 1960s and 1970s who engaged in experimental art performances which emphasized the artistic process over the finished product.

Direct Source: Wikipedia

Sources:

https://www.moma.org/learn/moma_learning/yoko-ono-cut-piece-1964/

https://uk.phaidon.com/agenda/art/articles/2015/may/18/yoko-ono-s-cut-piece-explained/

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3334843/

Yoko Ono’s “Cut Piece”

 

 

Foundation 4D – Final Submission (Performance Art – Caged)

November 23, 2018 / / 1 Comment

In this Final Assignment, we were tasked to create art based on social issues.

RESEARCH

I brainstormed a few ideas and consulted with Harry.

Here are some of my ideas:

Issue 1. Mental health and social construct 

Idea 1:
Interview victims in crime-doer-like fashion where their identity is not revealed to show that people view those with mental illness with such a weird notion and treat them differently.
Idea 2: Set up a situation, put up photos and let classmates decide who they would hire just based on what they see and hear. (Photos and audio recording of interview). Then once they have chosen
Then, take a survey with classmates asking them if they would hire people with mental illness if they had their own firms.
Reveal those who had mental illness and perhaps a recording to summarise.
Idea 3: Photography
Photo series/manipulation: How it feels like to be depressed?
Drowning in the water, Blurry effect

Issue 2: Racism/Social inclusion/Ignorance 

Idea 1: Social experiment:
Get a group of people from different races to sit together and write down on a piece of paper what racist comments have they heard that was passed to them.
Pair them up (different races, preferably minority + majority?)
Get them to exchange the papers and read to each other the comments on the paper.
Idea 2: Draw lines and get people to stand on one line each.
Ask a series of questions and those who experience it step back and those who don’t step forward.
At the end of it, see who is the most front.
Interview participants?
Idea 3: Are we subconsciously racist?
Questions:
– Where do you live?
– What kind of house do you live in?
– What is your or your parents’ bracket income?
– What’s your highest qualification?
– What is your ambition?
Get people of different races to ask each other questions but have them facing the back from each other. Then get them to write down the race they think the other person is.
They can only answer with one word (to reduce accent detection)

Issue 3: Mixed Marriages 

Photography:
People from completely different ethnic backgrounds, taking a photo. they will be in colour the people at the back
Photo light turn on then people at the back is shown. Crowd of people.
Eg. Auntie holding money, Lady holding papers (financial documentation),
Lightbox with cutouts of the above
LED LIGHTBOX

Issue 4: Sexual Harassment on internet

Idea 1: Having the sexual harassment the man did to come back to his daughter
Features real life text messages/DMs/PMs from girls who were sexually harassed online
a guy, two girls and a child
Black background – Girl and guy facing each other’s back, texting, text appear on screen of the guy harassing the girl with dirty texts.
Camera moves over and follows the guy where he carries a little girl, puts her down and the little girl runs and camera pans together with her, transitioned into an adult woman, being sexually harassed
_____________________________________________________________________
This was the outcome of the discussion I had with my lecturer, Harry, during consultation:
Idea: getting people to make choices of outfits or what wedding they want like christian and muslim , eg different background
or
a card game: stack of cards have different race, different gender : Wedding planner

PROCESS & REALISATION

However, after consultation, I realised that I was reading and thinking too much into the issue. I decided to scrap all of the ideas above and start a new.
I started with picking an issue that was most relatable to me which was Depression and Social Construct.
I started listing out the reasons as to why there is such a negative social construct regarding people with mental health problems, specifically depression.
People tend to disregard this problem as something that doesn’t exist or something secondary. It is viewed very lightly.
Next, I decided the medium into which I wanted to portray this issue. I narrowed it down to either Video Art or Performance Art.
Video Art Version:

Visual of Sound trapped in box in a dark room [sound of girl screaming, banging on the door, wind, crying].

Verdict: This version is not strong and does not convey any particular message except depicting the feeling of someone who is depressed. This was not my only intentions.

Hence, I decided to do a Performance Art as follows:

There will be a sound box, trapped within a cage, within another cage, within another cage.. until you reach the layer of the sound box.

Box will be from bigger to smaller sized – to show how minute the big problem of depression versus how it is viewed in society.

EXECUTION

Performance is called ‘Caged’. I measured boxes out of cardboards and glued them together to form boxes with only one opening. This was measured carefully so that at first, the person who would be experiencing it will struggle to take the boxes out of each other. As it progresses, it gets easier to remove the boxes.

I then created a cage made out of wires and fitted a sound box into the cage.

I also hand painted the boxes to with white acrylic paint. The purpose why this was hand painted was so that it seemed organic and raw. If you look closely, the boxes actually have unintentional handprints on it.

For the sound box, this was to represent the mental breakdowns that a depressed person might be experiencing. The sounds I put together were meant to portray that. The sound gets more and more intense as it went along. The purpose for this was to increase the intensity and anxiety of the participant.

THE SET-UP

On the day itself, I needed the room to be dark and a spotlight shining on the participant.

I gave conditions to the participant as follows:

1. Remove the boxes, one by one till you get to the end.

2. Make sure to be careful not to destroy the boxes as you remove them.

3. You have a time limit of 6 minutes (I tested out the whole experiment on my own multiple times and it was around 5 minutes on average)

The purpose for the condition to remove the boxes carefully was to avoid the participants from ripping the boxes apart. It also meant to portray and allow the participants to experience the difficulty in facing this problem.

The time limit was meant to focus on the urgency of accepting depression and changing the society’s mindset and attitude towards it.

The intensity of the sound increases as the participant struggles to open the boxes. The purpose is to allow the participant experiencing it to feel increasingly anxious as it goes on. They would also be the one that hears the sounds coming from the box the clearest.

The sounds include layers of girl crying, sobbing, wailing, rain, water from shower head etc.

Here’s the audio that I put together. Some were organic and others were extracted from non-copyrighted sources.

Audio and Video of in-class performance

After the whole performance, I described what the piece is about. What I said were as follows:

This piece is called “Caged”.

Take note that the boxes represents society & the cage + sound box represents mental health, specifically, depression.

Depression is a mental health condition that has been shan’t or frowned upon when being brought up.

The time limit and the intensity of the piece was a way to portray the urgency needed to deal with this alarming spike in the number of people dealing with Depression.

The delicacy that was instructed when removing the boxes depicts the fragile issue of mental health since it is a sensitive or taboo topic, especially amongst the older generation.

If you noticed, the first box was the hardest to remove and it gets easier as the boxes get smaller. This depicts the difficulty of the first few steps in dealing with this social construct on mental health.

The scale of the boxes, from biggest to smallest, represents how minute the big problem of depression is viewed in our society.  (compare the two)

It also represents the obstacles that will get smaller and therefore, easier to deal with

The cage at the end, enclosing the sound box shows the feeling of trapped & suffocation of the people suffering with this all alone.

I guess what I am trying to say here is that tolerance of this issue is needed and the normality of this will allow more people to come forward and seek help.

The audio is meant to depict the periodic breakdowns that could be experienced by people suffering from mental health.

REFLECTION

This performance was a particularly tough and draining one as it was something that was personal. It was created with the purpose of awareness, provoking a thought to the audience and especially, the participant. It is also meant to resonate with those experiencing depression.

3D Final Project (Assignment 3) – Emiko’s Kind

November 23, 2018 / / 0 Comments

RESEARCH & PROCESS

Part 1

Reference SEM Photo Chosen: Bee Eyes

Decided to go ahead with this photo as I thought it would be interesting to replicate.

We had to either use organic or manufactured materials and I went ahead with Barley seeds as I felt like it would be able to replicate the structure of the SEM Photo.

I glued the seeds onto a piece of scrap fabric and arranged it in a way that I thought, would look like the SEM photo. After I was done, I realised that there was a pointy/sharp needle-like structures that should be inserted in between these seeds to make it look like the photo. However, since the seeds were really small, it was tough to find a thin enough needle-like material to be placed in between the seeds as the scale would not match up to the one in the photo.

Hence, I decided to go ahead with another material that was bigger in size so that I could use wires to duplicate the effect of the SEM photo. I went with these peas. I hot glued them together onto a piece of organza fabric. This fabric helps to not distract the form that I was going for since it was transparent and light enough to be manipulated how I wanted it to. The structure in the SEM photo shows a slight curve in the form.

Hence, whilst glueing the peas together, I place a circular metal bowl underneath so that the structure that I was creating would take the curved form of the bowl. I then inserted wires in between the peas by bending these wires such that the ends of it act as a stopper for it not to come through the fabric. To secure it in place, hot glue gun was used.

Part 2

In this part, we had to create a Bio-Radiator for Emiko. As I was researching on cooling devices, I came across quite a few cooling techniques that could be incorporated into the design of the final outcome. I narrowed it down to three:

Option 1: Fiber Reinforced Polyester

Option 2: HVAC Tech Caloric Compound

Option 3: CAU-10-H

I went ahead with Option 3 as I thought the concept of it was intriguing.

These were the functions of Option 3 and how it works as a cooling device:

The unused, existing heat from Emiko was used to run the  energy-efficient cooling system.

FUTURE BENEFITS

In addition to that, in the future, this would be very effective and useful due to global-warming. This material is eco-friendly in terms of production and is able to make use of waste heat energy instead of normal cooling systems that produces waste but are of no use.

I used this spun cotton ball to suggest the compressed solid form of the powder form of the CAU-10-H.

To add to the cooling effect, I used these beads below that suggests that they are cooling crystals.

To further refine the idea of cooling effect for Emiko, I decided to use white acrylic plastic sheets which are good reflectors of light to reflect the light away from Emiko. I also used embossing foils since they are good radiators of heat, allowing Emiko to keep cool.

I decided to settle on a headpiece as my wearable since I’ve always liked the avant garde head pieces that I come across online. Furthermore, the head is the at the top which means that it is exposed to the sun the most. Hence, it makes sense that that should be the wearable piece to create to aid Emiko’s overheating problem.

Upon going through tons and tons of photos, I finally narrowed down my references to these three images.

Since I was unfamiliar with headpiece forms, I tried to recreate Image 1 as above.

This was my attempt to create a base structure of it first.

I was not in favour of how it looked and the idea of having an enclosed headpiece. So I experimented with the other forms.

I combine Image 2 and 3 as I really liked the form of Image 3. However, since Emiko was an AI based in Japan, I decided that I wanted to have it to adopt design elements influenced by Japanese aesthetics.

I attempted to create the folds with felt and acrylic plastic sheets. I liked how it looks but I decided to continue experimenting as I was not a 100% sure that this would be the style that I wanted to go with since it did look a little too bulky for my liking.

Hence, I decided to develop a structure first to fit it to the head then work from there.

I then explored the different ways I could incorporate the fan-like structure that was inspired by Japanese culture.

I still very much liked the structure of Image 1 above in amongst my reference image in terms of how the fan-like effect increased in size.

I tried to create a base structure such as that in the image below. I attempted to replicate the fan-like structure using individual pieces of acrylic plastic sheets that were cut carefully to show the increase in size. This was my attempt at attaching it to the base structure.

In the images above, the individual fan-like panes are attached the structure by puncturing it through the panes and twisting i around the base structure. The top of the wire was curved to serve as a stopper for the panes too.

However, it looked really messy and did not provide the more minimal look that I prefer.

Therefore, I experimented with a few different ways to attach the panes to the structure. This was the toughest part to craft as I found it a challenge to let the panes stay up without much support since it does get flimsy as it increases in size. Another problem I had was having to manipulate the arrangement of the fan-like panes to follow  curvature form of the base structure.

These are my attempts:

I thought it could still use improvements in terms of the attachment of the fan-like panes to the base structure. I finally thought of a ring attachment made by wires.

FINAL PROJECT EXECUTION

Afterwards, it was time to put the elements together to form my final piece.

This was after cutting the individual fan-like panes and attaching it to the base structure.

I covered the base piece with a black ribbon as I felt like the silver wire against the silver foil and white sheets were a little too muted and blend.

The panes were cut in a way that it would bend very slightly to follow the curve of the structure so that it would look more interesting from other angles as it provided variation.

This was the adaptation of Part 1 into Part 2. I pierced a matchstick through the spun cotton ball. The matchstick is the requirement for the organic material. 

A detachable nose piece made out of wire and beads that suggests it to be cooling crystals was also made.

FINAL OUTCOME

REFLECTIONS

This particular project was challenging as there were many factors that had to be considered. Apart from the structure & aesthetics of it, we had to factor in the proper measurements so that it would fit the model. Also, the fact that we had to consider the bio-radiator factor in to incorporate it into the design.

PDF BOARDS

 

Foundation 3D – Assignment 2B En Pointe

October 28, 2018 / / 1 Comment

For this assignment, we had to watch 3 sets of dance videos and pick one that we’d like to work with.

I chose AMA by Julie Gautier, made in 2018.

My interpretation from the dance was that the dancer has lost her child through a miscarriage and she was devastated and in pain. The dance, to me, portrayed how she was trying to escape the feeling and the awful phase in her life and how she was trying to let go but something was holding her back, like a resistance. She wanted to hold on to the pain as that was the only memory she has that is attached to her baby that never made it to the world.

Hence, from the piece, the adjectives that I gathered were: Captivating, Elegance & Hope

Research

My initial idea was to have something elegant and to me, that translates to something that is flowy and has movement. Therefore, the first material that came to mind was organza.

I started researching on the sculptures that I felt best captured the essence of the adjectives I’ve derived at.  I decided that these three images were going to be my inspiration.

The sculpture by Linda Celestian and Maggie Casey both captured elegance yet control at the same time. I felt like this was exactly what the dance portrayed when I watched it. Therefore, I made draft models to experiment with different materials and ways to work with hanging sculptures.

Process:

[Inspired by Linda Celestian]

Materials: Wires, Crepe Paper, Glue (Hot Glue & Multi-Purpose Glue)

Firstly, I tried to grab hold of items I could find and this first experimentation was done with wires and crepe paper along with hot glue gun to hold things in place.

What I discovered was that the glue gun melted the crepe paper. Whereas when I tried using multi-purpose glue, it did not dry fast enough to hold the crepe paper in place. It also seeped through the crepe paper.

I liked how it looked but I continued experimenting.

[Inspired by Maggie Casey]

Materials: Crepe Paper, Cardboard, Masking Tape, Sewing thread & Needle.

For this next one, I attempted to recreate my inspiration photo with just strings on the sides of the cardboard to allow more movement for the crepe paper to replicate ‘Elegant’.

With this one, I needed to find a way to support my sculpture hence it needed to be either hanging or have a grounded base. Hence, I went with a cardboard as the support and held it together with masking tape just for the purpose of experimentation to see how it would sort of turn out in the end.

I created slits on the cardboard to allow the strings to be slotted through to hold the sculpture in place.

The crepe paper material lack movement and was stiff. To make it look more elegant and lively, I attempted to manipulate the shape of the crepe paper with needle and thread. I stitched it into place in the middle part of the crepe paper. However, on the two sides, I allowed the threads that run across the paper to hold it into shape.

Afterwards, I tightened the strings as it is slotted through the bottom slit of the cardboard. How I stitched the strings to the cardboard was to have it enter from the bottom, through the crepe paper and up through the top. From there, I leave about 0.5 cm of space and stitched the string from the top (continued from previous stitching) through the paper and finally through the bottom of the cardboard where I made a knot and tied it

Verdict: Initially, I preferred the 2nd experimentation model and decided to go ahead with that.

I then had an organza and experimented it with blue foam boards. I cut two foam planks and 8 foam cubes which was pasted onto the planks on the 4 corners of each plank.

I used hot glue gun and it melted through the foam. I then got a specific glue that was specifically formulated for foam and that worked but for the sake of experimentation, I taped it down for extra security.

I wanted it to seem as if the organza was free-floating. Therefore, I went ahead to have it attached by a nylon thread that is almost invisible. The thread was attached at the 4 corners of the planks and stitched through the organza with a needle.

I loved how this look as the organza had movement and looked soft and ‘Elegant’ but I knew I wanted my sculpture to be hanging and to be supported by curved planar instead of something angular like the plank.

Therefore, I had 2 foam hemispheres and painted it black with acrylic paint. The reason for this was because I wanted to introduce a reflective element that would replicate and capture the ‘Captivating’ essence of the dance. through the representation of water reflection that I intended to recreate via broken mirrors. Therefore, the darker surface would allow for that.

I broke the mirror with a hammer and glued it into the hemisphere to experiment.

Experimentation 4

However, I realised that I needed to glued the mirror pieces onto an MDF board instead which was where the string would be hanging from.

Experimentation 5

I needed the strings to be glued onto a flat, straight surface so that it would be easier to work with as I needed to tie it down and have it tight. Therefore, similar to Experimentation 3, I cut cubes of wood-like pole that have been measured to 0.5cm to be pasted onto the MDF board. They were also scored on the sides to allow the nylon thread to have a grip to be tied.

The MDF board was first cut into a circular shape to fit the interior of the dome and it was filed into shape. It was painted black with acrylic with the same purpose of it to help with the reflective element of the sculpture. It was then measured so that the wood-like cubes could be pasted onto it. This was done using hot glue gun.

Experimentation 6

I wanted to replicate Maggie Casey’s work; to have strings to serve as support to shape the organza. However, I realised that the organza would not hold into place. Therefore, going back to Experimentation 2, I sewed some parts of it to create folds that would be emphasised by the nylon thread when I stitched it through the organza. This did help.

Experimentation 7

This sculpture was a particularly tough one to make as it required something to prop it up while I had to painstakingly tie the strings at the top of the MDF board and the bottom through the organza. I tried to hang it with a masking tape to sides of tables and doors. To attach the bottom to the top before I added the strings, I needed to attach it to a wooded stick for support.

In addition, I experimented with both the nylon thread and normal white sewing thread to see which looked better and which could be tied tighter to support the structure and shape the organza.

However, as seen from the pictures below, I failed miserably. I didn’t secured the strings with tape first as I needed to adjust it as I went along. This was because the strings did not seem to be able to be holding down tightly.

Verdict: I did not like how it look as it was very messy and did not capture the interpretation of the dance that I was going for. I experimented for hours for this and realised it was never going to work out as I hadn’t figured out the proper way to have this done. Also, I felt like having it the top hemisphere attached to the bottom made it seem rigid which I didn’t like. I wanted to also feature ‘Hope’.

Therefore, I decided to have the hemisphere separated instead of having it attached. I wanted the bottom hemisphere to have a base. This means that, if time had permitted, as a piece, it would be propped up with a separate pole that would allow the the top part of the sculpture to be hanged and the bottom to be placed on a surface that would be attached to the pole.

I had also scraped the idea of the organza held into place solely by threads as it didn’t translate the movement I wanted to capture in Experimentation 7. Hence, I revisited Experimentation 1 as it would allow me to manipulate the organza with wires that could be bended into shape.

I also decided to stain one sheet of the organza with a Cyan blue colour with splatters of white to create a water-like effect as the two colours reminded me of water.

Before that, I stitched the organza to have a rolled hem so that it would not fray. Afterwards, I created the wire figures.

Experimentation 9

I then attached the organza to it with hot glue gun. Afterwards, I removed the multiple wood-like cubes from Experimentation 6 as I did not need the threads to be attached to so many of the cubes. I left a couple of the cubes for my final piece as I still need nylon threads to be attached to it for the suspending wired organza piece.

I also attached a wired handle that I bended into shape and pierced it through the hemisphere. I placed a foam at the end of the it to not have it pierce through the other side of the foam and for the purpose of a stopper, hidden inside the hemisphere.

The sculpture created a reflective effect that to me, capture the ‘Captivating’ essence of the dance and represented water reflections.

Click here for clip of effect of reflections 

Hence, this concludes my Process and Research for Assignment 2B – En Pointe. Overall, I had a very challenging time to create this piece and had to redo things multiple times. However, I think I tried to capture the essence of the dance and hoped it translated into my sculpture.