|| The Eternal Frame (1975) is a videotaped reenactment of the assassinated of John F. Kennedy’s assassination by Antfarm which seeks to draw attention to the power of the mediated image.
Antfarm is a collective of radical artists founded in San Francisco in 1968 by Chip Lord and Doug Michels (1943-2003) that sought to rebel against the conformative style of art in their time and build a community of artists that vigorously experimented with new forms of art.[1]
In an Interview with Chip Lord by Randall Packer over the Third Space Network stream, Chip Lord mentions that John F. Kennedy’s death was the first televised American tragedy ever, and Eternal Frame sought to explore the power of the media to immortalise such a historical moment and ingrain it into the minds of people by converting a real-life event into a processed memory via the media. [2]
In another interview about The Eternal Frame hosted by Constance Lewallen (2012), Doug Halls states that he resonates with Jean Jacque-Rousseau’s view that something cannot be true until it’s fictionalised, and the interpretation of a memory aberrates as it is constantly reappropriated throughout time, which is possible if an event is immortalised in a digital form. [3]
” I think that idea of you kind of grasping to it and extricated into your time, then in the act of doing that, certain truths disappear but other ones begin to emerge.”
– Doug Halls
Taking the achievements of past post-modern art movements like Constructivism and Futurism to a greater level, Antfarm’s fearless venture into different media and experimenting with different spatial contexts allowed them to successfully added new layers of meanings in their artworks that allowed them to make political and social statements.
In this first project for Graphic Form, we have to translate the essence of a job (that can be imaginary) into visual, typographic forms of our names using any sort of media.
Since the jobs we chose were not specified to be pragmatic/realistic, I started off by brainstorming up some ideas for imaginary jobs that are grounded in the essence of real jobs that exist in reality. I came up with a list of existing jobs and modified them by merging them with each other. This would not only help me come up with much more interesting outcomes, but also give me a wider range of job fields and their nature to explore. Thereafter, I searched up the jobscopes and items that are iconic to these jobs to make them easily identifiable.
|| The noble venture by Furtherfield into establishing and investing in a common space that facilitates the sharing of ideas and execution of projects among artists has reaped the benefits of social practice in art.
Before the proliferation of Open-Source culture, artists were seen as solitary creators who worked for their own gain, as in with the case of BritArt which led to a limited development in the field of art (mentioned in Ruth Catlow and Marc Garrett “Do it With Others (DIWO): Participatory Media in the Furtherfield Neighborhood,” 2007):
:
“It degraded and smothered artistic discourse by fueling a competitive and divisive attitude towards a shrinking public platform for their practice and the representation of their work.”
Furtherfield provided the opportunity for artists to start co-curation, such as in E-mail Art on Netbehaviour.
This tore down the notion of the artists having a mandatory role of curating the entire viewing experience themselves, rather, it involved viewers to take ownership as well. In class, we explored the act of co-curation with our Collective Body project, where each of us could determine the order of photo upload in order to create the artwork in its entirety.
The exchange of ideas also led to technological experimentation as a new medium. Projects like Hole in Space by Kit Galloway and Sherrie Rabinowitz, and Telegarden by Ken Goldberg make use of real time technology to allow people to interact across a Third Space, and also give up ownership of the result of the artwork to the audience, making their outcomes inclusive, unpredictable and ultimately genuinely interesting.
In class, we tried our hands at creating art via the Third Space in our Tele-stroll and Telematic Embrace projects. By negotiating and compromising, we are able to create a digital connection across screens.
With a conducive space for conversation, Furtherfield artists took the liberty to create projects like Plantoid by Okhaos that utilises the Blockchain system and Harvest by Julian Oliver that explored technology as a medium to get viewers from the public to be conscious about nature and rethink our relationship with technology. These are issues that our generation faces and such artworks allow the current generation to ‘connect with issues in their time’, which, as mentioned by Marc Garrett in his lecture, is one of the strongest virtues of being an artist.
Plantoid (2015) by Okahos
In conclusion, the concept of DIWO empowers artists with the capability to break the artist-viewer hierarchy, explore new mediums and better allow the public to connect with their work and the issues we face today.
|| This week, we did a g̶̛̞͚̬͈̠͖̺͕͔͚̲̩̬͗͗̒̉̋͊͐̉̅̈́͝͝l̵̛͚̤͆̍̏̃̇̈́̕͝ị̶͇̰͓̘͚̤̹͒̄̈́̀̏̓̃̄̐͐̕͠ͅt̶̖̹͎̣̦̩̪̣͌̚͜ç̵̜̦̣̩̲̩̲̬͎͈͌̀͐̂̆͒̑̍̒̓͆̓̓h̵̢̢̟̬̲̼̦̬̰̰͊̊̑̍͂̽͂ project in class!! We selected a photo of ourselves from our previous Collective Body project and surrender them over to our groupmates to destroy them, essentially creating a g̶̡̛͔̬͍̼̻̞̩̳̲͚̯͔̱̟̐̏̀́̔̋̏̉̄͋̋̂̓ļ̷̙̫̭̙̠̦̖͚̞͑́͆̀̿͋̎̎͗̚ͅi̵̧̨̧̢̜̦̭̫͔̫̖̠̎̆̿͒͗̈͒̋̑͘̕͠͝͠ț̴̨͕̺̘̲̘͛́̀́͆͆̏̑́͝c̵̘̍̏́̋̂̀͗̾ḣ̷̨͓͎̦̱̯̦̲͚̅̂̈́̍ ̵̢̨̢̥̖̹̭̦̻͙͈͒̾̑̋̉̎͑̓͜m̸̛͉̱͔̤̞̱̩̠̫̍͂̈́͆̓̎͛̕͘͘̕ͅa̷͚̪͕̞̽̀̓̎͋͜s̴̛̠̙̦͇̪̯̻̠̭̞̞͑̆͛́̏͗͛͐̕͜͠t̴̨͔͇̞͇͖̦̟͇̦̭͚̥̯̓͐̋̈͋̈́̈́̚͜͠ẻ̷̞͕͖̖̖͉̄r̴̢͖͍͉̤͉͐̔̕p̸̛̱̥͇̲̗̤̼̹̝͋͛̔͆̏̀́͗́̎̊̔͐̕͜͜į̵̢̡̮̠̰͚̬̮̻̹̹́͌ḙ̵̡͙̳̥̩̠̝̓̈́͐̃̉̕͜c̶̢̛̘̦̬̜̾̾̒̍̋̐̆͠e̷͎̥̲̥̝͐̔̑̃͒̈́̎͌͌̔͋̚ 😀 This is what my friends made me into:
In this first project for Graphic Form, we have to translate the essence of a job (that can be imaginary) into visual, typographic forms of our names using any sort of media.
Since the jobs we chose were not specified to be pragmatic/realistic, I started off by brainstorming up some ideas for imaginary jobs that are grounded in the essence of real jobs that exist in reality. I came up with a list of existing jobs and modified them by merging them with each other. This would not only help me come up with much more interesting outcomes, but also give me a wider range of job fields and their nature to explore. Thereafter, I searched up the jobscopes and items that are iconic to these jobs to make them easily identifiable.
Initial Shortlisted jobs:
Baby DJ
Pool Colourist
Professional Liar
Alien Communicator
——–
Baby DJ
Original job inspirations: DJ, Infant care nurses
Jobscopes
DJ: to play music at events entertain, mix beats to hype the crowd up. Has to be well-versed in different sorts of music. Usually playing loud music at social events to give enhance the lively mood/atmosphere.
Infant care nurses: Caring, patient, organised, responsible, nurturing, taking care of delicate babies
Words like “lightness” and “ease” come up a lot in conversations about pastels. Sallie Harrison, the designer and photographer in L.A., says that pastels evoke a sense of “calmness and balance.” Stewart points to light blue and its connection with spirituality and heaven; (Leatrice) Eiseman at one point related soft colors to infancy, when there was a sense of ease and safety because all of our needs were taken care of. These feelings can be connected to the social and political factors at work, as Eiseman pointed out while listing her considerations for color of the year.
(Leatrice Eiseman is an American color specialist, who assists companies in their color choice in a range of areas, including packaging, logos, and interior design. She is the executive director of the Pantone Color Institute, a division of Pantone, Inc.,[1] and the author of six books on color, one of which won an award from the Independent Publisher’s Association.)
However, this draft did not really display the elements of the job in the letters, rather, they put the letters into a context. When the letters are taken out of context, they do not effectively portray the essence of the job of a Baby DJ anymore.
Therefore, I embarked on a mission to try to integrate the essence of both a DJ and a infant care nurse together into my type.
It was really difficult trying to recreate the multiple button effect in Illustrator because the 3D extrusion function and art mapping was not exactly user friendly. It took a pretty long time trying to render every single 3D object as well. Thus, I tried only extruding the foam toy square, while leaving the neon letters on the square. In the draft below, I had mapped a wooden texture onto a star shape. I tried to map a foam texture onto the foam squares to recreate a more accurate foam effect as well but there were way too many surfaces, so I stuck with a gradient effect. The background has several layers of lighting effects as well to try to recreate that of a dance club.
After relooking and consultation, I felt that the bokeh, strobe light and cloud effects were too strongly suggestive of a DJ instead of babies and did not convey my intentions accurately since I wanted to be a DJ that could put babies to sleep. Not make babies get up and dance. And so, I embarked on quite a different mission to change the composition to a more child-friendly one.
Final
I wanted to use the colour schemes of artworks used for lo-fi hiphop videos on Youtube since they’re really pretty and also make me feel calm and relaxed looking at them. Usually, there are pastel, mellow, analogous and warm colours.
Original job inspirations: Pool maintainer, bath bomb makers
Jobscopes
Pool cleaner: Needs to be committed, works on a regular basis, cleans the pool by throwing chlorine in
Pool cleaning machine?
Bathbomb makers: Manufacture bathbombs by compacting colourful powdery compounds into spheres to be thrown into water and dissolved to colour the water in bathtubs
Objects
Pool cleaner: Water ripples, Pool tile patterns, pool cleaning machine, lifebuoy
Bath bomb makers: Bathbombs, rubberducks
Emphasis on the CHANGE of colour
Mediums for consideration:
Use marbling technique/ decalcomania] put something when pressing down to form letters
Investigator: Find out the truth about a situation by sieving through documents, going onsite to find clues for cases.
Compulsive liars: Can make up a tall story about anything at anytime. Might be useful in some situations to get away with something for the time being. Hiring someone that knows exactly what to say could be really useful. It’s definitely a dirty job.
Compulsive liar: words, speech, Pinnochio nose, Suprematist/De Stijl works to represent the truth
Ideas:
Medium: String, Paper, Newspaper
Final
4. Alien Communicator
Inspired by: Astronomers, Crop circle artists
Jobscope:
Astronomers: To study outerspace; investigate the presence of life-forms on other planets.
Crop circle artists: Create geoglyphs on large expanses of crop fields to trick the public into thinking that aliens are real. Also to practice an impressive new art style.
Objects:
Astronomers: Satellites, space suits, rockets, shiny metallic objects, outerspace themes, solar system
After brainstorming, I settled for doing a crop circle artwork myself!
But first, I had to do some research on the patterns of crop circles. And so I did.
Crop Circle Fun Facts!
Crop circle art is a relatively new art form. In crop circle art, crop is bent and not harmed in any way. Most crop circles have either laterally symmetrical or radially symmetrical art. They could also be completely unsymmetrical and representative. The possibilities are endless.
The most telling feature of crop circles are their stunning geometric shapes and patterns that make it hard for people to believe that they were really created by human beings on such a large scale, and so a lot of people would rather believe that aliens did it.
I borrowed a book on crop circles by Michael Glickman to study the common features of crop circles:
others like -orbits,snowflakes, triangles and squares
SOMEONE DID A TUTORIAL ON IT!!!
This tutorial was absolutely FANTASTIC. It was clear to follow and produced a really realistic effect. You can also use any stencil with a transparent background you have created, and following quite a long but comprehensible procedures of producing a screen, bevelling and embossing and tweaking lighting settings, you can create your own realistic digital crop circle artwork as well. By following this tutorial, I managed to play around with the blending effects a lot more, which I had always been quite unfamiliar and apprehensive about touching before this project.
Final
5) Local Pastry Chef
Inspired by: Chefs, Singaporean Hawkers
Jobscopes:
Chefs: Professional chefs that pay close attention to the process of cooking, as well as garnishing and presentation of food.
Singaporean hawkers: Specialise in catering to the Singaporean palate, making local cuisines like Chili Crab, Bak Kut Teh etc.
Objects:
Chefs: Chef hat, wok, spatula, frying pan, ingredients
Singaporean hawkers: Chili crab, bak kut teh, kueh, fried rice, hokkien mee, yong tau foo
Medium: Kueh, Photography
Kuehs used:
Y- Kueh lapis sagu (Jiu Ceng Gao in chinese)
U – Kueh salat
E – Ang Ku Kueh
L- Png Kueh
I – Ondeh ondeh and kueh talam
N – Pulut Inti
G – Kueh Lapis
Reflections:
This project was pretty challenging in the sense that we had to create letters that could easily communicate the essence of our jobs. Since I also decided to go with jobs that are inspired by at lease 2 traditional/existing jobs, it was tough trying to incorporate elements of both jobs to balance out the elements equally. However, through a rigorous process of refining my designs, I would like to think that I have managed to do so. ;;; XD
With this project I also wanted to explore the use of other mediums, which I think I managed to do successfully! Although it was not a smooth process throughout, with many failures and disappointments, I always recall the saying that artists should “Fail faster” so that we learn from mistakes faster and can get on with improving our projects. After failing with the intended mediums, I tried to find alternate options that could express my intentions on the same level, if not, surprisingly better.
Through this project, I was also able to get more comfortable with Photoshop blending modes that I have never ventured to touch before. Fiddling around with the settings for making the neon glow and crop circle really taught me the massive capacity Photoshop has for creating realistic illusions.
All in all, I really enjoyed this project and had fun trying out different mediums instead of just ink/paint. Looking forward to the next Zine project!
|| Hello World! (2008) by Christopher Baker is a audio-visual wall installation that comprises of over 5000 videos taken from social media websites like Youtube, Facebook and MySpace. Each of them are a personal video recording from an individual to an imaginary audience (vlogging = video + blogging). The collective motley of voices that results can either seem meditative or overwhelming to viewers who choose to dwell and immerse themselves in the experience.
Since cameras have been incorporated into mobile devices, increased ownership of the latter would also mean an increase in possession of a camera. Coupled with the increased accessibility to the Internet, more individuals now have the power to participate in social sharing online.
“Some forms of computer-mediated communication can lower barriers to interaction and encourage more self-disclosure (Bargh, McKenna, & Fitzsimons, 2002; Tidwell & Walther, 2002); hence, these tools may enable connections and interactions that would not otherwise occur.”
– NB Ellison, The Benefits of Facebook “Friends”.
Hello World! fundamentally displays the innate need for social sharing in humans. This behavioural pattern can also be observed in Murmur Study, another work by Christopher Baker, which materialises the abundance of status updates which exist online which may not be directed to anyone in particular.
Christopher Baker laments that the experience of social sharing may not be totally reciprocal since people are not taught to be good listeners as well. If we manage to achieve a considerable balance, perhaps more beneficial collective actions can be born from online conversations.
Resources:
http://christopherbaker.net/projects/helloworld/
The Benefits of Facebook ‘‘Friends’’: Social Capital and College Students’ Use of Online Social Network Sites
|| This week during class, we all got on Adobe Connect (it was my first time using this software ever), and immersed ourselves into the Third Space together.
We discussed about how the emotional bandwidth (the quality of emotional exchange between two individuals) of texting is significantly different from that of video calling or social broadcasting since we are able to view the voice and expression of the other party to fully gauge their responses, compared to simply communicating via words.
This experience was very new to me since previously we only broadcasted live together as a class but did not really attempt to make any interactions across screens (although this was attempted in the Telestroll microproject). As a class, we were present in both our local space (the first space), and the digitalised platform of Adobe Connect (the third space). Since we were all in the classroom, our remote spaces (second spaces) were all the same relative to each other. It was not possible to see everyone in the room at once in the physical world, but Adobe Connect sure made it much easier. It was also super cool to see how although we were in the same room at different positions, our minds were all in the same place.
We attempted to accomplish various collective tasks together, such as putting our fingers together with a partner beside us (not physically but onscreen), putting our faces really close to the camera and making a cross across the screen.
For these tasks to be completed successfully, it was vital that we negotiated and compromised to achieve our goal. From the simplest initial task of getting a pen out, to aligning the positions/scale of our objects/hands, every part of the job required some form of give-and-take. Even with the Onscreen Cross, if we were not involved in making the actual cross with our arm, we needed to know our job and do it, even if it meant doing absolutely nothing with our arm, lest there be an extra stroke coming out of the cross.
While we see negotiation on a smaller scale here in a onscreen microproject, these skills are definitely applicable to real life whenever we need to communicate with others and get our ideas through in order to get a job done successfully.