Glitch Singapore | Fans Do My Makeup

Idea – Through instagram’s live platform, we allow the audience’s to decide what’s the next step for our individual avatars where their hands aren’t theirs.

Setting  – Room in hall

Group members – Naomi, Nok Wan and Joey

Research

Our final idea came about after we came across various famous youtube vloggers having their boyfriends/girlfriends to do their makeup. Also Not My Hands Challenge and make up tutorial games. Using of instagram live, we are able to interact with the audiences in real time.

Process

Before coming to a conclusion for our final project, we had various ideas, tried and tested. Our very first proposed idea was;

Episode Drama Live!; This idea was to station one ‘drunkard’ actor and his ‘friend’ at clark quay. We chose clark quay as our location is because there are more relatable strangers located there. And we will have people down at ADM, watching facebook live, giving instructions on what the ‘drunkard’ actor has to do/interact with strangers there and completing challenges that are set by us.

The setbacks; we are worried that the casts would be called out by the police for public nuisance as Singaporeans are more conservative and not as daring to complete the challenges. Budget was highly sought of as well, as we are not as equipped as we want to be.

Collaborative Concert; This idea was to have 4 musician avatars with 4 different musical instruments; 5 glasses with different water levels, rubber chicken, right in front of them awaiting for a conductor (a player from our friends). The player is given a song and they have to instruct the 4 musicians and try compose and replicate the song with the given instruments. We did a trial run using facebook live and skype call. Skype call was for the conductor to give instructions to to the musicians and facebook live is for the conductor and audiences to view the musicians in real time.

The setbacks; facebook live had a 10-12s lag time where it brought much inconvenience to the both sides. Skype call had many interferences which kinda of interrupted the call multiple times. We couldn’t get enough conductors that are willing to give instructions and the replication of the song given was not in our favour. Also having the location at ADM it kind of defeats the purpose as this idea is not location specific. 

Fans Do My Makeup; our concept is that 3 different personas are preparing their make up for a date but none of us has the experience on the individual make up products let alone the steps of putting make up. We chose our location to be in a hall room whereas in a room, it is meant to be very personal and private kinda thing, where people don’t usually share to the public.  But as an acting vlogger, we chose to share it via instagram live. There is also a time limit where the ‘uber ride’ will arrive for us and that is where we end each session.

Our project involves DIWO  where the audiences had the control of what we have to put the make up on by contributing on the live chat, giving us instructions or mainly suggestions. The second layer or DIWO is that instead of using the main persona’s hands, we planted in another person’s hands. Nok wan was the our first kick start and the audiences weren’t as hyped up yet so the sugguestions they gave was rather simple and towards the safe side. Here comes the glitch whereby the the main persona had no control of their own ‘hands’.

The person at the back is not able to see at the face and can only rely on their hearing and what the main persona is saying/ giving instructions. Therefore the end result is unpredictable and definitely not beautiful. As till Naomi‘s turn, the audiences are much more warmed up and they started giving suggestions like; “Slap her face!”, “Draw gentials on her face!”. So naturally for the hands, it is just grabbing any possible make up product and start drawing. The imperfections is also a kind of glitch whereby in our head we have already perceived that how it will turn out normally as it is but to our horror it’s not. And due to the natural 3-4s lag in third space platforms, we are unable to keep up to the comments and ended up having “NOTICE ME SENPAI!!” in the chat. After all our ‘vlogs’, we did up a instapoll whereby allowing the audiences to choose who wore the make up better. And also a perfect wrap up for our performance.

I won the hearts of the audiences

Reflection

Having ups and downs for this final project, we have learnt that nothing is perfect. Not everything would go the way we want it to be. We were to the point of giving up after we had the downfall for our 2nd idea. We didn’t know what else to proceed but only to remind one another not to give up. The end was satisfying, the responses for our final idea were overwhelming! We didn’t expect this would come into a perfect full stop for our experimental interaction. Therefore we are here to embrace the imperfection perfections. We had a very good laugh too. :’)

Locale – Project 2A (Research & Process)

I have always wanted to explore designs that has the traditional chinese influences. Hence I have decided to work on Chinese Garden for this project.

The moment I stepping into the entrance, I was greeted by the 7-storey pagoda. It is the most prominent building in the garden, it is noticeable even when you are in the train at chinese garden station. Out of curiosity, I went up the tower and counted the steps along the way. It has total of 180 steps!!

Walking away from the pagoda, eight statues placed along the pathway. Each statues has it’s very own significances, eight different heroes for that very point of time.

Aside from the 7-storey pagoda, here are 2 miniature pagodas. They have the identical look, as if there is a mirror placed in front of them. Fortunately, the steps are much much lesser than the 7-storey pagoda. As I noticed the opposite’s view when I viewed through the window inside the pagoda, it… was… spectacular…

Moving on to the bonsai garden, the windows are more prominent here. The bonsai reflected from the windows replicates like a piece of painting on the wall.

Apart from all the old chinese buildings, large numbers of lattice patterned windows can be seen all around chinese garden.

The patterns on the windows really intrigued me as like I am viewing Chinese Garden in a different way. It is like looking through a pinhole camera, looking a far to the scenery. Capturing and framing the scenery like a real-life painting.

References

The style I will be exploring is a fusion of chinese and english text. My initial idea was to extract all the lattice windows and create long continuation throughout the whole zine and a tiny character following through. But I scraped the idea after multiple consultations and lastly I came into conclusion of doing up a poetry book.

I explored towards a parody poem book instead of having a serious feel to it. I wanted my poetry book to replicate the old chinese kungfu book. With the tradition blue cover with a huge chinese title at the right corner.

Initial Sketches

Some of the parody poems;

  • Money is not a problem, problem is no money.
  • Others can be so handsome, and yet I look like shit.
  • Others have background, and all I have is backview
  • In my whole life there are only two things that I don’t know, I don’t know this, and I don’t know that.
  • Life is like toilet paper, if there’s nothing much, don’t pua so many stuns.
Initial cover page

Replicating the old chinese kungfu book, I did up my cover looking exactly like it. I have titled my book as ‘Window to you soul’. But to tie down with my parody theme of a chinese poem book, I have tweaked the chinese translation of windows into hemorrhoids instead. The chinese pronunciation of 之窗 and 痔疮 is very similar.

After much consultation, it was said to be a little too boring and predictable for the cover. Hence I tried to incorporate the lattice patterns into the cover and explore a different positioning for my title.

The title is being interlocked with the patterns and the different in size which creates the visual hierarchy. As for my inner spreads, I chose the best of the few from my initial sketches.

Instead of having a static; one window per page, I spread the one of the window across the next spread. The different in sizes of the window creates the emphasis on the window that I want to focus on.

A title of the poem is introduced for every poem in the spread. It ties in very well with the poems. Diagonal lines were introduced as well. It leads the eye of the reader on how the flow of the spread goes. I still feel the spread has too much of a white space that I have to add some window shapes into it.

I positioned my english text vertical to match up with my chinese text.

Middle spread

I have contrast of the two very identical window in a yin and yang position. This layout is also somewhat asymmetrical.

The blue added on the right page gives a higher contrast on both of the windows.

Last spread

The overlapped windows gives the layout a foreground and background instead of plain flat. The main octagon window is positioned across the next page. It is also slightly off centred which breaks away from the norm. The numbering of the poems are intentionally placed from right to left to replicate the olden chinese way of reading. Windows outlines are constantly appearing in every spread to keep the consistency.

All in all, this zine project taught me to always stay away from my comfort zone and trying out new stuffs. And always to pay attention to really small details. Constantly checking  for errors here and there.

Symposium Hyperessay

My eyes were literally opened for these 3-day online workshop that focuses on Art of the Networked Practice online symposium. I have attended day 1 and 2 of the workshop. And the 2 days alone blew my mind, it was an overwhelming experience. Social broadcasting enhances the various possibilities of collaborating within third space; it’s convenience for people to communicate in real time without having to be at the same location. Apart from having it’s advantages, it has it’s disadvantages as well, glitches and the responsiveness is inevitable.

This performance was performed whereby Annie Abraham and few other collaborators where they took part in a DIWO collaboration through the third space, creating a intimacy between the collaborators. For this particular performance, all the performers to have their eyes shut till Annie instructed that she would give a specific signal for all of them to disconnect one after another through sound. Unlike traditional On the other hand, Helen encountered a technical issue on her side, resulting of her failing to follow the instructions. It was then to a point where her eyes are still shut for quite sometime so everyone else assumed she had fallen asleep and some of the collaborators tried typing in the chat in chance of catching her attention but failed miserably. This created a form of glitch whereby this platform should ought to be convenient, making peoples’ lives much easier but due to unpredictable circumstances like lag, technical issues Instead, it brought much more inconvenience to the performers.

Another segment of the  performance whereby the collaborators are constantly placing/ changing random objects in front of their camera and also their very own interpretations of politics, different voices that shapes the environment. It is interesting how the performers can come together as one, doing the same exact movement like as if they have met one another or as if they have known each other beforehand. Different people values certain objects differently, like in this segment, we are able to see such varieties of objects placed in front of the camera can have a different meaning to it.

Blast Theory – Kidnap

Matt Adams discussed about Blast Theory and some of their projects. Blast Theory cleverly made use of the third space that connects people both online and offline. His projects mainly focuses communications and control whereby in one of his projects, Kidnap, a performance that having two participants being kidnapped into a safe house for 48 hours under the watch of online audiences. The audiences were given control of the cameras in the cell where they can move freely and also communicate with the kidnappers. It is how scary that what is happening on screen may not be real but how it might happen in anytime, anywhere which people watching but unable to do anything about it. The ones that got kidnapped would be able experience something out of their comfort zones. This project managed to raised the awareness of several social issues and also gotten overwhelming responses from the public.

Overall, through this I have been clarified a lot regarding DIWO, third space and glitch. It was truly and experience with all these artists out there. I’m glad that I’m able to embrace the glitch more.

 

 

Micro-Project 7: Lucid

“…I’ve kind of realized that what I was trying to do was create dream imagery, create a lucid dream state while you’re watching the film,” – James Cameron

A gateway to inner self.

The thoughts we make before going to bed, the deep thoughts that we don’t normally make during the day. It’s only when we are in our very own intimate space, we blanked out from the real world. The setting is in my own bedroom, as messy as it is, it creates a form of intimacy.

People get attracted to lucid dreaming because they want to be able to do things they could never do in waking reality, for example, taste fire or fly to the sun.

So do we really sleep? The ghostly effect is to emphasize on the subconscious mind within us.