12.4.18

Tutorial 

I thought my tutorial today was really fruitful for the actions I need to take and sorting out my worries about particular aspects of my project. 

I discussed my dilemma about my portraits and the fact I am unsure about which to pick. When looking at my photos my tutor actually liked the whole photo uncropped from the lighting studio shoot. When looking again at the images as a whole without thinking about cropping them I agreed they were actually quite dynamic pictures wit interesting compositions. I was worried about this taking away from my process but after discussion it made sense. I still have my research that has informed my work but when it comes to it the work is different and I need to suit my outcome to what is most successful in communicating my concept. It was pointed out by giving the audience that surrounding that they can even better understand the concept of the fact that the subjects have been put into a particular environment which is ultimately going to create more engagement with the audience with curiosity. It also shows that I thought about the environment and the audience will appreciate even more the idea I want to portray as it is more obvious to them. 

 

As well as this I also took the suggestion of perhaps reshooting the installation I created at home over easter. I am going to try and push myself to do this so  I can shoot it again to create a more refined portfolio piece. 

10.4.18

Trying the original lighting again

Trying the original lighting again has brought me some difficulties. It has been really difficult to create the same lighting environment I took my original experiments in. When I have come to edit these shots they have not turned out as well as the original experiments lighting. They are much more yellow and then when I use lightbox to colour correct them they don't have the same depth to the original experiment. This is frustrating as I didn't have the opportunity of many subjects in my first try with this lighting. 

It now gives me the dilemma as to weather I should just have one really strong image even though a lot of my research and process has lead me to creating a series, or If I should use the professional lighting shoot as this is a better coherent series of portraits. Looking individually at the images I prefer the original shot but I don't know if the work would be as strong as strong or communicative if it wasn't a series. A series communicates the idea that it is viewing people in general as forms. Not just a focus on one particular character and there won't be any focus or curiosity over if there is resigning for the look of this character and if they have meaning also. 

Because I was stuck I looked to my peers for what they think. Quite a few of them said that they actually preferred the photos taken in a the lighting studio anyway but this is only because they look more professional an there wasn't any focus of their feedback that was on the background. After listening to this I feel almost more torn and still undecided as to what to do. Maybe I should listen to the potential audience. If it were to go into the gallery it needs to be visually graphic and bold and if this is capturing the audiences attention more than the original then this could be a more successful communicative piece and this is a very important factor for me to think about.

I think I will talk to my tutor about this at my tutorial specifically. 

9.4.18

feedback on first portrait experiment

My tutor also agreed this was one of my more successful outcomes but suggested I took them in the lighting studio with the white backdrop. I am a bit uncertain that I won't like the bright whiteness of the shot because the softness of the original shoot is what I really liked about the outcomes. However I think its also important to try different lighting so that I have choices for my outcome and also if i don't try the different lighting I won't know if its a better more refined outcome or not. 

5.4.18

Backdrop for my portraits 

I wanted to keep the environment for the subject when taking my portraits so that they were actually experiencing white space and it wasn't being staged. This means that I needed to create an environment for them to just be and to allow me to take portraits of them. 

I couldn't take a portrait of people in my past interactions because I would have had to intrude on the enclosed interaction which would have been distracting and not a portrait of of them wholly 'just being' as they know someone is taking a picture of them. When I tried to capture their last moment of them experiencing white space this was also problematic as they were more surprised than anything. I think the idea of the subject seeing the camera is generally problematic as this is subconsciously with them so they aren't fully focused on just being. 

Taking inspiration from Gurskys Rüblick I thought about having a portrait with the subject having no focus on the camera as they can't see it as the portrait will be from behind. Therefore I needed to create a backdrop that the person will face and I can take a picture from behind with the white space infront of them. In order for them to really be experiencing the white space so its a true portrait of them just being I needed them to experience the white space in the same way they wold in the interactions. As the reason I couldn't document them in the interactions was because it was enclosed I thought I could create half the interaction - the interaction but almost cut in half. It is important that I keep the successful and thought out elements in my half interaction such as the material and curvature to allow the subject to 'just be'.

This way they are still experiencing the white space and I am able to take a true portrait to obviously communicate my idea.

29.3.10

Photography of installation 

When taking some more photography of the installation in the daylight today I did think it was better with the natural light as it looked even more like fog as there was light surrounding the interaction but it was even easier to see objects beyond the translucent material. The lights shining in on the interaction don't work very well in the daytime however, again, it worked well when facing towards the white backdrop. 

It was also very difficult to photograph it well. Perhaps because I didn't have a studio set-up. But this means that I can't graphically communicate it well so other people can view it in my documentation and understand the concept also. I think it would have been a good interaction with the perfect environment and I am glad I have done it because I think it was a successful paring of successful elements of past interactions. However it would be most successful if people would be able to partake in the interaction but I want to bring my work back to graphically communicating my concept and sit more obviously within the graphic communication area. 

Doing this interaction also confirmed to me when making these interactions are more of a stepping stone to allow me to communicate the idea that I am interested in - viewing humans as just forms. I think it was good for me to do this to finesse my interaction element of the project but has allowed me to realise I need to focus on portraying the concept that brought me here much more obviously.

26.3.18

Buying interaction materials

I have had some issues with finding the materials that would be ideal for my installation. It would need to be large enough to go over someone with room around them. However it is quite hard to find this specific material this big in the time that I have in one place one the easter break. I though it was best to go to a hardware store as I thought about the translucent tent that I saw when someone was doing works on their home. The only large sheets of material I could find were dust covers. Even though they're more transparent than I would have liked I thought perhaps i could layer a few of them and this would work much better and become more translucent to make an almost foggy and disorientating effect for people inside to feel lost. 

22.3.18

22.2.18 

Crit/tutorial 

My tutorial was good but not one that lead me to a new outcome but more like refining the ones I have and pushing them to their best potential by either pushing it further or just looking at it from a slightly different angle. This has meant that over the easter break I will be refining 3 ideas. I am quite looking forward to this as I think that they have potential but definitely each need refining. 

The Installation; 

bring together the good qualities of my interactions so far - creating a white space using lack of depth perception created by materials and light to create the most ‘white space’ as nothingness as possible. 

The prints;

continue my thoughts that it could be even more exaggerated on a bigger frame - create a bigger size print with the same stencil but also try a life-size print of the projection. I thought of this as we also spoke about the exhibition today and the limitations that it includes - 2 out of three basically ruling out most of my project so far; no installations and no projections. This made me think “well I wanted to make a bigger version of my print, maybe I can create a life-size version”. This allows me to get around the limitations whilst creating a similar if not more exaggerated experience of the projection as there will be no light from the environment to take away from the projection and the stark difference between the black and white will work better with print in the space. 

The portraits; 

This is the one where I didn’t really feel like I had much direction as to how I can push it further. I couldn't think of a feasible idea to be able to view people as their own forms as they experience nothingness and just be. I thought about having a secret camera as they experienced it but I just didnt feel optimistic about it and I don't think it would be very feasible, have a particularly graphically strong outcome and would just be quite vague looking. I had no inspiration or look to inform how I could do this. However after my tutorial I had a spark of an idea of how to do this. I had visited the White Cube Gallery recently and saw Gurskys ‘Rüblick’ and inspired me how to take the photo so they couldn't see me - take the photograph from behind. I would like to experiment how I can do this as they view white space. 

 

20.3.18

1 day project - portraits

Today I created the portraits of people in white space. With inspiration from Betting Von Zwehl I had an idea that I would let the subjects be absorbed in the white space and then take them out of it but almost capture their last moment of them experiencing nothingness before their response catches up with whats happened. 

I tried this by putting them in the white space physical interaction over them and then getting someone to lift it away from them without them knowing and I would take the picture of their last moment of nothingness. 

Some of the photos went as planned but most of them however the people just looked shocked because of the action of lifting up the white space installation and the subjects not knowing what was happening. 

Even though they don’t exactly portray my subject matter or graphically communicate obviously what about white space is interesting me I still think it was a good starting point.

It has refocused me onto what I really want to communicate as my project has develop from being able to view from as they are. Taking the human form I want to explore and see if we can view them in this was and refocusing it as my communicative subject matter I think is a really important step for me to keep my project on track. Hopefully I can look at portraits from a different angle or develop this idea to communicate my project better. 

I will also keep this photo series because I think it is still a good series in itself. Without context I think they are really interesting as you don't understand why the expressions are different and why they are shocked. However you can still tell that they are comparable to each other due to the composition so it leaves you wondering ‘what happened?’. I think it could be nice to have these as a series just as they are with the interest and provoking the viewer to read more about it as its intriguing. This is another way potentially to provoke thought about the concept of white space but in a less obvious way. 

 

18.3.18

Making my Projection 

After a lot of research that is about light installations creating a lack of depth perception (James Turrell) to feel as if you're lost and that I could adapt to feel like you're completely surrounded by nothingness. I felt it was important not to jump straight to this conclusion and that I would make one of these installations to. I needed to go through the process to understand where this idea came from and why I would chose a particular shape to explore etc. I wanted to carry out a projection due to the scale day project I had created. Even though the scale project was successful I don't feel as though it was finalised or reasoned in the shape I projected or what it was project onto. However it did enlighten me to another immersive art form and another way to view white space - as white light. It reflected my project well also as you're creating a physical space with something intangible as I'm almost creating nothingness with something. 

I thought it would be an important stepping stone and I wanted to to make sure I had the foundations for another interaction. 

The shape of my interaction I decided to follow through the circle shape I discovered to be rational for my last interaction so there was no disctacton and helped that surrealism of the lack of perception so there would be ongoing nothingness surrounding you. I thought this is the only logical shape I have for this projection as you almost need to give white space a shape when brining it into the world as it has no form. This is until I have a space where it looks like its almost never ending - or a shape where I can create this illusion, 

15.3.18

Documentation of My interaction

Today I took both photos of the interaction of the object and people interacting with it. I was really happy with the outcomes. 

Firstly I wanted to take photos of the object from many different angles to put into the publication to accompany the photographs of people taking part in the interaction. I think this would be important because I want to take the pictures of the people interacting from the same angle and same scale to keep it as simple as trying to view them equally just being  with no zooming or cropping so there is no almost dramatic effect and you can almost compare the difference to how people react with it. However if I have this approach only and the object isn't viewed next to the booklet it still won't fully communicate the experience or the interaction as people reading the book will only see the outside of he interaction. Having  more photographs of different angles of the experience will allow them to get more of a sense what the experience may be like and this would definitely be more communicative as the whole point of the interaction is communicate my idea of nothingness visually. 

When photographing the people interacting I had to think about how to not interfere with their experience. This meant that unfortunately I wasn't able to view their reaction or expression and had to take the photographs only from the outside of the interaction. This however created a really nice series of comparable photographs . 

As I want able to see it for myself I asked after people had been in the interaction what did they think about it. This for me was the only way to almost view their own experience and document it. And even without any context I had some really accurate descriptions of what I was trying to create. This to me was a huge success as the interaction created the right experience. I think it was definitely important that they had no context because if they did they would have a preconceived idea of what it was and this could create an ingenue response to my question and I wouldn't really know if it created the right atmosphere. I also knew they were genuine because not all the answers described what I was trying to show and i think this shows there is room for improvement to really create the perfect atmosphere using element that were successful from this interaction. 

13.3.18

what I learnt from Greyson Perry:

- be nice - no one will want to work with you if you're difficult 

- be yourself 

- the world doesn't owe you anything, just because you have made something doesn't make it worthy, you need to work for it 

- anything can be made but it can be made better if it is crafted well 

8.3.18

FINISHING MY INTERACTION 

I am actually with surprised about how long it took to finish my interaction. This was because I wanted to make it to make it as professional as possible and a nice object in itself. I am pretty happy with the outcome, it looks well made but I think there are a few flaws such as the seems which I think would take away from the experience as ultimately they're a distraction even if they're a minor one. I think even though I tried my hardest to make it look as presentable as possible the flaws such as being able to see the blue writing vaguely and the seems would also stop it from being exhibited. It would be nice for the object in itself to be assessed as a pieced of work and viewed as a communication in itself but I think I will also have to make a more obvious graphic piece such as a publication to communicate the point of the work. This is due to the quality of the piece but also being situated in the graphic communication field. 

I want to document the piece in use and have some interviews of what people thought about the piece to see if it created the environment I wanted it to without the users having any context. I could incorporate this documentation as the more obvious explanation of the piece.

5.3.18

Feedback 

After feedback on my interaction piece a few questions were brought up. The biggest one was to decide where I would put the piece . When I got feedback I think people said you should put it in public as this could be a good place to be less busy. However I think there is a fine line where this could be misinterpreted as a relaxed space I have made. Even if people feel relaxed when they enter it thats fine thats their reaction but I'm not trying to prompts relaxation specifically. 

I think in a gallery environment it would be more obvious that it would be up to an individuals interpretation. especially as the space can be very neutral already so when they enter this the environment around it won't have another aspect impacting the interpretation. 

I could potentially try both if I have time but I am going to prioritise the gallery environment as this is the one that makes most sense to me.

 

Another note was how am I going to document the interaction. I don't want to disturb the interaction so I will need to be discrete and not distracting. I would also like to get their impartial opinion on how they felt and see if they say anything that links to white space or what I am trying to convey. I think this will overall tell if my interaction is successful.

 

1.3.18

Tutorial 

I had a pretty straight forward idea of what I wanted to do so this tutorial due to the experiments I did yesterday. Even though I had two that were successful outcomes that were both bringing white space into the world in a more interactive way.

I felt like I could have done both again in a more professional way but the photographs with a void in the world and taking them into the outside world when developing this idea on reflection I think people would think that I am trying to make 'busy London, Calmer', which is not my aim - yes I am trying to ride of busyness but also rid of all emotions, allowing people to experience nothingness. I think it was a good stepping stone to try from my film from commune that viewed white space in the world making things removed from normal view with white creating it less busy and unemotional to view the world just as it is - to bringing white into the world myself to make things less busy to creating a white space for people to experience nothingness - to creating a white space for people to literally experience nothingness. However as my idea is quite conceptual as it is I think I need to develop something that is as most obvious in communicating what my idea is as possible. Upon reflection this could be misinterpreted and that would to me be unsuccessful in my communication. 

I think developing creating a literal interactive white space for people to experience how I understand white space and my view on it will be much more obvious communicatively. It will also be interesting as I think I can develop many things about my first try of this experience such as what materials I would use and why. What space I would want it to be displayed in and how I would display it.

This leads to some of my questions I had for my tutorial. It is obvious I need to think about where I would like to put it  and the connotations it would create when I put it in certain spaces. For example in public could allow people to experience just being but also could seem as if your trying to make a calm space. In an art gallery however this could seem a lot more pretentious but would allow me to control the way that it is viewed as something that has no external connotations of being a calm place but just allowing people to experience it for what it is and how they feel. 

I was worried that this idea was too conceptual and could come across as pretentious. I understand the concept in my head as something as simple to want to experience just being. However when discussing this I think as long as I don't have a cringey slogan to guide people how to use it but perhaps a title that suggests the idea of the work then I should trust the reasoning behind my work, and the fact that I have chosen an interaction which is very obvious that it is for peoples own experience , will guide people to understand and therefore make it less pretentious. When people explore something and feel like they have gotten something out of an experience without the artist having to explain in an unintentional patronising way, then it won't come across as pretentious. 

 

 

I think having clarity in my own mind will help me a lot in this project. When I have clarity about the logic and way that I have gotten to this point I think it will allow the work to be a body of work that links due to the theories that are core to the overall theme. But when the logic is very clear I think it will allow pieces to stand alone as well as they can have their own developments and emphasis on particular aspects of the overall theme.

26.2.18

project 1 - day 1  

I am pleased with my outcome for commune and the reasoning behind it is quite solid. I liked how I linked both aspects I used in my white space project. It definitely feels like a more developed and defined version of my previous outcome. 

 

Developing into my first project, I am glad I chose to do this idea on commune as it is possible I wouldn't have this opportunity again to make a film like this in a different place on a journey. I have also realised that it was a good starting point as the overarching theme of white space can be linked to a few of my original ideas for commune. From this I think I can get a good logical body of work exploring different areas of white space that I interested in. 

I think it is already leading into a field of certain research which, along with having done film, is leading into me thinking more about creating an immersive or interactive piece. 

Commune day 2

By this evening I needed to have decided to what my activity will be for tomorrow and create my day plan. I decided to talk to Connie and Lydia in the evening and get some peer feedback of what they think of my ideas and they asked some questions that lead to me consolidating my idea. 

I had looked through my footage I had just been taking on my camera and realised that it could coincidentally  linked really well to my idea of linking my white space project - removing forms from their normal viewpoint, to the outside world. It was interesting because my 'removed forms from normal viewpoint' photo series in my white space project wasn't necessarily removed from normal viewpoint and made less busy by the colour white- it was only the idea of removed forms from viewpoint creating a less busy visual no matter what colours were involved. However I also had another paired photo series in my white project where I focused on creating removed forms - making a less busy version of bottle forms, using the colour white as this was identified as Robert Ryman as an unemotional colour and I thought that linked to the nothingness that the idea of white space provoked and how creating these forms with no emotional connotations allows you to just view the form in itself- removed forms of their busyness and meaning or connotations so you are able to just view the form in itself. 

A lot of my footage combined the removed forms from normal viewpoint and made less busy with the theory behind using the colour white as a lot of it was removed views from normal viewpoint by coincidentally using white space to do so. I think this works really well to finalise my project and develop my white space project as I was really interested in both sides of it and is great that I have stumbled across combining them. Its also good that I have had the time to reflect on this and had the time to really make it clear in my mind as well as a concept and having the time to have found an to carry on finding for my activity these visuals of white space in the world. It was also useful that I was able to develop this project on this commune trip as we were going on a journey physically so would be able to find more examples.

I was really happy that the freedom that we wanted to keep to with our manifesto worked well and I was able to use my environment to inform my activity spontaneously. 

Commune Planning

As we were planning our commune and therefore had mapped out our manifesto I was really happy with how we started. I have been really interested in how I have come to natural progressions within my foundation projects and this along with us trying to push ourselves in our manifesto to be as relaxed as possible I was looking forward to exploring what I found on our  journey linked to one of my ideas best. 

However I have found today quite difficult as my manifesto is telling me to let the task evolve on the journey as I see what idea would be appropriate to my environment and therefore being able to use my surroundings to its full potential as I may not have this opportunity again. However as we have to create a day plan I think this isn't allowing this freedom that we had planned out whole manifesto around and I need to decide what I would do before even being in the place where my work will be created and where another idea may suit it much more. 

I eventually decided to plan with my commune group that our days that weren't going to be planned who had what day (whenever someone felt like they felt it was appropriate to their idea they would take that day) that we would have set days. I would have the last day so I could have time to evaluate the environment alongside my ideas and be able to make a day plan the day before. I think even though this is a restriction it was the best option to leave it as as close to the original idea and as fitting to the manifesto as possible to allow the most freedom but practically planned.

13.4.18

Reshooting my installation

I am really happy I reshot my installation today. It was definitely worth recreating the installation as it gave me some really nice shots that look professional and definitely portfolio worthy. It means that I don't have any dips in my portfolio that stand out more than the work I want them to focus on. 

The photographs of it are really successful with trying both lighter and darker lighting. The darker lighting allowed you to see the installation so clearly and looked really professional. 

11.4.18

PRINTS

Today I took the opportunity to make sure that I definitely tried the other gallery exhibition idea that had. I wanted to make sure I did  this because even though I think the portraits are a really successful idea and outcome I think this was also a clever idea and didn't want to not pursue it and never know if this was better. 

I was initially worried about how I would recreate my screen print documentation of my projection but to the life-size of the projection. When talking to my tutors about it I originally suggested that I would use a paint roller to paint onto an A0 sheet and a newspaper stencil for where a wanted it to be white. They had reservations it wouldn't be the same song effects of the original screen prints so suggested I might do tiling. I did't really like the idea of this becauseI think it brings a whole new element to the piece of work and I don't think will look as refined as one large canvas. AS well as this i would have needed 5 screens and don't know if i would have gotten it done in time.

To make sure I was making the right decision before I went ahead and did it I did some testers to make sure. I was happy with these testers using a roller - it created a similar effect to the screen print with no brush strokes and almost that printed look of paint. 

I decided to trust my instinct and go ahead with the process of rolling. I am really happy I did this. The outcome was really strong with a well printed well covered page with a clear stencil print. The only downfall was the paper bunched a bit when it became wet but I noticed when it dried it became a lot flatter. 

I was also able to try both stencil ideas - a smaller circle (same stencil size as my original documentation prints) and a life-size one which i don't think i would have had time to do If i was screen printing. 

10.4.18

thoughts on portrait shoot in lighting studio 

Today I took my portrait idea and photographed it in the lighting studio. I made sure that I brought along spare white t-shirts so that I could grab people as they come in and out of the studio to help me as I have noticed its quite hard to gather a lot of people for a shoot when they also have work to do. This turned out to be very good planning on my behalf as I got a few more people to help me. 

The outcomes of the shoots today I found conflicted me. They looked somewhat more crisp but lost that softness that I liked with my original experiments. 

When I edit the photographs and crop them to match my portrait composition plan it just looks like they have been taken in front of a white background with less texture obviously visible to help the context of the work. They almost look clinical and just of photos of peoples heads from behind, there is nothing attracting particular attention to the environment. 

I have also realised that it is quite difficult to crop each successful image so they are comparable to each other and have the same composition ratio. This is due to everyone being different heights and the angle of the photo. This was definitely the biggest downfall of my process and I will think about this if I take more portrait shots. However it is definitely difficult to make sure they can all crop to the same size with the same ratio without editing it as the environment is to a limited size and not extensive beyond the figure.

Because of this I think I prefer the original experiments and I am going to try and take more shoots with the original lighting. This will also give me an opportunity to work on making sure the composition can be comparable when I crop the image so they can be a coherent series. 

 

7.4.18

Initial Portrait outcomes

I was happy with this initial outcome for my portrait. 

I think the image was a really strong piece of photography for me. It captured the lack of personality allowing you literally just to see the form in the image but with the textured background allowing the viewer to understand the image isnt just a picture of the back of someones head but also about the surroundings they have been but in.

I also really liked the lighting in the shot. It is white but not white to a clinical degree. This creates a softness with the background that almost allows it to be viewed as a natural environment as its unforcefully created an environment for the subject to just be. I think the fact that its softer means that it can allow the viewer to not have any other connotations of clinical and the concept also comes more naturally - its just someone in white space.  

2.4.18

Thinking About Portraits 

I have been thinking about my portrait work I did before the easter break (recent 1 day project). After making my installation I have realised how I definitely think the human aspect is important within my project. The interactions are successful in helping me explore if white space can really create the reaction I am hoping for. However to graphically communicating my concept it doesn't really convey my idea very well. The idea of portraits seemed to fix this issue perfectly - it exaggerates exactly what I wanted to explore and explicitly conveys the concept of white space allowing us to view people as unemotional forms. It is the next step to bring my work back into the graphic communication world. 

However I definitely need to think about how I do this - the composition, conditions and the aesthetic. In my past project, trying to capture the subjects last moment of white space created an interesting and intriguing series but didn't convey my concept very well as the condition I put people in made people react in a more shocked way as I photographed them without them knowing it was about to happen so they weren't distracted from the main point of experiencing the white space. 

Going forward I think my idea about taking a portrait of people in the white space but as they view it, is the best idea for me to follow. It allows me to view them but taking expression away and still very obviously conveying my concept and why I chose this idea. 

27/28.3.18

Making the installation

 

Making the installation was quiet difficult and took me a lot longer than I expected. I wanted to make it so there was the least distraction as possible inside the interaction. This mean I was really conscious about how I was going to join the sheets to what it would hang from. I chose to keep to the circular theme as this is the shape had developed through my project as its a never-ending shape and there is no distraction within the shape when creating my first installation and I would like to bring this successful element into this next installation. This meant that I would have to give the sheets a vague shape to hang from without making it a solid shape so it can feel more fluid like fog and not an obvious  barrier. I decided the best way to create this would be to hang certain points of the top of the installation to a circular piping so it is almost just hung in a circular position. However this was still difficult as I would have to attach it without any distraction so I chose to tie it with clear fishing wire and this took a long time due to the material I had to sew was very thin and I had to go through a few layers and this took me a lot longer than expected. I am quite happy with how it came out because when I wen inside it it was like looking through fog and recreating this was the aim for me. However its not perfect as you can still see where it has been attached on the outside to allow it to hang over someone. 

Also it is much better when you are facing the white wall around it. This was because the material is translucent and when facing the room you can see the outline of windows and objects. As well as this the lights I wanted to shine through to create an illusion where you couldn't see the space around the interaction, you were able to see very clearly the bulbs and it was very yellowish. Perhaps in the daylight it could work better because there won't be an artificial light source and it will be bright around the installation naturally. 

I would have liked to be able to do it well enough with almost more professional materials. Ideally I could have white surrounding the interaction or have it in white room with perfectly white light shinning onto the interaction, perhaps indirectly so you can't see the bulbs as strongly though the material as this is a distraction. 

23.3.18 - easter break proposal and weekly plans

23.3.18 - easter break proposal and weekly plans

23.3.18 - easter break proposal and weekly plans

21.3.18

1 day project - prints 

I was really happy with my prints today. I tried 4 different stencils. one of each projection and then a different angle of each. I think it was important to try different ones out because I wouldn't have an idea which one looked more striking or worked better if I hadn't of tried different angles and projections. The one I thought was better between the two projections may not have been the best that works on print. 

The prints came out really well reaching my aim of highlighting the white space with darkness to exaggerate what I want to provoke thought about whilst also documenting my projections. 

I think the prints were better documentation of the projection than photography because firstly in the photography of the projections different colours came into the white space when taking projections of it. In the prints however there was a clear white and black differentiation. As well as this the composition of the photograph was almost limited to the physical space that the projection was in whereas there was just an ongoing darkness I could create with the prints. 

The only reservation I have about my outcome is I wish I chose bigger paper whilst keeping the same size stencil. I think this could even further my exaggeration point and could be really graphically successful as an image in itself. 

19.3.18

Planning 1 Day project 

I had  a good discussion with Lucy in my progress tutorial about how I think there is almost something missing from my projects.We discussed about how the human element was missing and in reality this is what interested me in the white space project and why I have made these interactions to see if people can achieve nothingness. However up until now I have focused on actually making a space to see if people can experience this but not on how this and white space will allow the people to be viewed just as forms as they experience nothingness. I have also not really been able to graphically communicate this obviously, except from my documentation book- but this is about the interaction which therefore has the human element missing. 

 

I think this one day project could be good opportunity to do this. We have been told to refocus on what area of Graphic Design that we are trying to engage. For me this is provoke - I am trying to provoke thought of a subject that I find interesting. 

I found it quite hard to come up with new ideas today that weren't just a continuation of my previous projects. I didn’t know how to make it more obvious without doing what I have been doing - making an interaction for people to literally be in the subject and understand something abstract much better by an experience. However this would have the same issues of my previous projects in that something was missing - the communication of whatI have found interesting - viewing people just as unemotional forms. 

I had a discussion with Lucy and she said well the way to provoke a reaction is to make it very obvious what you're interested in - exaggerate it. A few ideas clicked from this. 

It led me to actually having two ideas that I wanted to try out for my one day project. 

One was to literally exaggerate the white space as I have done for my projection but show this in a more graphically communicative way. I think this will finalise my interactions well and document them in a new way that I found due to inspiration from Turrell and his prints. I think would be a nice way to document my projection as its more in a graphic form and it worked well with Turrells prints. There is no distraction from the shape as there could be with photography. In the photographs I took of my projection different colours from the projection come up in the photograph almost misrepresenting the projection. With print this doesn't happen and there is no detraction from the white space and I think there will be more exaggeration of the white from the black background- exaggerating white space with darkness. 

After I have finalised the interaction and documentation I want to graphically communicate obviously why I chose this subject and what it developed into. BEING ABLE TO VIEW PEOPLE A UNEMOTIONAL FORMS. The only way I could think of doing this would be to create portraits of people experiencing white space - perhaps as they are in the white space and experiencing nothingness. I will have to think about how I am going to do this without them knowing that they are being documented as this will be a distraction and they wont fully be in the white space. 

 

19.3.18

Projection

I was happy with my projection mostly. Without going close to it it ultimately shows white light in an obvious way and to me can definitely represent a white space representing a place with no emotional connotations. It had an interesting effect that I hadn't even thought of. When people went to go and look at it and experience it, the projection actually went onto them. This kind of tuned out that they were almost in the white space. I liked how this worked out as this was more of a passive interaction than the last but turned out that people really could interact with the intangible space. 

16.3.18

Making My publication 

When making this publication I thought I have no idea what text, layout or size it should be because there isn't really much connected ideas I have come across that are logical to get inspiration from. However I thought back to what my original project in part 1 where my interest in this subject began. For this I created a publication and thought I could almost take a continuation of this. Looking back on my publication i came across my original manifesto 'removed forms'. This oddly resonated with me as it is where I started and in a different way still perfectly describes my project now - removing people from visual/emotional context to allow to the experience just being and I am interesting in seeing them just as they are. I think this also brought me back to refocus my approach. I need to create this experience for people but in order to communicate what I am interested in - viewing forms with no emotional connotations. 

14.3.18

I have realised that I  am doing a lot of research for this project. Because I have chosen such a abstract and almost philosophical question I want to explore it is almost necessary to do so much research to support my ideas and apply knowledge to my own process and what I create. This is definitely difficult as there is not much within the project content itself that I can create an idea from or get inspiration for the fabrication of the visualisation to create the experience or how to graphically communicate it. This can definitely be difficult as research is time consuming but is so nececarry to support this project and I want to make as many outcomes to explore every idea or tangent that I can. 

12.3.18

Progress Tutorial 

After having my progress tutorial today where I discussed my project proposal i had some refocusing thoughts about my project. It was interesting that previously I have automatically assumed that there is definitely a way to create no emotional context as there are so many references to how other artists have tried to create it. I have obviously been interested in exploring how I can create this experience but have almost convinced myself in the process due to all the research support that it is something you can experience. Instead of being more sure that this experience can be achieved  I think I need to readjust almost and be less sure as this may not be true and start to ask not 'how do you experience just being' but 'can you experience just being'. 

I know this is only a slight change but it is definitely impactful. I will still have to have a large focus on if you can experience it how can I create this for a viewer which will bring in everything I have been doing but I will then have to push it even further to question if my interaction works. i think it will also refocus me to look at the human element of it and focus back onto what I found interesting - viewing the form just as it is.

6.3.18

Scale workshop 

I was really excited with todays workshop outcome. 

I decided to try a day out from my project 1 and try something else. I tried a few things I thought would look good blown up in A0 and that I would jus like to try but one was really successful and I was happy that my outcome actually related really well to my white space theme and research from my white space project I remembered from part 1. 

I bent the rules of the brief which was to make something A10 and blow it up to A0. We were given a stencil and I used this as something I could project onto the board. At first I wanted to project white onto the wall to try and create a more graphically interesting version of white on white but with a analog projector any type of cover creates a shadow so nothing will be white. As well as this the projector wouldn't allow for something A10 to be Projected A0.

However you could think of the light as white - white light. so if you used the stencil itself and project it so the outside of the stencil fits A0 and the white light is projected in the middle of the stencil. 

I think this could definitely be an idea to follow up on to follow on the theme of immersive art.

2/3/4.3.18

MAKING THE INTERACTIVE PIECE

2.2.18 

Today I bought materials for my piece. I needed to make sure I had the right kind of materials so that it would be sturdy, not break easily but also look professional. 

I bought a long plastic sheet that will bend into a circle so it is sturdy and a felt like material that won't reflect light so that you can't tell the depth of your surroundings so it is more surreal and you feel more in a never ending white space compared to being able to tell that there is something right infront of you. 

3.2.18 

It has been a lot harder to make this than I expected. I would have liked for you to not be able to tell where seems in the material are but it is really hard to create that effect. As well as this there is blue writing on the plastic that I painted white over but when a strong light sines through it you can still definitely see it which is frustrating. I think it still serves its purpose and works well but it isn't perfect. Hopefully when I back the other side with material it will be harder to notice. 

4.2.18 

I realised today that I am leaning even more towards it being in a gallery outcome due to the materials its made out of. 

The material which is like felt, is essential to the design of the experience to feel completely engulfed in a white space and to have the least sensory distraction as possible. However if I have this in the public its not really fully waterproof. It would dry over time but if it did rain and people try the experience when its wet this could change the experience completely. 

 

27.2.18

Project 1 - day 2 - 3 Ideas 

 

I felt confident with my outcomes today and I am glad today happened as it gave me the opportunity to explore quickly ideas that all could have been the outcome for my first project. In fact the idea that I thought would be the most solid as all my research, that is really important to contextualise my idea, lead to me doing an outcome that is just a white poster or painting actually wasn't the strongest or what had the best reaction. Maybe because it has been done before or because it, to me, is almost pretentious in a way as a graphic designer and maybe I want something that is more obvious in what I want to communicate. 

It narrowed down my thought process and confirmed that as what I thought my film was leading me to - an immersive body of work. I think this is the best way for me to communicate to an audience with impact of what I want to say about white space. - To show nothingness and bringing white space back into the world to allowing people to just be. The ouches that were more interactive and really interacted with the environment and audience were the ones that straight away caught the attention of the group. 

I think this has told me that it is ok that the research that is supposed to support my work - white on white work - is ok to just inform my work and something I just need for reference and contextualising my work, informing my own logic. It is the theory I apply to how is best to communicate it to an audience with my own reasoning. 

commune day 3 - my day

On my day I wanted to stick to the manifesto as much as possible and be spontaneous as possible- using the materials and area around me as inspiration to match one of my ideas. Looking back over my footage I had just been taking over the trip to document, I realised that it worked really well with an idea that linked white space - removing forms from their normal viewpoint that makes them less busy - and relating things to the outside world. 

Some of my footage even incorporated the colour white (with fog etc) in the way that it created this less busy unusual view. I decided I could carry this on for my day and focus on the colour white more than I did in my photo series I did for my original white space project. --- documenting where real world forms have been made less busy by removing them from their normal viewpoint and the colour white creating this effect -- 

As we were spending most of the day in the car I had to adapt in some way so that I could do this in the car. But this actually turned out. quite well as we got to see a lot of different things on our journey. I asked connie and Lydia to discuss with me my theory of white space and any examples they see in their eyes of my description of white space. I think this was really interesting as they definitely contributed to my outcome with their own viewpoints. 

I think because you talk to people and they give you ideas sometimes you may feel as if you're almost stealing ideas but in fact its your idea they they are just helping you evolve and I like the fact that other people can still contribute and help with your work and thats ok its still your work. 

commune day 1

Today has been our first day of commune and I have noticed a few things about how we are interacting. Were having a lot of conversation between us and I am glad we chose to limit our phone usage as I think this is definitely leading to much more in depth conversation about real life issues, memories, our work and opinions. It was things that may not have been normal conversation if you tend to be distracted by unemotional, shallow things on your phone.

One thing we spoke about that I found really interesting is how people from the same place can have such different livelihoods. I found it really interesting how you can have such different feelings depending on who you are and what you have been surrounded by.  It would be interesting to explore how people view a certain thing and what that object or subject connotes for those people. 

There also tends to be a lot of interesting conversation about fond memories and why we found them good - often linking to an act or surrounding. We thought about certain music that makes you feel a a certain way or matches a certain mood. Also music that reminds you of a scene in your head like a made up music video.