3DD Week - Day 3

Day 3 Tasks

The task for day three was to create a structure that could hold three play pen balls so they would not touch using nothing but hot glue and spaghetti.

We were told to sketch out possible ideas, my ideas ranged from practical to very impractical and unrealistic; i used the task from day ones drawing session to develop my ideas and to give me a broad range of ideas to actually pick and move on from, i started with drawing squiggles on a page, or a number i also went as far as drawing a rabbit to see if that would develop any other ideas. 

Unfortunately these ideas were more of the unrealistic kind as it seemed to escaped my mind when planning the structures that they had to be made out of spaghetti, once i had my sketches in mind i went onto the making of the structure.

Final Outcome.

I started with a basic shape of a tower with three levels, at the start i believed this to be the easiest design to make with the materials we were given however this wasn't the case, the heat from the glue gun would heat up the pasta to create a bend and a soft part of the structure, and for something to hold other things in place this was not what i wanted, in the end the tower had a slight bend in it, and resembled more of the leaning tower of piza than a straight up and down tower block.

However, the tower did manage to hold the balls in place, and could also hold the balls individually and in a group in various places on the tower.

Everyone's towers with their outer structures. 

for our next step we were to create an outer structure that was to protect our tower from being crushed.

i chose to use a cone like shape as using the knowledge i had gained on the first and second day i was aware that a cylinder or pointed shape would very rarely crumble if pressure was applied to the top of it. Luckily mine survived the board falling on top of it, yet it was not lucky enough for the ball to be thrown at it directly

3DD Week - Day 2

The Outcomes.

TASK 1

On day 2 we were faced with the task of creating 5 bridges. 

We started off this task by drawing two straight lines on a piece of paper relatively far apart, we had to be creative in our designs and think of how the bridges would actually work in real life, all 5 of my bridges made it across the "water" and were made from different structures.

Bridge one: was simple and looked like a bridge that would be possible to carry things and people across the water.

Bridge two:  was literally a scrunched up piece of paper stretched out to make a bridge, I personally do not think this bridge would be able to work in real life, however it was one of the most aesthetically pleasing bridges. 

Bridge three: was an origami crane, this would not work properly as a bridge in the real world due to its shape, and how unstable it would actually be.

Bridge four: was a paper chain, i chose to experiment with this shape as i felt like it would be able to become a bridge, but after several attempts of trying to turn certain parts on their side i found out that it was not possible to turn this structure into anything close to a bridge.

Bridge five: was made up from small scrunched up pieces of paper, and out of all the bridges i created, this one was my favourite, as it was not just ONE piece of scrunched up paper, i was able to mould the shape to what i wanted, and i was able to make it into a shape that was both aesthetically pleasing and practical. 

TASK 2 

Once we had made our five bridges, we were placed into groups of 6 to create a bridge that was to carry across a remote controlled car, only touch the floor at two points and still be able to push a table underneath the bridge. 

before we started to build the bridge we decided to have the bridge circular and to touch the floor two times by creating a platform which a pyramid of bamboo shapes will be attached to to hold the bridge in two places, building the skeleton was the hardest part, everything had to be done separately and then placed together using a lot of parcel tape and rubber bands.

The next step once the skeleton was built was to place the solid structure on top of the skeleton which was to hold the car in place, we did this by taping four pieces of cardboard together and scoring the sides to create a barrier to stop the car from falling off the bridge, once we did this we placed the ramps on the side and the bridge was done, the bridge was luck enough to carry the weight of the car from start to finish and because of the barriers the car did not fall off, however if i were personally to approach this task again, i would make sure that the bridge was not only practical but was also aesthetically pleasing.

3DD Week - Day 1

TASK 1
We started Day one with drawing 10 sketches with the idea of stepping outside of our comfort zone, the tasks were:

• To Draw a squiggle and turn it into something which can hold two humans and one cat
• To draw your favourite fruit and turn it into a rabbit hut.
• To draw the number of your house and turn it into a bus shelter.
• To draw the underneath of your shoe and to turn it into a piece of jewellery
• To draw one line horrizontal, one line portrait and another diagonal and turn that shape into a shopping centre. 
• To create a vehicle made from a square, triangle and circle
• To create shoes from two enclosed round shapes.
• Place ten dots on the paper and create a floor plan of a two bedroom house.
• Draw the outline of a human and turn it into a hybrid animal from your favourite animal
• Make a lamp from your favourite item of clothing.

These tasks, enabled me to be more creative with shapes and to learn how to make them work for me, rather than a difficult shape stumping me and stopping me from progressing then lastly from all that we learnt we had to create a new MP3 player, without the tasks I did previously, I personally would of never of been able to think outside of the box when it came to creating the "out of the box" MP3 player.

Final Outcomes

TASK 2

Final Outcome

For the second task we were given the brief to make a contraption which was to hold a water bottle filled to the brim, trying to think outside of the box using the task we did earlier on in the day; i came up with doing a simple bridge design however holding up the bridge would be an arrange of shapes which would be able to carry the weight of the bottle. The shapes I chose to focus on were triangles and cylinders because of how they are structurally sound when placed up right, however if placed sideways they would crumble and not be able to carry the weight of the bottle. With all of this mind i started to make the structure, without the use of the triangles and cylinders I don't think i would of been as successful as i actually was, however without the bottle on top the structure was 20 cm off the group (which was the brief) however when the bottle was placed on top the pressure of the bottle caused the underneath to squish and lose 9 cm overall which meant i failed that part of the brief, if i were to do this again (with more material) i would build it taller with the idea that when the bottle is on top the pressure will cause the underside of the structure to collapse.

Final Outcome

TASK 3

 The final task of the day was to make a struture which was to carry the weight of a person, however trying to not make it a chair shape AND making sure it could be flat packed. so with what i learnt previously and the brief i decided  that cylinders and triangles are strong shapes i felt like those were shapes i wanted to work. We were limited to using 4 sheets of cardboard to make this structure, so i focused first of all with making the "feet" of the structure, by scoring the cardboard i was able to create the 4 triangle bases that i needed for the overall structure, from this i then went on to making the sides, i did this by wrapping round a piece of cardboard and doing the same by scoring the places where i needed it to bend and when it came to connecting the pieces as it had to be a flat pack i decided to slot the pieces into each other. Unfortunately this chair was not able to hold any weight due to the sides not being strong enough however the triangles did remain intact, if i was to do this again, i would measure the sides properly and make sure that the slots and the triangles themselves are so precise that not eve a millimetre would be off, as this is key into making sure the structures are sound.

Tutorial Afternoon.

we started the day off, by learning how to use adobe illustrator to create a logo for our own name, we were able to create basic designs or even very grand and elaborate designs. 

When it came to me creating my logo, I felt that I wanted something simple yet bold and eye catching.

This is my logo:

I achieved my logo by setting the path to be in a simple arch shape, I chose the billboard font; i chose both of those options as I wanted something simple and easy to read, because what is the point in having a logo if you cannot even read it although reflecting back on my logo, I really wish if i were to approach this task again I would make the colour brighter and possibly highlight the first letters of each name.

Next we went to work on Photoshop, we were taught about layers and the magic wand tool and how to remove something from its background from a secondary image or even your own image.

after the tutorial was over we had to picture what our lives would be like in 10 years time, again like my logo, I didn't wish to take the brief so seriously, however I did really want to highlight the things I love currently in my life today and this is what I came up with. 

I had the main focus of the image, a photo of me and my boyfriend of 4 years on Brighton beach with a French bulldog, and however its when you look in the background where you see where i have in putted the things i adore currently as an 18 year old and who is to say that in 2023 as a 28 year old I would like the things i have put in above. I included; 

• Darren Criss playing a guitar and i purposely chose that photo and put it into the distant background as it looks like he is setting up to busk.
• I placed Shermar Moore and Matthew Gray Gubler from Criminal Minds on the walk way, and after looking back on my work i realised that the proportions of them compared to everything were wrong, and if it were in real life that they would be 8 feet tall
• I also enjoy comic books, my favourite being Harley Quinn from batman so I felt it necessary that I include them in here, although as they are clearly a cartoon it makes the overall atmosphere less realistic.

if i were to redo all this, I would make the things i have imputed into the background more forward, I would work heavily on the scale and making sure that it was realistic, i would also fine tune the outlines, the shadows and work on making the picture less "flat".

After Lunch we proceeded with using inDesign, previously, i had never used inDesign before so i set off with making my personal poster very simple at first.

I chose to use the colour of my logo the background, i also used the same font from my logo for the text in the poster, I aimed for a minimalistic poster in that the text was the main focus.
For the text, I wrote down all the things that i like and then used them to create a pattern of things to make the poster. I highlighted my most favourite things by making the size of the word bigger, and throughout this process i found out that the placement of the words were integral to the design and from this point, i felt comfortable enough with inDesign to move onto my next poster.









For my poster, I felt that it was needed that I incorporate the logo that i made earlier, thinking about a background I thought i would take the work that i did previously of words that summarise me and have the text repeated black on white, the next step was to place my both photoshoped images onto the background, after this happened i felt that the images were falling into the background and losing their shape, so because of this I aligned the font so that there would be a white border separating the picture and the font but still keeping the background unaffected. This was an easier method than if i were to make the poster on Photoshop or any other software.

My Final Poster:

This session was very helpful, i was able to use software i had never used before but also had the chance to improve and fine tune my skills on other software; with the skills that i learnt on this day i hope to progress further along the pathways. 

Tate Modern Report

The exhibition project space WORD. SOUND. POWER is based in the Tate Modern and can be found on level 2. The exhibhition was curated by Loren Hansi Momodu and Andi-Asmita Rangaria of Khoj Internation Artists' Acssociation, New Delhi. The works displayed in the exhibition are a mixture of video, text, audio documentary, poetry and song play a key part within the exhibiton as well.

All the works featured in the exhibition are to bring to the viewers attention the problems of people not having a voice in an under privileged culture. This is apparent in the documentary “Saacha (The Loom)” the parts which I saw  focus on the working class of the city and being a political activist it highlighted through his own personal memories how people were treated, how they acted through his poetry.

 Another filmmaker whose work i strongly enjoyed was Pallavi Paul “Shabdkosh (A Dictionary)” as it was created this year; as i took personal interest in this film, when i went home I watched it from start to end and the way this is filmed is breathtaking. The depth of focus while the close up of the talking head made you look at the person on screen in a personal manner, and how due to the use of zoom the emotions and makes you as a viewer emphasis and truly take in how terrible the situation is. 

Fig. 1 Screen grab from Shabdkosh (A Dictionary) by Pallavi Paul  

The use of silence and gaps within the actual people make a larger impact than most of the video itself, as in the gaps where there is just an image on screen during the silence, it gives the viewer time to reflect on all the information which is being played at you prior to the silence, also within the gaps in talking where the film has text overlaying a static or blury image with the words like “ I ADDRESS THE PEOPLE OF CHILE. THE WORKER. THE FARMER, THE INTELLECTUAL WHO WILL BE PERSECUTED” (Shadbkosh (A Dictionary), 2013, film) and “IT DOES NOT MATTER YOU WILL CONTINUE HEARING I WILL ALWAYS BE NEXT TO YOU" (Shadbkosh (A Dictionary), 2013, film). The use of these words in capital letters are used to shock and give the viewer something to remember, and for it to be a memorable piece of work.

Overall, my experience was a positive one i feel that i learnt a lot from the various displays, personally I took more from the film work than the actual installations but overall the exhibition really blew me away and made me open my eyes up to the bigger picture. 

CMCS: Saacha (The Loom)
Date: 2001; Language: Marathi; Duration: 48 min
Director: Anjali Monteiro, K.P. Jayasankar
Directed by Anjali Monteiro and K. P. Jayasankar. 49 Mins, English and Marathi versions

Bibliography

• TATE MODERN 13:09:2013
• Shadbkosh (A Dictionary) (2013) Directed by Pallavi Paul [Documentary] india, courtesy  of the film maker.
• Saacha (The Loom) (2011) Directed by Anjali Monterio, K.P Jayasankar [ DOcumentary] courtesy of the film maker. 

Burial.

On Thursday we were given the task of using our 10 precious objects as part of a burial of some sort, placing them into a time capsule and then burying them in our own, individual ways. Before acting out any form of physical burial, I brainstormed as to what a burial actually consists of. I quickly concluded that there are three different types of burial, which each have their own motivations behind them:

• Firstly, people bury things in order to keep them safe and preserved in the current state, so that they cannot be damaged or taken from them, and that the person may stumble upon them later in time and fondly remember their significance of this. Prominent examples of this are time capsules and using a loft space to keep objects safe and out of harms way.
• Secondly, someone might bury an object in order to conceal it and hide it from being seen, which someone may do if it is something they are ashamed of it, if it brings back bad memories, or if it is a piece of incriminating evidence which can be used against them. The extreme of this is to, rather than just bury it, to utterly destroy it, by burning, tearing, crushing, etc.
• Thirdly, someone may bury something in the hope that it will grow and form something beautiful. The primary example of this is, of course, planting the seed of a fruit or a flower, and then nurturing it into becoming a beautiful, living object in its own right.

After reaching these conclusions, I started my work.

Packing the items away.

I chose to use Vine to make a mini stop motion of me putting my items into my box, as vine is easy to use and uploading it onto this website is seamless. 

Where I actually hid the box.

I dabbled with the idea of actually burying the box however, as we rent the house I live in, the chances are we will be here in 10 years time are very slim. On top of this, I felt like just burying the box was too literal an idea, so because of this I buried the box away in two places where they are in a safe place but aren't actually too far away from me at any time, also because of this chances are I will see the box on a daily basis but chose to not acknowledge it being there.

After hiding the box away, it made me nostalgic so I decided to watch a few home videos, while watching the home videos I wrote down some memorable quotes and decided to hide the memories in a way that they would be gone forever, so I burnt them.

VINES.

Photographs

Blade Runner.

Mixed Media.

Starting with the idea of illusions I chose to focus on doing several mixed media pieces, using iconic scenes from the film and using layers and various techniques. 

Final Scanned image, of the text
on tracing paper underneath

Text printed onto tracing paper
layered over the image.

Ripped image with text underneath 

I started with a screen cap from the two scenes which I wanted to work with. Starting out with the scene where Rachael is getting questioned, I printed them out on normal A4 paper, I then found the scene where Deckard is talking to Tyrell about Rachael not knowing that she is a replicant and created a page just covered with the quotes; "She's a replicant, isn't she? I'm impressed. How many questions does it usually take to spot them? I don't get it Tyrell. How many questions? Twenty, thirty, cross-referenced. It took more than a hundred for Rachael, didn't it? She doesn't know. she's beginning to suspect, I think. suspect how can it not know what it is?"and printed it on tracing paper so I could layer it up. I then went on to scan the image with the tracing paper over it, but ultimately the best outcome was when I ripped part of the image and had the text peaking through.

Ripped image with text underneath

Tracing paper over the ripped image,
over a scanned copy of the text over
the solo image.

Text printed onto tracing paper layered
over the image.

Next I chose the scene with the agent questioning one of the replicants, i went through the same process but towards the end, i layered the text on top of the actual image, with ripped parts with another scanned image of the screen cap with the font over, this provided an even more disorientating effect to the final outcome.

Museums.

On wednesday the 4th of september, as a group we first of all visited the serpentine gallery to see the 2013 installation. Luckily the weather was on our side and the way the sun hit the glass panels gave the illusion that the installation was completely hollow however if the weather was bad, the atmosphere of the place would of drastically changed.

Photographs

 unfortunately I was only able to use my iPhone 5 camera to take photos on the day, however this played in my favour as I could be more free in how i took the images myself and to an extent i was not worried about having to drop a heavy piece of kit from high above. I also slightly edited the images with the options available on the preview selection on a mac.

Sketches

As i did not have the proper equipment to focus on photography for the section of the day based at the serpentine i spent a couple of hours sketching my surroundings, making etches and spending time on recording what was around me.

For this drawing, i allocated 30 minutes to recording what i wanted to draw and then the actual drawing. I attempted to make the actual instalation fade into the back ground by drawing it in pencil and the trees which were in front of it in pen. this unfortunately did not work, as the actual installation disappeared too much into the background however if i was to do it again i may of done everything apart from the installation in black and white the opposite of how i actual did it above. 

Above, you can see a few quick sketches i did of a couple of strangers who were around the serpentine doing their own thing.

The V&A

After the serpentine gallery, i moved onto the V&A where i was able to see various works of art, across the various floors. However the highlight of the day for me was being able to see works from Tom Hunter, and Cindy Sherman in the Photographic Fictions exhibition. I also was able to go see a brief "taster" of the Club to Catwalk exhibition which showed you fashions starting from the 1920's here are two short Vines.




After walking round for a while, and killing time until it was my time to go see the Memory palace exhibition, as you were unable to take any photos from the inside and how all sketches did not do the exhibition any justice whatsoever i felt inspired by the section which were videos on a loop which at first made you step back and wonder the sanity of the exhibition as a whole but that was the point, the whole place had aspects to the short story which made you second guess what was going on, at the end of the exhibition you were able to leave a memory of your own, and contribute to the story as at the end of every week the blank spaces on the walls get changed to the previous weeks contributions.

Day One.

Documenting my past, present and future items.

Quick Sketches.

8 basic 10 minute or less sketches using pencil, biro and coloured fine liners all of the items that I brought with me to my studio session. I personally didn't want to focus purely on drawing the items in detail, so I took close up sections of a few items and did a few sketches of them all.

Photography.

During my self directed study day on Tuesday 3rd  of September I decided to take some photographs of certain items which i thought would be interesting to photograph.  I chose a photo album, an old rusty rattle from when i was young and the key to my granddad's boat which is docked in spain. I used my Nikon D90 with a 50mm 1:1.8D lens and for certain shots i used a Opteka 10x Macro lens adapter.

Storyboarding.

Before using the Vine app I felt like a quick storyboard was needed instead of going in without a rough idea of what i wanted to do. Using the small toys to create a stop motion with a narative of a 'day out' for the toys.

Final Outcomes of Vine experiments.

Due to time constraints (and lack of iPhone battery) i was only able to do two videos on vine. One had more of a narrative than the other, however as there is a limited amount of time that you can record on vine this was the main obstacle that i had to overcome.