Kissmass Tree

This week is ridiculously busy for me, so I'm not going to have the chance to visit an exhibition. 
But i did go see the Kissmass Tree in Covent Garden, created by Paul Cocksedge Studio.
The idea behind this tree is human touch helps power up the lights. Therefore two people must hold the mistletoe and kiss under the tree, to light up the 50,000 red and white LED lights.

Electives - Lectures 2

Lectures 5&6

The first lecture from Mark Fisher was on capitalism. I found the concept of “The last man” interesting. He describes how the last man sees himself at the end of things. Everything has happened to him. If he flicked through the channels, he would only see dead history. However I feel the last man is a figure in conformity, in a world where everything is the same because the last man has no ability to change.

The second speaker was David Orrell on the art of prediction. He spoke about how through the ages; people have tried to create prediction models. However these models had problems, which caused a percentage of inaccuracy:

•    Local effects in complex systems lead to emergent properties that cannot be reduced to simple physical laws. E.g. Clouds
•    Complex systems are dominated by opposing positive and negative non-linear feedback loops. E.g. Stock market – momentum buyers versus value investors.

He also spoke about how it is possible to create a prediction for some living system, but it is difficult due to the rate of change varying from different speeds. E.g. prevent the heart attack rather than say when it will be.
I feel what he said at the end of the lecture, (it could have been during Q&A) helped sum up part of this lecture:
“ We can’t predict the future, but we can shape it”

Keyword - Predictability

Electives - Lectures

Lecture 1&2

I found both speakers interesting, however personally I felt that Matthew Taylor was more engaging. His use of examples helped visualize his ideas and his use of jokes, helped keep the atmosphere pleasant. He spoke about “The social aspiration gap”, which questions how does a person prosper unless they change the way they think and behave.

Three ways people need to change:

• People need to be more engaged in their lives. For example; they need to more involved in what shapes their future.

• Secondly people need to more self sufficient and resourceful. They need to be comfortable managing their lives.

• Humans are social beings that are affected by the people around them; so to be a better person, they need better friends. As well as they need to make the right choices.

Additionally people need to be more aware of other aspects that can affect the way they act. E.g. Within days of Zimabardo’s Stanford Prison experiment, the officers became sadistic and the prisoners became passive.

Keyword - Change

Lecture 3&4

The first lecture we had today was Nina Power, she spoke about the perception of women and how women have influenced design, as well as how they are influenced in everyday life. There was one quote from the lecture, which I thought was great:

“I am writing as an ugly one for the ugly ones, the old hags, the dykes, the frigid, the unfucked, the unfuckables, the neurotics, the psychos, for all those girls that don’t get a look-in in the universal market of the consumable chick.” Virginit Despentes – King Kong Theory.

The second speaker was Paul Greenhalgh on the World’s Expos. The Fairs were places, where people could exhibit and sell their work. Traders were also able to move in and set up shop. Exhibitors would invent things they imagined in the future, including transportation or moving streets with different speeds. Also people from different cultures were placed on display, some volunteered to be there, others were “confused”. This meant people could be exposed to different cultures and artists were inspired. However it was demeaning to place these people on display like in a zoo.

These Expos were good for trade, as well as it was good for the cities because it allowed them to be developed for the better. Even though the buildings for the Fairs were demolished once the fair was over, there were sewers, transportation links and landmarks left over. Additionally museums were invented in 1851 based on the World’s Fairs, even though cultures were destroyed, at least these cultures are now preserved instead of forgotten.

Keyword - Progress

Drawing Fashion

On Monday, i went to Drawing Fashion at the Design Musuem.
It was beautifully laid out and showed some amazing illustrations.
Here are some that stood out to me. 

Antonio
Joanne Landis Carnegie Hall Studio
The New York Times Magazine
USA 1967
Pen and ink and collage

René Bouché

Portrait of Mona Bismarch

Vogue, USA c.1940's

Pencil and tempera

François Berthoud

Love me or love me not

Advertising for Myla UK 2001

Monotype, oil on paper.

Barbican - November 2010

Here are some of my favourite pieces from the current exhibitions at the Barbican.

Damian Ortega - The Independent

Waves In (20th September 2010)

Waves Out (20th September 2010)

Photo: Eliot Wyman

Rubbish Cube (21st September 2010)

Photo: Eliot Wyman

Future Beauty: 30 Years of Japanese Fashion

Jun Takahashi

Undercover Spring/ Summer 2007

Red polyester organdie halter-neck dress covered in red skull shaped decorations.

Photo: Marcio Madeira

Tao Kurihara

Tao Comme de Garçon - Autumn/ Winter 2009-10

Black mohair and wool, nylon mixed knit vest, white cotton and linen t-shirt, black polyester weave overskirt with ribbon, red polyester knit tiered skirt. 

Picture: Ben Hassett

Converse Ads

While walking around Brighton, I came across these Converse adverts.

Currency - Part 2

I began researching the resources, which i was given, as well as i looked into different global products. I ended up deciding on M&M’s to be the product for the facebook page. This is because they are sold in over 100 countries and was easily accessible. The next step was to create a facebook fan page, which was open to everybody. All they need to do is join the page and post the cost of a packet of M&M’s. Before creating the page, I looked at other 

successful facebook pages to help with the content. Once it was made 

(http://www.facebook.com/home.php#!/pages/How-much-do-MMs-cost-around-the-world/130010510387591) I began contacting various friends that were in different countries to help with my search. I also decided to advertise the page on other M&M fan pages, in hope they would be some help.

In the final crit, I explained how I felt there was a lack of incentive to join the group, which resulted in not many people joining. People were probably wondering "Why should I join this group?" After having discussed what i was trying to find out, we also came to the conclusion that it was missing the complexity that i began with. Also we felt that facebook was still the right format for this search because i needed to exploit the social network to help explore different lifestyles.

The next steps:

• Narrow down what i want to find out - E.g. A student orientated basket of goods. 
• Research the official measures of a basket of goods
• Create a personal survey - allowing people to exchange their experiences and lifestyles.
• Create a student orientated basket of goods
• Exploit the social network.

Haunch of Venison - November 2010

Every week i try to visit a gallery, so this week i went to the Haunch of Venison.
The exhibition in the West Galleries is Transmission, which features the work of three young artist from London. Adam Dix / Alex Hoda /Katie Paterson
The pieces by Adam Dix stood out to me because of the pastel colours and the 50's styled images. 

Transmission - 2009

For what we are about to receive - 2010 

In the East Galleries were Tom Wesselmann - Works 1958 - 2004

"Wesselmann is widely regarded as one of the leading figures of American Pop Art."

Driver - 2001

 

Smoker no.8 - 1973

Project 2 - Currency

"Show us the money"

For this brief, as a designer, we need to find a way to become involved in the flow of the money. The outcome of this piece is to create a piece that in some way engages with or provokes the existing landscape or currency. 

To begin this project we were given resources to look at and things to consider.

One of my favourite resources was "Hungry Planet: What the World Eats" by Peter Menzel & Faith D'Alusio". This book explores the different eating habits of people around the world and include portraits of the families, which they visited with their week's worth of shopping. 

When researching, I also came across "The Value of a Dollar" by Jonathan Blaustein., which shows the purchase power of a dollar. The idea of this project began, when one day he purchased 10 organic blueberries for a dollar. He was a little upset by this because 6 weeks earlier he bought 17 organic blueberries in Chile for the same price. 

Other areas, which i researched were airports, exchange rates, cost prices and coupons.

I also look at how prices vary from one country to another. For example the image below shoes the cost of a medium loaf of bread in the England and the cost of the same size loaf in America.

Some ideas, which i thought of were:

• How in Airports, people experience different emotions and you are able to put a cost to these emotions from the cost of a flight or traveling to the airport. E.g. Being put on the stand by list - The cost of uncertainty - £35.
• Fun things to do with left over coins from traveling. E.g. Give it to charity or make a gift.
• How you would you get a certain amount of goods in one country, but in a different country, you would get a different amount due to exchange rates and cost of living being different.

At the interim crit, it was suggested that i create a facebook group to find the prices from around the world of a global product. The purpose of this was to be able to see how the standard of living differed through pricing. 
Other resources i was told to look at were:

• The Big Mac Index
• 2600 The Hackers Quarterly
• Clay Shirky - Here comes everybody

White Night

Last Saturday in Brighton was White Night, which is a festival that takes place every year when the clocks go back. And once it hits 6pm, the city gets taken over with various things to do and see.

Some of the things i went to see included:

Antigravity by Steve Geliot, which involved a UFO being lifted into the night sky as projections were shown onto it and music played in the background.




As well as Ravens in Temple created by Fishtail Neon studios, which was a sequence of Ravens flying across Brighton Town Hall.