20th July 2017 - Pecha Kucha Evaluation
Looking back at my slides for my Pecha Kucha presentation, I am quite pleased with the images that I chose and put up, as what I said with each of them made sense and informed each other. I am particularly proud of my two Mitski pages, especially the second page with her, exploring into her lyrics, as it was one of the only slides I used to incorporate text and imagery, with the other slides only having text to reference images. Therefore I like that aspect where I combine words with images, as with my photography, words are a very big part of my thinking and conceptual process, where they are one of the first few steps to me solidifying my concepts.
However, if there was one thing I know I can improve from my presentation is that I should have presented more than reading from my script. I used the script as a comfort and a reassurance when presenting, and that made it slightly more like me articulating an essay rather than presenting. I thought that that would hurt my assessment grade, and it did, but thankfully it wasn’t a lot, as though I did read word for word, the way I read it was — at least — not monotonous and boring.
But that being said, I will work more on presenting rather than reading, breaking out of my comfort zone and talking less structurally and sounding more natural.
12th July 2017 - Week 5
Collaboration and Direction
For this week's contextual studies practice, we looked at interesting designs and outcomes where collaboration was essential, seeing the interesting outcomes created and how, through collaboration, artists, designers and people in general were able to start to see the interdisciplinary elements in each subject, such as fashion and architecture, such as in the Exhibition Skin and Bones: Parallel practices in Fashion and Architecture, launched in 2008. Hence realising the potentials of taking both disciplines further into new directions.
We then looked at past collaborations that we made by the students one year before on the FAD+ course, showing us how each pair pushed their disciplines to the limit, exploring and weaving them together and encouraging us not to be boring and to go wild and explore while during the Co-Create project as collaborations are where exciting and enthralling discoveries are made.
Image from:
file:///Users/phngkenghwa/Downloads/Somerset%20House%20Skin%20&%20Bones%20Exhibition%20Guide.pdf
12th July 2017 - Week 5
Pecha Kucha Practice Run
Tutorials with Alaistair and Mark on organising my structure and key-points in my presentation.
Feedback Sheet on Practice
Heibii was my practice partner.
- On the first practice for the Pecha Kucha presentation, since it was a really poorly prepped presentation, with incomplete imagery and no structure to the words, I felt that even though this might be one of my worst ever articulated presentations, it was still necessary, so that at least I have a platform to stand on and improve from. The way it went had a lot on improvisation on my part, which I felt, had a lot of repeated sentences, which I find is not good. I need to structure what I want to say more coherently for the real thing next week.
- My main feedback from my partner was good overall. She said that my vocabulary was good and I had a clear presentation, but that I needed to explain more on how Buddhism, which was my main inspiration, influenced my work as a photographer. I agree with this, as if I do not explain how Buddhism as a philosophy influenced me, than my whole presentation can be disparaged.
- For all three criteria, she assessed me as ‘Good’.
- If it were up to me, I might have assessed myself only as ‘Satisfactory’ for all three criteria, as I really found my Pecha Kucha poorly articulated, with me repeating sentences over and over again and with way too much improvisation to be seen as professional.
Action plan:
- Get key-words fro Pecha Kucha and from those key-words, make a general structure of how you want your presentation to go chronologically
- e.g. 1. Philosophy, 2. Inspirations, 3. Work I’ve done, 4. Where I’m going
- make sure to add inspirations and relevant artists, both outside and within your discipline.
- Get them down in bullet points and expand on them a bit — not too much! You only have 20 secs each slide!
- Keep presentation shot, crisp and clear.
5th July 2017 - Week 4
Drawing to Reflect
For this exercise, we had to make 30 drawings in 3 minutes.
As a start for this week's Contextual Practice session, Georgia and Alaistair gave us an orange sheet of paper filled with 30 circles, where in 3 minutes, we had to fill all of them. I failed, as shown above, but the point of that exercise — in addition to being a prep and taster for the pressure we would feel during our Pecha Kucha presentation — was a warm up for our creativity, as by putting our brain on the spot, we are able to engage more with it, hence showing the act of drawing as an effective way to open up our creative thinking and reflection.
Drawing is an essential practice, whether or not you are an artist or academic, as it can help us explain ideas and concepts more efficiently, letting us work with the right side of the brain more, and therefore helps us get our points across quicker and clearer. It also helps that humans are visual creatures and thus are prone to responding quicker to images.
Reflecting through drawing is parallel to the ethos of thinking through making, as by logging into that right side of the brain, we would become more aware of what we are doing, realising our intentions for our art through that process.
4th July 2017 - Week 4
Drawing and Photography
Tacita Dean
Still Life (2009)
Six Black and White Fibre-based Photographs mounted on paper.
Still Life (2009) was created when Tacita Dean visited the tiny studio of Giorgio Morandi, where he lived with his sisters for over fifty years, and saw the meticulous markings he made on his table surface and lining paper in order to achieve the composition of the objects he wanted to paint. From there, she filmed them, and printed them onto fiber-based photographic paper.
What I like about her ‘drawing’ is that it conveys that sense of balance within progression and tradition, where instead of traditionally drawing the marks and putting pencil to paper, she filmed the marks already made and printed them, which was then ironically mounted onto paper. From this, we can see the breaking away of tradition with the progression of technology like the camera.
Yet, despite this, she still somewhat maintains and respects the traditions of a drawing, shown through the monochromatic nature, compositional tones, and the very traditional, fine art title of “Still Life”.
Reference: file:///Users/phngkenghwa/Downloads/FNT_TD_press%20kit.pdf [Accessed: 4th July 2017], http://www.e-flux.com/announcements/38104/still-life-a-solo-exhibition-by-tacita-dean/ [Accessed: 4th July 2017], http://www.domusweb.it/en/news/2009/05/12/tacita-dean-still-life.html [Accessed: 4th July 2017], https://drawingroom.org.uk/exhibitions/double-take [Accessed: 4th July 2017]
Image: http://www.mots.org.il/Eng/Exhibitions/WorkItem.asp?ContentID=705 [Accessed: 4th July 2017]
28th June 2017 - Week 3
My Hero
Mitski Miyawaki
What do they do/make/create?
Mitski Miyawaki is a Japanese-American singer songwriter from Brooklyn. She has made music that has been categorised under the genres Indie Rock, Punk and Alternative. She was born in Japan but spent most of her childhood moving around 13 different countries due to her father's work, and finally settled in America in her teen years. She studied music in SUNY Purchase Conservatory of Music, and has released four Studio Albums to the public, two of which were created during her time at the collage.
How is it produced? By whom?
Her music is recorded in studio spaces and produced as Albums and CDs, and so far, all have been produced by Patrick Hyland, Mitski's only collaborator to date.
What characteristics, training or experience equips them for their practice?
She went to SUNY Purchase Conservatory of Music in Weschester, New York to study music composition and classical training, starting out as someone who looked at sheet music and wrote out the parts of her song, layering them up until she felt they were complete and finished her first two records 'Lush' and 'Retired from a Sad, New Career In Business' whilst still studying there as her junior and senior year end-of-term projects.
While studying and recording at SUNY, Mitski got to experience what it was like to work in a professional, studio setting and collaborated with a 60 person orchestra when recording her second album, and this allowed her to focus on extreme details on her music. In her collaboration, she experimented with orchestral instrumentations.
In the collage, Mitski explains "there was a studio programme about how to learn production, not just to compose classical music but how to translate the music into the real world and the contemporary, popular mainstream world." and she found that liberating, as it was a very wide-ranging course where "no one person trying to do the same as someone else around them."
Where is the work done? Who with?
In SUNY Purchase, Mitski had available workspace and studios to record her music professionally in the academic setting. She left the school feeling grateful but thoroughly exhausted, having been in school, working on her two projects while working outside to pay rent and trying to graduate.
This exhaustion was the driving force behind her third album, 'Bury Me At Makeout Creek', where recording it "in houses and makeshift studios with a selected group of musicians and friends" was a far cry from her time spent with professionals and academics when recording her second album.
For her fourth album 'Puberty 2', Mitski booked a place called Acme Studios in Westchester, New York for two weeks straight to record with Patrick Hyland, a long-time friend, as the studio's head of department, Peter Denenerg, was a former professor at SUNY Purchase and was close with both Mitksi and Patrick, hence letting them use it at a reduced price.
Who is the work for? Who is the audience?
According to an interview she had with The Line of Best Fit, U's biggest independent website for new music discovery, she feels it important that, while not looking for any political goal or message within her songs, she does her music to not just for the minority of women in the DIY indie music scene, but for the even smaller percentage of Asian American women. She confirms that, “Ultimately I’m doing music for very selfish reasons; I want to play and I love performing so audience or not I’m doing it. But it just means so much to me and it keeps me going when someone like me is in the audience, or someone younger than me who is East Asian and a girl, comes up to me and says ‘I needed to hear this, I needed someone like you around to look up to’. Those are the things I’ll remember forever and keep me going whenever things are very difficult, which they often are for musicians regardless of where they come from.” Having never had any similar inspirations while growing up, as she was constantly moving from country to country, she feels that if she could give another version of her that kind of chance, that is something that keeps her motivated.
What is the cost/payment/employment set up?
As a payment set up, in addition to selling her albums both physically and online, Mitski goes on multiple tours all over America and the world, getting her money through the tickets sold for each show.
References:
* http://www.elle.com/culture/music/a37003/mitski-interview/
* http://www.imposemagazine.com/features/mitski-interview
* http://www.stereogum.com/1874145/qa-mitski-goes-back-to-her-roots-on-puberty-2/franchises/interview/
* https://www.theguardian.com/music/2016/jun/20/lo-fi-solo-rocker-mitski-new-album-puberty-2
* https://www.thelineofbestfit.com/features/longread/tall-child-mitski
https://www.facebook.com/MitskiLeaks/app/204974879526524/
http://www.extracrispy.com/video/2906/mitski-loves-tea-more-than-you-do
21st June 2017 - Week 2
Research and its Importance
In any project, research plays a very vital role, being one of the assessment objectives and taking up 25% of the total course work, and with reason too. The research acts as an initial inspiration and foundation for a new idea at the start of a project, opening us up to new artists both within and outside our chosen disciplines. From this, we can learn to be more open-minded and inspired to apply interdisciplinary methods to our practice as we keep learning and integrating from different subjects, while seeing the practical possibilities of techniques and methods on doing a certain task or creating a certain project. Therefore debunking any doubts that would arise, especially from another peer.
In other words, the research helps us see, with our own eyes, that the credibility of techniques and methods have been done before and therefore, can be done. Showing that nothing is holding us back; motivating us and giving our projects further development.
Other than that, research shows the proof of our intellect, contextual awareness and critical thinking, evidencing to people that we, as an art practitioner and as a person, can see things differently and create original thought and concepts; that we are able to reflect and be inspired from the past, but move away from what has already been done, to doing something never before seen - putting the context behind our content and concepts.
Besides widening our views and knowledge, it is through research that we find our passion and what it is that we like to look at and create; we start to find what it is that we want to do for a living, and from there, we can research to enlighten ourselves to the happenings of our discipline as well as informing us on what other practitioners from our field of study are doing and creating.
Wide-Ranging Research
In any research, there are both primary and secondary research, with the former being first-hand account finding or recordings, and the latter taken from an existing source material. By having a wide range of research, we not only broaden our skillset and knowledge, but also shows our passion, dedication and willingness to display and create artworks that are accurate, intellectual and able to provide a solution or an enriching experience to our lives.
Also, by having an arsenal of research under our belt – all from different media and sources – we will be able to see different perspectives on the subject or concept we are researching on and with that, take our ideas further, pushing our concepts and making them the best and most rewarding they can be, giving us a sense of fulfilment by the end of the project.
Thematic Analysis
In this exercise, we gathered four different images that to us, had a relationship or theme to each other and from there, all of us analysed why we chose to group them together.
For me, the relation that these images presented was the organisation of the utensils, where each and every one of them where neatly placed in an orderly fashion and displayed together as a complete set. This organisation and categorisation, to me, gave each utensil a meaning; a purpose, and this therefore implied the practicality of each item along with the role they will fulfil at our dining table or in our home. From these initial observations, it is this insinuation of purpose that intrigued me the most. as it somewhat expresses the desire we as human beings possess to give meaning – a sense of belonging – to something.
Furthermore, utensils are items that we can hold firmly in our hands, granting us the actions to fully use them and fulfil their meaning, and this can be seen as us wanting to seize control and take action to complete a particular task, or to seize control and have some order in our hectic lives; to put some assurance in the unpredictability. Hence to me, these images present our attempt to try and put certainty in the uncertain, as ultimately that is life: uncertain.
Taking this as a starting point, I can see myself getting inspired to start or create a project that centres around the concept of humans and our primal instinct to organise and categorise or bring order and hierarchy to something. As research, I could look into ancient history and perhaps use the Romans and their battles to somewhat contextually back up my viewpoints and opinions to why we act in this way. Also, I could end up perhaps bringing out the philosophy of change from ancient greek philosopher Heraclitus and hence show how we might never be able to fully satisfy our desire for total control as life is ultimately uncertain and unpredictable.
Pecha Kucha Presentation, 19th July 2017 - Week 6
Pecha Kucha
Since the age of 12, when I decided to take my religious studies more seriously, I found that I enjoyed and was fascinated by the teachings of Buddhism, with the reason being that it encouraged me to always reflect and become aware of myself and my surroundings. To always ask ‘why’, and look into the way I was feeling and how I reacted to a particular circumstance.
From that, I made it a point to always write down my thinking, be it for work or just a random thought during a random time, and that’s when I found out the preciousness of a momentary memory, because our thoughts are fleeting. One moment they come, and just like that, they go. Through writing down my reflections, I came to realise that nothing was permanent and that there will always be an end.
Now, though that might be a little depressing to think about on a daily basis, what I find hopeful in this practice is that the moment we become aware, that’s when we can do something about it. That’s when we can change for the better.
And since starting my A-levels in Photography two years ago, in every project I did, I had always aimed to develop and incorporate that sense of reflection and spirituality evident in all of Buddha’s teachings into my Photographs, so that when viewed at by people, they too can start to become aware of themselves.
The Japanese-American singer/songwriter Mitski Myawaki, is in my opinion, a shinning example of becoming aware of oneself, as I find that through her music, she expresses her reflections on her life, taking us on her journey through her ups and downs; outlooks and philosophies; that she has established just by living her everyday, sung through her slightly cryptic and hauntingly profound lyrics.
And that, to me, is exciting, as it is through her deep cutting lyrics, such as the one you can read on screen, taken from her song ‘Townie’, which was published in the year 2014, that we ourselves become inspired to think and reflect, and that is what I hope to achieve through my photographs as well.
To me, Photography is an amazing medium to incorporate and capture the reflections and teachings of Buddhism, as we humans are visual creatures, we respond to images more that to text and that’s why even in businesses, they have visuals like pie charts and bar graphs.
Also, with photography, there is a tangibility that is added to the intangible concepts shown, as photographs are usually taken with subjects that are real and in front of the camera, and this thus adds the sense of realism and truth into a concept like passing of time, excess of human desire or even the questioning of our existence.
One photographer that I thought displayed this very well was Duane Michals, as with his photographs, there does seem to be a playful philosophical questioning of why we are here, delving into our purpose within the universe and seeking the meaningfulness or meaningless of it, as well as bringing out the uncertainties in life, and I find that inspiring, how he embodies these philosophies into his photography.
Therefore, while expanding my methods on how I can convey my ideas through my photographs, be it adding text like Michals or slightly manipulating my images, I always aim to have a thought-provoking concept in every project I do, delving into the brutally honest and sometimes harsh truths of our lives so that an awareness can arise within us and we can start to improve ourselves.
This is another reason why I have a high regard for the teachings of Buddha, as Buddhism is not just a religion, nor is it specified for Buddhists only. It is a philosophy and way of life that can be applied to everyone, and hence even though people like Michals or Mitski weren’t Buddhists, the concepts that they embody in their art can be seen as so.
When on the course of my BA in LCC, one way where I can see myself developing my photographs is into the form of installations, or making my photographs three dimensional, as to me, that creates more impact to images produced. Thus, I feel that with my concepts, going 3D or building it into a space would enhance the messages I want to convey more effectively.
An example of bringing in sculptural elements into her works would be Letha Wilson, where she adds materials like concrete and brings in techniques like folding her photographs to make them more dynamic in form. Also, being very aware of the space her photographic sculptures would inhabit, she creates amazing displays that somewhat changes the concept and adds to the visuals already shown.
By going three-dimensional, I want to engage in that sense of space, as I feel that through this, another type of mindfulness can be brought about; adding another layer of depth to my outcome and maybe changing the way the viewer would interact with it via its display, curation and viewing experience.
One example of this would be my final examination project during my A-levels, where I had touched slightly on these aspects of display and curation. My concluding outcome was placed within the middle of a space, hence allowing the viewer to see it in different angles and interact with it by walking around it.
I exhibited my outcome in this way as by doing so, a circular movement would be stirred, and that to me would have subtly linked my outcome to the form of meditation and prayer countries like Tibet and Nepal would practice, for in those places, they would spin a mantra of various sizes, walking around the larger ones in order to do so.
For this reason, by letting the viewers walk around it, I felt that the space my outcome inhabited could become a sort of space for contemplation and meditation similar to those in Tibet and Nepal, evoking a sense of contemplation and meditation within the viewers as they circled my outcome.
Thus, in pursuing photography and taking it onto my BA course and Higher Education, I do hope to continue exploring and developing my photography, expanding my style and confidence in portraying a message within an image as well as delving into and learning the many ways I could display my outcome, as we are already beginning to learn on this Foundation Plus course.
Therefore, I can see the endless possibilities and potentials in future concepts, as I feel that along as I keep applying these teachings into my everyday life, both in my BA course and after that, there will always be something that I can look further into and find thought-provoking, thus developing it into a concept for my photography. And hopefully, by contemplating and looking into the little philosophies of every day, I might even find myself and what my meaning is in this life before I die, so that when the time does come, I’ll know exactly what to let go of.
28th June 2017 - Week 3
Future BA Course
How will your projects begin?
How do you expect to work? What techniques or materials might you choose from?
Where do you expect the work to be done? Who with?
Who will you learn from? What will they teach you?
What do you expect to be prepared to do professionally afterwards?
28th June 2017 - Week 3
Our work and Why we do it
Art.
If one were to be honest, one would say that even in this progressed society, there are some who still baffle over how 'Art' can be held at such a high standard, at how there can even be great Universities dedicated solely for teaching Art. What is it about the subject that makes it so valued? What is it about Art that makes it just as practical and as useful as a subject like Economics or Science? What is the point of 'Art', and what is its role in today's development and culture?
For me, the main role for art in todays world, where technology is at its highest and rapidly expanding throughout the world, is what still makes us human. In a world where technology has advanced so far and perfection so seemingly within reach, we often forget that mistakes are inevitable; with technology speeding us along to our desired destination, we often forget to slow down and look around, seeing what it actually takes to get from one point to the next. We are so focused on the destination, we forget to experience the journey.
Therefore, I find 'Art' a perfect factor to balance against the progression of the world. Where technology has pushed us on our need and drive for perfection and certainty, art plunges you into the uncertainty. Makes you stare at it straight in the face, and there's nothing scarier than that. Art, in a way, forces us to realise the process and steps we have to take, the amount of thinking and research we have to do in order to get a good, interesting concept. Through that, we become more aware of the world and its changes, issues and culture that could enrich our work and therefore our knowledge. From there, we start to see - really see - our journey.
Not only does Art bring awareness to what's around us, but also what's within us, our thoughts and feelings, wants and desires, passions and emotions, etc. Through Art, we start to realise just what is it that makes us live the way we live, why we want to pursue the things we want in our live and why we want to do the things we want to do.
Through Art, we learn how to ask 'why?', and that to me, is what makes us truly human.
The Artist, Craftsman and Designer
Separating Arts into three categories, you would have the Artist, the Designer and the Craftsman, and traditionally, the differences between each discipline would be that if you took Fine Arts, congratulations, you're and artist; if you made brilliant handmade three-dimensional objects or sculptures, you're a craftsperson and if you weren't both things, then you're a designer. However, that being said, with the progression of the world and the changes it has gone — and still is going — through, now more than ever, the similarities between these three disciplines have exceeded the differences. Where people would have seen clearly the lines of their differences in the past, now the lines are blurred thanks to collaborations and the term 'Interdisciplinary subjects', as now, many creative practitioners and industries have found out about how each discipline can compliment and even work for the better, with each other.
Our 'Whys', Manifesto and Ambitions
Looking at a TED talk from Simon Sinek, "Start with Why", we saw the difference it made to starting with what motivated us to do our art, product or design in comparison to starting with describing what it was, or what we did as an artist, craftsman or designer. That was very beneficial for me as I made me see that in order to do actual intellectual and interesting work, we needed to have a good motivation and to stick to that motivation so that we ourselves know what it is we want to convey into our art.