celiastudio

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WEEK 12

Today was out last studio class! This really made me reflect on the quote that we started of the semester considering -

‘Are human beings to be viewed as a part of nature, and therefore as a legitimate element of any ecosystem to which they choose to attach themselves.’ (King 2003, The Penguin History of New Zealand, p. 25)

Through my environmentally centred exploration of ecosystems I have cemented my original opinion that humans are the single biggest driving factor of change within any ecosystem. Therefore, humans are not simply a legitimate element of any ecosystem as the quote states, but are the central element of any ecosystem to which they choose to attach themselves.

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One of my favourite pages from my documentation process - my attempt at drawing the texture of the waves.

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LECTURE 7

This lecture was taken by Sally Stone who spoke about the role of spacial curators. This strategic role involves the placement of various art pieces, particularly influenced by their cultural origin and time of creation. She also spoke about the ‘white cube concept’. According to https://www.tate.org.uk, this ‘aesthetic was introduced in the early twentieth century in response to the increasing abstraction of modern art. With an emphasis on colour and light, artists from groups like De Stijl and the Bauhaus preferred to exhibit their works against white walls in order to minimise distraction. The white walls were also thought to act as a frame, rather like the borders of a photograph. A parallel evolution in architecture and design provided the right environment for the art.’

This concept is something that I imbedded into my own poster design. I chose to leave the backgrounds of my posters plain white in order to highlight the colour and texture of the plastic bag, in the centre of the composition. I wanted this element to be the first thing that captured the viewers attention, and like the ‘white cube concept’ I intended to ‘minimise distraction’ by leaving the surrounding area white.

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Last day

Today was the final lesson of the semester! As a class we brainstormed ideas for the poster design which will be used to promote the Stuido 1 showcase next week. After much debate on images, two were decided and made into posters. These posters were then printed out and we stuck them around our building.

Studio one has given me the opportunity to reflect on the surrounding environments and relationships with our ecosystem. I loved being able to have the time to really stop and document a site, I found that this gave such great meaning to our second project. The subject allowed me to step out of my comfort zone and create work I don’t think I normally would have.

It’s been so much fun and I hope to do more of this work in the future!

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LECTURE 10

The lecture was taken by someone that works at Diadem, a business that works to enable design using signage and wayfinding solutions to create branded environments.

Signage is imbedded into our environment so seamlessly that it isn’t something that we notice until we are in need of it. This distinction requires quite specific design requirements, to distil often complicated information into succinct signage to be understood by first time users. To be able to influence the way people physically move through environments is an important task and is central to this idea of place that we explored this semester.

This idea of transferring information that is central to wayfinding is something that I adopted in my own studio project. To accompany my plastic bag scans I included short statements that were very blunt and direct. Unlike wayfinding signage, I did not intend to direct people to a physical place, but rather introduce them to a mental concept.

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Some other sustainability driven design work/ art that I was really inspired by during my development process.

I particularly like work that uses contrast to provoke the viewers’ thoughts, allowing them to identify the injustice themselves. This approach is perhaps more subtle, yet shocking, making it quite effective for the subject matter.

Links:

https://www.treehugger.com/culture/a-picture-is-worth-surfriders-catch-of-the-day.html

https://pelacase.com/blogs/news/what-if-it-was-our-friends-family-getting-caught-in-plastic-pollution?utm_medium=Social&utm_source=Pinterest

https://www.thisiscolossal.com/2017/06/polluted-water-popsicles/

https://hammer.dunked.com/what-goes-in-ocean-goes-in-you

https://www.adsoftheworld.com/media/print/plastic_bag_free_world_second

https://www.behance.net/gallery/83394507/Save-the-Earth-Poster-series

https://www.elle.fr/Societe/L-actu-en-images/Quelle-planete-pour-demain-Decouvrez-15-affiches-tres-fortes#STOP-Plastic-Pollution#xtor=CS5-90

http://www.posterpage.ch/winners/segu_13/segu_13.htm

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via https://capefarewell.com/

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This installation is called ‘Falling Garden’ by Swiss artists Gerda Steiner and Jörg Lenzlinger. April sent a link with information about this and various other plant/ nature involved art. However, I really resonated with this installation specifically. The way the plants surround the viewers’ vision, creating constellations of delicate flowers and plants. 

I feel as though sound has a similar all-encompassing quality, able to wholly capture the attention of listeners, immersed in what they hear. That is why I decided to include sound in my final submission. The intense experience of landscape sound enhanced the juxtaposition between the tranquility of the beach and remorse for plastic waste that I intended to create.

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DESIGN ETHNOGRAPHY http://dlrtoolkit.com/design-ethnography/

‘The outcome of design ethnography is that it gives the researcher empathy and insights of not only the studied culture, but of the researcher’s own culture by acting as a mirror for comparison and contrast.’

The concept of design ethnography is very interesting to me, trying to solve design flaws to better suit the needs of users.

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WEEK 11

A fun visit to the Melbourne Museum.

During our visit, April encouraged us to look at how the work was exhibited and how that facilitated viewer understanding and interaction. This was really successfully done in the room full of animals, where an interactive screen allowed visitors to click on an animal they were interested in to find out more information. This is especially appealing to children with the simple and effective technological element.

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WEEK 10

Exhibition time! 

Overall, I really liked the trio of posters. I thought they were very impactful and eye-catching when displayed together. 

While you can’t really see in this image, I liked the textural element of weaving the response cards together with fishing wire, however it would have been amazing if I was able to collect more responses. Perhaps I could continue the response element at the exhibition of our works during week 13. 

I was also really happy with the quality of the sound, equally relaxing and immersive, and it didn’t have the sharp crackling of the wind distracting from the waves when I used my phone to record initially.

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What it looked like when I was scanning plastic bags!

I would scrunch up the bag, ensuring it was within the frame and allow it to organically lay, trying to get slightly different positions of each bag for the three posters.

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WEEK 9

An up close image of my plastic bag poster.

When I was scanning plastic bags at officeworks I had no idea what the outcome would look like. I was pleasantly surprised by the quality of the image and the way it has retained the texture of the bags, creating an x-ray quality. People kept asking me if they could touch the posters, expecting there to be a plastic bag suck on a piece of paper.

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WEEK 8

NGV Australia

These are images from Lucy McRae’s exhibition in the Ian Potter centre called ‘Body Architect’. McRae explores the notion of technology influencing the human body.  

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This is a small snippet from Julian Rosefeldt’s ‘In the Land of Drought’.

This visualisation of a post-Anthropocene world is highly stark and almost haunting. The low droning sound is driven by a pulsating rhythm, conveying current anxieties surrounding the climate crisis, before Rosefeldt’s dull and barren world becomes a reality.

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WEEK 8

NGV international

For our class this week we had a visit to the NGV to look at a variety of exhibitions, including Julian Rosefeldt ‘In the Land of Drought’ and ‘A Fairy Tale in Red Times, works from the White Rabbit Collection’.

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WEEK 7

To start our class, we met at Ngarara Place, an Indigenous garden within RMIT.

While the space is overall quite nice and peaceful, we discussed about how it seems like a slightly odd spot, as people sitting there are looking at the back of the buildings covered in pipes and electrical wiring.