sitespecific2020

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Rare Smithson and Holt films.

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Homework: Due May 11

Complete your final project, taking into consideration feedback from your critique. Upload PDFs of all materials to our drive.

No reviews this week, but send me one question for an Ask Me Anything session in our final class. Your question can be serious or stupid. I will answer honestly. Your question can be about the class or professional development. It can be personal or anonymous. Short, quick, lightning-round questions especially appreciated. 

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Homework: Due May 4

Homework: Final Project

Your final project is to create a site-specific or site-responsive work. You can work alone or with a partner. This project is wide open, but this brief contains three distinct directions you might take. To be clear, these are simply suggestions to get you moving.

1. Take any assignment from earlier in the semester and remake it at a larger scale. This includes: site-specific graphics, wayfinding systems, narrative walks, augmented reality, or pop-up experiences. You must create a new work, or produce an advanced proposal of your original project with significant new work. You can use any site, but ground it in reality. (See below.)

2. Design a site-specific monument for a specific population affected by COVID19. This could be medical workers, nursing home residents, grocery store clerks, or NYU seniors. Whether your design is permanent or temporary, choose a real location in New York for your memorial. I suggest the Metrotech campus in Brooklyn, which regularly features temporary sculptures, and is viewable with Google Street View, or Mercer Plaza, at 251 Mercer. (https://wp.nyu.edu/nyugroundsart/category/application-details/) What can be done at this site to memorialize this time? To caution future residents of New York City? Is this a meditative memorial? A celebration? Do you start with the sidewalk? A roof? The face of a building?

3. Design a site-specific project for Minetta Creatures. Sarah McMillan was a guest earlier this semester, and is rescheduling the Minetta Creek project she talked about for September -- or later if needed. She presented our class with a rough vision of the idea, a collaboration with Georgia Silvera Seamans. The center of the project is a processional performance that would begin near Washington Square Park and trace the route of the now-buried Minetta Creek through the West Village. Sarah and her collaborators will be creating fantastic costumes and creatures that were native to New York City, like trout and herons and bluejays. What can you add to this project? What is needed by an audience? A map? Wayfinding graphics? A narrative piece describing the natural history of one or more points along the route? A series of Instagram filters? Their team came up with ideas for trading cards of the creatures, graphics for trees or street furniture with QR codes to connect to botanical information about the area, or a new map based on the historic Viele map; these were simply brainstorms that could be done by anyone. Sarah and her collaborators will give you feedback on your final project, and you will be invited to participate in September if you are still in New York. Make sure your pitch is something you can create yourself or with a partner, and that it can be done with a very minimal budget. Here is a simple fundraising pitch about the Minetta Creatures project: https://ioby.org/project/minetta-creatures

The general premise of this final project assignment -- especially options 1 or 2 -- is that you are applying for a Creative Capital grant. Creative Capital funds extraordinary projects in 34 creative disciplines.

https://creative-capital.org/award/about/

As always, this is a class about design, so we are especially interested in the ways you are interfacing with your audience. How does your piece make use of the site? Are you mapping the site? Have you considered paths of approach? Who is your audience? Who uses the space? Are there important histories to invoke? How will your audience find your work? How will you document?

If you choose option 1 or 2 above your first step is a letter of inquiry, where you essentially apply to apply. You must answer at least three of the "Core Questions," numbers 27-34, on the official form:

https://24ge677ciyw11qot39uy7v1b-wpengine.netdna-ssl.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/01/Every-Question-On-The-Application.pdf

You will also need to make a preliminary budget of up to $50,000. This does not have to be a hard budget, but you should have some sense of limit for your project. For example, you wouldn’t be able to construct a new building, but you might be able to rent a large tent. Don’t get super wrapped up in this stage.

Finally, you will need materials that help you support your vision. For example, 3D renderings, models, drawings, storyboards, supporting documents or designs, maps, or work samples.

If you choose option 3 above, please look at the Creative Capital application for inspiration for how you might communicate your project for Minetta Creatures. What will you need? A written description, 3D renderings, models, drawings, storyboards, supporting documents or designs, maps, or work samples.

Here is a breakdown of deliverables:

Due May 4: Research and brainstorm: Choose an available site and design an idea for that site. Your site should be somewhat accessible – or at least within the realm of possibility. For example, we could imagine that we could get access to a lot among brownstones in Brooklyn, or a trailer in Manhattan, or a subway platform in Queens. We might not be able to get access to the eyeball of the statue of liberty, or a submarine in the Hudson. That said: I am not here to crush dreams. If you are on the fence about a location, and you think there’s a possibility, go for it. Once you have a site, observe your site (research on the internet if you can not safely visit), document it, and take any notes you may need.

Proposal: Your proposal should be complete and ready to share. Compose your answers to Core Questions on the Creative Capital application. Bring whatever visuals or media you would submit to help pitch your project. Choose at least two of the following: A 3D rendering, model, drawings, three storyboard panels, supporting designs (website, app, print materials), map, or media samples (audio or video excerpts). It’s possible there could be things I’m not thinking of here; if you want to create a dance or design game mechanics or something similar, please let me know and we’ll figure it out. Also: prepare a rough budget of expenses; don’t forget to pay yourself a design fee!

Due May 11: Final revisions.

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Excellent podcast about the Vietnam Veterans Memorial.

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Field Trip Links

This is a list of sites and links from today's field trip: 

The Oculus

https://mymodernmet.com/the-oculus-santiago-calatrava/ 

Teardrop Park 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YsMbSMPLdII 

https://www.mvvainc.com/project.php?id=2 

The Irish Hunger Memorial

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J8nMDwUBEqU 

9/11 Memorial

https://www.911memorial.org/visit/memorial 

Jenny Holzer - 7 World Trade Center  

https://projects.jennyholzer.com/LEDs/for-7-world-trade-2006/gallery#0

https://www.wtc.com/media/news/artist-jenny-holzer-updates-7-wtc-art-installation-with-nyc-childrens-poems 

African Burial Ground 

https://www.nps.gov/afbg/planyourvisit/brochures.htm 

https://vimeo.com/26750369

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qhd7Zr63w4Q</p>

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Lucy Make up Reviews

Neon Parallax was a collaborative art project that took place in Geneva, from 2006 to 2012. It featured site-specific neon light installations that overlooked a diamond-shaped lake in Geneva, designed specifically for this area. I think that glass, and especially neon, is an effective way for messages to be conveyed to the viewer. 

Many people around the world know Yayoi Kusama for her installation “Infinity”, which was a light installation featuring a mirrored room that became popular on Instagram. I think that looking at her work in tandem with understanding her history of mental health problems shows that art can be a good way to tackle personal traumas head on. 

Rem Koolhaas is a world-renowned architect who started the firm OMA with Elia and Zoe Zenghelis, and Madelon Vriesendorp. He designed this building for the CCTV headquarters in Beijing in the early 2000s. When I was little I lived in Beijing for a few years, and we used to call this the pants building. Reading about it now, I appreciate the challenge he took in creating a new kind of skyscraper that does not just focus on height, but on multi-dimensional space.

Blu is an Italian street artist who works on industrial spaces using paint to create often politically charged work or provide social commentary. His style is defined by detailed lines and slightly amorphous human figures. His work is incredible, but what I found extremely interesting was the design and user interface of his website. It is designed as a journal, so it feels like you are flipping through the tabs and pages of his personal diary. 

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Homework: Due April 27

For this week, finish your popup or temporary space design with an interaction or an experience at the core. The design could be a branded space, like a retail pop up or a convention center booth, or an anti-branded space, like an installation or an exhibition. Incorporate crit feedback from your classmates.

The deliverables are the same as last week, although you are required to add a set of three storyboards that show what the experience is like from the point of view of the audience. Consider showing a beginning, middle, and end of your pop up experience. You are welcome to use stills from your 3D design, or move on to another format for your storyboards. For example, you could make drawings or Jell-o molds -- whatever helps convey the experience you are trying to create.

No reviews this week.

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Site visits.

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Homework: Due April 20

For this week, design a popup or temporary space with an interaction or an experience at the core. The design could be a branded space, like a retail pop up or a convention center booth, or an anti-branded space, like an installation or an exhibition.

Your pitch should include three pieces: a 3D sketch of the pop up (use Sketchup or a similar program), a one-sentence description of your idea, and one piece of graphic design -- a logo, or wordmark, or wireframe, or landing page (your choice). Upload PDFs or JPGs of your 3D model to Drive.

Consider: What are the dimensions of your project? What kind of interaction takes place on this site? What modifications have been made to the site? Is there a site within a site? What has been designed? Who is your audience?

You are welcome to use a "real life" space, based on dimensions found in real estate listings in New York or whatever city you choose to use, or make up something totally imaginary, like a floating circus tent on a big lake. However, if you are making an imaginary site, you have to tell us something about where it would exist in the real world. So, for example, if it's a circus tent floating on a big lake, make sure to tell us that it's Lake Michigan, 100 yards away from the Chicago River.

No reviews this week.

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SketchUp Tutorials

TheSketchUpEssentials on YouTube was really helpful for me. His channel is linked below. I used the 5-part series ‘SketchUp Free Tutorials (Online Version)’ and there’s also a ‘SketchUp Beginners Start Here! (Desktop Version)’ which might also be good. 

https://www.youtube.com/user/SketchUpEssentials

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Coach: Life Coach Interactive Pop-Up

The luxury brand to take experiential retail to a new level 

LIFE COACH pop up was in favor of an experimental activation that encourages self-discovery and reflection.

Carlos Becil explains: “We deliberately wanted to create a new environment and not have the limitations of a pre-designed retail space... so that every single person that walked through it had a very unique experience and walked out of there with a sense of what Coach was about.”

In one room of Coach's Life Coach pop-up, vintage-inspired carnival games line a boardwalk made of wood salvaged from Coney Island's. In another,tents held tarot card readers through a misty like forest. All without a handbag in sight, the event was an ultimate example of today's trend towards experiential marketing.

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Billie Eilish Experience  by Spotify

When We All Fall Asleep, Where Do We Go?

Billie Eilish Experience by Spotify is a pop up to launch her album: When We All Fall Asleep, Where Do We Go? 

She wanted her fans to see the album through her eye. Demonstrating each song with associating colors, textures, scents, shapes, and feelings attached to it. Each room breaks each element down, giving you an idea of what Billie feels each song.

Billie wanted the "LISTEN BEFORE I GO" room to feel dim, muted, and heavenly; evoking the “feeling of when you're on an airplane and you get the itch to go sit on the fluffy clouds you see outside your window.”- Billie. The floor was covered with white pillows, and the walls projected a gorgeous pastel sunset.

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Megan - Pop Up Reviews

Dolby x Star Wars

The Dolby SoHo center housed a Star Wars exhibit in December 2019 for the Rise of Skywalker. The exhibit featured various displays such as the lighting display shown above. The center includes a surround sound room, where the soundtrack was played and beanbags were set up for visitors to sit and listen. 

Sony Square NYC x Monsta X

Similarly, Sony also has an exhibition space in New York. I visited when they had the Monsta X collaboration, which is a popular K-pop boy band. The exhibit like the Dolby one included good displays for photo-ops, but featured Sony’s cameras where visitors could take high quality photos to send to themselves. The exhibit also had a 360-degree sound station where visitors could test Sony’s headphones while listening to the Monsta X album. There was also a karaoke room, where friends could enter together to sing. 

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Lucy - pop up reviews

This pop up was at Freemans Sporting Club in Tokyo a few summers ago. I couldn’t find a proper picture of the pop up that I saw, but it was a lemonade stand outside their retail store. It caught my eye when I was walking by because it was such a simple, well-designed concept. The common association with lemonade might be little kids selling lemonade outside, so this translated to me as a “lemonade stand for adults”. I also liked that its presence wasn’t pushing you to go into the store- the person at the stand wouldn’t urge you to go in, but if you got some lemonade you could naturally drift into the store. 

This was a pop up for the BEAMS Couture x Ziploc collaboration. BEAMS is one of my favourite brands, and I loved the concept that they came up with for this collaboration. BEAMS Couture is a brand under the BEAMS label that takes dead stock materials and makes them into new products. One product they featured was a ziploc that was reimagined as a reusable vinyl tote. The space mirrored the products in feel and colour - semi-translucent blue PVC, with orange accents, and a clean look overall. What I like about this pop up is the strong aesthetic and story behind the product and brand. 

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I am interested in the interaction between business and technology as art. While thinking about my project for these upcoming weeks, I wanted to get inspiration by businesses that provide an interesting experience and exhibitions that provided a more interactive experience. As a result, I have looked into two popups that span business interests and technological art exhibits.

Pace Gallery- teamLab

The first popup I looked into was Pace Gallery’s teamLab. I was first introduced to Pace Gallery in my senior year of high school when their popup exhibition came to Menlo Park, near my hometown. The Gallery was an Instagram hit for the people around me. Created by Toshiyuki Inoko in 2001, teamLab aims to use its influence in historical Japanese art to create a spacial recognition known as Ultrasubjective Space. This concept is an interesting concept that explores how human social behavior interacts with its pieces.

Porsche - Popup Atop the Alps

My second popup is Porsche’s popup that was found atop the French alps in 2018. From the Kaila Hotel in Meribel and Le Yules Hotel in Val d’lsere, avid fans of the luxury sports car brand were able to test drive the latest models of models, such as the Cayenne and Macan, in an off-road setting. I focused in on this popup because the concept was able to bring the experience of test driving a car in a setting that was seemingly in the movies. The experience is even worthwhile for those who do not test drive It, however, as the Cayenne that is in a snow globe takes up relatively less space, but still attracts you as the centerpiece at this resort. It’s a great mix of a simple idea that is intriguing to both car enthusiasts and the casual admirer alike.

- Hannah G

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Jason Huang – Pop-up Reviews

The Birkenstock Box program was an experiential retail concept that utilized the interior of large metal shipping containers, which were to be designed by brands collaborating with Birkenstock (the crate exterior was designed by Gonzalez Haase). The crates are stacked atop one another, with enough space for customers to shop, and are literally transported to cities across the world where the pop-up took place. In one instance, fashion designer Rick Owens held his collaboration outside of his Los Angeles boutique, and included elements that reminded him of his experiences in Germany, France, and his previous furniture designs to create a unique and personal interior design. I feel that this concept is extremely flexible and exciting; it sets a physical constraint through using the shipping containers across each retail experience, but each partner brand is able to make a completely unique experience that is reflective of their brand and the shoe collaboration they created.

From July 12 to 21, Louis Vuitton held a pop-up experience showcasing its FW 2019 menswear collection. The space occupied the corner of Rivington and Ludlow streets, dressing the entire exterior, interior, and decor and sculptures in a vibrant neon green. The design extends to the sidewalk outside of the store as well, with trash bags, a mailbox, and a fire extinguish given the same neon green treatment. The choice of color and decor make the retail experience of the store immersive and memorable, especially given the stark contrast to the more rustic Lower East Side streets. It also shakes up the way that customers view the clothes on display, which are arguably the primary purpose of such retail spaces; the traditional retail approach is to use more subtle background colors for the audience to focus on the items to be purchased, but using such a strong color deviates from this idea and allows for a different perspective to be taken of the garments.