Presentations Week 1 - 26.3.13

SPECIALISM PRESENTATIONS

YAO XIAO XIAN

• WHY decorate the pages so much and not keep it simple and clear? The decoration makes it informal.
• Too much text - some key points with bullets could have been used 
• What does Otaku mean? - people in Japan who prefer sitting at home, playing games
• Too much happening in the slides - should have kept it simple.
• The slides shown one by one - design layout, colour scheme, fonts and so on - shows clear organisation 
• The slides were flipped very quickly - I could not read the text on it.
• What is the relation between the reading text and your project?

My opinion on the question:
Things can be discordant but still beautiful at the same time. Things around us in nature are all unorganized - tress, buildings, flowers etc but they are all beautiful. Even in fashion, simple is good in design but at times, a messy look can also be beautiful because of the artist's intention/ material usage in the garment making and so on. Sometimes, designs can be very confusing and unusual like the upcycling work of belgian designer Martin Margiela. His works are discordant due to the kind of material he uses, however, it is beautiful because of his intention behind it of reusing discarded items to prevent harm to our environment.

This evening fur coat by Martin Margiela ( Artisinal collection 2013) seems discordant to the eye. However, it is beautiful because of the medium - it is made of various christmas tree decorations.

REGGY RAYENDRA

• Clear presentation, good title 
• Should not keep notes in hand
• Good way to start a presentation - Quote 
• Should make eye contact with audience instead of facing towards the slides and reading out from a  paper
• Why didn't you find out who invented chopstick?
• Going too fast - could not grab information
• Too much explanation about the project brief - not needed - should go directly into specialism project
• Instead of showing sketchbook, scan and put in the presentation so that everyone can see it.
• Good concept and theme
• Video shown - good way of explanation
• Good Q & A

My opinion on the question:
Social responsibility is a very important factor to be considered while designing any product or garment. Companies should not only think about making profits, but keep the population and the environment in mind. In fashion, Eco fashion is a concept that has come up few years ago to save our environment from degrading. Companies like Levis, Nike, Adidas and designers like Stella McCartney, Issey Miyake are paying much attention to garments that are eco friendly. Also, the health and the working conditions of the laborers in the fashion industries have been looked after, and this step can also be called sustainable.

ALMIRA DESIANI KHANNA

• Good explanation of project brief requirements and background
• Clear presentation with bullets for key points
• Good explanation of the artist and reasoning to choose that artist
• Unorganised presentation - swaping the slides back and forth instead of moving in a flow
• Reading text - not very clear

My opinion on the question:
The way an idea is presented is more important than the content (the medium is more important than the massage). An idea may be very simple but if it is brought across in an interesting way, it appeals to the audience. How do brands promote their products and appeal to the audiences? A very simple product like a plain dress or a bag may be advertised in a manner that catches the audience's attention - whether it my the involvement of a well known celebrity, or the photoshoot and the banner of the product which makes it look elegant and classy. The medium of presentation is most important for an company to succeed in the market.

SOME POINTERS FOR AN EFFECTIVE PRESENTATION : 

• Title essential
• Do not read from a paper
• Do not include large chunks of text
• Make it interactive - use the white board / charts / tables etc
• Good organization of slides so that it is not haywire - clear demarcations for sub topics
• Detailed explanation of every point
• Treat your audience as a child - will not know anything
• Content should be strong with depth
• Do not repeat information
• Good Q & A discussion
• Show clear link between the artist and the reading text to your project

Specialism Tutorial - 19.3.13 (Week 11)

CCS SPECIALISM PRESENTATION BRIEFING

Learning aims of our ccs specialism presentation :

• Learn to build a relation between our specialism to ccs classes
• Reasoning and self evaluation, critical thinking, questioning and answering questions

Learning outcomes of our ccs specialism presentation:

• Learn how to present and propose our ideas to an audience (presentation skills)
• Go into in depth research and detail in our individual fields
• Know about the topic and get an overall feel of our specialist area as well as our peers

PROJECT GUIDELINES

1. State an interesting title - why is that your chosen title?
2. Summary of specialism project
3. Text and author and then the artist/designer - basic information about the people
4. Why you chose that artist and how it inspires you for the project
5. Does the text (article/book) inspire you and does it relate to your project?
6. Conclusion - link it all up together to make sense- your audience should understand your creative process
7. Propose a question so that the audience can interact and have a discussion for you
8. Reflect and comment on others' presentation 

TUTORIAL WEEK 7

SINGAPORE ART MUSEUM

At SAM, we were divided into small groups to study an artwork and form our own questions on it based on whatever we have learnt in the last 3 terms. We chose an artwork called The Refuge by Grace Tan, which is an installation made of dress tags suspended from the ceiling along a staircase.

Our Learning Aims was: 

To understand how technology helps/changes the medium of explaining an artwork

Learning Outcomes: 

-To see differences between various mediums 

-To contextualize an artwork

-Realize how conventional material in can be used in a different way

Questions : 

1. How does the video downstairs help to explain the artwork that is exhibited?

2. How do the words on the wall helps to explain the artwork that is exhibited?

3. Contextualize the two mediums. (Video & Text) 

4. Why do you think the artist use these two mediums to explain the artwork?

5. What is your opinion about the usage of a particular medium to convey an artwork? 

This jacket is made of the same dress tags - by Martin Margiela (Artisinal collection) who uses unconventional materials to design ready to wear and haute couture dresses.

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QUESTIONS BY THE OTHER GROUP:

1. How important is the placement of the artwork?

The placement of the artwork is important due to the following:

- The seat is located in the centre with lights all around it in a circular shape, thus catching attention

- The artwork is placed in an enclosed dark room so that the blinking lights have a more deep impact on the audiences.

- The artwork is surrounded by many lamps of different sizes, shapes, colours and at different angles which adds value around a simple chair

- The main artwork is placed in a small room attached with a passage that we have to cross. This creates excitement and curiosity among the audience as to what is there.

For the reasons stated above, the location of the artwork plays a great role.

2. What is the meaning of "The real meaning of enlightenment is to gaze with undimmed eyes on all darkness"?

This is a quote by Nikos Kazantzakis.

My interpretation of this is that enlightenment can be achieved only if we are ready to to be strong enough to open our eyes completely and take up challenges, however dark/gloomy/scary they might be. Real spiritual or intellectual knowledge gained is only when we are strong to hold ourselves up in the deepest of problems. We must be bold and courageous o face obstacle. This will help us attain knowledge.

3. Are you able to interpret the artist's intention without reading the description?

There isn't a body of text anywhere around the artwork that explains the artist's message. There is just one quote on the wall outside taken from someone else which can be interpreted in various ways. Thus we do not understand what the artist is trying to convey through this artwork. 

We interpreted in our way, that the artist tried to grab our attention and make "interactive art" in a rhythmic manner.

4. Is creating excitement for the audiences is the key to a successful artwork?

Yes, in this particular artwork, excitement is one of the main elements that drives the audiences to interact with the artwork (go and sit on the chair) to see what happens. In this artwork, the artist has been able to create curiosity and suspense in the minds of the viewers. Thus, excitement has made this artwork successful.

5. Does complexity value add an artwork?

The complex part in this artwork is just the innumerable lights blinking quickly at one go. However, the materials used are conventional objects of daily life such as lights and chairs. It is pretty simple and clear, yet very interesting. Thus, any design doesn't need to be complex. Simple is effective in design.

Lecture 6 - 18.02.13

READING IMAGES in a Tech Savvy Society

What is visual literacy? - Being able to read images and make sense of what we see.

Run Lola Run (1998) looks at 3 alternative endings.

READING IMAGES. READING CULTURES:

People nowadays are all equipped with gadgets that allow us to photograph and document all that we see around us. When we go to museums, rather than watching the image, we are more concerned about taking photo of that as proof that we were there. Thus the value of the image is lost, and the orginality also destroyed by the camera.

The crowd around the Mona Lisa

What counts as reality may be very blur. Example - The clown fish is now only known as memo. (In terms of reading narrative language used to describe images)

The cottingley fairies, 1917 - manipulation of photography - the images are actually fake and not authentic (New Media). 

How does technology shape the way we see images? Who sees it and who is authorized to see?

Technology can be viewed as an activity that changes culture. Technology is situated in different contexts.

It is only about power in the social, cultural, political, economic aspects.

Issues of age, wealth, race, education, region. gender etc are the different factors to be considered.

Idea of new technology - everyone asks about what the new technology will do? instead of what it will undo. Who are thw winners and losers in this new technology?

WAYS OF SEEING, WAYS OF BEING:

The role of Facebook, how information is disseminated today, the idea of communities.

New media and cyber culture transforms certain aspects of life and the way people think and act.

"Disasters lie in wait for writers on new media". Ideas are written, but become outdated very soon and does not remain new. This is because of the rapid pace of new ideas coming up everyday. So, what is NEW media?

Cyberspace as a disruptive technology.

William Gibson says "The future's already here. Its just not evenly distributed" (idea of privilege and access) 

Does Virtual space recreates the same dominant (powerful) ideas or creates a different idea?

Cao Fei - her work reflects a world in which cultures have been mixed and diverged as result of rapid evolution. Online is more intense than the real world.

Lynn Hershman, Lorna (1970) - First video work to release on laser disks - Ideas of identity in consumerism, capitalism - Idea of privacy - Relationship between real and virtual world .

We are not shocked by what we see. Every view is obsolete because new views come up. So what now? is what we often ask.

T.J. Clark's The Sight of Death - what do we hope to achieve when we are looking at pictures.

Do we have the patience to just stare at any image for 10 minutes?
I have realized from observing people around me, that the public is like a child. They do not have a large attention span of staring at an image which they pass by. One glance is good enough to register in their minds and they move on. Images are hence manipulated in a way to catch the audience's attention. If they like any image, they photograph it in their smartphones or cameras and move on. Nobody has the want to just stare at an image for 10 minutes and appreciate the beauty of it/ understand the meaning behind it. The value of artworks & images have changed by the years and have been viewed by the audience differently in modern day.

Tutorial 14.02.2013

OUR LEARNING ACTIVITY FOR THE CLASS:

OUTCOMES OF THE LECTURE:

Understanding the concept of Cyber Art.
Understand how technology has made art more accessible to a mass audience.
To make students aware of how cyber technology is being used worldwide.
To show the relationship between artists, designers and cyber technology.
AIMS OF THE LECTURE:
To broaden the student's understanding of Art & Technology.
To show different possibilities of art in Cyber Technology.
ACTIVITY:
4 students will be doing the activity at one time. 2 students will get a laptop while the other 2 will get a paper. within a set time, both students have to create an artwork on the given topic. The difference in the artworks will be discussed.

MEDIUM :

• Crayons, colour pencils, markers for manual
• Digital softwares like photoshop and illustrator for digital

TIME LIMIT:

10 minutes

TOPIC:

Our Environment

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What we realized was that every medium has several advantages and disadvantages. Digital works were done faster, in lesser time, and were more appealing due to the access to the available resources such as images from the Internet. However, it does not maintain the authenticity of the artwork as images used from the Internet are not our own. Moreover, handmade artworks encourage creativity of the mind and also result in expressive strokes by the hand which the computer cannot give. A mixture of both the mediums is best suited to create any artwork to achieve a good balance.

TUTORIAL - 07.02.2013

LEARNING OUTCOMES

Three domains of learning outcomes:

• cognitive : thinking and understanding
• psychomotor : ability to do some things
• affective : attitude of students towards learning

DIFFERENCES BETWEEN OUTCOME & AIMS :

OUTCOMES : The final product in the end must fulfill a certain criteria. It just related to that single project. Certain specific guidelines are given to follow. THEY ARE LEARNER CENTRED (what dthe student will be able to do after that study)

AIM : To show development of certain skills and techniques in that area. These skills are developed during the course of that specific project but can be applied elsewhere. THEY ARE TEACHER CENTRED (what the teacher hopes to do)

EXAMPLE : 3D PROJECT (WIRE HEAD)

Learning Aim ·       To develop understanding of form through linear formation ·       To develop construction skill

Learning Outcomes ·       To analyze, explore and understanding of 3-dimensional form through linear configuration ·       To develop hands-on construction ability

DRAWING PROJECT (LAYERING OF TONES):

LAYERING OF TONES - CHROMATIC GREY
AIMS:

• To introduce the layering technique in Chromatic Greys with coloured pencils
• To further train observational skills by identifying the subtle change in tones on an object
  To CONNECT what was taught in class to their Specialist Area

LEARNING OUTCOMES Students should be able to:

• Create warm and cool tones using colours
  
• Apply the layering technique in Chromatic Greys with coloured pencils
  
• Identify Highlights, Midtones and Shadows 

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THE LECTURE

SUSAN KARE - Designed graphical icons. She keeps updating herself.

CYBER SPACE -  It is a dead space. Every person owns accounts and thus they end up taking a lot of space, and some do not use it.

VIRTUAL CHOIR - Cyber Technology made choir easily accessible to one and all. Art becomes more approachable and not an exclusive thing just for a certain group of people who formal dress up and perform a code of conduct in the choir.

OUTCOMES OF THE LECTURE:

Understanding the concept of Cyber Art.

Understand how technology has made art more accessible to a mass audience.

To make students aware of how cyber technology is being used worldwide.

To show the relationship between artists, designers and cyber technology.

AIMS OF THE LECTURE:

To broaden the student's understanding of Art & Technology.

To show different possibilities of art in Cyber Technology.

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CREATE A LEARNING ACTIVITY FOR THE CLASS:

AIMS:

TO MAKE STUDENTS AWARE OF HOW MINDS WORK USING & ITHOUT USING TECHNOLOGY.

OUTCOMES:

UNDERSTAND PROS AND CONS OF TECHNOLOGY

REALIZING THE DIFFERENCE IN QUALITY OF WORK WITH & WITHOUT TECHNOLOGY

Lecture - 04.02.2013

CYBER ART:

Talematic Art : Science & Technology- transmit long distances - Data, Info, Images, Videos stay in cyber space for a long time in any distance
It is a different way of looking at works - the real work is not in front of us (like in a museum) bur it is a different way of interaction.
Cyber Art is invented from tools in computer hardware and software:

• The PC (personal computer)
• Internet
• Graphical User Interface

Cyber Art, archives, presents and disseminates

WITCH (Wolverhampton Instrument for Teaching Computation) 1951 - Computer that reads information using dots (oldest digital computer) :

FROM THE FIRST -  IMB PORTABLE PC 5100 - 1975

TO NOW - APPLE MACINTOSH - 18

GUI - Icons - Graphical art - Susan Kare created many of the interfaces - known as the Mother of the Mac Trash can.

She created the sketches on graph paper - simple and understandable.

Some of the icons designed by Susan Kare

Internet was initially called ARPANET - concept of "packet switching"

NO. 1 in the world - fastest network - HONG KONG 

NO. 2 - SINGAPORE

GOOGLE DATA CENTRE - PEOPLE SEND DATA ONLINE, IT IS TSORED IN THAT CENTRE AND THEN TRANSMITTED EVERYWHERE :

CYBER SPACE - as a real dimension not a virtual one - allows us to enter the gallery and interact with the art work. Using our finger, we scroll and explore the gallery space.

FBI listed the type of cyber crime - hacking, fraud etc (Mostly in Europe and USA)

Since cyber art is so open, it is being abused.

Internet traffic slots around the world have been archived for many years.

ZHANGA GA - People's Portrait (SAM, 2004) - Used cameras to capture pictures of people passing by and these were displayed on billboards in various countries together:

MASHUP - Nowadays the concept of extracting parts from existing artworks to create your own.

"GOOD ARTISTS COPY, GREAT ARTISTS STEAL"

(COPYRIGHT allows to use work)

ERIC WHITACRE - VIRTUAL CHOIR - The world's largest online choir - he got everyone to post videos on YouTube of them singing in a loud shrill voice. Then he compiled all of these to form one final song.

Now, the concept of Cyber Art is developing and spreading across the world, and is a very new and interesting media of communicating art to the audience, in my opinion. Artworks like the People's portrait and the Virtual choir is interactive, brings all the common masses together and makes them an integral part of the production. Cyber art gives such opportunities to explore various techniques and mediums of art and brings the non - art background people together, which widens the scope and knowledge of art.