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Awe for the everyday - tribal influences

Photographed the following from a book bought a while ago, called ‘Millennium: Tribal Wisdom and the Modern World’, by David Maybury Lewis (Publisher- Viking):

Huichol tribe, Mexico:

“…the shaman leads the pilgrims on the sacred hunt for peyote, the hallucinogenic food of the gods. The pilgrims yearn for the feeling of being at one with the Ancestors, of losing themselves in a state of fusion with the universe and their fellow humans.”

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Wodaabe tribe, Niger (West Africa):

“A man can have many wives but Wodaabe women can leave their husbands without stigma to seek a happier marriage.”

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Makuna tribe, Columbia:

“The idea of the interconnectedness of all things is central to the tribal way of looking at the world.” … “The Makuna believe that human beings, animals and all of nature are parts of the same One.”

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Aborigines, Australia:

“The Aboriginal system rejects our separation of the visible world into discrete objects, just as it denies that matter is the primary level of reality.”

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The Xavante, Brazil:

Talking of rituals that transform children into adults: “They act out the death and rebirth of the initiate, which is a stressful process. His old self dies and he is separated from his society. He is in limbo. While he is in this marginal state he learns the mysteries of his society, instruction that is enhanced by fear and deprivation, and by the atmosphere of awe that his teachers seek to create.”

“The initiate, stripped of his previous identity, is held in the shadow world of betwixt-and-between.”

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Dogon, Mali (West Africa):

“The way in which tribal art is woven into the fabric of society is rooted in something that the modern world has lost, a cosmic confidence in ourselves and in the whole scheme of things. Tribal art is a means of reconciling what is otherwise irreconcilable, of making the painful crises of life manageable - even of overcoming the ultimate disjunction between life and death. The Dogon masked funeral dances are great communal rituals that are as much about life as they are about death”…”The masks come from the bush, the source of power and wisdom, the wild place that contrasts with the civility of Dogon communities. For the Dogon, art must be lived.”

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Awe for the everyday - physical things

An experiment that’s a development from my ‘Poetry of Modern Life’ book from last year, where I gave strange definitions for everyday things.

The idea is that having the actual object there when confronted by the strange nature of it might somehow hit home more than seeing merely the illustration as the reader did in last year’s project.

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Spray-painting coins, my old phone, and my old watch:

Trying the same with a lightbulb that’d been painted blue, and getting the following strange result!:

It seems that the white primer spray paint works as paint stripper! Managed to wipe the blue off though:

Had masked off the face of the watch and the screen of the phone, as I imagined they would look great with those details unpainted. However, on removing the tape I felt that the screen and the watchface weren’t in-keeping with the feeling I was after, of making archetypes of ‘the watch’ and ‘the phone’.

So I painted over them:

For the coins, I wondered if I could simplify a textual definition that I might have had before, into a more subtle, stranger, symbol…

I also wondered if I could experiment with making a strange alphabet, that’d use my previous definitions but in a way that’d have to be decoded/discovered.

What came to mind was Sara de Bondt’s ‘ET’ adaptation of Futura, which she notes as the typeface for ‘The Martian Museum of Terrestrial Art’!…

Also, one of Emigre’s fonts that I found a picture of a while ago:

Reading A B C D E N O P Q R.

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Anyway, here’s my first try:

Watch: ‘Steadiness through slow and fast times’.
Lightbulb: ‘Reminder of our lonely star’
Phone: ‘The string of air that bonds us’

I used a Sharpie felt tip, as I felt the primary colours were inkeeping with the idea of an archetype. However, on actually trying it out I wasn’t all that keen. Ideally I wanted neatness, and the lettering style looks more gimmicky than what I had in mind.

Some of the coins work better though I think; the three with text on are the same as the other objects, with the definition instead of ‘Slice of earth passed around’. The three with images though, from top, mean:

- ‘This coin has the same value as this object pictured’
- ‘This coin is one of so many’ (the red dot amongst all the black dots)
- ‘Imagine the path of this coin over time’.

Easter progress so far

Slow Website:
“Explore how a piece of writing could take form on the internet; slow a reader down somehow, and contrast the click-happy nature of most of our use of the web”

-> Have very nearly finished the text, which is my own piece of writing about humans eventually rejecting technology and knowledge, regressing to a more primal way of life. This is something I’d wanted to explore for a while, but it seemed relevant to the technologically-current medium of a web-page.

-> Being that interactivity is one of the web’s main advantages over a book, I wanted my website to feel tactile… I’m planning on making use of mouse-over states, where an image will change when the cursor is hovered above it. I’m also wanting to get far away from defaults of any kind, like navigational menus for example. The experiments mentioned in earlier posts were concerned with stranger, less obvious methods of navigation.

-> Design-wise, I was intrigued by the metaphor I’d used in my writing of systems of knowledge and technology becoming ‘crystalised’, which offers quite a vivid mental picture. Echoing how the text develops, I want the visual to be modular first of all, and crystalised, to then be broken apart and replaced by far more organic forms. I did experiment with paint, but at the time it felt quite flat. Photography and video seem more viable I think, and I’ll be trying those next.

-> Will soon be posting my experiments with pixellation, which I think is a good way of representing the systematic side of things.

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Aeroplane Model Instructions:
“Somehow improve the model construction process by producing revised instructions”

-> I decided that the best place to start here was to look at what was wrong with my two iterations for this project last term: Mainly, I think the problem was that I hadn’t spent long enough on the final pieces… I’d also decided from the start that I’d produce a piece of printed matter, when the instructions didn’t necessarily have to be.

-> I’d been quite pleased with my Hawker Hurricane model, and felt that where I’d succeeded was in having patience, and putting time and effort in. Especially with young teenagers (the target audience of my instructions), this would be a real issue—so I’ve decided that my instructions should keep them interested.

-> For this, I’ve decided for the instructions to be web-based, as I feel that’d have more likelihood of holding a 12-year-old’s attention. I’m hoping to include a discussion board for each step of the build process, as one of the main things I found when making my model was that I invented my own methods that were in some cases better than those recommended in the original instructions.

-> I’d also been looking at home for things that used to hold my interest at that age, and came across my old PlayStation magazines. I remember that at the time, any mention or hint of a game (like a screenshot for example, or a TV programme…) would instantly have my attention. Consequently, I’ve decided to make some sort of link to videogames with my instructions, if only subtly. As part of this, designing a number of components that can be re-used (similar to ‘sprites’ in games) seems like a good idea. As mentioned before, I like the idea of presenting a miniature world…

-> The idea I’ve developed… In-keeping with the videogame feel, I’m using an isometric view of an aircraft hangar, in which engineers are seen to build the plane in stages, alongside text instructions. The stages can then be scrolled through. I still like the idea of blueprints, so am currently experimenting with ways of mimicking blueprints on-screen.

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Memories of Home:
“Give a personal piece of writing a relevant and engaging form”

-> The writing and illustrations need to be finished, for the ten or so rooms I’ve not yet done. I then want to bind the sheets into a booklet.

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NUDE Magazine:
“Produce magazine spreads for an article on the ‘Primitive London’ soundtrack. Also: LIVE BRIEF… Collaborate with Will Biggs to produce spreads for an article about cassette tapes, for NUDE minimag”

-> Have finished the ‘Primitive London’ spreads to a level I’m happy with. Meeting up with Will when we get back after Easter, to design the live brief spreads (Val reckons it should take less than a week to do; she feels it shouldn’t be over-worked).

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Awe of the Everyday:
“Share an epic view of the world. Inspire awe from everyday objects and experiences” 

-> Have so far produced 5 or so experiments, but I now want to produce a final outcome of some sort.

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Blog Writings/Things I’ve Learnt/Advice:
“Chart the journey of the creative process + progression”

-> Still need to decide what I’m doing here, but I’m favouring the idea of making more of a collection of things I’ve learnt. I suppose I could treat my journey over the past 3 years as a story, which I then somehow present.

-> I did have the thought that this could be the framework of my portfolio…

Awe for the everyday & Tutorial at the end of term

Friday 25th March

Carrying on from the idea of lots of things coming together from so many different places (in an effort to show how complex our surroundings really are)… I decided I was going to document every single object in my room, where I got each from, and where each was originally made.

I got a few down, looked around the room, and realised there would be thousands of things. The aim was to somehow visualise the coming together of so many objects and stories, but I soon realised I’d have to pare it down to a smaller number if it was only to get any visual experiments done soon! So I wondered if it could just be a single shelf, or cupboard, or box…

Walking back from Sainsbury’s a while after, though, I watched some road-line-painters working away, and was amazed by their process of heating up the paint with a small furnace (which afterwards I regretted not filming/interviewing). It made me realise I wanted to get out of the house to make my discoveries (for which the nice weather was an incentive too).

So my aim, going somewhere in London, was to stay in one place for so long that I would start to uncover these systems I wouldn’t usually, and record them in words, film, photos, drawings, sound recordings…etc.

I went to Picaddilly circus as I wanted busy-ness to contrast the more detailed and quiet things I wanted to discover.

Here are the notes from my sketchbook:

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“Girl who catches everyone’s eyes with her hair. Blue and green and matching socks.

‘Don’t overthink it’ says a post-it note on the sculpture (stencilled). It wafts in the wind, and next thing I know, it’s gone.

Westwood lookalike spins a dance — and tourists cover my view.

Turks (?) drink beer unconcerned; and lads behind them look at their passports.

Drunken grey man (bottle in bag) makes friends of all in the closeness of the steps and pretends to talk on his metallic pink (nicked?) mobile phone… Ah, it’s sad – he’s doing it again. Dirty nails, scarred fingers. Posh flatcap, new-looking overcoat, stained tracksuit bottoms. He staggers, on phone for 4th/5th time. People look on in droves, as if he’s normal.

The busking dancers have a few tricks: -Laying out the cones again every 15-20 minutes, so it seems like what they’re doing is fresh, and the spectators are getting a one-off. -Doing exactly the same routine over and over. -Must be raking it in.

Why does the drunk man come here I wonder? He’s lonely I suppose. He looks on at the groups of youngsters and takes out his phone again. Maybe he’s got memories of this place with people.

Light on in the light. Wonder where everyone’s from…

Spanish people, multicoloured trousers.

Ways of seeing the world differently: 1. Stand upside down.

Akward man (who I imagine is in a camera club) wears clothes that make him look like a camera.

Lad who’s given cigarettes by his mum. Both have eyes from a bloodline that could have inspired evil characters in stories for centuries.

[Sketches]

All the [other] lights are coming on now.

The gold man yawns and sits to catch his real self. I wonder what he thinks about all day. How he keeps sane?

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After a while, I had the idea of filming what I was looking at, to analyse the recording and - in a way - have more of an opportunity for uncovering stories/systems that were going on. Almost like slowing down time… Could I then affect the film, I wondered; could I have a film with my observations on top? Could I use text? Could I place focus on certain parts of the shot somehow?

Here’s a still from one of the videos:

Saturday 26th March

Went out to film crowds in the busiest places, but instead came across the anti-cuts protest! Was interesting to watch up-close, and I hung about to see the so-called anarchist groups too, wearing black clothes and masks.

Regardless of political stance, it was inspiring to see such passion in people. Recorded lots of videos on my phone (though I admit they’re a bit shaky!):

Main ideas I then wanted to explore, seeing the everyday with awe:

1. Some adults in the marches seemed to regress to children, climbing the fountain:

…or swinging off the banister in Starbucks, wearing a suit and a rucksack.

2. A vast number of stories going on amongst the crowds. Looking back on the videos, you notice so much more than you did at the time, and I really liked that.  There are more unexpected details too:

3. The protesters as knights, marching united, with strength.

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These last two thoughts were ones I most wanted to expand on, so produced the following:

Vast number of stories

[need to finish later]

Feedback from Paulus on Tuesday

Taking my three explorations along, I explained that they were the third stage of my work on the stories behind objects. I was most pleased with the cut version, and Paulus agreed. He felt it had far more poetry as an object, in its simplicity — which wasn’t so much the case with the marble/neoclassical one. The photocopied experiments were successful in their own way, he felt, but he couldn’t see a way that they could be further developed besides improving the paper stock and layout.

He advised me to continue with the cut piece, developing it into a series perhaps, but we also talked about how I could make an object that would accumulate a history (something I’d started to look at in my What If project). Paulus really liked that strand and felt I could bring that in again, where my intervention would be like a parasite on an object.

Different people I spoke to on the same day preferred the photocopied images out of my three directions—I’m conscious that Paulus might have more of an interest in typography than illustration and, as with anyone, personal preference of course influences feedback. So it seems I just have to go on what I personally feel is the best direction for saying what I want to say.

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Generally I’m pleased with the fact I had a lot to take along!- I think the reason lay in the fact I’d been genuinely interested in what I was doing, and was more open to making things despite being uncertain!

From this point, I’m aiming to give myself a couple of one-day projects — first thinking about a collection of objects that come together from so many different places…

After the group tutorial

Taking the feedback on board from the group, I sat in a cafe and decided to define the gist of what I was most interested in with my ‘stories behind objects’ work. I felt as though the first attempt (bottles) didn’t say enough, and the second attempt (sports bag) wasn’t executed well enough, and was only based around imagination rather than proof. So…

“THE GIST: There are systems that make up the world around us that we don’t think about… if we saw the complexity of these systems, we’d have awe for nature / technology. So, some approaches:

1. If you drew a line from every raw material in a familiar place to their origins, wouldn’t that be amazing…? - What would it look like? An infographic? Or something more expressive?

2. If you were told a story about each of a number of objects, brought together in a charity shop for example, wouldn’t that be interesting to see their individual origins? (maybe communicate their path with some sort of printed guide/map…?)

3. If you were sent on the journey that a seed takes from a tree (or brought closer to another natural system), and then told that it happens billions of times around the world, wouldn’t that be awe-inspiring too? (maybe this could be a guide/map as well)”

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From this point, I decided to explore number 1 first. The following visuals came to mind:

(Seeing your future path/actions in Donnie Darko)

(Wireframe versions of three-dimensional space, as seen in Tron for example)

(Flightpaths)

After a while though, I started to like the idea that the person’s experience would relate to something there and then with them, rather than simply being a visualisation. Relating what I wrote or demonstrated to an actual object rather than a photo of one would, I felt, have far more impact and chance of actual realisation for someone.

One thought was to design stickers/labels/plaques that could be placed on any object to add the interesting information about its origin/story…

But I soon wondered if I could interact with the format of a poster or book, so that the object was conscious of its existence and shared its own history somehow. Could I talk about the amazing processes of printing, or of mass-production, or of where the pigments in the ink come from, or how the paper has been made? I liked how the object and its comment would reside in the same object, that someone could hold or get close to.

Reacting to thoughts about paper (as it’s the one we see most often), I went about writing and after a while reached the following…

‘Hack of axe splits the beast and the top half is diced. Every fibre is washed, and pressed, and dried, and cut, to make this very sheet’

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The following visual interpretation was what I first imagined:

This went through a few iterations, but I wanted the content of the piece of paper to reflect the text; epic and ethereal at first, but then reduced to the bare paper that we’re used to in the end. The links to neoclassicism in the marble, layout and typeface, were influenced a fair amount by Stanley Kubrick’s view of timelessness in 2001: A Space Odyssey:

The typeface was actually one I developed for the next experiment

because I wanted a Roman face (for that epicness) that could be stencilled into a piece of paper. When it came to it, however, I felt that removing part of the paper would stop it from being a whole piece—and so made the following instead:

With this idea, I was trying to make the text invisible/non-existent, and certainly not an addition to the paper. I wanted the paper to be a pure, whole object. An alternative method could have been embossing.

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I’d also read a bit about space earlier in the day, and it inspired the following (where the sheets are unbound inside the cover):

The intention with this series of images was to take the viewer back in time, and tell them the story of the particles of the object they’re holding as they’re reading/looking (The green dots throughout refer to the green cover). I wasn’t too keen on the green stock I used for the cover in the end, so this’ll be the first thing I address if I continue to develop this.

The illustrations are made of loose cuts of printed textures then photocopied on the black and white lowest quality setting, which I felt got across the feeling of documentary precision but also a human element in it’s lo-fi imperfection.

Influences came from:

80’s computer screens

Dotmatrix prints

A Brian Eno cover