Week 6 - Fine Art

So, this week was really not my area.

We were tasked with imagining “Wonderland”, whatever that may be. We were not given any indication as to exactly what we were expected to deliver for assessment - only that it was to be something we were interested in.

After being hammered by the tutors from the past 3 weeks about precisely what it was that we were to show: X no. of design sheets, Y # of A1 research sheets and Z # of A1 sheets with nicely mounted work; this new attitude came as a shock. Not a welcome one either. I enjoy clarity, and for me, the brief this week was far too nebulous a concept to sufficiently grasp within the 1 week we had to provide a result. Regardless, I attempted it anyway, below I’ll set out my method, and what I would have done. Forgive me if this entry is starting to sound less like an art student’s blog, and more like a scientist’s, as I am indeed an ex science student.

To try and tackle the problem, I set out 3 questions to ask others, to help spur my own creativity. These questions themselves were inspired by a double-spread in the latest issue of MARK (#58), which mapped out hundreds of private islands for sale in the world. Ones that stuck in my head were a 1.2 million square metre island group off of Mexico, which was going for €97 million, and a 445 thousand square metre island off of Thailand, which was going for €142 million. With this in mind, I decided to look into “the Price of Wonderland”, as if it was a tangible thing.

The 3 questions:

1. What would your “Wonderland” be?

2. How much would you pay to see it realised?

3. What lengths would you go to to see it become a reality?

I interviewed 19 colleagues, and got a satisfyingly varied response. From these responses I brainstormed and tried to figure out how to represent all this information. I went through several ideas - chandeliers, accretion discs (solar system formation), orreys, crystallised illustrations. I finally settled on an installation, taking inspiration from the Aurorae. It was around this point that I realised I messed up the questions, specifically #2 & #3.
What I needed were measures of value to provide context to the illustration dreamed from question #1. Whilst I had the right idea - asking two similar questions in order to ascertain equivalent responses, the questions asked were too similar. The questions I should have asked were:

1. What would your “Wonderland” be?

2. How high a cost would you incure to create it?

3. What lengths would you go to, in order to protect it?
   

I feel that these would have provided me with more actionable information, whilst also providing the interviewee more chances to answer the central question of “How much do you value your Wonderland?”.

Ultimately, this research would lead to an interactive installation drawing inspiration from the Aurorae. It would involve differeing materials: glass, acrylic, acetate, metal; lighting elements such as programmable LEDs, motion-sensitive spots, possibly even lasers, or focused directional lighting; as well as sound.

I can sketch this.

Week 5 - Fashion Design

This week we were encouraged by the tutors to start focusing in the area we wanted to go in to, whilst keeping in mind that week’s specialism. So, I tackled architecture/structures with a textiles bent.

Sewing machines are like bikes - easy to get back on once you’ve learnt to use it the first time. I learnt how to couch, which was an infuriating process at first. One of the tutors suggested I use “interfacing” to help prevent the silk from bunching so much, and this helped immensely.

Silk + Interfacing + Couching = flexible material, yet stiff enough to hold it’s shape for modelling purposes.

The structures I came up with were purely conceptual, inspired by the form(s) of a shirt (or shirts) when worn (which was the first exercise).

6 weeks gone already.

Welp. That went fast. So, we’ve reached the end of the “Carousel”, and Assessment Week is next week. This is the first chance the University has to kick us out (and they’ve not sugar-coated it either).

I’ll post some stuff from the last two weeks, I’ve been a wee bit lax recently.

In other news, I’ve been speaking to one of the student council leaders, and we’ve basically agreed that there is nothing at all for LGBTQ+ students at UCA. This may not necessarily be a problem - it could be that our numbers are so few on campus, and I’ve yet to encounter any *phobic issues myself, that for once, everything may already be hunky-dory. But just in case, I’m going to look into the feasability of sending out a survey through official channels to get a feel for what, if anything is needed.

I really hope I don’t need to put my student activist hat on again, a) it’s really dusty, b) I struggle with time management as it is (1hr 45mins commute doesn’t help).