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Assessment 3 - Rationalé

Chance braces our everyday thinking and our daily routines. When an unpredictable incident or an accident that takes place results in a good outcome we consider it to be good fortune or a lucky chance.

Moving further with this concept of chance, I began to look into probability and odds. Chance and probability, which is directly related to math and statistics, took me further into thinking about horoscopes and astrology which is not only based on planetary position but also based on movement and mathematical calculations.

Many people find it fascinating to read the weekly horoscopes on newspapers. However, what are the chances of it being true? It's most likely that the reporter just writes whatever pops into his mind. So, I began to question its accuracy. I asked a group of people to read their weekly horoscope and to see if any of the “prophesies” come true. On being asked what the chances of it being true were, most said zero or that it was unlikely. Out of the group of 4, only one (Revaldo) seemed to have a week that was predicted. His weekly horoscope was more positive than the others. So, I asked him the same question at the end of the week and he said that his perspective has not changed and that he does not completely believe in what’s written, but when it is something good, he does get hopefully and wishes it comes true.I combined the documented videos from Revaldo's week to create and intermedia artwork to show how We gravitate towards favourable news and are hopeful for the best outcome and sometimes may even give us a reason to do something we may not normally do.

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To further experiment with my concept I asked 4 of my friends to share their views about astrology and the chances of it being accurate.

Revaldo: “I think horoscopes are fun to read in the newspaper in the morning, but I have never taken the predictions to heart; I view horoscopes as a form of meaningless entertainment. I wonder if studying certain traits listed and defined in horoscopes would result in outcomes favouring the accuracy of horoscopes.”

Chandler: “I think that largest part of this is indeed the language that they use. saying that you'll have a rough day may apply to 90% of the population. it's usually vaguely written and not specific.”

Jessie: “I’ve always been fascinated by zodiac signs and horoscopes and I love reading about them. But I don’t put a ton of faith into horoscopes because it's typically generalised.”

Archie: “Most horoscopes are just things that could be said about anyone regardless of their sign. People still believe in Horoscopes even when it's so obviously fake.”

I then asked each of them to read their horoscope for that week and to keep a check if it is accurate.

Revaldo:

Chandler:

Jessie:

Archie:

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Initially, I looked at the different keywords for Chance. The words that stood out to me were probability, serendipity and Fluxus. Probability directly lead me towards astrology and horoscopes as they’re both based on math and statistics. It also made me wonder about the chances of the weekly/daily horoscopes being true and if people believed it to be accurate.

I also looked further into Fluxus and the different media used by this group of artists/designers. I scanned through their works and found Nam June Paik and Wolf Vostells video art really interesting. I decided to go along this route. At first, I wasn’t too sure about my concept so I made an intermedia of a friend gazing at the stars and the constellation.

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Assessment 2 - Rationalé

Modernity has seeped into the human psyche to the extent that all movement throughout our urban world must have capitalistic purpose. Guy Debord’s ‘Theory of the Dérive’, (which influenced an artistic representation presented in the slideshow of our selected concept, chance) counters this by advocating for purposeless ‘drifting’[1]through our urban areas, leaving chance[2]to inform a more intimate understanding of the cities we inhabit. Upon discussing this concept, we came to the conclusion that not even chance lead dérive (drifting) would enable momentary escape from modernity, as targeted advertising placed in cultural communities forces us into capitalistic contemplation. Our piece reflects this idea by documenting advertising seen during drifts through distinct cultural psychogeographical regions of Sydney: the queer village, Oxford Street; Harris Park, the Indian centre; and ‘Chinatown’ in Haymarket. After identifying these regions, we visited, and very naturally drifted whilst one person photographed and the other recorded the phone screen. The videos central map intends to literally show the region and in turn suggest the cultural demographic, the speed of adverts appearing aligns with the frequency that they were observed during drift, and the collage of advertisements that eventually surrounds the screen provides an overarching sense of the way cultural communities are targeted. During the editing process, we decided to include automated voices speaking the common languages of these regions, explaining the way advertising affects the relative communities. Layered beneath is audio that emulates the voice of a GPS AI directing movement, noting that despite the moving bodies ‘drift’, there will inevitably be capitalistic predetermined direction.

1.     S. Lyons, ‘Psychogeography: a way to delve into the soul of a city’, The Conversation,18 June 2017, https://theconversation.com/psychogeography-a-way-to-delve-into-the-soul-of-a-city-78032, (accessed 1 March 2018)

2.     G. Debord, ‘Theory of Dérive’, Bureau of Public Secrets, [website], 2006, http://www.bopsecrets.org/SI/2.derive.htm, (accessed 1 March 2018)

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Assessment_2

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Week 7 - Activity

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Rationale 

The concept of this project is based on mediatisation and how the government and media control what the public sees. In Dubai, freedom of speech/freedom of the press is a constant query in the region, and there are laws and restrictions on what you can post and what you can't. Some boundaries are clear: Topics such as homosexuality, drugs, prostitution, abortion, and religion are taboo. But what’s worse is that Dubai goes to any extent to maintain it ‘reputed’ image. Dubai is portrayed as a tolerant, modern, progressive country, focused on happiness and positivity, while it regularly covers up crime. The crime that take place is usually censored by the government making it seem as though it’s a secure and peaceful place where crime rates are really low. The offenders are usually imprisoned, tortured and beaten. The pr and the expats live a Strict and monitored life

Initially I used the box to replicate a building, Gevora, which is the world’s tallest hotel situated in Dubai. I used the box to show the two sides of the Dubai life. The outside represents the lifestyle Dubai depicts- luxurious and wealthy, while the inside contains the ugly truth.  

For my final piece I made an Arabic/ Islamic patterns (using photographs of the building) which illustrates the contradicting lives in Dubai.

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Stage 4

I’d looked into Arabic/Islamic patterns to create a bunch of positive/negative shapes. I included statements from people who have suffered or been affect by the law in the UAE and I also wrote words in Arabic which are in complete contradiction to these statements.  I included words such as- happiness, liberty, prosperity.

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Stage 3

My main attempt at this stage was to highlight the different lifestyle in Dubai- the one which is portrayed to the outside world and the ugly truth. I chose to make a model of the Gevora hotel to show that Dubai is more concerned with increasing the number of world title than the prosperity and happiness of the expats and tourists. The outside represents the glittery and luxurious life and the inside contains pictures of different incidents that took place because of the unjust laws and regulations. 

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Stage 2:

I shaped the box to look like the Gevora Hotel. I used Papier-mache to cover up rough and uneven edges of the windows and the used gold leaf to give it a glittery finish. 

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Stage 1

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Help Desk- Aarambh 

Striving to give these disadvantaged schoolkids an efficient and economical boost in the classroom, Mumbai-based non-profit Aarambh tackled this problem by creating the multifunctional Help Desk, a portable desk made out of recycled cardboard that also converts into a handy carrier for lugging books home. Aarambh creates Help Desks from cardboard that is recovered from recycling centres and local businesses. The outline of the design is traced onto the sheets, laser cut and folded. Kids can then use it as both a small desk and when folded up, as a briefcase-styled backpack to carry things around.

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Week 2- Class Activity 

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Assignment 1- Experiment 

Looking into Toby Horrocks works, I decided to play around with the cardboard box to make an abstract representation of the Infinity Building in Dubai. I experimented with different shapes and structures of different scales to piece them together to create the form I was going for. 

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Week 1: Class Activity 

We worked with cardboard boxes to create an abstract installation. For me, this activity relates to the concept of Crap Art. This movement goes against the popularly held views about what constitutes art, or what constitutes artistic talent and encourages other forms of art and artistic talent from being explored or utilised.The creation of art is more important than its consumption.Therefore, aesthetics is overrated as a judgment of the worth of art. The name, Crap Art, is meant to sound honest and down-to-earth. We didn't make use of extravagant materials, instead, we used cardboard boxes and thrifty elements to create a surreal/abstract art.

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Cardboard Exhibition Pods by Toby Horrocks

Architect Toby Horrocks designed a collection of cardboard exhibition pods for Architecture Media at the Gallery of Australian Design in Canberra, Australia.The designer uses cardboard as the material for the installation as it is an ideal medium for temporary displays.  Horrocks uses attributes like stretching, twisting, squashing and pulling to overlay on the model to create an abstract icon and then slice into many layers to form a kit of parts. The abstract installation is a representation of four magazines published by the Australian design publishing house ’Architecture Media’.