Aisha Khan

PopGoesTheNow student blog

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Week 11 - Final Look 

Finally the Final look of the magazines has been completed and uploaded. Before uploading the final project yesterday all us group members went through the work one last time just to see everything we are submitting is correct. The current situation has really created this bond between all us group members as we all helped each other through this difficult time. 

In this blog post you can see all the magazine covers that were created as part of our final project. There is a current cover, one at 100 years, 250 years, 500 years, 750 years and finally 1000 years. 

As a whole I would like to say I really enjoyed this module, more than I thought i would, at first I was really confused and felt like I would not fit in as I study something very different to the module. However when I spoke to members of my group I realised I was not the only person who studies something very different. As a Information Technology student my main focus at university has been Coding and programming languages, which can be very boring and tiring. However PopGoesTheNow really helped me enjoy my final year of university it took down the pressure that was building daily due to constant deadlines and exams. 

I have to say PopGoesTheNow has really helped me develop my social skills, it has helped me overcome my fear and the social anxiety that I face, I mainly want to thank my lecturers for all the help they have provided and the positive energy they brought to each and every lesson which has really helped me bond with everyone. My most enjoyable lectures have to be The first lecture when we visited Tate modern and also Week 5 when we went to another field trip to Carnaby street. 

The only thing that has upset me during this whole experience is the fact that we could not continue with PopGoesTheNow as usual for the last 2 weeks due to the current situation - CORONAVIRUS. 

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Week 10 

There is no way for us to come together as a group and view the work that has been done so far, other than viewing it online. Working as a group is not easy when all group members cannot be present at the same time, this time is proving to be very stressful for everyone including me and the rest of the group.

Thankfully all us group members have been keeping in contact constantly so everyone has known what they need to do and when the work needs to be completed by. To see the final magazine covers felt amazing as it has been a very uncertain and difficult time, many people including myself have been facing difficulties and facing anxiety due to COVID-19 therefore to see the work at such a stage is amazing as I was extremely worried about how I would complete the tasks I have been assigned. 

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Week 9 - Lockdown 

Well I don’t know where to begin, one week everything was fine and the next there is no more University lessons. To say I was not expecting that is an understatement. 

Regardless of there not being any university lessons we created a group chat and had a group discussion, of course due to the circumstances we as a group are unable to do a photoshoot. Instead we decided that we will continue with our idea of the fashion magazine covers but instead of doing a photoshoot we would just photoshop the covers and carry out the research as we had originally planned. 

I would be lying if I said me and the rest of the group are not worried. We are terrified about everything! About how we will complete the work on time as we had to change our idea slightly we are all panicking. But mainly we are worried about our grades and what this would mean for us. 

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Week 8 

Unfortunately there was no lesson this week as the class had been cancelled. There was no clear reason as to why the lesson was cancelled however I think it may be due to COVID-19 as the outbreak is now growing and is becoming more and more scary by the day. 

Many members of the group were unable to meet up today so we decided we will wait till the next lesson to meet up. However we all agreed to continue with the research of our project. 

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Week 7 

This week as majority of the group members were present we had a group discussion about what we will be doing for our final project. However while discussing the idea many group members were confused about how to interpret vintage into the future, once that was mentioned we all sat as a group and thought about the idea which did seem a little confusing at the time. So we decided as a group to get rid of the vintage idea as that was the part which confused a lot of people. 

Instead of doing a vintage shop we decided we would do a magazine cover that represented the different fashion looks and makeup and how they will change in the future. I was particularly excited about this new idea, not only did it make more sense we also decided we would do a Photoshoot. 

Once we was all happy with the new idea and decided to go ahead with the idea, we assigned tasks within the group. We had decided that we wanted to create the photoshoot as soon as possible so we would be starting in the coming days this week. Everyone then picked the task they wanted to do and what they would feel comfortable with doing. 

As I love to do hair and makeup not only on myself but other people as well I chose the task to do makeup on all the group members that would be modelling for the magazine covers. All other group members also picked their tasks for example, photography etc. I have also included an image in this blog of the assigned job roles for each group member. 

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WEEK 6 - PROJECT IDEAS 

This week me and the rest of my group members started to brainstorm ideas for our final project. We were to think of a project that would represent 4 different layers. The four layers we decided to work with are Social, Political, Commercial and Cultural. 

The overall original decision of the group was the idea of fashion and clothes interpreted into Palimpsest and the four layers we have decided to include. The decision of a Vintage shop with vintage clothing and other accessories was the main idea, all the group members had an input in this idea. 

Along with the four different layers we would be researching we also decided to do different times for example, present day fashion, fashion in 100 years, 250 years, 750 years and then 1000 years. We decided to look at the Social, Political, commercial and culture side to fashion and how it would change in the future. 

We presented our initial idea to everyone else, our group project being a Palimpsest of vintage fashion and  vintage objects in a shop today and in the future. The feedback we received was positive therefore we decided to continue with the project idea. 

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Week 5 - FIELD TRIP 

Who doesn’t love a field trip? I was so excited to go to this field trip, as the first one that I had been to was to the Tate Modern and that was an amazing experience. So I was really looking forward to this trip and as expected I had a wonderful time with my group and everyone that made it to the trip. 

We went to Carnaby Street and walked around to try and find a Palimpsest. Before this trip I had absolutely no idea what that was. Before the field trip the meaning of Palimpsest was explained to us, however I still didn’t feel as if I really understood the meaning. I cant say this was an easy task I did have to ask my group members a few times to explain the meaning again as I kept getting confused. However once we started to really look around we managed to find a few Palimpsests and that really helped understand the meaning in more depth. 

From the pictures I have included in this blog you can see how Liberty stared off and how Liberty looks today. Other than the colour of the image you will find there are not many differences this is due to the fact that the actual architecture of the building has not changed. Liberty has kept the same design they had when they first opened. However one thing that has remained consistent with the Liberty building is that they always have the Union Jack on display. This can be perceived as a political aspect as this shows that The Liberty is still to this day a British established company. 

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Week 4 - 

Unfortunately I was unable to make it to the Lecture this week, however when I asked my group members and going through the lecture slides I saw that popular culture around Fashion was being discussed. Fashion is something I really love to explore and discuss so when I found out that was the topic of this weeks Lecture I was very disappointed and wished I could have made it. 

Another Interesting topic that was discussed was the Image you can see above  of “The Great Wave” made by a Japanese artist named Hokusai. Personally I am very fond of this piece created by Hokusai as I just feel its a very calming image yet the image represents a strong meaning, which I find very interesting.  My group members informed me that this week they had got to know the Harrow Campus, to explore all the facilities available to us that we could use in creation of our final project. I have never been to the Harrow Campus before and I was very excited when I found out we would be working there. 

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Week 3 - PopGoesTheNow Lesson 3 

As I was unable to make it to the last weeks Lecture I felt very Lost this week and felt like I had no clue what was going on. This is when I realised that PopGoesTheNow is very different from my other modules, and in order to understand what was happening I have to ensure that 100% focus is being put into my work for this module.

This week my group and I decided we would discuss and focus on a current situation that is very scary and has affected many people around the world both Physically and emotionally. We discussed Corona virus and the affect it is having on businesses and the economy. Unfortunately due to the COVID-19 outbreak many members of the society are facing racial abuse due to this virus. Racism is something that me and the rest of my group really disagree with so this was a topic we felt very strongly about. 

Going onto social media we saw a lot of racists content being published which we felt is very unfair as no one specific person or group of people should be blamed. There are many racist remarks being made towards the Asian community, from houses and shops getting egged to the extremes of people getting beaten up simply due to them being part of a community that is now being looked down at. 

From a discussion within the group we all agreed that this sort of behaviour is outrageous and no one deserves to be treated inhumanly simply because of where the global pandemic started. It is unfair and it is wrong. 

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Week 2 - Disruptive Businesses 

Regrettably I was unable to make it to the second lesson on PopGoesTheNow due to some personal problems, however when I spoke to my group I was told that they had discussed the current disruptive businesses. 

In todays society Uber, Uber Eats and Netflix are very big businesses that are very popular and often used within the general public. Personally I used all three of the businesses and I believe they have really bought a change in peoples behaviours and actions. For example, you are tired and do not want to cook, you don’t have to worry about going out with just the click of a few buttons you can now find your favourite meal at your doorstep. The same goes for Uber itself people do not need to wait around for a cab or even pay as much, you can now just order an uber through the app and within a few minutes your driver will be at the given location. 

I certainly believe that Uber and Uber eats have created a massive change in todays society, yes the businesses have made a lot of people lazy, however it has also become a lot easier since the businesses have been launched. 

In regards to the group project I was informed by my group members that we would be meeting up the following week and discussing what role each group member plays and we would also start brainstorming ideas on our final project. 

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Week 1 - First lesson of PopGoesTheNow  Picking the modules I wanted to study in my final year was a very stressful time for me, I was so unsure about whether I should pick PopGoesTheNow as one of the modules I would study. Before this I had never been a part of any sort of Art project or module as I am a Computer Science student, so I had no idea what to expect from the module, however something about the name made me feel curious and so I decided to pick PopGoesTheNow. 

Personally before taking this module I did not feel very confident in meeting new people so I was worried when I attended the first lesson and heard we had been assigned to groups. However I loved the way we all went on a trip together in the first lesson because I feel that really helped me and even my group members really open up and get to know one another. This module really helped me with my social skills and in a way helped me face the anxiety that I feel when meeting new people.

I had never visited Tate Modern before today, and I have to say I really don’t know why I hadn’t already been. I never saw myself as a creative person and I didn’t think I would enjoy going to a Art gallery. But it was one of the most enjoyable experiences, going off in our groups and analysing the Art and hearing other peoples perspectives really helped me to understand and see Art in a much more creative way. Whilst exploring the art as a group we found  some amazing artefact and really got to know the Pop art culture.