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Well then.

Week 12: meet up

This meet up was mainly required to distribute materials. I have been sourcing A1 red paper from multiple officeworks (I bought all their red paper - soz). Here we are at Sasha’s house, amongst her beautiful garden. Having three of us there also gave us a chance to talk about our paper mached lips and teeth. This seems to be a source of concern amongst all of us - as we are finding it difficult to find cardboard from somewhere. We are looking at recycling, so getting it from a super market or store. In the mean time, we are working individually on our mouth panels, before we bring them together to join them.

TONGUE this afternoon we had a successful experiment with creating the toungue for the entrance to the event. We used old plastic bags that have been ironed and melted together and then we spray painted them. We were intially hesitant as we thought the spray paint wouldn’t stick to the bags but luckily this wasn’t an issue! The tongue will spill out of the entrance and guide the way in much like a very unconventional ‘red carpet’.

helloimhungryy-blog

Just some pics of Matt Preston eating things to get you in the mood for the food event next Friday xx

sashaaarons-blog

Thanks Jaimee this is just what I need :)

polguth11

Week 12: Development

Here I am seeking to play around with layout of the tongues on the panels. I felt the best way to do this was physically, on a full scale. So, I used little sticky notes to indicate how big the mouths would be. I suppose this is a form of ‘modelling’ or ‘prototyping’.

This will make the instructions clearer for our group to follow - as we will each take a few panels home and begin the cutting and sticking process. We may even hand a few over to the maker pals - if they are up for it!

So far I have bought 12 pieces of paper - which will (according to my estimations) will form the quarter of a wall! So - we will all be getting started!

10.10.16 // refine

In todays class we really made an effort to refine and decide on what we are going to do in order to create the entrance to the event. We went back out to look at the main tent in the alumni court and used a tape measure to work out the exact size of the area we will be working with. We also went to RMIT connect to enquire about where we go to get a gazebo/tent to use as the shell for our entrance. We were directed to ‘property services’ and Caitie called to make an enquiry, so hopefully we will have this sorted soon!

We have decided on creating the walls from the paper mouth cutouts and having one giant mouth as the entrance. We are thinking we will create a basic structure of the lips from cardboard, and then give it texture and depth with paper mache and then paint them. The tongue will hopefully be created from the melted plastic bags and either painted red or placed over something red (we don't want everyone covered in red paint!).

We are hoping to meet up a few times over the next week in order to craft all we need for this! While theres still a long way to go, we are feeling a little more optimistic and hopeful!

A Strange Parallel

entrance

noun: entrance; plural noun: entrances

an opening, such as a door, passage, or gate, that allows access to a place. "the southern entrance of the palace"

an act or instance of entering somewhere. "at their abrupt entrance he rose to his feet"

entrance

verb: entrance; 3rd person present: entrances; past tense: entranced; past participle: entranced; gerund or present participle: entrancing

fill (someone) with wonder and delight, holding their entire attention. "I was entranced by the city's beauty"

cast a spell on. "Orpheus entranced the wild beasts"

Frankenmodel

Yesterday morning I decided to to experiment with an idea for our groups event contribution. We are working to create an entrance to the event and in doing so, begin the new sensory experience. We are focusing on the questions ‘Where are we coming from?’ and ‘Where are we entering?’.

We have had several ideas of how we can construct this ‘tunnel’ entrance. The overall aim is to create something that people can walk/crawl through to get into the tent. We are hoping to construct it like a giant mouth, and paint it all in red. This giant mouth with alter the sensory perception of space and scale. As well as this we have noted that red is a very important colour in terms of food. Many studies have shown that the colour red makes you hungry and so using this as an entrance to the event is the perfect way to begin the sensory experience. This association with red and hunger is clearly seen in the branding of many fast food chains including McDonalds, KFC, Red Rooster, etc.

We wanted to construct the entrance ourselves and we had a few ideas but they all seemed a little far fetched and unachievable. Our next best idea was to see if we could borrow the gazebo tents that the university often uses for events, and place them at the entrance, and create walls of red mouths as the sort of ‘tunnel’ to enter through. While this is a definite option, I thought I might experiment a little more to see if I could come up with anything else and stretch the idea.

When speaking to my family, my dad suggested perhaps paper-mache with a shell construction of wire could potentially work. Initially I thought that this would be too much work but then I remembered that we have a large group of people with crafty hands and experimenting couldn't hurt!

I created a mini ‘Frankenmodel’ to see how this idea could work. It was very messy but it has potential (my cat thought it tasted pretty good too??). We are hoping to get together as a group this week and try and craft our entrance. In class today we will discuss this idea further and what the potential strengths and weaknesses are.

references:

Color Psychology. 2016. Color Psychology. [ONLINE] Available at: http://www.bluesky-web.com/color.htm. [Accessed 10 October 2016].

subtleceiling

this is my quick, unedited response to recent anons asking about help with starting a zine / motivation!

NOTE! I wrote this just a few hours ago, a little sleep deprived on a long flight back home. it’s not complete and it’s just thoughts off the top of my head. sorry to anyone if it’s visually straining,

@sundayschoolkid totally inspired the zine prompt about making lists (Grace is one of my favorite zine makers + based in l.a. also)

dirt-germ

the best zine advice i ever read xx

polguth11

Week 10: tutorial reflection

Today we revised our concept and analysed the need/desire to honour the ideas that we came up with. Now we are starting afresh, with some new, exciting ideas that stray from our initial focus on lighting and sound. We still wish to build around the idea of an entrance to signal the beginning of the experience. We will look into gates in more depth

sashaaarons-blog

The luna park ‘mouth’ entrance has a similar approach to how we hope to contribute to the event.

26.9.16 Model Making

In yesterdays class we decided that it would be beneficial to create a model of how the tent is going to be, so that all groups in activate/locate can get a better visual for where their contribution will be situated in relation to everything else.

This was a really fun task and the model allowed us to gain a better appreciation for the space. We begun our own idea refining by thinking about how we can use the open walls for the light manipulation. However, andy came over to speak to us about this and said that we were thinking about it in the wrong way and perhaps we could steer away from light and focus wholly on the sensory experience.

We already had the idea to map the tongues different taste areas as an interactive experience but andy suggested we move away from our scientific approach. Instead we are now looking into a way to create an entrance to the event in the form of a giant mouth/tongue. This will set a fun and peculiar atmosphere for the event and alter the sensory experience.

The Waldorf Project

I discovered The Waldorf Project while researching at the beginning of the semester. It is a series of 3 performances by artist Sean Rogg that create an immersive dining experience on a grand stage intended to connect the senses through food, drink, dance, sound, and environment.

The Waldorf project uses sound and lighting in an obtrusive manner, to the point where food almost becomes secondary to the sound and light performance that occurs around it. This heightened sensory experience is something our group really hopes to achieve in our contribution to the final food event.

the video shown is part 1 - ‘Muskmelon’

Vimeo. 2016. Waldorf project chapter one / muskmelon on Vimeo. [ONLINE] Available at: https://vimeo.com/52391681. [Accessed 25 September 2016].

light manipulation with paper

I found this experimental process really exciting, while it takes time, the results are really rewarding. It may be tricky to produce on a large scale but as there are so many groups needing areas of the tent we may be confined to small space. This could potentially be used to our advantage and we could produce more detailed and interesting light manipulation techniques. For example; the top experiment has sharp points and may be considered to reflective of spicy/hot food. The bottom one in the diamond shapes may be representative of 'salty' food. We could map out the space of the taste sensory experience of eating through the manipulation of light.

sensory experience . light manipulation experiment

so this morning i decided to experiment with some new materials for light manipulation. Our group has been thinking about using paper cut outs to manipulate the light and while i think this could be really successful i thought i would try a couple more ideas incase i could discover something new we hadn't thought of before.

I took some pieces of transparent plastic (old plastic pockets/ packaging) and painted different shapes and textures onto them. While i was hoping for more of a manipulation of the light that shines through, I still think it could have potential. As our group is looking at the sensory experience i thought i could try and illustrate the senses and they could be displayed in each of the sensory areas of the tent we were discussing potentially setting up.

While I first thought using the fluorescent paint would create the most effective result I actually really like the aesthetic created in the simple illustration of the hand (to represent ‘touch’).

I tried putting them up to the light on my window however the lighting was a bit too dramatic and hard to see in the photograph. I would be interested to experiment with how the light works in the courtyard - e.g. whether it is direct/morning/afternoon/etc.

While this experiment wasn't quite as successful as I hoped I think perhaps it could be experimented with further or even incorporated into the paper cut out manipulation.

polguth11

Week 9: tutorial session

Today we looked rapid 3D prototyping. We looked at various ways of using this effectively as a tool - including a cognitive walk through, a ‘think out loud’ technique, as well as assessing averages, assumptions, & bias - delving into the ‘nitty gritties’ of our food event. Andy talked about using boxes, to quickly and easily create models of our event site. From there, we would get others to observe this - interviewing them, asking them questions, to gain new perspective and foresee possible problems that our idea might have. We chose an basic approach, using paper to make a layout of the event site.

However, before making the paper mock - up, we decided to visit the event space - as this made it easier to discuss lighting possibilities.

Coming up with lighting ideas has never been difficult. We had so many ideas for beautiful ways to light the room - but we were unsure how to link this in with a ‘sensory experience’. How do we use light in a meaningful manner? The question that we defined at the beginning was ‘how do we use light and sound to create a sensory experience?’, and after creating all of these ideas, we returned to this simple question. Utilising natural light was one thing that we decided on as it’s free, it also does not harm the environment (tieing in with our environmental conscience) and it’s easy (we don’t have to source any lighting) - rather using it’s absence (shadow) to contribute to the food experience.

One idea that we had was to ‘map’ the areas of the tongue that react to various aspects of taste. It would not only have a purpose in a sense that it is something beautiful to look at but it highlights something about the experience of food that we often don’t think about.

This would be a massive cardboard panel that completely blocks the light out from the windows. Multiple small shapes that represent that aspect of taste, i.e. bitter is sharp arrows, map where that sensitivity is on the tongue. The light shining through these cut outs would mean that from the inside of the tent you are able to see the work, due to the light piercing through.

Another idea was creating our own dark space using a tunnel made of two massive card panels and cheap ply wood supports (that would act as an A-frame). This would be created in a similar way - in that we would pierce holes in the card to create patterns and shapes with the light coming through. This tunnel would also signify an official ‘entrance’ into the event. We also talked about having cellophane on the outside so that the light coming in is coloured.

With regards to sound - we are thinking that we will need speakers for the buskers. We will also include sounds of food preparation in a Matte - Clarke like style. This would be played in between the buskers changing over.

Overall it was a productive lesson!

sashaaarons-blog

unfortunately i was unable to make it to mondays class but this recap of my groups process in class is very helpful! thanks pol!

polguth11

Week 8: Tutorial

In this tutorial, we returned to the drawing board, to again, look at more options for lighting and sound. We felt we could do this after we have spoke to some other groups (that would effect ours) and some parameters had been defined by Andy.

Though we still think that we will include some ‘process’ sounds, buskers will be the main focus. As for lighting, it seems the most strategic option is to use natural light and manipulate it (by blocking it out).

We want to experiment with melted plastic bags and putting lights inside of things, as well. We also think it is important to talk to the hiring downstairs people about lighting that we can hire - as we are to assume that we have no budget at this point.

sashaaarons-blog

pollys brilliant visual representation of our mess of thoughts during the sprint in our last class!

sprint. 12.09.16

In mondays class we begun by discussing the project as a whole and andy started to refine our ideas. We then went to view the alumni courtyard where we will most likely be having the event. It was strange seeing the area as a place for potential, rather than just a spot I eat my lunch and relax between classes.

At the start of the class I was feeling pretty put off, it seemed like meshing everyones ideas together was bringing them all down to a less ambitious level, rather than saturating each other with originality as I had initially imagined. In a way this is really what is happening, if you want to look at it like this, which i was. But after going to view the courtyard I finally begun to see the whole project in a new light. It seems that perhaps group projects aren't about a couple of really great ideas fitting together perfectly, but its instead about a load of very different ideas being stretched, reshaped and moulded together to create something truly unique. The end result isn't necessarily better or worse than one persons vision for the whole event but it is a representation of collaboration of a huge amount of different ideas and (hopefully) it is going to be a really wonderful and unique event.

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