Collaborative Unit Critical Report
During this term the assignment was to make a team with our classmates and create and plan an event that responded to a current issue in the field of illustration. Making a team was the easy part because Bel, Lila, Priscilla, Adrian, Rohit and I had one thing that united us… MODUAL.
One MODUAL to rule them all, One MODUAL to find them, One MODUAL to bring them all and in the darkness bind them
We had the opportunity of being part of a workshop called MODUAL, in which we produced a live-project in less than 2 week, from conception to presentation. At the beginning of the project I thought that this project wasn’t going to be as fascinating and inspiring as MODUAL was but fortunately I was wrong.
THE CONCEPTION
The first two days of the week was all about the concept and existential questions. What is illustration? What is the future of illustration? What is an illustrator? Am I an illustrator? Who I am? Do I exist?
Ok…. maybe not that existential, but our heads almost broke trying to define illustration and which are the issues of illustration and our role in this world. We come from different backgrounds so our first step was to say what illustration meant to each of us in order to be in the same page. After discussing the different concepts we had about illustration, we agreed that illustration is a universal language, which communicate and translate experiences or emotions into a visual design. According with Bruno Munari (Munari and Creagh, 2008) visual design is the images whose function is to communicate and inform visually through signs, symbols, forms, colours and relationships between them.
For the exhibition we thought that was really important to show not only a final piece but also the journey of an illustrator as observant and communicator. Illustration is a problem solving-process but also a personal process of searching and developing visual concepts that serves to clarify and extend ideas in the viewers mind. A good illustration should give the opportunity to the viewers to think and analyse deeper concepts, to give them the chance to create knowledge based on visual communication because after all as Sharon Helmer (Bierut, 1994) said, visual communications acts like a cultural amplifier.
One of the things I learned during this unit was the responsibility that we have as illustrators and how important is to experience by first hand what the world is in order to translate those experiences in a visual way for the viewers. Sharon Helmer (Bierut, 1994) also said that our existence becomes more and more symbolic because we live inside an ideographic world where our actions are designated by the signs designed by visual communicators. The personal world map of each of us is based on the second hand information prepared by a visual communicator. As visual communicators we should keep that in mind and try to create images that are not only appealing but also based on true data. Where do ideas come from? How does the illustrator process data? How does the illustrator translate the data into an illustration? With those questions in mind we created Sieve-Perceive.
Sieve-Perceive was a multisensory installation where we showed the journey of an illustrator, the process behind an illustration, from inception to creation. For this installation not only we wanted to show the process but we also wanted to experience the journey by first hand in order to translate this experience to the audience.
The installation was divided into 3 phases: Exposure, perception and action.
EXPOSURE
During this stage we showed a 360º footage that we recorded on the places we visited in order to give to the audience the sensation of being the places and in some way they could experience the same visual and auditory stimuli that we experienced during the walking.
PERCEPTION
The exposure stage was my favourite of all the process because a sketchbook is a way to connect the external world to your mind, and at the same time they connect your mind with a viewer. During this stage the idea was that each of us had to fill an A5 sketchbook with the doodles, sketches, notes, words, anything we experienced on the places we visited. The main reason we decided to use individual sketchbooks to represent perception is because perception is a subjective way of seeing things, even we can share the same space and time, our experience and interpretation of the situation could be very different from each other.
Perception plays a funny part in the role of an illustrator because as Dietmar R. Winkler (Bierut, 1994) pointed out the creation of symbols is based on perceptions of the environment so everything we make is based on a meaningful but subjective reality. For me the most fascinating thing was to see the different themes represented in the sketchbooks because even we were in the same space at the time, the perception of what we lived was completely different from each other.
The sketchbooks are beautiful by their own but seeing them together is like a narrative of six different people together representing the world and their minds in paper. James McMullan (Bierut, 1994) said that drawing is the physical act to translate space into form. Drawing is to represent something in a raw way, without filters, it’s just your mind and the paper but also it helps to trigger all deep-seated memories associations so every time you draw something it’s not just the world you represent but also your background as a person. I think sketchbooks are the first place where you can find your inner voice, your discourse as practitioner because your “visual” style could not be unique but your opinion is.
ACTION
For the final outcome we decided to create a collaborative piece based on the sketchbooks that we had already created. In theory that task sounded easy but I think it was the most difficult one of all the process. We tried to find similar characteristics, colours, messages, compositions, even we tried to do a map in order unite our works, but we couldn’t do that because we would loose the essence of every person. Instead we decided to use some elements of the sketchbooks but in an abstract way and we put them in a periodic table because it’s a straightforward way to show the elements, you can see the elements as a whole and at the same time every element keeps its importance.
The periodic table was the best way to represent not only the sketchbooks but also what the collaborative unit is. A collaboration isn’t trying to do the things from one point of view, or trying to work from just one perspective, what makes a good project are the different approaches you get when you’re working with a team, the different layers of knowledge that every team member bring to the table. Working with a team not only changes your perspective of the project but also it expands your perspective as practitioner, it makes you be more aware of the world, of the different opinions, and of course of your role as communicator.
COLLABORATION
In the artistic field is not common to find a creative collaboration because for so many years the practice of visual communicators has been seeing as one-person task. But the truth is that one single person cannot always create an outcome specially when the methods and ideas are too large and complex. We must remember that we create for humans and being in touch with them when we create something will bring honesty and purpose to our work.
Collaboration is an art by itself; you need to find a common goal, the right team, space and time to do it. The transference of energy between the team members especially in the creative field is breath taking, the passion that everyone brings to the table is fascinating and inspiring. Working with my team was a life changing experience not only for what I learn from each of them but what they show me about me. I learned that if I want to succeed in the creative field I must have a sense of responsibility in what I create because my work affects others and myself. The reality is not objective; it’s meaningful but at the end subjective, and in order to be part of the reality you need to be aware of the other “realities” that are around you.
Collaboration gives us the opportunity to be aware of others, to be engaged with others, to think and react to them and not only concentrate on the subject we have to tackle. An illustration is not only the image; it’s everything that is around that image, the context, your background, the viewers, the message... an illustration is not merely just an image but an experience by itself.
Paul Auster (Felcey, Ravetz and Kettle, 2013) defines collaboration as the similar alteration of reality that two electromagnetic object creates because when the two objects are in proximity they create electromagnetic forces that not only affect their molecular structure but also the space and environment around them. The same happened in a collaboration, being with people changes you, it make you be aware of what is around you and of course it changes the final outcome for good.
The SHOP event was more intense that MODUAL not only because of the size of the project but also because being with my team make me feel part of something, make me feel alive and be just happy to be with them, to have the privilege of calling them “Chulos” (it is the lovely way we name ourselves) and of course I am very grateful of had the opportunity of working with all of them not only as my colleagues but more important as my friends.
Bibliography:
Bierut, M. (1994). Looking closer. New York: Allworth Press.
Felcey, H., Ravetz, A. and Kettle, A. (2013). Collaboration through craft.
Hellige, H., Klanten, R. and Sinofzik, A. (2013). A life in illustration. Berlin: Gestalten.
Munari, B. and Creagh, P. (2008). Design as art. London: Penguin.
Carey, J. (1992). Communication as culture. New York: Routledge.