Sunday, 7 March 2010
Saturday, 6 March 2010
Baaa by David Macaulay
Animals are often used in picture books to illustrate human behaviour in a society. In Baaa, David Macaulay shows how sheep built up culture similar to humans, after humans.
Around this time, leaders arose from the sheep
population. Some had charisma, others connections.
One evening, between commercials, a news sheep
announced that things were being used up too fast.
But nobody paid much attention.
Macaulay, D. (1985) Baaa. New York, N.Y.: Houghton Mifflin.
Two Half Nations into One Car
This car was reassembled from Tranbant and VW Golf, two halves which also represent the former East and West Germanys. The cars were bought online for under 1000 Euro and went on sale on ebay. It is not allowed to be driven on German roads (The German Car Blog, 2005).
The German Car Blog (2005) The Gobbi: A Car to Celebrate the German Unification. [online] http://www.germancarblog.com/2005/09/gobbi-car-to-celebrate-german.html [06/03/2010]
Point Alpha: Between Germany and Germany
Point Alpha, on the border of Hessen and Thüringen, was a point on intra-German border. Now there is a memorial, and a piece of the Berlin Wall (Point Alpha Stiftung, 2009) at a location on Fulda Gap (Somaskanda, 2009).
Point Alpha Stiftung (2009) For Peace and Freedom in Europe. [online] http://www.pointalpha.com/home [05/03/2010]
Somaskanda, S. (2009) Cold War Tourism at Fulda Gap. [online]
http://www.globalpost.com/dispatch/germany/090530/cold-war-tourism [05/03/2010]
Stefan Strumbel
Berlin Wall, Offenburg
Stefan Strumbel has worked on the concept of German "Heimat". The word loosly translates to homeland, which its definition has suffered due to the Nazi past of Germany (Williams, 2010). Strumble, who used to work as a graffiti artist now focuses on clocks, and plans to publish the book What the Fuck is Heimat? (Strumble, 2010).
Strumbel, S. (2010) Strumbel. [online] http://www.stefanstrumbel.com/en/work [05/03/2010]
Williams, G. (2010) A Clockmaker's Retreat. [online] http://www.nytimes.com/2010/02/04/realestate/04location.html [05/03/2010]
Wednesday, 3 March 2010
Tutorial with Shaun
Focus + Reflect
Unpick how the project worked, not worked, wasn't as successful as originally planned
communication
roles: who does what, when
instigator, facilitator: me
size of group (5): did it require a hub/administrative role to control the project... was there a need to "control" it, when I saw the project as a group collaboration?
inter-relationship
process of collaboration
talk to Lee about presentation
Where is this project positioned?
tools: Dropbox, Google Docs, emails, texts, Facebook, Skype, project blog
Critical evaluation and research portfolio: at BmB blog
Border Film Project
The Border Film Project handed disposal cameras to migrants and minutemen volunteers on the U.S.-Mexico border. The project has received 73 cameras: 38 from migrants and 35 from minutemen, and nearly 2000 photographs [Border Film Project, 2010]. There is a similar project taking place at the South Africa-Zimbabwe border also.
The Project is an art collaborative of undocumented migrant workers on one side of the border, and minutemen who are trying to stop the workers from entering the U.S. Visits to humanitarian aid groups and shelters on the Mexican side were approached to recruit migrant photographers. This process included showing the photographers what postboxes looked like in the U.S., so that they were able to send the disposal cameras back to the project.
Although the groups on each side of the U.S.-Mexico border have different interests/stakes, both sides have a common view, that they are documenting a situation which should not be happening.
Border Film Project [2010] Photos by Migrants & Minutemen on the U.S.-Mexico Border. [online] http://www.borderfilmproject.com/en/index.php [03/03/2010]
Adler, R., Criago, V. & Huneycutt, B. (2007) Border Film Project. New York, N.Y.: Abrams.
Mapping Ideas
If the Nazis had won the WWII, the map of Europe could have looked like the one above. Of course, this never happened and the map is a fiction. There are maps which don't simply show the geological facts, but help visualise cultures or a phenomenon also.
Mengisen, A. (2009) Maps: Fighting Disease and Skewing Borders. [online] http://freakonomics.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/11/09/maps-fighting-disease-and-skewing-borders/ [03/03/2-1-]
http://rightbasicbuilding.com/ [03/03/2010]
http://cartastrophe.wordpress.com/ [03/03/2010]
Enclaves, Exclaves
West Berlin was an enclave located in the middle of the GDR, detatched from West Germany. This geological characteristic of the city lead to historical events such as the Berlin Airlift and the construction the Wall. This dilemma resolved when Germany was unified in 1990 and Berlin became one city, but there are numerous enclaves and exclaves scattered across the world.
Krogh, J.S. (2010) Enclaves, Exclaves and the Likes. [online] http://geosite.jankrogh.com/ [03/03/2010]
Monday, 1 March 2010
The Wall by Peter Sis
The Czech author Peter Sis illustrates his life behind the Iron Curtain.
Markus, L.S. (2007) The Cold War Kid. [online]
Sunday, 28 February 2010
Walking Collaboration
Another collaborative project, by Adidas, bares a logo of two hands in a collaborative handshake. It seems to resemble the logo of the former East German ruling party, SED.
SED (Sozialistische Einheitspartei Deutschlands), or the Socialist Unity Party, was founded by a merger of the communists and the social democrats in 1946, symbolised in by the handshake.
High Snobiety (2009) Overkill x New Balance “Berlin Wall” Pack Release Details. [online]
http://www.highsnobiety.com/news/2009/12/11/overkill-x-new-balance-berlin-wall-pack-release-details/ [28/02/2010]
High Snobiety (2009) New Balance x Overkill Berlin Wall Pack 2009. [online] http://www.highsnobiety.com/news/2009/10/16/new-balance-x-overkill-berlin-wall-pack-2009/ [28/02/2010]
Hyperbeast (2009) Adidas Originals Consortium Rod Laver Collection – Drop 2. [online]
The Green Iron Curtain
This is a cross border conservation which also aims to develop local communities socio-economically.
European Green Belt (2006) The Green Belt Initiative. [online]
http://europeangreenbelt.org/indoor.html
[28/20/2010]
Mödlareuth, Little Berlin
A small village on the border of East and West Germany, Mödlareuth, was also divided and had a wall cut through it. Now there is a museum displaying its wall and history.
Deutsch-Deutsches Museum Mödlareuth [2010b] http://www.stadt-gefell.de/Museum/museum.htm [28/02/2010]
Martino, E. [2010] Germany-Bavaria, DDR and Wall's Museum. [online]
http://www.photoshelter.com/c/enricomartino/gallery/Germany-Bavaria-DDR-and-Walls-Museum/G0000MNLSBA0sHSw/ [28/02/2010]
Divided Village Mödlareuth:
[28/02/2010]
Hof und die Region. http://www.ipa-hof.de/hudr.htm [28/02/2010]
The Right Number by Scott McCloud
The Right Number
An idea for the pages. By clicking on the arrow or the frame in the middle of the image, the next frame expands, which has the next frame in the centre again (McCloud, 2003). The viewers can also click on the page numbers, or space bar.
Maybe a photo could appear inside the photo once the page is ready to be turned. Could that possibly work with Lee's idea of mosaic? By clicking on P2 that appears on P1 [fig.1], the page turns/expands to P2 [fig.2].
fig.1
fig.2
Saturday, 27 February 2010
Vinni Pukh, the Soviet Pooh
Vinni Pukh is Russian. The story is identical to Winnie the Pooh's.
Animator.ru [2010] «Winnie the Pooh» [online]
Niffwan [2010] Animatsiya in English. [online]http://niffiwan.livejournal.com/15761.html [27/02/2010]
Personas: How Internet sees Me
This is how internet sees me, apparently.
Personas "scours Internet looking for characterizing statements to use in its analysis" and visually displays it [Personas, 2010]. So according to this data analysis, internet seems I'm an arty professional, spends time online and doing sports... and it thinks I'm more into aggression than design. I did notice Personas picking up others during its processing, so perhaps there's an aggressive me out there somewhere. I take no responsibilities for his (or her) actions.
Personas "scours Internet looking for characterizing statements to use in its analysis" and visually displays it [Personas, 2010]. So according to this data analysis, internet seems I'm an arty professional, spends time online and doing sports... and it thinks I'm more into aggression than design. I did notice Personas picking up others during its processing, so perhaps there's an aggressive me out there somewhere. I take no responsibilities for his (or her) actions.
Personas was created at MIT Media Lab by Aaron Zinman, Alex Dragulescu, Yannick Assogba and Judith Donath.
A Skype Meeting: 26/02/2010
with Lee, Ting and Terry
We talked, and typed, about how we could use the images. It was a follow up of an idea I'd heard from Lee at the group critique, which I'd not heard before. I felt we needed to talk to the group about it. His idea was to have the photos that have been manipulated separate from text and Ting's illustration. I'd thought about it after he mentioned it, and it sounded like it would work.
In the meeting we discussed this idea and everyone seemed to think this way, and this is what we're going to do.
Another topic on manipulating images. I'd seen Lee's images and was impressed by them, but wasn't aware of his idea of collaboration, which was that I would then add a photograph on top of what he had done, like a collage. I said I'd give it a go and see how they look. I'm not much of a Photoshop type, so I don't know how much I could do to satisfy myself and others.
I'm starting to see the limitations of Skype, where it often cuts people out. It is possibly related to internet connections participants have, but most of us were affected by it over a 40 minutes period. Which is frustrating. What other conferency methods can we use that's free...
I don't need to talk to 5 artists Skype has chosen - I just want to talk with my creative partners.
Sound Bites
Audio presentation by the Sound Agency tells us how sound can affect our moods and behaviour.
The Sound Agency, run by Julian Treasure, has a visually simple website, possibly due its emphasis on sound.
No Comment TV. [2010] Rostropovich cello performance in front of the Berlin Wall. [online]
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FiwXUJJjL6g
[27/02/2010]The Sound Agency [2010] Audio. [online]
http://www.thesoundagency.com/docs/Sound%20Affects.mp3
[27/02/2010]
Terry Peng, a friend and a music student, is in charge of sound for the picture book. We have communicated, often in pubs, about how sound does effect the scene. He knows the story well too, and what he's put together so far works with the mood. His intention is to get musicians to play it using real instruments.
The Sound Agency, run by Julian Treasure, has a visually simple website, possibly due its emphasis on sound.
Back to sound. The Russian composer and cellist Mstislav Rostropovich was at the Berlin Wall shortly after the 1989 opening. He was an advocate of human rights too.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FiwXUJJjL6g
[27/02/2010]
http://www.thesoundagency.com/docs/Sound%20Affects.mp3
[27/02/2010]
News as Network
Wilson, C. [2010] News Dots: The Day's Events as a Social Network. [online] http://slatest.slate.com/features/news_dots/default.htm [27/02/2010]
Mathieu Lehanneur
Flat Surgery: Anatomy Rug
Mathieu Lehanneur's website comes with an index-like simplist design. Each themes tab opens up with photos of a video, also with a short description.
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