In light of our most recent assignment, my flatmate told me of a French artist, Sophie Calle, who followed people she saw on the street and observed them.
http://www.whitecube.com/exhibitions/suitevenitienne/
"For months I followed strangers on the street. For the pleasure of following them, not because they particularly interested me. I photographed them without their knowledge, took note of their movements, then finally lost sight of them and forgot them."
Tuesday, 9 March 2010
Monday, 8 March 2010
Seminar Reflection
For our seminar this week, we discussed the results from this weeks assignment; The Design Safari. Three of us went to two different shopping centres in Dundee; the Wellgate and the Overgate. We talked about our experiences, the people we observed and the stories we could make up about people; the tale of the lesser toed single mother turned lesbian being er, a Natalia specialty! I'd actually like to go and follow someone for the day, make up a name and a life for them, based perhaps on the things they buy and what they'd tell you about them? They would essentially be a blank canvas for you to manipulate any way you saw fit. You'd need to be fairly subtle to follow a person for the amount of time you'd need to make up their story, hence why this may not be the best idea for me! Time to whip out those dark sunglasses ...
Don't think the shopping centres were the best idea for people watching - there's a limited amount of information you can gather on a person in the 3 seconds it takes them to walk past you. Unless they have an extra leg. Or a very humorous walk. If we knew this before we'd done it, we would have opted for a train station or bus station; someplace that emotions would be more obvious, goodbyes and hellos, harassed parents, students lugging backpacks from whichever parts of the country they're zooming off to. Plus, there'd be people waiting around for other passengers or for a bus/train to arrive, so you'd have more of an opportunity to study them, whereas you only get a glimpse of someone pacing past you in a shopping centre.
Doing something like this makes me ponder what people passing me must think of me. I tend to have a very serious face (constantly being told to cheer up; it may never happen ... well, obviously it has freakin' well happened if I'm wandering around looking like this!) and no doubt I must look a miserable git to passers by! If I don't know someone well, or feed off their nervousness around me, I become very quiet and reserved - quite unlike how I am around any of my friends or family, and it makes me wonder; after a 10 minute meeting with me, how do people perceive me?
In terms of relating it to my own discipline, I think this method will make me observe a person more closely; what do their movements and body language give away about their character? I’d focus on that quite strongly, because like me, I know that to someone who knows nothing about me, I’d come off completely different to how I am. I think I could manipulate this method, because you can tell plenty about a person by their clothes/makeup/hair because these are all methods of self expression and can usually take a relative stab at their music taste, interests and possibly in some cases, their sexuality as well; you just have to be selective in what assumptions you make. For instance; if a person wears trainers, it doesn’t necessarily make them a chav. They could be someone who practises a sport, or prefer them purely from a comfort perspective. We judge people on a daily basis, not necessarily fairly, but there’s no denying it. You just have to be fairer and more objective to use it in a beneficial way.
Don't think the shopping centres were the best idea for people watching - there's a limited amount of information you can gather on a person in the 3 seconds it takes them to walk past you. Unless they have an extra leg. Or a very humorous walk. If we knew this before we'd done it, we would have opted for a train station or bus station; someplace that emotions would be more obvious, goodbyes and hellos, harassed parents, students lugging backpacks from whichever parts of the country they're zooming off to. Plus, there'd be people waiting around for other passengers or for a bus/train to arrive, so you'd have more of an opportunity to study them, whereas you only get a glimpse of someone pacing past you in a shopping centre.
Doing something like this makes me ponder what people passing me must think of me. I tend to have a very serious face (constantly being told to cheer up; it may never happen ... well, obviously it has freakin' well happened if I'm wandering around looking like this!) and no doubt I must look a miserable git to passers by! If I don't know someone well, or feed off their nervousness around me, I become very quiet and reserved - quite unlike how I am around any of my friends or family, and it makes me wonder; after a 10 minute meeting with me, how do people perceive me?
In terms of relating it to my own discipline, I think this method will make me observe a person more closely; what do their movements and body language give away about their character? I’d focus on that quite strongly, because like me, I know that to someone who knows nothing about me, I’d come off completely different to how I am. I think I could manipulate this method, because you can tell plenty about a person by their clothes/makeup/hair because these are all methods of self expression and can usually take a relative stab at their music taste, interests and possibly in some cases, their sexuality as well; you just have to be selective in what assumptions you make. For instance; if a person wears trainers, it doesn’t necessarily make them a chav. They could be someone who practises a sport, or prefer them purely from a comfort perspective. We judge people on a daily basis, not necessarily fairly, but there’s no denying it. You just have to be fairer and more objective to use it in a beneficial way.
Sunday, 7 March 2010
And now, a little self indulgence ...
"When his two hour set ended, I could only think, 'Can anyone really be this good; can anyone say this much to me, can rock 'n' roll still speak with this kind of power and glory?' And then I felt the sores on my thighs where I had been pounding my hands in time for the entire concert and I knew the answer was yes." Jon Landau.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C3vUKBOJ5sU
This isn't his most recent video, but it sums up all that is Bruce Springsteen for me.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C3vUKBOJ5sU
This isn't his most recent video, but it sums up all that is Bruce Springsteen for me.
Semester 2, Assignment 3: Design Safari Analysis
The top floor of the Overgate is a fairly deserted realm first thing on a chilly Thursday morning. I say first thing, when I really mean; just after half past 10 when most reasonable people are up and about in their busy day, and not blinking, bleary eyed into the town in search of some much needed hot chocolate. Apparently however, their busy day doesn’t lead them to the Overgate; it probably leads them to their no doubt very respectable and well paying jobs. Quite unlike a certain threesome of miscreant art students who are unused to seeing this early hour, unless the period of sleep that takes place in the dark hours has been missed out altogether.
Quite a specific group of people littered the top floor of the town’s busiest shopping centre; mainly being single elderly males, and a few mixed couples of either; boyfriend and girlfriend, husband and wife, mother and daughter (who is sometimes a child, sometimes not). These people obviously have much higher tolerance levels than I, as no mentally well balanced amour of mine has ever had the urge to disturb me in the dawn hours. For that matter, no member of my family (spare my father, but he’s always been a tad slow) or friend has bothered me either. I tend to hurl various objects in the direction of the no doubt well meaning individual who has deigned to bring me cup of coffee and curse in a heavy Dundonian accent, littered with glottal stops. It’s only about 2pm that I start to have functioning thoughts (just) so perhaps that would explain the scarcity of people other than aged singular males. It tends to be, in my experience, that the elderly do rise earlier than the young, indeed my own slightly batty grandmother has a tendency to hoover at around 4am when she can’t sleep.
The sole purpose for the top floor seemed to be purely as a thoroughfare for people to belt along, obviously with someplace better to be going. Few went into the surrounding shops; Thompson’s the travel agents and Optical Express, and I sat and studied a bored looking sales assistant polish the same pair of glasses for a good twenty minutes. Debenhams up to 25% off sale seemed to be doing a roaring trade and it wasn’t long before I was taking a tally chart of all the luminous lime green carrier bags that passed my way. The power of advertising on carrier bags is unbelievable as it drove me to Debenhams, a venue I rarely venture, and had be thoroughly abusing the discount. It’s someplace I’d be unlikely to bother noticing the advertising but seeing all the lime green bags made me want a piece of whatever action these people were getting. Goodbye £25.60 and hello Art Deco dress and crippling student debt. Primark, M&S and Next seemed to be doing not too shabbily either, and working in retail myself, I took noticed of another shopper’s gaudily lit red bag baring the message of a massive sale at Next. Maybe I’ll just take a wee gander…
Other than a woman wearing one UGG boot and a trainer, and Karen and I being interviewed for the Evening Tele’; “If you won the lottery, would you spend it or save it?” Save some, spend the rest. “And what would you buy?” A pony. (I’m such a girl); the Overgate had little to offer, so we moseyed on down to the Wellgate, also a shopping centre, but quite with quite a different vibe.
Little drives me up that end of town; albeit TopShop and my own work, Clarks, and the Wellgate has little to offer a younger crowd like myself. Save from New Look (which the Overgate boasts a larger store), the Wellgate is filled by BHS, bargain store TJ Hughes and a scattering of random little shops that sell all manner of crap. It’s no secret Dundee’s shops er, suck and with TopShop moving to a bigger space in the Overgate, how much longer can that end of town survive? It’s a relic from a bygone era; the lady’s toilets in BHS haven’t changed their sickly gleaming white and blue interior since I were a wean, and that were many moons ago. Even the music belongs to a time gone by; Maroon 5’s “This Love” was one I heard played and right enough, every time I’ve passed through the Wellgate, I’ve never heard a snatch of Gaga or whatever else is topping the charts blaring out over the tannoy. It seems the Wellgate is trapped in the past, the clientele being (without sounding heinously like an middle class snob) specific to the less well off and well, chavvier people of Dundee,
Beco, a smallish vintage boutique, has opened on the first floor of the Wellgate and despite it having a not too bad collection of shirts, scarves and handbags (shoes too, but they don’t count for me seeing as I have to buy my shoes down at the boatyard), it’s location isn’t prime, and I wonder how long it will manage to survive. I bought a skirt whilst out on safari and whilst the price right enough, the girl who served me seemed fairly out of it; eyes glazed over, either at the prospect of another dull day trapped in the Wellgate, or the previous night out on the town; who knows? Perhaps I’m being harsh, but realistically, the future doesn’t look good, as every time I’ve been there, the place is deserted, and in a town thronging with art students and quirky fashion sense, surely Beco’s rails should be bare, save for the odd hanger? The power of advertisement is key, and I think Beco ought to be looking into some of those lime green bags …
Dundee’s other vintage shop, of which I am a frequenter, is RARA and The Pretty Vacant Showrooms. Located on Exchange Street, it’s location is also not ideal, but it’s a cosy wee shop littered with a variety of jewellery, handbags and clothes. Its interior is completely different; Beco favours minimalist chic whilst RARA is chockablock with memorabilia and it’s something I much prefer. The girl who works there is pleasant and chatty and lacks the snobbish airs of the girl who served me in Beco. I’m a fierce supporter of one off thrift shops and vintage boutiques popping up in Dundee, and I will continue going to both, but I know which I prefer.
The differences in the different ends of town were what I noticed most; the people, the shops and the feel of the two centres struck quite opposite chords, and I look forward to Dundee welcoming more shops, and await with a certain melancholy the no doubt certain demise of the Wellgate centre.
Quite a specific group of people littered the top floor of the town’s busiest shopping centre; mainly being single elderly males, and a few mixed couples of either; boyfriend and girlfriend, husband and wife, mother and daughter (who is sometimes a child, sometimes not). These people obviously have much higher tolerance levels than I, as no mentally well balanced amour of mine has ever had the urge to disturb me in the dawn hours. For that matter, no member of my family (spare my father, but he’s always been a tad slow) or friend has bothered me either. I tend to hurl various objects in the direction of the no doubt well meaning individual who has deigned to bring me cup of coffee and curse in a heavy Dundonian accent, littered with glottal stops. It’s only about 2pm that I start to have functioning thoughts (just) so perhaps that would explain the scarcity of people other than aged singular males. It tends to be, in my experience, that the elderly do rise earlier than the young, indeed my own slightly batty grandmother has a tendency to hoover at around 4am when she can’t sleep.
The sole purpose for the top floor seemed to be purely as a thoroughfare for people to belt along, obviously with someplace better to be going. Few went into the surrounding shops; Thompson’s the travel agents and Optical Express, and I sat and studied a bored looking sales assistant polish the same pair of glasses for a good twenty minutes. Debenhams up to 25% off sale seemed to be doing a roaring trade and it wasn’t long before I was taking a tally chart of all the luminous lime green carrier bags that passed my way. The power of advertising on carrier bags is unbelievable as it drove me to Debenhams, a venue I rarely venture, and had be thoroughly abusing the discount. It’s someplace I’d be unlikely to bother noticing the advertising but seeing all the lime green bags made me want a piece of whatever action these people were getting. Goodbye £25.60 and hello Art Deco dress and crippling student debt. Primark, M&S and Next seemed to be doing not too shabbily either, and working in retail myself, I took noticed of another shopper’s gaudily lit red bag baring the message of a massive sale at Next. Maybe I’ll just take a wee gander…
Other than a woman wearing one UGG boot and a trainer, and Karen and I being interviewed for the Evening Tele’; “If you won the lottery, would you spend it or save it?” Save some, spend the rest. “And what would you buy?” A pony. (I’m such a girl); the Overgate had little to offer, so we moseyed on down to the Wellgate, also a shopping centre, but quite with quite a different vibe.
Little drives me up that end of town; albeit TopShop and my own work, Clarks, and the Wellgate has little to offer a younger crowd like myself. Save from New Look (which the Overgate boasts a larger store), the Wellgate is filled by BHS, bargain store TJ Hughes and a scattering of random little shops that sell all manner of crap. It’s no secret Dundee’s shops er, suck and with TopShop moving to a bigger space in the Overgate, how much longer can that end of town survive? It’s a relic from a bygone era; the lady’s toilets in BHS haven’t changed their sickly gleaming white and blue interior since I were a wean, and that were many moons ago. Even the music belongs to a time gone by; Maroon 5’s “This Love” was one I heard played and right enough, every time I’ve passed through the Wellgate, I’ve never heard a snatch of Gaga or whatever else is topping the charts blaring out over the tannoy. It seems the Wellgate is trapped in the past, the clientele being (without sounding heinously like an middle class snob) specific to the less well off and well, chavvier people of Dundee,
Beco, a smallish vintage boutique, has opened on the first floor of the Wellgate and despite it having a not too bad collection of shirts, scarves and handbags (shoes too, but they don’t count for me seeing as I have to buy my shoes down at the boatyard), it’s location isn’t prime, and I wonder how long it will manage to survive. I bought a skirt whilst out on safari and whilst the price right enough, the girl who served me seemed fairly out of it; eyes glazed over, either at the prospect of another dull day trapped in the Wellgate, or the previous night out on the town; who knows? Perhaps I’m being harsh, but realistically, the future doesn’t look good, as every time I’ve been there, the place is deserted, and in a town thronging with art students and quirky fashion sense, surely Beco’s rails should be bare, save for the odd hanger? The power of advertisement is key, and I think Beco ought to be looking into some of those lime green bags …
Dundee’s other vintage shop, of which I am a frequenter, is RARA and The Pretty Vacant Showrooms. Located on Exchange Street, it’s location is also not ideal, but it’s a cosy wee shop littered with a variety of jewellery, handbags and clothes. Its interior is completely different; Beco favours minimalist chic whilst RARA is chockablock with memorabilia and it’s something I much prefer. The girl who works there is pleasant and chatty and lacks the snobbish airs of the girl who served me in Beco. I’m a fierce supporter of one off thrift shops and vintage boutiques popping up in Dundee, and I will continue going to both, but I know which I prefer.
The differences in the different ends of town were what I noticed most; the people, the shops and the feel of the two centres struck quite opposite chords, and I look forward to Dundee welcoming more shops, and await with a certain melancholy the no doubt certain demise of the Wellgate centre.
Thursday, 4 March 2010
Semester 2, Assignment 3; Design Safari
For our third assignment, we had to go out as a group and study our fellow human beings in an environment such as a coffee shop, shopping centre, bus/train station etc. Here are our findings, copied exactly as I wrote them down.
4th March, 11.05 am, opposite Thomsons, top floor of the Overgate.
20 year old guy, wearing a suit, possibly getting interviewed. 25 - 26 year old female, grey jacket. Interviewing/ survey for Evening Telegraph. If you won the lottery would you spend it all at once? Took names and photographs. Use top floor as thoroughfare - few passers by actually go into the surrounding shops. High ration of singular elderly men. Lots of couples either husband and wife, boyfriend and girlfiend, mother and daughter etc. Odd workman. 2 policemen carrying paper cups in a Morrison's bag. UPS guy carrying an Orange bag. Chinese mother and son waiting for something/one? Sat behind us. Many a buggy/push chair. Mixtures of races but predominantly white. Man - Rupert. 10 x 10 -13 year old boys with tennis rackets. Black lab guide dog in training. Couple both drinking Irn Bru and eating Greggs. 2 men unsuccessfully flogging makeup in black bags outside WHSmith. One woman wearing an UGG boot and a trainer.
Debenhams bag count: 25
M&S bag count: 8
Next bag count: 4
Primark bag count: 18
Will analyse and discuss results in a future post.
4th March, 11.05 am, opposite Thomsons, top floor of the Overgate.
20 year old guy, wearing a suit, possibly getting interviewed. 25 - 26 year old female, grey jacket. Interviewing/ survey for Evening Telegraph. If you won the lottery would you spend it all at once? Took names and photographs. Use top floor as thoroughfare - few passers by actually go into the surrounding shops. High ration of singular elderly men. Lots of couples either husband and wife, boyfriend and girlfiend, mother and daughter etc. Odd workman. 2 policemen carrying paper cups in a Morrison's bag. UPS guy carrying an Orange bag. Chinese mother and son waiting for something/one? Sat behind us. Many a buggy/push chair. Mixtures of races but predominantly white. Man - Rupert. 10 x 10 -13 year old boys with tennis rackets. Black lab guide dog in training. Couple both drinking Irn Bru and eating Greggs. 2 men unsuccessfully flogging makeup in black bags outside WHSmith. One woman wearing an UGG boot and a trainer.
Debenhams bag count: 25
M&S bag count: 8
Next bag count: 4
Primark bag count: 18
Will analyse and discuss results in a future post.
Project 3: Catwalk; Evaluation and Results
So with my laptop outta use, I've found it harder to keep up with the blog, but going to post a variety of posts today to catch you up with all everything that's been happening.
Project 3: Catwalk ended a couple of weeks ago, and rather successfully I may add. I've posted pictures of me modelling Natalia's piece, so I'll upload a couple of Suzi modelling mine. I chose Art Nouveau as my inspiration and spent most of my Christmas holidays tearing up vintage Vogues and researching various designers including jewellers, glassmakers, interior designers, furniture designers and illustrators. I focused mainly on the work of Rene Lalique who crafted these beautiful intricate costume pieces, often with a macabre edge to them.
I love how elaborate his pieces are but how they also have a somewhat sinister air to them, and this was something a really wanted to incorporate into my own work.
I also focused on furniture designers of the period, in particular Louis Majorelle, whose Nenuphur bed was a endless source of ideas.
I wanted to manipulate the heavy solidness of the furniture into my headpiece and my first idea was to carve the headpiece out of wood. However, after much debate and deciding that it would be both too heavy for the wearer and too time consuming to construct, I settled on combining brass, reminiscent of the feet from the bed, and branches; the main inspiration for the Art Nouveau artists was nature afterall.
I created a lily out of brass and etched a pair of eyes on two of the petals, giving the viewer the impression of having someone stare back out at them. I wanted it to be subtle and not instantly recognisable.
One of the main components of the brief was to use colour in this piece and for this, I used flocking; namely a textile technique for velvetising surfaces using a static charge and coloured fibres, and used acrylic paint and gold leaf to make the inside of my flower as lavish and decadent as possible.
For the photographs I got Suzi back in touch with nature and dressed her up in a sheet and had her wandering the campus. I think they worked really well, and my only issue with them was the college in the background which if I'd had more time, I would have edited out. Also, it was the middle of February and I think it may have been too much to ask Suzi to travel much further in her toga without catching hypothermia!
Project 3: Catwalk ended a couple of weeks ago, and rather successfully I may add. I've posted pictures of me modelling Natalia's piece, so I'll upload a couple of Suzi modelling mine. I chose Art Nouveau as my inspiration and spent most of my Christmas holidays tearing up vintage Vogues and researching various designers including jewellers, glassmakers, interior designers, furniture designers and illustrators. I focused mainly on the work of Rene Lalique who crafted these beautiful intricate costume pieces, often with a macabre edge to them.
I love how elaborate his pieces are but how they also have a somewhat sinister air to them, and this was something a really wanted to incorporate into my own work.
I also focused on furniture designers of the period, in particular Louis Majorelle, whose Nenuphur bed was a endless source of ideas.
I wanted to manipulate the heavy solidness of the furniture into my headpiece and my first idea was to carve the headpiece out of wood. However, after much debate and deciding that it would be both too heavy for the wearer and too time consuming to construct, I settled on combining brass, reminiscent of the feet from the bed, and branches; the main inspiration for the Art Nouveau artists was nature afterall.
I created a lily out of brass and etched a pair of eyes on two of the petals, giving the viewer the impression of having someone stare back out at them. I wanted it to be subtle and not instantly recognisable.
One of the main components of the brief was to use colour in this piece and for this, I used flocking; namely a textile technique for velvetising surfaces using a static charge and coloured fibres, and used acrylic paint and gold leaf to make the inside of my flower as lavish and decadent as possible.
For the photographs I got Suzi back in touch with nature and dressed her up in a sheet and had her wandering the campus. I think they worked really well, and my only issue with them was the college in the background which if I'd had more time, I would have edited out. Also, it was the middle of February and I think it may have been too much to ask Suzi to travel much further in her toga without catching hypothermia!
Semester 2, Assignment 2: Stories
Ok, so with my trusty laptop outta action, and apparently unfixable (I'm hoping that the bearded man that haunts level 3 of the Matthew building can save it; it's in his capable hands for the time being). However, I lost all the work that was on it, but have got some of it back, so here be the long awaited assignment two.
For this we had to show three photographs (the images just above this) to a mixture of people from different backgrounds and see what stories they could come up with...
A pagan ritual involved the midwinter worship of a giant orb. The barbarians stay up drinking in the moonlight after leaving their dirt cave houses. Every one in the pagan community went out for this ritual, except the muppet normaloid who was kept locked up inside the mud hits, because his rantings and ravings and science talk was dangerous to the moon people! In the full bright ritual night, the moonlight passed through the window into the raving mans room, he changed and morphed and broke free from his chains! ARGHHHHH arf.arf woof he becomes a god, to dance and jump and participate in their crazy moon sacrifice! Josh, English student
In the dark dark forest, there was a dark dark cottage and in the dark dark cottage, there was a dark dark room, and in the dark dark room, there was a dark dark bed and under the dark dark hid a dark dark dog. The bright bright moon shone through the dark dark window revealing a dark red eyes … Julie, Psychology student
A man looked through a telescope at the shining moon. It was still visible despite the low rising sun. He was in the observatory atop his tower, in the middle of a vast desert, in the middle of a dark land! The only noticeable thing in the tower beneath the vast glass dome on the top, was a small window with a cross bar across it, and a disturbing and putrid stench escaping in surges from the dark square hole. The man shuddered as a howl escaped loudly from beneath him! Emma, Shop assistant
Nose close to the ground, he ran snuffling through the forest, lightly pattering against fallen leaves, the luminous moon his only source of light. He wasn’t sure what had driven him from the warmth of the cottage. He stopped, paused, and sniffed the air. A mile on, he reached his destination and growling, pulled at the trouser leg protruding from beneath the leaves … David, Lecturer
Once upon a time, there was a boy, his face yellow and bright. He was a sad boy; he got very lazy in summer and would only wake up for a couple of hours in the middle of the night when it was nice and cool. What he longed for most was to up in the day hovering above everyone watching the world pass by. He only gets to see the sinful stop outs and drink addled fools stumbling home to their cottages and homes, in his bright light. On occasion when he was wearing his heels and had eaten too much and was highest and fullest in the sky, some odd hairy folk came out and yelled at him. This boy felt this was very unfair. He was only doing his job. Ruth, Vet
The main themes that my er, subjects picked up on were mainly that of er, werewolfism and murder. Cheery stuff. So, with these somewhat sinister thoughts in mind, I chose an image of a werewolf silhouetted against the moon to put across the concepts of darkness and terror.
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