haozhangworld-blog

[haozhangworld-blog]

23-24 April

As you prepare for your Unit 3 presentation taking place on 23-24 April, please consider the following information.

Session

We advise you to approach this session as a key moment to receive feedback on your progression towards your Unit 3 submission. Imagine this as a developed initial draft of your Unit Major Project Definition document. We advise you to refer to the Unit 3 brief and guidelines document attached as you prepare for the session.

Format

This session will work to the following structure.

5 min digital PDF presentation to include:

— Research Question

— Statement of Intent (bullet-points)

— Critical Context Review: critical evaluation of key primary & secondary research

— Next Steps/Action Plan towards Unit 3 submission

5 min tabletop to include:

— Critical Context Review: critical evaluation of key primary research. Consider this an opportunity to share key design artefacts (see Unit 3 brief).

5 min Q&A/Discussion

— Discussion with peer group and tutors about points of interest/development

Schedule

The schedule which includes times, rooming and facilitating tutor info is attached. if you wish or need to swap sessions, please arrange this amongst yourselves and inform the tutor/s facilitating the session of the change before the session.

Preparation

As you are aware, timing is very important in these sessions to ensure everyone is given adequate time to present and receive feedback. To participate in this session, it is essentially to arrive early to:

— upload your digital PDF presentation

— prepare your tabletop display

It is also necessary to rehearse your presentation to ensure you are covering the key points and you have edited your thoughts to work within the allocated time, 5 mins. If you run over the allocated time, you will be asked to stop.

[haozhangworld-blog]

Reference

Literature Study:

1. Jaap Kooijman. (2014) Fabricating the Absolute Fake: America in Contemporary Pop Culture. Amsterdam: Amsterdam University Press

By applying Whitney Houston performing at Super Bowl in 1991,  the author explains that how patriotism, pop culture, and consumerism have become intertwined. He mainly analyzes it from military power, speaking language, flags, the color of populations, national anthem and camera angle.

2.The Pervert's Ideology (2012) Directed by Sophie Fiennes Toronto: P Guide ProductionsZeitgeist Films.

" Ideology allow you to see the real message beneath, all the propaganda, publicity glitz, posters and so on."

" In an ideological edifice, you need some pseudo concrete image, to fixate your imagination, and then this image can mobilize people. ".

3. 想像的共同體, 本尼迪克特·安德森

Artifacts Study:

1. Xiang Fan (2015), Secret, Available at: https://mp.weixin.qq.com/s/UY2e5fXmFfD-iTAFjziYPQ

Research Method: Data Visualization

Xiang Fan edits and divides into Spring Festival Gala video. For example, there is a singing performance, she screenshot many pictures frame by frame in order to zoom out to like at this performance.

2. Adam Curtis (2016), HyperNormalisation, Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-fny99f8amM

Research Method: Visual language

This documentary makes extensive use of footage from the BBC archives and includes material shot especially for the documentary.

3. The Spectacle of the Tragedy, Noortje van Eekelen

The Spectacle of the Tragedy tells a visual story about the politicians that navigate the Euro crisis. It shows us what is happening behind their political smiles and gives us an insight into their irresponsible behavior.

The Euro was devised to bind countries, but today it rather seems to divide countries. Strong countries do not want to pay for the weaker countries in the South. Our European leaders try to secure an economically and politically unified system. To them, this seems the best way to create European trust and keep the economic engines running. However, the current political elite fails to involve citizens into their unclear system and does not realize what kind of fire they are playing with.

By collecting and repurposing images taken from the fragmented and temporary news articles about the financial crisis, Noortje van Eekelen has created a database that presents itself to the public as a website. The website is a compilation about the European Show and its leading actors; at the same time it tells the story of the unmistakable destruction of the Euro as a result of obscure financial operations and human failure.

4. Xiang Fan (2015), A Palette of CCTV's Chinese New Year Gala, Available at: http://cargocollective.com/zeelab/A-Palette-of-CCTV-s-Chinese-New-Year-Gala-1

5. Cinema Redux (2004), Creating a visual fingerprint of a movie. Available at: http://brendandawes.com/projects/cinemaredux

6. <Color> Wheel   2012Archival inkjet.54" x 54". Ed. 7 + 2 APs.This project builds a standard, tertiary ROYGBV color wheel from thousands of images returned by queries for color terms.  While the results mostly conform to expectations (e.g. 'orange' predominantly returns images of orange things), there are some important exceptions ('+blue +violet' yields alot of flesh-tone and is most definitely not safe for work).Here, the interest lies in mapping a "semantic gradient" to a color gradient through the amoral & skewed lens of search engines.1notes1. <Color> Wheel used bing.com as the search engine, although Google image search results overlap significantly with it.  The choice of Bing is due to the Google api limit of 64 image downloads per search.  Perhaps counterintuitively, Bing allows 1000 downloads per search.

7. MTV's 10 Greatest Music Videos of All Time   2001Digital C-prints mounted to Plexiglas.27 " x 38". 5 + 2 APs. MTV compiled a millenium list of the "Greatest Music Videos of All Time." Each of the videos in the top 10 of this list were digitized in their entirety and the individual frames were simplified to their mean average color, eliminating overt content. These solid-colored squares were then arranged in their original sequence and are read left-to-right, top-to-bottom.

8.The Top Grossing Film of All Time, 1 x 1    2000Digital C-print mounted to Plexiglas.47" x 72". Ed. 5 + 2 APs. The worldwide top grossing film of all time (until 2010), Titanic, was digitized from video in its entirety and broken up into its constituent frames. Each of these was then averaged to a single color best representative of that frame and reformatted as a photograph mirroring the narrative sequence of the film. Reading from left-to-right and top-to-bottom, the narrative's visual rhythm is laid out in pure color.

9. how to show?

[haozhangworld-blog]

In Search of... Irregulars / Wednesday 28 Feb.

Our third session entitled In Search of... Irregulars will take this coming Wednesday, the 28th of February from 10-6pm. Here is an outline of the day: 1. A studio visit of graphic designer John Morgan and his team, where we’ll discuss his series “Four Corner Books” as a starting point to understand his practice. 2. A visit of the complex and intricate former home/library/drawing room/museum of English architect Sir John Soane. More images here. 3. A selection of books, objects and films to study as part of our ongoing “forensic design club”

[haozhangworld-blog]

Unit 2

What kind of artworks can be exhibited in Saatchi gallery?

Research Method: Collecting the information of artworks and exhibitions for last 10 years, based on several identified catalogs.

Research Question: How the artworks or artists could be a symbol and then used by other artists?

Research Method: Break down the database, Filter the information，reflecting on our primitive findings to redirect our next step, literature review, visual experiment.

Research Question: What is the relationship between the theme of artworks and social events?

Research Method: Focusing the information on an exhibition of Art Riot. From the time, events, artists, place, the theme of artworks to collect information and then combine them together.

Insight 1

Insight 1: We found the performance of artists in Russian have a mutual and visual impact on another artist or artwork. For example, when Pussy Riot arrested in Moscow on Mar 3, 2012, Pyotr Pavlensky did the performance Stich in Kazan Cathedral on July 23, 2012 to respond in order to against the arrest of members of pussy riot.

Artwork: Stich    

Year: 2012 July 23  

Place: Kazan Cathedral, St. Petersburg

Event: Pussy Riot

Arrested  year: Mar 3, 2012  

Place: Moscow

Insight 2

Insight 2: We also found that some artworks and performance of artist were symbolized and then be used by other artists, For instance, the performance of Pussy Riot can be symbolized by Logo, Mask, slogan. The artists such as Semen Agrosin painted artwork called Pussy Riot. Other related artworks like Mordovlag and Free pussy riot can also respond to the performance of Pussy Riot.

Art work: Pussy Riot

Artist: Semen Agrosin

Year: 2017

Medium: Acrylic on paper

Size: 50*70cm

Caption: Art work Inspired by Pussy Riot

Art work: Mordovlag

Artist: Lucine Djanyan

Year: 2013

Medium: Poster

Artist: Berin Hasi

Artwork: Free pussy riot

Year: 2014

Medium: Poster

Caption: Against Putin, inspired by Pussy Riot.

Reference

Anaut Alberto (2012) In an absolute disorder:Russian contemporary art. Barcelona:Arts Santa Monica

Andrey Kovalev (2017) Art riot : post-Soviet actionism. Place of publication not identified: ABCdesign Studio

The next stage

Research Question: How to curate a new exhibition by applying symbols which were extracted from artists’ artworks?

Research methods: Refined the research question,  Reflective review, Re-plan research and collaborative strategy, Re-create database, Visual experiments

Reflective review: We think there are too many interesting things we can explore more, for the collaborative work, the better way is to focus on the most engaging ideas and then try to express it in different directions.

Collaborative strategy: 1. Continue to explore the idea that How artists’ artworks are symbolized? How the symbols are used by other artists?

2.  We mainly emphasize the exhibition ART RIOT: POST-SOVIET ACTIONISMt, to develop our databases. The exhibition feature such performance artists as Oleg Kulik, Pussy Riot, Pyotr Pavlensky, Blue Noses and some others and display various genres and types of protest art from posters and slogans to video art, staged photography and performances. We analyzed artworks from symbols aspect. For example, when we analyzed Oleg Kulik’s Mad dogs, one could say that symbols are nude and chain.

Artwork: Mad dog

Artist: Oleg Kulik Guarded by Alone Cerberus

Year: 1994

Medium: Photo printing

Size: 30x40cm

3. We were thinking that How to curate a new exhibition by applying symbols which were extracted from artists’ artworks?

Database:

database的图片和解说，个人的visual output的图片和解说。 

Collaborative artworks

We curated a new exhibition by applying symbols which were extracted from artists’ artworks.

1. Art Riot APP design

We think we can extract symbols from artworks and re-edit into our App design. There are four parts like Oleg Kulik, Pussy Riot, Pyotr Pavlensky, Blue Noses. We collected artworks’ image from book, internet, exhibition first, and then extract symbols from artworks, finally classify symbols.

The red square is an important symbol for protest art because many artists have performances on the red square. Therefore, we think we can draw the red square as a background image of the app by vector graphic, and put the symbols on there. if you click one symbol, you can see who use the symbol to create artworks and the caption of artworks and so on.

Based on the processing, we got the physical app on the phone, you can use it to visit the exhibition.

2. Art Riot Book design

We design a book called art-riot, and it is divided into 4 themes of art, the human body (Pyotr Pavlensky), animal(Oleg Kulik), black humor(blue noses) and protest(pussy riot)，each part corresponds to one artist’s main symbols. For example, the animal art, we extracted the symbols like fish, dog, pig, horse, and cow. Then in each section of the different symbol, we not only collected the artists’ artworks, we also collect artworks from other artists who also use this symbol as well.

For example, the artwork: new sermon_ created by Oleg Kulik, use the pig as a symbol, and another artwork, created by Nikolay Polissk also use pig.

Artwork: New Sermon

Artist: Oleg Kulik

Year: 1994

Medium: Photo printing

Size: 150x220cm

Caption:

He butchered a pig in public and distributed cuts of meat to the visitors in lieu of a catalog or text about the work. For Kulik, the work made an immediate reference to the politics of the time, where public calls for transparency were simultaneously issued together with a barely secret deal to carve up Soviet state’s assets behind people’s back.

Artwork: Lascaux

Artist: Nikolay Polissk

Year: 2011

Medium: Sculptures

Caption:

Originally sculptures of animals and birds were erected in the forest not far from Nikola-Lenivets, in the trees and on the ground, creating the illusion of an ancient site, made with a chainsaw, Polissky succeeded in expressing the archaic spirit of ancient civilizations.

Feedback Fron David

Art Riot — You struggled a bit at the beginning but didn’t give up and pushed through to reconcile your fascination with the Art Riot show with the brief and graph databases. Well done for sticking with your instinct, and a very difficult subject! Your use of the graph was to map the relationships between news events, artists, artworks, and exhibitions. You mapped out the ways in which these influence each other, and the feedback loops they create. This led you to two main uses of your graph: 1) you used it to generate new work, as tributes or reinterpretations of existing artists or artworks, 2) it became a way to curate work for possible exhibitions or publications. Here are two things to main points to consider, reflecting on your process: 1) Your use of the graph to generate new work was very interesting. I think there might be more potential here if you free yourselves from the original pieces. The work felt a bit like you were explaining or deconstructing specific artworks/artists. It might be more interesting to break down the strategies these artists use and then transpose them to completely new settings, to make them more fully yours; for example we discussed WeChat and censorship as a potential site for art-activism. 2) The curation angle was very promising too (as you know I may feel more strongly about this than you :). What made things very hard is that your focus was an exhibition which was already curated, so your role/contribution was very difficult to articulate. I do think there is potential though, a way to draw links between things (what these links are is the crucial point where your work as curators happens, “dog” is one example, but what else?) and to let unexpected combinations emerge. Please see Dot Dot Dot magazine’s “Loose Associations” series in issues 6 and 10, hopefully the LCC library has this.

Research Portfolio- Paul Bailey — The research portfolio shares a general narrative of your experience throughout the workshop. It strangely fails to share key information, such as on your rationale for choosing the workshop, the agreed focus of the research - why did you choose the exhibition at the Saatchi Gallery for example? Were there any other options? Remember your reader when preparing the narrative of your documents in future submissions. The self assessment of your leadership skills and typical working methods with people is an interesting way to prepare for collaborative practice. It would be helpful/interesting to refer back to this when reflecting on your performance within the group - particularly as you do offer an honest reflection on the project and your perspective on collaboration. The document shares a selection of good contextual reference. However, it is not enough to refer to the thoughts/ideas of those who you reference - it necessary to demonstrate or directly articulate how this reference is informing your insights/action. There are numerous issues with spelling and grammar throughout the document. Allow time to proofread and edit before future submissions. Also take care with the design treatment (type composition, scaling, etc), as this currently lack control and undermines the work.

[haozhangworld-blog]

Relevant Artworks

Dmitry Prigov, Tribute to Caspar David Friedrich, 2004

A bench, a pile of newspapers and painting on the wall behind the papers showing an eye, like an icon painting, and a red dot with energy radiating out of it. These elements represent the structure of many post-war Russian artworks: a place for the audience/ contemplative observer (the bench); the pile of history and everyday life, social and political information, a mix of language (the newspaper);

[haozhangworld-blog]

符号学

没有仪式和象征符号，就没有民族。（Kertzer David (1988), Ritual, politics, and power, NewHaven: Yale university press, 179）

电视仪式传播活动是指是一种符号传播，它包括语言符号传播和非语言符号传播。

结构符号的方法：图像符号，实物符号，行为符号，数字符号，音乐符号，颜色符号。

音乐作为一种串联仪式的程序，它可以超越语言的声音效果和节奏效果，掌握仪式的律动。通过本身具有的美感效应，音乐可以在仪式中发挥“动人展示”的功能。

https://core.ac.uk/download/pdf/16390523.pdf

https://yalebooks.yale.edu/book/9780300043624/ritual-politics-and-power

http://untold-stories.net/?p=Corporate-Nationality

https://www.jstor.org/stable/2083183?seq=1#page_scan_tab_contents

Reference

Dmitry Prigov, Tribute to Caspar David Friedrich, 2004

A bench, a pile of newspapers and painting on the wall behind the papers showing an eye, like an icon painting, and a red dot with energy radiating out of it. These elements represent the structure of many post-war Russian artworks: a place for the audience/ contemplative observer (the bench); the pile of history and everyday life, social and political information, a mix of language (the newspaper);

[haozhangworld-blog]

Studio Day

[14.00] Seminars - see below for timesDrawing from the feedback in this weeks presentations, please bring newly developed visual experiments (primary research) to discuss. Practice-based research researchHow to raise up research question? - 1.23/Tony Credland

What is the meaning of research question?

*Finding a Subject

*Developing a Focus

*Building a Critical Context 

*Defining the Scope and Boundaries

This should lead you towards a set of experiments and/or lines of inquiry in an attempt to answer the question...

Good example:

That is the whole point of theory – theory explains phenomena and dynamics that exist out there.You might have known instinctively that a piece of graphic design is successful, but theory helps to explain why it is successful.

Katherine McCoy Eye magazine 16, Spring 1995

Workshop - Research questions in progress, 1.30/ Paul, Tony, Ben, Charlotte

Vote for each option:

In this workshop, we had 3 stickers, based on each option, we had to vote three research questions that were most fulfill the criteria.

Come up with my Research questions!

My research questions are mainly talking about the relationship between political symbol and national identity. I am interested in political design especially some political metaphor in the public events. I used to do research about the metaphor of calisthenics in China, and that impacted me a lot, I would like to search more political metaphor or symbols on public events.

Based on the result of votes, I gradually realized how to raise a research question and guide me towards a line of inquiry. There are five standers - Relevance, Focus, Viability, scope and boundaries, Critical framework, I can check by myself in order to go on a right way.

There are several points I need to pay attention:

1. The idea of narrow down could be a specific event in the certain country in my case and help to get more and more localization.

2. When I used some special terms to describe the subject or topic, some words could cause the misunderstand, maybe I can find my own words to express a special issue, or I can give more definition of the special terms. another advice is when I use terms, these might adopt my own subjects, probably these can help me to do the research and build up boundaries, but again when researchers are trying to use special terms to explain a subject or topic, they have to explain more or think about the more understandable words.

3. strong subject, less strong discipline.

4. How these keywords connect with different fields, whether than are and design fields, political science. All terms have big cannons within an academic study, which is all about using my research question go back to the world through particular lines.

What I lack in research question:

1. a certain context 

2. a specific event and then analysis

3. the relevance of specific terms with subject

Advice from Paul:

1. Eurovision: song concert. each country in Europ can represent a singer, and they perform. All of Europ votes for the famous performers. 

2. the way I freeze the question, he didn't understand. like conducting study of major public events in particular country that can demonstrate the intention of national politics. that is not very clear. terms ‘matephor’. going to more details

3. logical of questions. I need to go to the point and then deconstruct. I don't have a clear global question. firstly, I need to get the clear question and then break them down. 

4. How is national identity symbolized to design production public events conduct, maybe I can take the case study like the super bowl, Olympic games, winter games, wroptan cup, wancd cup. i could just study the campaigns to host, they were using this language, so I could be looking at that the word called European cap, campaigns to host which is really designed, and it could be that designed piece of the national public relations.

5. super bowl could be an interesting way to see that as a presentation of national identity.

6. editing too much, the super bowl is a really different type of political events. this kind of performance on the street, I can really examine it, so specific like that, using a super bowl of my vision, and that is really local performances on the street that order people.

7. choosing one of the large, more relevance events as a case study, to examine how they understood designed.

Monday 05 Feb Unit 3 Seminars 

In these seminars we expect to discuss:

a developed research question responding the feedback shared in workshop this week

a body of preliminary primary research employing specific research methods and tools

an expanded action plan outlining:

what you are seeking to find out and why (intention),

how you will conduct the research (method, tool)

when do you plan to conduct the research (time, date)

where do you plan to conduct the research (place, location)

who do you need to speak to and how can you contact/schedule this

This action plan should detail your research activities until 19 Feb.

Relevance: one-two key pieces of practice-based secondary research that you believe is critical and relevant to your emergent research and/or the field it originates form. Discuss/debate with your peers.

Action plan: how are you planning your research? Please refer to the points outlined in the seminar requirements below?

Monday 12 Feb Unit 3 Seminars 

Please prepare the following for this session:

Bring all of your visual practical research (experimentation) conducted since the start of Unit 3. Please make sure this work in organised in a manner that is accessible to your group.

Print each of the following items on a separate piece of A4 paper:

a developed research question responding the feedback shared in workshop this week

5 key terms derived from your question (one per A4 page)

5 images of practice-based design/art that is informing your current research (one per A4 page)

5 key contextual images from your secondary research (one per A4 page)

5 short and specific pull quotes from your secondary research reading (one per A4 page)

an expanded action plan until 19 Feb outlining:

what you are seeking to find out and why (intention),

how you will conduct the research (method, tool)

when do you plan to conduct the research (time, date)

where do you plan to conduct the research (place, location)

who do you need to speak to and how can you contact/schedule this

Note:

Please include citation for any work this is not your own.

All moving images references or practical work should be presented as a still - screenshot - storyboard. It should also be accessible to view on your screen/laptop.

Please see the schedule for the seminar sessions attached. If you wish to swap sessions please co-ordinate this amongst yourselves and notify your tutor of the change.

Table Top / Presentation, 19/20th Feb

Have a 5 minute PDF presentation. Made up of only 5 slides showing:

— Current research question — Key terms (defined) + Intention (bullet-points if nessary ) — Contextual Research a: key short quotes from current literature review (150 words max — Contextual Research b: key example of practice-based contextual research (2-3 examples) — Key insights established through your practice-based experimentation at this point (bullet-points) Plus a 5 min tabletop presentation of: Current practice-led experimentation presented in an accessible manner - think about the formats and materials you are presenting through Selection of content you are currently working with, if available

An A3 printed Research Question + your latest Action plan (A3): plans for further research up until the Easter break and onwards if viable.

> what you are seeking to find out and why (intention), > how you will conduct the research (method, tool) > when do you plan to conduct the research (time, date) > where do you plan to conduct the research (place, location) > who do you need to speak to and how can you contact/schedule this 10 min feedback

Monday 26th Feb Unit 3 Seminars 

Drawing from the feedback in this weeks presentations, please bring newly developed visual experiments (primary research) to discuss. Practice-based research.

[haozhangworld-blog]

Review for unit 2

18, Jan, 2018

At the end of the workshop, we had the presentation with peers and David, and there were 3 options we can go through but these mean that we didn’t have a clear intention to make a database.

Our research question was to find out the relationship between social events and artworks, but what we found was the denotation of artworks. We use data analysis as a method to analyze the relationship, that may not an appropriate way because many artists would create artworks for several typical events, the denotation of artworks doesn’t rely on social events. We can find out the denotation without social events. I think the reason why we did this is we didn’t have a clear intention when we did the database. If we wanted to find out how artworks or artists impact on another artworks or artist, that could be more straight. In addition, I think if we continued the database we did at the first time, that might be what we wanted to approach, like analyzing the color, size, 

01 Jan 2018, Career LAB Workshop at LCC

How to define myself within a team and think about what I am more good at and how I can use my benefit within group work.

Feb 3 group discourse

collaborative strategy

Hao: 动物和艺术家之间的关系，动物是一个讽刺艺术家社会地位的标志，所以用动物作为一个隐喻表达艺术家和俄国社会地位的关系。（动物俄国，俄国不把人民当人看。动物代表艺术家或者艺术在俄国的社会地位。）动物园

形式：海报和书籍，模型，贴纸，根据

艺术家名字（artist），作品名artwok，年份year，媒介medium，尺寸size，介绍caption。

performance：艺术家名字，作品名，年份，地点place，介绍

23 Feb 2018, final presentation

Through the final presentation, we had the chance to look at other groups work, and I gradually realized that what is seeing like a diagram. The way we build up Diagram is for to make different and blurring things having the more clear relationship. As a designer, how I can use my own way to show the relationship working on a database. After teamwork, i still think our project is quite subjective and also the database didn't play the biggest important role, which means it seems like even we didn’t use database we could still get this result.

After I talked with David about my confusion, I think in this workshop, the biggest important thing I got is what is the diagram. In terms of before, I think the diagram is a research method or tool, I can use it to approach a hypothesis or to evidence a blurring truth. Based on the topic we chose, we can’t avoid putting into our personal interpretation, but it could be an experience that I have a clear idea how I can use a diagram with my future project.