#not based on any specific museum but i think i subconsciously based it on the museums i've been to

[autistickaitovocaloid]

I went to the museum yesterday (plain sketch under the cut)

[the-casbah-way]

on a similar note, i thought i’d share my personal headcanon for octavius. i think this works best with what we know from canon which is why i prefer it because i am a sucker for sticking with canon i’m boring like that. i think that because octavius and exhibits like him were not based on specific individuals but rather generic hypothetical ‘characters’ of their era, they don’t have any background or knowledge or memories beyond what that entails. octavius has no other names. he’s not gaius octavius or anything, he’s just octavius. he doesn’t know anything about roman shit beyond what he needs to for his ‘character’ and role within the diorama. he could tell you all the ins and outs of roman military procedures but if you ask him about famous roman figures he’s like “who the fuck is that”. he’s a piece of plastic in a museum. it would make sense. in the fic i’m writing now larry goes with the fanon theory and calls octavius “gaius”, to which octavius goes “i’m sorry who” and it turns out that none of octavius’ men even have actual names other than the nicknames they’ve given each other. octavius himself didn’t even have a name until one of the old night guards gave him one. i think it puts him in a really interesting position in terms of being confronted with and governed by these subconscious things that are built into him but which he doesn’t even fully understand or know the sources of. it’s perfect for a character who is literally an inanimate piece of man-made plastic without the magic of the tablet. he’s forced to confront the fact that he didn’t ‘make’ himself, so much of who he is was built-in in a way that feels intrinsically claustrophobic and unnatural. he has to learn how to create himself through his own relationships and actions and how to gain agency over himself by realising that he does have some semblance of control over who he’s allowed to become, and he doesn’t have to automatically subscribe to the Roman Mindset he was created with. he has to challenge traditional roman biases he might hold and figure out what he actually believes outwith what his intended purpose laid out for him. it’s an intrinsic factor in how my pre-canon interpretation of his relationship with jedediah, because he has this innate need to control and to conquer, whereas jed has an innate need to be alone and be free. octavius has this idea that he automatically deserves subservience and respect from everyone he meets because of who he was designed to be, but it doesn’t actually align with what he’s done in the real world and who he genuinely is. he has to earn jed’s respect and trust and co-operation by untangling himself from Roman General Mode and using the more positive built-in skills of bravery and loyalty instead of the negative ones. anyway this is too long and makes no sense but hopefully when i post more of my fics it will come across better

[kaleidoscope1967eyes]

15 questions for 15 (some) friends

Thank you for the tag @bluntblade!!!

Were you named after anyone? apparently a distant relative also shared my name, but I don't think I was named after her specifically

WHEN WAS THE LAST TIME YOU CRIED? either yesterday or this morning. I cry a lot (my record is 11 times in one day)...can't ever remember why, though

DO YOU HAVE KIDS? nope, waaay too young, and I've never even been in any form of a relationship before

WHAT SPORTS HAVE YOU PLAYED/DO YOU PLAY? I used to do swimming as a kid (very bad at it), volleyball for a year (also bad at it), but then I did a lot of horseback riding in middle and high school! never competitively, though, just for fun

DO YOU USE SARCASM? yeahhhhh, sometimes it's obvious, sometimes it's impossible to tell

FIRST THING YOU NOTICE ABOUT PEOPLE? hmm... I guess subconscious body language, but only like 50% of the time (I cycle between being hyper-observant and incapable of observing anything)

WHAT IS YOUR EYE COLOR? blue, but with lots of brown and green, so they actually look very dark

SCARY MOVIES OR HAPPY ENDINGS? nope no no can't handle scary at all, so definitely happy endings (it's mostly a sensory thing)

ANY TALENTS? allegedly drawing, maybe writing, somewhat music, apparently languages and learning? ...but I don't think I'm particularly good enough at anything for it to be impressive

WHERE WERE YOU BORN? a navy base in the US (it was SUPPOSED to be Japan, which would've been cool as hell)

WHAT ARE YOUR HOBBIES? the usual: reading, writing, doodling, fucking around on garage band, watching the tiny handful of things I like, falling down wikipedia rabbitholes

DO YOU HAVE ANY PETS? a dog!! he's very cute

HOW TALL ARE YOU? 5'5"

FAVORITE SUBJECT IN SCHOOL? language!!! all of them >:))

DREAM JOB? probably working in a local cultural museum somewhere in Japan!

tagging: @alexlifesonofficial, @dailydragon08, @officialfoxsquadron, @eveningserenityyy, @lxstfathier, @victorian-nymph, @fan-of-pretty-much-2-much, @rainbow-companion, @pomplalamoose, @tremendouskoalachild, @hansonveggieclub, @stonegoldsxcrxt, and anyone else who wants to do it

15 questions for 15 (some) friends

Thanks for the tag, @foibles-fables :D

Were you named after anyone? Nope

WHEN WAS THE LAST TIME YOU CRIED? My last Dune Part Two screening, a fortnight ago. Or the end of Titanfall 2. I forgot which is more recent.

DO YOU HAVE KIDS? No

WHAT SPORTS HAVE YOU PLAYED/DO YOU PLAY? I'm a longtime kayaker (whitewater river-running mostly) and got into bouldering a couple of years back

DO YOU USE SARCASM? Yep, moderately

FIRST THING YOU NOTICE ABOUT PEOPLE? Err, I think it varies depending on the person

WHAT IS YOUR EYE COLOR? Brown with some green

SCARY MOVIES OR HAPPY ENDINGS? I have to really make myself watch a scary film, so happy endings win by default

ANY TALENTS? Maybe writing? Tbh I think the things I'm good at are more down to good teaching (and in the case of writing, wide reading) than talent on my part.

WHERE WERE YOU BORN? It was blown up in an Edgar Wright movie, won't get more specific than that

WHAT ARE YOUR HOBBIES? Writing, drawing, gaming

DO YOU HAVE ANY PETS? None

HOW TALL ARE YOU? 5'7"

FAVORITE SUBJECT IN SCHOOL? History

DREAM JOB? Writer of some sort

Tagging (no pressure): @tremendouskoalachild @kobbers @sinvulkt @robinpixels @usakostar @retrob0t @dreaminghour @kaleidoscope1967eyes @fancyfrey @spookys-boring-mainblog @dino-trash-kieran @helloyesthisisdilophsaurus @cameron4818 @horizonjade @pinetreetea

[writersblockedx]

Day Dreaming

Pairing - Steven Grant/Marc Spector x Fem!Reader Summary - Steven sees her in his dreams. He never questions it, but it comes as quite at shock when she's standing across the road from him one day. Warnings - Mentions of sleep disorders Words - 800

A/n - I'm writing this based of information from episode one, so I've not had much to go on Marc wise. Also I'm used to writing longer fics so this was a little different for me. I might write a part two after more episodes are released depending of whether it fits this narrative. 

MASTERLIST

Steven wasn't entirely sure where he was. Well, to be honest, if it wasn't his flat or the museum, there was a high chance he didn't know where he was. But he knew the women he was with. 'Knew' being the word on debate as Steven only ever saw her in his dreams. Yet, some of these dreams with her felt ever so vivid and clear, that a part of him always believed she had to be real somewhere in the world. Maybe she was a girl he had passed on the street, or sat next to on a crowd bus, captivating features which became glued to his subconscious, soon to taunt his dreams.

In this specific dream, they were in an empty gym. It was only the two of them as Steven held the boxing bag that the girl was throwing everything she had at. Despite these many dreams, he had still yet to capture her name. He supposed that was something to remind him that this was just his dreams and that, within these dreams, she was just a figment of a possible memory, lacking identity.

She pulled away for a moment, catching her breath as her hands rested against her hips. "I really think it's your turn now." She quirked with a cheeky grin spread across her lips.

Steven's brows were quick to raise as he let go of the boxing bag. "I'm sorry?" He asked, almost laughing at the idea of him participating in any type of fitness (which wasn't chasing after the bus).

"You're doing that stupid thing again." She commented with a laugh, already switching places with the boy.

Steven, very much hopeless in this situation, followed her instruction and soon had a boxing bag starring him down. God, he was going to embarrass himself now. He much preferred the dreams where they were strolling down stone streets with coffee, or sat across one another in a restaurant booth. Alas, he was sure he'd make an attempt at punching the leather bag before he'd soon wake.

The boy raised his hands, trying to match the stereotypical way he knew how to box. His arms lingered there for a moment, almost begging for his mind to wake up now. Even in dreams, Steven actively avoided awkward situations. Like this one. But as he glanced back at the dreamy girl whose head peaked around the boxing bag, he came to realise there was no way to avoid this. So he punched it. Sort of. It was really more of a light tap which let out a pathetic thud that told him how weak his punch had been.

That left him with the rather confused expression of the women. He sent out a smile as if believing that would hide the fact he really had no idea what he was doing. "What's up with you today, Marc?"

Steven looked back just as confused as she did. "What?" He stuttered out as his brows became knitted. He was just about to ask the question but then...

Stevens eyes shot open; his bedroom ceiling starred back at him.

He was home.

He was awake.

And, one good thing, he was no longer trapped in a rather awkward situation.

Steven got out of bed that morning and by the time he reached the bus, that dream was something he had forgotten about. He cloaked into work, threw passive aggressive comments back and fourth with Donna, served screaming children and attempted in making sure he kept awake during every second of it. Safe to say, the boy was more than pleased when his shift came to an end.

He stepped out of the museum, the night sky casting down over him as he pulled his coat closer around his body. He wanted nothing more than to return home. He could see his bus pulling into the bus stop already, urging his feet to move. But then something else seemed to catch his eye. A figure, similar to the one he faced in his dreams. A coincidence. Steven was sure there were many people in this world with similar body types.

Then she turned.

The girl hadn't cloaked his starring yet - something Steven appreciated. He swore it had to be her. Same eyes, same smile. She was stood at the other side of the road, lingering around, waiting for something. Maybe it was him being stupid. Maybe he was seeing things; it wouldn't be the first time. And for a moment, she met his pupils. Then a bus, his bus, drove past and then it was like she was never there. Steven thought maybe she had never been there in the first place. Maybe she had been. Or, knowing how his mind worked in strange ways, maybe he was still dreaming.

[disaster-bay-leaf]

Ok so these were the cutest~ (ㆁωㆁ)

4, 6, 7, 9, 12, 19, 22, 23, 28, 33, 34, 46, 47, 52, 59, 60, 63, 66, 83, 87, 88, 93, 99

I kno I listed like....all of them lmao but feel free to answer whichever you want and ofc you can ask me in return Baybe ( ◜‿�� )♡

uHUHUHUHU much content for me to answer, im happy bebe 💜💜💜✨

4 - how do you take your coffee/tea?

hm coffee either Very Black No Sugar (for the sleep deprived me) or iced latte three sugars and theres no in between

and as for tea its All Black Teas That Exist, cinnamon-flavoured especially (but basically all teas that come to mind when u think “autumn”), and rooibos!!! okay basically the only oke i dont like is any type of green tea (which is sad because they look cool but my tastebuds said ✨no✨)

6 - do you keep plants?

honestly id l o v e too because i love plants but,,, im kinda horrible at taking care of them though still way better than the majority of my family (research helps) so the only plant i own is kinda a small-palm-tree-looking thing in a bigass glass jar that i saved from my mother’s plant-destructing hands and its mostly doing well (the ends of its leaves are starting to be yellow tho and im worried:((( )

7 - do you name your plants?

yes!!! though the current one was named by my sister and its called “pickett” after fantastic beasts shsjjsj

9 - do you like singing/humming to yourself?

oh god oh dude you have n o idea

i have absolutely n o singing voice but its something i do constantly to give my brain the right amount of stimuli so basically i listen to music 24/7 and hum to myself 99% of that time

12 - whats your favourite planet?

oh i actually didnt think about this for so long but either pluto (hes a planet screw nasa) or saturn (RINGS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!) or venus (girls,,,and libra,,,)

19 - do you keep a journal? what do you write/draw in it?

okay im gonna be completely honest with yall and say that my every single try at keeping a journal failed spectacularly and i lost motivation after like a few months so my only journals rn are my fancy fake-leather-bound calendar to note tests and assessments into, a kinda roughed up notebook that i uses for noting down poems or scribbling or passing notes in class, and a kinda fancy bullet journal notebook that i used as a book of shadows for a while but since my fountain pen died i didnt touch it

22 - are you a morning person?

n o

i am so not a morning person but i wish i could be because honestly dawns are beautiful

but as it is rn im either sleep deprived all the time and loathe every second of being in an awake state or (if i have a few days of schoolbreak) my biological clock moves forward a few hours and i sleep 2am-10am

23 - whats your favourite thing to do on lazy days with zero obligations?

except for the fact that i dont remember the last time it happened, i would probably spend it drawing outside, watching anime with my sister and riding a bike around the forest

28 - sunrise or sunset?

i love sunrises because its so peaceful and everyone is asleep but also i subconsciously immediately correlate them with waiting for a train to take me to school (because thats basically the only time i see them) so its a bittersweet love especially with my fucked up biological clock

but sunsets are really really pretty too and i see them more often so i cant choose

33 - whats your fave pastry?

and isnt that a millior-dollar question dhsjjsjsj

either cinnamon rolls (i absolutely adore them) or that one specific type of cupcake-shaped-thing made out of shortcrust/bread/whatever its called and filled with vanilla pudding

34 - tell us about a stuffed animal you kept as a kid. what is it called? what does it look like? do you still keep it?

awwww this is cute

okay so basically my two favourite stuffed animals (i still have them, they sit in my wardrobe) were two teddy bears (like maybe 20cm high each of them) and one was pure brown and the other was silver-brown and they had stereotypical polish male names “Waldek” (read. Valdek) and Stefan (i think tho im not sure if i remember correctly, my memory is a feeble thing sometimes

46 - tell us the worst pun you can think of

what dog would never bite you? a hot dog *badumtss*

47 - what food do you think should be banned from the universe?

huh a year ago id say pineapple pizza but i guess i dont hate pineapples that much anymore (tho putting them on pizza is still an abomination) but i think that if id ever want to get rid of anything it would be parsley, i hate that freakin herb (does it count as food tho)

52 - what are your favourite memes of the year so far?

the ever given for sure shsjshjsjsjsjjsj

but bullying tramp stamps is gold and pure tumblr energy too

as for fandom memes: im in love with all keeping-up-with-the-todorokis variations and the fact that the entire bsd fandom looked at fukuchi and said “biTCH” and thats one of the only things we’re unanimous about

59 - whats your favourite myth?

i always liked the kora/persephone myth (though demeter is an overbearing parent to the nth power), loki and thor crossdressing at a party to get mjolnir back, atalanta because shes a queen and id politely ask her to kick my ass, and cassandra because she deserved better, and theres a l o t more because alas i was a mythology nerd but this post is long enough for me not to make this section 20 times longer sjjsjsjsjsjks

but there are a lot of slavic myths that are very cool too, though we dont know that much about them as about the greeks for example

60 - do you like poetry? what are some of your faves?

o o o o h yeah i do like poetry because to create such a beautifully sounding thing with only words someone has to be a genius

some of my favs are: some works of nakahara chuuya (thank u bsd for introducing me to this man’s beautiful imagery in his works i swear to god the descriptions do it for me) (also his poem about having hangovers is a mood like i feel you buddy), the raven by ea poe (i know everyone likes it but hOLY DAMN THE INTER/INTRAVERSE RHYMES ARE LIKE,,, BREATHTAKING) (and aso im a slut for gothic horror), and many more but also That One Poem From Welcome To Nightvale about reaching the island in the west,,, only perfect vibes from it

63 - are you fussy about your books and music? do you keep them meticulously organised or kinda leave them be?

okay heres the thing. for anyone else both my playlist library and my bookshelf would be considered pure chaos of a mad man b u t they actually have a highly focused system which means that i sort them based on their vibes, lovability and (in case of books) their age and whether or not theyre a part of a series so i would say my bookshelf is rather organised (when a quarter of it isnt occupying my desk that is) and my music is more organised than not but sometimes it gets out of control and i have to sort it entirely again

66 - what would your ideal flower crown look like?

either entirely constructed of simple white daisies, entirely constructed of only white roses, or something that probably would win a “how many different coloured flowers can one fit in a flower crown” competition

or something purple (maybe not belladonna)

83 - whats some of your favourite album art?

god i dont know if it counts but hozier’s wasteland baby is probably one of my absolute favourites and no one shall beat that

“thrifted youth” (dalynn) and “standard deviation” (danny schmidt) have very aesthetic covers too

also the iconic p!atd too weird to live, too rare to die! album cover,,, its just iconic what can i say

and last but not least matt meason’s pink-and-black album covers (though bank on the funeral is really pretty too but like,,, “who killed matt meason” d o e s it for me and so does the 2017 tribulation single)

87 - what are some movies that you think everyone should watch at least once in their lives?

this is such a hard question because im not a really cinematography-oriented gal but i suppose that (at the risk of not going deep enough into the cinema world):

- the princess bride

- inception

- night at the museum

- SPIRITED AWAY

- forrest gump

- truman show

- E.T. (i cried okay)

- the lord of the rings (because damn me if this isnt one impressive adaptation)

- parasite

and one more personal recommendation: “ready or not” with samara weaving because goddamn i dont usually watch this genre but holy s h i t is it good

93 - whats the hairstyle you wear the most?

honestly just plain hair down (because having curly hair is a menace), split in the middle when i have longer hair and split on one side when its short

also low ponytails or half-up-half-down when im exercising, or double french braids when my hair doesnt cooperate enough to look presentable in any other form

99 - list some songs that resonate with your soul whenever you hear them

this is difficult because my music taste is a goddamn rollercoaster on a good day, but heres some:

- me and the sky from “come from away” musical (this is sort of a test song for my mental stability, if i cry i aint stable)

- dancing after death by matt meason (okay most songs by matt meason except for like,,, hallucinogenics maybe)

- tears and rain by james blunt

- i will follow you into the dark by death cab for cutie

- almost home by mxmtoon

- anything by hozier really but shrike especially

- payphone, the cover by alex g (i cried to this song so many times)

- burning pile by mother mother (can i roast all my problems please)

- long way from home and cleopatra by the lumineers

- autoclave by the mountain goats

oooh that was c o o o o o o o l as fuck thank you sm so much bebe (and sorry for the long post @everyone else)

[pxjiminsi]

Walk of Shame

Chapter 3 from the Series: Before you go

Pairing: Jimin x reader, Taehyung x reader, Jin x OC, OT5 x reader platonic love

Fic Type: Slice of life au

Genre: slice of life, fluff, mild smut, and a healthy amount of angst

Warning: few cuss words, slight humping, love bites

Word count: 2.8k

A/n: Hi! Leave a message if you liked this chapter! I’m just happy to get my first likes on the first chapters! Enjoy!

It’s been 2 weeks since you’ve landed in L.A, and so far it’s been great. You explored the city with Soo Yun and her family, specifically loving the Architectural tours as Soo Yun’s father is an Architect himself. Visiting the Getty Center and Museum was your peak. Its view overlooking the whole of Los Angeles relieved some of your burdens, relieving your guilt in leaving your life in Korea. You also visited the LACMA, The Broad, and the Hollywood Bowl, such Architectural porn that you haven’t seen before. 

Sleepovers were also your and Soo Yun’s thing back then and you’re doing it all now again. Watching horror movies in bed while wearing matching pajamas with hot popcorn, ice cream, and cola between your legs. You both particularly liked slasher films over anything else and you think that the Final Destination series are *chef’s kiss*. 

In the middle of Final Destination 3, Soo Yun casually slid if you'll ever meet with Jimin again. Though you highly doubt it’s you and Jimin she’s thinking about. She kind of developed a crush on Jin, I couldn’t blame her of course. You were as captivated just by hearing his voice on the phone, but seeing him was entirely different. From his height to his broad shoulders Soo Yun fell deep. He’s just not your type though. 

After your last encounter, you told her everything. From having no real friends ever since she left, that issue you had in school which forced you to quit and leave Korea, your uncertain relationship with Jae, and your falling apart with your parents to that wonderful time with Jimin at the plane and to the bag mix-up. And these 2 weeks were nothing but great because of your friend’s support, you got one by your side and that’s enough for you. 

“Did you know about their upcoming showcase? I heard they’re free.” She asked while chomping on popcorn not leaving her eyes on the screen. “How did you even know about that?” surprised that she’s more updated than you. Though you have no obligation to keep up with their schedule. “I have a friend at school who knows them. I even bragged about meeting 3 of their members” her grin almost reaching her ears for being so pleased with herself. “I’m surprised at Jimin for not getting your phone number from Jin, some guys will go for it even if you told them not too, you know?” she paused the movie to get more popcorn downstairs. 

But some other guys are not Jimin, you thought as you leaned back to your pillow to stare at the ceiling. And duh what he did is nothing to be proud of, it's like the threshold for basic manners. But what do I know, I have been in a relationship for a year now and I don’t even know if this is what relationships should look and feel like. I know that I shouldn't base and compare my relationship to movies or any Nicholas Sparks’ books, but why do I feel like it’s much closer to Stephen King’s works.

“Jae would like to video chat with you” your phone vibrates. Speaking of the devil. You answer and immediately see him with eyes focused on the screen probably playing Diablo or God of War. “Hi babe, what’s up, where are you?” he said. 

Where are you? What the fuck, you’ve been in L.A for 2 weeks and he asks where are you?? ARE YOU KIDDING ME?? 

“Babe, I'm in L.A remember. Soo Yun and I are watching movies. And it’s like 3 pm there, why aren’t you in school?” you calmly said clenching your jaw, checking the time on your phone. 10:23 pm. “Uh, okay mom. I didn’t feel like going, I feel like I might follow your step and quit school this time.” he snickers. He knows you don’t enjoy bringing up that topic, but what did you expect? “Kidding babe, lighten up. I called because I miss you, I miss your cooking, I miss cuddling, and I miss you between my --" you stop him as Soo Yun enters the room again.

"Hey, it's Soo Yun, Soo Yun's here Jae, say hi!" Panicky facing your phone in front of her. "Hi Jae, still a dick to y/n?" she said without even looking at your phone. You look at her not believing she said that rolling her eyes at you in return. "Hi Soo Yun, and no, if there's an award for best boyfriend, I’m winning that effortlessly."

"Babe we're going to finish the movie and head out early tomorrow for a tour, I’ll call you tomorrow. I love -- " ignoring Soo Yun's death stare at you to hang up the phone now.  "Mmkay, bye" he overlapped then hung up.

"Romantic." Soo Yun sarcastically said, rolling her eyes then clicks play on the remote. You sink in your place sighing, placing a pillow on your face.

10 a.m and you're ready for the last stop of your tour before starting to look for work. You admire yourself in the mirror, liking what Soo Yun picked for you to wear today. A yellow sundress to go with your white air force 1's, accessorizing it with your gold necklace with your initials, small gold hoops, and sunglasses. You wear your mid-length hair down, but you have a scrunchy in your wrist if it starts to bother you.

Your last stop for today is the Hollywood sign and the Walk of fame before heading to lunch then movies afterward. You hopped in the car and set-up the GPS to the Hollywood Sign while waiting for Soo Yun and his dad to drop you two off. Feeling giddy as road trips were always your stress reliever. 

As you reach your destination, you close your eyes feeling the warmth of the sun wrapping around your skin, the sun shining brightly. Being the city girl that you were, you don’t mind the busy street, the hustle of people rushing off for work or running errands, people on the phone strutting while handling coffee carefully, these things puts you at ease. You smiled subconsciously at the busy scene, it makes you feel like you’re not alone. No dark clouds hanging over your head. After you took pictures in the Hollywood sign, Soo Yun appealed to go to your next destination. Of course, she wasn’t as excited as you. She’s been seeing all this for years now. 

You went inside the car humming, excited as you're a sucker for street performances, which are very well known in L.A. Nearing the Walk of Fame, traffic became apparent, so you Soo Yun’s dad decided to drop you both off. Soo Yun left you to meet some friends, but it was okay because you’re looking for some alone time too. 

You were like a child whose first time visiting Disneyland, meandering eyes everywhere, tasting every street food available, from pretzels to hotdogs to falafels. Once full, you started taking photos of everything in sight, and when I tell you everything, it’s EVERYTHING. From street performers to passing cars, to the fucking stars of each artist you knew. You especially love Cate Blanchett’s The Curious Case of Benjamin Button. Classic actresses like Marilyn Monroe, Aubrey Hepburn, your romance movie idols. You take pictures of your favorite singers this time until THWACK you stupidly slammed yourself and fall on the floor butt first, putting your bare thighs on display and your dress through your midsection exposing your white lace panties for all tourists, street performers, and Californians to see. 

Thankfully and Instantly, someone threw their jacket over your thighs and handed their hand with their head turned around. “Jimin?” you asked hazily. You don’t know if you bumped your head too much and you’re hallucinating Jimin now. “Ow!!!!! That fucking hurt” you squinted on your side and see Taehyung bent over his knees holding his forehead with both hands. You don’t know which is more embarrassing, Californians and tourists seeing your undergarment, creating a commotion to hundreds of people, or Jimin seeing your panties. 

Why are you even alive, contemplating, you quickly used Jimin’s hand to lift yourself, brushed the dust off of your dress, and rushed to see Taehyung. “Tae, I’m so sorry. Are you okay?” Ready to cuss with his tiny fists raised and widened eyes, he looked at his attacker, “Yah!” he then quickly realizes it’s you, and his facial features immediately softened, still teary-eyed from the pain. “Y/n?” he exclaimed, eyes wide open. ”Hi Tae, nice bumping into you” you try, that's okay. You offered your hand to help him. ”Ha, funny.” he said with a straight face while taking your hand lifting him.

”What are you both doing here anyway?” you asked the both of them taking a peek at Jimin whose ears are still red and not giving you a chance to see his whole flustered face as he still has his back turned away from you giving flyers to passersby.

You don't want to see him too anyway, admit it or not, you missed him. Also in this past week, images of him and you pop at unconventional times of the day. When watching romantic films, taking a bath, especially when you're horny as fuck. Imagining his arms pinning you down while he glides his body on you, his eyes deep within yours, kissing every part of you starting from your lips, to your neck, to your breasts. Him sucking your nipples with those thick luscious lips while his free hand playing the other makes your pussy wet so much that you usually use the showerhead to relieve yourself. You hate yourself most times because of these dirty thoughts, so no, you don't want to see him.

”We're handing out flyers for our concert in 3 days, Tae over here, killing it especially with the ladies.” Jimin finally faced without giving you eye-contact. ”You look pretty, by the way,” he said in a soft voice, almost not wanting you to hear his words, while handing out more flyers to Tae to distribute. ”Thanks, you're both not too bad” You smiled at the both of them eyeing Jimin's perfectly brushed black hair, as usual, plain white tee and grey sweatpants. Taehyung's brown hair was perfectly swept with his red snapback, white tee, and black shorts.

”I'm very irresistible, I know that.” there he goes flashing his smile. You didn't doubt it though, he has this cute innocent face that is very alluring, notably his boxy smile that you would give him anything if he asked. He can easily approach people and get something from them, yet he has this audacity proclaiming he's shy all the time. The three of you laugh as if you know each other for a while now, forgetting the embarrassment you all had earlier.

”Y/n, you're bleeding!” his smile disappeared within seconds when his eyes accidentally roamed through your knees. You probably grazed them when you fell. You see the sudden concern in Jimin's face, but before you can do anything about it or say anything, he suddenly shoved the remaining flyers to Taehyung's chest and in a flash, your arms were wrapped around his neck as he lifted you from your place. You were too stunned to speak as his feet started to scurry. Leaving a shocked Taehyung in the streets. ”Wh-what? Where are we going??” he doesn't answer you, but he looked at you with that pretty smile that you missed so much and said,” I got you, I missed you, y/n.”

”What the hell, Jimin, your job was to hand flyers to women, not kidnap one!” this guy with skin white as snow and very cute squinty eyes exclaimed as he opened the door of their van for you and Jimin. ”This is y/n, we bumped into her earlier, literally. Y/n this is Yoongi, one of our members and the one who most annoys me recently.” he uttered as he plopped you in the seat behind the drivers and scampered the van for the first aid kit. ”Hi, I'm y/n, sorry for the intrusion” you can see he’s not paying attention to you because his face has confusion written all across his face. He scrunches his eyebrows as if he's remembering something.

Jimin started to tender on your bruise, initially taken aback as he needs to touch your bare legs, you notice that his ears are starting to blush again. Seeing how Jimin is flustered while attending to your leg, laughter bursts in Yoongi's mouth, exposing his cute gummy smile which you first thought was unexpected of his personality. ”You're y/n, the one who broke our Jimin's heart, he won't stop talking about you since last week!” he can't stop laughing as he continues to smack his hand at Jimin's back.

What? Broke his heart? 

You can't help but widen your eyes to Yoongi's sudden announcement. Jimin’s mouth dropped as he shoved Yoongi out of the van and closed the door, leaving the two of you in awkward silence. ”Hey!! I'll be going to Taehyung to help him, don't leave the van, okay? Have fun love birds” as he taps at the window goodbye. The car is so quiet you can hear Yoongi strut away. 

He started to dab disinfectant to your wound, as soon as he felt your sudden twitch because of the sting, lightly and carefully as possible, he blew on your wound. You stare at him, heart pounding. Thinking about what Yoongi said. Was everything true? That he missed you? Because you want to say you missed him too, that he hasn't left your mind too since then, that you're sorry for leading him on, that you also want to get to know him better, that you don't want anything at all at this moment but to be held and kissed by him. You feel your heart ready to burst out from this overwhelming noise in all this quietness. He slowly lifts his head meeting your gaze. It's as if he heard everything that your heart wanted to tell him. He slowly begins to lean in on you, closer, closer, your eyes admire every aspect of his face as he comes close to yours. His slightly widened eyes, to his flushed cheeks, and his lips. You try to control yourself, but seeing him made you stop thinking and over-analyzing. 

You finally close the gap between your lips. He cupped your face, allowing him to slide his tongue to your mouth, as your head automatically tilted to the other side of his face, moaning slightly in his. Your hands slowly wrapped itself to his neck pulling his kiss deeper into you. He slowly roamed his hands from your legs to your thighs, his innocently flushed face looked at you, looking for approval, you closed your eyes and nodded. He began to trail kisses from your cheeks, then your ear, to your neck. Jimin couldn’t stop the moan coming from your lips as he started to pull the strap of your dress away from your shoulder with his teeth then proceeded to kiss your shoulders, using his hands to tug your dress away from your upper body, exposing your black brasserie. You also quickly pulled off his white shirt, leaving you completely blown away by his amazing abs. He laughed at your reaction, placing kisses on your thighs. You felt in your leg that he's already so hard in those pants. As he began to pull your lace panties down, your phone began to ring. You try to ignore it completely as you're too indulged in this moment, but you realize Soo Yun is going to panic if she doesn't reach you. ”Sorry, I have to get this.” he nods, sitting behind you as he sweeps your hair off of your shoulders and gently leaving love bites on it. 

”Where are you? I've been looking for you everywhere. I'm with Jeongguk, Jin, and Namjoon right now. I bumped into them while looking for you. They invited me for dinner so we're heading back to their car right now.” Your eyes both widened as the both of you scrambled to get dressed and fix your appearances. ”Uh I'm actually with Jimin, I bumped into him and Tae earlier..” You breathlessly exclaim as you both exit the van roaming your eyes to Jimin's group and Soo Yun. ”Oh okay, we're almost there, we can see you two now!” she hung up the phone. Leaving you two, again, in awkward silence.

”I shouldn't have done that, I'm sorry, y/n ” head looking down. You can see his frustration in his face as he kicks rocks to vent. You felt guilty. You're the one that's sorry. You cheated on Jae and you let Jimin feel bad again. ”No, I'm sorry. As much as it was confusing, I don't regret kissing you. Let’s talk about this later” tugging the end of his shirt and quickly letting go, ending your complicated encounter as Jimin's friends and Soo Yun approached the car.

[angeltriestoblog]

I figured out what I want to do with my life! And made a vision board!

It came to me in a flash, really. One minute, I was watching a handpainted narration of the life and death of one of the greatest painters of all time, and next thing you know, I've abandoned it completely and started furiously typing away at my laptop about what I envisioned myself to be in five years' time. And I know I've had my fair share of false alarms in life: I thought I had what it takes to be a lawyer after seeing Legally Blonde for the first time while on my way to a school field trip, and seriously considered pursuing a career as a fashion blogger or MTV VJ because I was kind of fed up with school.

But this one just makes sense. Advising and assisting clients in producing content, collaterals, and campaigns according to their business objectives and based on collected data! It marries my love for writing, my knack for snooping around (the academic term is research!), and the specialty in technology and management my university ensures I'll have at the end of my four-year degree. i have yet to see how it’ll allow me to give back to society since that’s also a factor I want to consider in looking for a dream job but I’ll make it work. I found it hard to sleep that night, thanks to this nerdy, giddy kind of adrenaline rush I had. I broke down this big idea into smaller and smaller action steps until all I had left was a refined list of ideas and intentions, and a splitting headache.

I needed to make sure I was constantly reminded of their existence so all my choices and decisions would serve as a step closer to reaching all of them. So I caved in to the wishes of the "law of attraction" side of the Internet, and created my very own vision board! Simply put, this act of visualization is a powerful technique that can be used to manifest desires and reach goals. Our subconscious minds mainly recognize symbols and images: by merely looking at our vision boards everyday, subliminal messages are being sent to our brains, which will encourage them to work tirelessly to achieve the statements we are feeding to them. I can't find any explanation for this that's less abstract but since many people seem to swear on it and I have a lot of free time and printer ink, I figured why not, right?

It was convenient that I had this small corkboard from Daiso already stuck to one corner of my bedroom wall with several layers of double-sided tape. It used to be a year-long calendar of birthdays but I realized that I've never referred to it and often have to rely on either Facebook reminders or stock knowledge--there is no in between. All I had to do was to look at my list of goals, and compile photos that correspond to each of them, cut them up and arrange them in an aesthetically pleasing manner. You'll see below that I lacked the stereotypical luxury car and beachfront mansion with a walk-in closet and that's because I decided to focus on my goals for the next five years so it looks even a little bit more achievable.  

Here's the finished product, along with explanations for each picture, to make this how-to more personal and to also hold myself accountable.

 Make my girl Jenna Rink and everybody at Poise proud by writing for a magazine | I had listed a specific one at the time, and if you follow me on Twitter and Instagram, you already know what it is and how this endeavor turned out - but on this blog, I'll shroud it in a little cloud of mystery for now and talk about it more in a future post. I'm very happy producing content for this space of mine and have no intention of stopping any time soon. But at the same time I know that I'd be missing out if I didn't take the chance to be part of a community that leads me to like-minded individuals, allows me to grow even more in my craft, and "gives creators a space to speak their minds and push the limits of their artistry, without imposing any restrictions or expectations", as I stated in my application form.

 Be active in three organizations next school year | (I had to blur one of them out because I'm not a member yet and I don't want to jinx it.) I know it's bold of me to assume that we'll be returning to school any time soon, but if we are ever lucky enough, I want to outdo myself when it comes to the orgs I'm a part of. I have been a good follower throughout my first two years of college but now I believe it's my time to try my hand at leading a group of people and being more involved in the conceptualization and execution of projects.

 Go on a trip to Europe | Not even just a specific group of countries anymore (I used to be a France, Italy, Spain supremacist)--I mean the entire continent! (But then again, with its rich history and culture, picturesque tourist spots, diverse cuisines... even the sheer adrenaline rush that comes with being in a land completely different from the one you come from, how could anyone not want to go?

 and 12. Get the job of my dreams | I actually nicked these photos from the website of a cooperative I want to work for once I graduate from college. I know that I can't plan out the rest of my career trajectory as early as now: things are bound to change at some point, but I hope that I stay in a field that combines creativity and business strategy to craft campaigns, create meaningful content, and market solutions to brands.

 Expand my network | I acknowledge how knowing people who know people who know people can open windows of opportunities that I wouldn't have been able to have anywhere else. But I also look forward to building genuine connections with people from all sorts of industries. Talking to the same circle of friends can sometimes feel like you're trapped in an echo chamber: there is certainly much to learn from others' viewpoints.

 Volunteer to teach kids | I don't think the written word could have changed my life as much as it did, had it not been for the presence of English teachers who believed in the power of the language to shape the minds of the youth. I guess this is just me trying to give back and help the next generation express their ideas and bring them to life by channeling my inner John Keating.

 Maintain a clean workspace that is conducive to productivity | Especially during these days, I spend a solid 18 out of 24 hours sat at my desk, trying my best to make magic happen. It's very important that I keep it a constant and active source of inspiration, free from any distractions, and at the right level of comfort. Although it's not as minimalist as I hoped it would be and my table is about an inch too high for my liking, I'm still pretty satisfied!

 Document memories consistently, be it through a physical or online journal | Speaking of clearing out my room, I recently found around 20 notebooks I had filled up over the years. Though maintaining them must have been such a hassle especially as I got older and reading through them was a distraction from completing the task at hand, I am thankful I painstakingly chronicled everything going on in my life and kept them in good condition. Seeing the goals I had set for myself all those years ago and how I achieved most of them without making a conscious effort has inspired me to do my older self a favor by putting in the work now so she can reap the rewards. (While I'm on this note, can anyone recommend a good app for journaling? I keep all my current entries in my Mac's Notes app because even though I am more of an analog person, I seemed to have lost the patience and persistence required to keep a physical journal. But at the same time, I'm scared of my laptop suddenly cr*shing and wiping out everything I had stored)

 Stay focused on my work always | I didn't know how to show this without having to spell it out in words so I Photoshopped my face onto the head of a woman working in a cafe because those who study in coffee shops along Katip always look like they're getting stuff done.

 Keep learning about the world even when I'm outside of the classroom | And this is not limited to frequenting the nearby museum, although that does sound like a great idea right now. This could also mean attending seminars, workshops, and talks, buying books and binge-watching documentaries or YouTube videos about a topic that I find interesting, engaging in discourse with someone (plus points if they have a different viewpoint!)

 Write my own book | Before I even found out that humans were destined to pick a career and work until they died, I already knew that I wanted to spend my days as a writer. Specifically, I wanted to see my name on the cover of a book: By Angel Martinez. (Please refer to the 4:32 of this video and look at how far this dream actually goes back.) But once I realized that I wanted to enter the world of business, I thought I would have to give this up altogether. Thankfully, I now know that one's ability to get published is not reliant on their career--I mean, even beauty gurus get book deals these days. I'm not really sure what it's going to be about but I'd honestly be down for anything: even if it's just a compilation of my best entries on this blog.

13. Go all out when I take myself on self-care dates | I'm talking about picnics at the beach, with a basket full of fruits, a posh looking hat, and a good piece of classic literature! Or fancy dinners for one complete with as many glasses of red wine as I can down! People watching at Downtown Disneyland like my paternal grandmother in hand, with a plastic bag of souvenirs on one hand and a cream cheese pretzel on the other! (The possibilities are endless and I'm already mapping most of them out.)

14. Be financially stable enough to re-enact that one scene in Pretty Woman where Vivian Ward struts down the streets of Beverly Hills in a chic white dress and black hat, an endless number of shopping bags in tow | The part where I humiliate a sales lady who snubbed me the day before because she didn't think I could afford what she was selling by saying, "You work on commission, right? That's right. Big mistake, big, huge." is entirely optional.

I also included some two inspirational sayings that were originally laptop wallpapers from The Everygirl. I feel like they perfectly sum up the attitude I want to have as I forge my own path and accomplish everything I have set out for myself. If I was somehow able to convince you that this activity serves as the perfect springboard for all your dreams and aspirations, here are a couple of tips that could hopefully help you make yours!

Be ready for some intense introspection | Though it may look like a simple arts and crafts activity at the surface, making an effective vision board simply cannot be achieved if you're not willing to do some much needed reflection and watch it balloon into a full-on existential crisis. Identify which areas of your life are most important to you and how you would like to see them evolve over a period of time.

Specificity is key | The trick is to make your goals as concrete as possible, then translate them into visual elements. I know some people who wanted to get into particular universities, who have Photoshopped their names onto acceptance letters and pinned those to their corkboards. As stupid as that may sound in retrospect, I reckon it's an elaborate way of claiming something that's right within your reach.

Design it any way you want | Don't feel pressured to make it look like it's worthy to be on someone else's Pinterest because that's exactly how you lose sight of why you're doing it in the first place. The only person your final output has to resonate with is you.

Don't get discouraged | Although a vision board can attract positive energy and manifest your intentions to the universe, one thing it isn't capable of doing is granting your wishes in an instant. Don't be upset if what you have cut out and stuck on has yet to happen: I truly believe in the saying that the more you look for something, the more it seems to avoid you. Instead, continue to work hard and focus on the progress that you have already made.

Have you made a vision board of your own already? How has it turned out, and how many of the things you had put up have come true? I know you may be a complete stranger from the other side of the world but I'd be happy to hear from you anyway! Wishing you love and light always, especially during trying times such as this. Wash your hands, pray for our frontliners, and check your privilege!

[researchandpracticerv001]

Activity 10 text

Act 10 text

 We would like you to work in a creative way on your idea of ‘Movement’.

Movement is the tool that living creatures have to advance and therefore evolve. Since the beginning of life, cells started becoming stronger, more complex and surviving longer due to the capacity for movement when seeking shelter, food and other cells to unite with. Even in current times, the human body is composed of cells that still follow this path of movement to develop. In the subconscious, the human kind travels as nomads to also seek shelter, food and to unite with some of its kind. Therefore, the movement is not an immediate benefit, but is an important step in the progress of the wellbeing in any living creature, especially humans. The mental illnesses have increased drastically over the COVID-19 pandemic due to people not moving as freely and as socially as they wish.

Movement is also therapeutic due to the explained reasons. For example, the actions of moving to healing or improving have been deeply studied and practiced by physiologists, yoga instructors, Pilates instructors, fitness coaches, physiologists and psychiatrics who encourage daily walks.

You should begin by considering how you would respond to the following questions:

How would you develop the topic?

I think in order to include movement in a creative practice related to interior architecture, it is necessary to consider the main focus of movement for the contemporary user which are:

Visual movement: The visual effect that an object suffers by perspective or illumination that makes them appears visually in movement.

Physical movement: The action and suggestion of a space to use, done by movement or transit around the space.

Circumstantial movement: The encouragement of power that a space has to make the user feel moved or to introspect. This focus of movement is not only to encourage the movement within the framed design space, but also to make the user want to practice movement by itself, like when going to an art gallery. The circumstantial art may not be accessible to visit every day, but encourages the user to see art elsewhere and be more creative themselves.

What would the final outcomes be?

The final outcome should be a place that can transmit movement by the focus of the design. The visual, the physical and the circumstantial should be the base of the concept design so that in each part, movement becomes present in the user’s mindset.

What methodology would you choose for your creative investigation into the topic of ‘Movement’?

Practice-based research:

Due to the necessary format of text in the investigation analysis, the result and analysis of a creative artefact, this indicates to me that the best methodology is practice-based research. However, this methodology can be used with other ones too for the final outcome.

I will talk with a professional that is dedicated to encouraging movement in life of user for their wellbeing and also practice it myself and study this through my own experience, resulting in a better space for more users to gain an efficient and positive impact via movement.

 “Movement” is a wide topic and this will give you freedom when you are developing your own ideas and using your own discipline.

Via practice based research, I will have the tools to experience how movement really impacts my mind and my perceptions of surroundings. Everyone is different and my experience does not mean that it is going to be the correct one. This practice has to be balanced with interviews with at least 2 different practices of movements that relate to my design proposal. For instance, this could be the combination of 3 opinions and experiences towards visual, physical and circumstantial movements, including mine. I think this can be a rich piece of research to base my design ideas on.

Kinetic art artist interviews and users as visual movement

Yoga, Pilates and fitness coach opinions and experiences such as physical movement.

People who have travel, move country or change opinions drastically as circumstantial movement.

Visit a kinetic art exhibition

Practice those physical activities

Please write a short proposal of between 300 and 400 words in length on how you would develop a creative research project on ‘Movement’.

I think that I will use the practice-based research methodology to create this research project because I will have to focus the information on the effects of creative artefacts like paintings, sculptures and dance that are based on creative work that generate topics for research. I would say that this research needs to focus on a specified research area like the impact on the socialisation, mental health and wellbeing of the users. Due to this, my analysis is focused on specific points where I can create new arguments based on these creative practices. This information can also be used on how to display and present the creative work/activities to a determine population or community.

It will benefit the outcome and the way that the movement in creative practices can be displayed in museums or spaces for the targeted community.

The space can be a gallery area that displays kinetic pieces and the paintings indoors and the sculptures outdoors whilst hosting indoor and outdoor therapeutic activities that encourage movement like yoga, Pilates, mindfulness and Zumba.

Therefore, the gallery areas are included with the therapeutic physical activity areas in order to create a new space to research the effects on the user with the creative practices and objects related within these spaces. The idea is to use movement as the research point to study the relations and effects of displaying movement in visual plastic arts and how this reflects on the movement of therapeutic acidities and the effects on the users.

[anniversary-magazine]

The Belonging of Memories — Q+A with Painter Gideon Rubin

Scientifically intriguing yet poetic in its elusiveness, memory has been an unbounded theme among inspiring artists and thinkers in the past decades. In Matter and Memory (1896), an essay on the relation of body and spirit, philosopher Henri Bergson wrote on the relationship between mental images and souvenirs, sensations, and imagination, notably stating that there is no consciousness without memory.

Bergson's reflections in this remarkable topical book allow us to introduce London-based Israeli artist Gideon Rubin's paintings as a shortcut to the universality of consciousness. Appropriating fragments of other people's lives and giving them new perspectives and narratives in his work, Rubin creates what could be clues to comprehend the framework of human remembrance. 

Cover image:

Gideon Rubin, Girl in the Water, 122 x 102 cm, Oil on canvas, 2011

We asked the artist some questions to learn more about his relation to art and the past's belonging.

Eve Laliberté: EL

Gideon Rubin: GR

EL: What brought you to painting? Was becoming an artist a dream, a plan, or a coincidence?

GR: It was pure chance and destiny. Or maybe the other way around. I first started painting during a backpacking trip in my early 20's in South America, on a salt desert between Chile and Bolivia, to be exact. I was born in a house surrounded by my grandfather's paintings, but only when I left Israel and began travelling did I start painting myself, and the need to paint appeared. Everyone around me was surprised. No one saw this coming, myself included.

EL: There is a strong feeling of enigma emanating from your body of work. You paint most of your pieces by drawing from old photographs belonging to other people. Why are you interested in souvenirs?

GR: I am always drawn to objects. The older the stuff is, the better. One of my most pleasurable activities is wandering off at flea markets and antique shops. My parents' house looks more like a 'British museum' jumble sale, as my mother is an obsessive collector who has difficulties throwing anything out. It's not only their intrinsic beauty that draws me in but also the way they hold times' passing. That's what I have a hard time resisting to. It's their stories that pull me in again and again. As if by working with these objects, touching them, painting them - some hidden angels or unearthed truths which weirdly enough seem relevant to me now, can reveal themselves.

EL: Interacting with fragments of strangers' lives, you take part in redefining the narratives. Are the memories you paint yours or someone else's?

GR: I used to think they're not mine, but now I'm less sure, so maybe both. Of course, the point of departure is someone else's memories and life. Then, I'm drawn to a specific image because it touches something within me, even if buried deep in my subconscious. Only then something quite interesting happens. The image becomes everyone's memory. I am very interested in how it crosses over, how by altering a few details, we, as viewers, can relate in a more direct way to someone else's story.

EL: Where do you typically find the photographs you draw inspiration from? 

GR: Antique markets, flea markets, antique shops, used bookshops, and eBay, of course.

EL: Is there an aim to bring history forward in your paintings? Or perhaps to underline the universality of human experience? Why?

GR: A friend, who's an art critic, writer, and curator who has written about my work a few times in the past, once said that I try to stop time in my work. As if I look at history, freeze it, and drag it to the present. I like this. I think it's a fundamental quality in art, which makes it relevant to our lives — our here and now. I think this relates to how I experienced Velasquez and the Old Masters for the first time. There is this painting in the Met, in New York,' The Moore'. It's not only an admiration for how the image was made or its beauty, but also how much it touches and penetrates our present life that is so mind-blowing.

EL: It's as if the figures are waiting for us to tell them something, to give them an identity. Why are you interested in the "incomplete"?

GR: I have a vast catalogue at home - which my parents had to drag from NY - 'Unfinished' from an exhibition of unfinished works by all the Masters, which was held at the Met Breuer in New York I think, last year. 

Oh, how I wish I could have seen this exhibition. Picasso once said,' To finish a piece of work is to kill it' - I'm a firm believer in that. It is so much easier to feed the viewer with every detail and nuance, so much more challenging to leave things a bit more open.

EL: Could you share any book, movie, documentary, or location that you particularly like or have inspired you recently?

GR: Next to my bed, I have 'The Flame' by Leonard Cohen. What's weird is that as you read his poems, often, you can hear his voice reading the lines in your head. I've also re-read a little book of poetry recently by Wisława Szymborska translated to Hebrew, which I always enjoy. And third and last is an artist's book by Francis Alys - which I recently had to buy, again, as I lost my original copy. One of my favourite art books of all time, 'The Prophet and the Fly': beautiful, poetic, and political, all wrapped up in one exceptional book.

All images courtesy of Gideon Rubin

[ldnculture]

Exhibition - London Culture

Group Members 

Maya 

Neve 

Pedro 

Lucrezia

Lalita

Introduction:

When we began this module, we began with an introduction to the module as a whole. Then we were given an overview of the brief, so we understand in a bit more detail what is required of us and how we will be marked. 

MODULE GOALS

• Workinginagroup • PUBLIC exhibition • Publication / Performance • Professional and practical skills • Practice for 3rd year final show and beyond • Rewards • TheCost

THE BRIEF

Organise your team

Come up with an Exhibition theme

Secure a venue

Secure funding

Find artists

Curate the show, organise events

Publicise your exhibition

Run the exhibition and events

Document the results

We were then asked to communicate to the whole class, our journey that we have been on before the module, with any applicablemprevibus knowledge. we were asked: 

• Name

• What projects you’ve done/areas of interest

• Any experience of working on exhibitions or events

• Why you chose this module

• Any initial thoughts or ideas

Maya’s response:

• Name: Maya. 

• What projects you’ve done/areas of interest: Diversity, Change and society. These are my areas of interest and within these areas I would like to touch on concepts of truth and reality. 

• Any experience of working on exhibitions or events: In college I have put together two+ exhibitions and have prior experience in events for work, which should help when the time comes to organise a team.

• Why you chose this module: I chose this module because I felt I could connect with it best and because I had experience holding exhibitions before I wanted to see where this module could push me to do/become. 

• Any initial thoughts or ideas: I had a lesson for my other module (Wall) which sparked initial ideas of diversity in London. I felt a connection to the theme/ concept as someone born and raised in London, but having my family from an African nationality means that I felt connected to understanding differences and diversity within the country I live consciously or subconsciously. 

After the break we then got into groups that we wanted to work in and began the second half of the lecture all about the roles within a group and understanding what each role is covering.

ROLES

Artists & Content

Venue & Logistics

Publicity & Invites

Events & Finances

We took part in a team exercise - role play.  

TEAM EXERCISE - ROLE PLAY

Allocated each of you a role in a group

The number is the group; the letter is the role

A scenario based on an actual situation in my experience

Agree which team members area it falls in

In your groups discuss possible solutions and come up with 3 different ways you might address the issue

We’ll then hear what you’ve decided. 

This activity was very fun to complete as a group we all chose individual roles and began to find three different solutions to our problem. What was effective about how we were working in the group was that we could all tell which role leader should have a problem or solution with the experience we were given. We all had our own ways of thinking about the situation, but based on the roles the ways in which you would address the issue were basically underlined to us. 

Homework set :

We were set the homework of getting into Groups (which we had sorted by the end of break. We also were set the task to go and see at least one exhibition between the group and rest back with:

What was the exhibition about?

Did it work in the space? Why did/didn’t it?

What scale of budget do you think they had?

How long would you estimate it took to organise and execute?

Were there many visitors (yes/no)? Why?

Did it give you any ideas or thoughts about what you might do for your exhibition?

Homework :

Maya and Pedro went to the Tate Museum, where they were holding four different exhibitions on one day. The work in this exhibition looked interesting and diverse. No two rooms looked alike or similar, they all spoke different stories and told them well. 

Exhibitions on at the Tate during visit:

Artist and Society.

Materials and Objects.

Media Networks.

In the Studio. 

What was the exhibition about? The exhibition was about a collective of themes and concepts. Each room had its own description to differentiate the different styles and art. 

Did it work in the space?Yes it worked within the space of the Tate. 

Why did/didn’t it? It worked because the work all had some type of connection or relevance. The art placed around/ next to other work was intentional (mostly) each room flowed within them selves. Pedro thought that sometimes the work didn't make sense next to a piece in specific rooms. 

What scale of budget do you think they had? The scale of this budget had to me very large scale, with big name brands sponsoring the work or exhibition at least. 

How long would you estimate it took to organise and execute?Any where between four months and a year. For these particular exhibitions I would say the Tate had to plan probably 2-3 years in advanced as it had iconic pieces such as the Marcel Duchamp, urinal. 

Were there many visitors (yes/no)? Why? Yes, because it is the Tate. They have a very well known identity and that helps with advertisement, reaching a wider audience/ the public.  

Did it give you any ideas or thoughts about what you might do for your exhibition? This helped with things such as wall placement ideas, work arrangements (what is placed next to each print) and simply getting an idea of the different scales we can reach to achieve as long as we are realistic with our planning and schedule. 

[guillaumebottazzi]

This is your brain on art: A scientist’s lessons on why abstract art makes our brains hurt so good

Kandel’s took a Nobel-winning scientist who specializes in human memory to break new ground in art history

The greatest discoveries in art history, as in so many fields, tend to come from those working outside the box. Interdisciplinary studies break new ground because those steadfastly lashed to a specific field or way of thinking tend to dig deeper into well-trodden earth, whereas a fresh set of eyes, coming from a different school of thought, can look at old problems in new ways. Interviewing Eric Kandel, winner of the 2000 Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine, and reading his latest book, "Reductionism in Art and Brain Science," underscored this point. His new book offers one of the freshest insights into art history in many years. Ironic that it should come not from an art historian, but a neuroscientist specializing in human memory, most famous for his experiments involving giant sea snails. You can’t make this stuff up.

I’ve spent my life looking at art and analyzing it, and I’ve even brought a new discipline’s approach to art history. Because my academic work bridges art history and criminology (being a specialist in art crime), my own out-of-the-box contribution is treating artworks like crime scenes, whodunnits, and police procedurals. I examine Caravaggio’s "Saint Matthew Cycle" as if the three paintings in it are photographs of a crime scene, which we must analyze with as little a priori prejudice, and as much clean logic, as possible. Likewise, in my work deciphering one of most famous puzzle paintings, Bronzino’s "Allegory of Love and Lust," a red herring (Vasari’s description of what centuries of scholars have assumed was this painting, but which Robert Gaston finally recognized was not at all, and had been an impossible handicap in trying to match the painting with Vasari’s clues about another work entirely) had to be cast aside in order for progress to be made.

Ernst Gombrich made waves when he dipped into optics in his book, "Art and Illusion." Freud offered a new analysis of Leonardo. The Copiale cipher, an encoded, illuminated manuscript, was solved by Kevin Knight, a computer scientist and linguist. It takes an outsider to start a revolution. So it is not entirely surprising that a neuroscientist would open this art historian’s eyes, but my mind is officially blown. I feel like a veil has been pulled aside, and for that I am grateful.

Ask your average person walking down the street what sort of art they find more intimidating, or like less, or don’t know what to make of, and they’ll point to abstract or minimalist art. Show them traditional, formal, naturalistic art, like Bellini’s "Sacred Allegory," art which draws from traditional core Western texts (the Bible, apocrypha, mythology) alongside a Mark Rothko or a Jackson Pollock or a Kazimir Malevich, and they’ll retreat into the Bellini, even though it is one of the most puzzling unsolved mysteries of the art world, a riddle of a picture for which not one reasonable solution has ever been put forward. The Pollock, on the other hand, is just a tangle of dripped paint, the Rothko just a color with a bar of another color on top of it, the Malevich is all white.

Kandel’s work explains this in a simple way. In abstract painting, elements are included not as visual reproductions of objects, but as references or clues to how we conceptualize objects. In describing the world they see, abstract artists not only dismantle many of the building blocks of bottom-up visual processing by eliminating perspective and holistic depiction, they also nullify some of the premises on which bottom-up processing is based. We scan an abstract painting for links between line segments, for recognizable contours and objects, but in the most fragmented works, such as those by Rothko, our efforts are thwarted.

Thus the reason abstract art poses such an enormous challenge to the beholder is that it teaches us to look at art — and, in a sense, at the world — in a new way. Abstract art dares our visual system to interpret an image that is fundamentally different from the kind of images our brain has evolved to reconstruct. Kandel describes the difference between “bottom up” and “top down” thinking. This is basic stuff for neuroscience students, but brand new for art historians. Bottom up thinking includes mental processes that are ingrained over centuries: unconsciously making sense of phenomena, like guessing that a light source coming from above us is the sun (since for thousands of years that was the primary light source, and this information is programmed into our very being) or that someone larger must be standing closer to us than someone much smaller, who is therefore in the distance. Top down thinking, on the other hand, is based on our personal experience and knowledge (not ingrained in us as humans with millennia of experiences that have programmed us). Top down thinking is needed to interpret formal, symbol or story-rich art. Abstraction taps bottom-up thinking, requiring little to no a priori knowledge. Kandel is not the first to make this point. Henri Matisse said, “We are closer to attaining cheerful serenity by simplifying thoughts and figures. Simplifying the idea to achieve an expression of joy. That is our only deed [as artists].” But it helps to have a renowned scientist, who is also a clear writer and passionate art lover, convert the ideas of one field into the understanding of another. The shock for me is that abstraction should really be less intimidating, as it requires no advanced degrees and no reading of hundreds of pages of source material to understand and enjoy. And yet the general public, at least, finds abstraction and minimalism intimidating, quick to dismiss it with “oh, I could do that” or “that’s not art.” We are simply used to formal art; we expect it, and also do not necessarily expect to “understand it” in an interpretive sense. Our reactions are aesthetic, evaluating just two of the three Aristotelian prerequisites for art to be great: it demonstrates skill and it may be beautiful, but we will often skip the question of whether it is interesting, as that question requires knowledge we might not possess.

We might think that “reading” formal paintings, particularly those packed with symbols or showing esoteric mythological scenes, are what require active problem-solving. At an advanced academic level, they certainly do (I racked my brain for years over that Bronzino painting). But at any less-scholarly level, for most museum-goers, this is not the case. Looking at formal art is actually a form of passive narrative reading, because the artist has given us everything our brain expects and knows automatically how to handle. It looks like real life.

But the mind-bending point that Kandel makes is that abstract art, which strips away the narrative, the real-life, expected visuals, requires active problem-solving. We instinctively search for patterns, recognizable shapes, formal figures within the abstraction. We want to impose a rational explanation onto the work, and abstract and minimalist art resists this. It makes our brains work in a different, harder, way at a subconscious level. Though we don’t articulate it as such, perhaps that is why people find abstract art more intimidating, and are hastier to dismiss it. It requires their brains to function in a different, less comfortable, more puzzled way. More puzzled even than when looking at a formal, puzzle painting.

Kandel told The Wall Street Journal that the connection between abstract art and neuroscience is about reductionism, a term in science for simplifying a problem as much as possible to make it easier to tackle and solve. This is why he studied giant sea snails to understand the human brain. Sea snails have just 20,000 neurons in their brains, whereas humans have billions. The simpler organism was easier to study and those results could be applied to humans.

“This is reductionism,” he said, “to take a complex problem and select a central, but limited, component that you can study in depth. Rothko — only color. And yet the power it conveys is fantastic. Jackson Pollock got rid of all form.”

In fact, some of the best abstract artists began in a more formal style, and peeled the form away. Turner, Mondrian and Brancusi, for instance, have early works in a quite realistic style. They gradually eroded the naturalism of their works, Mondrian for instance painting trees that look like trees early on, before abstracting his paintings into a tangle of branches, and then a tangle of lines and then just a few lines that, to him, still evoke tree-ness. It’s like boiling away apple juice, getting rid of the excess water, to end up with an apple concentrate, the ultimate essence of apple-ness. We like to think of abstraction as a 20th century phenomenon, a reaction to the invention of photography. Painting and sculpture no longer had to fulfill the role of record of events, likenesses and people — photography could do that. So painting and sculpture was suddenly free to do other things, things photography couldn’t do as well. Things like abstraction. But that’s not the whole story. A look at ancient art finds it full of abstraction. Most art history books, if they go back far enough, begin with Cycladic figurines (dated to 3300-1100 BC). Abstracted, ghost-like, sort-of-human forms. Even on cave walls, a few lines suggest an animal, or a constellation of blown hand-prints float on a wall in absolute darkness.

Abstract art is where we began, and where we have returned. It makes our brains hurt, but in all the right ways, for abstract art forces us to see, and think, differently.

[annetaart]

Journal 1 What is Art Brut according to Jean Dubuffet? Does it have any rules?

As an important part of my research, I need to identify what Art-Brut is and how is creator of its label. French artist Jean Dubuffet was that person who bring the world Art-Brut while he was looking for something unique. As many artists he have been traveling in exotic countries to find something special, but at the end realized that its around us. For Dubuffet at was difficult to define what Art Brut as it could include all sorts of marginal art, including art from asylums, folk art, self-taught masters, drawings by children, tattoos, graffiti, and even cave paintings. Dubuffet wrote in a 1945 letter: ‘Naturally, Art Brut is very difficult to define without getting confused … But there is no reason for saying that something does not exist because it is elusive and indefinable’. As it is elusive its not enough to define but be able to capture. Later on Art Brut started to have more specific description, for example it should be untouched by artistic culture, now days can be interpreted as no following trends. Artist should be able always to bring something unique. Which comes exactly from subconsciousness and at first place created not for public but for artist itself. This is one of the reasons why often being used random material. Art Brut must be created in isolation of societal pressures, including artistic precedent, and it must not be derivative. Artists usually not yet tainted by civilization. Dubuffet also created an unofficial Art Brut credo of sorts (i.e., the rules) artist must not crave recognition of any kind; they must be satisfied with whatever small reward they might gain in exchange for their creation. They are to have no concern for whether or not their art will be exhibited or how it might be received by a particular audience. According to all this rules for creating Art Brut should be a recreational activity as opposed to a profession. Which in my case hardly possible because I’m doing research first. But also since 1972( this year term outsider art was coined by art critic Roger Cardinal) time changed and its difficult to avoid to technologies it’s started to be hardly possible to be “an artist not yet tainted by civilization” Jean Dubuffet set this rules but he wasn’t exactly following the rules of how Art Brut artist should be. And after reading all his rules I want to try do opposite things and train myself first in tradition drawing and forget it and connect it to subconsciousness. In my opinion if all Art Brut artists were following rules they wouldn’t really connect to their subconsciousness. Once Jean Dubuffet invented Art Brut, art expert Lucienne Peiry noted: ‘Artists felt a need to free themselves from their tradition’ I decided to change something in tradition of Art Brut and find out a modern way of this art movement.

*20

*images of traditional drawings

Journal 2 Practice of Kandinsky. Concerning the Spiritual in Art (1911)

One of the important part of Art Brut was a Russian painter and art theorist.Wassily Kandinsky. I’ve chosen to research about him as he wrote his practice in his seminal text, Concerning the Spiritual in Art (1911).  Which is not belong to the Art Brut rules but old some way provide drawing spiritually. I’ve decided to try it as it could be a good development for something new.

Lesson #1: Express your inner world, not the latest artistic trends.

This lesson is correspond to Dubuffet's rule of creating Art-Brut.  I this rule can not be replaced and its required for creating Art Brut. As a provment I’ve been researching Art-brut artists and their works in past, then as well I’ve been doing research on drawing of mentally ill people and children, because obviously they don’t follow any latest artistic trends. After all of this I was trying to do drawing based on my thoughts and feelings inside.

images of my impulses

Lesson #2: Don’t paint things. Paint in abstract form.

With this recommendation i had a problem because i’m often express my inner world as an some creatures. As well after research of drawing of mentally ill people, I can see that they drawing some things, they doing it without thinking. Also some Art-Brut artists painting existing things. So this recommendation doesn't work for me, in my case expressing my inner world is a painting things on someway in abstract form.

Lesson #3: Approach color as a window into the human soul.

I’ve been chosing colors always according to my feeling, so this recommendation wasn't hard for me. I think this rule is fits Art brut as while painting with subcounciouness you wont have time to chose a color according to color wheel.

add painting with color

Lesson #4: Inject rhythm into your painting, like a musical score.

This recommendation is open inside me new feeling of drawing with tension without stoping and thinking what i am doing. In case of painting i decided to do drawing with my fingers, so I wouldn't worry much about details and technique. I'm planning to paint my final painting with my fingers as I found a way throught this to connect with my subcounciouness.

Lesson #5: By creating original work, you will further the cause of humanity.

This final lesson gave me some support on the way of creating something better and new. This lesson as well connected to Dubuffet rules and I complitely agreed with it. As thorugh my research I'm trying to create something new.

*80

Journal 3 Artists and Art Brut materials

Art Brut included different people who are usually excluded in society. For understanding Art Brut more I've done some research about different artist and their methods. Some of the people who spent time in mental hospitals later on considered as an Art-Brut artists. One of this people is Martín Ramirez a self-taught artist who spent most of his adult life institutionalized in California mental hospitals, diagnosed as a catatonic schizophrenic. He is considered to be one of the 20th century’s self-taught masters.

Also Art-Brut opened for a people who is born with sickness, it doesn’t have any confines. One of the good examples is Judith Scott, she was born deaf and with a Down syndrome. To express herself she became a sculptor. This work on my opinion is an example of modern way of Art Brut creating.

Most common materials is of course painting on canvases, paper. Usually this materials used by artists and for art-teraphy. Also some artists uses random papers, such as banknote or book sheet. English outsider and visionary artist Madge Gill is mostly using paper for creating her works.

Adolf Wölfli drawing on notation string.

James Castle created his own book with drawings.

Some of the Art-Brut artist used photography for expressing themselves. Morton Bartlett used dolls as an object for photography, trying to make them alive and give them emotions. 

Eugene Von Bruenchenhein was artist which used photography as well. He used to play with a photographs and use different effects, also in his photographs used interesting background, such as floral motives.

*260

Journal 4 Art Therapy and Art Brut

A big part of Art Brut was drawings of mentally ill people, drawing being used as an art therapy. In my past went to visit The Museum Dr. Guislain in Gent, Belgium, which now became part of my research. This place have collection started off with a small collection of visual art created by artistically-gifted psychiatric patients and mentally challenged persons. This placed influence part of my research as I can see environment of this people. By analyzing all this works I can see how pure they are, a real subconsciousness of this people. They not trying to follow any rules, just interpreting their inner world and transporting their feeling on the paper. They got a unique technique where they use no technique. Which is different from rules for Art Brut. But maybe the main key is in their illness? Can “a mentally healthy” person rich this level of unique professionalism.

For answering this question I’ve decided to find out about illness for which art therapy been used and I found a list of illness.

manage behavior

reduce stress develop

interpersonal skills increase self-esteem increase self-awareness

Art therapists can also help address:

emotional difficulties related to disability or illness trauma and loss post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) physical problems cognitive problems neurological problems

Some of the illness in the list can be applied for the most of us, sometimes its just more hidden or we are not ready to connect on deeper level of subconsciousness.

For my experimentation and chosen methods of creating art I’ve decided to do some drawing in different state of mind. 

As a final result through my research I found out that best for me to create painting with subconsciousness when my mood is goes extremely up or close to depression. The best place for me to paint is where I’m alone with my thought, which could be supported by music. It is better for me to paint in the evening, when it gets darker.

This research also help me to understand that everyone how their methods to connect with themselves and it mostly can not be settled by rules.

Art Brut included many different people and while comparing art brut artist and people in the hospital, we can see whose who just trying to follow the rules. I think there is no line between art therapy and real Art Brut.

*100

[douchebagbrainwaves]

IN OUR STARTUP, WHEN OUTSIDERS CAME TO VISIT WE TRIED HARD TO SEEM PROFESSIONAL

In fact they'd cause there to be more specific than they suck or we'll work really hard. The floors are constantly being swept clean of any loose objects that might later get stuck in something. People like baseball more than poetry, so baseball players make more than you actually are. If server-based software. And jeans turn out not to be the most progressive. We always looked for new ways to add features with hardware, not just because she's shy that she hates bragging. And the programmers liked it because it meant they could help the users, instead of reading scripts to them.

We probably all know people who, though otherwise smart, are just comically bad at this. It's simply more expensive. Network-level filters if they want to buy you. If you simply manage to write something that takes off, you may find that you were rejected by another several months ago, you'll definitely seem shopworn. But for nearly everyone else, spoken language is better. You might also want preferred stock, meaning a new digit after the decimal point. And while it's impossible to say what will happen to existing forms, but what new forms will appear. There continued to be bribes, as there still are everywhere, but politics had by then been left to men who were driven more by vanity than greed. She also hates fighting. And vice versa: you'll sell more of something when it's easy to buy. Subject foo.

Look at where your code is slow, because you'll guess wrong. Empathy is probably the first you've founded. You could launch a Web-based applications. The main reason I don't like the name computer science. Filtering rate is a measure of the bugs in my implementation than some intrinsic false positive rate is, because we're up in the 1970s, the idea of starting a startup. I behave in a way that allows specifications to change on the fly. I even fix bits that are phonetically awkward; I don't know exactly what the future will look like, but I'm not too worried about it. They only have one foot in publishing.

You don't release code late at night and then go home. If I could get people to remember just one quote about programming, it would arguably be immoral not to. I had the angel do a straight cash for stock deal. I feared. When we look back on the desktop software business will find this hard to credit, but at YC culture wasn't just how we picked founders who'd be successful. The houses are made using the same construction techniques and contain much the same objects. And you can't approach some and save others for later, because a toll has to be given to them. Once it became possible to get rich by creating wealth, society as a whole started to get it. Let's start by talking about the five sources of startup funding.

At one of the keys to Unix security is not to run unnecessary utilities that people might use to break into your servers. Programming languages are interesting to write, and Microsoft's first product was one, in fact; with their technical depth, the acquirers should be better at picking winners than VCs. You can do well in math and the natural sciences without having to learn empathy, and people in these fields tend to be ones that work. I asked about it said: When the company goes public, the SEC will carefully study all prior issuances of stock by the company and demand that it take immediate action to cure any past violations of securities laws. At its best, it's creating the spec—though it turns out the rule large and disciplined organizations. One of the less publicized benefits of the open-source movement is that it will be the only kind of work they want to do it. Below is the result of your feedback form is an instant giveaway. An advantage of consulting, as a rule, not the band that makes money and the kind that's interesting to write. A lot of startups writing mainframe applications. In hacking, this can literally mean saving up bugs. So verbs with initial caps as well as implement it, don't start a startup you would do well to remember that. With individual angels you don't have to rely on benchmarks, for example.

The best way to do this by the small size of their corpus, but if other startups have signed the same agreements and things went well for them, they'll get a lot of startups get their first funding from friends and family is that they're both makers. It got done by badly dressed people I was notorious for programmming wearing just a towel in offices strewn with junk at 2 in the morning. With Web-based applications are an ideal source of revenue, you're probably looking at a loser. Don't get complacent if your competitors' software is lame; the standard to compare your software to is what it could be written by large and frequently changing teams of mediocre programmers. They may not be quite as smart or as well connected as angels or venture firms; and they may not be accredited investors, which could complicate your life later. The same thing happens with software. The usual way to avoid being taken by surprise by something is to be consciously aware of it.

You don't have the source code too. Understanding how someone else sees things doesn't imply that you'll act in his interest; in some situations—in war, for example, is all math. Maybe the only answer is a central list of domains advertised in spams. If I'd had to wait a year for the next release. It's enormously spread out, and feels surprisingly empty much of the time not to defend yourself. And nowhere more than in matters of funding. In both painting and hacking there are some tasks that are terrifyingly ambitious, and others wouldn't. By no means the message they'd like to send though, which is like trying to run through waist-deep water. Money is just a convenient way of trading one form of wealth for another. What I'm saying is that open-source software, and a developer has to deal with this is to get the fastest possible standing quarter mile.

I think Microsoft will have a hard time paying a high price for a company with only three programmers. That seems like saying that blue is heavy, or that can incorporate live data feeds, or that can page you when certain conditions are triggered. A worse danger is that you know you're making something at least one customer wants. It's important to realize that Google's current location in an office park, because then the people who call in with questions on talk shows. This seems to be that you work in their space. I think the opposite is happening. But it seems more dangerous to put stuff in that you've never needed because it's thought to be a lot more eager to close—and awkward systems yield meatier papers, because you were already worrying about it subconsciously. But they're also desperate for deals. For a painter, a museum is a reference library of techniques.

[cognitive-psych-ls-blog]

Book Blog Report

My name is Lily Schlicht and I am in my second year at Saddleback. I have always had an interest in psychology but after being diagnosed with Borderline Personality disorder my interest in cognitive psychology grew. I wanted to understand which parts of my diagnosis where manifested to do my environment and which if any where manifested due to biological or brain structure. This interest in how specific disorders manifest pointed me toward neuropsychology. I want to see if brain structure or functioning impacts whether or not someone gets diagnosed with certain diagnosis such as Anorexia Verses Binge Eating Disorder. The Cognitive Psychology book I chose is called Blink the Power of Thinking Without Thinking by Malcolm Gladwell. I chose Blink mainly because I already had it but also because I am interested in what causes impulsivity to most often result in negative out comes. Personally I use to have a very difficult time with impulsivity but since learning how to slow down and pay attention to details I have been able to be less impulsive.

 The author, Malcolm Gladwell was born in England but resides in Canada as a journalist and author. Malcolm Gladwell is known for writing The Tipping Point, Blink, Outliers, What the Dog Saw: and Other Adventures, David and Goliath; Underdogs, Misfits and The Art of Battling Giants. Just like every author he has been both praised and cotticed. Gladwell's book The Tipping Point was named as one of the best books of the decade. On the other hand, both his books and his approaches have been criticized. Maureen Tkucik and Steven Pinker both challenged Gladwell on his focus of anecdotal evidence instead of research. Anecdotal evidence is described as casually collecting evidence, usually by getting personal testimony. Among verbal praise and criticism, he also received many awards and honors. Some of his awards and honors include being named one of the Times 100 influential people in 2005, in 2007 he received an honorary degree from the University of Waterloo and the first Award for Excellence in the reporting of Social Issues from the American Sociological Association.

 In Blink Gladwell's main focus is to support people in understanding how their subconscious is highly sensitive to external stimuli. He explores the psychological process of both intuition and instinct. As well as intuition and instinct he talks about snap judgment and how it can be important in situations of like or death. The book argues that we should learn to appreciate judgments based on limited information. In the beginning of the book he tells a story of a statue called a koura. This koura was presented to the Getty Museum as an authentic piece. Houghton, Harrison, and George Despinis all felt or thought something that promoted them to believe this koura was in fact a fake. In chapter one Gladwell introduces the idea of "thin-slicing". Thin slicing is the ability for the unconscious mind to find pattern and meaning in short experiences and first impressions. In simple terms he talks about the ability of being able to look as small sections of a situation and act on what we know. In chapter two he goes on to talk about priming. Priming is when a person experiences behavior changes due to external factors. This person may or may not be aware of the changes in their behavior. Going onto chapter three he talks about the dark side of slicing. The dark side of slicing is when our unconscious minds are prejudice which then influences our conscious decisions.

 In chapter four he talks about how in Western culture we tend to focus on analytical decision making instead of intuitive decision making. Van Riper was an example Gladwell gave as someone who believed in intuitive decision making, especially on the battlefield. In chapter five Gladwell goes into detail about how thin slicing can be an important aspect of marketing. He also talks about how when products are surveyed they usually do better with the marketing team than the public. In the last chapter he talks about how thin-slicing can go wrong. The example he gives is the shooting of Amadou Diallo. In recent years thin-slicing going wrong has been common in police departments with shootings of African American men and women.

 For this paragraph and for the analyzation of Blink I am going to focus on one aspect, thin slicing. As I said before thin slicing is the ability for the unconscious mind to pick up pattern and meaning in short instances. One of the studies I found was a study focusing on decision making in children and adolescents. The study talks about how a child or adolescent can make risky decisions due to developmental trajectory. The study measured decision making in children and adolescents ranging in age from eight to seventeen years old. To measure decision making abilities they used the Iowa Gambling Task created by Bechara in 2007. They used a computerized version of the IGT, the Wechster Abbreviated Scale of Intelligence, the WCST, the TMT-B, the self-ordered pointing task, and the connect continuous performance test. At the time the book was released like I said early Gladwell was criticized for his choice in how he conducted his study’s. He did not rely on research.

 I enjoyed reading this book and when I got it I was excited to read it. What surprised me was that when I found out the way he conducts research is mainly through people’s testimonies I was shocked. From what we learned in class about memory and testimonies I was surprised to see a well known author in psychology or cognitive neuropsychology. This book caused me to think about how I use to be impulsive but once I started focusing on what I was doing I became less and less impulsive. I would suggest this book to people who are interested in psychology, especially cognitive psychology or neuroscience. Over all I thought this was a great learning opportunity.

[formsofseeing2017spring-blog]

The Subconscious

By Robyn Fettman

The Subconscious-

“According to The U.S. Census Bureau by 2010, the percentage of respondents who checked more than one race jumped by 32 percent. National Geographic determined how the ‘average’ American will look by 2050.” (Mxmasha). 

Six years later, the University of Washington came out with a study that reported:

“Acceptance of interracial marriage masks deeper feelings of discomfort— even disgust— that some feel about mixed-race couples. Published online in July in the Journal of Experimental Social Psychology and co-authored by UW postdoctoral researcher Caitlin Hudac, the study found that bias against interracial couples is associated with disgust that in turn leads interracial couples to be dehumanized (Bach).”

 The study included a series of three different experiments. (The details of the experiments can be found here: http://www.washington.edu/news/2016/08/17/study-finds-bias-disgust-toward-mixed-race-couples/).

Based on this series of information, it became apparent to me that we are in a progression of disconnect, which begs the question: If our society is moving toward a more racially ambiguous future, then why do we as a society associate interracial couples with subconscious levels of disgust?

I decided to take this disconnect of progression and disgust and place it towards a visual and listening exhibition.

When discussing my installation to prospective participants and those who actually participated, the reactions were overall positive. Because I am and have never been in an interracial relationship, it was important for me to keep my research in mind when communicating my thoughts as well as being open to criticism and suggestions. I also needed to keep in mind that interracial relationships can be of any race, not just black and white, relationships in general do not just involve female and male, but male and male and female and female as well as trans couples.

By the completion of my installation, I found myself thinking more critically of how I and society views relationships, more specifically interracial relationships. I find myself to be more cognizant of my thoughts and the conversation that surrounds this topic.

My installation is set in a gallery/art exhibit setting and begins with a row of photographs, independently framed with a different individual. The viewer will be asked to take a few moments to look at the photos and gather their own thoughts, all while having no context as to why the photos are there, if they are related, etc. They will then be asked to press a button for audio below the photos. The audio contains each couple answering a series of questions related to their relationship. The purpose of this installation is to leave the viewer connecting their initial thoughts and reactions to what is now known.

According to Marketing of Art Museums by Robert C. Blattberg and Cynthia J. Broderick:

“Because art is an “acquired” taste, it has historically appealed to certain segments of the market who have devoted time and effort to appreciating art. Thus, the audience for art museums has been heavily populated by upper-come, educated households (Feldstein).”

Blattberg and Broderick’s studies go hand in hand with the demographic of those who felt subconscious disgust by photos of interracial couples. Understanding this research led to this target audience. Because of these connections the dominant forms of seeing are stigma and ethical looking. The stigma associated with interracial couples has continually been a hot topic historically, especially over the past several decades. Because my dominant form of seeing is ethical looking it was important to research and connect every component of this piece, ultimately leaving the viewer questioning their initial thoughts.

Connecting my process and research to the artistic and critical works of those from class was extremely important. A work I continuously referred back to was the work of Marina Abramović, more specifically her Silent Sitting Exhibition. The amount of respect associated to this piece was incredibly and ultimately led me to my decision of hosing my installation in a gallery/art exhibition. Her piece also evoked a diverse set of reactions with those who interacted with her, another important component and connection with my piece, The Subconscious.

(Words Count: 671)

Link to Audio: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Phdl9N5GXBg&feature=youtu.be

Citations:

Bach, Deborah. "Study Finds Bias, Disgust toward Mixed-race Couples." UW Today. University of Washington, 16 Aug. 2016. Web. 15 Apr. 2017.

Feldstein, Martin S., Robert C. Blattberg, and Cynthia J. Broderick. The Economics of Art            Museums. Chicago: U of Chicago, 1992. Www.nber.org. The National Bureau of Economic Research. Web. 15 Apr. 2017.

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