Supporting references, histories and methodologies
1. Untitled by Tara Donovan> I find this piece a perfect example of the way we influence ways of seeing, perception. Eventhough Tara Donovan is not a formal designer, her work speaks to me about how we can deliberately skew the perception of objects and a space. In this particular piece, Donovan creates a magnificent ceiling sculpture with tons of styrofoam cups, which seen individual look like ordinary junk but placed together create a beautiful ambiance and mesmerizing sculpture.
T.V. Buddha by Nam June Paik> I relate to this project because of the relationship that is depicted within the installation. When does an image stop being "holy"? What happens when we switch places with things or situations that we experience in everyday life?
2. Psychick Bible by Genesis P-Orridge Genesis P-Orridge work is the perfect example of crossing the line of Art and taking it to a point that it becomes a system of belief. His artwork became the sigil, the ritual and the magick, it created a whole world of perception in the realm of what we know as art and making it an expression of the human mind and power.
Alejandro Jodorowsky's Psychomagic Manual and Tarot Completely outside the lines of Genesis's work, but along the same argument, Alejandro Jodorowsky turned his art practice into an ultimate healing technique. He found way to mix the art of poetry, performance and tarot reading to reinvent our daily habits and heal our physical and mental distress. The way it works is making the mind activate things in our everyday lives to make it channel an "auto-healing" process through the rupture of routine.
3. Shaping Things by Bruce Sterling This is another text that I consider important on the way we perceive things. I value the way Sterling talks about objects, their use and how it has changed throughout time and most of all, how us as designers, should take in consideration the way we make and design and how we have to take into account much more than form and function to really achieve a successful piece of design.
4. Alejandro Jodorowsky's Psychomagic> http://planocreativo.wordpress.com
Nice Peace and Variable 72 by Erwin Wurm The famous "fat car" and human sculptures by Erwin Wurm tap in an intriguing way our relationship with everyday objects. What happens when we take a pencil a stick it up our ears and then take a picture? Through WurmÕs eyes it becomes a human sculpture, but through mine it imposes questions about the way we perceive things. Do we really have to assume, all the time, that a pencil is just for writing?
Protomembrana by Marcel.li Antunez Roca> A lot of his work deal with performance but this project in particular catches my attention because of its relationship with technology and storytelling. He invented a genre called "Sistematurgia" which means the act of drama representing computational systems in a fable like narrative. The performance includes music, motion graphics and light design under a system of interaction where all these are controlled through the use of different interfaces.
5. Objects of Desire by Adrian Forty This book is an important reference because it illustrates the relationship of people and objects throughout time. It also points out why common objects can become objects of desire and take part in our lives in a stronger way because of the way we attach ourselves to them.
1. Untitled by Tara Donovan> I find this piece a perfect example of the way we influence ways of seeing, perception. Eventhough Tara Donovan is not a formal designer, her work speaks to me about how we can deliberately skew the perception of objects and a space. In this particular piece, Donovan creates a magnificent ceiling sculpture with tons of styrofoam cups, which seen individual look like ordinary junk but placed together create a beautiful ambiance and mesmerizing sculpture.
T.V. Buddha by Nam June Paik> I relate to this project because of the relationship that is depicted within the installation. When does an image stop being "holy"? What happens when we switch places with things or situations that we experience in everyday life?
2. Psychick Bible by Genesis P-Orridge Genesis P-Orridge work is the perfect example of crossing the line of Art and taking it to a point that it becomes a system of belief. His artwork became the sigil, the ritual and the magick, it created a whole world of perception in the realm of what we know as art and making it an expression of the human mind and power.
Alejandro Jodorowsky's Psychomagic Manual and Tarot Completely outside the lines of Genesis's work, but along the same argument, Alejandro Jodorowsky turned his art practice into an ultimate healing technique. He found way to mix the art of poetry, performance and tarot reading to reinvent our daily habits and heal our physical and mental distress. The way it works is making the mind activate things in our everyday lives to make it channel an "auto-healing" process through the rupture of routine.
3. Shaping Things by Bruce Sterling This is another text that I consider important on the way we perceive things. I value the way Sterling talks about objects, their use and how it has changed throughout time and most of all, how us as designers, should take in consideration the way we make and design and how we have to take into account much more than form and function to really achieve a successful piece of design.
4. Alejandro Jodorowsky's Psychomagic> http://planocreativo.wordpress.com
Nice Peace and Variable 72 by Erwin Wurm The famous "fat car" and human sculptures by Erwin Wurm tap in an intriguing way our relationship with everyday objects. What happens when we take a pencil a stick it up our ears and then take a picture? Through WurmÕs eyes it becomes a human sculpture, but through mine it imposes questions about the way we perceive things. Do we really have to assume, all the time, that a pencil is just for writing?
Protomembrana by Marcel.li Antunez Roca> A lot of his work deal with performance but this project in particular catches my attention because of its relationship with technology and storytelling. He invented a genre called "Sistematurgia" which means the act of drama representing computational systems in a fable like narrative. The performance includes music, motion graphics and light design under a system of interaction where all these are controlled through the use of different interfaces.
5. Objects of Desire by Adrian Forty This book is an important reference because it illustrates the relationship of people and objects throughout time. It also points out why common objects can become objects of desire and take part in our lives in a stronger way because of the way we attach ourselves to them.
Paraconceptual> http://www.core77.com/reactor/tobi_wong.html This term is used to describe the work of late Tobias Wong. I would like to quote a paragraph in this article for it exemplifies in some ways that intersection that I find myself into with art and design. His work overall taps into this "blurry line" making the most of it instead of trying to frame his work in either of the two. "Much of Tobi Wong's work plays between concept and beauty, exposing the similarities between art and design rather than blurring their boundaries. Unlike purely conceptual work Ð which often lacks a real appreciation for beauty, aesthetics, and a desire for consumption Ð his work often finds expression in real objects. HeÕs coined the term Paraconceptual to describe it: "Of, relating to, or being conceptual."
"Gold Pill" by Tobias Wong and Ju$t Another Rich Kid> http://dvice.com/archives/2007/12/gold_pill_makes.php This piece reframes the use of a pill and makes a comment on modern society. The Gold Pill is a covered pill full of 24 kt gold. One eats it to improve self worth, while at the same time talks about our obsession with having things, consuming and having more to become more.
BIO Tobias Wong was a Canadian artist born 1974. He was trained as a sculptor but positioned his work in the realm of Paraconeptualism, a line between design and art work. His work made deep comments on consumer culture re "vamping" objects or decontextualizing them from their original set.
Urban Legends> I had to look into Urban Legends because of the way they frame the perception of a certain culture at a certain time. This might be the first reference I do to Cultural Anthropology which I mentioned earlier. This stories that are crafted tell us many things of a time and a place, and their change or variants talk about the transformation of the perception of a culture. I would like to quote "An Urban Legend is an apocryphal contemporary story told as true but incorporating traditional motifs and usually attributed to a friend of a friend"" (Bruvand 1996, p. 730)
Critical Design> http://www.dunneandraby.co.uk/content/bydandr/13/0
A quote from Cedric Price "Designing for delight and pleasure should very seldom be seen to happen, and must encompassÑindeed nurtureÑdoubt, danger, mystery and magicÉ Distortion of time, space and substance is as necessary a design tool for pleasure as it is for religious architectureÉ" Cedric Price, "Cedric Price Talks at the AA", AA Files 1990, 2
One of the things that really thrill me about the terrain IÕm exploring with my thesis work is that it touches different disciplines within and outside design, but it all comes together when placed next to each other. Is within this gaps that I find interest, and where most of the time my work lies. I talked earlier of the Paraconceptual movement and I strongly believe that this body of research exists between that blurry line of art and design- but posing questions in a critical design kind of way. ÑÑÑÑÑÑÑÑÑÑÑÑÑÑ Brunvard, Jan Harold "Encyclpedia of Urban Legends" New York; London : WW.Norton & Co. 2002 Maeda, John "The Laws of Simplicity" Cambridge, MA: MIT Press 200 Steinmeyer, Jim "Hiding the Elephant" New York : Carroll & Graph Publishers 2003 Forty, Adrian "Objects of Desire" London: Cameron Books 1986 "Painful but Fabulous: The lives & art of Genesis P-Orridge" New York: Soft Skull Press 2002 Dunne & Raby "The Secret life of electronic objects" August/Birkhauser