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September 2022

Emergent Strategy Responses

Principles

  • Q: Do you find any of these principles more difficult to achieve than others in your own creative practice? How?

When I went through the principles of Emergent strategy, I agreed with most of them, but just found two of them difficult to achieve. The first one is “Small is good, small is all.” I believe that small is good and a great work is composed of many small pieces. However, it is also necessary to have a comprehensive understanding of the work or project. And there are rules which might be visible or not, or that manage and integrate all the small ones. 

The second one is “Less prep, more presence.”  This is definitely true for experts who master the skills with rich experiences. Too much preparation might restrain creativity. Being at present can enable the subject to be more focused on the object and his or her senses and feelings. But this doesn’t apply for less skilled or experienced people.

 

Elements

  • Q: Without overthinking it: which of these elements brown describes most immediately feels evident as part of your creative work, and how? Or, if none of them do, which feels like one you might intentionally integrate, and why?

I feel that “Resilience and Transformative Justice” most evident to me. Creation itself entails a long, exhausting and sometimes even miserable process. The creator goes through a repetitive cycle of “self-affirmation and self-denial”, in which Resilience is absolutely a must to regain energy and confidence to continue to create. This is also where the vitality of the art work comes from.

Kinship: Coat of Arms – Topic 1 Development

Research Questions:

1.What is “Coat of Arms”? 

Coat of arms, the principal part of a system of hereditary symbols dating back to early medieval Europe, is used primarily to establish identity in battle. Arms evolved to denote family descent, adoption, alliance, property ownership, and, eventually, profession.

 

2.Origin and Evolution

The term coat of arms itself in origin refers to the surcoat with heraldic designs worn by combatants, especially in the knightly tournament, in Old French cote a armer. The sense is transferred to the heraldic design itself in Middle English, in the mid-14th century.

In the 17th to 19th centuries, the period known to armorists as “the Decadence,” arms were embellished to record personal or family history, often in ways that ignored the traditions of heraldry’s origins. Arms were designed for organizations far removed from war—schools, universities, guilds, churches, fraternal societies, and even modern corporations—to symbolize the meanings of their mottoes or to hint at their histories. During the 20th century, however, there was a return to the classical simplicity of the early heraldic art, exemplified in the medieval rolls that were compiled when arms were slowly being organized into a disciplined system.

 

3.Code of Arms in Different Regions (need to do deep-dive work)

  • Europe: Britain, France, German
  • North American: Canada, United States
  • Asia: Japan
  • Africa：South Africa, Nigeria
  • Questions: why there are not Code of Arms in China? The initial finding is that there might be Coat of Arms in China in very ancient times for a short time. While with the evolution of patterns, oracle-bone inscriptions and pictograph, they became Chinese Characters. Also, another reason might relate to China’s history. Since Qin Dynasty, China was a highly centralized country, in which all the army forces were owned and controlled by the emperor. Therefore, troops didn’t have their own identity.

 

4.Design your own “Coat of Arms”

– thinking of provide elements for users to design and build up his/her “Coat of Arms”

 

  • Experimental “Making”

 

 

 

Sources: 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coat_of_arms#History

https://www.britannica.com/topic/coat-of-arms

https://www.english-heritage.org.uk/members-area/kids/kids-rule-things-to-make-and-do/design-your-own-coat-of-arms/

Satellite Research

There are two definitions of the satellite:

1. Natural satellite which in the most common usage, an astronomical body that orbits a planet, dwarf planet, or small Solar System body (or sometimes another natural satellite)

2. Artificial satellite is an object intentionally placed into orbit in outer space.

However, the artificial satellite is mostly people referring to the satellite.

Satellites are placed from the surface to orbit by launch vehicles, and then change or maintain the orbit by propulsion. In 2018, about 90% of satellites orbiting Earth are in low Earth orbit or geostationary orbit, a small number of satellites orbit other bodies (such as the Moon, Mars, and the Sun) or many bodies at once (two for a halo orbit, three for a Lissajous orbit).

The first artificial satellite to be launched into the Earth’s orbit was the Soviet Union’s Sputnik 1, on 4 October 1957.

Earth observation satellites gather information for reconnaissance, mapping, monitoring the weather, ocean, forest, etc. Space telescopes take advantage of outer space’s near perfect vacuum to observe objects with the entire electromagnetic spectrum. Because satellites can see a large portion of the Earth at once, communications satellites can relay information to remote places. The signal delay from satellites and their orbit’s predictability are used in satellite navigation systems, such as GPS. Space probes are satellites designed for robotic space exploration outside of Earth, and space stations are in essence crewed satellites. There are lots of other usages of satellite,s for example, experimental satellites(Biosatellites) are satellites designed to carry living organisms, generally for scientific experimentation; Weapon satellites for Space weapons or Anti-satellite weapons.

Issues like space debris, radio and light pollution are increasing in magnitude and at the same time lack progress in national or international regulation.

  1. Space debris poses dangers to spacecraft(including satellites) in or crossing geocentric orbits which could potentially curtail humanity from conducting space endeavors in the future.
  2. With the increase in numbers of satellite constellations, like SpaceX Starlink, the astronomical community report that orbital pollution is getting increased significantly.
  3. The effects of large satellite constellations can severely affect some astronomical research efforts.
  4. Due to the low received signal strength of satellite transmissions, they are prone to jamming by land-based transmitters.
  5. Also, it is very easy to transmit a carrier radio signal to a geostationary satellite and thus interfere with the legitimate uses of the satellite’s transponder. It is common for Earth stations to transmit at the wrong time or on the wrong frequency in commercial satellite space, and dual-illuminate the transponder, rendering the frequency unusable.

Experimental Sketch:

 

Data Source:

https://www.destinationspace.uk/how-we-use-satellites/how-far-away-close-are-satellites/

Emergent Strategy Response

Q: Have you felt trapped inside of someone else’s imagination? How have you broken free?

A: When I was watching a movie, such as Hayao Miyazaki’s anime, I felt trapped inside the director’s imagination. I like to immerse myself in a movie when it is playing. After watching it, if it keeps me thinking about the characters and the plot, I was “caught” by the author’s imagination. To free myself, I have to change the view angle from an audience to a character. Though this change even traps me in the author’s world deeper at first. I can develop the character and break the author’s world. Jumping out of the original imagination this way, I get the space to create my own story.

 

Q: Do you find any of these principles more difficult to achieve than others in your own creative practice? How?

A: The principle “Less prep, more presence.” I always want to have the work ready to show pre-designed results and get the expected response. But it is impossible. Both impossible and unnecessary. After reading Brown’s article, I feel like I was putting the focus on the result, “the mass”, instead of the process, the connections. This is a mind shift. Especially using a non-native language for me now. However, it is also an opportunity to see the creative process from a different angle.

 

Emergent Strategy Response

“A mushroom is a toxin-transformer, a dandelion is a community of healers waiting to spread…” (9)

  • Q: In your view, what is a function of humans in the universe?

For my point of view, the function of humans in the universe is helping other people and let other people feel the beauty of the universe. Also, it will be admirable if people leave something and keep have positive impact to the world. It has so tiny chance to be an intelligent life entity in the universe. Therefore, we have to utilize the opportunity to bring happiness and love to other people, and live the the life we will remember.  

From Buddhist ideology, any life will become other life forms after their death. What you will become in the next life loop depends on how much good things you did in the past. If a people do enough good things to the universe, they will live above the universe and no more life loop for them. I believe this could guide us to make our world a better place.

Q: Do you find any of these principles more difficult to achieve than others in your own creative practice? How?

The principle I feel difficult to achieve in my own creative practice is “change is constant(Be like water)”. I remember Bruce Lee also said the similar sentence, “Empty your mind. Be formless, shapeless, like water. You put water into a cup, it becomes the cup.” This is also a key concept from Tao. For my understanding, Water could be different forms in different environment. As humans, if we could be like water we will be adaptive to both negative and positive situation. Our world is constantly changing and our mindset should also keep up with the times. Our life will be easier if we become comprehensive and receptive. 

For myself, I always strictly follow the instruction and flow of work or study, which make me be inefficient and less creative in different aspects. Some times, we have to break rules(it has to be legal), then we could find multiple possibility especially for doing art works.

Emergent Strategy Response

Q: How would you define emergence? What is its opposite?

A: “The movement from low-level rules to higher-level sophistication is what we call emergence.”  I think emergence is mainly about a process of a collection or a complex system, but not the individual members. For example, how individual items (e.g. ants) combine to make a super-organism that ‘has a mind of its own’, and how in our human lives such a thing as a city emerges as the product less of planning than of dynamic interaction.

As for its opposite, I believe emergence is quite a subjective topic, the property of emergence often not related to its individual items. So divergent or declined might be the opposite side of emergence.

 

Q: Do you find any of these principles more difficult to achieve than others in your own creative practice? How?

A: I think the most difficult principle to achieve is “There is always enough time for the right work.” in my practice. It reminds me of the process I spend on my work, if it is not good enough I may always protect my ego with the excuse of limited time. After finishing the project/practice, I would rather spend my time on other different things than reviewing or completing the previous work. The principle inspired me to spend my time appropriately on the right work, the fixed deadlines never account for all the unexpected things that always happen on every project.

Borders: Salt

Possible Points:

(Read through the “Salt” article from Wikipedia to get basic ideas around “borders”.)

  • essential for life
  • food seasoning
  • salting – food preservation
  • civilization
    • the first city in Europe was a salt mine
    • around 6000BC, saltworks in Rome & China
    • different food resources of nomads and agriculturalists lead to different needs for salt
  • an important article of trade
    • salt roads
    • barter
      • the obsidian trade in Anatolia in the Neolithic Era
      • about 2800 BC, the Egyptians began exporting salt fish to the Phoenicians in return for Lebanon cedar, glass, and the dye Tyrian purple
      • the Phoenicians traded Egyptian salted fish and salt from North Africa throughout their Mediterranean trade empire.
    • in Africa, as currency
  • cities along the river Salzach related to salt
  • wars & tax
    • Venice won a war with Genoa (? & relations with the American Revolution
    • Cities on overland trade routes levied duties
    • governments imposed salt taxes on people
      • The voyages of Christopher Columbus – were financed by salt production in southern Spain
      • the oppressive salt tax – the causes of the French Revolution
      • tax, pay for Napoleon’s foreign wars
      • Salt March in India
  • Religion

Upsides:

  • food seasoning & food preservation
  • promote civilization
  • promote business
  • cities related to salt flourished
  • government got tax

Downsides:

  • cause wars
  • salt tax increases the burden on the people

Cultural differences:

(Mainly related to religion… Or I can focus on the differences between salt in Chinese and other cultural histories

 

Research on cosmetics of the skin topic

People’s lives are often inseparable from cosmetics. As a decorative material that directly touches the skin, it has both advantages and disadvantages.

 

Advantages
First of all, the modification of the skin cannot be denied. Cosmetics can increase self-confidence and cover up health flaws to make people look healthier. For certain jobs, cosmetics can also play a role in disguising.

 

Shortcomings
However, the damage of cosmetics to the skin also exists objectively.
Liquid foundations can make the pores of the face airtight. While the eyeliner may irritate the eye. Besides, heavy metal elements such as lead and mercury in lipstick will lead to a fiasco in the long-term use of lip color, which further aggravates the dependence on lipstick and falls into a vicious circle.

 

Questions

闪 眼影 的图像结果
Cosmetics have severe problems in the production chain. The glitter used in the eyeshadow is made from mica flakes. Many of these mica is mined by child labor in India. 60% of the high-quality mica used in the cosmetic industry comes from India. There are now about 22,000 child laborers in such mica mines in India. The particles that children constantly inhale can lead to respiratory diseases such as asthma, silicosis, and tuberculosis. Even more frightening is that these mines may collapse without warning and children will be buried underneath.

 

Research areas I am interested in, which may not be relevant to my topic
Example: https://www.vice.com/en/article/3dpxmk/electronic-skin-future

Topic: Skin as material, medium, and metaphor as manifest in contemporary art practice
Touch is a general term for mechanical stimuli such as touch, sliding, and pressure. The tactile devices of most animals are all over the body, like human skin, which is located on the surface of the human body and spreads all over the body. There are many kinds of tactile devices, some feel hot and cold, some feel itchy, and some feel smooth or rough, different. Different parts of the skin feel different to different things because the number and types of different receptors are different. The human face, lips, fingers, and other parts have many kinds of receptors, so the feeling of these parts is very sensitive.
The perception of human skin is qualitative but not quantitative. The tactile sensor can imitate human skin, and what is even more amazing is that it can also express the feelings of temperature, humidity, force, and other feelings in a quantitative way, and even help the disabled to obtain the lost perception ability. For example, a new type of hairy electronic skin can enable robots to quickly distinguish slight air fluctuations caused by breathing or weak heartbeat vibrations. The sensor is even more sensitive than human skin and could be widely used in prosthetics, heart rate monitors, and robotics.

I hope to use this technology to design a lizard that can experience the emotions of the audience and express them through the state of the electronic skin, so as to complete the emotional interaction with the audience.

Emergent Strategy Response

“I often feel I am trapped inside someone else’s imagination, and I must engage my own imagination in order to break free” (18)

  • Q: Have you felt trapped inside of someone else’s imagination? How have you broken free?

 

Design is just a creative discipline that blends art and poetry, which is based on imagination.

Art + Poetry + Design, the most intuitive symptom is buying something out of impulse. When we buy something, in many cases, we are not paying for the function, but for”love at first sight” for that thing, even without any explainable reasons. Because “the beauty of things” touches me, surprises me, delights me, and resonates with me. The moment I see it, a germ called Poetry infects me, allowing me to develop an emotional connection to the object for a short period of time, being trapped in the poetic world the designer depicts. This is a feeling that transcends functions, being an indescribable fate.

This is also the meaning of carrying art and poetry into industrial design.
Using an item that can be bought and owned as a carrier, redefine the surrounding space, let us briefly transcend our daily life, and pull us into a dimension full of imagination and beauty. At that moment, we shortly came into contact with the essence of human nature, looked at ourselves from the inside, made ourselves higher than the level of material existence, and achieved spiritual fulfillment.

 

With the help of design products,  it is a blessing to indulge in the beauty of the designer’s imagination, without any reasons or necessities to escape.

Emergent Strategy Response

“I often feel I am trapped inside someone else’s imagination, and I must engage my own imagination in order to break free” (18)

  • Q: Have you felt trapped inside of someone else’s imagination? How have you broken free?

I think in responding to this, I have to consider if I actually have broken free. At the macro level, I think it’s safe to say that I have not. I feel very trapped inside the imagination of a capitalistic, materialistic, progress-for-progress’s sake culture. Despite lofty goals, I find it hard to break from the worn-in paths defined above. But if I have taken anything from this reading, it is that a macro-level reading of experience might not be the most fruitful place to start, so let’s look for some bright spots, shall we?

Being an artist, maker, and designer is a break from some imaginations. Growing up, I knew that I was vocationally called to making things, but it was not clear how that would translate into a career path. It is probably a similar story for many such artists and designers (and peers in this program!), but the imagined state of “starving artist” is pervasive. I was lucky to have a network of support that trusted me as I learned to trust myself, fumbling forward through art, craftspersonship, and several other threads to my current home in the world of design.

Other examples might be found in moments of change — moving to new cities, leaving jobs, leaving boyfriends. Deciding that something different is out there, and that “different” looked promising. I do want to spend more energy imagining futures that I want to see, for myself and for the world around me.

 

  • Small is good, small is all.
  • Change is constant. (Be like water.)
  • There is always enough time for the right work.
  • There is a conversation in the room that only these people at this moment can have. Find it.
  • Never a failure, always a lesson.
  • Trust the people. (If you trust the people, they become trustworthy.)
  • Move at the speed of trust. Focus on critical connections more than on critical mass — build the resilience by building the relationships.
  • Less prep, more presence.
  • What you pay attention to grows.

Q: Do you find any of these principles more difficult to achieve than others in your own creative practice? How?

I am heartened by the idea that “small is good, small is all.” I hesitate to call what I do a “creative practice,” even though I think that empirically that’s what it is. But the work that I do is sporadic, scattered, and simple. The things that I do feel small. Embracing “small” makes me feel as though I can do work that would fit into something I would call a practice. That it doesn’t have to be daunting, it doesn’t have to be complex, it just has to be, and hopefully be intentional. I am excited to focus on setting intention in order to catalyze small works.