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October 2022

Assignment 1 – Final Reflection

 

  • What did you learn?

In doing this project, I learnt how to apply what was taught in the class – a systemic approach and conceptual tools for a research-based art practice, including systems map, interview and experimental making. It is a good hands-on experience to deal with a real assignment.

 

  • What feedback did you receive? Any reflections on critique itself?

I received useful advises from peers – Jamie suggests to use the users’ personal data to generate code of arms. Also, Yuqian asked about if Coat of Arms is a good thing or not today, which posted a question  – what’s its value for today.

 

  • What might you do differently in terms of process or content?

I am thinking it would be better if there is another web version with the physical booklet. More elements can be provided, then users can have a more interactive experience in designing his or her Code of Arms, and also users can share their emblems on social media.

 

  • What was inspiring? What parts?

This project is inspiring to me that  – even if working with a topic that you are not familiar or interested in, you can leverage a systemic approach to communicate the audience with the point of view.

 

  • Revisit the assignment prompts: how did your project relate to the original prompts, in terms of critical lens, audience, tone, etc…

I think my project is basically up to the assignment prompts and my original design. But overall I believe I can be more bold to try different things.

 

  • How did you balance research and experimentation? Which is easier for you? How can you focus more on the areas that you shy away from

It is a learning process for me to balance research and experimentation. I was more comfortable with research and deliver the project with the skills I mastered. In the next project, I will try to focus more on experimentation part and delivery the message in a critical way.

Postmortem and Bibliography

I found this project to be interesting and surprising. When I was assigned “gardens” as a topic, I was excited but also hesitant. I wasn’t sure how I was going to approach gardens from a critical lens. After a couple false starts down different paths, I found an exploration into native species, invasive species, and rewilding to be a generative topic for me. I enjoyed thinking of different ways to communicate ideas that I learned from my research. I was surprised by how much I enjoyed researching gardens and nature. I had a lot of fun reading about the different plants, rewilding efforts around the world, and controversy about how we think of plants and nature. For a complete bibliography, see below.

The feedback I received on my atlas was generally positive. The biggest piece of constructive feedback was that the second piece in my diptych, the one about native flowers and plants, was not developed. I completely agree — it was the one I had thought about much less, and it didn’t fully fit into my overall theme or visual language. Since sharing my work with the class, I have done a revision on that piece in order to make it fit more with the visual language and to incorporate more thoughtful text into the image. I’m not totally sure that it’s all the way there, but I feel that it is much closer. Here are the two final pieces, and a link with thumbnails and an appendix below:

Link to the atlas: https://bubble-nemophila-4cd.notion.site/Garden-Atlas-b5907c31acea4750b6827b12ab98e1c8

Balancing the research and the experimentation was challenging. I dug into the research and had so much fun with it that I didn’t start experimenting soon enough. I really loved the experimentation once I began, and next time I will begin this process much sooner. I can see how the research and the experimentation could really exist as a conversation, and I am excited to attempt that mode in the future.

I think that my guide did a reasonably good job of following the prompt. My lens through which I presented the topic was the lens of the plants. I was attempting to have the plants give some advice, so in that sense I suppose it is usable. And my hope is that it brings to light some of the complicated — and maybe misguided — ways that we think about different plant species. I hope it also helps people notice the plants around them more, even the unassuming plants.

One thing that I could have developed further is the audience. I had not considered the possibility that the plants would be communicating to each other, and I thought that was a really interesting suggestion that might be fun to play with.

 

Bibliography

Beveridge, Ross, et al. “From wastelands to waiting lands.” City, 26:2-3, 281-303. 2022. DOI: 10.1080/13604813.2022.2040200

Kumar, Rishi. “Nature Does Not Exist.” Farmer Rishi, June 19, 2021, https://farmerrishi.com/blogs/farmer-rishi/nature-does-not-exist

Lawton, Philip et al. “Natura Urbana: The Brachen of Berlin.” The AAG Review of Books, 7:3, 214-227. 2019. DOI: 10.1080/2325548X.2019.1615328

Nugent, Ciara. “Take a Walk on the Rewilding Side.” Time. September 13, 2019. https://www.scribd.com/article/433010469/Take-A-Walk-On-The-Rewilding-Side

Rivera, Fernando O. “Urban Wilderness: Rewilding our Concrete Jungles.” Crit, no. 88, 2021, pp. 66-69. ProQuest, http://proxy.library.nyu.edu/login?qurl=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.proquest.com%2Fscholarly-journals%2Furban-wilderness-rewilding-our-concrete-jungles%2Fdocview%2F2546190734%2Fse-2%3Faccountid%3D12768.

Sturgeon, Amanda. “Rewilding: Stepping Back to Take Action.”  Architecture Australia, July 2022. https://architectureau.com/articles/rewilding-stepping-back-to-take-action/#:~:text=Economically%20driven%20development%20has%20left,help%20our%20natural%20systems%20recover.

Westrem, Scott D. “Making a Mappamundi: The Hereford Map.” Terrae Incognitae, 34:1, 19-33. 2022. DOI: 10.1179/tin.2002.34.1.19

Woodward, David. “Reality, Symbolism, Time, and Space in Medieval World Maps.” Annals of the Association of American Geographers, vol. 75, no. 4, 1985, pp. 510–21. JSTOR, http://www.jstor.org/stable/2563109. Accessed 15 Sept. 2022.

Zefferman, Emily P., et al. “Knoxville’s urban wilderness: Moving toward sustainable multifunctional management.” Urban Forestry & Urban Greening in Elsevier, September, 8, 2017, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ufug.2017.09.002

 

 

post-mortem written reflection

    • What did you learn?

    Even though I have down a lot of research in my undergraduate school, the first guide project remind me how to do a critical research and how to effectively find the key information I need. Second, the interview I did was really helpful. I learned how to design the interview question in order to gain useful information for my guide. Third, I learned to draw a concept map while analyzing a topic. After making a concept map, I can be more clear about what system and stakeholders could be for my topic. Fourth, I have learned how to use a visual metaphor to demonstrate a thesis or concept. 

    • What feedback did you receive? Any reflections on critique itself?

    I have receive a feedback from Monika. From the feedback, I noticed that my guide is missing some sort of text description. It may confused audience and hardly expressed my intention. Also, the visual transformation in female’s part is not obvious and clear. As a result, the distinguish between male and female’s condition is not highlighted. Audience may feel lost if I don’t claim my intention. I really agree with Monika’s statement; and during the process of creating the guide, I actually considered whether the form of gradually lighting female’s quilts was a good way to present female’s ability and aesthetics. If I use some shape changing and more colour transformation, my intention might be more distinct for presentation.

    • What might you do differently in terms of process or content?

    Just as I have said in last question, I will change the shape and hue of cloths and quilts. I used p5.js for the guide, however, I will use Unity which is more powerful.

    • What was inspiring? What parts?

    For me, considering a meaningful metaphor is really inspiring to me. I am excited to think about creative form of guide. Words are too plain to express an idea, so if I use images to indirectly present a concept, I believe it will have a more impressive consequence. Considering the different possibilities of metaphor can make me think deeper about my topic.

    • Revisit the assignment prompts: how did your project relate to the original prompts, in terms of critical lens, audience, tone, etc…

    I believe I have a very clear critical lens because my intention of the guide is to present gender inequality in Chinese handcraft field. I spent a lot of time to do the research about the social issue about my topic. Also, during the process of creation, I had consider the stakeholders who were also my target audience of my topic. I used a serious tone when I presented my guide. What my guide lacked was a clear intention as the visual transformation is ambiguous and indistinct. 

    • How did you balance research and experimentation? Which is easier for you? How can you focus more on the areas that you shy away from

    For me, research and experimentation can not leave with each other. The foundation of experimentation is research. Also, the output of research is through experimentation. In my condition, experimentation is easier as I am a practical person. I was in computer science program, therefore, I have the practice of trying when I don’t know how a thing work. However, research is really necessary. It can give us a more comprehensive understanding of a topic. It allow us to think about the root and fundamental logic. Even though it is confused and aimless to read a bunch of texts and explore an unfamiliar area at the beginning, we will have great pleasure after knowing and understanding an unknown fields of knowledge. 

Everything is cosmetic

My interest in the topic of cosmetics is that I think that everything is cosmetics.

Cities are made up under the guidance of urban planners, public opinion is made up under the whitewashing of politicians, and history books are made up under the corruption of the rulers of all dynasties…

I decided to make a magazine that allows the audience to watch the makeup effects of cities, history, public opinion, and food just like before and after makeup.

 

The magazine page:

 

Topic 1 Final Presentation – Borders/Canals

Topic 1 Final – Borders/Canals:

For my research topic of Borders/Canals, I decided to highlight the colonization of the natural element of water for man-made service. Through my systems mapping exercise, I wanted to explore the ideas of separation and connection and how humans manipulate water flow to answer those needs with the development of canals.

To highlight the different functions or jobs canals perform, I decided to display the information in my guide as a Careers page for a fictional company called Waterways, personifying water as an employee to the different canals. I created a corresponding logo and used the metaphor for the company tagline; “Go With the Flow.” In the video below, I briefly discuss my research, use of metaphor, and introduction to form before walking through my guide, which can be found at www.waterwaycareers.info and in the second Project Materials link below. Sources and References are linked on each page of the guide. I allowed a buffer of 2 minutes for live questions and further discussion during my presentation timeslot.

Project Materials:

Link to video presentation

Link to guide

 

Questions (Adding them here to the post since we weren’t able to discuss them):

  • Did the form choice of a Careers Page resonate?
  • Did the complexity of the “Go with the Flow” metaphor land?
  • Were the themes of connection & separation visible in the work?

 

Presentation Slides:

Store Your Trash Like the Pros (Landfills Project 1)

 

Research:

 

Bibliography:

https://scdhec.gov/environment/land-and-waste-landfills/how-landfills-work
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Landfill
https://www.epa.gov/landfills/basic-information-about-landfills
https://www.colorado.edu/ecenter/2021/04/15/hidden-damage-landfills
https://education.nationalgeographic.org/resource/landfills
https://science.howstuffworks.com/environmental/green-science/landfill.htm

Borders: Salt Final Project

https://yuqianma.github.io/ce-salt/

Finally I made a simple page with 3 questions on top of the map. I wish I didn’t use so many words on the page but so far it is like this.

There are so many directions of my topic “salt”. Found my pin-point just a week ago. Ideas are still changing during this week. So things are a little rough.

The intention of this guide is to show how salt related ancient economic policies impact the economic policies today. The original design including borders on the map and other images to present a more engaged story. However I haven’t had time to build a good story. So I choose three events about salt and set questions to encourage users to follow my thoughts.

It represents three roles of salt in ancient history:

  1. a form of tax
  2. a tool of fiscal policy
  3. a weapon in the trade war

Stakeholders in the system are people, government and other countries.

The metaphor I planned to do was taking salt as power and the government was like chef. It comes from Tao Te Ching: “Governing a great nation is like cooking a small fish” (治大国，若烹小鲜)

The guide should be narrowed down to a more specific topic. But it is a good beginning for me to think in that way.

The process

The topic “salt” is a daily thing thus it has a lot of possible angles. Considering the theme “border”, I tended to choose topics related to economy and trade. But I didn’t find the pin-point topic.

Then I had a talk with Monika, she encouraged me to find things matter myself. I decide to focus on history, especiall Chinese history. Monika also introduced a form of book called “Choose Your Own Adventure”, which is a story but with different branches.

Stories I collected are:

– Hallein Salt Mine
It’s a mine that crosses the border between Germany and Austria. They concluded a treaty which shared the mine to some degree until now. That story is exactly the topic “borders-salt”.
– Salt in the American Civil War
Salt played an important role in the American Civil War.
– Song–Xia Wars
Xia’s high quality salt threatens the sales and profits of salt in the Song Dynasty. It’s one angle of these wars. The salt is representative of the complex economic relationship between two countries.
– Han–Xiongnu Wars
Emperor Wu of Han’s monopoly on salt (and iron) supports wars with Xiongnu.

And  after I read a hypothesis that the Huns and the Xiongnu are the same ethnic group, one story branch comes to my mind: Han defeated Xiongnu – Xiongnu(Huns) migrated to Europe – collapse of the Roman Empire. It builds relations between East and West history, which is so imaginative.

The branches drafted:

– A debate held during the Han Dynasty named “Discourses on Salt and Iron”. I think it is like the debate between big and small governments. Which laid the foundation policy of the Chinese government for the next thousands years.
– One branch result interests me: China has many countries like Europe. Although the Qin Dynasty unified China. But if the Han Dynasty gave up the salt monopoly and became a “small government”, China might become Europe.

 

Imagine the different possibilities of history is fun. However, there is one problem hindered me: the fun comes from rational hypothesis. But I was lost in these derived questions.

So I decide to build a relative simple guide now. One aspect impressed me: the economic policies in the history are similar to what we have today.

 

Questions in the guide:

What is the tax form in your place?

Have you seen similar economic policies? (control the price)

Do you know other economic wars? What are weapons there?

Do you know other legacies of ancient economic policies?

What has as much impact as salt today?

 

Questions of the guide:

What specific story or angle you would like to choose to expand?

What metaphors you’d have?

 

Bibliography

Leese-Messing, K. (2021). 15 Structures and Dynamics of the Early Imperial Chinese Economy. In Handbook of Ancient Afro-Eurasian Economies (pp. 775–818). De Gruyter. https://doi.org/10.1515/9783110607642-023
Wan, M. (2012). Discourses on Salt and Iron: A First Century B.C. Chinese Debate over the Political Economy of Empire. Journal of Chinese Political Science, 17(2), 143–163. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11366-012-9190-6
Shi, J. (2021). The Empire of Western Xia and the Tangut Economy. In The Economy of Western Xia (pp. 8-45). Brill.
http://www.chinaknowledge.de/History/Terms/junshufa.html
http://www.chinaknowledge.de/History/Terms/pingzhunfa.html
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Salt
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Salt_in_Chinese_history

Borders: DMZ Final Project

Intentions:

My intentions for this project were to create a map style guide that highlights various tourist attractions within the Korean DMZ. I wanted to use the metaphor of a museum map to show how an area which is known for being dangerous has transformed into an attraction that people actively go to to sightsee and enjoy. 

Another intention was to show the return of wildlife to the area. A lot of vulnerable and endangered species have thrived in the DMZ with the absence of human presence and lack of development. Now, they are becoming a tourist attraction which will increase human presence and potentially cause harm to their new ecosystem. 

 

Research:

I started my research with two systems maps. The first was a mind map to help organize my thoughts and the second was a casualty loop which illustrates some of the tension inherent to DMZs.

From the systems map, I thought I was going to focus on doing some sort of war map or realistic map of a specific DMZ. I chose the Korean DMZ since it’s the most dangerous places in the world. When I started diving deeper into that particular DMZ, I discovered a branch of stakeholders that I had completely overlooked – tourists!

Link to systems map: https://itp.nyu.edu/lowres/critex-monika/2022/09/19/systems-map-dmz/
Link to interview: https://itp.nyu.edu/lowres/critex-monika/2022/09/26/topic-1-interviews/

 

Making the Guide:

For my guide, I wanted to create a museum style map to evoke the feeling of exploring an exhibition. Typically we think of tourist destinations as relatively safe areas where people go to rest and relax. I wanted to turn that on its head a bit since the DMZ is completely the opposite. It’s a very dangerous area. There’s tons of security and military personnel on the DMZ borders and physical dangers within, like landmines.  

The map consists of a cover page with a realistic map noting the location of the Korean DMZ. The floor maps are stylized to bordered rectangles, some with dark lines noting various “rooms”. 

The first floor showcases wildlife, highlighting the best areas to go to to see endangered birds, deer, bears, foxes, and more. The Korean DMZ lacks a human presence, so many of these animals are able to thrive in peace. The irony is, of course, that people are now actively going into the DMZ to find and watch the wildlife. 

The second floor is a historical sites map. Most of the sites are areas where famous battles took place. Others are temples, palaces, tunnels, and Truce Village (where North and South Korean diplomats meet). 

The third floor displays three new hiking/walking trails that were recently established within the DMZ. All of the trails pass near active minefields, though they are said to be landmine free themselves. I thought showcasing the closeness of the trails to the landmines is an effective way to illustrate how dangerous the area is. It’s honestly shocking that people actively go to walk directly next to unexploded landmines for a photo op.

 

Sources:

Wikipedia:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Demilitarized_zone
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Korean_Demilitarized_Zone

Trip Advisor:
https://www.tripadvisor.com/Attraction_Products-g1872665-d2076201-DMZ-Paju_Gyeonggi_do.html

NPR:
https://www.npr.org/2019/04/20/710054899/in-korean-dmz-wildlife-thrives-some-conservationists-worry-peace-could-disrupt-i
https://www.npr.org/2019/08/27/754811189/hundreds-of-thousands-of-landmines-remain-from-korean-war-but-serve-no-purpose

Asia Society:
https://asiasociety.org/korea/koreas-dmz-offers-safe-haven-diverse-wildlife-now

Washington Post:
https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/asia_pacific/wildlife-thrives-among-the-land-mines-along-koreas-dmz-but-for-how-long/2019/08/27/ef76f3fe-c29e-11e9-8bf7-cde2d9e09055_story.html

Korea Herald:
https://www.koreaherald.com/view.php?ud=20191028000683

Reuters:
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-northkorea-southkorea-dmz/north-south-korea-begin-removing-landmines-along-fortified-border-idUSKCN1MB1BG

Korea Times:
https://www.koreatimes.co.kr/www/culture/2022/08/141_334629.html

LA Times:
https://www.latimes.com/world/asia/la-fg-koreas-peace-trail-20190625-story.html

SKIN:Fenestra Final Guide

Walkthrough video:

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1sm1EtJd_JhX002DXHULzxngHH38yfULM/view?usp=sharing

Pictures:

Form: Pop-up book

Research and Progress:

I started with the meaning of my topic and found that it has usually been used as terminology (in biology, microanatomy, zoology, etc.). It usually means small holes and openings on/inside one creature’s body.  I was lost in different biology papers at the beginning and had no idea what I could do with the topic. After having an interview with a biology Ph.D., I got a deeper understanding of the fenestra. I realized that fenestra is usually used for balancing the pressure and transporting small parts in and out. I decided to go deep in this direction.  The guide should focus more on pressure and balancing.

When searching for the form of the guide, I want to find a form that can reduce the professionalism of the word and make it more interesting. Also, personally, I want to try something non-tech. The Pop-up book is typically used for children and educational functions. Also, it’s mainly used for storytelling or showcasing. I plan to focus on its storytelling part, but I want to tell a story that can interest both the children and the adults.

When thinking about metaphor, I decided to reconstruct the topic and get some key elements to follow in my project. As I mentioned above, the key concepts are pressure and balancing. While the pressure here means hydraulic or air pressure, the word “pressure” can also mean mental pressure. One step further, emotional balance comes out.

Then when I start to work on the guide, to show my content to everyone directly with the lowest age limitations, language limitations, or knowledge reserved, I choose to take a symbolic path. Also, I found out that showing the structure directly is not the best solution since it is hard for the audience who sees the guide for the first time to get “what it is” without a text explanation. Compared to explaining what a fenestra is, I want the audience to understand the story more. As a result, I used the term “the Gate” instead. And small dots to show the “emotions” instead of actual molecules. Also, I did some research on “emotions and colors” and “emotions and shapes” to choose the best visualization for different emotions.

[Update:]

[For friends who would go to the Skin Presentation: Please don’t read the words below before the presentation. Thank you!]

The idea behind the guide: Small openings, holes, or mistakes do not destroy us; it is part of us and sometimes help us get out of bad situations.

While making the guide, Venus de Milo comes to my mind. People have more or less sorrow and pain. It is these sorrows and pains that complete us. Miraculously, sometimes they give us the power to move on. “I’ve already gone through all these things; what else could beat me?” Honestly, these thoughts are far away from my topic: fenestra. However, they were born from all the research I’ve done and all the reconstruction I’ve tried. I was hesitant to continue in this direction, and finally, I decided to go and follow my heart.  We are all like fenestra with invisible openings to live our own life.

Kinship & Quilting guide

Guide Link: https://editor.p5js.org/YunshanJiang/full/s5KWGZK0Rc

Video:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SwDVVqSpDUg

Critical point: Women are treated unequally in some Chinese handcraft fields, but they have the same talent with male. For example, in in some places, master only taught young male the skill of making clothes. Female at home expresses their emotion by stitching leftover cloths(quilting).

My Intention: I tried to use the guide to express gender equality especially in Chinese handcraft fields. We have to pay more attention on women’s right of accepting knowledge in society.

System: The system is Chinese handcraft fields.

Stakeholders: The stakeholders are women, men, customer, craftsman, craftswoman.

Guide explanation: 

I made a simple game as the guide by p5.js. The game has two parts. On the left is the field representing female. On the right is the field representing male. Players can see different fabrics around the border of each field. On the left part, the fabrics are old and dirty, which represents female has very limited resources for doing quilting. On the right part, the fabrics are colourful and high quality, which represents male has very rich resources. The mouse on the left part is a pink needle which represent female, and the mouse on the right part is a blue needle which represent male. The rule of the game is to drag the fabrics’ part to the centre in order to make a complete quilt. On the left part, the low-quality cloths make very dark and irregular quilts at the beginning, however, in the end, the consequence of women’s work is as beautiful as men’s work, which present women can also make a pretty quilt even if they are treated unequally. 

 

Interview: 

From my interview, I talked with an expert tailor who works in a custom suit shop. He told me that in his hometown, majority of people who made clothes were man. When I asked him about what women did and why he did not taught the skill to a young woman, he said most of women went to factory and it was not convenient to have a woman student. From my knowledge background, in China, many handcraft skills were only inherited by men. Therefore, I want to use the guide to make people get notice about the social phenomenon in China. 

Research:

Based on my research, I found out that, quilting are an important duty for women especially in many countries’ poor families. Women don’t do farm work like men in outside; therefore, they do not have too many social activity. Quilting for these women is a good way to connect each family member, and it is a way to converse with other people. The pattern, design and aesthetics of quilting is the expression of sentiment for these women. It is a key method for transmitting information.

Reference:

Beeman, L. L. (2003). Connecting Centuries, Countries, and Cultures: Quilting and Patchwork in South Asia. Piecework, 11(6), 61–65.

Colleen R. Hall-Patton. (2008). Quilts and everyday life. Emerald Group Publishing Limited. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0163-2396(08)31008-4

Wilson, M. (2022). Who We Are: Patchwork Quilting in Southern Appalachia. Confluence: The Journal of Graduate Liberal Studies, 28(1), 55–72.

Jailer-Chamberlain, M. (2004). Man Made: Piecing out a New Tradition in Quilting. Antiques & Collecting Magazine, 109(8), 44–50.