Uncategorized

Had my 4th meeting with Sarah today!

One of the questions I had is how do I consolidate my research? Should I make a formalized research website/page?
This may depend on my end goal – do I want to be more in the academic space, or is my goal to have a published game? I think ultimately I care more about a published game, but it could be nice to work on consolidating the thought/research behind it over summer and have it live on Notion or something.

She also recommended looking for some indie game dev meetups in the bay area since there’s a real community and space for the work that I’m doing, and I think it’s a great idea.

70’s – Flare Jeans were popular because it enabled movement with the music freely.

Today – many use flare jeans as a way to show off their curves.

    – Tie Dye became popular because it connected to the “Hippie movement” (concerts, protest/rallies).

Today – Tie Dye is mostly shown on hoodies or sometimes at worn at major indie concerts.

80’s – Spandex was comfortable, stretchy and “cool”

        – Leg Warmer popular because it kept dancers legs warm

90’s – Plaid was a well known style for richer teenagers.

Plaid has always been popular since the 90’s, worn as skirts or a jacket with overalls.

        – Bomber jacket that used to be worn by military air forces became popular do to celebrities. Ex Tom Cruise “Top Gun”

Today- Bomber jackets can be seen as a popular item worn by young male athletes or just as a regular men’s jacket.

Working Title:

The sky/ Feitian/ Cosmo exploring(undecided)

 

Keywords:

Fantasy, mysterious, hopeful

 

Thesis Question:

What is the influence of exploring the aesthetics of the sky on modern art design? Why are people still moved by some primitive but sincere works of art flying into the sky when the way of flying is so developed?

 

Thesis Proposal:

I intend to make my thesis revolve around the artistic image of Fei Tian and its influence on modern art. Flying Apsaras was first born in ancient India, and later introduced to China, where it developed into a classic Buddhist art image. China’s Feitian is the product of the fusion of ancient Indian Buddhist culture and the traditional aesthetics of the Chinese nation, and the inheritance and evolution of different periods. Today, there are still many things for modern art designers to learn from and think about in terms of exploring and carrying forward our country’s traditional culture and dealing with the contradictions between foreign culture and national traditional culture. I intend to combine the tracing of the image of Feitian to make a detailed discussion on the specific presentation and spiritual guidance of Feitian aesthetics in modern art design.

 

I’ve always been interested in artwork that explores the subject of the sky. I think curiosity about the sky, the starry sky, and the universe has been the most primitive driving force for human beings to explore the world outside of them since ancient times. As a crystallization of multiculturalism, Feitian not only has the influence of ancient Tianzhu culture, but also contains the aesthetic taste of ancient Chinese Western Region culture and Central Plains culture. It has profound historical and cultural connotations behind it, as well as rich artistic aesthetics.

 

 

 

 

 

Why is this important to me?

 

Flying Apsaras is an art that combines romanticism and realism. It comes from Buddhist culture and is rooted in the fertile soil of Chinese traditional culture, with a strong romanticism. Flying into the sky is not only a dream that humans have had since ancient times, it is reflected in many myths and stories, and it is also a fantasy that almost every child had in childhood. When I was a kid sitting on the back of my mother’s bike, I would stretch out my hands and imagine myself flying. As I grew up, I gradually came into contact with roller coasters, hot air balloons, airplanes, glider, etc. The feeling of being close to the sky always makes me intoxicated. In my flying experience again and again, I felt the joy that the gods worshiped by the ancestors left the earth, lived in the sky, and could come and go freely. This romantic cultural concept is deeply imprinted in my heart. In my eyes, these works of art that explore the sky and the universe perfectly fit the ideal of flying into the sky in the national cultural concept, and become the carrier of this romantic cultural concept, constantly encouraging and motivating people to strive for it. Flying Apsaras symbolizes the pursuit of human beings yearning for freedom, daring to explore, transcending nature, and getting rid of the constraints of space. It is a positive aesthetic tone.

 

Starter Bibliography/Sources:

1. Sky Ladder by Cai Guoqiang

Link: https://g.co/kgs/8be6cn

 

2. The Moon Goose by Agnes meyer brandis

Link: http://www.blubblubb.net/mga/mga-video-docu.html

 

3. Cluster Balloon by Jonathan Trappe’s

Link: http://clusterballoon.com/

 

4. The Aeronauts by Tom Harper (director

Link: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt6141246/

 

Spoke with Nun about her thesis work in person earlier this week. It happened in person, which was really refreshing.

We talked about how the thesis came together naturally through many smaller projects during Nun’s time at ITP.  The question of how we define something, including time itself, is truly fascinating.  We also talk about art practices and how a lot of Nun is about the ability to reading between the lines, not needing to give an absolutely clear answer. I also asked about the format of the thesis presentation, and Nun agreed the 10 minutes presentation was treated like a performance itself.

A lot of the conversation later on also talked about the ownership of new media art and how much of the tech/ skill aspect of one project you need to finish on your own in order to claim it confidently as your own work. This is my question as I feel I’m short on practical skills and wondering how much outsourcing is considered appropriate in the interactive media arts field.  Obviously, it is on a case by case and depends on the question the certain artwork is trying to ask. I have this sense of insecurity, especially after the Radical Network course in Berlin and the work “I produced,” which heavily relied on technical help from the instructors. There’s no way to recreate it myself, and I don’t feel confident calling it my work.

Last, we also talk about the institution we are in, which is (always) my favorite topic. We talked about what ITP was like, and how Nun became the Low Res resident, etc. Overall, a really enjoyable conversation.

https://first-latency-df1.notion.site/1-1-Meeting-3-10-2023-e887be76c46b4309ad5813f950ee4246

Here are some notes I wrote down during our conversation on Mar 9th:

• be specific when testing AR/VR apps with elders: try to test 3 to 4 things, not just the outcome of VR/AR.
  • such as enjoyability, accessibility, and complexity
  • how to set it up and their react to that (like I set it up first and then let them try to set up a VR headset)
  • accessibility of design language in technology can be a huge thing for them
• also test 3 or 4 different forms other than AR/VR (like the alternate things I’m thinking of)
  • such as projection mapping, social apps, websites
• be open to change and more specific about the timeline/ personal milestones
  • add detailed tasks; remember to document everything
  • since my project is so dependable of others’ response/availability, time is tight and might need to tweak around the plan often
• reach out to someone who is an expertise or is partner within the health/medical/psychology field
  • does the sounds of rain/ nature elements really help with mental wellbeing/lowering anxiety?
• Brian’s undergrad capstone project!

Since drafting my proposal, I have been thinking a lot about each of the phases of photography (image-making, image-sharing, and image-consuming), and have decided to start brainstorming first with the image-making process.

Through talking to my peer feedback group and another 1:1 with Sarah, it has become clear that I want to make a camera that applies both digital and analog elements. A quick search on Youtube for “DIY cameras” has given me lots of inspiration about how to start building camera prototypes.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zd4F-N301bk&ab_channel=GChang

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9cT0jXI7l4E&t=4s

To begin prototyping, I think my first step will be attempting to make a camera obscura from cardboard in order to understand the mechanisms of analog viewfinders and to see if something that simple can recreate the magical feeling that I get when I use a film camera.

From the conceptual side, I have begun reading On Photography by Susan Sontag to get a better understanding of the history of photography, and learn about the key photographers who pioneered photography as an art. It’s interesting to read about photography theory, as it is something I have never studied and only thought of practically.

Meet up with Brian again, great session as ever.

 

Brian gave me advice to the thesis proposal, which is very helpful because now I am going to do more documentation~

 

A really productive talk, again! I went through an approximate timeline and what I plan to do next steps with Sarah. We added a “personal milestones” column on the self-track spreadsheet, which is very helpful 🙂 Clarifying about the “making” phase – if not ready to produce anything, results from interviews count as crafts.

As for the interviewing phase, she recommended me a few research communities & individual faculty/designers that I can reach out to, for example the NYU Aging Incubator that aims for improving health and well-being of older adults. According to the form that I filled out, she also provided some possible mentors that she can pair me with – leaning towards someone who is more knowledgeable about the elderly wellbeing concept instead of a tech/design focus since the latter can be more self-reachable.

Other suggestions she gave: when interviewing with elders (preferably in-person), bring existing AR/VR apps (can be any) with you and gauge their thoughts. How to compile better questions? She shared a link about user research; after I have the draft of questions I will send them to Sarah for feedback. Along with moodboard, also make a sketch (how you envision your final product be like, the setting, and how to use).