4/4 Invent/ Make/ Tinker

Reading Takeaways

      The most powerful idea of all is the idea of powerful ideas. (Papert, 1980)

      Throughout time, human cognitive development progress from more simplistic to more complex, dualist to relativist, and naïve to mature stages. Such development is a natural process as one experiences its surroundings, schooling, encounters and social interaction and so forth during one’s growth. Students, educators, artists and inventors should BE MAKERS to begin with. Makers are creators, inventors, or engineers; they are brain stormers, or idea generators. Theory would then naturally develop after the analysis, critical thinking and theorizing from the result of making. We can all be amateurs of makers who develop the scientific or artistic methods that forms the basics of the professionals.

      According to Swiss psychologist Jean Piaget, it is important for children to invent to understand and learn every new truth based on experience. This theory of learning is also termed “constructivism”, which means the process of making sense of things in their heads. It is not only important to lead an individual to develop on the “right” track depending on each student's aptitudes and talents, and let one choose subjects of one's interest to deepen knowledge, play, experiment and reprocess ideas, it is also important to train one to become multidimensional learner to develop the spirit of experimentation while experiencing the old and the new, which forms a spiral learning cycle. To stimulate and inspire students to think or brainstorm and form good ideas is fundamental education in today’s world.

4/3 The Search - Video

June 29, 2016
Final Version

                                  

The Search

Theme: Dance/ Story/ Social Media 

      The Search is a story of a foreigner searching for herself and her dreams in NYC. Times Square is chosen as a bazaar yet beautiful, saturated urban scene lit with 24 hour LED lights and neon lights. A set to emphasis on this touristic place that almost all of the people wondering around are not New Yorkers - they are tourists, like all of us living and working in this city. I directed the dancer to reach out with her hands to express the idea of searching, almost to God, to heaven. The lights and tall buildings become a symbol of heaven. Something unknown, a force that she may gain from her love of dance, body movements and faith. The music is allegro pop and electronic to correspond with the atmosphere and jump cuts edits. Some sounds of the traffic and horn in the beginning and the church bells and wind sounds at the end are added for sparkles. Contrasting in volume is linked to her jumping movements. Sliding sounds are incorporated to parallel with her dance, organ music appears whenever she reaches out her hands to the lights and up into the sky. I fuse my experiences as a "tourist local" living in many cities into these instances when the Times Square LED Ad screens that becomes Notre Dame de Paris. 

Final Version Comments:

Translation of comments:

"I follow you in the big city, I feel this flow in this crowd and it touches my heart."
"People are always searching for themselves in the city, such a great atmosphere, this is great!"

      I inquired my friends (mostly artists, musicians, curators, teachers, culture blog editor) to give any thoughtful comments, reflections, interpretations, suggestions they might have in refining the video (story, editing, music, composition, cutting, clothing etc.) The final version is polished by considering some selected feedbacks. The social media is a very power tool to interact with friends or non-friends around the world and connect people closely in no time. As many of my friends are also foreigners, they feel touched by this film, and I appreciate their comments greatly.

FIRST DRAFT FEEDBACKS:

Other Comments from Facebook messages:

- "Good, but can be shorter."

4/2 3D Model II

Garden Facade

The idea behind this 3D model piece is to design a garden/ forest textured facade of a building or church with real trees, plants, soil and leaves as material (if possible). After experimenting with putting different elements together, I actually find the 2D interface of the 3D sketch more intriguing. In addition, due to the fragility of the tree brunches, I decided to only showcase the images instead of printing them out. Tinker-cad is a convenient program as there were found shapes and colors ready to use. Possible potential for this program is to have a dictionary/ wikipedia of shapes and objects, or a google search to automatically transform any images into 3D, so we can drag and drop directly onto the project board.

4/1 3D Model

Charm 

   

3D Printing Design Concept: Simple 8 waves, a lucky number that means fortune, intersects with Initials

Q Ru - my Chinese Name: QiaoRu Lan, or Chiao-Ju Lan 

Creative Potentials

          There're many creative potentials for 3D modeling/ printing. Examples range from art objects, industrial design, fashion, medical cloning, food, furniture to house. There're also more artworks displayed in museums and galleries that showcase 3D printed models, objects and installations. Small design objects or large scale models are both possible as art curriculum or work for display. A relief may also be an option, like the stone carvings of a church. I can imagine Gaudi's architecture being printed to reflect baroque yet modern design. Other potentials include producing something that transforms the object into something that looks soft, perhaps use soft materials to print out fabric, or create strange, interesting textures. Since 3D printing has been around for around thirty years now and it's becoming more affordable to the general public, it is also important to think about the practical, everyday potentials: 

No. 1/ Traveling and Camping: transportation, rail tracks, 3D printer in a car, the train, airplanes for people who travel or camp. Can print out tents, houses, kitchen utensil, toilets.

No. 2/ Medical: print out babies in a womb to investigate growth. Print out not only organs but broken tissues, for unhealthy or burnt skin conditions.

No. 3/ Military: print out weapon, military airplanes to deduct cost.

No. 4/ Home: furnitures, bedding, T.V., computer, container, objects, bathroom tubs, sink etc.

No. 5/ Nature: flowers, plants, trees, garden, forest, a planet?

No. 6/ Anything and Everything: Print anything one can think of! 

3/7 Readings

Takeaways 

New Media Arts & Chapter 6 - Making Today

New Media Arts is a new way of making that associates with the use of computer, programming, digital and new technologies that are distinguished from the traditional visual art, music, dance, and theatre. However, it can also be fused with the traditional media or forms, which becomes inter-disciplinary art. Some examples include: visual arts, animation, film, and electronic music. There are many simple to use and straight away types of apps for students to play with creativity. The purpose is to let younger generations to become familiarize with these tools, just like getting used to holding a pencil, a brush or mixing paint. Though they may not become professional, but it is crucial for them to learn these tools at an early age. Many of these tools, or apps are closely correlated to the internet and social media. By familiarizing with them broadens one's perspective, opens up new possibilities for expression, and allows one to share thought with others, and thus to reflect and discuss. This promotes a healthy circulation of online social practice. Such practice or hobby, may not seem important, but by using these tools creatively and interacting with others in a healthy manner online, can actually improve one's confidence to socialize in real life. By researching through different free resources and participating in a selection can also promote multidimensional learning. This makes learning even more efficient than the past, while enriching and aiding the other fields, such as science, mathematics, and language. 

Arc of Life Learning 

In the 21^st Century, with the growth of the digital, networked infrastructure and unlimited resources, technology is constantly creating new change. With the invention of Facebook, YouTube Wikipedia, online games etc, a new type of self-learning is experienced by a large number of people, and has become a cultural phenomenon. This new culture induces us as educators to think differently about education, a new term called “arc of life learning, which comprises the activities in our daily lives that keep us learning, growing, and exploring.An important aspect in learning is play, fun and imagination, which are central spirits naturally occur in children. The two elements in our new culture includes: huge information to provide unlimited access and resources to learn about anything; play and experiment with these things within certain boundaries and structured environment. With the new way of learning, peole become more engaged with each other, gain more knowledge, and promote imagination within play. Such connection also cultivates people’s imagination and recreates new spaces. 

          Peppler, K. A. (2014). New creativity paradigms: arts learning in the digital age. Chapter 4, New Media Arts, The Do-It-Yourself Movement, and the Importance of Making. 
          Martinez, S. L., & Stager, G. (2013). Invent to learn: making, tinkering, and engineering in the classroom. 
          Torrance, Calif. Constructing Modern Knowledge Press. Chapter 6, Making Today. 
          Thomas, D., & Brown, J. S. (2011). A new culture of learning: cultivating the imagination for a world of constant change. Lexington, Ky.: CreateSpace?]. Chapter 1, Arc-of-Life Learning. 
          Educause, 2013: 7 Things You Should Know About Makerspaces, URL: https://net.educause.edu/ir/library/pdf/eli7095.pdf

3/6 My Comments

I learned so much from looking at different artist/designer/educator's comments. This way of collaborative learning is efficient and fun, while enabling us to think in depth, get to know each other and understand each other's ideas. Each of us has a unique way of interpreting the assignments and presenting them with such a wide range of interesting concepts, potentials and forms. Giving feedback is a good training for us as educators, it makes us reflect on our own projects, motivates each other to do better work and improve our learning methods. While such method may be used in the museum education department that are open to public, this idea of collaborative pedagogy can also become a community artwork that incorporate viewers' interaction to promote, or put emphasis on the educational, sharing and social aspects in art.

I have commented...

On Ginger’s Final Mondrian Circuitry 

"This sounds like a great and fun idea as it relates us to art history while involving audience interaction! Looking forward to touching it and listening to the sound that it may produce."

On Christian’s “Pulse” (video)

"I love how the colorful, vibrant disco lights juxtapose and contrast with the violent sounds to the praising music. The audio from Alvear is well chosen. Perhaps right after the gunshots, the audio may stop for a little longer, or the screen may blackout suddenly for 0.5 to 1 second or so, just to take a short break in timing reflecting the dead before entering into the second audio would create even more tension.”

On Bibi’s Creative Potential of Photography and its Connection to Children

"Agree. Children may see things differently from the adults, it would be fascinating to see what their reality is like. I also like your choice of showing this informative, powerful video of photo slides and texts."

On Sofia’s Final Project Idea

"I like that you're planning to use very personal, intimate objects such as hair, teeth, tea and band-aids. I can imagine that the teabags and the band-aids are used ones as well. The accordion book idea is also flexible as to how you're going to arrange these scans, are you going to put them in chronological order? Arrange them from a purely formal perspective? Or in categories? There're different ways to exhibit it as well. Such as putting it in a glass box, or simply let it stand... Looks like an interesting project with many potentials!" 

On Ivan’s Photography

"I can imagine a pool of large scale installation that portrays a dramatic scenery, a war scene, or any other potential scenery/ story. A video can also be made from moving these models." 

On Aliyah Taylor’s American Medium

"Never knew there's a gallery for new media like this! Good to know and convenient for me to take a visit sometimes, since it's situated in New York."

On Yuliya's Shady Grove Photograph

"I love this photo! It's warm, cute, and mysterious. I can see other potentials coming out from it, such as a video showing these people's lives or an actual installation of a forrest in a space that viewers can walk through." 

3/5 Final Project

Preference...

No. 1/ Idea 2 - Meaningful and related to my art research and interest. Challenges: Less time - Need more time to look for the visually impaired character/dancer/performer. Need to get approval. Will try to look at hospitals near my location and inquire. 

No. 2/ Idea 6 - An art education project that I've always wanted to make, which also has the potential to become a series of online teaching classes.

No. 3/ Idea 1 - Projection of self, that may relate to many other foreigners and/or women struggling in NYC. 
________________________________________________________________

Initial Idea & Notes

Dice: Story Telling/ Internet & Social Media/ Dance

a/ Story Telling: Story Telling through reciting a poetry, story telling through body gesture, story telling through instructions and education.
b/ Internet & Social Media: Final video will be posted on Facebook and I will inquire people's opinions.
c/ A dancer will be filmed to dance under my directions with her artistic improvisations.

Idea 1/ Make a short video of a dancer that tells a story of a woman as a foreigner struggling in New York City, using only body gestures and various props (fabric, found objects?). Shooting in Time Square trying to hale a Taxi.- Location is easily accessible. Can project different interesting body languages that fuse with everyday life struggles, such as falling off on the street, almost getting hit by a car, or getting hit by a car on valentine's day while getting dumped by my boyfriend... etc. 

Idea 2/ Make a video of a dancer as an instructional dancer and teach a visually impaired, or a group of them how to dance that tells the story of the disabled through their body language and abstract of interaction of the body parts. Story and contrast between a professional and a non-professional. Final video will be posted on facebook, I will inquire my friends' opinions on this work. - Meaningful for me, investigate the idea of the reverse - us as visual artists and educators, are using our eyes everyday, in making this video, I hope I can remind people about other aspects of perception, such as touch, which forms moving sculptures, interlacing the body that becomes moving materials, the body becomes the material.

Idea 3/ Make a video that tells a short story (can be in the form of a poetry) and let a dancer improvise with the story. Capture from a bird's eye view or from above. Post on facebook and encourage others to join us so it becomes a continuous project. 

Idea 4/ Make a video of a dreamlike scene, dancing and breathing in water that mixes shots with the abstracts of actual paint material pouring out somewhere. Music can be sounds of underneath the water, bubbles, and dreamy fantasy.

Idea 5/ Make a video of a person improvise with a poetry that I make about Spring (season, love, state of mind etc.) It may be recited or sung. Post on Facebook and invite people to continue the poetry based on mine, a continuous project to make a series of videos afterwards based on other people's poetries. 

Idea 6/ Online teaching about inventing dance steps and transforming the steps into a graphic dance score, which becomes abstract conceptual art. Broadcast onto Makerspace, Facebook, Youtube. - Have always wanted to make online teaching videos about art. I can fuse art with dance and teach visual art through dance. The dance can tell a story, or vice versa - the art outcome has to tell a story (more difficult as it's abstract).

More Ideas/ from 2/3 Video Potentials

3/4 Laser Cut

Above is my first laser cut experiment. Reminded me of the Han Dynasty (over 3000 years ago) stone engravings in the tombs that I visited in China. Turned out quite beautiful. I cropped a section from my header image and engraved over twice on wood. Might look better if I went through one more time to produce a bigger contrast. 

3/1 Scan

Scanography

I used two found materials in the studio - acetate and colored light bulb to produce this scan series. One is transparent in color and the other is tinted yellowish lime color. I decided to make various experiments by crumbling them up or turning them loosely into a bow or a wrinkled knot, the scans comes out reflecting interesting textures that resembles a kind of soft, organic glass. While the neon pink, green and blue colors gives a sense of futuristic machine lights, it also projects different depths of space. The light bulb reflected various colorful colorful spots that are really intriguing. 


iBooks Author

2/10 New Literacies

Takeaway 1

New Literacies 

In the past decade, artists have begun to use readymade resources heavily as their creative materials, not only in art making, but also in music remixing for leisure, professional or commercial purposes. Remixing is a newer ideology that has happened, and has become an inherent part of our current culture. As Lawrence Lessig (2008) observes, “every single act of reading and choosing and criticizing and praising culture is in this sense remix. And it is through this general practice that cultures get made.” He also brought up the term ‘Read/Only’ (RO) and ‘Read/Write’ (RW). Read/Only culture focuses on the usage of professionally produced artifacts, and are produced to view, read and listen to. R/O also includes remixing as one talks about a movie or share our culture with others. On the other hand, Read/Write is a culture when one reads the culture and “add to the culture they read by creating and re-creating the culture around them…” According to Sousa, the actual quality of the music is not as important as creating music culture itself. It would never be exactly the same as the original: “There is always some degree of interpretation, making do, revision of, building upon, experimentation, and so on.” In addition to remixing music, the possibility of remixing writing, digital images and costumes in cost play are also prevalent. While digital remix become artifacts or fragmented hybrids, music remix that contains a large range of usable technologies and resources is also becoming a new form of composing and expression. In addition, the remixing of application programming interfaces (APIs), termed ‘mashup’ is now widely applied that creates new software. 

Lankshear. C & Knobel. M. New Literacies, Third Edition

Takeaway 2

TED Radio Hour – The Act of Listening

Just like looking at images under a microscope, listening to inaudible sounds, such as the sound of the planets, provides us with new ways of interpreting perceiving the world. As visual artists, or even normal human beings, we normally put emphasis on the perception of our eyes instead of our ears. A simple “ding dong” percussion sound that proceeds from the first note to the second instantly produces music. Such example can also be manipulated into different colors, tones and textures. Sound is a crucial element movie making, video, MTV and in our everyday lives. By being more aware of the sounds happening around us can open up our minds and become more acutely aware of ourselves.