Is recognising the duality of archetypes important for our society?
Collective Unconscious, Archetypes, Symbols, Duality, Unity, Storytelling, Fairy Tales, Myths, Modern, Culture, Evolution, Enlightenment.
Here is a link to my thesis proposal:
https://www.scribd.com/document/349223720/Nicoleta-Faina-Thesis-Proposal?secret_password=nMSVMQWR8aJxPBUTs5Az
Thoughts?
Opinions?
Suggestions?
Recommendations for further literature? 🤓🤤
Networking is about making connections and building enduring, mutually beneficial relationships. In this essay I will research, establish and analyse it’s importance towards the act of collaboration. In order to achieve this, I will use a wide variety of resources, such as books, on-line articles, case studies, reports and video recordings. Working with text and images, I will reflect critically and present the information using headlines for a better structure and ease of reading. The beginning of my writing will constitute a short definition of both terms: network and collaboration. The main part will be divided into several fragments that will evaluate some of the most important functions and the relationship between a network and collaboration. I will give a conclusion and a reference list at the end of the essay.
In today’s globalised world, networking and collaboration is the path of progress. Collaboration is the action when a group of people work together towards achieving a common goal, by sharing their ideas and skills. The ambience that favourites the most this process is created within a network, a space where they interact and remain in contact for reciprocal assistance and support.
A successful entrepreneur understands the importance of partnership within a system of acquaintances.
The point of networking is to gather information to advance your career.
This fragment from TV Series “Ugly Betty” presents an opinion about networking.
The situation is taking place in a nightclub where Mark is teaching Betty about his technique of establishing network connections.
Even if he is known to have a superficial attitude, his quick tips are fairly accurate. I will explain and analyse on those.
The step one is to forge a bond: you give your name, your workplace and one memorable fact. The deed should make the other person remember you, even if what you said is a lie, the impact will be made and the curiosity about your persona escalate.
The part that should be avoided is to engage in a gossip or sharing overly intimate details of your life solely to get people interested.
The step two is to gather information. In order to do so, you have to give information. Asking good questions and listening to the other person should be your priority.
The final step is to know when and how to wrap up the conversation. Possessing the knowledge on the exit strategy will allow you to talk to others at the event and not weaken the impression and interest that you created. In the same time you won’t feel offended if the other person wishes to “exit” your talk. Politeness and considerateness is valuable. The exchange of personal contacts and arranging a later meeting for further discussions may be the best solution towards finalising a conversation.
The strategy of creating network connections may be compared to a bomb. You spark up the wick when you present yourself, you must keep it burning while you talk and you must stop the detonation right before it may start with exiting the conversation. The explosion must be discussed and arranged for a further meeting. This will keep the interest in both of you.
Interpersonal ties are defined as information-carrying connections between people. They are commonly derived as: strong, shared, weak or absent.
The image on the right represents the difference between ties.
The strong lines (AB, AC, CD) represent the direct connection between two individuals. The shared tie (CB) is the direct connection between the people you have a direct connection with. The weak one (AD) is the indirect connection: Person A may get in touch with person D only via person C. The absent tie (any connection with E) is the one where no contact is possible.
An American sociologist and professor at Stanford University, Mark Granovetter (1973), in his book proposed the strength of weak ties theory. He suggests that the “weak ties” are surprisingly valuable because they are more likely to be the source of innovative and different information. Social outcomes such as hearing about job opportunities are a function of having weak ties.
Structural hole theory was established by another brilliant American sociologist named Ronald Stuart Burt (1992). It is the theory of social capital where the Structural hole is lack of connection between two nodes that is bridged by a broker.
The image below represents the difference between a closed and an open social network.
A has a closed network: everyone knows everyone thus less novel information is gained. It is characterised as the one that sets aside a great deal of the network capacity for a limited amount of people and ideas. The beneficial part of this system is that they work well and fast. Structurally equivalent nodes will have similar opportunities, constraints and outcomes.
B has an open network and many structural holes. It has the more favourable ego network since every small and closed system is connected via one single person. In this way less similar information is collected and each individual has a greater benefit than if they were limited to their closed network (A). In a system organised by diversity – new things come in more easily and new ideas are spread more widely.
According to Burt’s Theory and Coleman dispute about closed networks is that they constrain egos, which is good for a child situation and bad for a manager situation.
Networks are a critical component of the success of any organisation, be they a community group or a business. They are even more important when you are looking to collaborate with others.
The reality is that one is only as good as his networks: if a person operates in one suburb but doesn’t know anyone in the area and never makes an effort to meet others, he is not going to progress.
Networks can only remain viable if you ‘tend’ to them on a regular basis. Keeping the ongoing contact is also critical.
Each organisation wants and needs something out of a relationship. The value is in providing outcomes which help assist everyone. Those outcomes may be as simple as offering connections with others.
When there are many groups with different views, resources, and skills applying their intelligence and strength to solve a problem together, a successful collaboration between networks occurs.
People become partners rather than competitors. Organizations and citizens form a partnership. It has great rewards, but requires a great investment: trust, need, and the will to make a change.
David Chrislip and Chip Larson’s work (1994), Collaborative Leadership, described the goal of the collaborative capacity building work:
Collaboration is “a mutually beneficial relationship between two or more parties to achieve common goals by sharing responsibility, authority and accountability for achieving results. It is more than simply sharing knowledge and information (communication) and more than a relationship that helps each party achieve its own goals (cooperation and coordination). The purpose of collaboration is to create a shared vision and joint strategies to address concerns that go beyond the purview of any particular party.”
When using the network to bring people together and collaborate, the opportunities expand quickly and it creates frictions that leads to new ideas and innovations. The circumstances and problems are faced together – this broadens the way of thinking, reviewing and analysing the situation, solutions being created at a faster pace.
Teamwork is the name of today’s game & synergy.
An English proverb says: “Two heads are better then one”.
Sharing of unique local, regional or international experiences in a collaborative network may bring along the issue of conflict between national and international interests and different cultural dynamism and readiness.
Being able to work with others is an important part of being an entrepreneur.
A case study about Women’s Cooperative in India (2012) was written by Punita Bhatt Datta and Robert Gailey.
This article seeks to broaden existing understandings of women’s entrepreneurship by focusing on less studied types of ventures and contexts—namely, a social entrepreneurial venture in India. A case study analysis was used to assess two primary areas of interest: elements of empowerment embedded in the venture’s business model and individual perceptions of empowerment. The personal accounts of sister members reveal that this collective form of entrepreneurship has empowered them in three ways: economic security, development of entrepreneurial behaviour, and increased contributions to the family.
Women’s cooperatives offer self-employment opportunities that can contribute to women’s social inclusion and empowerment.
An article about Collaboration written by Amy Rosen (2015) highlights that in some ways, the essential role of collaboration goes against the ideas and stereotypes many people have of entrepreneurs – the tinkering genius loner toiling in a suburban garage.
That does happen but it represents an entrepreneurship arc that is more closely aligned with persistence and drive than working alone.
Instead, entrepreneurs are not only good at sharing information and ideas, they are often eager for the opinions and reviews of others and include the best ideas of others into their own thinking. A great example for this situation is Bill Gates that cited Paul Allen and Steve Jobs who cited Steve Wozniak. While it may be possible to unearth a brilliant idea by yourself, getting from inspiration to implementation as a team of one is a very unlikely path.
Accepting that the entrepreneurial collaboration far outweigh whatever risk may be involved is a key to succeeding. In fact, more and more in the world of open platforms and the shared economy, great new products are coming together as a result of many collaborators. Possibly, the best model of this is Ben Kauffman, the founder of Quirky. This platform connects inventors with companies that specialized in a specific product category.
Understanding and embracing the need to collaborate is so important that nearly all programs and courses that teach entrepreneurship include team-based project work. A good example is the brief I had for my Interaction Design Arts Bachelor’s Course this year (2017). The individual evaluative record of my experience within a collaborative work can be found here.
The strongest entrepreneurs embrace collaboration as a way to seek out and include diverse views. According to a report by McKenzie organisation (2012): “Between 2008 and 2010, companies with more diverse top teams were also top financial performers. That’s probably no coincidence.”
CONCLUSION
Get in, get info, get out: this is the technique of forging a bond with people from different spheres of work and mindset. It broadens the network and allows you to become a better entrepreneur.
More novel information flows to individuals through weak rather than strong ties. Because our close friends tend to move in the same circles that we do, the information they receive overlaps considerably with what we already know. Acquaintances, by contrast, know people that we do not, and thus bring innovative knowledge.
A network rich in gaps is an entrepreneurial network.
Learning how to benefit from the structural holes and weak ties will initiate in yourself a leader that brings people together for a successful collaboration.
Networks are a critical component of the success of any organisation, be they a community group or a business.
Collaboration network can and should help resolve global problems. They can bring many benefits but there are also challenges as they should be a win-win effort.
Entrepreneurs, along with being a good information and ideas sharing centre, they are often eager for the opinions and reviews of others and include the best ones into their own thinking.
REFERENCES:
Chrislip, D. D., & Larson, C. E. (1994) Collaborative leadership: How citizens and civic leaders can make a difference, P.5, San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.
Granovetter, M.S. (1973) The Strength of Weak Ties, American Journal of Sociology, Volume 78, Issue 6, University of Chicago Press
Barta, T. , Kleiner, M. , Neumann, T. (2012) Is there a payoff from top-team diversity? [online] Mckinsey. Available at: http://www.mckinsey.com/business-functions/organization/our-insights/is-there-a-payoff-from-top-team-diversity/ [Accessed 13 March 2017].
Rosen, A. (2015) Why Collaboration Is Essential to Entrepreneurship [online] Entrepreneur.com. Available at: https://www.entrepreneur.com/article/245599/ [Accessed 13 March 2017].
Video: Full episode Ugly Betty: Dress For Success
Images created by me.
On 14th of February, a selected part of my Contextual and Theoretical Studies group: Creative Entrepreneurship was designated to organise an event in the room nr. T1101 between 5:30-7pm.
The Beauty Salon concept is an opportunity for students to create and run an enterprise where they can interpret beauty however they want. For example, it is beautiful to be kind to people (social enterprise – fund-rising etc…), but if they want to do provide a service such as manicure, bake, make clothe/sew, organise events such as a film screening, give/performance or a talk – that would be great as long as they do it themselves as a group practice in the chosen week. The students can invite whoever they want to their event, charge the entry or service, collect the money for a particular cause etc…
Miki Fuse Ho (a)
Harry Hancock
Kai Lau
Oliviia Lee
Nicoleta Faina
Lou-Anne Le Mener (p)
Dominik Turzynski
Sijon Thapa
Alissa Metsnik
Liam Lewin
Emerson Domingo
Latoya Adeniyi
(+) Patricia De La Osa
(+) Aya El Shaikh
Bold name Participated in the organisation of the event + Present
(p) Present at the event
(a) Absent at the event – Miki started a great new job! 🙂
(+) Joined our initial selected group.
Underline Me
Other names – students that didn’t participate.
Since it was the GREEN WEEK at our University and the day of our Beauty Salon was Valentine’s Day, we decided to combine these celebrations into a single event.
* Thought about donating the profits to a charity organisation but didn’t manage to succeed at this plan.
Reasons: Lack of knowledge and desire to find out about the legibility of this action and the procedure of achieving the official status of charity inclined event.
Using WhatsApp we decided and created most of events’ elements.
Naming the Event & Creating the Poster:
♡ The fourteen (14)
♡ Hearts and Arrows
♡ Beauty Snaps
♡ Beautiful Memento
♡ V Polaroid, V Snaps, V Captures
The FINAL -> CUPID SNAPS
Creator of the Poster – Alissa Metsnik
Design & Production of Cards: 
We used Miki Fuse Ho‘s camera and bought 20 Sheets of Instax Mini Instant Film.
Knowing the dimensions of the polaroids, me and Oliviia Lee came up with different hand-made cards to fit the Instant Photos at the event.
We initially discussed that one Polaroid Shot will cost 3£ and if our customer will want it with the card – 5£. DECISION: a shot with any card must be (at least) 3£.
Oliviia Lee – used Black, Silver, Pink Card: created A5 cards with envelopes and door handle signs with foil slides to protect the images.
Me (Nicoleta Faina) – used Pastel coloured flower-pressed paper-card and Creme Paper: created A6 cards, and 3D stands with “pockets” to secure the images. Also created Origami squared Envelopes for “Colour-yourself” Mandalas.
+ the cards imitating the Instax Shot – to demonstrate how it looks.
Designing the Props:
We decided that we need to create some props: for a better and unique experience during the photo-shoot.
It establishes a less formal atmosphere, a relaxed posture and a playful participation.
Creator of the Props – Aya El Shaikh
Foam Rose Bundles – Me (Nicoleta Faina)
Setting up the room:
We decided that we would use the projector and the boxes to create a pleasant sound ambience.
The room was decorated in the means of sticking a red coloured paper as the background for our shots.
Sijon Thapa bought a card-box with white wine and some sweets.
Our tutor, Nela Milic, in visit to our beauty salon:
Conclusion:
The Beauty Salon was successful in planning.
At the event we had lots of fun and enjoyed ourselves. Even through we haven’t had any “customer”, we delighted ourselves with a touch of our own creation: We took pictures of ourselves. 😀
To improve: In order for it to have more visitors, we should’ve had possibly another location (a more accessible one; popular space) and maybe another time-frame: Most of the students on Valentine’s Day at 5:30-7pm won’t be spending their time at University.
But the location and time wasn’t chosen by us, thus we were alone.
It was a Beauty Salon Event that we dedicated to our own selves.
Great feedback from our tutor:
Lecture Theatre A
21 February 2017
Natasa Cordeaux is the New Business & Marketing Manager at M&C Saatchi PR. (telling brand stories)
“It’s easier to complicate than simplify. Simple ideas enter the brain quicker and stay there longer. Brutal Simplicity of Thought is therefore a painful necessity.
In a fragmented media environment, the need to simplify is greater than ever.
M&C Saatchi UK Group consists of best-in-class specialists that each focus on a slightly different part of the marketing mix.
Specialists who operate independently but all under one roof, part of a single culture and company. ” (source)
TRUST = Credible, True information + Doing what you said that you will do + Visibility: Keeping the contact.
The Trust is undermined by the simple Self-Centred Attitude:
IT’S ABOUT THEM (you are not using them)
In forming a Client Basis -> show care and interest for them!
FREELANCER:
Key advice from a freelancer -> they build their portfolio outside work.
Calculate how much money you need to survive -> that is how much you need to get.
Below is a trailer of one of the works Natasa Cordeaux realised being part of M&C Saatchi company:
Student Questions and Natasa Cordeaux’s answers (2017):
How to find people to network with?
Get out there -> contact them: send your details to different businesses.
How was the experience of being employed?
You need to work your way up.
Have you experienced any difficulties related to your profession?
The difficulty to oversee stuff;
The amount of side jobs & collaboration roles: Who’s responsible for what?
Here is the project of her independent film plan about Serbia: Portrait Srbija.
Chrissie Tiller is a creative consultant and practitioner working across a range of sectors.
“It is more important to be straight-forward, to be as you are, not trying to please someone, then you will be confident and your works will bring passion.”
– Chrissie Tiller (2017)
Her talk was focused on achieving the satisfaction from personal work by knowing, accepting and evolving who and how you are.
Interactive workshop:
OBSERVATIONS:
CONCLUSION:
Most of us focus on developing the “standard” appreciated-by-most-people traits.
Instead we need to create and evolve new “tags”, different from others, characterising only You! (Very useful for CV and work interview)
OBSERVATIONS:
CONCLUSION:
When you acknowledge the fuel that drives your art, it eases your path towards that mission and it gives everything you do a reason.
UAL: LCC = London University of Arts: London College of Communication.
REFERENCES:
Cordeaux, N. (2017) London College of Communication Talk, Lecture Theatre A, 21 February, 12-1pm.
Tiller, C. (2017) London College of Communication Talk, Lecture Theatre A, 21 February, 2-3pm.
M&C Saatchi (2017) Available at: http://mcsaatchi.com/london/ [Accessed 22 February 2017]
Following the brief of a second year student of Interaction Design Arts at London University of Arts, that was presented to us in December 2016: in collaboration with Games Design students, separated in random groups of 4 or 5, we had to come up with a physical game based on a specific space within our University and present it to the open public on the 9th of February 2017.
In this Individual Evaluative Record I will give an evaluation of my own role on this Project and my experiences in an interdisciplinary scenario. Working with text, images and videos I will reflect critically and present the information using headings for a better structure and ease of reading. The beginning of my writing will constitute the evidence of research on games subject. The main part will be divided in several sections that will evaluate the stages of development of the game. In this part I will also analyse the objectives and appraisals of this collaboration project. I will finalise the Personal Evaluation with final thoughts on how the project could be improved and Conclusion.
Games have been part of every culture since ancient times.
First of all, games represent an escape from our “real world”.
They provide the highly necessary fast feedback on each of your action, the response that often is delayed, neglected or hidden in our everyday experiences. This allows us to feel remunerated and important in the moment when we need it.
Amongst releasing tension and improving the mood, games allow us to discover ourselves, take risks and become a better person. They help to develop problem-solving skills: think quick and make fast decisions and analyses. Games enhance creativity, memory, coordination and space orientation.
At the end of Winter Term (Friday, 9 December 2016), Year 2 students of Games Design course came to meet and be acquainted with us – Year 2 students of Interaction Games Design, in our clean studio – DLG10. We had some booze and I got to know very interesting people from that course. After some time, when most of us felt comfortable with each other, our tutors presented to us our group repartitions. From 13 groups, we got the letter D to define us and as soon as I saw that we unite 5 brilliant minds I was sure that we will come up with something worth seeing.
From IDA (Interaction Design Arts), besides me, we had Florence Zhou and Luisa Charles. From Games Design we had Cordelia Chui and Alexander de Jesus.
After a long and very emotional talk, we created a facebook group where we would chat: post ideas and updates on meeting locations and time.
When me and Luisa Charles got back to London, we meet up on 18th of January in Central Saint Martins Library. We discussed our game project objectives and setted up initial visions. First, we researched what other students from previous years did for this brief. We enjoyed the idea of it being an experience worth of remembering for those who will participate in it. There were thoughts about how amazing it would be to create a game where players don’t know that they are actually playing. We looked for some over-dimensioned alternated versions of normal physical games: huge foam die, enormous human pickers and other crazy ideas. Some of them were beyond the human rights and some were putting in danger the whole University, but we enjoyed the fun and freedom of fantasising in this proportions.
The game must be defined by the space it is played in. It should be created and based on the place that we choose within our University.
Initial steps for this was going around the University, discussing ideas and taking photos.
Some ideas were triggered by the amount of empty chairs and empty walls in from of them. We could entertain those who choose to sit on them, or count how many people prefer a certain chair, make teams: group of chairs against another group of chairs. Also there were ideas to make a sort of hunt for treasure with clues that lead you top another space. This idea wasn’t that good because something similar has been made before and if we would’ve taken it to the scale we wanted to it would’ve been a massive confusion and chaos.
The final decision was made on the day when we had to present our idea and space that we choose for our game, 19th of February.
We decided that our point of interest would be corridors. The space we choose is the corridor that leads to Design Block from the Upper Gallery. There is a large number of students moving through that space regularly so we would make most of them participate with a fast one-turn player game. Mainly focusing on the parallel walls, it would be a competition between two teams.
We will connect strangers by connecting TILES. We wanted to make everyone’s participation count so each of them will take a tile, will connect the centre with any 2 of the middle lateral points of the square. We thought about giving them the possibility to even sign themselves and also we wanted to make it more entertaining so we were thinking about setting scores to check-points, obstacles, candy obstacles and about the means of how to easily attach them to the walls. We wanted the player to draw his own tile but to use the tile that the person before him drew.
After the presentation we observed that the rules of the game seemed confusing and we wanted to make it more of a moment to remember for the participants, even if it meant only 5-10 seconds of their part-taking for this game. We felt the urge to play-test it!
Plus, we had to look for another 2 walls and a well-populated corridor, since the one we choose wasn’t available for our use.
Finally we choose the corridor that leads to Atrium and makes the connection between the main part of Design and Media Block. It is shown in the image above and below.
After some of virtual group discussions we had some ideas around making it Light responsive: To make the tiles conduct electricity so the final point will light up. In doing so we proposed to use flat batteries, copper tape and LEDs (Light Emitting Diodes). In order to verify and improve the system, the Play Test would help us; it will allow us to find the problems and resolve them. In doing so we brought a prototype of this game and experimented on the minds of the First Year Interaction Design students. In doing so, we discovered that the participant would be more entertained if there will be multiple check-points – stops in between – where we have LEDs that light up, rather then a simple A-B plan. Plus, for the length and height of the walls and using the electricity at it’s maximum capacity, the batteries would conduct their energy through tape at a distance of cca 1m so, even the system “was telling” us to create multiple LED stops. Also, during the play test we found that the obstacles are needed for this game in order to force the participants to do a certain move that involves thinking rather than just randomly choosing the position of the tile.
After the Play Test we discussed the shape of the “puzzle tile”. We considered the square too simple and limited to just 4 different lines to choose from. Instead we came up with hexagon shaped tiles! This gives the players extra 2 other sides to play with.We found that any obstacles or points you have to hit need to be hexagonal, otherwise they aren’t in the right place to be hit or avoided. When you get to a dead-end situation, we found that removing 2 tiles and replacing them helps to solve the problem.
We also decided on the materials we need for the hexagons – A1 sheets of foam board. We bought 15 sheets of these. Laser cutting them would add around 300 £, so we decided we will cut them ourselves.
Also we bought rolls of copper foil electricity conductive adhesive tape (9,8mm(w) x30m), 3V batteries, LEDs, double sided tape to stick up the obstacles and hexagons, and white tape to cover the copper tape on the wall. Everything together cost us around 100£.
The first day of our production was the day we received the materials for our game, on 7th of February. We meet up in early morning in the clean studio.
We started by calculating the most efficient size of the hexagons: using most of our material (foam-board) and to be the approximate palm size, not smaller. After that we printed a few in A4 size simple paper and then started cutting one by one. Later each of us started doing it in a line production. For time saving and productivity Florence and Luisa were drawing with pen on the foam-boards the shapes of the hexagons, after that: Alex, Cordelia, me and our two super mega extra helpers: Angels Banda and Andrew Crane were cutting the hexagons.
We had our Interaction Design Arts tutors: Joel Karamath and Tobias Revell, visiting us to help with advice or just make us happy.
We cut up all foam-boards and ended up with somewhere around 550 hexagons.
Before leaving, we managed to try our first set of Hexagonal Light System and it worked perfectly.
The end of the first day was set when we needed to leave the University, that was around 8pm, so we agreed to meet up in the next morning and continue our work.
In the second day, 8th of February, we worked on finishing the systems and obstacles.
The first part of the day
In comparison with the previous day we separated ourselves and each one of us had something different to do.
We had 4 LED colours: Green, Yellow, Red and Blue.
For each colour we made 10 hexagons, thus 40 LED systems in total (20 for each team).
For each hexagon we used 6 LEDs => 60 LEDs of each colour.
Also we had another 40 Hexagons with batteries, that would provide power to light up the LED-hexagons.
We created, as well, 40 “domes” to cover the hexagons with LEDs. In this way the light would be dispersed uniformly and would have a greater visual impact. We looked for the different material that we could use for this and decided that the most reasonable and best option available for us is the tracing paper.
Since we had 2 teams, we decided to make the obstacles in two colours. The classical ones would be red and blue, but we discussed the option of matching them to the copper tape that we will have on the hexagons. In this way, we established two alternatives to the initial colours. Instead of red we would use Mauve and instead of blue – Turquoise.
Mixing the colours in such quantity to achieve the desired colour wasn’t as easy as I thought. While obtaining new nuances I was colouring small triangle shaped foam-board and checking with my group to see what they think about the present dyes. When everyone was content with the colour, I increased the quantity and started painting the hexagon-clusters and other bits from the left-over pieces of foam-board.
The second part of the day
In the afternoon we had to change our location into the opposite computer studio (DLG11), because of a party that was organised in the previous room.
Luisa and Andrew continued with finishing the LED hexagon cluster systems: they were using straightened paper clips as a means of fixating the hexagons next to each other, by pushing the metal inside the foam in the middle of the hexagons.
Me and Florence were fixing the red and blue dots in the middle of each side of the hexagon. We marked 250 pieces of red and another 250 of blue.
The video below is a fastened version of me working on the hexagons.
On the game day, 9th of February, we met up early since we were meant to have our game up between 9:30am-5:30pm.
Cordelia was taping the LED systems and the batteries and Florence was fixing the covers for the LED hexagons.
We found out that we didn’t have enough time to finish all the systems so left some of them behind, to be done later if needed be.
I was colouring the side parts of the obstacles in opalescent copper dye with a sponge and drying it with a hair drier.
I found that most of them couldn’t be adhered to the walls, they were falling down due to the lack of sustainable adhesive on the double sided tape. It was too late to search for an alternative solution to it so I used the ones that were standing: the smaller pieces.
Alex and Luisa were doing the measurements of our game in regards to the actual corridor walls and setting up the system.
Our play-show-time was fixed at 12:30
As soon as the Assessment finished, we had a lot of passers-by that wanted to play! Some of them enjoyed the game so much that they kept coming back from time to time to fit another tile. Explaining the rules of the game wasn’t very hard, most of participants were doing it intuitively, following the examples that were all over the wall. The excitement of fitting the “puzzle”, avoiding obstacles and reaching an LED hexagon was indescribable. The light that was powered up thanks to different players, it united strangers in the construction of something new, bright and impressive.
We had a second check up from our tutors and I was so happy that everything was working and that it was looking beautiful. The shapes and the lines created by the systems were very different for each of the teams.
But not everything went as well as we expected.
We had to retype with copper tape the margins of each end line on the hexagons, to bridge the gap that could still be there. There were cases when players had to re-do the previous move since there was no other way to go, for several continuous turns.
Some of the tiles were falling down due to the adhesive not matching well the surface of the wall and the foam-board. Some, in their fall, were even dragging parts of the system with them. The solution – we just fixed them with the white tape over.
We found out, that even if we calculated everything, the last hexagon before the connection to the LED light, was impossible to fit in between the other hexagons, so we just stuck it over and connected its lines to the copper tape. And TA-DA! It lightens up!
Another thing I would like to notice is that mostly groups of people were more preferable to stop and play, in comparison to individuals.
This collaboration project gave me an invaluable experience to work with a great team. Group flow requires constant communication and dedication. A good starting point is the brainstorming that we had at the start of our project. The dedication, the willingness to accept and be open to changes or alternative solutions, the burst of ideas and their fuelling improves a team and makes it stronger.
I love LIGHT and creating something that gives light. But I never thought it could be manipulated as easily, as safe and as playfully as it was handled for our game project.
Thanks to this project I became more flexible and open to criticism and new ideas. I learned to be more patient and a better listener. It expanded my understanding of the importance of a collaborative work.
A lot of players of all ages, nationalities and genders that were passing the corridor engaged into our game and had a very good time while doing so, judging by their big smile every time. The downs of our project were solved with ease each time, and, the most important thing, everything was working in the end!
D237 (.237) is a boutique creative agency founded in 2007.
It combines a collective of designers and branding specialists.
The areas of work cut across 2D, 3D and web design, branding, printing, photography and digital marketing.
The company runs on an unflinching desire to inspire, to meet form and function in complete harmony, but above all, to communicate the messages of their clients clearly and effectively using engaging and inventive methods.
We were presented a talk on Creating and Leading a Design Boutique, with the founder and the Art Director of D237, Ahmed Akasha.
On the agency’s website he is introduced as a highly experienced and versatile creative lead with 14 years experience. “A self confessed teaholic and music snob.”
(Before founding the company Ahmed Akasha, worked as a Interface Designer, Senior Graphic Designer and a Freelancer.)
– the capacity to be aware of, control, and express one’s emotions, and to handle interpersonal relationships judiciously and empathetically.
* Collate the effect of your design.
THINK – trends, cultural norms.
How different cultures receive information?
* Designers guilt – looking for the shape and then the content.
The Silicon Valley Model: Management for Entrepreneurship
“Sensing opportunities, seizing them, and transforming the company: These abilities are essential to entrepreneurial management.” (source)
Small business risks:
Protect Yourself – Advice: Get 50% of payment at the start and the rest after finishing it.
Written brief -> creator’s “work of art” – that is protective!
INTERVIEW the client – align yourself and choose the clients.
Ahmed Akasha gave an example of another design company that asks to choose two out of three Cards that are given out to him:
* TIME (SPEED)
* MONEY (VALUE)
* QUALITY
PITCHES – difficult to protect your creativity
by influence -> your senses constantly stimulated
Intern-ships: Ability to adapt and to learn
The Portfolio application for designer’s agencies – not many self initiated projects – devalues yourself for the employer, because you work with the demand of the client and a certain time-frames.
NOWADAYS – Good design can be done for next to nothing:
there are apps that change pictures in an instance and platforms that allow to DIY the design of a website.
(Mindset) Employed because you understand how human mind works, not because you know how a certain program works.
REFERENCES:
Steiber, A.; Alänge S. (2016) “The Silicon Valley Model: A new approach to managing the firm in a digital Age.” – Executive Summary; Abstract from The Silicon Valley Model: Managing for Entrepreneurship, Berkeley Research Group, Springer.
Available at: http://www.automationsummit.se/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/Steiber_Automation_Summit-16.pdf
[Accessed on 7 February 2017]
D237 (2017) Available at: http://www.d237.com/ %5BAccessed on 7 February 2017]
“Convergence is the flow of content across multiple media platforms, the cooperation between multiple media industries, and the migratory behaviour of media audiences who would go almost anywhere in search of the kinds of entertainment experiences they wanted.”
– Jenkins, H., 2006
IN THE WORLD OF MEDIA CONVERGENCE,
every story gets told every brand gets sold, every costumer gets courted across multiple media platforms.
Right now, convergence culture is getting defined top-down by decisions being made in corporate boardrooms and bottom-up by decisions made in teenagers’ bedrooms.
Modern Media is shaped by the consumers, by their desire to access the information where they want, when they want and in the format they want.
“Convergence does not occur through media appliances – however sophisticated they may become. Convergence occurs within the brains of individual consumers.”
Collective intelligence – collective process of media content consumption.
In Jenkins’ view, five logics are contributing to the emergence of transmedia and the phenomenon of increased fan participation (‘fandom’):
– The logic of entertainment, as evidenced by the presence in the US TV schedules of TV series and reality shows;
– The logic of social connection, highlighted by votes and discussions on social networking sites;
– The logic of experts, symbolised by the collective intelligence (Levy, 1994true) brought to bear by fans for the purposes of creation, production and discussion. Henry Jenkins cites the examples of the creation of Twin Peaks fan sites and the Lost Wiki (Lostpedia), which both collate articles written by fans to offer greater insight into both series;
– The logic of immersion, which encourages participation. For example, on Oscars night fans could use a number of interactive tools to immerse themselves in the ceremony and form a community;
– The logic of identification, which enables fans to establish an identity depending on what they watch.
Jenkins highlighted the narrative universe of The Wizard of Oz (musicals, cartoon series, books, comic strips) to illustrate the idea that, in his opinion, Transmedia strategies were in place well before the term was coined and defined, and certainly well before the rapid rise of digital media. He emphasised this idea by explaining that Transmedia Storytelling is perfectly viable without using new technologies, and that the latter have mainly been used as facilitators by the modern creators of transmedia universes.
Fans, immersed in a wide-ranging narrative universe, strive to produce their own transmedia extensions, in an example of what Jenkins calls the logic of performance. For example, fans of Lost have managed to create a map of the island which is not shown in the series, enabling them to map locations and characters’ movements. Glee fans, meanwhile, perform songs and dance routines from episodes of the show and then post and share them on platforms like YouTube. Finally, fans of Star Wars have made Star Wars Uncut, a series of sequences filmed by them and stitched together to recreate the whole film.
Jenkins also noted that some fan extensions precede the cultural industries’ transmedia creations. He cited the example of Pottermore, the official transmedia extension created by the author of the Harry Potter books. This website offers functions such as the Sorting Hat Ceremony, which determines which of the four school Houses each new Hogwarts student is assigned to. Yet this ceremony had already been developed by fans themselves ten years before, leading Jenkins to note that the cultural industries are lagging ten years behind!
CONCLUSION:
Understanding how the modern world works and what are the needs allows you to stimulate the collective conciousness.
Collective intelligence can be seen as an alternative source of media power. It is when each of us build their own truth based on the information they have access to. The play of collective meaning-making within popular culture is changing the ways religion, education, law, politics, advertising, and even the military operate.
REFERENCES:
Gallarino, A., 2017. Henry Jenkins explains his vision of transmedia and audience engagement. [online] Transmedialab.org. Available at: http://www.transmedialab.org/en/events/henry-jenkins-explains-his-vision-of-transmedia-and-audience-engagement/
[Accessed 12 March 2017].
Jenkins, H., 2006. Convergence culture: where old and new media collide. New York University Press, New York, N.Y. ; London.
Creative industries:
Design, animation, illustration, advertising, publishing, music industry, performance, museums, architecture, sculpture, ceramics, art galleries, brand design, package design, games design, crafts, jewellery, fashion design, software design, PR, Marketing, toys, etc.
Together they are big businesses.
Creative Industries = >
What is included in the creative industries?
So not just traditional art forms ‘but service businesses such as advertising (which sells their creative skills mostly to other industries), manufacturing processes that feed into cultural production and retail of creative goods.’
Mapping the Creative Industries – British Council
NESTA, 2006
(Nesta – innovation charity – http://www.nesta.org.uk/ )
National Endowment for Science, Technology and the Arts (UK)
Convergence culture
Characteristics of convergence culture
Media convergence
Star Wars in many forms
Participatory culture
What does this mean for the creative industries?
Exploring further in your blogs – Creative Industries:
Flew, T., 2013. Global Creative Industries, 1 edition. ed. Polity
Entrepreneurship Definition (Elastic)
Context: Creative Industries and Economies
–Local, national, international
–Political, economic, social, technological, legal and environmental (PESTLE)
–Development and growth in developed and developing economies/countries
Artist as Entrepreneurs
“While 2011 was a big year for political unrest, another uprising was afoot in the world of content creators and artists. Everywhere you look, artists are taking more control over their own economic well being, in large part because the Internet has enabled them to do so. You see it in all forms of content, from books, to video to music.”
– (Michael Wolf, 2011)
“Cultural Entrepreneurs are cultural change agents and resourceful visionaries who organize cultural, financial, social and human capital, to generate revenue from a cultural activity. Their innovative solutions result in economically sustainable cultural enterprises that enhance livelihoods and create cultural value and wealth for both creative producers and consumers of cultural services and products.”
– (Raj Isar, The American University, Paris)
Donna Huanca is an American artist that is well-known for her use of painted naked bodies. She was born to Bolivian parents in 1980 in Chicago, Illinois US.
“My parents were immigrants, they were always telling us that we’d move back, and we weren’t allowed to speak English at home” she recalls. In summers the family would return to Bolivia and attend the Urkupiña festival, which fused Catholic and Andean traditions in music, dance and richly coloured costume. The artist said that it was a complete chaos and that none of it really made sense, but she enjoyed it – she was into the fantasy. (Judah, H. 2016)
Now 36 and living between Berlin and New York, Donna Huanca says that most of her work begins with travelling, in search of materials and experiences to inspire her creations.
” The DNA of the place is then present in my work.” (Nam, D. 2011)
One of Donna Huanca’s most recent installations is called Scar Cymbals. It is her first UK solo exhibition. Her work draws attention to the human body and skin.
The exhibition is accompanied by a programme of live performances and talks as well as a monographic publication examining Huanca’s performative works to date. It is curated by Maitreyi Maheshwari, Programme Director, Zabludowicz Collection.
Donna Huanca installed this largest show to date at The Zabludowicz Collection in London. It started on 29th September and is available for viewings until 18th December.
The Zabludowicz Collection is a philanthropic endeavour encompassing a dynamic and growing selection of art works that was founded in 2007. It was built between 1867 and 1871, in the Corinthian style and was the main place of worship for the Methodist community in north London.
Before entering the patio, there is a sign saying “Art” and pointing in the direction of the Gallery. It’s historical and layered architecture can be noted from outside. The large banner that is situated above the entrance door provides the welcoming information about the current exhibition.
The foyer was redesigned by Michael Marriott in 2010. It provides a comfortable and admirable space where you can find your way to a café, a shop and a library. There are also stairs that lead to the balcony where you can see the Main Hall’s performance from above. Next to the door that leads to the installation room is situated a desk with the information that you need to know about current and future exhibitions : flyers, leaflets and visit cards.
I.
Upon entering the Main Hall the vision is challenged by the presentation of contemporary art in such an unusual, historical space. A constant background sound induces the audience into a trance-like state. In a deeper version of the same state there are two human models moving very slowly and evenly: a female and a male. Their naked bodies are draped with ripped body stockings and slathers of paint. A lot of the materials that are used on the body are meant to heal, thus Donna Huanca uses turmeric, clay, and coffee to create the colour for her models. The transparent materials are a false protection.
“Each day during the exhibition, there will be scheduled performances by painted models interacting with site-specific sculptural installations [: two of them each day, and 10 for special events.] These works act as Huanca’s response to the exhibition space.” (Glover, A. 2016)
One of the models, whose predominant colour is green with lethargic movements, no emotions and distant look mesmerises our eyesight. He is situated in the middle of the room in a low labyrinth that contains white sand-like substance. I was curious to find out if the labyrinth has an end, like it has a beginning. After analysing it, I found out that once entered, it needs to be walked all its way in order to get out of it: no dead-ends. At the same time the “walls” of the creation are very small in height, so they can easily be neglected and passed. The male figure is in a walking-based meditation, he doesn’t look at his audience. He is silent. His body and head are in a straight position all the time, facing forward.
Further from the entrance, there is a massive three storey acrylic structure built by Donna Huanca, into the apse. The perspex glass box lit with bright white lights reveal a female figure predominantly painted in blue. She is static and sits on her knees. Her body is beautiful. I thought about how the modern society and mass-media sets the tags of a perfect shape: she wouldn’t fit in them. I thought about the distorted image of being ideal, that is implemented in our minds since young age; how a female body is standardised and how fitting in this standards makes us feel special. Funny, no?
She really is very beautiful and mysterious, in her own hypnotic way. The way that the colours were arranged on her body, made an association with the Amazons, a warrior woman, a fighter. Her breasts were outside the stockings. Her presence, energy and vibe gave me a thought that she could be a careful and loving mother.
“When she first started recruiting other performers, Huanca was drawn to more direct “avatars”: young women of around her height with long dark hair. But she doesn’t specify age or body type. Trans models will appear in her newest work in London, as well as a male model. “The trans woman’s movement has becoming a subject on everyone’s mind – I’m so interested in their vulnerabilities,” she explains. “They’re allies in helping us break down the patriarchal system because they know what it’s like on both sides.”” (Judah, H. 2016)
After a while the model started to move in that “glass castle”, some parts were modified by her and transformed into stairs so she could climb up higher or lower. By enacting private rituals and meditations the glass gradually becomes more opaque. My tutor, Joel Karamath, pointed out on the parts of fade-coloured walls behind me. He explained, whispering, that the models created a painting with their bodies by rubbing on the wall.
“I wanted the piece to have a muted, otherworldly palette, creating an image that departs from reality.” (Huanca, D. 2016)
When she got out of the transparent structure, she went forward, walking next to the labyrinth with the model still walking its way out slowly from it. It was interesting for me to see if they will catch each other’s sight, or at least give out a small emotion, maybe interaction. I wanted them to get together. I thought she was cold being in that castle for so long and I was sure he was freezing because I was looking at his feet that were making small traces in that sand. I thought that the sand should be not even a bit warm because of the lack of sun. (Sounds from beach at the back of my mind)
The audience were giving her more attention this time, since her movements were curios.
No interaction. She didn’t approach him. Instead, the model moved forward to a vibrating pedestal. It had speakers and some panels with red moving lights. In the middle of the pedestal there was an acrylic panel, a material that was used in the construction of the structure at the other end of the room. This gave a sense of equilibrium to everything. While she was leaning against the panel, with slow movements of her feet she was changing something in the sound, in the intensity of the vibration. Was she enjoying it? The vibration or the control was giving her pleasure? It was her choice to move and stay there for a large amount of time.
“It is a solo stage that is essentially a vibrational floor that I wanted it to be almost inaudible and it is really heavy bass. Because of the acoustics of the space, it’s amplified. I design the sound to be very sub-lingual. There are these chaos pads which I used to use – I come from music, I was a drummer – you don’t need to know anything to play them, it’s all touch-based.” (Huanca, D. 2016)
“I ask each model to write about the experience of performing. These texts are part of my research.” (Huanca, D. 2016)
The show is restrained and intensely focused at the beginning, while becoming more engaging with the interactive works by the end.
As the performance culminates, the models slowly peel off the layers of latex and stockings and uncover their bodies.
That moment leads our attention to a smaller, hidden and well-lit room where all the stockings from previous presentation are kept. (image on left)
The corridor that leads to the second room of Donna Huanca’s exhibition has a dominant red light.
It may invoke a feeling of alarm and danger, may mean love and power or may suggest pain and sacrifice.
Donna Huanca definitely made me curious to see what is after passing this corridor.
“I really think that art is dead. I’m really bored just seeing something that’s the past. Very few things stay alive and in the end, it’s paintings that I find can still really move me. Maybe I’m cynical or overwhelmed, can’t sit still to pay attention or care about a lot of things – that’s why I wanted to use live models because it’s intriguing to me. There’s a sense of freedom in letting go. There are materials that keep going and are morphed into new works but they also alternately are just discarded at some point. I’m not attached to the way that things are, it all comes together in this alignment and it just dissipates.” (Huanca, D. 2016)
II.
The line between engagement and withdrawal is blurred 
when entering the second room of the exhibition.
The aromas permeating the space are derived from Texas cedar and Palo Santo (a tree that grows in the Mexican desert), which are traditionally mixed with hallucinogenic ayahuasca and peyote, and burned as ceremonial incense.
Scribbled acrylic sheets and huge abstract paintings cover the walls.
Totem-like sculptural installations are dotted throughout the space. They draw influence from natural minerals and rock formations, recalling the pigments used to paint the live models. Those structures are dressed with leather, debris, used body stockings and strings of black giant anal-beads and whips. That representation of the counterpoint of pleasure and pain is dedicated to the experience of going through a long-duration performance, where a torture element is transcended and rewarded in the end.
Embedded within these sculptures are a series of sound works that variously respond to the control of the movement and proximity of visitors’ bodies. This installation builds upon Huanca’s earlier sound art projects made under the name Rua Minx and will feature new recordings of often overlooked, misrepresented or invisible groups. “I wanted to create the sound piece to be a very sensitive guide. The closer you get to it, the louder and the more bass-y it gets. If you walk around the perimeter you get a hint of sound. It’s supposed to be a responsive piece for the audience.” (Huanca, D. 2016)
By using all the senses and creating an interaction for both the audience and the performer with the static creations, Donna Huanca’s exhibition Scar Cymbals is a very impressive work of art. She combined the resonance of bass with infra-red sensors and human bodies, figurative blur with abstract colour. The artist presented “sculptures” that are alive and that create their own art, in front of us. The ritualistic smell, the rhythmic sound, equal and slow movements of model figures hypnotise us to be in another world.
As a viewer, I would’ve liked to see some interaction between the two models that were roaming around in the Main Hall. I do not negate that such part could’ve happened when I wasn’t watching them. The sound in the second exhibition room was very loud. One of my colleagues from the University of Arts, Nayna, run out of the space after a few seconds of viewing the exhibition, since for her it became unsupportable. I didn’t have enough time to discover myself where is the sensor and how it works since after a while the sound was triggered to be lauder too many times and I could not bear it any more. Maybe it was a part of Huanca’s intentions: another representation of a torture. After viewing it, I was disappointed by the small amount of artwork, our group was expecting more creations to see and interact with.
From what I read in reviews on TimeOut, it seems like some of the visitors were disappointed that the models weren’t totally naked and that that they were wearing stockings. “I also had to wonder, why the models were partially nude as opposed to fully exposed. If the point was to express the female form or disregard society’s opposition to public nudity, then i was unaware what this exhibition had achieved.” (Car, S. 2016)
I do understand that it was done because Donna Huanca investigates codes of behaviour in our interaction with bodies in space and the unseen histories that are accumulated through those gestures. By exposing the naked body and concealing it under layers of paint, cosmetics and latex, Huanca’s performers confront our instinctive reactions to flesh, which becomes both a familiar, decorative object and an abstract, inaccessible subject.
The exhibition is innovative for me since it includes the participation of “living sculptures”. To make it better I would use a stronger impact of the light on the performance and in the exhibition room. This will allow my visitors to feel totally disconnected from the real world. I would play with shadows and create a communication point between the performers. Maybe I would experiment with the temperatures as well, since I empathised with the models and was worried that they might be cold. I could implement something to be tasted… although no one told me not to lick the sculptures in the second room. Because I haven’t tried it, it doesn’t mean it’s not possible. 🙂
Overall, Donna Huanca’s work did actually made me think and question myself. Even when I left the exhibition, I was still wondering of the reasons, the ideas and the methods of the creation of such an impressive installation. Thus, her exhibition is considered a successful one and I will look forward for new creations from Donna Huanca.
REFERENCE LIST:
Nam, Daisy (Sep 7, 2011) In search of unknown memories: an interview with artist Donna Huanca, posted in Interviews, Vol.1, Issue 1: En Route [online] InterventionsJournal
Available at: https://interventionsjournal.net/2011/09/07/in-search-of-unknown-memories-an-interview-with-artist-donna-huanca/
[Accessed 23 November 2016]
Huanca, Donna (not dated) Overview of Donna Huanca’s Life and Work [online] Artsy.net
Available at: https://www.artsy.net/artist/donna-huanca [Accessed 23 November 2016]
Judah, Hettie (Sep 28, 2016) Ayahuasca and anal beads: the hallucinogenic art of Donna Huanca Available at: https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2016/sep/28/ayahuasca-and-anal-beads-the-hallucinogenic-art-of-donna-huanca [Accessed 23 November 2016]
ZabludowiczCollection (not dated) Article about their Current Exhibition: DONNA HUANCA: SCAR CYMBALS
Available at: http://www.zabludowiczcollection.com/exhibitions/view/donna-huanca
[Accessed 23 November 2016]
Carr, Simon (Nov 2, 2016) Review on Donna Huanca’s exhibition Scar Cymbals
Available at: http://www.timeout.com/london/art/donna-huanca#tab_panel_4
[Accessed 23 November 2016]
Glover, Alexander (Nov 13, 2016) Donna Huanca: ‘Memory is perhaps the most permanent architecture’ Available at: http://www.studiointernational.com/index.php/donna-huanca-interview-scar-cymbals-zabludowicz-collection-london
[Accessed 23 November 2016]
| Visual Art | Writing |
Collage |
The Cup-UP Technique |
A precedent of the technique occurred during a Dadaist rally in the 1920s in which Tristan Tzara proposed to create a poem on the spot by pulling words from a hat. A riot ensued wrecking the theatre. André Breton expelled Tristan Tzara from the movement and grounded the cut-ups on the Freudian couch.
THINK BEFORE ENJOYING THE VIEW:
In 1950s, painter and writer Brion Gysin:
” William Burroughs and I first went into techniques of writing, together, back in room No. 15 of the Beat Hotel during the cold Paris spring of 1958… Burroughs was more intent on Scotch-taping his photos together into one great continuum on the wall, where scenes faded and slipped into one another, than occupied with editing the monster manuscript… Naked Lunch appeared and Burroughs disappeared. He kicked his habit with Apomorphine and flew off to London to see Dr Dent, who had first turned him on to the cure. While cutting a mount for a drawing in room No. 15, I sliced through a pile of newspapers with my Stanley blade and thought of what I had said to Burroughs some six months earlier about the necessity for turning painters’ techniques directly into writing. I picked up the raw words and began to piece together texts that later appeared as “First Cut-Ups” in Minutes to Go“ (Two Cities, Paris 1960).
Gysin and Burroughs hypothesised that such a technique could be used to discover the true meaning of a given text. In 1977, they published The Third Mind, a collection of cup-up writings and essays on the form.
– Burroughs, W. 1960
He also further developed the “fold-in” technique: place a page of one text folded down the middle on a page of another text -The composite text is read across half from one text and half from the other
– The resulting material is edited, re-arranged, and deleted.
From the early 1970s, David Bowie has used cut-ups to create some of his lyrics. This technique influenced Kurt Cobain‘s songwriting. Thom Yorke applied a similar method in Radiohead’s Kid A (2000) album, writing single lines, putting them into a hat, and drawing them out at random while the band rehearsed the songs.
_________ ANOTHER EXPERIMENT __________
For a fresh look and a new experiment with a larger amount of writing, I used Plato’s thoughts about Socrates piece of writing from the Tradition and Dissent handbook made by The Open University (2008; page.6-7)
REFERENCE LIST:
Gysin, Brion (1973) Cut-Ups: A Project for Disastrous Success, published in Evergreen Review and later in [Brion Gysin] Let the Mice In, Something Else Press, West Clover (also in the A Williams Burroughs Reader, John Calder (editor), Picador, London 1982, p. 272)
Nicoleta Faina Blog 