it has taken me three months to reflect upon the recent quasi-disaster that was the abake prescribed, three part project, the zeitgeist heist.
since posting about the first two elements of the project, team dynamics have run-a-muck, and the last group dinner/brainstorming session ended up in a… shall we say, heated discussion, at best. after a particularly critical reaction from the panel during the second presentation, we did manage to meet one more time before the final crit, and came up with a poetic proposition to end such a seemingly futile attempt at designers trying to generate interactivity through performative means.
designers. actually we were a group which consisted of an architect, curator, exhibition designer and yours truly, media art monkee. without strong graphic design skills between the 4 of us, we luckily didn’t have to present a high in concept and research illustrated with flashy graphics presentation and presented as simply and to the point as possible, while adhering to some narrative themes (a guided tour comes to mind) to efficiently convey what we wanted to say.
rounding-up our colleagues and tutors into the stairwell on the 9th floor of our building, we made the group walk down the stairs holding a rope which formed a line. the stairwell is kinda groovy, with huge glass windows overlooking holborn. its cool and windy, walls littered with forgotten posters of past CSM shows and bad signage so you never know what floor you are on. hundreds of students walk up and down these stairs throughout a day.
people being people, we were soon a mix of bodies, while the four of us narrated a metaphorical and critical journey of our experience throughout this laborious project. we told emotional experiences, criticized the brief and its prescribers and more or less vented. we role-played as if we hated each other, which wasn’t far at the time (big kiss to aranzazu, gilly and anna)!
in the end, the tutors seemed positive about it and we had a chance to present something we were happy with, not to mention it made us stronger in the process. as the saying goes; you can only collaborate with people who want to collaborate. i have learned that my colleagues are damn good.
a few weeks ago i had a taste of life in rotterdam while working for the V2: Institute for Unstable Media. called in by my good friend and colleague danja, i had the opportunity to work in the “hack” department of the V2 Lab during this years DEAF07 and V2 25th anniversary events.
most of the work i did was of a technical nature, and involved climbing up to the tops of buildings fixing yagi antennae (all hail the mighty zip-tie!!!) to throw network accessibility wirelessly between the various locations of the festival. some buildings i am proud to say i stood on the roof of include Witte de With / TENT, NAi and of course the V2 building proper.
we also had to lay down quite a bit of patch cable (we were dropping CAT-5e like spidey slings web) and also deployed numerous wireless hotspots, computer terminals and workstations for visiting artists and other tech-monkee-ish jobs. even had a chance to VJ along side danja at unDEAF… that was cool.
one of the more mundane tasks i had to perform at the festival was to monitor audio and video live-streams that were being cast on the DEAF07 webpage. this involved sitting and watching and listening to lectures… which isn’t so bad until you realize that you have spent the entire day sitting in a dark hall staring at 4 or so monitors while outside it is immaculately sunny and 25 degrees.
what i did enjoy the most was getting to spend time with some sorely missed friends. sabruno and danja were kind enough to let me stay at their place during the duration of my contract with V2, and even though i was pretty tuckered out by the time we got home from work, we still managed to have that cozy feeling. eating good food and sitting in the twilight of the setting sun over the vista of rotterdam’s skyline, on top of bruno and danja’s building, drinking beer and fixing bikes, is my minds’ eye of the netherlands quintessential.
thanks to danja and bruno for putting up with me while i was in rotterdam and i can’t wait to come back this summer with karin and alex to begin work with OMA/AMO… w00t!
So as to follow up on the on-going antics of the gamelan gang, for the past few months the MACPNE department has been generating research and development that encompasses the design of a user experience and deployment of a pavilion to house the Indonesian instrument know as the gamelan. This commission is to coincide with the grand re-opening of the Royal Festival Hall and renewal of London’s Southbank Centre in mid-June of this year.
The gamelan is considered one instrument in Indonesian culture but when we got one delivered to our studio on the 9th floor of CSM’s Red Lion Square building a couple of months ago we discovered it was so much more then what we expected. as part of our research we were instructed in its playing by one of the UK’s premiere gamelan players and gamelan expert in residence at Southbank Centre, Sophie Clark.
A lil’ diddy about the gamelan; a complex collection of percussion instruments, the version of the gamelan we played (there are several different types of gamelans from the various island districts that Indonesia is comprised of) is considered the “portable” version. the full-size version of the gamelan maintained by southbank centre is housed in its own room within the Royal Festival Hall.
Gamelan music is composed of intricate patterns that are unique to the each part of the gamelan and is quite mathematical; Bach would have had a handful to deal with. Every gamelan is tuned within itself, so every gamelan sounds different from one another. Playing a composition on one set could sound drastically different on another, and often players learn all instruments and rotate so that everyone plays each part of the gamelan throughout a performance.
The gamelan is the centerpiece of local Indonesian community. most Indonesian people that live around a pendopo (a building that serves as something reminiscent to a town hall or community centre) learn how to play or at least have heard a gamelan before at one point or another. It is an important element in shadow puppet theater (called wayang) and as accompaniment to Indonesian dance and ceremony. It is used for old-school jammin’, too.
Within the pendopo, the gamelan is played at ground level where musicians sit alongside spectators on even ground. Gamelan sessions have the potential to last days, and often people come to the pendopo and eat with family and friends, converse with fellow community members and even take naps in the shade away from the heat. Everyone in the pendopo is barefoot, which adds to the general coziness of the atmosphere.
right… so back to the project, other research conducted included people flow studies, ethnographic research interviews with gamelan groups, visitors to Southbank Centre and local skateboarders at the skate park adjacent to the Royal Festival Hall, reading of the ancient texts the Ramayana and Mahābhārata and site visits to the rebuild / retrofitting of the Royal Festival Hall.
After a consultation with structural engineers, the final pitch will occur this Friday, a day after another crit for a project for the master-planning of the new Kings Cross Center in London.
I think it’s going to be yet another tough and exciting week.
In 1982 Larry Dossey, an American physician, coined the term “time-sickness” to describe the obsessive belief that “time is getting away, that there isn’t enough of it, and that you must pedal faster and faster to keep up”.
Guy Claxton, a British psychologist, thinks acceleration is now second nature to us: “We have developed an inner psychology of speed, of saving time and maximising efficiency, which is getting stronger by the day”.
These comments and quotes motivated our group to base our final Unit 1 project on the new trend of ‘slow’ living; to ask ourselves whether conducting one’s day to day actions slowly genuinely promotes quality of life, and whether this quality can generate happiness and wellbeing.
Festina lente is the best way to describe the essence of all the movements which proclaim the need for people to slow down (Slow City, Slow Food, Slow Sex, Super Slow Exercise, Slow Dating, etc.). It is a phrase attributed to Svetonius and was often used by Caesar Augustus, and means to quicken slowly. The saying encapsulates numerous dichotomies, such as patience and urgency, velocity and flexibility, action and meditation. In the case of movements such as Slow Living, it refers specifically to a lifestyle which “respects tradition and quality, and seeks to use the best aspects of the modern world to enhance, preserve and enjoy the old ways of doing things, but not to the exclusion of progress and not for the sake of avoiding change”.
Our group’s idea was to create a video which would illustrate vividly this contrast which is now common in society between people who choose to slow down and people who continue fast-paced living, as well as seeing how people would react to our ‘slow’ intervention and seeing if it is true that British people are ever increasingly looking for ways to calm down modern life rhythms.
Our intervention comprised of an afternoon tea break taken along the river Thames at Southbank. Our group set up a table and held a proper and original afternoon tea party with a china set, scones and preserves, in order to raise awareness among those walking by so that they too should sit and take a break.
The choice of having a tea break as our intervention fell upon our desire to use something which is very close to the British people, so as to not only research into slow and fast perceptions of time but also on identity and traditions. As we researched into the history of tea, it became obvious to us that tea is extremely important to all cultures, from the Russian zavarka using tea to welcome guests into one’s home to the Moroccan mint tea served to cool down on hot days and facilitate social community.
Tea is the most consumed beverage in the world after water. It has taken on many forms and has much significance throughout history. It is a symbol of relaxation and generates social interaction.
BACKGROUND RESEARCH – TEA IN THE BRITISH CULTURE
AFTERNOON TEA or LOW TEA: A traditional afternoon tea is served between 3 PM and 5 PM at a low table. The menu consists of three courses-assorted crustless finger sandwiches and savouries, scones with Devonshire (clotted) cream and preserves and assorted finger sweets and petit fours. It is not uncommon for a trifle or dessert to add as a fourth course.
INFORMAL AFTERNOON TEA: Served in a salon or outdoor setting, with either placement seating or casual seating at low tables. Candles are never used.
(http://www.seedsofknowledge.com/teahistory.html)
Great Britain was the last of the great sea-faring nations to break into the Chinese and East Indian trade routes. The first samples of tea reached England between 1652 and 1654, and it quickly proved popular enough to replace ale as the national drink. Prior to the introduction of tea into Britain, the English had two main meals – breakfast and dinner: Breakfast was usually composed of ale, bread and beef, while dinner was a long, massive meal at the end of the day. It was without a doubt an impractical way of distributing food throughout the day and many often felt sluggish by mid-afternoon. It is said that it was the 7th Duchess of Bedford, Anna, who introduced the concept of afternoon tea, which included other than tea also small cakes and bread and butter. The novelty soon took on and it became almost immediately a very popular activity of the day. It was Queen Victoria who introduced the custom of adding lemon to tea, after visiting one of her daughters in Russia – before that, the English took only milk with their tea.
A common pattern of service soon merged. The first pot of tea was made in the kitchen and carried to the lady of the house who waited with her invited guests, surrounded by fine porcelain from China. The first pot was warmed by the hostess from a second pot (usually silver) that was kept heated over a small flame. Food and tea was then passed among the guests, the main purpose of the visiting being conversation.
Tea was introduced into the British culture as a time to meet friends, to relax and to regenerate.
RESULTS AND OBSERVATIONS
Our performance not only attracted many passers-by but also generated in us mixed feelings – though we felt that our actions were forcibly too slow, we felt as if we were practicing yoga: our breathing calmed down, our heart rate appeared to beat slower. Those who stopped to watch us were informed of our project and ask to contribute comments which we audio recorded. It is interesting to note that most people were pleased to watch us and almost observed us with envy, and when asked about what they thought with regards to ‘slow’ living, most responded that it was an unobtainable dream, that though they too wanted to slow down they felt that it was not possible. Few people said that they have recently made changes to their lifestyles, so as to include more quiet time or thinking time, by themselves or with their companions, but all stated that they were not yet satisfied with their quality of life. Most of those who responded positively to our questions were nevertheless in their mid-40s and they tended to stress the fact that their decision to change their lifestyles derived from years of fast-paced living.
Lucky for me I am on break now and have some time to prepare for the next term. Part of the requirement of the 1st year of my MA is to participate in a professional internship.
For the first time in the history of the course, Karin, Alex and I are applying as an R&D team collectively for our internship. Our course director refers to us as “the 3 for 2 deal”, we hope to continue our collaborative strategizing and development that has been fostered at the course and contribute to a creative organization we could be happy to work for.
One of our dream companies that we have collectively approached is the Office of Metropolitan Architecture, also know as OMA and their alter-ego, AMO.
We have prepared a portfolio for them based on our past work, and details on a new collaborative work we specifically developed for the OMA application. We have bound and printed 5 copies of the book so far but if you would like a copy, let me know and we can work something out ;^)
A little more about OMA: OMA is the architecture firm of Rem Koolhaas and was founded in 1975 along with Elia Zenghelis, Madelon Vriesendorp and Zoe Zenghelis. They are the architecture firm responsible for some of the coolest buildings and interiors, and have published books as their brainy thinktank alter ego, AMO.
In order for us to meet the deadline of application, Karin, Alex and I had to produce and publish a book in less then 5 days. In the end we had it bound before jumping onto a plane to do a re-branding project in Benidom, Spain. The final assembly of the package was done on a sunny beach on the Mediterranean. Our cover letter was written on a postcard addressed to our Oma, which happens to be German and Dutch for grandmother. There were a lot of grandmas out and about in Benidorm, BTW. Now cross your fingers. Thanks!
Another week, another project, another learning log entry.
our guest tutors for the Zeitgiest Heist are Adam Levene, Benjamin Reichen and Man Somerlink. also joining are the usual suspects, Tricia Austin, Kevin Flude and Sarah Featherstone.
the initial research conducted for this project included the selection of a location, place or space where an object was stolen, lost or missing and then to document that non-space or void space as a photograph. here is the location i chose:
In a workshop, all the students exposed there photographic work alongside three dimensional work which we had to make in one hour from foraged materials and found objects (read: garbage). tutors then tried to place the newly made object within the non-space depicted by the photograph.
using whatever we learned from this experimental exercise, we then preceded to part two of the brief, which involved using the “missing” approach or methodology to choose a building or public space based on the lack or deficiency of a story.
most of a buildings’ interior and exterior architecture is constructed to communicate definite themes. a police station for instance communicates to the visitor connotations that may include power, intimidation, functionality, confinement, etc.
after considering the identity/message/story of a handful of buildings and locations in London, my group choose the Greenwich Observatory where the Prime Meridian was established. this was an obvious choice for its socio-cultural associations and political symbolism. The very fact that the modern understanding of time is defined with the Prime Meridian as measure lead us to risk a reinterpretation of the brief in order to argue the Meridian as an architectural, imperialistic construct.
using the philosophies of the Long Now Foundation, we designed an intervention that included a campaign to enrich visitors of the observatory. mostly we wanted to see how people envisioned the future.
in the 21st century, most people envision it as a distopia ridden with disease, poverty and nuclear fallout barely held together by an ultra-police-state. this future is usually placed within the the confines of ones own lifetime and not beyond generations. imagine the implications and the goals that we collectively strive towards from this shortsightedness!
in order to free the minds of our audience from the heavy handed oppression of time in its current definition, our heist was to steal time itself. this proved to be far too difficult a campaign for only the four of us to achieve in one morning. oh well.
with the winter break on the cusp of conclusion (i hope everyone had a good and safe holiday this year), i managed to mozy on down to the internet today to check my mail, get some slash and do that internet do. so with a laid-back saunter, here begins another year of amateurish participatory dabbling into this web2.n0 sh!zznat.
that sweet spot between xmas and new years (also known as the busiest time in the box office film industry) plays host to the chaos communication congress brought to us by the chaos computer club, where many of those same box office hits were being torrented, i might add or so i hear. This year was the 23rd annual itineration of the event and was also the most visited one in the history of the congress with +4200 visitors.
There were geeks and nerds everywhere and i was one with the hurd, club mate in hand. people where fully maximizing the volume of the space. i even got a chance to sleep in saal 1 on 2 chairs (i hear that animation students have a special affinity to the sleeping in 2 chairs style) just to get a hard line into the switch, only to wake up with people on mass sprouting from all around me to set up temporary hack-stations as lectures reconvened.
This year i was fortunate enough to participate as a herald for the congress, which basically meant i had an opportunity to steal a few words from the guest speakers, if only for the sake of introducing those in a proper and un-fugly like fashion to hundreds of people.
There were some good people present and i had a chance to see some friends sorely missed. Martind of desktop.de fame was organizing the heralds for the congress this year and showed me the ropes of being a herald. My old collaborator and comrade b1nary.k0a1a was there too, and got to meet some new and interesting folks.
The most interesting talk of note this year for me was Lawrence Lessig’s presentation – On Free, and the Differences between Culture and Code. It was the first time i had seen him live. He apparently has a distinct style of presentation. All i have to say is that he is definitely a powerpoint/keynote expert. Check out the google video stream below and judge for yourself at 400×326 pixels-per-inch of glorious resolution:
For my second time around i have to say that i love this congress more and more. I look forward to next year and will remember to again, bring more hard drives!
every year the chaos computer club holds the chaos communication congress in Berlin, Germany. this is a great time for hackers of all disciplines to finally come together in an actual, physically shared space (as opposed to a virtual one, although i have seen some second lifers about) to discuss, teach and learn from one another within the community.
Karin and i were recently invited to do some work on BLANK for Madhouse. what is Blank, you ask? why it’s a traveling collaborative sketchbook journal, that’s what. there are currently 2 blank books on the go and 2 more already completed and are filled with all sorts of artsy/designy goodness from all over the place.
to take a look at the album, click on the above photo.
if you are interested in getting your goods into the next BLANK collaborative sketchbook journal or just want to check the project out, visit this link to get more information.
cheers to madhouse for allowing us to get involved on this kick-ass, community driven, participatory project. can’t wait to see how this one is going to turn up!
last friday saw the premiere opening of MAKE: minimum wage. thank you to all who came to lettuceat and enjoyed the art, performance, company, wine and peanuts! the show will be on for around a month so mozy on down to liverpool street if you would like to check it out. btw, we are still looking for contributions, themes and ideas for the next MAKE so if you would like to do something with the space, let us know here.
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