1984 pt.2

Last class, we talked about why I'm doing what I'm doing with 1984. We also read that wonderful Maya Lin handout and both the class discussion and the reading have, for the lack of a better word, enlightened me, about the importance of process. So I'm posting this now as a WIP post, not really the beginning of a project, nor the middle, nor the end, but somewhere in between. I'm always insecure about unfinished work- I have it in my own head that things have to look pretty, and finished, and every that thing has to be the best thing. But this is unhealthy and also very bad for the purpose of this blog and being academically graded. I'm learning the importance of writing about my work, what I want it to do, what I intend to do.
Anywho, back to what we discussed last class: Newspeak, an "ambiguous euphemistic language used chiefly in political propaganda." Newspeak reduces the not only the amount of words spoken/written, but it cuts adjectives, synonyms, and antonyms all together. It reduces the ambiguity and rhetoric of language down to a simple concept rooted in control and the need for thought, well, lack of really. If you don't have the words to question an idea, then how can you even question it?
This current process I'm working with does just that with the novel- it not only reduces, but erases the adjectives altogether. The current rule I'm implementing is that Chapter A effects Chapter B, in a sense that the adjectives- their synonyms and antonyms, accounted for Chapter A, will be the "erased" or "blacked out" words in Chapter B.
In this example, I'm listing the adjectives accounted for in chapter 1, grouping synonymous words together, and showing how often the word itself was used in this chapter. Chapter 2 will then be analyzed and the corresponding pairs of adjectives, synonyms, and antonyms of these words will be erased from the text (and accounted for in this process book). THIS ISN'T FINAL OR CLEANED UP. I just kept listing words as I came upon them in the book, so there are quite a lot of repeats here. I'm also thinking about turning the words most used from each chapter into "Newspeak" words, or at least showing what their new phrasing would be in this process book. For example, small would become "unbig." Ideally, I'd like to create a two part interaction- the physical copy of the original book with genuine ink on paper blackouts and selection of words, as well as this process book which explains the process, explains what's happening in the original copy of the novel.

Also, just realizing this now, but holy hell did I miss THE number one word used most in this chapter- big. In was also paired with Big Brother and in a way, I didn't even question it. Ha ha ha.

more update

Another Object Poster (In the Making)

Here's the current object poster I'm working on. This time I tried "making" my own imagery from some things I scanned. Rather than just photographing an object (which isn't bad, I just wanted to try something new).

I still need to figure out the rest of the text, credits, headlines, etc.

I received my DNA test results

This is a screen grab from the "highlights" of my reports. I received 70 different reports about my ancestry, wellness, traits, and carrier status.

update

Hope each of them make sense to everyone.

Wall Plan

My senior show is on 11/30, and installation begins 11/18. This is what I'm thinking I'd like my space to look like. I've drawn out my plan to scale (1 inch = 1 foot), and certain area lengths can be altered.

Section 1 is the poster I included in my previous entry. The length and width can be adjusted, and it is currently 8 feet tall to mimic the movable walls that will be inside the gallery space. I'm not sure if it should be one continuous piece, or tiled. However, I'm leaning toward tiled to fit into the grid I've created.

Section 2 is a smaller, altered version of the 2D wall project based on a menger sponge, and rearranged based on type.

Section 3 is a chart that shows iterations of fractals in nature. The vertical shelves hold a fern, crystal, and shell. The horizontal shelves show the 1st, 2nd, and 3rd iteration of a menger sponge. The images inside the grid show iterations of my interpretation of each natural object.

Section 4 is a paper sculpture based on a Mosely snowflake (possibly on a pedestal). I'm not sure if this is necessary to include, but I would like to.

tea package

1984

So I am currently working on a ruled based black out (limited vocabulary?) approach to George Orwell's 1984- its one of my favorite books so going at it like this was rough but necessary. Just providing examples currently of this looks like both in it's current messy physical form and also design wise, cleaned up. With the actual book, its harder to keep track of words once blacked out with sharpie, so I've also tried doing this with a high lighter. However, it doesn't have the same effect. The black black outs were much easier to handle in indesign where I could have multiple layers going on at the same time. I'm enjoying the side by side comparison of both the gritty and the crisp. Also, I decided to show both the black marks and the blacked out words themselves, separately. See pictures below. Oh and before I forget to mention, the current rule is black out every third word.

Kinematics

Last year when I went to the #Techstyles exhibition at the MFA one of the dresses that got me interested in 3D printing was the Kinematics Dress by Nervous System.

It is made out of interlocking 3D printed pieces and they have a program on their website where you can create your own model using your own measurements for a custom fit. They also have a similar program for making jewelry. 

Dresses
Jewelry 

More Studies

I've been experimenting with making studies like the ones on the wall, but for the posters I've created myself. To sort of see the difference between the proportions of my posters compared to actual movie posters. Ideally I would like to make these into collages as well. But currently they are only digital rough drafts. 

I'm also still working on some movie posters for objects/non-movies. This time, thinking a little more about the story I am trying to create with the imagery I have taken to use for these. 

backside scan

Here is the backside scanned in of one of works on the wall right now. I thought it looked really interesting.

I've worked on a few more experiments recently. I think I might do more full page ones on 8 1/2 x 11 still but for now I'm working on small note paper. 

Wall Update

So since the wall is a WIP wall, I'd like to think I'm taking advantage of this notion by continuing to explore to possibilities of what I've chose to do. This all started because I liked how the backs of the pages from which I had cut out words looked like. There was something simple and crisp to 11 x 8.5 white sheet of paper with some chunks missing out of it; mostly because I had put a lot of thought into the front side, and the reverse was just a beautiful consequence. Will this phrase work with the other?  Do I like how these words sound with the others? This is how I was approaching the fronts of pages. In terms of the wall, started in the "center" and worked my way out, creating a sort of grid within a grid while simultaneously challenging said grids...? Honestly, I was just exploring and remembering (still am) that sometimes it's ok to just play with your mediums and materials- even if they're the remnants of some bigger project, or scrap pieces of papers. I wish we could keep this wall space all year long because it's been really refreshing to step away from my computer, my essays, my research projects, and just play with some paper, move things around.  Anywho here's what my wall space is looking like right now.

Seminar Work Update / Things I Should've Uploaded Like A Week Ago

As I mentioned in my last post, I had been working with a limited vocabulary approach in relation to the physical content of my exploration of stories. Using the books I had worked with when I was just cutting words and phrases from their respective xeroxed pages, I went in this time and did the physical damage, the unthinkable. Without any sort of rules, really, I tried to create different narratives than what the original words on the pages told. With The Gentleman From Indiana, I tried to create a fluid train of thought and transition. With How To Be Good, it was more about creating short, one pages mini stories- a solid statement per page not with no real connection to the next. Wanting to see the whole without the distraction or relationship to the new narratives' original context, I chose to type out the words and stories I had chose on blank paper. I chose to do this on a typewriter because god knows I would've spent an eternity forcing these words to collide with Helvetica. It would've been less about the words and more about the arbitrary design layout. This was all prior to the first panel review- the new direction of this process will be more rule driven, less oh-hey-I-really-like-how-these-words-are-strung-together-and-they-make-me-think-about-my-dead-cat-and-ex-boyfriend-so-I-should-make-something-out-of-them. Continuing this process with more dogmatic boundaries will still create new stories, but in a much different sort of fashion. Updates on this will be coming soon, but for how, here are a few example of what was I was talking about earlier in this post. 

 

Showcased Interest

The idea came from  Flat x-II-D  Project combined with a link that Justin sent me https://www.grafik.net/category/feature/hot-data ( called Hot Data by Grafik), I decided to go further and use the recording of my subjects, towards my dictation(thesis statement) by forming each subject answers into data .

This is just an experiment, but I think I need to find a better approach in explaining , how one should read the data...

What interested me in each subject question was their waveform. It made me question the subject answer, if it holds truths or if they were uncertain in their answer or rather uncomfortable with the question "Does color matter?".