During Unit1 I often found myself over-extending on my researches. Branching out too much and losing sight of the original focus of the investigations, resulting in overly complex queries that would require an in-depth study each of their own. In Unit 2 I’m planning on setting stricter constraints to funnel any findings I come across and be able to fine-tune them.
“Constraints sharpen the perspective on the process and stimulate play within the limitations.”
Conditional Design Manifesto
Luna Maurer, Edo Paulus, Jonathan Puckey, Roel Wouters
The approach that I will withhold is testing by tensing, which consisted of confronting concepts against their opposites to increase contrast. Though in this case, it will be through expanding and compressing rather than a continuous expansion. Similar to how the body develops muscles. We stretch the muscle until it tears, it’s then the repairing of the fibres that increases the mass and size. This was brought into my 100 Screengrabs project through a continuous process that consisted of downscaling and upscaling images, forcing the software to fill in the missing information.
An example of this exercise of adding by subtracting used in the past could be Erased de Kooning Drawing by Robert Rauschenberg.
Robert Rauschenberg. 1953
When asked about his pitch to de Kooning, Rauschenberg said “I remember that the idea of destruction kept coming into the conversation, and I kept trying to show that it wouldn’t be destruction”. He was highlighting that subtracting was part of the equation which would then lead to a result. The act of erasing the image wasn’t withdrawing information, in any case, it was adding new visual and conceptual values that couldn’t have been gained otherwise.
After seeing the results of the micro-macro-micro-macro sequence on my 100 Screengrabs, I would like to apply this programming approach to other areas of design beyond image-making. Following Sol LeWitt’s artist manifesto: the process will be mechanical, running its own course. I’ll use it for graphic research on socio-political issues, in specific the ones that affect my local community.
Brief:
Parallel Universes of Brixton
Is gentrification the collision of different worlds or do each live in their isolated dimensions?
Mike Urban,
Editor at BrixtonBuzz.com
Attracting developers and investors into an area could potentially bring prosperity, yet members of the community are sceptical about the promised benefits. Does bringing new businesses contribute to the local economic structure? Or do these end up pushing out the existing ones?
Steadman Scott,
cofounder of Afewee Football Academy
The study will seek for junctions between the different business in the area, see if their audiences connect at any point or if they overlap without contact.