Monthly Archives: October 2018

Entangled Media Assessment 4: Reflection

Our artefact is a combination of real-life and digital objects. The dinner table decorated with food and Halloween props implies fear that comes with eating. The skeleton, which was later replaced with a witch, seated on one end of the table represents the rejection of eating, hence the plates are empty. There are speakers underneath the table which plays an audio file of choking, chewing and other sounds are made to make the participant uncomfortable. Also, a video is projected onto the wall, this is done to complete the set of a dining room and immerse the visitors in the work. All of this is done to illustrate how one with an eating disorder experiences eating at the dinner table. We want the visitors to be a part of the set instead of just viewing it at a distance, thus we invite them to take a seat at the table and look around the table, and perhaps take a few photos of the set.

In this piece, we attempted to incorporate multiple types of media as well as a physical set into one coherent artefact. My idea of superstition and fear is seen more clearly in this project with the Halloween themed decorations, it “[threads its] own path through the meshwork” and stumbles upon the idea of body image, resulting in “knots in a tissue of knots” (Ingold 2011). This can be seen also in blurring the line between the physical space and digital media.

 

The main considerations for the media we used were regarding the method of presenting in a physical space. For example, when making the video which is meant to be projected onto the wall, I had to study the angle and perspective which looks the most natural, I also chose a photo-video composite so that the loop of the video is seamless. Without a prior visit to the exhibition space, these restrictions would not have been taken into account. Similarly, the audio file which plays underneath the table was spaced out and placed on a loop, this way, two minutes turned into ten minutes.

In our previous assignment, we used Instagram as a platform to discuss the issue of eating disorders. I was inspired by the recent trend of ‘Instagram museums’ where people pay more attention to the art installations because they could take photos of themselves in the set. As such, the idea of building a ‘photo-worthy’ set and encouraging visitors to take photos of it and post it with our hashtag reinforces our last assignment. The dinner table, as well as the projected background, is made to invite visitors to become part of the set. While seated, they are then free to engage with the pieces of media we have placed in that space.

In contrast to previous assignment, we spent more time envisioning what the set looks like and the ways we want to engage the visitors. The preparations for the set were done without any issues. Since we sought to use equipment that was readily available at the exhibition space like tables and chairs. At one point, we changed our ideas from a more empty table to one filled with Halloween decorations. This is due to Halloween coming up and that more Halloween decorations were available to us.

In this exhibition, we were able to get a lot of attention from people coming in, since the decorations of the table were intriguing to most visitors. The card game was able to hint to the idea of our artefact since it was not explicitly explained in our set. Although the intention was for the visitors to take a seat at one end of the table since the cards were scattered around the table, most visitors did not sit down, instead chose it engaged with it from the front so they can take a look over the set as a whole and read the cards. The video which played in the background also did not feel as natural as part of the set, it would be better if the scene was at night. Furthermore, the lighting in the room made it difficult to make convey the darker tone of our exhibit. The exhibition space did not have the option to make our section of the room dim. In the future, a better examination of the lighting capabilities is recommended.

The most immediate question that arose from the exhibition is how to get people to fully engage with the work as we intended. Although we had a sign instructing people to take a seat, not many people did, and I believe there are many factors for this. One of which is the fear of the unknown, since people did not know what to expect after sitting down and thus chose to either look at our table from the front or to pass it entirely. We also need to take into account of the kind of mood people are in, since some did not want to be immersed in the work for which they know nothing about. It would seem that a better way of introducing someone to the work would ameliorate this, such as the use of a blurb next to the work detailing and explaining what it is. Also, I would like to learn about the ways to tackle topics which would be considered confronting to some people. When presenting a topic like eating disorders, a degree of care is needed, perhaps in the form of a warning. For this artefact, our topic of eating disorders are not immediately evident, it is coated by our Halloween decorations, audio and video. As such, when we explained the intentions of our artefact, some people were surprised by it. I believe that placing a warning near the artefact or in the blurb would help. Without being told explicitly or reading the cards we had on the table, most people would not discern the topic at hand. In future work, we need to consider more ways to convey our idea to the visitors in case they did not engage with the work as we intended. Another inquiry I had was the issue of cohesion within this artefact. Since this was a group assignment, and each member had their own tasks to do, it was required to create an artefact that felt unified. One of the issues was in terms of sound, the witch doll can be turned on and makes a sound when activated by sound. This in term clashes with the audio file being played underneath the table. In the end, we decided to turn off the doll to accentuate the audio file. In the future, I wish to experiment with the features of each prop and its purpose in the set as a whole.

At the Eavesdropping exhibition, space is filled with different art installations that are scattered across the rooms not just along the walls. There are always artworks filling up empty parts of the exhibition. With our artefact, we required a wall as a background for our set. The wall is also used as a way to instruct them on how to engage with our work. Their way to guide the visitors is through a blurb next to every piece detailing the title, the creators, the nature of the work and a description. Since we did not have this, it led to some confusion as to the nature of our artefact and what it is about. Going by purely the instruction of “take a seat” and a hashtag seems insufficient for visitors to engage with the work as we intended.
In terms of movement inside the exhibition space, at the Eavesdropping exhibition, there is not a guided direction. After entering the floor, the visitors are given the option to explore different rooms. In a similar way, in our exhibition, there were not a forced direction visitors are forced to take, they are free to move around the space as they wish. However, there are subtle trends I noticed in terms of the movement people tend to have in our space. After entering, visitors tend to notice our artefact first and observes it, following that they then view the rest of the art pieces. This is due to our set being directly visible from the entrance, it was not hidden behind a pillar, and was fairly well lit.
Another aspect I noticed at the Eavesdropping exhibition was the crossover of sound there. Since the rooms were open, there is sound travel from one of the screening rooms. As a result of that, the art pieces nearest to that which requires sound offers headphones to isolate the sound travel. With our exhibition, there is not much crossover in terms of sound. Apart from our audio that plays, other group’s artefact either had no audio component or had headphones installed. Other crossovers in the form of themes were not apparent, apart from being placed between two other art pieces which utilise water as a central theme.
Lastly, one of the art pieces featured at the Eavesdropping exhibition was a collection of earpieces attached to the wall which plays an audio. The way the creator of that work builds the audio into space informs our placement of the Bluetooth speaker being hidden underneath the table. This simulates sounds coming from the witch doll.

My ideas of entanglement after completing the first reading was that nothing exists in isolation, an organism is just a part of a larger meshwork, and as it progresses, it contributes to the overall idea. My first small project attempts to grasp this idea within a single blog post. Texts, photos, videos and drawings were placed on the page, hoping to fulfil the use of at least two types of media forms. Looking back at that blog post now, while it achieved its purpose, the different media types are able to stand on its own, connected by the text to form a journal of my thought process. As such, in my second assignment, I attempted to combine all types of media into a single video, attempting to create cohesion in the project. As I later reflected, I recall myself not being challenged by the task, this is due to me using a familiar process of creation. In attempting to make sense of the mess that is superstitions, I find myself reverting to accustomed methods. Law discusses this in his piece that in order “to think about the messes of reality” we must “teach ourselves to think, to practice, to relate, and to know in new ways (Law, 2004, p.1).” However, it is the third and fourth assignment which altered my idea of entanglement the most. As the members gather and our ideas clash, we were able to see how our ideas from each other came together. The format we took was that of an Instagram page, and each member was tasked to create 3 smaller pieces of media. It was during that time when the reading on digital storytelling was given to us, giving insight to the idea of “microcontent” (Alexander, 2011, p.30). During this assignment, I ventured to create a motion graphic animation as well a poster. Although the various pieces of media exist in separate tabs and panels, they work together to achieve our aim. And that’s when I realised the change in my approach: instead of trying to entangle different media form in order to communicate my ideas, we entangled our ideas and used media as a vehicle to convey it. Coming into this semester, I assumed that we would be incorporating different types of media forms (and we did), but I understood that the ideas can equally be entangled to form a more complex and intricate concept.

 

List of References:

Alexander, B (2011) “The Next Wave of Digital Storytelling Platforms.” The New Digital Storytelling: Creative Narratives with New Media. ABC-CLIO, LLC: 29–43.

Ingold, T (2011) ‘Rethinking the animate, reanimating thought’, Being Alive: Essays on movement, knowledge and description Routlege: London, New York, pp.67-75.

Law, J (2004) After method: Mess in social science research Routledge: Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon pp.1-2.