Burning Marks

In the end of unit one, I made a work about cigarette mark after doing some experiments. I put some burning cigarettes on butts in some photos. Then I got pictures about burning marks. It is interesting. However, I found that the marks looked better on the opposite side.

I really want to make some works about these marks. After tutorial with David, I tried to find works of Rogen Ackling who made works about burning marks of sunlight. Here are some images of his works 'Voewood'.

He made use of sunlight to make these works. The surfaces of these objects were burned by sunlight. I think they are beautiful. I am doing some works about burning, but burned by cigarettes. Maybe I can burn cigarettes on surfaces of  some beautiful things, which means smoking can destroy some perfect things like health. What kind of these beautiful things? Book? Computer? I need to think about this and do some experiments.

Reference: http://www.inglebygallery.com/index.php



Artsmart in Chelsea

This event is interesting. It seems that every year it will happen. Now I attended this year. It is a great 'show'. There was market where some designers sold their works. Also, there were talks and recruitment fair, which were both nice. I attended the 'Visual Communication' and 'Blurb'. Here are some pictures.

This talk 'Visual Communication' was about finding jobs. How to prepare to find a job. Different ways to promote yourself. It was useful for us, because we are going to graduate. The other talk 'Blurb' was also nice. The speaker introduced the art of self-publishing for self-promotion. She introduced some books to us, they are beautiful. I think this event is great for the students who are going to work in the society.

The Symposium in the course

So, we had done the symposium. I felt nervous, but I finished finally. It was a nice experience.

The main topic of this symposium is ‘I buy to belong’. We should talking something about this and make it relate to our projects. My topic is ‘From Curiosity to Addiction – why to buy, belong to what. I started with a case study – smoking, which was about my project. Then I talked about my thinking about curiosity and addiction in normal buying. I feel curious to want to own goods, then I belong to a member of group to support some designers. It seems that this idea is abstract, but it exists in the society. We don’t realize this sometimes. Maybe it can be understood as someone is a member of LV. He/She has a partiality for products of LV. This situation sometimes can be said as a ‘addiction’. Because the concept is abstract and time is limited, so maybe my presentation is not so successful. However, I enjoy sharing this with others.

My classmates also shared their ideas about ‘I buy to belong’. They also combined this with their projects. For me, I gained a lot of new ideas about ‘I buy to belong’. Actually, I think if we could make our topics combine together, it would be better. Anyway, this symposium is successful.

Addiction

This work is made by Anthony. He said people used this kind of packet to pack cocaine. He chose the beatuiful pictures to be the surface of the packet, which were attracted. Is this packet as a symbol of addiction? Anyway, I found something about the symposium from this work. These little packets inspired me.

That is, what the meaning of addiction? Drug, Cigarettes, Alcole will make people have addiction. However, this is just something make your body want. What about general goods? Can they make us be addicted to? What the meaning of addiction here?  

'I buy to belong' -- Symposium

Now, we are going to have symposium whose topic is ‘I buy to belong’. What is ‘I buy to belong’ mean? It is likely explaining the progress of consuming. How can I combine my project with this topic? Maybe I can think about the progress of people start smoking. At first, people just want to try the feeling of smoking. This is pushed by curiosity of people. If people continued to smoke, they would be addicted to nicotine. The ‘buy’ is because of curiosity? Then belong what? People who continue to smoke belong to smokers. Maybe I can think about this and make it clear.

'Lost' -- Kathy Prendergast

This work was made by Kathy Prendergast. She expunged all places names of North America’s map except names which had the word ‘lost’. It is an emotional work. Maybe you will feel lost when you are looking at this work. Its form and its idea are combined very well. It makes me think about my work—the book I made. What feelings of audience will be when they are looking at my book?

Reference: http://www.englandgallery.com/artist_group.php?mainId=98&media=Prints&_p=1

Women from Antwerp in November -- Chantal Akerman

Finally, I found this video which about Chantal Akerman’s ‘Women from Antwerp in November. This work is about women smoking. The video focused on faces when women smoked. When they were smoking, they were also doing other things. Although the film just had a few minutes, it would made people feel it was not enough. This feeling is just like the addition of smoking. It is a interesting work which can pass emotion to audience.

http://www.artivi.com/encounters/akerman.php#share