Pointless is Pointless

I recently completed a workshop with Ian anderson (The Designer's Republic)

I was anticipant for the workshop and nervous. I was ready for what Ian had to throw at us.

We were asked to do something pointless for one hour and document this is a way we thought was appropriate. Previous examples included

- cutting grass with nail scissors

-pressing the return key for one hour

-throwing pennies into a ravine for one hour.

Ian explained from the offset that the way we presented the hour was the most important thing. So i first of all had to decide on what it was i was going to do for an hour. I considered; plucking my arm hair out for an hour, cleaning the floor with a cotton bud, unravelling a jumper for an hour etc. unwinding a video tape and winding it back up again.

I decided in the end to sit in the electricity cupboard in my building, and switch a bulb on and off for one hour. I only had a camera and a dictaphone to document this. I also counted the amount of Ons and Offs within the hour. I plugged the extension cable into the plug in the hallway and led the wire into the cupboard. The cupboard was extremely dusty and pitch black when the door was closed. I sat on the floor and taped the bulb to the wall. i began the time and got clicking. The clicks were not rhythmical in any way, my speed was sporadic and often there were pauses where my leg went numb or I had to stop and sneeze.

Naturally, residents of the flat, found a wire leading from the communal plug socket into the electricity cupboard very strange. Therefore i was interrupted a few times, as people potentially thought I was trying to tamper with the electricity meter, To there surprise on opening the door they saw me sat there, camera in hand, bulb taped to the wall, startled some instantly closed the door before i could explain, others found it humorous and one man offered me a cup of tea and began telling me how he often hid in the cupboard and waited for his girlfriend to walk past so he could scare her. After about half an hour things were getting really tedious and the same man came down the stairs to check on me

Man- "how's the hour going?"

Me-'Tedious very Tedious"

Man: "How long you got left now? half and hour, twenty minutes?

Me: 'Half an hour"

Man: 'Enjoy'

Me: 'Thanks'

For the presentation i decided that instead of trying to interpret data i had collect,such as how many clicks a minute etc. I wanted to try and give my audience a sense of what it was like being in the cupboard. It struck me that I was the only one who could see what was going on in the cupboard and outsiders would only have a view of the door, and the sound coming from within. I made a stop motion using the photographs i had taken, and synched these with the sound of the clicking on and off.

I also included within the film, a shot of the outside of the cupboard to portray the outside interest in the project i.e. the man, the film started and ended with the view of outside, and the duration showed visuals from inside the cupboard. The video lasted a torturous 6 minutes and the audeince said that they could definitely imagine what it was like to be there for an hour.

To develop the project I would have liked to try and get more of a sense of being inside a closed space, perhaps if the video was screen in a different environment, maybe re-creating the dimensions of the cupboard, the dust the rubbish etc, then people could truly experience it, whether they would want to is it a different story.

stills from my film;

Martin Creed

I came across Martin Creed, whilst researching and realised that he won the Turner Prize in 2001 for a piece called 'The Lights Turning on and Off.." This piece is basically a room in any given space where the lights are turned on and off repeatedly. Creed is known art, which is seemingly about nothing, I find these kind of characters intriguing, but more so I was amused that when I myself tried to be pointless I ended up with a similar outcome to Creed. I questioned how this reflected on the Turner Prize?Is it all a load of shit? or is there something to be said about doing things for the reason of just wanting to do them, and not considering other peoples opinion, reaction or interest. Creed explained the reason he did the piece was because he felt unsure of things and undecided, he wanted to use the whole room without using any materials, "...there is no one material or shape that I believe in enough to put it together and point to and say ‘look at this’…" I think this is valid, however does this mean my 1 hour task is no longer pointless? no, I think the 'point' comes from the intention, I intended my piece to be pointless, therefore it was. Creed had an intention, this is the difference. My piece had more of a 'point' once I had presented it , the point of trying to share the experience with the group, just as Creed shared his unsure feelings with the public, by presenting this or any idea, something 'pointless' can end up having 'a point'

The Lights going on and off, 2001

Bookshop.

Flux

3 A1 Posters (Cover, Contents, Article), Challenging the traditional magazine format.

Final Journal Map

After experimenting with many different prototypes, I decided on this for my journal 'map'

I wanted to get across my personality as a designer, but also create a useful navigational device to help de-code my journal. The map runs from left to right in chronological order with each of my projects being the central thread. Above and below the project title you can see my influences. These are organised into the following categories; Artists/designers/creative, exhibitions, Lectures, Miscellaneous.

Hopefully the map shows that my influences for each project also affect my year as a whole, as there are many intertwining connections throughout. My journal was bound, with a grey card wrap and embossed belly band. The map lined the inside of the wrap,and the journal could be completely lifted out to allow the user to simultaneously read the map and journal.

Russia Studios

Inspired by the Adrian Shauhgnessy & Tony brook talk and their book, studio culture, I decided to take a photograph of my studio space...

Surrealist Collage.

Final Four book Designs for a series called 'Futureshock'For this cover I wanted to create the feeling of being 'watched' but more than that the idea of being able to watch a persons thoughts. I wanted to get across the drone-like existence reflecting the way the novel strips humans of their right to emotion, rendering them practically robotic. I took influence from the 'caste' system described in the novel and tried to visualise what each would look like as well as refernces to Malthusian drills , the use of 'T' as a crucifix substitute and the sterile nature of the Brave New World. For this cover it was obvious I was going to have to reference the idea of burning books as the central theme of the novel. I wanted to try to do this in a non-obvious way by making the book a part of Montag the protagonist fireman. I wanted to show Montag's mental torment about the burning of books and his concealment of them within his memory. Here the book literally becomes his mind. The front cover displays the mechanical police dog from the novel.

I wanted to take these classic titles and create something intriguing an contemporary. Using predominantly collage I have amalgamated imagery to create surreal visuals to reflect the story inside.

Journal Map So Far...

Alan Fletcher On the Apple Macintosh

Alan Fletcher

The Apple Macintosh

There's no doubt that the Mac is a marvellous machine and an invaluable tool for designers today. I have one in the studio and it's used on a daily basis. Admittedly, I art direct while someone else pushes the buttons. However what's really sinister is that every time you upgrade one bit of software - or hardware - you have to buy another bit to make the bit you just bought work. And so it goes on. It's as if some frightful robot's got you by the throat with one hand whilst his other is rifling through your pockets.

The Colour Photocopier

Before the Euro came into existence and we all had Pesetas and Lire and different European currencies, I was putting together a book, The Art Of Looking Sideways, and I wanted a page of the Dutch bank notes designed by Ooitje Oxenaar. So I went down to the photocopier place to get copies of the notes I'd borrowed from a friend. They came out beautifully - fantastic! I duly returned the bank notes only to find later that I'd left one of the bills out. So I headed down to a local Notting Hill place to do it again with the missing note. The guy seemed a bit dubious about copying money but I assured him it was OK. The copy came out of the machine with all the notes in bright blue. I thought it must be a fault with the machine as the one in Westbourne Grove had done a marvellous job. Turns out the latest machines have technology installed to prevent the photocopying of money. Technology can sometimes seem to conspire against the pursuit of simple (and in this case entirely honest) endeavour!

Wim Crouwel

The Apple Macintosh

Around 1980, at Total Design, we already worked with a design-computer; we got hold of the first Aesthedes, a large Dutch machine with three separate keyboards for type, colour and drawing. We were the first in Holland and how proud we were. In no time we had three of these expensive installations; we almost got broke.

So it was a shock when in 1984 the first Mac came on to the market. A small wondertool, straight from heaven into the hands of graphic designers. It overtook our Aesthedes-robots from the left and right-hand side and made them completely obsolete.

The Apple Macintosh created a revolution in design studios all over the world. Not only because of its possibilities, it opened a whole new horizon in graphic design. It was in fact, after all these centuries, the end of our beloved pencil!

Aesthedes

First Apple-Mac

The journal begins....

New Walls.

Wallpaper can often stay on a wall for a very long time, say 50 years, and within this time ,so much of the space the wallpaper occupies will change. I wanted to try and portray this change.

I wanted to find a way to amalgamate the old with the new. I decided to explore sexuality and try to combine the sexually rigid attitudes of the 40s and 50s, and juxtapose this with the sexually liberal attitudes of today. Asking the question, Has sexual libration gone too far?

I looked in mens magazines of now and returned to women's magazines of the 40s and 50s.

Although there are drastic differences in the way that women are portrayed now and the sexual attitudes and behavior of women is very different. I felt that looking through mens magazines, that some themes hadn't changed in the fact that women were still being objectified and still portrayed as empty-headed but pretty. This may perhaps be the fault of the women themselves, to volunteer themselves to be portrayed in this way, purely to please their predominantly male audience. Either way it seems that dispite a huge shift in society's attitudes about men and women, that some things may never change.

Latest on room

Logoform

Energy Inefficiency

Ident in progress

Paste Up.

I have begun developing Wallpaper visuals based around various different themes.Here are a couple of examples.

Obsessions

In the group discussion, we discussed how the wallpaper could be a projection of self image i.e what makes up us as people. It may be our daily routine, the clothes we wear, our hobbies interests, job, friends, family etc. What things happen behind closed doors? private rituals, personal habits, essential possessions etc.

I discussed how I have an obsession with taking my make-up off, and how before I moved out I used to worry about whether the sink would be okay in my new bathroom ( obviously in retrospect, potentially was suffering minor OCD symptoms) even when in a ridic state of inebriation, still I manage to take it off.

Own Make-up, Make up remover, Cotton Pads.

Old to New.

Wallpaper can often stay on a wall for a very long time, say 50 years, and within this time ,so much of the space the wallpaper occupies will change. I wanted to try and portray this change.

I wanted to find a way to amalgamate the old with the new. I decided to explore sexuality and try to combine the sexually rigid attitudes of the 40s and 5os, and juxtapose this with the sexually liberal attitudes of today. Asking the question, Has sexual libration gone too far?

I looked in mens magazines of now and returned to women's magazines of the 40s and 50s.

Although there are drastic differences in the way that women are portrayed now and the sexual attitudes and behavior of women is very different. I felt that looking through the mens magazines, that some themes hadn't changed in the fact that women were still being objectified and still portrayed as empty-headed but pretty. This may perhaps be the fault of the women themselves, to volunteer themselves to be portrayed in this way, purely to please their predominantly male audience. Either way it seems that dispite a huge shift in society's attitudes about men and women, that some things may never change. This is an idea that I am going pursue in my development of this project.

The Walls Are Talking Exhibition

The Walls Are Talking.

Wallpaper, often discredited as a 'kitsch' and 'unsophisticated' artform, is out of the closet. It perhaps is not even described by most as Art, but rather taken for granted within our everyday backdrop. Yes, ofcourse many a home owner would agree, that much deliberation is taken over choosing just the right pattern for ones home, however even in the home, wallpaper is becoming obsolete and sees its place within the more contemporary environment of the club, bar or restaurant.

Not only can wallpaper be viewed as a decorative feature, but as a representation of a variety of compelling themes: the dark side of the home, domesticity, repetition, symmetry, sexuality, imprisonment etc.

Some thoughts...

Subversion, patterns can make a recognisable image ambiguous in a way that can be playful and disturbing. How can the familiar be made unfamiliar by using juxtaposition and surprising composition?For example, what secrets does the everyday item hold (surrealism) I want to explore ideas of childhood fears and the exploration of how everyday objects can be transformed by the darkness and exploring the mind of a child, who often has freedom from rationale. I enjoyed Francesco Simeti's, Nursery wallpaper, in Victorian times wallpaper was used to teached children valuable lessons. In terms of subversion, would the juxtaposition of childlike imagery become sinister when trying to teach some of life's modern lessons? What would the nursery wallpaper of today look like? Francesco Simeti, Arabian Nights. In Arabian Nights Simeti uses mass media images of weapons, rubble, bombings, and explosions, which then become camouflaged within pleasant decorative wallpaper motifs, altering their original meaning. This raises awareness of the ambiguity of mass media, and the way things are portrayed. Do we teach the children of today lessons in combat?Our surroundings have become so saturated with violence, that it now ceases to effect us, the more we see, the less we are affected.Is television the new wallpaper?

Domestic violence or Good Design?

Abigail Lane comments on this idea of oversaturation, with her 'Bloody Wallpaper', Red marks appear on a white background, which are clearly the result of a violent struggle, Can violence be beautiful?And if so, is it right to use it to decorate? So desensitised are we that when murder is plainly displayed infront of our eyes it fails to shock, Should a new approach be taken , instead of throwing ideas in peoples faces, should we urge them to look harder to reveal the truth with subtle detail and intrigue.

Catherine Bertola, beyond the looking glass, this paper was displayed in a room of its own, and is first seen from a restricted viewpoint, inside the room wallpaper is peeling off the wall and decaying. I like the idea of physically looking behind the wallpaper, just like when you strip wallpaper when you move home, revealing layers upon layers of peoples individual tastes, reflective of different times, eras etc. it is almost eerie to think what has gone before, that we are just borrowers of time and space, that 'owning' a house is only temporary, people have gone before and will follow us after. It would be interesting to analyse a period of time, and explore; Changing attitudes, Values, Styles, Tastes, thoughts, feelings etc. To explore the story behind a building, is wallpaper the new cave drawing? with so many new builds appearing, the experience of living in someone elses shoes is not quite so intense. If the walls actually could talk, what would they say? from `victorian play rooms' to 'student dwellings', wallpaper absorbs and reflect a journey through time.

Sexuality.

Could wallpaper represent a change in sexual attitudes. Society today appear so promiscuous, it is no longer indecent for a woman to be as sexually liberated as a man, But has the sexual liberation gone too far?For both sexes. Is is the fault of an over-saturation of the topic, that provokes us to keep asking for more? Once it was the sole aim in a young woman's life to get married, now it's all up for grabs; marriage, career, children, sex, social life, disposable income...does the traditional marriage no longer appeal to the modern day man or woman. The way our lives are structured, is it still realistic to ask for a lifetime of monogamy?With peoples expectations so high, should the structure of our lifetime be modified?Treated as a series of events or chapters, would this prevent the feeling of imprisonment that some feel in later life?How could the transition from traditional to modern attitudes be shown.

A note must be made about Damien Hirst's, Pharmacy, from afar his paper is seen as a beautiful pattern, and changes with each frame of reference, On closer inspection the wallpaper displays cocktail of medication, grouped with captions from biblical reference, perhaps the ultimate combination of old and new, How can the transition into the modern world be represented within my own work? Lisa Hecht, Chain link fence. Hecht has shown literal imprisonment with her paper, the exhibition states that often our homes are points of comfort and calming, however for many the home can be a prison, peopled trapped within their own lives. I am interested in the exploration of how a pattern picked post honeymoon, could stay in a house for over 50 years, what once represented happiness, could now remind of time past and lost, or a reminder of ones own confinement.I am fasicnated by the journey of peoples lives, and how they got to be how/where and who they are. You meet people in their present, and it is only after peeling back the exterior that you find out their past and maybe become part of their future.

Just as over time our attitudes change towards people, so do they about our surroundings. Some people are moving and constantly changing their environments, whilst many have perhaps lived in the same surroundings since childhood. Some strive for the wallpaper of life to be ever-changing whilst others may never re-decorate, clinging onto familiarity and nostalgia.

As a designer it is a generalisation that we have an eye for detail and perhaps notice certain things which others may not, however not long ago my dad was questioning whether or not to re-decorate the hallway. I havn't lived there for two ears, but visit occasionally, I replied with 'No, I like that green and gold wallpaper" he then said the wall has been a varying shade of cream for four years. Observant? I think not. But perhaps for me the image of my house has been frozen within a space of time, perhaps when I was happiest there. The way I want to remember it has been crystallised in my memory. How will I feel abut the house in ten year?WIs it possible to represent and preserve memories within wallpaper, wallpaper as a journal or photo album perhaps. What if we put these trapped memories back into their original context?Does this modify our memory or simply enhance?

When young it seems as though one moves with the times, fresh and cutting edge, at what point (hopefully never) do we 'stand still', become fixed, and gradually notice the world passing us by.

NM

Other artists featured in the exhibition include Andy Warhol, Sonia Boyce, David Shrigley and Peter Saville

Timorous Beasties, London.

http://www.whitworth.manchester.ac.uk/whatson/exhibitions/wallsaretalking/

http://www.timorousbeasties.com/products/Wallpapers/Toile%20Wallpaper/

The National Portrait Gallery: Beatles to Bowie

Some postcards from the exhibition.

The 60s exposed. exploring the leading pop music personalities who helped create 'Swinging London' in the 1960s. The Shadows, The John Barry Seven, Cliff richard, Adam Faith, Billy Fury, The Kinks ,The Who, The Rolling Stones, The Beatles, David Bowie.

Showcasing top photographers of the time: David Bailey, Gered Mankowitz, Robert Whitaker.

From pure pop, through psychedelia and the birth of progressive music, Beatles to Bowie explores the dramatic developments of pop music and culture, and their lasting impact that continues to live in the memory today.

I found the nostalgic nature of the photographs very beautiful and I enjoyed looking and admiring the earlier portraits of artists such as Cliff Richard and David Bowie, before they had grown into the infamous personas we know today.

I especially enjoyed the memorabilia, around the photograph, rather than the photographs themselves. Magazines, fanzines, record sleeves, collectables, merchandise etc. There appeared covers and articles from 'Fabulous' magazine, Sunday newspaper coverage. here is an interesting excerpt from one of them.

"I'm not a well adjusted person. I've spent too long philosophising. Sometimes I feel I was never a teenager just an old man. I've already had most of the experiences that I'm likely to go through in the next 4o years." -David Bowie.

Article from girls magazine:

"David left school at sixteen having passed his O-levels and 3 A-levels (keep going you lot) since David started composing he has penned between 60-70 numbers, he only thinks ten of them are any good. Modesty! He has also recorded a few himself ' The laughing Gnome' and 'Love you 'til Tuesday' But alas none have made a chart impression, Not that that worries him, he makes enough money by his song writing and admits that he hardly makes a thing by his voice (very honest is our David)"

I felt that these pieces of ephemera helped to place the exhibition in context, It is impossible to image a time when these names were not famous, but it is refreshing to see their road to success, and the hard work they had to put in to get where they are now. with so many overnight celebrities today, it is good to remember how hard it used to be to make it. Perhaps a reason why these have stood the test of time.