MULTIPLEXDESIGN JOURNAL 01_2012

MULTIPLEXP10 Design Journal 01_2012

Published in 2012 by RCA DESIGN PRODUCTS PLATFORM 10 through shopwork.net

platformten2012.wordpress.com

ISBN 978-1-4675-1427-9

If you’re reading this at the W.I.P (Work In Progress) show, you’re slap bang on-top of one of a few relatively neat points that make up a year at the RCA.

However, this journal is an inky, low res, somewhat unsightly smudge left by a furiously licked thumb as it’s been drawn from alpha to beta. A brief compendium of notes, pictures and thoughts made from and during the first half of this year at the academy.

In this time Platform 10 has met weekly for a morning dialogue, which is a central device for the Platform’s learning this year. Sometimes we are joined in our discussion by a guest, who is asked to provide, beforehand, a reading / listening / watching to give us a small introduction or insight into the theme or topic we are to grapple with (for about 3 hours between morning coffee and lunch).

Through this, the students are given the opportunity to sample a range of texts, topics, and perhaps most importantly, rhetoric & discourse. They are then asked to chew, absorb, digest and excrete as they see fit, claiming or disassociating with the ideas as they go, furthering their own working discourse.

So far, this process has been a real treat for us, and we would like to thank our past & future guests for their time, effort, words, pictures and sounds.

***

MULTIPLEX is a year long exploration of the cinematic experience through the re-evaluation of its different elements: space, screen, sound, projection, social interaction, narrative constructions, etc… tackling them, both individually and as groups, developing the different areas and creating pieces of work that would be collated into a single experience.

---

This is an internal document, probably, only useful for our own consumption, but if you manage to siphon anything from it… Fine

HOCKNEY ON ART

INDIANA PHONES

DURING A WORKSHOP WITH NICK FOSTER WE TALKED ABOUT RESEARCHING AND PRESENTING IDEAS WITHIN A CORPORATE ENVIRONMENT, WHERE DESIGN HAS TO BE UNDERSTOOD AND EVALUATED WITHIN THE CONTEXT OF A LARGE COMPANY WITH A GLOBAL MARKET. SMALL INCREMENTAL SHIFTS IN DESIGN HAVE HUGE PRODUCTION RAMIFICATIONS AND FINANCIAL IMPLICATIONS.

Falsetruths.

Too much looking, too much emphasis on presentation of ideas rather than ideas. This is a problem. Our focus on seeing can obscure other key elements of design and since presentation is usually a key stage of developing and presenting ideas, conducting this without a heavy reliance upon images or drawings is hard. Looking is convincing and eliciting, but relying upon looking alone is lazy and can be used deceitfully to mask flaws and lack of insight.

Guessing?

A speculative design object can be a useful tool for embodying and communicating an idea. Drawings, models and pictures are all part of the process of explanation, but they are not the idea itself, this remains as something else.

VERBAL OVERSHADOWING & THE DECLINE EFFECT

“My dialogue will be about ‘looking’. “

This Week’s Reading .mp3http://sharesend.com/t8dx1

“Two main things of interest in this piece are:

1. Verbal overshadowing as a concept in itself and2. The decline effect.”

Nick Foster

COMPLEX CONVERSATIONS BETWEEN A SERIES OF OBJECTS

18 SOUNDS DERIVED FROM 18 GLASSES.EACH SOUND CORRESPONDING TO IT'S IMAGE.

…ALTHOUGH MARVIN LOOKS LIKE HE’S NOT TAKING THIS SESSION TOO SERIOUSLY, I UNDERSTAND HE USED TO EXPERIMENT WITH SITTING AND LYING DOWN IN RECORDINGS TO CHANGE THE SOUND OF HIS VOICE…

WORDS: THE PIEZO ELECTRIC TRANSDUCERUSES THE THE MOLECULAR STRUCTURE OFCRYSTAL TO PICK UP VIBRATIONS AND CONVERTTHEM INTO ELECTRONIC SIGNALS.THESE SIGNALS CAN BE AMPLIFIED, RECORDED(IN THE FORM OF SOUND) OR USEDAS ELECTRICITY.

THINGS: THREE ITEMS ARE ON OFFER EACHPRESENTING A DIFFERENT TRANSLATION FROMTHE PHYSICAL VIBRATIONS INTO ELECTRONICSIGNALS.

SOUND: EVEN SIMPLE AMPLIFICATION OFTHINGS IS A FROM OF ABSTRACTION AND MANIPULATION.THE SOUND IS GREATER THAN ITWHEN NATURALLY OCCURRED.

"ANCIENT LIFE WAS ALL SILENCE. IN THE NINETEENTH CENTURY, WITH THE INVENTION OF THE MACHINE, NOISE WAS BORN. TODAY, NOISE TRIUMPHS AND REIGNS SUPREME OVER THE SENSIBILITY OF MEN."

FROM THE ART OF NOISES LUIGI RUSSOLO

NOISE HAS BECOME ANOTHER ELEMENT OF THE WEATHER, LIKE TEMPERATURE WIND AND PRECIPITATION IT SURROUNDS US AND EFFECTS OUR LIFE. THE NOISE BAROMETER SHOWS NOISE LEVELS IN A GIVEN LOCATION, AS THE DECIBELS INCREASE THE BALLOON EXPANDS.

A DEVICE TO HEAR YOUR VOICE AS OTHERS DO

LISTENING TO THE NEIGHBOURS?

From: James Cadogan Date: 23 January 2012 18:00:13 GMTTo: roberto feoSubject: text

hi roberto

i have been writing for some time, but am no closer to anything that coherent. i think fundamentally there is a question something like this...

If an image is captured through the reflection of natural light into a lens, focusing onto and exposing a film; when the procedure is reversed, and reception turns to projection, does the natural lights substitution to the bulb result in some luminary disconnection?

However i do not think that it is the question itself that i want to answer but rather expand on the subject without answering the question...

and after reading stimson’s text in the cinematic, which suggests that the essay is not in search for a ‘solution’ - but from what i have written so far, they all have the feeling of trying to answer it, rather than discussing it more conceptually and enquiringly.

the question is not important, but its as though by the very nature that there is now a question, i am capable of doing nothing but answering, but if i do away with the question i don’t know where to begin...

best

james

tilt /shift

TECHNIQUES OF REPRODUCTION, COLLAGE, PATTERN AND SERIALISATION ARE NOT JUST SIMULATION, THEN, BUT A DISTINCTIVE FORM OF LABOUR. AND THIS IS TRUE OF SAMPLING IN GENERAL, NOT JUST IN MUSIC. THE PROCESS OF ALIENATING ANY OBJECT OR MOTIF, AND DE-CONTEXTUALISING ITS PRODUCTIVE STRUCTURE, RAISES AWARENESS OF HOW THE DIALECTIC OF PRODUCTION AND CONSUMPTION DETERMINES SOCIO-ECONOMIC POWER RELATIONS WITHIN THE CULTURE INDUSTRY. OTHER ACCOUNTS OF POST-MODERNISM MIGHT CLAIM THE SAMPLE AS AN ACT OF REPRODUCTION THAT DOES NOT PRODUCE SUBJECTIVITY, BUT MERELY SIMULATES IT. HOWEVER, IN THE SAMPLE THE AUTHENTIC EVENT OF PRODUCTION IS DELIBERATELY DISLOCATED TO EXPOSE THE FALLACIES OF ACCUMULATIVE REPRODUCTION IN POST-INDUSTRIAL SOCIETIES, GENERATING A NON-HIERARCHICAL REFLECTION ON TECHNOLOGICALLY-DETERMINED MEANS OF PRODUCTION.

ULRICH LEHMANN

SAMPLING AND THE MATERIALITY OF SOUND

ANY ELEMENTS, NO MATTER WHERE THEY ARE TAKEN FROM, CAN BE USED TO MAKE NEW COMBINATIONS. THE DISCOVERIES OF MODERN POETRY REGARDING THE ANALOGICAL STRUCTURE OF IMAGES DEMONSTRATE THAT WHEN TWO OBJECTS ARE BROUGHT TOGETHER, NO MATTER HOW FAR APART THEIR ORIGINAL CONTEXTS MAY BE, A RELATIONSHIP IS ALWAYS FORMED. RESTRICTING ONESELF TO A PERSONAL ARRANGEMENT OF WORDS IS MERE CONVENTION. THE MUTUAL INTERFERENCE OF TWO WORLDS OF FEELING, OR THE JUXTAPOSITION OF TWO INDEPENDENT EXPRESSIONS, SUPERSEDES THE ORIGINAL ELEMENTS AND PRODUCES A SYNTHETIC ORGANIZATION OF GREATER EFFICACY. ANYTHING CAN BE USED.

GUY DEBORD, GIL J WOLMANNINETEEN FIFTY SIX

A USER’S GUIDE TO DÉ-TOURNEMENT

YOU SEE, MY MULE DON’T LIKE PEOPLE LAUGHING, HE GETS THE CRAZY IDEA YOU’RE ARE LAUGHING AT HIM. NOW IF YOU APOLOGISE LIKE I KNOW YOU’RE GOING TOO, I MIGHT CONVINCE HIM THAT YOU REALLY DIDN’TMEAN IT .....

MY MISTAKE, FOUR COFFINS.

TITLING TITLES:FINDING

A WORKING

TITLE

The traditional application of a title has been to tell the story of the work in a phrase or word. What has been once literal and explicit has evolved, like most parts of the culture, into something more cryptic and poetic. Titles still possesses the same function: to give insight into the purpose, theme and content of work.

This article is both a response and a record of a workshop led by Daniel Charny and Roberto Feo examining titles, mainly in regards to exhibition curation.

The workshop was divided into three tasks; each was subject to discussion and critique from the group.

TASK 1: After recalling examples of titles of films, books and exhibitions, the group was asked to explain the significance in relation to the content of the work. The first task explored the way that titles can be used as a communica-tion tool. A good title links words or phases with the concept of the work, conceptually or literally. The sum of the two parts is greater than the value of the parts alone.

TITLE

CONTENT

++++++++

TASK 2: The group was asked to think of a title and arrange the format of a fictitious show containing either your work or the work of others. The titles were ‘voted’ as the most appealing before the content of the show was revealed by its donor.

Here there was a switch of conventional process: the title before the con-tent rather than the content before the title. By doing this, one sets the tone and mood for a collection. The title becomes a tool for the creator and all the work falls under this declaration. In turn the clarity of concept shaped through this tool transfers to the viewer, producing a more receiv-able and readable show.

This was also an exercise in poetics and marketing. More than ever be-fore, words command much more than their dictionary definition. Con-temporary and past cultural references lie behind any title and it is these that make the more profound connections with the subject matter.

It can be argued that this is a post-modern trait; a title that is one or many steps removed from the physical happenings of the work. The title and the work can only be viewed as one, for the overall concept to be understood. This preys on the curiosity of the public; an invitation to view the second part becomes a possible a marketing ploy. This has evolved to the extent that even an “Untitled” work is in fact a titled work, and posses meaning in the same manner.

........................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................

TITLE

.......................... content

VIEWER

TASK 3: The final task was to curate/design an exhibition of personal work completed this year and chose an appropriate title. The work was the constant factor in this equation, as it had already been completed; the curation and the title were the variables.

Results were varied. The work that had a consistent line of thought arranged around a central theme were perhaps clearest in linking the three factors. However, others with a more varied arrangement of work embraced this eclecticism and produced a title and a show design that celebrated this. Others changed the platform on which we view work entirely. For instance a narrative that may not even have a basis in reality, but still remains complete with content and title.

It may be justified that titles are superficial and unimportant, the ‘don’t judge a book by its cover’ approach. This could be true, however any consistent platform that an artist or curator can communicate with the viewer and convey meaning is valuable given that it seems un-fashionable to supply work with excess information and justification.

It is impossible for one to predict the best result from the two scenarios: title before content or content before title. On the one hand the work can be unrestricted by the natural progression of ideas, but may be hard to control into a ‘viewer friendly’ format. On the other a title/hypothesis provides a thought framework a point for ideas to correlate to.

The aim of the workshop was investigate titles as both a tool for internal project development and as a medium for communication with the viewer.

IN ART THERE ARE NO PROTO-TYPES.

THIS IS RED

THIS IS RED

THIS IS BLUE

THIS IS RED + BLUE

THIS IS RED THIS IS ALSO RED

PEEP SHOW – SERIES 5 EPISODE 1

(SKIP TO 1:35)

JEREMY USBORNE: AND WE MIGHT NEED HAVE TO UNTAPE THE DVD AND VIDEO AND TV AND SKY REMOTES.

MARK CORRIGAN: THE MEGATRON? BUT... NO.

PLATFORM 10 2012

JAMES CADOGANNICHOLAS GARDNERJUNGIN LEEALEXANDRA MIRECKARAFEL OLIVA SERRAJOSEPH PIPALDAFI REIS DOANJAMES SHAWDIANA SIMPSON HERNANDEZKIM THOMEIMME VAN DER HAAK

Platform 10 is led by ROBERTO FEO

with the assistance of STUART BANNOCKS

MULTIPLEX has been designed by PLATFORM 10 2012

Edited by ROBERTO FEO & STUART BANNOCKS

Thanks to JURGEN BEY, DANIEL CHARNY, NICK FOSTER, ULRICH LEHMAN & BENJAMIN NEWLAND for their contributions to the culture of Platform 10

RCA DESIGN PRODUCTS PLATFORM 10

JAMES CADOGANNICHOLAS GARDNER

JUNGIN LEEALEXANDRA MIRECKARAFEL OLIVA SERRA

JOSEPH PIPALDAFI REIS DOANJAMES SHAW

DIANA SIMPSON HERNANDEZKIM THOME

IMME VAN DER HAAK