MI D RE - P VIE OIN W T
Alina Kostiuk
FMP Proposal WHAT: Set of publications THEME: Political and cultural issues HOW: Screenpinted and hand bound
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or my Final Major Project I would like to produce a set of publications based on the book about dictators I did for this unit. Their theme would cover world leaders, different government systems and position of women in politics. Based on a book produced for this unit I would like to carry on with political theme, showing my point of view. I would like to cover todays dictators that obey basic human rights and democracy concentrating on their appearance and finding what they have in common like moustache. One of the books I will make will be about dictators that have no moustache (contrary to the book from this unit). Another book will be about women who rule. Depending on what I find in my research I may divide the publications into countries or continents like the dictators of America, Africa etc. As far as my timetable for FMP I plan to finish my research and choose the themes for my publications by the end of February. In March I will have chosen images that I will use in the books, then I will work on layouts. In April I will produce the images for the publications by screen printing them and end of April beginning of May I will put the books together. To develop what I did for this unit I would also like to redo my dictators book by screen printing the images of dictators not use some ones photos and this is what I will for other publications not use the secondary images but mine (where possible). I have been doing screen prints many times starting from year zero to my exchange in Barcelona where they had full serigraphy studio. On top of that my historical and political knowledge will be based on my research and what I have learnt doing A levels in history. Skills that I will have to develop for this project would be typography and layout design. Intended audience for my publications would be people interested in graphic design and books, other designers who appreciate unconventional books. This year I have been to few book fares (for my research and external positioning) to see how they work and this would be a place I would like see my publications.
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Imperial War Museum To put my head into political issues I decided to visit Imperial War museum to find inspiration for my books and research. I found a lot of interesting posters which were quite funny but covered a serious political situation. Using satire and irony is much more engaging and making people aware of the problem.
Politicians vs dogs Taking my inspiration from satirical posters from II World War I decided to combine humour with politics and this is what came out of it. I compared politicians with dogs that are alike to them. You know how always a dog owner is similar to a dog he has, well this is something similar but I guess working backwards. Maybe it could be a suggestion for politicians of what kind of dog they should have. I started my comparison with Clement Freud, Winston Churchill and Margaret Thatcher.
Amnesty International Appeal to Egypt on Trafalgar Square To get deeper into politics and social affairs on Saturday I went to Trafalgar Square to listen to Amnesty International appeal to Egypt. To my great surprise there were mainly women who represented Amnesty International and spoke to the people. They made me decide that I want to make one of my books about women.
New FMP Proposal
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or my FMP I intend to produce two publications/ books. First about dictators from the past I mean who are dead (based on the book from previous unit). This book will be produced in a form of children’s book but for adults. This will be an educational book for people who don’t remember the history and such people as Stalin or Hitler. This is why I intend to produce it in the form as children’s book because when people don’t have the knowledge they are like children and they need to learn. I am aware of the controversy it might cause but it is my intention. The form of the children’s book has an educational function that is why I believe it will work. As well it is based on the concept of children’s building bricks where they learn shapes by putting them into the wholes provided (ex. a triangular brick goes in to the triangular hole). In this case one will have to fit a moustache to a certain dictator which makes this book interactive there fore more memorable. The idea for this project came from the research I made which showed that very little people recognize Hitler or Stalin which I think is shocking. I believe that people should know their history and its mile stones. If the history is forgotten then it might be repeated and no one wants that. The purpose is to educate people through game/ inter activity and although it might seem shocking at first its aim is to evoke people’s reaction and attention. Historical themes have been often used by artist nowadays. An inspirational example for me is the work by Polish artist Zbirgniew Libera who made a German concentration camp out of Lego bricks. Zbigniew said about his work: ‘my intention was to reflect on rationalism and education’. I think although it is controversial it works well and its form follows function, and evokes reaction. Another artist I discovered through me research is Anselm Kiefer. Kiefer began his career as a photographer with performances in which he mimicked the Nazi salute calling for Germans to remember and to acknowledge the loss to their culture through the mad xenophobia of the Third Reich Later his work became more sculptural and involved not only national identity and collective memory, but also occult symbolism, theology and mysticism. The theme of all the work is the trauma experienced by entire societies, and the continual rebirth and renewal in life. In his work he tells that we would not be who we are without our history, it built us and we have to know where we came from, and what has happened in the history not to repeat its mistakes and evolve. The second book I plan to create is a publication about countries under totalitarian regimes in the world today. Such as Cuba, Belarus, Burma, North Korea, Iran, Zimbabwe, Middle East countries like Egypt, Iraq, Jordan etc. and Maghreb countries: Morocco, Algeria, Libya, Mauritania, Tunisia. My inspiration for this book came from current affairs in the world especially Middle East. I believe that fighting for democracy and freedom is an irreversible process and will come sooner or later for those countries. As we can see from current affairs it is like domino effect and the great example for it are revolutions from 1989 (Autumn of Nations) which started in Poland and spread into other eastern European countries what lead to fall of communism. This book will tell about the dictatorship countries and their way to democracy. It will be like a diary of ‘roads to freedom’. For each country there will be provided space to fill out (by its owner) when and what happened. So the people will be filling the book out when the changes have occurred like in Tunisia and Egypt (so it will be always up to date) and there fore everyone can create history in his book. I hope it will make people aware of political issues and remember the history. Target audience for my publications would be adults interested in politics and current affairs, and those who would like to learn and be up to date. They could be also sold by Amnesty International to raise awareness and support the countries. The money for sold books could be donated to the countries in need.
Zbigniew Libera Concentration Camp 1966 Each box contains a set of bricks, that can be used to build the element of a concentration camp as shown on the box. All elements in the sets as well as those depicted on the boxes have either been taken from the massproduced sets of LEGO bricks, or have been slightly altered by the artist. The prisoners are played by smiling skeletons from the “Pirate” set, while slightly modified figurines from the “Police Station” set appear as tormenters. We also encounter the captain of the camp and the psychopathic doctor, conducting experiments on prisoners. Libera says: “Initially, I was considering building a Soviet gulag, but that didn’t work – it failed to refer to the images I’ve had in my head and did not communicate my ideas. My intention was to reflect on rationalism and education.” In the meantime the work has become an icon and – in various versions – was exhibited in galleries and museum collections across the globe. One of sets was purchased by the Jewish Museum in New York.
Jonathan Barnbrook Political design Researching designer that cover political issues I remembered abut Janathan Barnbrook whose lecture I went to in my first year. Revisiting his work seemed to me more relevant then ever. I think he expresses his views and beliefs in a creative way. He comments on current affairs by putting his views into graphic design what makes his work very strong and personal.
‘ It is always hard to tell what effect you are having, but I am pretty sure you will, you add to the general feeling of something being ‘wrong’. Even if it has no effect, you should still try. Once you stop thinking that you can change the world through your actions it means that ‘they’ have won, ‘they’ being all of those that have a selfish interest in keeping the world as it is and disadvantaging or misleading the rest of us.’ Jamie Reid
Research Current affairs As my project is about what is happening in the world now I am trying to be up to date watching daily news, reading news papers and listening to the radio. Currently my focus is on Libya and current affairs in Middle East. I have a little dairy where I write daily information that I have gathered about the Arab uprisings. This week I have been concentrating on Libya and its current affairs and demonstrations. Watching and reading the news I gathered a lot of research which I edited down to quotes I found the most moving and shocking about Libyan uprising and its dictator Mr Qadaffi. I put them together so they would work as a publication. It is very minimal and clean design which I think works well because it’s pure facts that boost dark corners of our imagination.
What next?