Kartika Sakthivel - Documentation Book by Art in Transit

An A nA Art rt in in Transit Transit Journey Journey

out of station KARTHIKA K ARTHIKA S SAKTHIVEL AKTHIVEL

Documentation D ocumentation B Book ook D DMA MA | B B.Cr.A .Cr.A

Project Guides AMITABH KUMAR SANDEEP ASHWATH SAI MULPURU SUJATA RAMESH

out of station Since 2017

Karthika Sakthivel Documentation Book B. Cr A | DMA Semester 8

An Art in Transit Journey

Copyrights 2016-2017 Student Document Publication (for private circulation only) All Rights Reserved Final Thesis Project (Undergraduate Professional Programme) Srishti Institute of Art, Design and Technology Bangalore 560064 Karnataka No part of this document will be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronically or mechanically, including photocopying, scanning, photography and video recording without written permission from the publishers and Srishti Institute of Art, Design and Technology, Bangalore. Written, edited and designed by Karthika Sakthivel Printed @ KolorKode, Bangalore

INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY AND PLAGIARISM STATEMENT I, KARTHIKA SAKTHIVEL, hereby declare that the content of this student documentation and final design/artwork submission is my own original work and has not been plagiarised in full or part from previously published/designed/manufactured material or does not even contain substantial propositions of content which have been accepted for an award of any other degree or diploma of any other educational institution, except where due acknowledgement is made in this thesis project. I also declare that the intellectual content of this Thesis Project is my own original work, except to the extent that assistance from others in the projectâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s design and conception or in style and presentation is acknowledged and that this thesis project (or part of it) will not be submitted as assessed work in any other academic course. COPYRIGHT STATEMENT I, KARTHIKA SAKTHIVEL, hereby grant Srishti Institute of Art, Design and Technology the right to archive and to make available my Thesis Project in whole or in part in the instituteâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s databank and website, and for non-commercial use in all forms of media, now and hereafter known, subject to the provisions of the Copyright Act.

Name : Signature: Date:

t e g r fo o t e w y s a e ay s ' w t d l r o e "I w th e that nate th ee it." s i li lum how we ts ) c e 4 f f 1 a 0 2 h ic r o (Z

Special Thanks to

Project Guides

Metro Staff

Family

Mr. Amitabh Kumar

Mr. Dhoke

Kalpana Sakthivel

Dr. Sandeep Ashwath

Mr. Vasant Rao

Yamini Sundararajan

Mr. Sai Mulpuru

Mr. Pradeep (SC)

Priyanka Sundararajan

Security Personnel

Radhika Deivendran

Srishti Faculty

Ms. Arzu Mistry

VITM Curator

Vignesh Deivendran

Mr. Ajai Narendran

Mr. Madan Gopal

Kirthima Vignesh

Mr. Sharath Chandra

Fabricators

Mr. Sakthivel Pavalam

Mr. Abhiyaan

Mr. Ratan

Friends

Ms. Sujata Ramesh

Mr. Shikhar

Aparna Hegde

Mr. David

Mr. Ramachandra

Rujuta Muley

GPO Authorities

Art in Transit Team

Dr. Shivaram

Siddhanth Shetty

Mr. Ajit

Mr. Thimoji Rao

Yash

Mr. Raysamsmart

BSNL Authorities

Shail Suneja

Mr. A. Kanikadas

Mohammad

Mr. Krishnamurthy Mr.Thomas

Ms. Dhamayanthi Neralu Team

Mr. Selvan Varsha

This project is facilitated by Art in Transit in partnership with the Namma Metro and multiple city artists and arts organizations. Art in Transit is a public art project facilitated by the Srishti Institute of Art, Design & Technology, Bangalore, in partnership with the Bangalore Metro Rail Corporation. http://www.artintransitbangalore.com/about.html

Contents

01 02 03 04 05 06

Prologue Part 1 Part 2 Part 3 Part 4 Epilogue

18 33 63 103 181 199

Prologue Prior Experience Brief Thematic Interest

18 23 24

Prior Experience

Turning Point

fter working with Art in Transit a few years ago, I came to realize that I have a strong inclination to work with spaces and that I have an innate need to connect with people through interactive pieces. In my projection based walkpiece: Namma Mane, Namma Metro at the Peenya Metro Station, Bangalore, I addressed the issues of urbanization and relocation and its impact on the livelihoods of people. Several unexpected themes emerged during my research so much so that I want to continue traveling deeper into the layers of meaning behind spaces, peeling it away to reveal hidden treasures. This is what drives me to pursue a similarly challenging project.

believe being from a multidisciplinary background aids fusion and generation of new means of narrating/displaying work. Having done photography, public art, community and creative art practices, installation and video art, my creative methods and approach are shaped by several other defined processes. During my time with Art In Transit I am looking forward to further exploring the possibilities of fusion of media, people and issues, seeking active participation from an individual or a group of individuals.

Poseidora

A 1 minute stopmotion animation made in 48 hours, looped for projection upon the tunnel walls of the underground metro station of Cubbon Park, Bangalore.

Weird Fiction, Festival Of Stories 2016 | Art In Transit

An Artist Collaboration Aparna Hegde | Karthika Sakthivel | Natasha Ranganath | Shraddha Tiwari

Lenses I initially approached the project through the these lenses.

Potential Domains MAPPING (Impact of scale) Public Space Involvement Events Showcasing Stories Embracing culture, history and heritage Contemporary/urban monument Time travel/transportation/dimension

Brief The Garden City. The Silicon City. The Smart City. The Pensioners Paradise. The Exploding City. The Garbage City. The Exclusive City. The World Class City. The Pub City. The Young City. The City of Traffic Jams. The Fastest Growing City. There is an experience of what Bangalore was/is today that predicates a multi layered imagination of what Bangalore can be. Bangalore is an example of “the city”, the nature of which is being brought into question worldwide. The Art in Transit project looks at the nature of this “city” through the Metro Rail Transit System. It inquires how experience, memory and fantasy invent the city and also allows for it’s reimagining. The metro within this metropolis is a semi-public space that offers opportunities for congregation and social networks. It is here that a diversity of people come together with a common purpose of getting from one point to another. The Art in Transit Collective is interested in a trans-disciplinary framework that engages through art and design practices with the ‘metro’ as a symbol of a changing city.

Thematic Interest About a hundred kilometers south west of Paris lay the city of Orléans. A quiet, peaceful town built around the most magnificent Ste-Croix Cathedrale. This brilliant structure looms majestically over the people of Orléans and that of the neighbouring regions as they gather before its façade for the annual Fêtes de Jeanne d'Arc. I was privileged enough to be there during this festival that celebrates the liberation of the city by Joan of Arc during the Hundred Years War. One specific event that takes place during this celebration is the screening of a video upon the frontage of the cathedral. This sound and light spectacle uses projectionmapping technology to tell the story of Jeanne d’Arc, almost playing out the scenes depicted on the stained glass windows that line the sanctum. The story remains the same yet the means to access it is different, layering it further with artists’ representations and depictions. Every year this magical performance draws quite a large crowd to the central space outside of the monument, engaging the public and thus encouraging mass dialogue. Having stood through history, this cathedral has served several functions over time but the role this monument takes on today is what makes it an urban monument. In the future the children of today will be likely to associate the space with the communal act of replaying the past and commemorating it together. This sort of large-scale engagement between the public and the history of the space is not specific only to this city; as a matter of fact several monuments around the world have lent their facades to being representative living screens.

Fête de Jeanne d’arc 2016 Orléans Cathedrale, France

Film still from Swadesh (2004)

Rekindling the Lamp

e Indians love a good show. A look into India’s rich storytelling background is testament to this. However, the golden glow of the lamp that projects shadow puppets upon planes is diminishing. The grandmothers’saris and uncles’ dhotis stretched white across wooden posts forming tactile surfaces for community film screenings are now fading black. The essence that had managed to survive the shift from analog to digital is now all of a sudden grappling to stay alive. What has led to their demise? What has happened to the opulent art of bringing our history to life?

Community Theatre To “re-establish a proper connection between culture and community” (Projection Mapping the Past Project)

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Thesis Paper Notes

hile studying pieces such as cave paintings reveals the nature of the time period our early ancestors belonged to, when taken out of the original spatial context these images lose their depth and dynamism. Zach Zorich in his article Early Humans Made Animated Art explains “How Paleolithic artists used fire to set the world’s oldest art in motion” This rather important aspect of storytelling is something we don’t get to experience, because somehow not much importance is given to understanding and maintaining the ‘staging’ (Zorich 2014)

“ The act, process, or result of imparting life, interest, spirit, motion, or activity” is known as Animation. “moving animation away from flatness and into real space” “Continually renewed spectacle from works of art” POLLINATION Sakthivel, Karthika 2016 “A Guardian’s Guide to Animating Spaces”

According to me an urban monument is that which looks to the future whilst acknowledging its foundation. I have come to believe that there are three key features to any such monument and they are:* Preservation * Revival * Restoration

Modern Monument

odern monuments “tend to be conceived and promoted - as Beacons of Regeneration, Icons of Change or Markers of a New” (Parkyn 2000, 102) this makes them vital driving forces of an all round progressive society. By building upon each other, they develop. Their makers take into consideration both the past as well as the future in order to conceive of an edifice that size and uniqueness apart, hits home. (103) Parkyn (2000) has articulated the purpose and nature of a modern monument in the following quotation: But the ultimate modern monument serves no purpose at all, or at least not one which can be defended on the grounds of strict functionality, such as the need to span a river or keep valuable pictures dry. It exists to entertain, with a tried and- tested combination of suspense, surprise and the good old fashioned ‘Wow!’ factor. (102) “It’s easy to forget that the way we illuminate the world affects how we see it.” (Zorich 2014)

Part 1 Immersion Site

35 60

Immersion

he Immersion period lasted two weeks. Multiple exercises were given during this period to break the ice and seamlessly enter the making space.

PROCESS Mode of exploring and developing frames through tactile engagement from the very beginning . Iterate through making and develop a practice of working in the context of live spaces.

make make make make make make make make make make make make make make make make make make make make make make make make make make make make make make make make make make make make make make make make make make make make make make make make make make make make make make make make make make make make make make make make make make make make make make make make make make make make make make make make make make make make make make make make make make make make make make make make make make

make make make make make make make make make make make make make make make make make make make make make make make make make make make make make make make make make make make make make make make make make make make make make make make make make make make make make make make make make make make make make make make make make make make make make make make make make make make make make make make make make make make make Process of making. Research through practice â&#x20AC;&#x201C; practice by making. Respond through materiality.

Visceral Quality Reading History Lesson – Arthur C Clarke Sacred Treasures (Sacred though their meaning had been lost) : “ No one understood the treasures now. They were from a past too distant for the understanding of any man alive” >> Man’s innate need to preserve !! TIME CAPSULE Spirit Vs Narrative << An object can exist without its context. This artifact can transcend time, shed all its baggage, lose its primary intent and purpose, yet exist. It possesses a certain quality that speaks, irrespective of its situation.>> What is this quality?

Visceral!

Spirit Make anything that is visceral, something that captures/ incites feeling. Something that has a spirit of it’s own What do I make that can exist even when context is stripped off ? Playing with the idea of screens – challenging conventional notions of screens. What happens when we project on a reflective surface?

STATIC - Aluminium Foil Can your artwork incite feeling without explanations?

Set up (staging) : Theatre like, watching tv - static

Bird Watching Sky, feathers, beak, eye – various textures stand out Projecting static image, yet dynamic – appears 3D -‘Wow factor’

Soundscape

2) 10 min radius walk in pairs from Cubbon Park. Switch routes and gather sounds. Re-imagine space as soundscape. Everything sounded almost like a call, Recurring HELLO? HELLO?(Lawyers) HELLO? (Squirrel) HELLO? (Bird)

Data Collection with Sai

3) Exchange soundscapes, forget Cubbon Park, Visualize/Re imagine space, respond to sound piece TANYA SINGHâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;S PIECE

Uneven dishes clink and scrape as pumice stones exfoliate A swimming boat accumulates dancing light to rehydrate shards of a river that coagulates (Textual Response)

Poetic Response Crystallization How to crystallize water? Material Exploration – to capture quality as mentioned in text NORIHIKO TERAYAMA : Natural Ruler SASH SIKES PIA Wüstenberg Epoxy Resin – Casting – Form of preservation

Araldite Clear

STATIC- Illusion of movement This could be a stopmotion set for water scenes.

Dynamic Static

4) Push the visualization forward (Post feeback) The tableau nature of the piece is problematic and is too literal a representation. Using text as anchor : Expand

Scenarios Scenarios : References: SOPHIA COLLIER TONY FEHER LISA CAHILL SHAYNA LEIB MILES VAN RENSSELAER BAPTISTE DEBOMBOURG LISA KELLNER CHRISPIAN HEATH CRAIG KAUFFMAN

CD's Broken CDs “A swimming boat accumulates dancing light” Refection, Texture, Light

4466

Sugar Glass SUGAR GLASS : White sugar, water, lemon, blue food coloring [ Recipe : earthwulf (youtube) ]

Frame of Reference Alice in Wonderland, to recreate sense of place References: GHISLAINE VINAS MIN JEONG SEO D & G FALL 2016 â&#x20AC;&#x201C; Botanical Garden SLEAZE BURGER in PARADISE EUROPERAS

Sugar glass A magazine collage

5 Erasure 5) @ Dhanvantri Reading : Public Art and the Space – Stefan Gaie Tilted Arc – Richard Serra Humanizing Space “What is the difference between space and place?” (YIFU-TUAN) Place: Humanized Space ARTIST POSITION (to throw open processes) MEDIATOR FACILITATOR SCULPTOR INVADER CHOREOGRAPHER Permanence and Impermanence Public place art is built on privilege, value and respect Collective Ownership “You are also part of the public” Ownership Vs Authorship Image Maker | Viewer | Owner

1st wall painting experience. Hissssstory ( Someone took the effort of wrapping a dead rat in newspaper before throwing it at us) Group collectively decided not to work in this space. “No feel”

"I made this"

"This is Mine"

Minsk Square, Bangalore

Bangalore Square, Minsk

Coolant 6) Erase existing structure at Minsk Square and imagine an intervention in its place. At present a coolant/chiller plant sits upon Mink Square, a spot that earlier housed the aircraft HAL Ajeet and the ‘Unknown Soldier’ both of which have been displaced and relocated during the metro construction and eventually replaced by the LCA Tejas. Town Twinning Bangalore and Minsk are sister cities. Minsk Square was named after the capital of Belarus – Minsk. Similarly Minsk has a square named ‘Bangalore Square’ where public protests and traditional annual rallies are organized by Belarusian opposition. Apart from this usual activities include strolling and dog walking. Msm – minsk square matters Exchange Relationship : Economy, Trade, Education, Cultural Info, Technology Relocation and Replacement Exploring the ‘Twinning’ and ‘Exchange’ between Bangalore and Minsk Exploding the circle that currently exists into interactive rotating fixtures that boast of realtime remote camera control. Minsk will have a similar structure thus facilitating direct interaction with sister city 3D Dichroic Film Gallery Mirror Circle example

Jugalbandhi

7) Drupad Music session. Process and Time. Structure (Existing framework/material) + Improv Jugalbandhi – Choose a theme. Back and forth. Dialogue between practice and reflection. “emerging third element” Working with Nandita Ratan Pampering? Vanity? Luxury? Siren Call : The enticing appeal of something alluring but potentially dangerous” Mermaid’s song Pied Piper and his flute Snow White’s apple Red button Illusion Fire Moths to a flame Web Reference to Lady of Shalott by Alfred Lord Tennyson “A charmed web she weaves away”, “Out flew the web and floated wide” Experience: Dark room, one light (backlight), running fan (wind +whirr), larger than life web, larger shadows. One person at a time Alluring : Light and Shadow Potentially dangerous : Larger than life, scale, absence of spider Material : Fish wire and hot glue

Nandita Ratan’s representations

Giant Web 56

Why "Why?"?

he process of making without dwelling far too long on the ‘why’ really gave me an opportunity to try out things I normally would have dismissed as a result of questioning it too much. It led to interesting discoveries and countless ‘wow’ moments. I believe this instinctive approach is a good way to start any process, keeping the excitement alive.

Site

he Art in Transit Project is site specific, located at and around the Cubbon Park Metro Station. The Station has large underground areas and multiple above ground entrances. By the nature of their location , Cubbon Park Metro Station is the access point to places of social, economical, historical and cultural interaction be it MG Road, Shivajinagar, Cunningham Road, Cubbon Park, Chinnaswamy Stadium, NGMA and the various other museums and shopping districts in the area. The station offers varied social, economical, political, historical, locomotive and cultural points of entry to the center of Bangalore City. During our first official site visit we were urged to respond to site the same way we approached the immersion exercises â&#x20AC;&#x201C; instinctively. While on the walk, several spots within and around the station caught my attention almost immediately.

Part 2 Cyanotype Picnic The Compendium Weighing Machine

69 84 92

Interventions (Festival 1) The Festival of Stories was a platform that offered an opportunity with a real time deadline to create work.

Glow in the dark : Radium paint – charges on uv light. If we could re string dry leaves coated in glow paint onto the tree, it would provide shade during the day and light at night having charged through the day. - Magical Can buildings and trees coexist?

Neralu Tree

New Mythologies (around trees) : The Compendium of Common Flora Vol V – An illustrated botanical manual written by Aparna Hegde and Karthika Sakthivel Projecting on Trees – Need darkness, footfall at night? Park closes, Ecological? Bringing electricity into the park…

Within the Festival of Stories framework, Neralu* Tree Festival 2017 (18th and 19th Feb) : Crowd funded Citizen Initiative Experience of shade, Celebrate trees everyday. BRIEF: Event based, under the tree activities, multilingual, participatory, low cost, ecologically sound. Challenge : Minimize print(paper) based artwork Opportunities for interventions :

ree Festival

Tree Walks Audio Interaction Wood wide web (www) â&#x20AC;&#x201C; Theory about how trees communicate with one another under the ground with their roots

In the spirit of making we quickly came up with ideas for interventions and jumped right into action.

Things Needed

Cyanotype Picnic

arge scale cyanotype : picnic in the park Light and Shade Participatory â&#x20AC;&#x201C; activity-event Tangible memory making Act of preservation Imprint TECHNIQUE @alternativephotography.com 1) Mixing Chemicals :- Potassium Ferricyanide and Ferric Ammonium Citrate 2) Canvas :- Pick any naturally absorbant material, coat and dry in the dark 3) Printing :- Objects or negatives are placed on material to make a print. The cyanotype is printed using UV light. 4) Processing and Drying:- Rinse in water to fix image Soln A 25 g Ferric Ammonium Citrate + 100 ml Distilled water +(Equal parts) Soln B 10 g Potassium Ferricyanide + 100 ml Distilled Water Converting spare room and bathroom into darkrooms. 1st tries â&#x20AC;&#x201C; EPIC FAILURES

I ended up creating an ‘Anti Cyanotype’ and disappearing prints.

WHY?? I was numbing myself to failure.

Fix Solutions 1) Revised Formula ( Tried & tested by Abhiyaan and Ravi Anna) 22.5 g Ferric Ammonium Citrate 8 g Potassium Ferricyanide 2) Dry overnight (time) : Giving up after the anti cyanotype fiasco, I left the coated papers in the room overnight. When I tried my luck the day after, Voila! It worked! Guess the Chemicals need to be absorbed into the fibre. 3) Coat Material in minimal light : Just because the chemical is ‘UV’ light sensitive doesn’t mean you can have the tubelight blazing. Work in the dark with minimal light.

'Anti Cyanotype'

4) The more expensive water color paper

World’s largest cyanotype (2015) Shootapalooza, A Smith Gallery https://shootapalooza.wordpress. com/2015/11/22/the-worlds-largest-cyanotype/

Risk “They are professionals, you may not have the experience to pull off such a large cyanotype”

Rosie Emerson – Hackney Wicked Arts Festival (2014) https://www.riseart.com/article/2014-08-05rosie-emerson-beats-world-record-for-world-sbiggest-cyanotype

. . . Well I wish to take a risk

Light Tests @ Park

etting the exposure right for a particular time of the day.

9:00 a.m -better 3:00 p.m – Probably not, shadows are shifting drastically…

Water Disposal

ource – Pipe? No water source near park. 20 l mineral water cans.

The Chemical waste being toxic cannot be disposed off just anywhere. -

Drain near Chinnaswamy exit? Ask Cleaning staff.. Metro Toilet – too far to walk Ask Nalini Shekar (Hasirudala) 20 l mineral water cans can hold the chemical too, this can be disposed at any toilet.

Orchestration

ow will I orchestrate the event? How will I gather people? – Neralu Tree Walks culminate @ 9:00 am @ Gazebo

What objects will they place? How much agency do I give them? Picking spot with ideal patch of sun, and trees to conduct the picnic and hang fabric to dry.

Choosing Fabric

abric Crisis (Paper seemed easier)

Cheap cotton handkerchiefs – wrinkly, not absorbant enough Shreyasi Kar “Queen of Cyanotype” suggested 100 % cotton since it is – lighter, easier to handle, and doesn’t absorb too much chemical. Tip : Always wash new fabric in warm water to rid it of starch and other chemical impurities. KORA COTTON

Preparing the Fabric

#Pros More ideal for good image Cheaper

9X12 ft fabric Wash in warm water Dry, iron Coat with sol n in dark room Clip with binder clips to tarpaulin and roll Wrap in black plastic

#Cons Heavy Hard to manage Absorbs more chemicals

Project Profile

e sit in the neralu* cast by a tree upon a blanket, feasting on the puliyogre packed in our lunch box while listening to the birds chirp from atop the mighty branches. Light and shadows intricately mark our bodies establishing an immediate relationship with these natural umbrellas. Is it possible to record this moment? The act of taking a photograph in itself is an act of preservation, wherein cyanotype is a kind of photographic printing that allows for a more tactile and intimate imprint to be developed. Since the process is activated by exposure to UV light it is also referred to as sun prints. So join us for a picnic in the park, through which we seek to capture -using our physical forms- and tangibly preserve, the memory of the communal experience of neralu. *Shade (In Kannada)

Event -

Load vehicle with all materials and water cans Cover fabric rolls with more cloth (just to be safe) Unload items @ park (gazebo) Pour water into pools

Long wait for participants - Briefing â&#x20AC;&#x201C; Volunteers and Participants - Picnic Props : Participants can choose any item from mat to place on the fabric. - Unfurling (With assistance) - Exposure â&#x20AC;&#x201C; 10 minutes - Race to water pool - Wash - @ metro toilet - Hang to dry @ park - Reload water into cans for disposal REPEAT

st fabric â&#x20AC;&#x201C; Failed attempt â&#x20AC;&#x201C; Owing to improper guidelines given by me. No contact between cloth and object therefore there were no white spaces.

Failure 77

Team Work

ost failure of 1st fabric everyone got really pumped about it. “Let’s do this people”, they said. They organized themselves into groups. (Volunteers and Participants). Everything was more planned and organized. Team Work Power to the People! 2nd fabric – SUCCESS – Selfie Perfect- thanks to Public Initiative I learnt that it is always best to have backup.

Family : My crew-support system You can always count on family. The labour intensive process demanded more sets of hands.

Memory

he cyanotype picnic for me was a physical act of memory making. When I think of my process of making it, what immediately comes to my mind is color. Light and Dark. I coated the fabric in a tiny dark room; where all I could see were my hands and their shadows. I can remember the brownish coating on the fabric. My estimation of the size of the fabric was relative to the room I inhabited. “It is a LARGE piece of fabric”, “ We will be taking a GIANT photograph” I kept saying. Only when I brought the cloth to the park did I actually realize how small it really was. Or perhaps it was really big, who knows. Me previous visits to the park, brought to vision its endlessness however on the day of the picnic, my eyes were focused on the ground. I intended for the picnic to be about watching the sky and the trees, but instead I watched their shadows interact with the bodies on the fabric. I was viewing ‘The Park’ through a 9X12 ft piece of fabric. All I can remember is the blue. #corporeal_memory

Cyanotype Picnic (Print II) 9X12 ft

The Compendium

he Compendium of Common Flora Vol V Co Artists: Aparna Hegde & Karthika Sakthivel

New Mythologies around trees In the spirit of Neralu. Revisiting Revisit 2016 This project started out of self interest to a brief given during Revisit 2016. We found ourselves getting really invested in it. We absolutely enjoyed donning the personas we created to generate the content. Neralu provided us with a platform to take that project forward and make it public.

Review & Edit

hen it comes to public spaces, text becomes problematic. Language dictates the inclusiveness or exclusiveness of the piece. Considering the fact that this book is largely a play on the English language it doesnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t translate well. The stories read terribly in kannada, the puns donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t work. We decided against translation for it comprises the literary components of the piece. Mean A** - Recurring adjective in narrative Avoiding use of profanity in public space, replace with another adjective that evokes similar feel. Roley Poley? Absitively Posolutely? Bombat? (Kannada word) Sakkath! (Kannada word) Review phrases used and make it more local and relevant Ye Olde Time Mixtape

Mean a**

Book Launch

Challenge

However

Original Plan – Hardcover Book But printing even a few copies still goes against the brief.

ook Launch – No author panel, author anonymous – preserves charm Planning an event – Could perhaps be an event from the book Tea Party – Final event in the book

onstraint – Avoid the usage of paper, try using alternate media Opportunity – Let’s not view this as a constraint, rather find a creative way to work around it

Plan needs to change How can we widen audience range without mass printing? Digital!

Digital Form a) PDF - Downloadable, can be shared - QR Code – No one really scans this to be honest… How many people even have a QR Code scanner? - Will they have space on phone? - Interactive PDF – Not so great in terms of effect b) APP - Why would I download this? I don’t even have space on my phone for whatever apps I do need - Operating system problems c) WEBSITE

Website

– Can be accessed from anywhere – throws open audience

A page that mimics the layout of picture charts for children. Grid that works like instagram and image gallery

Chris Ware Hectic packed busy layout like Chris Ware’s work.

Navigation & Layout

ow will they access it? How do we promote it?

Host on Art in Transit website with Sujataâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s help due to short timeline we chose to work with a website building platform called weebly. We deconstructed the book into webpages.

ABOUT | REVIEWS | GLOSSARY | ABOUT THE AUTHOR | FEED US BACK

Project Profile Disclaimer All characters appearing in this work are purely fictitious. Any resemblance to real persons, living or dead is purely <confidential> An ajjiâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s* memorabilia consists of a variety of ingredients; a miniscule pinch of facts, a bubbling pint of her childhood ventures and sacksful of her wonky imagination. This concoction then proceeds to gather new meanings and associations over time brewing story-scapes that had once taken root in her mindâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s eye, passing from generation to generation. The Compendium thus brings to you, spruced up illustrated narratives that stem from the collective imagination of the authors built upon their ajjisâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; potent reserves of botanical folklore. So rediscover the flora of Bengaluru through suspicious superstitions, frumpy facts and scandalmongering stories. * Ajji is what you call your grandmother and her old lady friends and other old ladies who are not her friends.

How to make people interact with a website? Blow it up â&#x20AC;&#x201C; enable interaction then and there

Access

Set Up : Homely, Grandmaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Chairs, Projection of Website, Mouse on side table to browse (wifi), Revisiting Card takeaways

Can Chair Rental 1 chair : will seem too removed and lonely, people may not approach it 2 chairs: more cozy, in case they bring somebody

Event

he Humour was surprisingly well received. We were concerned that not many will get the kind of humour presented in the book. However people seemed to be tsking it well. They left amused, laughing. The interactive exhibit also facilitated conversations. I met a few members from a group called Fingercharts â&#x20AC;&#x201C; A bunch of peoplw who meet at the Edward Statue every weekend from 3-6. Hearing impaired members teach and learn sign language. They showed interest in the Festival of Stories and were open to us sitting in on their sessions, learning the language. This could inform the mode in which we tell stories.

Weighing Machine >> Story Vending Machine Being on site, reminded me of the brightly lit weighing machines that one used to find at the railway stations that for a meager sum of one rupee would print one’s weight as well as a prediction. I wondered where they went, and if I could convert them into story telling contraptions. Longterm Storytelling Device/Contraption Obsolete Machine The machines designed by the British, were plain. During Indira Gandhi’s tenure, in order to promote Indian made goods, the local companies redesigned the model and made it their own; the bright lights, the works. They added the magic. These went on to fascinating the nation, exuding happiness and positivity. Pudgy children were made to feel good about their bodies “Eat to your heart’s content” it would say. However, in the year 2013 most of these automatons were withdrawn from their sites owing to insufficient revenue generation, What if these machines now buried in bottomless go-downs could resurface, assuming different roles? What if these nostalgia inducing machines could communicate with one another? What if these machines could engage people by vending stories instead?

“If there was anything that could take the sting out of being told that you were medically obese, it was a machine that was practically a pyschadelic fury of happiness” (Why I will miss the local weighing machine when it’s phased out’, Apoorva Dutt Firstpost – July 05 2013) 225 Kg Machine (Ironically Overweight)

Track & Order “Please madam, those are outdated, buy my product, it is digital, it is more accurate”

Indiamart. A large amount of calls I received were from people selling the new digital machines

rack down Machine @Brigade Road Outside Nilgiris

Shikhar Enterprises, Delhi Rs. 75,000 Per piece

Eastern Scales – Company is shut Who owns this?

Dada’s quote Cheaper But No Invoice No Bill No Guarantee

Visit 1 : Come again later Visit 2: Come again later Visit 3: ‘These are 0utdated’ – gives number Mr. Ratan (Dada) – “ There are only 6- 7 machines in Bangalore” Godown in Calcutta 15-20 days – Rs.25,000

Border Tax – ‘Not for Sale’

Balaji Antiques – No stock In attempt to trace them down online, I registered with

Adobe is willing to support/fund- Girls and Code – Storyscape – Stories of people and places and experience

Opportunities

PPORTUNITIES for Interaction Audio Visual Text - Physical print (Multilingual) Physical appearance (Paint etc.)

Exploiting these possibilities in order to build a novel storyvending contraption. Could perhaps set up communication with San Francisco Railway Station Visits Cantonment : Station Master –“No, they have been removed, try city railway station” City Railway Station : Station Manager -“ They were taken back by the suppliers a few years ago, we don’t know where they took them” Revive or Reimagine it? Do I want to recollect the unused objects from the godowns and give them new life by repurposing them or do I want to reconstruct it from memory, attempting to recreate experience?

Eg. Storyvending Machine France (SNCF) -Categorised by 3-5 minute reads -Diversion from Digital screen -Providing platform, visibility unpublished aspiring authors

and

recognition

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Project Profile Once upon a time, in lands with passageways, there lined up magic boxes, with much to say They weren’t mere toys for they predicted great joy, no matter too weighty, no matter too light But one fine day their lights went out, their plugs were pulled They were sent away . . . Operate, resuscitate, celebrate, let’s play, for it’s evergreen stories are here to stay

Potential Sites Anticipating Arrival of Machine -Do they work as singular pieces? -Do we sprinkle them across stations?

Approval Meeting

itch Realworld Experience

Always Address as Mr. or Ms. Acknowledge power, position and knowledge.

It was my first time pitching an idea to an external person. It was a terrifying experience, but I understood the hardwork that goes behind seeking approval.

“Artists are mad people”

Well, they aren’t entirely wrong…

Seminar 1

wanted my seminar to be a theatrical experience. I decided to have it in picnic format, spreading my cyanotype in the park, using it as a base to display my work.

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Struggle= Learning?

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Part 3 Proposal Charting Pitch

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Logline

he Out of Station project plays out as a series of public interventions that work towards constructing an urban monument. By adopting a rigorous process of making I seek to generate a gallery of remodeled artifacts, imparting them with a fresh voice and renewed purpose. Each exhibit then serves its time outside the gallery, situating itself in areas of transit, rewriting and retelling timeworn stories in novel ways. OUT OF STATION (Title; 2017)

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... Exciting stories are in store for you in the near future

Poster Campaign â&#x20AC;&#x201C; built upon curiosity

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MATERIAL/RESOURCES As a public artist it is only natural to consider site and the public as a rich and brimming resource. Cubbon Park being a primary site for the Art in Transit project lies within a fertile radius, populated by monuments, museums, fountains, parks and galleries etc. With it comes a corpus of resources, references and stories waiting to be unfurled. Through continuous dialogue with the public and the spaces they inhabit I aim to amass a potent reserve of tales.

Proposal

This project also demands the usage of objects that are now termed as ‘aged’ as well as systems and networks that have been deemed ‘outdated’. Public art practice is highly reliant on what one would normally disregard as ‘pragmatics’, thus making it a big challenge to gain access to these ‘unavailable’ objects.

CONTEXT Areas of transit mark change. They mark the end of one journey and the beginning of another. The transient nature of these spaces is what makes them interesting multilayered landscapes. In dynamic environments such as these there lies great potential to regenerate stories both old and new in a multimodal manner.

APPROACH/PROCESS I plan to undertake this project with a different approach than I have been used to so far. During the immersion period I was introduced to the idea of learning through a regular and rigorous practice of making. With respect to art in public spaces I believe the act of actually ‘making’ is of utmost importance. How else can one know the impact of an artwork without putting it out there and gathering response? By adopting this non-linear rather radial approach I hope to garner skills that enable me to develop this project in a more wholesome manner.

By making use of entities that embody this very change and tapping into Man’s innate need to preserve I wish to work towards building an urban monument that stands by Parkyn’s earlier statement. Through the Out of Station project I would like to look at other such objects that are no longer considered ‘relevant’ and bring them back, but with a makeover that re-contextualizes and repurposes them. The intention is to convert these timeless objects into storytelling contraptions. The nature of these stories would predominantly emerge from my mediated and unmediated interaction with the public.

It is my need to contribute to the creation of interactive pieces that move “away from flatness and into real space” (Eric Dyer- Copenhagen Cycles) that drives me to experiment with materiality and interactivity, and urges me to explore the extent to which it can be expanded. For instance Nicolas Schoffer’s introduction of cybernetics into sculpture makes it possible to obtain a “continually renewed spectacle from works of art”. This idea is also something that I wish to explore through my own practice.

I hope to revise the prescribed functionality of existing artifacts, unearthing a gallery that acts as a transit space for these objects, as they move from one place to another, assimilating and accumulating fresh meanings and associations. This challenges the conventional roles of museums and galleries as removed spaces that exclusively exhibit that which paradoxically seeks and demands inclusion.

Habasque, Guy, and Mona Tobin. 1957. “Notes on a New Trend: Multidimensional Animated Works.” Yale French Studies, no. 19/20: 35-44. 1

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RESEARCH Devising concepts for a location requires a fair share of spatial experience and ethnographic understanding. This can be achieved by arranging for field trips, spending time on site, inhaling the atmosphere and sniffing out nuances that incite thought. Building upon my primary research (through firsthand experiences and dialogue with the public/concerned parties) and secondary research (through reading relevant books, journals and articles, visiting museums, libraries and centers of culture) is impertinent to my project and will inherently inform my newfound process of making. CYSP 1 (1956) Nicolas Schoffer

RESEARCH QUESTIONS How can one take that which is ‘outmoded’ and ‘obsolete’ and give it alternate meaning and purpose? Do objects necessarily have to be functional to be regarded significant? How does one determine ‘functionality’? How does one construct an urban monument? What is a museum/gallery if not a space for mummification?

LEARNING OUTCOMES Getting a handle on how to engage people through inclusiveness and interactivity is a crucial step towards effective communication. As an artist I hope to cultivate this by developing an immersive and committed approach towards building a relationship with the people through the deconstruction and reconstruction of artifacts, assimilating a wealth of stories in the process. Copenhagen Cycles Eric Dyer

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Artifacts of Interest

hosen based on relevance to proximal landmarks (GPO, BSNL, VITM) and inherent nature of space i.e. an area of transit.

Objects such as these occupy a space for far longer than we possibly could. This gives them character and over time we find that they become the space. One could consider them to be urban land markers. In a new space such as the metro station I believe it is important to ease people into an experience. Use something they know to explore something they donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t. Using familiarity to chart unfamiliar waters.

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Post Box

uring my exchange semester I picked up certain habits from my newfound international friends. They were still very much in touch with the written form and sent postcards to their loved ones, regularly. Also there was no shortage of such postcards in public spaces. It was foreign to me, I donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t ever recall sending a postcard, or even a letter for that matter. Upon returning to India, I received these postcards from my friends in other countries. There was something about this form that was so personal. The joy of receiving mail is really something. I was thinking of using this existing system of networks to leverage a certain practice that is now growing obsolete. Indian Post promotes personalization. Their MyStamp feature allows you to even personalize your own stamps. However can anything get more personal than handwriting? Sadly, hand written letters have become a thing of the past. In this digital age can we revive that charm, making use of the existing networks and systems?

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'My Stamp'

he minute I learned that I can get my face printed on a postage stamp I knew I needed to do it. How wonderful would that be? I stopped by the philatelic bureau at the GPO only to find myself amidst ardent stamp collectors who were having intellectual conversations I couldnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t comprehend. It was a whole different world out there. I got them to print my face on a stamp sheet, tacky flowers and all. What if we could get Art in Transit stamps printed for the festival and distribute them to the visitors, giving them an opportunity to post directly from the metro station?

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Yellow Pages The equivalent of googling ourselves in the past would be to find our names in the telephone directory. What else can one do with this dictionary of numbers?

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Phone Booth

he number of yellow phone booths began dwindling with the growth of mobile phone usage in the country. Most of these intimate cubicles, abandoned, now house defunct payphones. However the structure of the booths is such that most owners have found ways in which to repurpose them. They have now been turned into tea stalls, magazine stands and broadband hubs. Can stepping into these booths transport you?

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Telegraph

had my eyes set on the old telegraph building adjoining the metro station ever since I set foot on site. Seeing as I was working with obsolete technology I also took interest in the telegraph system. In 2013 (It appears to be a year of change) India withdrew its 163-year-old telegraph service owing to insufficient revenue generation and advent of cheaper and faster messaging services. People flocked to the office on the day of closure to send their last telegram ever, a memento of sorts. It was said that the last

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Morse code tape machine, Porthcurno Telegraph Museum https://www.flickr.com/photos/thedcms/6732021361

-.- .- - - .- / -.- .- -.. .- / -.- .- - - .-

Sonification Not knowing what a telegram or a telegraph even looked like I did quick image searches. I found a particular kind of telegraph that made use of what is known as the perforated tape mechanism. The sheer form of it reminded me of the music box (another obsolete mechanism), that works using punched tape inputs. It got me wondering what it would be like if I could sonically or rather musically interpret these messages. What would happen if I could musically decode and broadcast these personal encrypted messages across the station?

Papertape Music Box http://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/listen-to-themystical-music-box-version-of-haddaways-what-islove

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Telegraph Office telegraph ever sent must be preserved as a museum piece. visited the BSNL office situated behind the Cubbon Park Metro Station in hopes of learning more about these tapes and if I could get my hands on some archives. It was where I met Mr. Kanikadas, who introduced me to Mr. Krishnamurthy and Mr. Thomas and spoke enthusiastically of the days past.

“Katta Kada Katta Kada” ,the ‘telegraphists’ sing, eyes bright as they reminisce about their early working days. Now before a desktop computer they sit, the typing of the keyboard cutting though the silence. They embody the sound like they would - music; their heads bobbing from side to side, a finger in the air. 9 months, they spent learning the language of dots and dashes- the language of these machines- that then birthed a wave of musically attuned harbingers.

The pieces fell into place. The musical element was undeniably dominant, and yes it was almost like a broadcast of secrets. And this communication so happened to have taken place along railway lines. While there definitely was an oral history component to this, the punched tapes I was looking for had been deemed outdated for far too long, and there were no archives of any sort that I could refer to.

“They used to be like walkie talkies,” they explain. A personal message sent across these lines could essentially be heard by everyone. These messengers in their lifetime had heard everything. “The lines were laid alongside the railways” It was the straightest path. Seems as though transport and communication took off side by side. They talk about the machines they held on to, “They are meant for the museum” they say. It’s been three years; the machine still locked in their iron closet, is presented before me with gusto. These men, eager to talk about their memories

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Qurio City

n hopes of finding a telegraph machine of the punching kind I visited a quaint little antique shop off Commercial Street. Mr. Ramachandra’s tiny store was up to its brim with timeless objects. He didn’t have what I was looking for but he had a stash of blank ‘Telegram Greetings’.

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Telegram Collection

ucky for me I had members of my family who had held on to the telegrams they received back in their day. They were kind enough to mail them over to me so I could take a look at them.

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? ?

Artistic Enquiry?

“

End of an Era”- I find myself reading; online articles seem to churn out this headline like copy machines. I note a cycle of birth and rebirth, an acceptance of the lifespan of things. “Those and all are outdated madam” – a phrase I heard way too many times during my enquiries. If these machines, belonging to a world different from our own, bring with them- stories, perhaps we could yet again make room for them in ours.

What stories do my machines tell? Vending Machine : GIVE and TAKE What do they exchange? INPUT

PROCESS

OUTPUT

I wondered if I should ask people what they wanted to hear from the machine but that seemed counter productive since they themselves stood on the machine asking a question.

This is where I got

STUCK !

It appeared as though I was missing Artistic Enquiry. It bothered me. What was artistic enquiry anyway?

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Observation @ Visvesvaraya Museum

Industrial

and

Technological

was fortunate enough to meet with Mr. Madan Gopal, a curator at The Visvesvaraya Industrial and Technological Museum. The museum houses an old weighing machine and since I couldn’t really get my hands on one yet, I decided to see if I could get permission to sit by it and observe. I sat watching the machine and how people interacted with it. People who stood far away were drawn to it by its light. Some removed their shoes almost reverentially before stepping on it. Others didn’t know what it was. It was a day well spent, however I was still uncertain about my next step.

Circus

onsidering how my weighing machine possesses a certain charm that is almost carnival like, the colors, lights, the works, I decided to make a trip to the Rambo Circus, performing in Yelahanka. I must say I wasn’t disappointed with the visuals. It may not have influenced my project but it was certainly an event worth experiencing.

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Charting

decided to make use of a tool I picked up in Semester 7 to work my way out of this creative block. I took to charting and mapping my every thought. I sought to exhaust all those exciting ideas that were holding me back through this process.

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Chart #1

Chart #2

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Chart #3 128

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Examples Molson Canadian Beer Fridge Opens only on voiceinput of 15 different languages http://www.digitaltrends.com/cool-tech/google-andmolson-teamed-up-to-create-a-voice-activated-beerfridge-that-understands-40-lanugages/

Voice - o - graph Vintage Machine Records for 60 secs, prints phonograph Can be posted

https://www.r3dd.it/u/fnaxq/new/

http://ihistorie.blogspot.in/2009/11/voice-ograph-plate-innspilling-kiosk.html

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Characterization

World Building

hree points stood out from my charting process, I spoke of them with much more passion than I did, the others; these happened to be associated with characterization.

1)Tantalizing, Seductive, Alluring creature

Fictional Universe : Worldbuilding – History, Geography, Ecology – Creation of Maps, a backstory, people

2) POV of Machine – Heavy creature that has been around in one place for a very long time, sitting and writes memoirs 3) Sensitive

Paracosm Real world physics – Magic Creating Immersion – ‘Enchantment’

Based on these points of references, I began to create a world for my collection of artifacts. However my initial short tweet-like pieces didn’t resonate. They took on a sad tone and were rather contradictory to what I envisioned the machine to sound like. I needed to turn the tables. I needed to find out what it knows, that I don’t know about. If I were to categorize these disjointed tweet like thoughts they would mostly fall under :-

MIGRATION. MOVEMENT. HOME. UNDERGROUND. LOCATIVE. BODY. NATURE. MOMENT. PLACE

@wikipedia went on to read about how one should go about constructing worlds and writing happy stories, to get me through this dilemma.

Storyville : Happy, Not Sappy By Richard Thomas -Dark into the light -Lose the dark crutches -Emotional truths -Avoid the melodramatic -Don’t win every battle -Things still need to happen -Happiness is subjective Designing Worlds Top down approach: Determine Broad Characteristics such as inhabitants, technology level, major geographic features, climate and history. In increasing detail. Bottom-up approach: Small part needed for my purpose Location Details – Local Geography, culture, social structure, government, politics, commerce and history. Relationships Inferred world : Drop hints about world.

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I ultimately closed my eyes and meditated, ever so gradually forms materialized in my mind. I could see a moment repeating itself over and over again. I sat down to write what I saw, and after a few edits, this is what it looked like.

The nth Wave

t was a Sundae. The mass could sense a tug, ever so gentle. It must be the Moon they thought, playing her silly games, jealous of the Sun’s all but one-day custody of the populace. Dismissing the pull, they lay all day, basking in his warmth; their cold metal bodies slowly turning bright pucker red. Amma was always against indulging them this way. “ But they need to experience the Worlds” Appa would explain. Amma, still blinded by Appa’s ever-radiant charm, learnt to turn a dark phase to such days.

As twilight approached, the tickled red moody lot of them grew anxious. It was the part of their date they looked forward to the most- story time. Appa’s light grew dimmer. The pull from before grew stronger. “Now don’t go telling your Amma, remember, this is our little secret” he says, popping open the little hatches to the glass case- the one that enclosed ‘The Book’. ‘The Book’ was considered special and was hardly ever opened; however it curiously grew chunkier as the seasons went by. Now hovering closer to the horizon, the golden yellow glow of ‘The Book’ danced against Appa’s steadily retreating rays, as he read from its packed pages. Everything he read sounded almost like a chorus. It resonated within them, like music, like touch. The tug turned into a tingle. It tingled them weightless, bubbled up their skins. Ruby orbs sparked awake within their iron cage bodies; hatched bulbs escaped like flares into the night; the skies were lit by their electric numbers.

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Guiding Narrative This time the Cherry Bugs had managed to brew up the perfect storm, put on the most spectacular display. Like moths to a flame, the ogling group advanced, entranced by this rubicund constellation that painted with light, seduced by their pulse, their aliveness. Tethered by the long black roots they followed wide eyed, enamored by the alluring creatures that had emerged from within them. They were led high and low, near and far. Blip. Blop. Blip. Blop. As it grew colder they gazed into their filamentous hearts, warming up to the possibility of other Worlds, beyond the hills. The Brown Paper Mountain was where they got inked. Amma’s “They aren’t old enough for a tattoo!” was drowned by the drone like fluttering of a zillion bugs. Like a volcano, the mount spewed the tickets, assigning places to the faces, now black dots with binary lives.

For it was time- the great Cherry Bug migration. The gravity of the situation was yet to set in. But Appa was finally taking them ‘Out of Station’. . . Back in the dark void: “They grow up so fast” Amma whispered, afraid that she might awaken them, afraid that she might just stir the next wave; of rows and columns, of glass cases, of sleeping mechanisms, of many faces. ‘The Book’ was now one volume thicker.

A decrypted leave letter read “Don’t worry Amma, we promise we will call!”

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http://www.themoodringshop.com

Linger a Little Longer Jay Watson

Material Inspiration

riting this threw open a variety of materials that I could possibly use to evoke moments such as this.

The â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;moodyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; sensitive machines got me thinking about the mood rings we used to wear as children- that were made to seem as though they change color according to our mood. This particular phenomena occurs upon change in body temperature. THERMOCHROMIC PIGMENTS: are available in the market that can be mixed with paint. They turn colorless when exposed to a certain temperature revealing the layer beneath. I wondered what it would be like if I could coat the machine with such a pigment. Would it demand to be touched? Would it respond by leaving an imprint that is memorable in its impermanence? MAGNETS: If I were to take up the attractive and alluring quality of the machine, I could use magnets and exploit their attractive and repulsive properties, the metallic bodies of these machines, acting as canvases.

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TRANSMISSION. TRANSPORT. CARRYING. COMMUNICATION. ARRYING RRYING. COMMUNIC COMMUNICATION TION. TION CARRYING. COMMUNICATION. CONVEYANCE. CONVEYANCE ONVEYANCE. HAULING. HAULING CONVEYANCE. HAULING. SENDING. ENDING. NDING TRANSFERENCE. TRANSFERENCE SENDING. TRANSFERENCE. TRANSMITTAL. RANSMITTAL TRANSPOSAL. RANSMITTAL. TRANSPOSAL TRANSMITTAL. TRANSPOSAL. BROADCAST. BROADCAST ROADCAST. CONDUCTION CONDUCTION. BROADCAST. CONDUCTION. RADIOCAST SIMULCAST RADIOCAST. SIMULCAST. RADIOCAST. SIMULCAST. TELECAST. ELECAST. T DISPATCH. T MESSAGE. TELECAST. DISPATCH. MESSAGE. AIR IR AIRTIME. TIME.ANNOUNCEMENT. ANNOUNCEMENT. NEWSCAST. NEWSCAST.PERFORMANCE. PERFORMANCE. PUBLICATION. UBLICATION. PUBLICATION.SHOW. SHOW. CIRCULATION? IRCULATION? CURRENCY. CIRCULATION? CURRENCY. CONNECTION. ONNECTION. CONNECTION.CONVERSATION. CONVERSATION. CORRESPONDENCE. ORRESPONDENCE. CORRESPONDENCE. DISCLOSING. DISCLOSING.INTERCHANGE. INTERCHANGE. INTERCOMMUNICATION. NTERCOMMUNICATION. INTERCOMMUNICATION.LINK. LINK. RECEPTION. RECEPTION.TRANSLATION. TRANSLATION. CONTAMINATION. ONTAMINATION. CONTAMINATION.INFESTATION. INFESTATION. 135

â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;Bricolageâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;

Make & Break

sing this guiding narrative I was expected to make and break the machine. While writing I already found myself shedding preconceived notions of the machine. I no longer saw the machine in my head, but visuals of a different kind.

Moving Image

ince I was alerted that my field of expertise was missing, in order to better understand the visuals and extend them to a palette I used video as a medium. I visualized the machine in parts, laying emphasis on the visceral.

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‘The Practice of Everyday Life’- Michel de Certeau further strengthened this idea. Users – commonly assumed to be passive “Everyday life invents itself by poaching in countless ways on the property of others” “And I forget the chance introduced by circumstances, calm or haste, sun or cold, dawn or dusk, the taste of strawberries or abandonment, the half understood message, the front page of newspapers, the voice on the telephone, the most anodyne conversation, the most anonymous man or woman,

everything that speaks, makes noise, passes by, touches us lightly, meets us head on.” Jacques Sojcher, La Démarche poétique (Paris: UGE 10/18, 1976), 145.

Hotspotting After a classroom discussion about corporeal memory, I started thinking about how we perceive and experience space. How do my interventions embody this? I feel like the level of engagement we have with a space more or less determines how we perceive it. Objects that have occupied a space for far longer than we have undeniably have a character that enables them, to over time, become the space. One could consider them to be urban land markers. Like the game where people yell, “You are getting hotter” as you get closer to the hidden treasure, like we find Ronald McDonald’s footprints in a public space, leading to the nearest McDonald’s, there are ways in which objects can variedly interact and engage with people in accordance to distance and time. I am attempting to construct my interventions keeping this form of zoning in mind, enabling them to sense and be sensed in this multilevel manner, acting like a hotspot of sorts.

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Proximity

Zoning

Hotspot

Landmark 139

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Larger Project

rom my conscious and unconscious curation emerged a larger contextual framework â&#x20AC;&#x201C; something that could manifest into a bigger project. It seemed to have great potential for coinhabitation of various disciplines. I was given an opportunity to help create a fundraising pitch for my proposed idea. My facilitator Amitabh Kumar and I worked on it together, creating a script and voicing it. It was intended for the Minister of Tourism as well as the Govt. of Karnataka. It was my first experience pitching my idea to such high authorities and was extremely exciting. I learnt how pitching/selling your idea is just as important as conceiving and realising it, especially when it comes to working in public spaces while seeking funding.

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Site - Telegraph Office (Heritage Site) Adjacent to Cubbon Park Metro Station

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Pitch The pitch went something like this.

Museum of Communication and Transit. The Museum is being imagined in the Old Telegraph building adjoining the Cubbon Park Metro Station. It is meant to be a recollection of obsolete artifacts, refurbished and reactivated by new and innovative technology, rendering them interactive, thus bringing out the timeless relationship between transit and communication technologies. With the GPO, BSNL in our proximity, and the old telegraph office as our neighbour, we seek to reimagine this very relationship by creating a series of interventions that urge communicative travel, making the tech city’s relationship to technology more consistent. How does the new Bangalore that approaches ‘5G’ism speak to the secret world of telegraphic dots and dashes? What happens when these relics from the past enter our futuristic temples of technology?

In this Museum, obsolete weighing scales and STD public phones act as Story Telling Devices. The telegraph machine sings songs of the mysterious dots and dashes. The audience can find themselves in the yellow pages, Or read the Letters exchanged through time, technology and transit. The Museum also includes a space for communal gathering and recreation, which involves shared seating and refreshment units, and public murals and comics that seek to connect the old Telegraph Office with the New Cubbon Park Metro Station. (Working with Shayla, Saksham and Madhav) Other means of accessing the Museum would include >Student Education and Study tours >Guided walks >Oral history and Research >Events, Talks and Workshops

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Waiting Game

'Fortunately'

ore than a month after ordering the machine from Shikhar Enterprises I was still left waiting. The procedure to order it was a long and arduous one, and the waiting game was just as bad. It became increasingly hard for me to trust others to complete tasks on time. Then there was the whole door delivery problem.

he fortune cards however arrived unexpectedly. The phone call from college got me thinking the machine had arrived. When Amitabh called me saying “Karthika, I am holding it in my hand. This can’t be the machine.” I grew worried. Where was the machine? Better yet, what was in the package? Turns out it was a box that held the keys to the machine and 500 cards, with pre printed predictions on them. I decided I’d play the memory game with them and figure out what to do, they were too beautiful to be cast away.

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Metro Support

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Arrival of Machine

racking the machine’s shipment ID, I found that it had reached Bangalore a while ago but hadn’t moved since. After registering several complaints and yelling on the phone at the shipping company for their inefficiency, I seemed to have struck a chord. I breathed down their necks until they delivered it.

Corporate Invasion

The 310 Kg machine needed manpower to be moved. I hired a mini tempo and a few men to help me move it to the metro station. Due to its rather unexpected and late (5:00 p.m) arrival I hadn’t had time to intimate anyone at the station about it. Eventhough my project had been approved there were safety concerns about taking the machine into the station with a thorough security check. I had unfortunately left the keys to the machine at home.

uring the IPL season we witnessed the overnight invasion of the metro station by inflated white balloon people. The whole station screamed ‘Vivo’. Perhaps it was marketing done right, because suddenly everyone was more interested in their promotional material. I was competing with a mobile giant. My machine stood beside a blue air filled installation. People began taking selfies with it, barely glancing in my direction. In moments of frustration I would consider unplugging the monster but ultimately all I could do was demand attention. I would turn on the machine lights, open it up and sit before it on a chair, drawing as much attention to myself as possible.

With the help of Yash we spoke to the station authorities, who were willing to help us take the machine downstairs but only after we opened it up. We demummified it then and there, commuters couldn’t hide their excitement. It was a beautiful machine. My family saved the day by bringing the keys to the station. Shortly after we gained clearance. Around 10:30 p.m, once the station closed, with the help of my family and 15 metro security guards we moved it to the platform. With much pomp and ceremony the machine was carried to its site.It was a collective struggle. I feel indebted to the metro staff for their hardwork and dedication.

Weightlifters

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Live Studio

Seminar 2

ver since my first site visit I was taken by the glass control room cubicle on the platform. To me it was a perfect display case. It was almost like a museum exhibit It had the right balance of inclusivity as well as exclusivity. Considering the way I work, on multiple ideas bubbling at the same time, the idea of building a live lab/studio came up. If I were to set up lab right in the heart of the platform, I would be in a sense creating a hotspot wherein I become the intervention. Like “a witch, with her cauldron” it would border on performance art, which is something I have been invariably touching upon for quite some time now. I converted all my charts into transparencies and lined the cubicle with them. People could now read all that I have been working on and have their own discussions about the same. While I met several interested folks I also came across some mean girls who openly tore down my attempts. It was good exposure.

y seminar took place within the glass cubicle I chose for myself. It was a performance in itself. I had completely occupied the space, plastered it with my sketches and charts. I set up my objects and my screens. I handed out material to the panel. The intimate setting of the space against the glass walls, the trains passing by on either side, screamed inhabitation. Feedback : What about obsoletion speaks to me? What is the larger practice within which I seem to be working? What is the larger set of meanings associated with this? It is important to know these things so that I can understand better, my own practice. I need to situate myself within a range of practitioners who have a similar practice. I thought about this. New Tech – Holds value in function & promise for the future However Old Tech - Possesses a certain value that is unquantifiable.

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Demummification

Curation

had planned for a phased demummification of the weighing machine. I wanted it to unveil itself to the public in stages.

Phase 1 : Within a glass case “You can see, but can’t touch” Phase 2 : Slowly moves out of the case, Visible structural changes Phase 3 : Finally open to interactivity Followed by pollination : Repeating the process with other objects as well.

ur second festival was curated by Sandeep Ashwath, through the poetic framework set by Mamata Sagar and 3 other Kannada poets.

As they recited their poems and we grasped the loose translations, we noticed how their form of engagement with the underground metro station was a lot different from our own. They hadn’t spent as much time as we had and there was something intensely personal in their work, and they were almost reluctant to translate, for the true meanings will be lost in translation. They had made a decision to behold their words as space itself. Their intention was to communicate, but differently. My association with poetry has been something similar. I write with passion, not with the chief intention to communicate, but my artistic practice seems to be struggling with this. What is my function? Who am I making this for? One thing’s for certain, it is important to uphold the integrity of meanings within ones own practice. The awareness of the field of meanings within which one functions is instrumental in sharpening ones craft. Deal with the struggle – Learn from other artists who function similarly

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Scrapyard @ NGEF

had learnt from my trip to Quriocity – the antique shop- of an old railway scrapyard in Byapanahalli. I decided to make a trip to the place, to check if they owned any payphones that I could purchase, and perhaps find some other useful objects. The NGEF is a factory that was shut down over 13 years ago. They opened its doors to the public, to rid it of all the ‘junk’ they had. I walked down the abandoned path, the large shed beckoning me to enter. I entered the godown, like Aladdin entered the Cave of Wonders. I was speechless. This deserted dump was a treasure trove. I couldn’t make out where it began and where it ended. There were gadgets and gizmos aplenty, all neatly categorized and organized in units. The dust had unforgivingly settled upon them, but I could feel them calling to be revealed. I spent a really long time browsing through the stuff, wide eyed, I searched every nook and cranny. It didn’t matter that they didn’t have payphones. They seemed to have just about everything else. I even met ancient Srishti students. Of course, only we end up in these kinds of places. All of a sudden a strip of blue pointed itself out. I walked over to pick it up and voila! There, neglected on the fringe of a factory shed lay that which I had given up looking for. The punched tapes. The ones that were termed ‘outdated’. The ones even the telegraph office didn’t have. I almost didn’t believe my luck when I stumbled upon a huge box filled with boxes, each containing 2-3 rolls of this very tape! I had struck gold.

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Timeless Treasures Payphone

ltimately I found the payphones in Shivajinagar. Almost every shop seemed to have them, yet I didnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t see anyone using them. One such shop had two. He was more than willing to sell one of them to me. He opened the yellow casing with a key and showed me the insides of the calling device. What if we hooked up a VR headset instead of the receiver and pressing each number could literally transport us to different locations?

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Tinkering Process

conducted a basic autopsy of the machine with the help of Sai Mulpuru, to get it up and running and to also understand the working of the machine. My understanding of mechanics is limited to 12th grade physics. I had excelled at it in school but had lost touch since. However it was a fascinating experience. I spent several hours before this machine, staring at the insides, people watched me as I was watching it. After a day with my nose in the machine, the workings of the cogwheels within the machine birthed some ideas in my head.

http://best-article-directory.info/399945mutoscope.htm

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Mutoscope

Projector

mutoscope was meant for a single viewer, and the act of looking through an eyepiece, almost immediately isolates the viewer from the surrounding. However that isn’t what I want to do. I seek to include a larger audience. I would need to open the experience out. Considering the fact that the top section of the machine had glass on three sides, I saw a possibility to project the frames out of the machine.

have always been interested in early contraptions that dealt with moving image. Be it scopes, tropes or magic lanterns, I’ve always been fascinated by their magic. One such scope I recently discovered was the ‘Mutoscope’, a vintage peep show box that functions like a flipbook, except in radial form. They lined arcades and streets playing really short films for coins.

It could quite possibly work like a slide projector. The resemblance of the Indian weighing machines to the mutoscope is uncanny. Their external forms are quite identical. Could I combine these two objects somehow? http://pratie.blogspot.in/2005/03/mylittle-mutoscope.html http://www.wisegeek.com/what-is-a-slideprojector.htm

Understanding the optics behind creating such images was where I struggled. I wasn’t building something that had been tried and tested, I had added a twist, and I had no idea how to achieve it on my own. I spoke to a couple of faculty members and resorted to figuring it out myself. Building the mutoscope took a toll on me. I couldn’t figure out the mechanism although I’d heard from multiple people that it was possible. Once I admitted to myself that it was impossible to get it to work in time for the festival I resorted to my first backup. I went looking for the carousel slide projector I had seen at Qurio City, only to find out that he had sold it. Mr. Sharath Chandra a facukty at Srishti offered to lend me his projector however it turned out to be of a different kind. I decided to open that up later to understand the workings. For now I needed to think of something else.

http://bomdesignfurniture.com/vintage/kodakcarousel-s-vintage-retro-slide-projector/

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Keeping with my first phase of demummification, I moved the machine into my glass cubicle, with help from the guards. Using the glass as a surface for projection.

Content

How could I project on glass? Holographic rear projection film – really expensive

Content is King??

Since I was working with a short distance, a small lens and a light source that wasn’t so powerful, my projected image was of small dimensions. Just a sheet of gateway on the glass should double as a screen. The image was quite crisp too.

Laying emphasis on the communal act of watching something together, I hoped to use the space for screening short films that people could watch while they waited for the train. These reels could be changed regularly, have their own posters as well as show times. But what would the content be? Option : Open call for content? Storyweaver –Pratham Books expressed interested in my story telling contraption idea and are willing to provide content. Multilingual Open source content (copyleft) Audio books : ‘Missed Call do, Kahaani Suno’

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https://www.cph.org/p-2780-Fall-1-View-MasterReel-Set-Growing-in-Christ-Sunday-School.aspx

y second backup was to think of other moving picture mechanisms. The viewmaster reels from my childhood could be used to project static image. What would happen if I motorized it? I did a couple of calculations and found that all I could accomodate on one reel would be Boomerang Videos.

Viewmaster Reel

As a mechanism it worked, however the whole thing was a blur. My motor was spinning too fast. I hadnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t taken into consideration the radius of the circle. The circumference of the circle was spinning that much faster to keep up with the centre. For a clear image I need a slower motor. Time for content backup.

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#1 Boomerang 2s stills 16 fps

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#2 Boomerang 2s stills 16 fps

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Postcards

Postcard Printing

mages on postcards are for the most part place based. What better way than to treat the metro station as an urban monument with multiple landmarks within it, i.e the artworks by Art in Transit. How could I attach value and interest to this old form? How do I attract people into using it? How could I provide an immersive experience for both the sender as well as the receiver?

s if I hadn’t learnt it already I did my test prints at home, with my inkjet printer, when I should have tried printing it with a digital one at the printers. Anaglyphs depend largely on the accuracy of the colors red and cyan. Images that work perfectly on screen suffer in print. Naturally the RGB is converted to CMYK during print, rendering them ineffective in the process. Since inkjet printers process color differently my home prints worked perfectly. I was under the false impression that I can print last minute.

Anaglyph

The night before the festival, I learnt that my digital prints don’t work in 3D. They also produced a number of ghost images. I went into panic mode, wondering what I would put up the day after.

hat’s when I thought of having 3D (Anaglyphic) postcards. The retro style 3D glasses that have grown obsolete due to advent of digital 3D, were easy to procure, and the process of generating anaglyph images using photoshop was pretty easy to grasp. My 3D images worked brilliantly on screen. I also designed 3D posters that had attached 3D glasses for viewing. Demanding a different level of interaction with the poster. *most of the 3D glasses were stolen overnight

My backup plan was to get normal non-3D prints. But something about that was unappealing. Would people even buy it? Was it a marketable product with value? I read up about printing anaglyphs and noted a few fixes:• Reduce the Parallax • Brighten the mid-tones • Print on high gloss paper • Preferably with an inkjet printer The next morning, after getting perfect prints on my inkjet printer using glossy photo paper I set out to find a larger print house that had inkjet machines. I wasn’t going to give up that easy. Several failed prints later I met a gentleman Mr. Syed who instructed his employees to use a special Korean Gloss Paper and do a hard gloss lamination to achieve a similar effect. I sat there with my fingers crossed and bam it worked!

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Creative Urgency

espite feeling like a character in The Series of Unfortunate Events, for some reason I never gave up. I kept at it. I took whatever was thrown at me. It was surprising how persistent I was being. Blame it on creative urgency. Festival was coming up and I had to do whatever it takes to put something out there. I had conjured up multiple backup plans and somehow things worked themselves out, the only downside being that I had wormed into half of Saturday doing damage control.

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Festival

believe the festivals are excellent opportunities to test out theories in realtime. It is a rich platform for interaction and provides critical insights based on nature of response. .

Shop

his festival we decided to do something different. Prathmi Mehta as part of her project created a homely set at the station. Nandita, Antra, Madhav and I set up shop there. Collectively we sold zines, comix, posters and postcards.

Poster Design Madhav Nair

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The Kit

y postcard kit cost Rs.30 ( Postcard + 3D glasses + Stamps + Stickers + Envelope) and it gave people an opportunity to share 3D postcards of their selection with their loved ones, right from the station, making use of the newly sanctioned (for testing) postbox from the GPO.

Post It !

n order to sanction a postbox for use at the cubbon park metro station I had to get through to the GPO authorities. The common concern expressed was whether the box would be in use when my event is over. Would it be a sustainable practice? Meeting at Post office. Letter for postbox. Meet Ms. Gayatri at Postal Operations, CPMG, near Atria Hotel. Meet Mr. Thimoji Rao â&#x20AC;&#x201C; Admin Branch, GPO Write a letter addressed to the Chief Post Master, Dr. Shivaram @ GPO regarding the postbox. With much persuasion on the day of the festival, I filled out the necessary paperwork and brought the small mouthed box to the station.

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The 3D posters and postcards were what drew people to my stall. I donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t think they would have been as inclined to purchasing it if it werenâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t for the glasses It was something different and several people stopped by to post it to their loved ones, some even posted it to themselves. Many of them wanted to send them internationally as well. The activity was well received; it felt as though someone or the other was always at the writing station, many of whom had never even sent a letter before. They were there for the experience, inquisitive about the stamps and the procedure.

Collection

he collections were great, and when the mailmen arrived the next day to collect the mail, there were a substantial number of envelopes in the box. Even they expressed interest in the event. I had scrapped my object counter installation on the postbox last minute, however it could be a possibility for the future.

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Postcards

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Tune In!

s for the machine, the day before the festival, things somehow came together. Eventhough my wheel wasnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t working the way I wanted it to. I had decided on projecting something that required less clarity. Something that would work even with high speed rotations.

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Colors.

I thought about the act of color calibration on old TV sets. The SMPTE color bars that preceded the actual content. I decided to replicate that. I wanted to color test the machine, almost like a prequel to the content that was to come.

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Tuning Out

recognized that the idea of using the weighing machine as a projector had several drawbacks and limitations. Confining the machine within a glass cubicle would only inhibit its interactive nature. Acknowledging that this was a failed experiment is key to moving on a figuring out whatI really intend to do with it. Moreover the demummification process needed to be taken to the next phase.

Holographic Display

f the machine canâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t project outward, could it house the projection within itself ? Could the viewing glass portion be a screen in itself ? What if I made a holographic display? This happens to be the future of advertisement and other smart products. It has an IOT potential as well. It is essentially a transparent LED display case. However the readymade products are extremely expensive. Making one is rather easy, all one needs to do is remove the backlight and casing from a monitor and fire it up.

I had seen such displaysat at museums and the effect is unbelievable. As a DMA student who likes working with materials this could be my playground; an interesting interplay between 3D objects and Holographic 2D projections.

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I found a gentleman at SP Road who was willing to extract the screen. It was interesting watching other customerâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s reactions to my deconstruction of working electronic items, however I must say I piqued their interest.

Testing the transparent screen

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t was suggested that I clean up all the transparent charts that lined my studio, by converting them to digital infographics and print them on vinyl at such a scale that people could read it even from a distance. However after trying it I realised the “studio” feeling was being lost, it started to look a lot more ‘planned’ and that didn’t sit with my initial idea for the space. So I decided to scrap that.

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Seminar 3

was extremely excited about my 3rd Seminar. I even scrubbed the glass of the cubicle clean. I dsiplayed all that I had worked on, and prepared a presentation that was clearly running beyond the time limit. However I was so happy that morning to be finally finishing my last Seminar.

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Remember how you feel right now, and donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t let anyone or anything ever make you feel that way again.

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Feedback Some things that stood out :> DISCOURSE > SITUATE YOURSELF > NARROW INTERGALACTIC FRAME OF REFERENCE > REFLECT! > LEARNINGS > CONCEPTUAL CHALLENGES NOT PRACTICAL ONES > PRESENT ONLY WHAT’S IMPORTANT

Post Seminar Stress

isappointment and depression hit me hard. I felt as though my spirit was squished like a bug.

Things did not go as I had expected. Perhaps I expect too much of myself. Perhaps I take things too seriously. Perhaps I can’t always take criticism. Perhaps I really didn’t give my presentation enough thought. Maybe I messed up. Or maybe I’m making this a bigger deal than it really is.

Several thoughts went through my mind. I wasn’t sure why I felt the way I felt. Maybe I felt like I didn’t get a chance to defend myself; I had after all thought about all the points that were brought up. I just hadn’t mentioned it in my presentation. Perhaps I had withheld it for it didn’t seem worth mentioning. I always believed I was good at presentations, maybe that was why this was a huge blow to my confidence. I hadn’t given them what they wanted. Perhaps this is what growing out of an academic institution into an independant artist feels like.

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Recovery

ecovering took way longer than I thought I would. It was important for me to acknowledge what had happened, how I had felt and how I was going to approach the rest of the time I had and what parts of the feedback Iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;d like to hold on to.

. . . . AFTER A MONTH or so I was back. Recognising my loss of creative confidence, I read several self help books to get it back up. It was refreshing. During the course of the semester I had seen myself grow weary of the project, months in, even the sight of the metro station didnt sit well with me, I felt saturated with the project. The break allowed me to clear my mind of things, put things behind me and move forward, taking only the criticism I saw fit. I wish I had felt this way all along - charged and ready to take on the next leg of the project. I came up with a game plan, set myself deadlines and schedules and went with it.

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Part 4 Phone Booth 184 Music Box 190 Magic Mirror 194

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Execution

his leg of my project would involve intensive making, in order to bring to fruition and exhibit the potential and capabilities of these devices at becoming novel storytelling contraptions. Working slow. Working steady.

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God Sent

Procuring Booth

rut me when I say I’ve looked almost everywhere for phone booths. “They were abandoned in 2013, how hard could procuring one possibly be?”, I thought. I was wrong. I wonder where they were taken. The one yellow booth that I did find was everything I hoped for, however the owner refused to part with the unused decaying booth . Perhaps he had some memories he didn’t want to let go of. Guess I had just wasted a visit.

everal days later while I was walking around Chickpete in vain hoping to spot a booth somewhere when a vision in red appeared before me. I rubbed my eyes and gravitated towards it. Inside I found a note that read “ FOR SALE” . Wow! Did God hoist it down on a rope for me or something? While I was negotiating the price the man says “Madam FOUR people have already come and enquired about it” I’m thinking to myself “You probably just saw me coming over here 4 times, no way would anyone else be looking for a telephone booth. Right?” It was special booth, it already had electrical fittings, was a bright red and had a sliding door! It was a catch!

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Teleporting

s usual the hardest part was shipping it and moving it underground. I don’t know what I would do without these lovely people. Metro staff have got to be the nicest people you will ever meet. “When will your weighin machine get ready, I have lost weight waiting for it” a guard twlls me. I so need that. Why have I become so complacent? Is it because I have too much time on my hands?

Conviction

fter tossing the teleportation idea around in my head for so long, I finally grew to believe in it. VR Booths have been used around the world by companies promoting tourism. I’ve got this whole Superman / Dr. Who thing going on with my booth. Making existing links

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1 TELEGRAPH OFFICE+ BSNL

2 GPO

3 VITM

4 CUBBON PARK

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ith the help of Sai I was able to capture in 360, four prime locations that flank the Cubbon Park Metro Station. Getting Permission to shoot wasnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t as difficult because people were already accustomed to seeing me in the area.

VR Shoot

It is favourable to speak in the local language wherever possible. You can gain brownie points.

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was a bit rusty when it comes to working with the arduino but I managed to hook up all the required elements. However I wasnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t able to get the keypad to work properly, perhaps there is an issue with the code.... The bluetooth is being recognized alright..

Hardware

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STD â&#x20AC;&#x201C; Station Teleportation Device

n attempt to build a VR App that plays selected videos depending on the bluetooth signal it receives from the arduino, I purchased two codes on the Unity Asset Store in hopes that we can crack it. However things didnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t go as planned. I found myself a freelancer to develop the app on fiverr.com

Software

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SMS - Sonic Message Scroll

Eureka!

Music Box

What do I do? We cannot replicate the Paper Tape Movement Box mechanism without knowing whatâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s inside.

I observed that although the dimension of the tapes differed, the size of the punches more or less aligned. I wondered what would happen if I ran my tape throught the machine.

itting with Mr. David, I realised my initial idea of passing the tape over a metal drum music box was ridiculous. The metal points would only drag and rip the tape up.

If I order a box from Hong Kong it will take nearly a month to get here - Time I am willing to spend, risk I am willing to take. I have no other choice.

od bless India Post! Thanks to them the package arrived ahead of schedule and as soon as I got my hands on it I decided to mess around with the parts.

I built an adapter for the tape, measuring and aligning the holes properly. I glued it in place and ran it through. I didnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t expect anything to happen but then

Digitizing

VOILA!

uring a visit to S.P road I met a gentleman who was quie interested in my project. Mr. Ajit enquired about my brief and was taken by it. He willingly offered to help me with the project.

IT WORKED! IT WORKED! IT WORKED!

He suggested a brilliant alternative to building a purely mechanical device. He wanted to build a punched tape reader with a bunch of LDRs (Light Dependant Resistors) to read the punches and send signals to the controller which will then produce the sounds. Digitising this by incorporating electronic elements would mean I have greater control over the nature of sound, throwing open several other possibilities for interaction. Meanwhile I continued waiting for the box I had ordered, tracking it every step of the way.

I think I cried a bit. I had been waiting for something like this to happen during this project and it finally did. It was defintely a Eureka moment for me, and it did sound wonderful for something that followed none of the rules of music.

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Installation

ince telegraph lines were laid along railway lines, and travelled long distances I have decided to fit this on a wall parallel to the tracks. It would be a 14 ft long installation and will have listening points at intervals, â&#x20AC;&#x153;The walls have earsâ&#x20AC;?. I have to fit the box with a motor and place the tape on a loop, somewhat like a cassette player. The external casing would be of acrylic, to promote unbreakable visibility from all sides. http://www.archiproducts.com

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The Tube

Travel anfd Communication technologies are more connected than I thought they were. Earlier I had restricted the obsolete artifacts to the obvious - a limited number, however I have come to understand that this curation can envelope far more artifacts. A tv for instance communicates as well and ‘transports’, and CRTs such as these are found in areas of transit, be it for announcement purposes or as CCTV displays. The London Metro is called “The Tube” I defintely see a strong connect here.

Teaser Tube Allow yourself to be sucked in by the tube. With a pair of anaglyphic 3D glasses one can ‘pop in’ and watch the upcoming Museum, announce its arrival on the tube.

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Old School

decided to shoot the entire film promoting the museum on an old videocam that recorded on old high8 tapes. (Keeping with the whole obsoletion thing. Why am I so obsessed?) I wanted the teaser totake the form of an an old tv commercial, advertising a destination. I extracted the analog data and edited it digitally, turning it into anaglyphic footage converting it into anaglyph, bringing back the fashionable retro 3D glasses. A mistake I made while editing resulted in the switching of the red and the cyan channels. So instead of having footage that popped out I had a segment that popped in. This appealed to me better. It might appear as though the tube (TV) is a portal/tunnel/tube, that gives you a glimpse, a teaser of what is to come. Having grown used to the technology of today, there is a certain novelty to old school tech. We arenâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t used to seeing it anymore, thatâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s what makes it special. Thatâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s what makes it stand out and catch ones attention. I believe it is a good way to market the larger idea of the Museum.

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“Mirror Mirror on the Wall” Magic Mirror

lthough I decided to go ahead with converting the top of the weighing machine into a holographic display case I really questioned my intention. What was the point? How did my entire process lead up to this? Why isn’t it coming together conceptually like my telegraphic tapes did? Perhaps these questions and the associated disappointments were what led to my sudden withdrawal from the project entirely. While glossing over my prior ideas, I noticed a sketch I had made of a mirror of fortune.

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The weighing machine was associated with both physical appearance as well as fortune, almost as though how much you weigh actually determines your fate. Your FATE aWEIGHTS! ( I should really stop with the puns) “Mirror Mirror on the wall” Incidently, Magic Mirrors, or smart mirrors are now a thing. They are essentially lcd screens behind two way mirrors, that are hooked up to sensors and micro controllers that are programmed to enhance your daily experiences. You ask them questions. It predicts the weather and it also compliments your appearance. This is definitely a lead for me to work with.

http://www.instructables.com/id/TheMagic-Mirror/

https://www.raspberrypi.org/blog/magicmirror/

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Announcing Presence

hat do you do when you have to be in two places at the same time? Palace Grounds and the Metro Station. I have to admit I actually considered setting up a hologram of myself, that would talk when it sensed someone coming near. Or perhaps a cardboard cutout? If I were to keep to my overarching theme, these typical scrolling red LED announcement boards ought to do the trick. What better way to catch someoneâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s eyes than to light it up? OUT OF STATION>>FIND ME @ THE CUBBON PARK METRO STATION (P.S Itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s safer to make bills for electronic items even if it means spending more)

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Epilogue Future Plans Learning Outcomes

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*Work in Progress

Future Plans

intend to see the creation of the Museum of Communication and Transit to completion. I will need to work with Art in Transit for the rest of the year in collaboration with other departments in order to accomplish this. This would also require communication with the Minister of Tourism currently in tenure. A large amount of funds need to be raised as well, I even went throught the process of cominng up with a ballpark budget for the museum and its functioning. I wish to take some time off site to read up about museum practices and understand what I am working with fully before I carry on with this mammoth vision. Some artifacts need to be worked on for a bit longer so that they meet their full potential. Hopefully by 2018 Bangalore will have itself a new museum.

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Learning Outcomes

orking with Art in Transit this semester has been an enlightening experience. Having worked only within an academic institution I’ve never really known what it is like to work in a public space, in collaboration with government bodies. Seeking approval from higher authorities at every stage of the process and working on fundraising pitches gave me a taste of the real world experience. I have come to understand that working in public spaces initiates immediate response. The work is constantly evolving and updating in dialogue with the public. Reflecting : I have also come to realise that I am dwindling in the grey areas or rather at the intersection of Art and Design. The question “Who am I making this for?” is something that pops in my mind quite often. I still haven’t been able to answer this. Are my works a form of self expression? What is it that I am trying to do or say? What’s with my fascination for obsolete items? Perhaps answering these questions for myself could really enlighten me and elucidate my natural processes. At the end of the day however CREATIVE CONFIDENCE is the key.

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THESIS PROJECT 2017 OUT OF STATION A series of public space interventions STUDENT: PROJECT: SPONSOR: PROGRAM: AWARD:

Karthika Sakthivel Art in Transit Herman Miller Undergraduate Professional Programme Digital Media Art (DMA)

Final Examination Panel COMMENTS:

Examiner 1 (name and signature): Examiner 2 (name and signature): Examiner 3 (name and signature): Date:

Academic Dean:

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