Experimental Thinking
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by Elena Ciobanica
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EXPERIMENTAL COMMUNICATION The passing of the module has resulted in a progressive and endless collection of videos, illustrations, three dimensional type and many more objects and ideas that could be developed and taken into further projects such as live television adverts and publicity. The most enjoyed out of the projects, being the ‘physical 3d type’, the ‘alien illustration and animation’, the ‘mono printing task of symbol, icon and index’ and the ‘personal extensions of all and any project encountered which includes the ‘group projection’, nevertheless there can not be a favourite brief. Believing that ne brief can be better than the other is not a true likeness of events, but the testing and bending of the rules within each brief was a factor I expected to exploit. The illustration brief was taken away into two major screen prints on paper, fabrics and resistant materials leading to the limitless production of wrapping papers, recycled cards (which were distributed and enjoyed near Christmas by fellow friends and colleagues) and not the least, the production continued to carrying bags and future plans for t-shirt printing and tattoo like bag decorations await. The most developed of briefs were indeed at first, beginner short projects and this refers to all of them, but the most experimental and breath taking, unexpected and new were the 3d letters that were physically produced by stapling, gluing, painting, carving, pining, merging, structuring and foam expanding of letters K, I, W, Y, N, O, Y and the first of letters, D (all capital letters).
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ALIENS
ENHANCING MATERIALS The forthcoming aliens emerging from the random continuous line sketches of what can be portrayed as aliens and monsters that came from a series of three miniature sketchbook continuous line drawings of non sensical characters of deviated and indistinguishable and unreal features. The colours and the paper types enhance the outcomes into three dimensional characters. These characters were refined and the drawing style copied to transform them into sea creatures. According to semiology, society is used to distinguishing aqua by the colour blue or turquoise and recognising water creatures by wave like forms and long bodies, the creatures were inspired by such things as well as objects and architectural structures and organic forms. The colours of the tracing papers here were varied in order to create a colour differentiating shadow of the line works from the overlapped papers.
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RECYCLED PRODUCTS The trend with recycled paper is still on and the tissue papers as well as metallic wrappings are very much out at Christmas times as metallic is associated with such celebrations as well as being luxurious. The one hard aspect of the task when printing on tissue paper was that extra force would have to be used in one wipe of the squeegee on the screen and although the advantage was that the ink dried faster on the tissue, it was also absorbed quickly leaving a fainted line work. Another trick learnt was that anything which had to be thicker or that was not flat enough (i.e. the unfolded paper bags) had to be printed on only once and with dark ink (some metallic ink used did work such as the black which was more visible than the neons) or the problem would be that the lines be printed slightly alongside the first print, which would look like the three brown paper test bags shown on the next page. 8
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WRAPPING PAPERS This was one of the most tedious of tasks due to the lengths and large widths that made these wrapping papers much larger than the screen itself. However tying to cover the page with multiple imagery taught me one lesson about print screening on large recycled paper which is preferred compared to tissue wrappers by those who wants their presents wrapped up in reasonable quality for good looking results, and that it is very durable and absorbent therefore unlike tissue paper, it can be printed on twice or three times for varied thin or thick line artwork.
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‘Who said aliens can’t originate from sea fishes?’
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Mono printing tests done using the lecturer’s laser cut letters for a class taster exercise that sparked a further development of icons, symbols and indexical objects such as those on the pages to come. In the local abandoned garages interesting objects were found and the most banal of them were used in compositions that were printed and reprinted onto different types of absorbent papers.
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GROUP PROJECT The intention of the group project was to perform a projection onto ourselves with a purpose (if possible) as this would be ever more responsible and meaningful to the society that we live in and could also impact internationally. The awareness of leukaemia was what the group as a whole, concluded as a useful and least discussed of subjects upon those other cancerous, fatal and blood infectious diseases. Leukaemia research was done during our group conversation (found on youtube/vimeo and links are at the end of this book) and the other half was continued independently by two of our group members mainly and the rest was practical which the other two members planned, drew up a storyboard and prepared two animations that were to be accompanied and combined for the final projection. Tests were done before hand on each of our differently coloured clothing for the clearest result. Complications did rise up upon the search for adaptors connecting the projector we were using and in the group we fixed many issues such as those including the numerous fingerprints we all prepared as precaution, verifying we had the best output.
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A recollection of a few outstanding words made up of the physical handmade letters out of the many vivid photographed compositions taken throughout the weeks that this project captivated most interest
3D PHYSICAL LETTERS Physically forming cardboard three dimensional letters out of strictly measured type ‘Helvetica’, measured 15cm x 7.5cm. The ease being that the letters were uppercase and the hard fact being that the letters were given out and ‘D’ was challenging at first due to the curved outer appearance, but a few experiments coincided with the discovering of the cardboard indents that once scored in horizontal lines, allowed for the smooth bending of the card. The gluing and merging was just as difficult as the measuring and planning of the surface of the letter, so durable glue gun and sticks were used for this because they melted and dried within seconds after setting, but this means that the accuracy of the hand was absolutely necessary. The decorating of the first letter (D) was as creative and explorative as the ones to follow, which were not then planned, yet. Hanging the letter outside in space, then with a straw for each colour of the colouring wheel, I splattered acrylic paint on the hanging ‘D’ letter form, until it was coloured enough to match a Jackson Pollock painting approach. An intentional, yet unexpected and unpredictable outcome whilst each colour splatter defines the form of the letter, it draws back from reinforcing the shadows or the 3-dimensional characteristic. The destruction of the letter ‘D’ was just as much unexpected and innovative as with the ones to follow with just as much intuitive and interesting perseverance towards a different outcome each time. Most of all, fire was used in terms of a lighter or matches, both creating a different impression on the video recording of the destruction. The other method was using hand controlled electronics that were made to repair or make things like furniture or cutting wood blocks. All these industrial and domestic methods of destroying the letters were mostly great. 17
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Ambiguous imagery with multiple meanings, bird’s eye view type, ‘I KNOW’ stretching one single shadow on a concrete texture (that alike the appearance of the moon)
‘NOW’ hand made type (Helvetica) photographed and overlapped by a monochrome gradient map, results in a glow in the ‘O’ and the shadows also turned into a gradient glow
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‘NO’ distorted type showing through horizontal blinds on a starry night sky
‘ON’ type continues the scenario of the blinds with a lighter foreground and more textures, accompanied by the moon/light bulb referring to ‘light ON’
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AN I FOR AN I.
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‘D’ IS IN DANGER
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A BOLD ‘D’ distinct in all four different scenarios, the backgrounds: garden fence; blue sky with aeroplane trace; morning fresh green grass, railway station track (‘D’ for Danger)
‘NY’ can stand for New Year and New York due to the red colour and shiny and decorative ‘Y’; followed by ‘NOW’ hand made type; followed by ‘I KNOW’ with a translucent (silent) ‘K’
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A cleaner ‘N’ sanded using a powerful electric DEWALT sanding machine
‘Y’ letter at Christmas time, lights behind the letter created movement in forms of firing curls of golden and icy colours (a discovery of the camera’s capabilities)
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‘Y’ IS AT A PARTY With the wrapped shiny foil decorations and the red bows, the ‘Y’ became a built impression of a present and a party event. The burning of the candles was a more tedious and long process but nevertheless intentional. The duration of the entire destruction of the letter lasted no less than thirteen minutes and was a fabulous one, due to the firework like sparkling of the foil when in contact with fire. The reaction of the fire on the letter was also one very figurative, leaving impressions of hands, birds and flares that rose up and curled creating beautiful effects.
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‘W’ & ‘K’ are heroes, ‘W’ as a dynamic superhero
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‘K’ bloated out of shape and form, but what is retained inside the strongly stapled plastic skeleton structure is a light bubbly expanded foam that is often used for household repairs
‘MK’ - Michael Kors possible advert for the brand
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As the process was continued, the ‘K’ foam form transformed into stubborn ash and burnt into a noisy sparkling and furious black smoky fire that burnt faster than normal
LINKS TO VIDEOS DISTORTED LETTERS Letter D https://vimeo.com/147435604 Letter K https://youtu.be/ksRPmw-7WAU https://youtu.be/tqbvy-EllbI Letter I https://vimeo.com/150532720 Letter O https://youtu.be/rGVJckVAYJA Letter N https://youtu.be/CzUP6kutIR8 Letter Y https://youtu.be/-vCiWBV6QEY
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GROUP PROJECT Group Project Videos (Branka, Jelena, Kimiya and myself ): 1of2 Group Discussions https://youtu.be/ZLBumLbPwYw 2of2 Group Discussions and Development of idea https://youtu.be/0hsz7TJFVLM Jelena’s video intro dynamic text https://vimeo.com/150936672 The making of the projection https://vimeo.com/150545361 And finally, Pre-Final videos: https://vimeo.com/150284974 Final Video: https://vimeo.com/150535543
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IN THE END I hope you enjoyed the handmade feel to these mono prints and my versions of the originals in their raw handmade state in the available books.
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