Extend the Cypher by Greg Fisk

Extend the Cypher

Greg Fisk Graphic Design, MFA Maryland Institute College of Art Spring 2020

Copyright ÂŠ 2020 Greg Fisk All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying, recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods, without the prior written permission of the designer. Designed by Greg Fisk under the mentorship of Jennifer Cole Phillips with support from and Ellen Lupton and Elaine Lopez. Type set in Sharp Grotesk. This font is a multi-width neo-grotesk. It was the perfect choice for its diverse range of moods and exuberant personalities. It felt like a departure from what you would traditionally find in breaking culture. At the same time, it maintained the rawness and grit you would hope to expect. Printed in the United States.

fisk.studio

For Fitrah & NaĂŻmah

“No disrespect, but pay attention! B-boying is not a sport.” Ken Swift

Extend the Cypher

Abstract 10

Foundation 14

My Story 20

Community 28

King of What 42 Break Tapes 64

Circles

Thanks 108

Section 01

Abstract

Extend the Cypher

Extend the Cypher traverses the landscape of breaking culture by investigating the intersection of movement, design practice, technology, and archiving. This visual embodiment of breaking is thoughtfully crafted in an effort to share knowledge and preserve history while at the same time revealing how to approach design practice with an authentic point of view.

Abstract

N D Breakin’ has a foundation as strong as the backbone of any great subculture.

It’s not just a form of dance, it’s a credible art form that deserves to be in history books.

Extend the Cypher

Its seeds first planted in New York by a melting pot of disadvantaged black and Puerto Rican youth.

I T 13

When you look around at popular culture today, itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s impossible not to see the influence it has had on society.

N Foundation

Section 02

Foundation

Extend the Cypher

Break dancing, b-boying, or the most widely used term today, breakinâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; is not the stereotype you might remember from the 80s. Itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s an influential, flourishing sub-culture making its way to the Olympics in 2024. Its seeds first planted in New York by a melting pot of disadvantaged black and Puerto Rican youth looking for a competitive, non-violent way to express themselves, has since expanded across every part of the world.

Foundation

Extend the Cypher

Breakin' has a foundation as strong as the backbone of any subculture or major sport.

It can be compared to skateboarding, surfing, punk rock, or rock climbing. It's an expression of true freedom and how to make something out of absolutely nothing. It’s not just a form of dance, it’s a credible art form that deserves to be in history books. B-boys and b-girls (Breakboys and Break-girls) are creators, contributors, leaders, and innovators. When you look around at popular culture today, it’s impossible not to see the influence it has had on society. From the early aesthetics of adidas tracksuits and Kangol hats to H&M's entire sportswear collection. The culture that defined a large sum of my life is in a constant state of transition. I've been blessed enough to experience this growth for better or for worse. I remember one of the first jams I ever went to took place inside a classroom in Vancouver, Washington. It was there I witnessed crews like Rock Force, Massive Monkees, and Circle of Fire break in the cyphers. I saw b-boy Reveal do one of the most legendary rounds I've ever witnessed. He hit a freeze to every beat of Apache by The Incredible Bongo Band (https://www.youtube.com/ watch?v=iSDp3WgGiY4). At this jam, Out for Fame 2000, there was no stage, no cash prize—it was simply a celebration of dance. Fast forward to today and we have super crews comprised of some of the best breakers in the world competing against each other in order to represent their preferred energy drink, Rockstar or Redbull. Throughout this book, it is my intention to do right by the culture. I don't want to fixate on the past or the way things used to be. Instead, I want to narrow in on the root of what inspires me. I aim to study the history, taking into consideration the subtleties and traditions that make it indisputably original, in hopes of representing what I see—a brilliant prosperous future.

Foundation

M Y Extend the Cypher

Iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;m from a blue-collar family. My dad grew up in Flint, Michigan working on the assembly line at General Motors.

T 18

R O

Open-minded conversations with people of diverse backgrounds exposed me to many ideas, ways of life, and possibilities.

Immersing myself in this home-away-fromhomeâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;the melting pot of the dance floorâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;was instrumental to my personal development and eventually fueled my interest in graphic design.

Foundation

Section 03

My Story

Extend the Cypher

First of all, thank you for reading this. Writing these words is an absolute privilege. Not many have the opportunity to invest the time and dedication required to pursue an MFA graduate degree at a prestigious art school like MICA. To me, this was an unobtainable concept and every day that Iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;m here feels like Iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;m living a dream. To help explain the significance of my work and what got me here, this is my story.

My Story

My pops is an inventor. I used to find random equations in notebooks scattered around the house. I believe thatâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s probably what heâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s up to in this picture.

Family photo. Youngest of four, myself front-center, left of my mom, Barbara Blemore.

The house I grew up in on Miller Street in SE Portland, Oregon before my parents rehabbed it. My mom and dad purchased for less than 20k.

Extend the Cypher

I’m from a blue-collar family. My dad grew up in Flint, Michigan working on the assembly line at General Motors.

Due to the economic deterioration of the automotive industry, life became increasingly difficult for my dad to provide himself with the basic necessities of life. Forced to move on, he landed in the sleepy town of Portland, Oregon, where he met and married my mom—an aspiring artist and school bus driver. On the back of poverty, my parents did their best to build a home together and corral a life with four kids. With a jolt of reality at a young age, my parents split, leaving my mother to be the bearer of the household and sole provider on her own. Raising three boys and one girl was a complicated feat that impacted my upbringing. Compelled to do my part and ease the financial pressures that my mother faced, I started working at a young age in order to pay for bills and start saving—eventually supporting my desire to go to college and study graphic design. Growing up, I couldn’t participate in the activities I watched my classmates enjoy, like organized sports clubs and traveling, but I found my own way to seek inspiration and fulfillment. Open-minded conversations with people of diverse backgrounds exposed me to many ideas, ways of life, and possibilities. In my exchange with new environments and new people, I discovered hip-hop, which opened my world to a global perspective and experience I could relate to. From there, I found my way to breaking, which furthered my exposure to diversity and the richness of cultural self-expression.

My Story

Always a b-boy. My first year of breaking in 2000.

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Immersing myself in this home-away-from-homeâ&#x20AC;&#x201D; the melting pot of the dance floorâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;was instrumental to my personal development and eventually fueled my interest in graphic design. I used to help my crew out by making event flyers for events like From the Ground Up and Ashes to Ashes. I would hand-draw letterforms, scan images from old records, and tape everything together into my desired composition. I would then xerox them over and over again, messing with copy settings to get the highest contrast and subtle grainy textured imperfections. I would pick the most vibrant paper on the shelf, print hundreds of copies, and spend the next day distributing them throughout the city. It was the power of print design that drew people to these battles. It was my successful stint as a breakdance promoter that eventually sparked my interest to pursue graphic design as a career and continue to build in higher education. In 2013, I considered my own migration. I decided Washington, DC, with its international community, hub of leadership, activism in politics and art, would fulfill my interest in cultural diversity whilst providing me with professional opportunities and growth to pursue my interest in graphic design a bit further. My intuition was right. Washington, DC was ready for me and I was ready for all that DC had to offer; a chance to make my mark in the dialogue of pushing forward the importance of cultural richness, protecting the environment and supporting the fundamental growth of humanity. In 2018, my mother in law asked me a question about what I wanted to do with my life? I told her it was a goal of mine to teach graphic design. This sparked my interest in grad school. And this is how I found my way to Baltimore, MD where Iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;m working on this thesis dedicated to my craft.

My Story

I was lost, and it found me (run that on repeat my whole life).

M A subculture I felt I belonged to.

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U N 27

T I I started because of my brothers, then it became curiosity of what movements iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;m capable of.

It makes me feel free and gets me closer to being who I want to be.

Community

Section 04

Community

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What's the process of engaging and representing the voice of a community through graphic design?

Community

Ask the People

My first design project, titled Community Over Everything is a collection of Risograph prints I designed with content I pulled through crowd participation. My method for collecting content was pretty straight forward. I used a google form and shared it with my immediate breaking community on Facebook. In this form, I included three basic questions that I felt would stir up some solid content.

Extend the Cypher

Why do you like breaking? What are five words that best describe the feeling you get when you break? Why did you start breaking?

Community

Why do you like breaking?

Extend the Cypher

It’s a limitless art form that attracts interesting people—Form of expression—Grooving to great music and cool moves—Personal expression, freedom, vibing out with friends, great exercise, temporary escape from the problems of reality, the music, the history, it has taught me selfconfidence—You can be creative—A subculture I felt I belonged to—When I first got involved I thought it was the purest most raw form of hiphop—The genuine sense of freedom I get from doing it!—There is nothing like allowing your body to be free in rhythms and sounds—That is the essence of creativity and in a world that values hierarchy and structure, breaking often centers my soul—As a more introverted person I like to think of concepts/moves and breaking forces me out of my comfort zone and allows me to perform them—It’s also just good exercise and encourages self-discipline—I love the freedom and aggressive nature of the movement—It represents the freest expression and is rooted in originality, so its growth is unpredictable and inspiring, and is open to those of all ages and genders—Gives me health, friends, community, and something to become a better person through—Musical expression and athletic discipline—The multiple elements behind the dance (i.e. art/creativity, conditioning/athleticism, mental/body awareness etc...)—Journey of self expression. It makes me feel free and gets me closer to being who I want to be—I like how the movement and music make my body feel—Also meeting people and sharing experiences—It allows me to manifest my love for hip-hop—It is a uniquely spiritual and primal art form.

What are five words that best describe the feeling you get when you break?

Free, focused, hype, present, strong—Joy, excitement, passion, anxiety, clarity—Rush, freedom, strong, complex, flow—Focused, energized, free, powerful—Creative, hype, artistic, soul, heart—Fun cool showman artistic experimental—Free, fun, young, family, rockstar—Raw, hiphop, aggressive, soulful and fresh—Satisfaction, accomplished, frustration, gratitude, joy—Free, soulful, energetic, connected, creative—Expressive, strong, disciplined, musical, youthful—Passion, determination, power, focus, style—Volatility, liberation, confidence, fear, resolve—Invincible flow alive creative free—No feeling—Freedom, creativity, community, culture, heritage—Freedom, energy, strength, happiness, excitement—Productivity, healthy, relief (mental/ stress), love, excitement/proud—Free, fresh, original, funky, creative—Excitement, joy, fearless, happy, vibes—Excitement, fun, challenging, stress, fulfillment—Relief, depression, joy, freedom, badass—Primal, raw, angular, powerful, free— Music, style, community, history, lineage.

Community

Why did you start breaking?

Extend the Cypher

I thought it was the coolest shit I’d ever seen, and figured I could get pretty good at it. Outlet from negative environment—Friends in college—I was tired of choreography and wanted to be able to have the ability to express myself while dancing—I had never tried any form of hip hop and there was a breaking club on campus, so I decided to give it a go, I fell in love—My friends were doing it in college—Didn’t want to just be known as the math nerd anymore—I thought it was the dopest style of dance that fit my body type—Because my older brother was breaking and I wanted to be cool like him—I enjoyed watching videos and seeing all the different types of dancers and personalities contribute to the dance—It felt like anyone could contribute to the dance and the community seemed really receptive to outsiders at the time—I started breaking because it spoke to my athletic nature and my artistic side at the same time, it was the perfect marriage for me!—I was lost, and it found me (run that on repeat my whole life)—Youtube—80s popularity—To give me an outlet for my emotions and yearning for identity— It looked cool; something about mastering body control to music spoke to me—I started because of my brothers, then it became curiosity of what movements i’m capable of—Cause it looked cool—I saw a video of bboy toyz like 2 years ago and it just caught my interest—My friends were starting a club in highschool and wanted me to join them—I was drawn to it through my love of the music and my need for physical expression.

In general, people took their responses seriously. Breaking clearly meant as much to them as it means to me. I found a lot of commonalities in the answers and when pieced together, it was a universal voice I could transform into a poster series expressive and authentic to the culture.

Foundation My Story

Extend the Cypher

Foundation

K I

I’m enjoying the fact I have no idea what I’m doing.

Extend the Cypher

G 40

It excites the mind to think back on this tradition, and how it led the way to what I do for a living.

Dance for me has been a constant battle of conquering failure.

Foundation

Section 05

King of What

Extend the Cypher

Dirt and grime in my fingernails. Furniture and lead type scattered across this 100-year-old metal table of Globe Letterpress.

I can smell the history that fills this room and it excites the mind to think back on this tradition, and how it led the way to what I do for a living. “So this is why InDesign defaults to Picas,” I think to myself. It’s 3AM and I’ve been setting this poster type for the past six hours. At this point, there’s nobody at school, the security guard at the front desk went home, the shuttle is no longer running, and I’m alone, just me and my thoughts and endless inspiration all around me. I guess this is why grad school is worth it. This is my first attempt at setting type by hand and I’m loving every minute of it. Imagine building a cabin in the woods from scratch, or harvesting a crop from an entire season of nurturing its soil. It’s a true product of labor and it resonates with my soul. I grew up going to machine shops with my dad. He would tinker amongst metal objects, working on his inventions, and I would explore the industrial nooks and crannies of the shop. I remember rummaging through shelves of various dirty metal objects and tools, inventing my own ways to put them to use. I'd also set pennies on the train tracks outside, or make time capsules. It was an enjoyable part of my childhood and the smell of led type sparked that nostalgic, long lost scent I crave. “Maybe I’m destined to be a letterpress printer,” I think to myself. This thought quickly vanishes with thoughts of my bank statements. Well, if not a print-maker, I guess I was destined to be here at this moment designing a break-dancing poster on a 100-year-old Vandercook press. I doubt anyone has ever done this before.

King of What

Extend the Cypher â&#x2020;&#x2019; Foundation 44

Extend the Cypher

I know the end product will be worth it and I’m enjoying the fact I have no idea what I’m doing. Honestly, I can’t wait to see what my lack of experience brings to the table. I’m hoping for those little imperfections I’ve learned to mimic on the computer in hopes of making my work feel less sterile. I can achieve the look I want for real this time. The more I think about it, my appreciation for mistakes must stem from my background as a b-boy. Dance for me has been a constant battle of conquering failure. It pushed me to have vision—to see that a failure is only something you haven’t learned yet. Or that you need to look at failure as something else entirely. I see through the mistakes and perceive them as beautiful stamps of personality and character. I enjoy the tactility of things. I enjoy crashing on the dance floor just as much as I enjoy setting my type incorrectly— against the convention of what’s expected.

King of What

Extend the Cypher

Foundation

Extend the Cypher

Foundation

Extend the Cypher

Foundation

Inspiration & Process

Various posters printed by my professor Bob Cicero. The man!

Inspiration all around me. Texture and color. Wabi Sabi money.

Inspiration & Process

Extend the Cypher

Foundation

Extend the Cypher

Breaking poster designed using a 100-year-old Vandercook pressâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;why not? King of What is one of Baltimore's greatest b-boy jams. I did this poster series as a gift back to the community that's done so much for me. Thank you to DJ Fleg for allowing me the freedom to do what I wanted with it.

Community

Extend the Cypher

Community

In addition to the poster design. I took scans of each letter form, which I then animated into a promotional video and title sequence.

Extend the Cypher

King Community of What

B Extend the Cypher

R I started breaking in the early 2000s, before YouTube was a thing.

Breaking is growing and itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s incredibly important to preserve and share this knowledge.

P A T

It was through collecting these tapes (sacred artifacts) that I became informed and inspired.

The VHS tape is a part of the history of dance language.

Community

Section 06

Break Tapes

Extend the Cypher

I started breaking in the early 2000s, before YouTube was a thing.

At that time, the VHS tape was my only way to access different breaking cultures and styles outside of the Pacific Northwest. I remember getting out of school and going straight to the mall. I would only go to one store, Mr. Rags. It was here that I got my hands on tapes like Tribal Circles and Pro-Am â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;99. These tapes were everything to me, I would drop upwards of $50 per/tape (in high school that was a lot of money). It was through collecting these tapes (sacred artifacts) that I became informed and inspired. The VHS tape is a part of the history of dance language. In hopes of preserving this history, I decided I was going to take it upon myself to document these old tapes. My original collection is tucked away in a box at my moms house so I had to be resourceful. I reached out to my Baltimore based crew Deadly Venoms to see if they had any. It turned out, Shawn Stephens, AKA b-boy Shogun was way more of a collector than I ever was. He had just about every tape that ever came outâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;I struck gold. It was at this time that Shogun made his first drop (brought me a grocery bag of tapes) and I began digitizing.

Break Tapes

Mr. Rags

Remember malls?

Extend the Cypher

At MICA, we have a digitizing station used by the film students for extracting VHS footage. I decided to make this my new office—my new home away from home. Three times a week I would walk over the bridge to the other side of campus and post up at this station. I have documented over 30 tapes so far, that’s 42,300 feet of sacred b-boy footage. All of which, I have collected on a website called breaktapes.video and on youtube accessible in the public domain. I also created an instagram account called break.tapes. Through the act of sharing, Break Tapes has become a place for discussion. A place to reminisce about the past and start conversations about how to shape the future. Breaking is growing and it’s incredibly important to preserve and share this knowledge. By documenting and sharing / resharing these sacred artifacts (remnants / documents of the history of the dance language), I am in fact, codifying the history, and Extending the Cypher back into the universe.

Break Tapes

Extend the Cypher

Break Community Tapes

Can we just take a moment and appreciate how amazing these tapes are. Look at that leg! Look at that glow effect! Look at that linoleum!

Extend the Cypher

Break Community Tapes

Extend the Cypher

In the lab digitizing Radiotron. During my off-hours at school, I would post up at the digitizing station for hours. I documented around 42,300 feet of tape. All of which was put back into the universe for anyone to view at:

www.breaktapes.video

Break Community Tapes

When considering a brand for Break Tapes, it was important for me to contextualize how it would live and interact alongside the VHS artwork. The tapes are filled with vibrant colors, graffiti, and photoshop effects. With that in mind, I created a system of minimal design elements that would stand apart.

Extend the Cypher

Break Community Tapes

Founders Grotesk Regular

aA bB cC dD eE f F gG hH iI jJ kK lL mM nN oO pP qQ rR sS tT uU vV wW xX yY zZ

Founders Grotesk Bold

aA bB cC dD eE fF gG hH iI jJ kK lL mM nN oO pP qQ rR sS tT uU vV wW xX yY zZ

Video texture elements

Linoleum dance floor

VHS glitches Extend the Cypher

Break Community Tapes

The goal of the website was to simulate what it's like digging through the boxes of tapes I have stashed away in my mom's basement. I wanted the tactility of the tapes to come through in a web experience. I allowed the user the option to click the tapes and move them around. It was also important the original tapes were not altered in any way. I digitized them and posted the videos entire contents. Glitches and sound issues are transparent in order to preserve the authentic nature of what it's like to interact with a VHS tape.

www.breaktapes.video

Extend the Cypher

Break Community Tapes

Thereâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s something fascinating about these tape designs. It's an honest aesthetic originated out of b-boys teaching themselves photoshop. For this poster series, I created my own designs inspired by my favorite tapes.

Extend the Cypher

Foundation

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Foundation

Extend the Cypher

Foundation

C Extend the Cypher

A cypher is a sacred circle of trust where a dancer is free to express themselves in movement.

Throughout history, the circle has been associated with ritual.

E L

An invisible perimeter between everyday life and an experience where different rules of engagement come to play.

“breaking really did start from a few brothers or sisters that just didn’t care what other people thought responding to the breaks.” -Ken Swift

S Community

Section 07

Circles

Extend the Cypher

In 2018, I traveled to Saudi Arabia for Umrah, a religious pilgrimage to Mecca. Nsubuga, Mustapha Mesusera, and Mijinyawa. “Tawaf.” Hajj and Umrah Planner, 18 Jan. 2020, hajjumrahplanner. com/tawaf/.

The most significant memory of this trip was participating in Tawāf, a ritual where thousands of Muslims circle the Kaaba (the most sacred site in Islam) seven times, in a counterclockwise direction. The closer you get to the Kaaba and the black stone (a rock set into the eastern corner) the more crowded and energetic it becomes. This circling demonstrates unity in the worship of Allah (singular arabic word for God—not plural). It is believed that “the Kaaba represents the spiritual center of the world, the spiritual axis around which a believer’s compass rotates, and turns to on a daily basis. The circumambulation of the Kaaba is a continuous act of worship, 24 hours a day throughout the year”(Nsubuga). Participating in Tawāf is a spiritual undertaking that’s difficult to describe. No matter who you are or how you made your way to that exact moment, it takes a lot of devotion, time, effort, and resources to be there. The feeling I got as my wife and I navigated our way through the masses to touch the black stone on our seventh circumambulation was indescribable. It was like being swept into the undertow of the ocean. The more you try to force your way through, the more difficult it becomes. Eventually, I had to let go of my anxieties and ride it out. It felt as if my feet were lifted off the ground, Every square inch of my body was being pushed in the momentum of the crowd. It was the force of nature.

Community Circles

Mecca

Photo I took overlooking the Kaaba from the roof of the al-Masjid al-Haram (The Sacred Mosque).

Extend the Cypher

Benedetto, Ida C. “Patterns of Transformation: Designing Sex, Death, and Survival in the 21st Century.” Patterns of Transformation: Designing Sex, Death, and Survival in the 21st Century, patternsoftransformation.com/ vocabulary/mc-overview.html. Sosceles, K. (2016, October 07). 9 Dance Cypher Rules No One Ever Told You. Retrieved May 02, 2020, from https:// medium.com/cuepoint/9-dancecipher-rules-no-one-ever-told-you7ad4cd1817d8

My wife was within arms reach, I was holding onto her shoulders but starting to lose my grip. Lost in the moment, my backpack on my shoulders that held my sandals ripped off, never to be found again. As we got closer to the stone, we reached out as far as we could. Just as I thought we were losing our grasp on it, the crowd behind us gave us a final push, we touched the stone shouting “takbir, Allahu Akbar!”. Within seconds we were through the congestion, connected, and never feeling more grounded. It was at this point that I walked back to our hotel with no sandals on feeling like I experienced something I would replay in my head over and over again for the rest of my life. Throughout history, the circle has been associated with ritual. It’s a symbol that represents eternity, wholeness, originality, perfection, timelessness, infinity, and movement. In my deen (arabic word for religion), it represents unity. In design, the term Magic Circle is used to describe an invisible perimeter between everyday life and an experience where different rules of engagement come to play (Benedetto, Ida C). It’s a shift of the mind that allows artistic freedom to reign free. In mathematics, a circle represents a Cipher or the symbol (0), denoting the absence of quantity (Sosceles, 2016). In breaking, the term Cypher is the area of the dance floor open to those who wanna get down. A cypher is a sacred circle of trust where a dancer is free to express themselves in movement. It’s where you earn your stripes, and excel in the freedom that comes from improvisation and listening to your instincts.

Community Circles

The Birth of the Cypher

Imagine the birth of hip-hop, New York City in 1973. You show up at one of DJ Kool Herc’s ‘back to school jam’s’ in the recreation room at 1520 Sedgwick Avenue in the west Bronx. You pay a small fee for admission, 25c for ‘ladies’ and 50c for ‘fellas’ (Laurence, 2014). You enter a room filled with a few hundred people. It’s hot, the air is sweaty and it smells like New York in the 70s, but the music is like nothing you’ve ever heard. As you start to loosen up a bit, you happen to catch a glimpse of some dancers in the corner of the room, losing their minds. They’re so moved by the music, they’re literally rolling around on the floor. As spectators look over each other's shoulders to observe, a circle begins to form. This is how I’ve always imagined the first dance cypher to have happened. Matter of fact, this pretty much is how breaking transpired from the beginning. According to Ken Swift in the movie Freshest Kids, he explained that “breaking really did start from a few brothers or sisters that just didn’t care what other people thought responding to the breaks.” Or as Kool Herc called them, “the merry go round of the record.” (freshest kids 8:46)

Laurence, Rebecca. “Culture - 40 Years on from the Party Where Hip Hop Was Born.” BBC, BBC, 21 Oct. 2014, www.bbc.com/ culture/story/20130809-the-party-wherehip-hop-was-born. “The Freshest Kids: A History of the B-Boy.” QD3 Entertainment, 2002.

The more I reflect on my experience with breaking culture and the significance it has had on my life, the more I realize the significance of the cypher. When all the elements are at play, working in a symbiotic nature, a cypher you experience at a contemporary breaking jam could feel exactly the same as it would have back in the day. To me, there’s nothing as pure, or even spiritual as throwing down in a circle. It’s an energy, a hunger, a deep desire to flow and interact with the environment around you. It is the essence of the culture, and it’s where it will always thrive in the ever-shifting industry it is becoming.

Extend the Cypher

The orginal flyer from Kool Herc's Back to School Jam in 1973.

Foundation Circles

For my thesis, I wanted to bring the cypher concept to my design practice. As a mode of making design work, I developed what Iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;m calling the design cypher. An approach to creating that relies on a battle between digital and analog technology. In my design practice, Iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ve always felt I relied too heavily on my computer as a source of making. It was important for me to break out of this mode and try something different. I wanted to incorporate analog tools like letterpress printing, painting, or even dance itself. And for every analog tool, I would match it with something digital. I passed my work back and forth, sometimes acting on instinct. Each process would be a sentence to a paragraph and those paragraphs would eventually become a finished book. It was a good exercise in design because I couldnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t just focus on learning new analog tools, I also had to push myself into new realms digitally. I used the power of iteration and the freedom of making with no end goal in mind to encourage research, craft, movement, taking risks, and pushing beyond what I thought I was capable of achieving. I learned a lot in a very short amount of time.

Extend the Cypher

cypher ↓

analog →

← digital

Foundation Circles

The most significant project in this body of work was when I took in content from break tapes, made compositions using digital tools like illustrator and photoshop, risographed bits and pieces of those compositions in order to achieve the texture quality I was looking for, scanned them back into my computer, where I then took them into an augmented program called Spark AR and turned them into an augmented reality experiences. People could use their instagram account and make the static poster come to life. It was in this project that I felt like I was truly owning the cypher. I was finally pushing the boundaries around how new technology, research, storytelling, and my love for dance can all work together to unravel new ideas about how the world experiences design.

I officially completed my cypher.

Extend the Cypher

cypher â&#x2020;&#x201C;

VHS risograph my hands community

illustrator photoshop spark AR instagram

Foundation Circles

Thesis Show Outcome

The idea behind this poster was to extend beyond the printed medium and add an interactive component to my work. I wanted to push the traditional poster print into AR space. I found that utilizing tools that seamlessly integrate with Facebook and Instagram allowed my work to be more accessible and exciting to share.

Extend the Cypher

Try it for yourself. Navigate to my instagram account @nicegreg, access the custom filters tab, hit the "Try It" icon on the bottom left. Have fun!

C HER

EXTEND

C THE YP

A VISUAL EMBODIMENT OF BREAKING CULTURE

THE PUREST FORM OF HIPHOP

FREEDOM OF EXPRESSION ROOTED IN ORIGINALITY

H SACRED CIRCLE OF TRUST

A LIMITLESS ART FORM

Foundation

Thesis Show Outcome

HELLO

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In order to educate my audience I created this interactive handbill. It was a simple takeaway that invited my audience to follow me on instagram.

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Instagram Icon

The final outcome of my poster was exciting. I noticed when I shared on my personal Instagram account, I received almost double the views as the static version I posted a week earlier.

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The final piece to be included in my thesis opening was a short film titled, Always a B-boy. This film was an idea realized in 2016 when I worked with filmmaker Ryan J. Bush to tell my story about dance and the significance it plays in my life. The film was created digitally but I decided to output the final version back onto VHS. In the show, I played this tape on repeat using a VHS player I picked up on craigslist free of charge. Full video can be viewed here:

vimeo.com/416410413

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Always a B-boy

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Section 08

Thanks

MICA GDMFA class of 2020 finishing up the year on Zoom due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

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Many thanks to the following people who helped make this project possible.

Thesis Advisors Jennifer Cole Phillips Ellen Lupton Jason Gottlieb Faculty Advisors Elaine Lopez Annaka Olsen Kiel Mutschelknaus Bob Cicero Brockett Horne Writing Advisor Abraham Burickson Mentors Adam Garcia Jerome Harris Peter Quinn Tj Cichecki Abe Garcia Friends Shawn Stephens Charlie Michael Ryan J. Bush Moon Patrol Crew Deadly Venoms Crew DMV b-boy scene DJ Fleg

Classmates Aasawari Kulkarni Anjali Nair Ashley Fletcher Cmo Yu Congjia Jin Cora McKenzie Ella Huang James Marshall Katty Huertas Lindy Zhu Min Li Ning Chen Sean Dong Shivani Parasnis Vivek Thakker Xiaoyu Song Yash Goel Zuli Segura Allah Cherisher and Sustainer of all systems of knowledge.

Family NaĂŻmah Muhammad Fitrah Muhammad Mom & Dad Laura Cunard David Fisk Kevin Fisk Jayla Fisk

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2020

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