Rhea Gaughan / Production & Consumption / Studio Practice / Semester 2
Utopia –noun 1. an imaginary island described in Sir Thomas More’s Utopia (1516) as enjoying perfection in law, politics, etc. 2.( usually lowercase ) an ideal place or state.
Dystopia –noun 1. a society characterized by human misery, as squalor, oppression, disease, and overcrowding. 2. an imaginary place where everything is as bad as it can be. The opposite of Utopia
Studio Practice: Production & Consumption
Utopia Vs. Dystopia: To make a utopian environment through the use of found material. The utopia was a place that could not be seen, heard or found which was why using foil was a significant part of our installation - to reflect and attempt to ‘hide’ our utopian world. The image here illustrating the group assembling there places of utopia or dystopia.
Studio Practice: Production & Consumption
Using foil we cut out several circles which we placed in different locations to test how it would work in the environment. We also found that the foil aesthetically worked well; right, this cut out was placed on a pond reflecting the blue of the sky. Opposite is a rough draft of the manifesto I wrote for our utopian world.
Studio Practice: Production & Consumption
Studio Practice: Production & Consumption
The group and myself felt that the way that the manifesto was presented was as important as what the manifesto was saying. Originally I wanted to write the manifesto by hand in UV ink on white paper; making it invisible and mysterious, exactly how our utopian world is imagined. Alternatively we chose to work with foil as this was also used in our utopian installation. I experimented with the foil, embossing, debossing and then chose to hand print the text into foil using an embossing tool; it gave a texture that disappeared within the natural qualities of ‘crunched’ foil - it didn’t give anything away to the audience/reader until they got closer, but even then the manifesto was still a mystery.
F
ca
s of Central Am r u eri o lav
Mango, Chili and Prickly Pear Salsa Witness the flavours of central America with this refreshing, zingy, light salsa. Made with only the freshest ingredients.
Thomasina Miers is an English cook with a bold eccentric style. Her cooking is influenced by The Americas which she discovered whilst travelling in her youth. A passion for good fresh produce, ingredients and markets is shown in her distinct cooking style and she strives to share this with the nation through her restaurant Wahaca.
BB:
Patatas Bravas with green tomato dip INGREDIENTS: Mango (40%), Prickly Pear (40%), Chili, Starch, Water, Salt, Sugar, Coriander, Firming Agent: Calcium Chloride Nutrition Information: Typical values per 100g: Energy 126 kJ, 30 kcal; Protein 1.0g: ALLERGY INFORMATION CONTAINS Nuts, Wheat, Gluten. STORAGE
SOURCES DISPOSAL CARTON CARTON FILM
FCS
paper
plastics
Suitable for home freezing. Store in a cool dry place. Once opened, store in an airtight container.
Made in the UK. 2011 Thomasina Miers Ltd Po Box 3339 London L3 75H thomasinamiers.com
Studio Practice: Production & Consumption
To produce a brand name and two front of pack designs along with one back of pack design for chef Thomasina Miers. Working in a group proved hard and resulted in a range of individual designs from the group. It was much more worth while, benefitting my understanding of others design skills and difficulties as well as strengthening my image resources. Overall I feel my design was fit for purpose of the brief and conveyed the essence of Thomasina Miers’ food ethics as well as her passion for Cental American flavours. However, It has reinforced my opinion that packaging design/branding design does not fulfil my personal design beliefs and interests. It was a challenging brief physically, but not mentally or conceptually. It has however, reinforced my hunger and need for more ‘message-driven’ design.
Studio Practice: Production & Consumption
The Day After Today Manifesto. One of the submission which was chosen for the Rag Factory exhibition during the two week LAB. It is a work that was completed for and within my independent practice - therefore the Independent Practice portfolio will inform further. The LAB however, allowed me to disseminate this to an audience further than the university surroundings. This was an important and great opportunity considering the form of the work - a manifesto. The exhibition was not only a means of dissemination but also a way of collating feedback and more importantly further personal questioning of the subject that surrounded my manifesto. Ken Garland, visitor to the exhibition, purposed some interesting viewpoints and dialogue that will inform my work following on from the manifesto.
Information Graphics: To gather data and produce an information graphic from it. Choosing to gather data from objects/possessions inside peoples bags, I collated 12 different photographs, two examples opposite bottom left. I have highlighted, top right, the reoccurrence of a circle within the collections and recorded the variety of sizes. I have then, opposite bottom right, layered each circle upon another in order of when the photograph was taken e.g. bag 1/photograph 1= Circle 1 is the bottom layer, ect. The colour presents the difference in size through bands that have been formed. The diagram opposite top right, is a representation of the circles found within the early stages of development. Then, below, the circles placed upon eachother, bands showing difference in size. I took some inspiration from an information graphic poster, below and screenshot, left. I have channelled things such as colour and shape into my own design.
Studio Practice: Production & Consumption
NOT TO SCALE
Studio Practice: Production & Consumption
A Book About A Book: To become aware of how books work and how we are attracted to them, study close to one or several aspects and produce a ‘book about a book’. I chose to investigate language and the structure of a book. The concept of my book is ‘replacement’; how replacing text with image; text being the object that forms the image. I came up with several different experiments such as replacing letters with shapes; simplifying each letter to either a triangle, circle or square. Another; deleting all the text to leave behind only the punctuation which then formed dot-to-dot like patterns, and another, making structures from rivers and lines seen in the body copy. This was quite a detailed and thorough process. The idea all stemmed from my preference of image over text and proving that extraordinary things can be pulled out of text. I found this brief the most rewarding and challenging from the whole semester. The opportunity of selling a small number of my books at our uni bookfair was also a great aspect of the brief. I managed to sell all five books and get some great feedback. This brief was also a chance to put my bookbinding skills to practice which I feel worked well and suited my book.
24 Hour and 2 week LAB: During the 24 hour LAB I felt the emphasis was on change so Laura and myself altered one of the posters in the canteen. Using coloured acetate we cut out and laid the shapes onto the plastic cover of the poster which held it well for a week or so. The LAB allowed us to intervene, temporarily and make the environment our studio. The LAB made it clear that having an environment to work in away from home is significant to a good work ethic. The LAB was also a good opportunity to collaborate. Laura, Abi and I have started to work on a zine together, idea being, to produce a zine around a theme or word every month or maybe even quarterly. Our first zine will be around the word and theme ‘Triangle’. Images, right, showing work in progress.
Studio Practice: Production & Consumption
Studio Practice: Production & Consumption
What I have gained from semester 2: Production & Consumption This semester has been a huge contrast to last; time for alot of thinking and absorption by subjects thrown up from both studio assignments and contextual studies. Unlike last semester, I feel that contextual studies has played an enormous part within my work. Choosing to study and write up about Ken Garland’s First Things First Manifesto has opened up a whole new perspective I can draw upon and apply to my work, as well as furthering my previous work and thoughts on the theme of consumerism and waste. I also think that the ‘Utopia & Dystopia’ brief allowed me to understand the difference in morals and environments from person to person. This brief exposed me to the idea of an ‘artist manifesto’, which at first I honestly didn’t think I had much interest in. However, I proved myself wrong when contextual studies allowed me to grasp and appreciate the form of a manifesto. I made an attempt to produce my own manifesto which was exhibited in the Rag Factory exhibition during the LAB 2 weeks, one of the highlights of year 1. Another assignment that has been one of the most successful and as enjoyable is ‘A Book About A Book’ brief due to the opportunity of the bookfair at the end which was again a chance to disseminate my work. I do feel that this semesters briefs have needed alot more time to understand and consume due to the issues and subjects attached to them that personally I am attracted to. I also think that I have not produced as much work as last semester due to the overwhelming thought processing behind these briefs. However, I am not comparing myself to last semester because I feel I have gained alot more that, at present, cannot be made tangible but has given me food for thought.