"to simplify"
Re-imagined letterforms
When an object is removed from its familiar state and re-contextualized, our mind allows us the freedom to re-examine and approach the object in ways we may not have imagined.
It can be difficult to remove some things — particularly text — from their context without completely losing the meaning. However, if individual letterforms are removed, re-imagined, and then fed back into their previous context, is the original meaning lost and a new interpretation created? Is the essence of the original context still relevant?
Using letterforms as my subject, I’ve taken them through a series of processes using laser light, and moving back and forth between video, two, and three dimensions in an attempt to re-contextualize and re-interpret these letterforms.
Beware the laser
What am I doing?
A few years ago, I gave an artist talk at my alma matter in Indiana titled What Am I Doing? Over the past couple of years, I've continued to ask myself that question. This week, however, it's been a question that rears its head on an almost hourly basis.
Currently, I'm in the middle of thesis-making and explorations, and have confirm the question "What am I doing?" is relevant no matter what state an artist or designer is in (unless we're not making at all...which is a sad, sad state).
Context: While I'm not necessarily interested in re-presenting type or letterform, I'm curious how type-like forms can function within that environment. When you remove context, what does type become? Below are a few visual explorations I've been running down this week. In order to dial in my exploration process, I chose to use a phrase from my Sony headphones instructional manual "Handle the driver units carefully" which has very little meaning on its own.
Die Kunst stirbt
Art is dying of the masses and of materialism.
"It dies because the land it needs is all built up, the land of naiveté and of illusions...we must confess that we no longer have an artistic idea. ...we have entered a period without an artistic style, without a young revolutionary generation."
— Albert Langen, 1911
Public Interactives: Smell-O-Media
Smell has the ability to immediately evoke emotional reaction that no other sense can. And many times, particular smells are connected to a personal memory.
Smell-O-Media is an olfactory riff on Twitter that I created for my Public Interactives studio class at CCA.
In this interactive experience, I invited people to select one (or more) of six boxes to smell. Then, using a simple Twitter-like mobile-friendly website I'd created, participants were asked to document their name, where they are from, what the smell makes them think of, and any personal story connected to that smell in 140 characters or less.
After submitting their olfactory tweet, participants got to see what others thought the smell could be. While not everyone had a personal memory connected to each scent, participants who did were rewarded by having their story appear on a large monitor for others to enjoy.
Curious what people had to say about these these 6 scents? Check out Smell-O-Media for yourself!
Glasses as Momento: An Interactive Experience
The premise:
A pair of old glasses is typically more than just a pair of glasses. Often they contain significant nostalgic value and/or meaning for the owner.
The goal of The Glasses Project is to allow people to relive or experience someone else’s memories tied to a particular pair of frames. The experience encourages participants to satisfy their curiosity into the lives of others — however mundane — while the author can re-experience memories associated with those lenses.
The experience:
The participant selects a pair of glasses to wear (along with a corresponding QR code) and sits down in front of the booth.
Participants wave the QR code in front the screen in the booth, which queues the media / memories associated with those frames.
Participants are encouraged to experience as many different pairs of frames as they want, satisfying the voyeuristic tendencies of our culture today.