In his essay on design fiction, Julian Bleecker explores the relationship between science, fiction, and design. Essentially, Blecker concludes that the three are invariably connected when it comes to how we perceive, understand, and create the world around us. If we look at today’s artifact culture as an example, we are surrounded by items that help us function smoothly in society. Cars allow us to get around, beauty products make people look younger and more attractive, psychological and social sciences inform us how other people work, textbooks teach doctors how to fix bodies, etc. One of the most fitting representations of our culture is, perhaps, the magazines such as Time or Cosmopolitan that synthesize our advertisements, trends, theories, and sexual attractions into one concise representation of our world.  

So what if our world were different than it is now? What if we changed something fundamentally and watched a new culture, a new design, a new magazine develop from the results? Our group decided to develop this new design culture in a world where people woke up in different bodies every day.

The first cultural design element that would change is our experience of human aesthetic. Suddenly, we wouldn’t have the constancy of our bodies to rely on every day. Our group figured that body shape, size, color, etc. would lose most of their significance. Makeup as an enhancer of physical features would, therefore, be useless. People would, however, be looking for ways to distinguish themselves every day. A name tag, of sorts, constructed with cosmetics. Instead of relying on faces for recognition, people might depend on individual makeup branding. Makeup could be used to identify individuals. Rather than a tool to mask imperfections, or enhance human beauty, it would be a form of self expression, and identity. Individuals could have a distinct makeup style or technique to be recognized by others, perhaps even having a color or symbol that is uniquely their own.

Fashion in this world would be drastically different than our own. Fashion models, and practically the industry itself would be obsolete. Because of the change of body size and shape, comfort and versatility would be people’s key concern. Some might choose to use baggy clothing piled on to suit their current size, and others would opt for a sort of one-size fits all mantra with elastic jumpsuits or one pieces. Pressures from media to be a certain size or shape would no longer be a concern.

With our ever changing aesthetic and cosmetic insignias, we would need a different convention for defining attractiveness. Perfume fits the bill. Scent is a non-visual element, yet it plays a major role in human magnetism and sexuality. We decided that if all visual cues for allure were gone, scent alone would define youth, fertility, and beauty.

Since we would not be able to control our changing bodies or their internal health, health care in our hypothetical world is based on the idea that body transitions aren’t all that comfortable. If we lived in a world where everyone’s body was constantly being altered, it would be logical that the healthcare system would try to make those transitions as painless as possible. Most health would be devoted to giving sedatives to people who experience painful transitions.

Psychology introduces another interesting aspect of a changing society. How do people rationalize individual identity with such a liquid physical representation of self? How, more specifically, can parents teach their children self esteem when the idea of ‘self’ is so abstractly disconnected from anything concrete? At least for this issue of our magazine, we decided to focus on the development of a consistent sense of self as a spotlight issue in psychology. This focus on psychology helped us to think about how in a world so different from our own that in reality the emotional struggles might not be so different.

WEBSPINNA!!!!!!!!!!!!!

When we were talking about the Webspinna project in class the week before we were to do It I was honestly very confused. I looked forward to dressing up, being creative and performing but I just did not understand what we were actually doing. I was kind of frustrated for a bit about having such little direction. Now that all is said and done I am really grateful for the lack of direction because it helped to foster creativity and get my mind going. It kind of reminds me of the difference between 2001 a Space Odyssey the book and 2001 A Space Odyssey the film.

The book gives specific descriptions and explanations of most of the concepts and ideas and even goes as far as to explain the purpose of the monoliths. The film on the other hand gives little to no explanation of anything happening at any point. While I don't think one way is better than the other ( I honestly prefer the book) it's hard to deny that the film is more successful in getting your mind turning and thinking in ways that it has rarely had to think before. This push was what made the experience such a fun event for the class. We were all in the same boat of confusion and it made it easy to share ideas and interpretations.

Our internet pirate vs. FBI warning battle started, oddly enough, with a costume idea. Kyler knew he wanted to dress up as Captain Jack Sparrow, and a day later he came up with the idea of cyborg makeup. Neither of us really knew what to do beyond that point, though. Cyborg Jack Sparrow? How would we sculpt a grand conceptual battle from that?

The ultimate idea birthed itself from our readings about plagiarizing, copying, and ‘borrowing’ other people’s art for our own purpose. The line (if there even is one) between Jonathan Lethem’s “The Ecstasy of Influence’ and the dozens of other works he referenced, quoted, and cited is very thin. Lethem’s essay depended entirely upon our foreknowledge and associations with other pieces of literature. So. Was it original? Was it clever? Was it Lethem’s own work, or did he….. pirate it?

With these questions rolling around in our minds, the only logical interpretation of Kyler’s costume idea was internet piracy. Our webspinna battle would be a decisive fight between the scumbags of digital downloading and the high morals of the FBI Anti-Piracy warning. Right vs. wrong. Dark vs. light. Property rights vs. free access and rights-free media manipulation.

Ironically, we relied on that free access and rights-free media manipulation to pull off our battle. We took other people’s creations and blatantly misappropriated their meaning, intention, and result for our own selfish use. Our web battle spun itself into an original anti-piracy ad made exclusively from pirated materials.

And if that doesn’t represent art, I don’t know what does.

In "How Texts become Real" the concept of investment giving meaning was addressed. As I read this I was able to relate greatly.

I immediately thought of my time as a young boy in Argentina and the emotion connection that I had the television show Batman the Animated Series. I went to an argentine school and was not only the only foreigner but for the first year or so could not understand any of the conversations happening around me. Each day I would wait patiently to go home and watch Batman. He was also alone, he like I, was surrounded by a strange world in which he did not fit in. To the general public he was a crazy man in a costume and to the costumed villains around him he was their bane. Through all this I began to relate to him and those that fought along side him I pictured myself as Knightwing. He to was alone working separately from Batman but always knowing he had an ally somewhere in the night. This gave me great comfort and helped me as I slowly began to learn the language and make friends.

To this day I have a strong emotional connections to Batman. While I like the films they have much less meaning to me because they do not have that value I gave them as a child. It has less to do with content and more to do with the meaning I have given to it. In fact I much prefer to read Deadpool comics.

         For this assignment I wanted to draw from my experience with the piece. I wanted to create a piece of art much like those that I would make as a child. I made sure to use construction paper glue and children’s scissors. I wanted to have this art that was so familiar to me represent the negative experiences I had as an outsider. I was made fun of often would associated the schoolyard bullies with the villains on the television. I placed them around me as a child dressed as Batman. I then took lines from the villains on the show and put them through several rounds of Google translate before lastly translating them to Spanish. This was the Spanish is how I heard It broken and confusing yet still full of cruelty.

THIS IS NOT A SONG

This is Not a Song is my attempt at making sense of the difference between music and between what one would call “a song”. It is an attempt to address the difference between art thats primary purpose is to be enjoyed and art that’s primary goal is to make a specific point. John Cages 4’33” helped to inspire a lot of my initial thoughts abut this. Silence is a great starting point for this conversation. Silence is an important part of music and is arguably a piece of music itself. That having been said entertainment and enjoyment are not a huge part of the concept of music being silence. Another source that addresses this point of the space in-between music is at the beginning of Invisible Man by Ralph Ellison. The central unnamed character enters this space in a dream like state in the beginning of the novel. He finds people there preaching and addressing ideas, more specifically topics pertaining to religion and race. This stood out to me as a testament to the importance of there being layered meaning in music as an art form but not necessarily as a form of entertainment. As I began to write the song I spent some time thinking about how straightforward I wanted to be with in expressing these ideas. I thought about McCloud’s Setting the Record Straight. I liked that the he used a very straightforward approach to express his ideas. He choose to speak directly to the audience. I knew I wanted that at some point but not throughout. There is part of the song where the lyrics directly address the confusion. I ask, “ what is the difference between music and a song?” I give certain suppositions but do not try to define. I leave it open, as “art” usually does. I also use more subtle approaches to address this idea both through lyrics and song. At one point I try and bridge the gap between song and painting by implying that describing a painting is the same as painting one. Underneath that a deep bass drum can be head which is actually me beating on one of the canvases of a painting of mine. I use many non-musical items like this to push the idea or theory that everything is music. Among these items are a waterbottle, a bowling pin, a hole puncher, scissors, and even the pages of the book Invisible Man as I read and sing from it. The last portion of the song addresses the opposite of the first. Where as the first is a pensive speculation of the ideas of music art and silence in regards to music the last third of the song address the opposite. Thru yelling and loud noise it tries to make sense of the emotional side of music, it is less subtle in both sounds and lyrics. The piece tries to address the nature of music and hopes to be music while failing o be a song.

Bartime Stories

“It's our history; we can change it if we want to,” says Miss Falewicz in the film, Be Kind, Rewind. In in many ways, she is right. Psychological studies show a lot of evidence for various ways in which we reform the past, occasionally conjuring memory out of whole cloth and sometimes out of nothing at all. Suggestibility, memory misattribution, false recognition—these are all terms that psychologists use to explain such events. We can liken it to Orwell’s 1984 with all its thought police and rewritten histories. You may even think of this example as a microcosm for our own brains. We create our own realities.

To that end, we ought to be skeptical of historical drama as fact. Our perception of history is largely influenced by where we are experiencing it. In our screenplay, we chose to incorporate popular themes in the world today: roles of women, the dubiousness of Thomas Edison’s character, the way ideas are sensationalized and misrepresented in society, etc. These things weren't really on the discussion tables in the 1880s when the story is set, but they allow us to connect to the period in a way that we understand and enjoy.

We took a great deal of creative liberty in developing the story—so much so that we suggest Edison may have been a woman. It’s left a bit vague, so it is up to the viewer to decide if this is Martin’s biggest lie yet, or if there's really some truth in it. The woman is, after all, a lead figure in Edison Machine Works, which is atypical of the 19th century American workplace. That aside, it turns out there were actually women inventors at the time. Prominent among them is Margaret Knight, known by journalists as the “Lady Edison.” The story is funny and silly, but there are some legitimate “currents” running through it.

A major inspiration as the story was written was the humor in everyday life. The original idea came as Kyler read a story about an argument between Thomas Edison and Nikola Tesla. Edison had promised Tesla 5,000 dollars if he completed a design. When Tesla completed the task and asked for his reward Edison said that he never intended on paying him and that Tesla simply didn't understand American humor. This prompted Tesla to leave Edison's employment. Tesla and Edison became rivals and had what one article refers to as a “war of currents”. The fact that such a silly thing took place between such great minds was a driving force behind writing a comedic script about this place in time. We liked the idea of creating a character that wants to be a part of history, as most people do. Through Martin we tried to show the ridiculousness and sometimes futility of this pursuit. Yet here we are in the very same business, attempting to elicit a snicker rather than “ooh, lightbulb” out of the name of Edison. Did we succeed? You can be the judge.

http://www.livescience.com/46739-tesla-vs-edison-comparison.html

http://www.biography.com/news/famous-women-inventors-biography

Bartime Stories

Future Library

The beauty of a process piece is the focus on creation, and at our core that is what sets humans apart from other living creatures on earth. What’s so wonderful about documenting a creation process, whether it is through the medium of film or through sound alone, is a compound effect. One creative piece inspires another and the potency of that creative process is given room to grow, much like a tree in the forest. This idea is evident in the short documentary, “The Smokehouse”. With each appropriately composed shot of the wood as he carved, we were watching a communication between two artistic works. The first being that of the woodwork and the second being the medium of film. This collaboration of artistic mediums illustrates a macro-process, similar to our audio documentation of “Future Library,” in which two processes compound and communicate. As art begins to communicate with art, it has a better chance to influence the people who come in contact with it and in doing so it has a better chance to stand the test of time. This idea of artistic communication and time is something that we wanted to portray as we started on this work.

The idea of Future Library is timeless, growing like tree roots into the past, rooted in the future, and growing upwards towards the future. The link between a tree and a book and man is as old as the written word itself, leading up to the moment where we are always faithfully writing books for a near-future audience, but now we are looking further into the future. Future Library will contain books that will not be read for a century, and authors such as Margaret Atwood and David Mitchell who are contributing to the project must faithfully write for an audience that may not even exist.

Rachel first stumbled upon the idea of “Future Library” as she was scouring a artistic journal publication for ideas. The idea stood out to her because it seemed like a simple time capsule, but it was actually complex: filled with questions and implications about the future of humanity, libraries, forests, and books. The artist, Katie Paterson, believes that these things are interconnected. She got the idea for Future Library when she thoughtfully compared tree rings to chapters of a book. We particularly liked the idea of trees growing as a book was growing, since their fate is interconnected. We wanted to reflect that in our process piece by juxtaposing the forest sounds with typewriting. We also decided that since the idea behind this process holds equal weight to the process itself, we wanted to avoid following a strictly linear path. We introduce the process piece with a quote from Fahrenheit 451, a book all too appropriate for this project. This introduces our theme, then we introduce our forest, a steady presence throughout the piece. The forest is the only component of this process that will be present in an interactable way in our lifetime, so we kept it throughout. We also thought forests and libraries to be very similar, so we juxtaposed them in the beginning with the audio of turning pages and stacking books.

Finally, we wanted to end the project with the theme of the unknown future. We included a clip of a news reel with no real news to introduce the idea of a century where anything could happen. Then, we end with a quote from T.S. Eliot: “The very existence of libraries affords the best evidence that we may yet have hope for the future of man.”