PART 1 :
STEP 1 : BRAINSTORMING OF BRIEF
According to my brief, i start to explore everything around me by brainstorming the four topic. This is another project about me and my mundane life, which seems quite similar with the first project in semester 1, but still different because there are more perspectives I need to consider. I need to collect specific data, self-tracking, collecting and rocording by different tools and try to describe it by visualizing, which is a new part for me.
The first one is The Nature In Place: Detritus and found elements around our life. Those things are representational, it contains everything I can see and touch. I drew the place where I live now, from inside to outside, try to get more detail and find more possibilities and inspirations.
The second one is Place and Technology: Your World In Machine. This one is related with electronic products around us. This is a quite broad issue, so I divided it into two perspectives, Things(noun) and Behavior(verb). Things are representational, such as phone, ipad, computer, laptop, electric appliance. Behaviors means purpose which are able to improve or help our mundane life, such as for communication, shopping, collecting, pleasure, study, numbing, recording, calculating, taking photo, searching and measuring.
The third one is Boring Place: What do you consider mundane and not worthy of documentation. Something that I would do or meet everyday, but those things have no special meanings or not that appealing for me. I am experiencing a depressive period recently, and that strengthened my sense of boring, but it might be a good chance to exploring this topic. I analysis it into 2 perspectives, indoor and outdoor.
The fourth one is Personal Space : That Could be anything from your bags or your bathroom. Another wide range! I start to think about it from space, What is my personal space made up of? I observe from my cabinet, bad, bathroom, desk and wardrobe.
The fourth one is Personal Space : That Could be anything from your bags or your bathroom. Another wide range! I start to think about it from space, What is my personal space made up of? I observe from my cabinet, bad, bathroom, desk and wardrobe.
STEP 2 : MY OWN TOPIC
Perhaps it was a coincidence that I had gone through a heartbreaking breakup at the beginning of the new semester, and was in a daze and trying to pick myself up by the time the first project was launched. According to my previous experience, when I was in a depressed state, it is easier to have various kinds of inspiration, so I decided to follow this experience, trying to find a theme from this event, which can be used to record my process of self-healing.
It is a not easy thing to find a quick and effective method to overcome this special period. So I did a little survey. What do you do when you’re trying to get out of a negative feeling? I did not only focus on broken-up, but everything that might has a certain effect on your mood for a period of time.
The longest part in every column represented the main behavior. Small sections at the beginning and the end indicated over supporting behavior, and the results are obtained according to how often the interviewees mentioned in the interview.
After that, I reviewed my brainstorm and think about my latest dynamics, I found that the most obvious anomaly in my life came from the number of cigarettes I smoked. It seems to be especially important during my healing period. I think this can be seen as a symbol. If I want to use something to record my healing state, I think smoking can be one of them.
STEP 3 : DATA COLLECTING
Based on this, I start to record related data. In order to keep as complete a record as possible of all relevant data, I decided to use some statistical tools that I have recently tried. A counting tool app designed by David Hunter, it can count occurences of discrete entities, for example, count different vehicle and their type that you pass on a walk.
I try to use this tool to record the number of times I go out and smoke and the number of cigarettes. All the data were collected from 11/06/2021-16/06/2021, It’s been 20 days since I broke up. As I showed in this chart, there are two counters. Counter 1 means the time I go out for smoking and walking, and counter 2 means quantity of cigarettes, my locations(latitude and longitude) and specific time will also be included by this tool.
In this chart, I record some important time, when i start to feel depressed, when i smoke and go for a walk, and use points to record my mood.
STEP 3 : SECONDARY RESEARCH
After determining my own topic and collecting the data, I start to think about how to create my own work. This is a topic about cigarettes and emotions, which confirms that my design inspiration comes from something related to cigarettes. Therefore, I first started to exploring more information about cigarettes.
https://www.britannica.com/topic/smoking-tobacco#ref6716
From the perspective of culture, I found a which contains the standard of world knowledge since 1768 called Britannica, It showed some related information such as history, health, public policy. From science perspective,
https://www.myvmc.com/lifestyles/whats-in-a-cigarette/
| Molecular Formula: C10H14N2 |
Based on those knowledge of cigarettes, I start to research some artwork about smoking and cigarettes, try to find more inspiration and possibilities.
The artist Robert Larson has spent more than 20 years searching for specific types of cigarettes and matchbox packaging, which he uses to create patterns, geometry and, more recently, metal works that touch on the history of tobacco and its important impact on our culture. Painstaking collection work means it can take months or even years to complete just one piece.
The texture he creates showed a sense of nerve excitement and density, All the textures and graphics are made up of cigarette boxes. The inspiration of the shapes comes from the image of cigarette packages and the composition of nicotine in cigarettes, which makes me realize that I am also a part of these dense cigarette boxes. When I exploring more about his works, I found that although it was inspired by cigarettes, it was intended to be a more profound reflection. Among them are the author’s understanding of the history of tobacco, the history of art, and his exploration of the meaning, symbolism and metaphorical potential of tobacco, and how it changed from a plant to a global commodity. So in his work, tobacco becomes a symbol, a contemporary and a timeless symbol, and they are interwoven in a creative way.
link: https://www.lacma.org/art/exhibition/tony-smith-smoke
Smoke is an architecture work which was designed in 1967 by American artist Tony Smith. It’s impact was so successful it made the cover of TIME magazine the same year. This smoke is not smoke by cigarettes but an abstract concept. Tony try to put the structure and characteristic of smoke in his work.
For example, His sketches were born out of a hexagonal grid which is the chemical formula for nicotine, it made his work looks wonderful, viewers can see different dimensional from different angle of view. What is interesting about it is it was continuous space grid smoke and lots of related sculptures can go forever. it is not limited, a thing can be extended and ongoing.
STEP 4 : Initial Idea
Based on my data and research, I start to create my sketch, I tried to make visualization from elements I collected, such as map, mood changes and downs, smoking times, pain time, smoking time.
