Picture of the Week

So this week, my friend brought me to this art exhibition in Lasalle. It was pretty fun! It was an interactive art piece where you take the baseball bat and swing it at the wall. There is a sensor at the back of the wall creating a huge BOOM sound. It made my swing seem like it hit a lot harder than it did HAHAHA! It was pretty unique as it included me in the art itself. In a very awesome and testosterone filled way. These pass few weeks have been really draining and THIS was such a timely experience thingy. I actually felt a lot better after smacking the wall and imagining the wall to be some of my lecturers. It took out the constant worry of deadlines and the constant stress of school. It was just me, the bat and the white wall.  

Last week's Picture of the Day

OK sorry for the late entry, the previous week was hectic! I was like literally and figuratively bed ridden. I had high fever for 3 days straight. It's a miracle i managed to walk around the Night's festival

Ok let's get to it. So this is the picture of my grandma from her Birthday last week. I FRIGGIN LOVE MY GRANDMA! I think she is the probably the reason why I can never have a 6 pac. So last week she turned 83. She really is an inspiration to me and she is the strongest person I know. She lives in my house and everyday day she lifts pots and pans to cook for the family. Its something she does to pass the time i guess. Well, my tummy really thanks her! At 83, she can wake up everyday, walk around the house, tidy up the kitchen, cut vegetables, fold the clothes, cook dinner and care for a man child like myself. SHE ALSO TAUGHT HERSELF ENGLISH! Its crazy! So she wanted to be able to read the bible and her "daily devotional" so she started to learn english from the newspapers and through conversing. She has more conviction to do something than all the conviction i have to complete Design School! She is so strong that I think she does more stuff than all my previous domestic helpers combined. I just feel like I don't say thank you enough and I don't show my appreciation for her enough. So I dedicate this post to the Greatest GRANDMA EVAR, thank you for constantly caring for me (although you still nag at me), thank you for cooking all the crazy delicious Peranakan food for me and above all thank you for just being you!

Edward de Bono - discusses Lateral Thinking™

So Lateral thinking so a form of "higher" thinking. Many people have this stigma that creative people are completely different from others, that creativity is something someone is born with. Thats why companies sought out for creative mind like its gold. Especially in Singapore where, in my opinion, the education system hinders creativity but rather they promote conformity. Edward de Bono stresses on the point that this new method of brainstorming would allow anyone to pick up the skill of creativity. And he means its a skill! Not something only certain people are born with it.

I struggled with this for a very long time, I always felt that I was less creative than the people around me because I wasn't born with the natural gift of creativity. However, after this short 3 minute video, I realised what NAFA is trying to say. They are trying to break down the walls of such stigmas, to prove that anyone and everyone can be creative. Yeah sure, you can draw and do art. But at the crux of it all. They don't care if you're talented, in the first year, they want to show us that all students can be creative. No matter how small they creative ability may be.

And this was probably the easiest video to watch, partly because it's only 3 minutes (please keep it that way) and also because Dr Edward's voice is so relaxing. HAHAHAH yeah so this is my realisation and how I felt about the video

Reflection of mind map and other stuff that happened in class

 So this is my mind map about my life. I had to do this during class to practice how to see my life from a different view. i decided to write about the different areas in my life now and also the future i want for my life.

So during class that day we had to review other peoples blogs. That was the toughest thing i had to do all week! I hate critiquing people, it makes me feel like a bad person. I know how people say it help them and such but even i dont like it when people tell me what to do or critique me. However, we still had to do it and as much as i didnt want to point fingers we had to choose someone from another group and i chose Zhi Yao and Aishwariya. Both had nicely written blogs, it was just that they missed out some blog entries. They werent bad at all! BUT i had to choose someone. 

The crazy part about this was that we also had to choose a Good version on each and one of the groups said that i had a good blog. In my mind, i was like "you're mad" there were people like Haelyn and Raziq in my group. People who have been hard at work every week and I cant believe they were chosen on me. I felt that it was unfair to them because I myself don't agree with the class's choice. So this was what we had to do and i think it was really hard to do! Especially choosing one that you think wasnt up to par.

Nights festival

Warning: THERE ARE LOADS OF PHOTOS INCOMING

So this is my first time going to the Nights festival. It was massively crowded and it was super super hot! It was nice and all but I felt that the arts were more catered to people who sort of have or had a background in arts. If I went for this before i entered school i think i wouldn't have appreciate it as much. Im not saying some stuff didnt peak my interest but i just felt that there were just too many people and the interesting exhibitions were very far apart.

SAM 8Q 

So the first exhibition i went for was my lecturers exhibition. It was pretty strange and crazy to say the least. I didn't really understand everything at first but after the performance, some of my friends who are more seasoned in the arts are explained to me most of it. 

My friend explained here how Mr Ezzam was feeling the space. Getting a feel of the space he has to work with. 

This part was the craziest, He started to eat the talcum powder and blow them out. I TOTALLY DIDNT EXPECT THIS. The dedication to the art. HE LITERALLY STUFFED POWDER IN HIS MOUTH. I could see after some time that he was struggling not to vomit as the powder must have agitated his throat or made his mouth really dry. This part was where the crowd started to get a bit squeamish. 

I felt angry at the rude crowd though. Its not that I'm trying to be a teacher's pet or whatever but I felt frustrated when they just blatantly said "Oh he just eats the powder and spits it out. Lets go la". I just wanted to turn around and ask him to try and do likewise. To put in that same amount of passion for your own work and actually put powder in your mouth! Other people where also rude because they came to look around and not at least try and appreciate the message behind it.

After some research, I found that Talcum Powder is used like a baby powder but what struck me was that it was used on prisoners after they have been stripped and hosed down. It was something like a tool for cleansing. I began to think and ponder, i dont actually know if this is the message, but i felt the white room was his mind. The blinking lights were his ideas being contained in glass. He was using the powder to cleanse himself and his mind. Trying to bring everything to be white, to be pure again.

Thats just my interpretation.

After that we went to the National Museum. This was interesting and unique as they did some video projection mapping on the entire building. Creating the building as a screen for the little short film. I thought it was really nice as the vibrant colours drew a huge crowd. 

Later we walked to the Deck. It's near Lasalle. They had a few Art pieces on display and a contemporary dance item.

The dance was revolving around the use of sensors to light up the room and create the crackling sounds. To be honest, i thought it to be kinda creepy! The dancers were moving very randomly and rapidly that it looked like they were possessed or something. But after talking to the guide, it made more sense to why they moved and danced that way. Each light had a sensor that only detected a small area, one was only a swinging plank, one was a imaginary sphere in the middle and one was a globe that when moved created the lights. At first the dancers were wild but after a while i understood why they incorporated these moves into their routine.

These were some of the art pieces on showcase at the gallery.

Simple techniques created some crazy and intricate patterns and designs.

This was my favourite art piece throughout the night. It was a room filled with ripped pages of well known romance novels. They blanked out most of the sentences only revealing Love related words behind. I am a hopeless romantic and I think im the only dude that find certain romances appealing. The art pieces here must have taken up a lot of time as they had to fill the entire room, i really admired they dedication to their craft.  Some of the words that were left behind were pretty raunchy and erotic, i could see how the artist really thought his or her idea of love was.

Finally, we went to SOTA to see what they had. At first it look like just plain sculptures that resembled plants and flowers. 

After shining the UV light you could see the intricate patterns on the leaves and i thought that was pretty cool and unique.

So thats all the places i visited through out the Nights Festival, honestly i thought it was a bit over hyped and over rated. The crowd was insane. However, i really liked the exhibitions at the Deck, it had lesser people and the art there appealed more to me. 

Picture of the week

So this week, I went over to the Aliwal Arts Centre. They had a small flee going on and they were selling some locally designed and made products. Some were pretty intricate, like the jewelry products they sold. Others were just okay. They were pretty pricey though. 

After looking at their designs, I realised that I would have to start out just like them! I would have to put myself out there for people to purchase or criticize my work. After awhile, I felt pity for them. I felt like they are just starting out and it's always important to support local designs and products. It just made me realise how hard a designer has to work to be BIG in this ever changing industry.

Brainstorming 2 and Perspectives

Brainstorming

So this week, We continue our study of brainstorming. Last weeks assignment we were to brainstorm together about a topic. I personally think we got the best topic. "101 ways to kill a cockroach". I finally felt like I could express how crazy my mind wonders. This assignments was seriously fun but it would have been more productive if a certain someone in the group contributed better.

We started out class with a pretty heavy question. "What is your role as a designer?" I looked around at my team mates and we all had the same expression on our faces. The face of a "blur sotong". We wrecked our brains trying to think why we are pursuing what we are pursuing. I could only think of the things that came from the top of my head. But, Mr Rahman added to the question about morality. Would I design something if it was immoral. He gave the example of cutting down a tree and ruining the environment just to suit the clients needs and for the money. Honestly, if you're asking me about a tree, sure why not. I still get paid. BUT if you ask me to design work for something immoral and against my belief. I would not do it. If it goes against what I believe, I won't do it. I understand how we have to compromise when we design but I would definitely have to consider. My role I guess is to meet the needs of the problem. My role is to express our ideas, to express the ideas of my clients. My role is to inspire people and even inspire myself. My role is to use Graphic Design to connect people, to appeal to people in such way that it conveys my message. My role is to communicate.

Perspectives 

So halfway true class, Mr Rahman asked us to meet him at the statue. He just stood there and asked us to lie on the ground. The expression on our faces was priceless. "On the tiles? Seriously?"

It was a crazy exercise at first but as i laid down and stared at the sky. I realised how many things i wrote down on my note book. I never knew how the buildings obstructed our view of the blue sky. I never realised how loud things were on my side. I noticed so many new things. You can see some of my thought on the last picture. But i learnt one simple thing after i pondered about the exercise. Despite the eyes on us we still did it. I realised that throughout life, people will look at us differently because of what we do. It taught me that people's darting eyes, murmurs and opinions do not have to affect me. Yup thats a little revelation I got whilst on the ground.