h e a d s o f m e d i o c r i t y

2010-08-05T07:46:00.000-07:00

S H O O T I N G

2010-06-15T01:32:00.001-07:00

P A R T I C I P A N T S O B J E C T S

2010-06-15T00:39:00.001-07:00

Alongside these environmental changes a series of objects or replicas belonging to individuals, willing to participate, were placed within the space.

All participants remained anonymous to each other. Upon seeing the first familiar object the viewer experiences a feeling of recognition and then another is seen and the viewer starts to give way to a feeling of unease as they feel a piece of themselves being exposed, It is this feeling in particular which i feel best illustrates what it is to be dressed. It is less about the physical object and more about the cognitive and emotional response to that object. Ultimately the intention of the film was to trigger this response.

L E V E L 1 0

2010-06-15T00:32:00.011-07:00

Erwin Wurm

My research has illustrated that people respond better to objects and experiences familiar or personal to them so for the purpose of this exploration i decided to focus on RMIT city campus, building 8, level 10 as an environment. Working along side director Yianni Warnock, i aimed to create a film to capture this familiar environment in such a way that was unfamiliar to the viewer. Slight physical changes were made to the environment, mood was altered using sound and lighting and certain elements of the space not often focused on were made paramount.

all hands were taken off the clocks
life was introduced
Every machine in the machine room was threaded up with green thread

Manequin branding was made colourful using lazer cut stencils.

D E A T H T H E O N L Y A N S W E R

2010-06-14T22:56:00.001-07:00

If we are so dressed by everything it would seem that the only way to be entirely undressed would be to no longer exist
I considered the film being a group of people attempting to get undressed - they start by removing their garments then in almost desperation attempt to scratch and scrape the surface of their skin off until finally they end up in jumpsuit/ bodybags and collapse in a heap on the floor. The camera looks down on the heap to expose the face the shapes create.

O B J E C T I V E W E A R

2010-06-14T21:53:00.003-07:00

In week 2 of the Shadow Studio we were shown the work of Erwin Wurm and more specifically his One Minute Sculptures exhibition where he provided a series of instructions to the audience and had them replicate his vision and hold for 60 seconds. A series of the sculptures were carried out in class one of which was a shirt on a hanger hung from the lip of the wearer – the general response to whether she was ‘wearing’ the shirt was “from some angles”. If a person stood in the middle of a room and the objects within the space moved closer and closer to the individual at what point would she be dressed by them? Is the act of wearing something purely subject to proximity to self, or is it more dependent on the accepted manner or representation of how a human would traditionally wear something?

F U R N I S H I N G T H E S E L F

2010-06-14T21:53:00.001-07:00

If our environments play such a pivotal role in dressing us, if i were to construct a fully textile environment would the response be to interact with the objects within the environment as clothing?

Alexander McQueen

Cosmic Wonder
Phillip Toledano

C R E A T I V E S P A C E S A N D T H E O B J E C T S W E S U R R O U N D O U R S E L V E S W I T H

2010-06-14T21:48:00.001-07:00

When beginning my research I found it a lot easier to discuss what it was to be dressed than what it was to be naked. When we take our clothes off before stepping into a shower, are we not appropriately dressed for that situation? And furthermore if we surmise that when we physically interact with something we are wearing it are we not then dressed by the water that runs over the body once the shower is turned on?

Q U E S T I O N N A I R E K I T T Y

2010-06-14T21:13:00.007-07:00

O B J E C T Q U E S T I O N N A I R E

2010-06-14T21:13:00.005-07:00

P R O P O S A L

2010-04-29T19:40:00.000-07:00

Key Questions:

Why participate in the first place?
Are we only truly naked when we are unable to see the reactions of the individuals we are seen by?
If an individual is naked are they not still dressed in their 'self'?

What is your project about/ what are you researching?

"Fashion and clothing are in the business of dressing something up as something else, they take the body and disguise it or present it as something that it is not. Fashion and clothing may be used to mislead to make people respond in ways that they would not or should not"

It is this claim; that fashion and clothing impose meanings on a raw material that either does not originally have any meaning or which has a sort of natural meaning and that through the act of dress we are in a way engaging in a form of participatory or performance art that i aim to explore.

Participation - from the Latin participare (to participate), derived from pars (part) and the root capere (to take).

Participatory art is described as 'situations created by the artist that involve members of the audience as participants or even partners inthe art-making process. Whilst taking into consideration the social systems within which the public engage with art. In a sense, a designer is an artist creating a product in response to a social system or community. And in essence the consumer or target market the audience invited to participate by wearing and get involved and alter through styling or accessorising.

'Artists must recognise that people, as an entity, are the only true artists: "Not ye wise men, therefore, are the true inventors, but the Folk; for want it was that drove it to invention. All great inventions are the People's deed; Whereas the devisings of the intellect are but the exploitations, the derivatives, nay, the splinterings and disfigurements of the great inventions of the Folk." Richard Wagner

Is clothing an aesthetic object separate from the body it encases or does it protect and enhance the human form? A central concern is not only the clothes that cover our bodies but the bodies we recover under our clothes?

If an individual is naked are they not still dressed in them selves - the language they use, the posture they assume, their belongings, their shell.
Our skin - we tan, cover, expose, make-up, tattoo, pierce.
Our hair - we grow, cut, style or colour.
Our nails - we grow, cut, paint and decorate.If one was to be undressed, but still 'wearing' these extensions of self are we not still packaging ourselves in the same way as we do when we wear clothes?

Goffman says "Clothing comes to share in the work of ambivalence management as much as does any other self-communicative device at our disposal: our voices, body postures, and facial expressions and the material objects we surround ourselves with" (1959)

The psychological theory of The Looking Glass Self, a notion brought to light by sociologist Charles Horton Cooley examines the idea that an individual and society or environment do not exist as two separate entities, but rather one is the product of the other. There are three parts to the concept;

How the individual thinks others perceive them
How the individual thinks others judge that perception
and The reaction of the individual to those perceptions and judgements.

The theory points out that we are simply products of our cultures, our physical surroundings and the human beings with which we associate and interact with.

Are we then only truly naked when we are unable to see the reactions of the individuals we are seen by?

The practice of participatory are cannot be discussed within today's society without taking into consideration the free sharing of content epitomised by online communities such as Wikipedia, Facebook, Youtube and Blogging. All such forms of social networking have radically altered the ways in which we relate to each other - not only online, but also as a society.

These online forums also act as mediums through which we can 'dress' or express ourselves without feeling or viewing the perceptions of others.

Another branch of participatory art i wish to explore is the inclination toward collaborative practice, in order to achieve my outcomes with the highest possible standard i will be working alongside individuals possessing skills in areas i wish to use and don't feel i could execute effectively on my own.

P O S T M O D E R N M I C H A E L

2010-04-27T00:13:00.002-07:00

"Michael Jackson was the penultimate post-modern artist; the permanent impression of a person being able to transform race, gender, age, and identity with the use of mass media is an artform. Like a human collage Michael had a tiny doll nose, pretty pink lips, fawn eyes, opalescent skin, Liz Taylor hair and Kirk Douglas jaw line. Only in our futuristic present are people able to transform their physical being to match their internal identity, anyone can change their look, even in the slums of Brazil breast augmentation is big business. Michael Jackson was a true visionary who understood the synergy of image, performance and marketing to penetrate the minds of people even to the farthest corners of Earth."

B O D Y P A R T S

2010-04-27T00:13:00.001-07:00

It is clear to me now that the feeling of being dressed transends any fabric construction made to interact with particular parts of the human form. It's just as much mental as physical and the way in which we express this feeling through physical things is in the environments we inhabit and the things with which we surround ourselves with.

B R E A S T T O P

2010-04-26T23:18:00.001-07:00

P A C K A G I N G T H E S E L F

2010-04-26T23:16:00.000-07:00

Hannah Beth Raisin

When external environment is removed is clothing an aesthetic object separate from the body it encases or does it protect and enhance the human form? A central concern is not only the clothes that cover our bodies but the bodies we recover under our clothes? are we not still dressed in our bodies, In the way we speak, walk, hold ourselves, our hair, skin and nails. If one was to be undressed, but still 'wearing' these extensions of self are we not still packaging ourselves in the same way as we do when we wear clothes?

Phillip Toledano (2004)

Michael Burton

E X T E N T I O N O F S E L F

2010-04-26T21:39:00.004-07:00

Nagi Noda, 'Hair Hats'

Julie Rrap 'Body Double' (2007)

If an individual is naked are they not still dressed in their body – the language they use, the posture they assume, their belongings, their skin – we tan, cover, expose, coat in make up, our hair – we grow, cut, style or colour, our nails we grow, cut, paint and decorate? If one was to wear only these extensions of self are we still not packaging ourselves in the same was as we do when we wear clothes?

C L O S I N G T H E G A P

2010-04-26T21:39:00.001-07:00

By extending the reach of the body we get a little closer to the environment we inhabit

T I F F A N Y P A R B S

2010-04-26T21:31:00.001-07:00

Tiffany Parbs’ cosmetic explores just such a gap utilising the medium of jewellery. This new body of work problematises the surgical processes that would purport to erase dermatological traces of time and history. Parbs uses her own body to stretch the boundaries of what we know and understand as ‘jewellery’ as well as ‘skin’.

This understanding of the skin as a complex enfolding of time and space is further reiterated in “bake”, where the word “RAW” has been burnt into the delicate region of the décolletage.(2) “bake” appropriates the body as if it were a flat surface, using the skin as a photographic membrane and deliberately exposing it to the stain of the sun.

Here adornment figures as a crafting of the self; ‘jewellery’ fashioned from the biological matter of the very skin which is its ground. Again it is the secondary mediation of the photograph (itself a type of ‘skin’ (3)), which so effectively re-marks the seamlessness of cosmetic processes. With “bake” we are forced to reconsider the permanency of surgery, the cultural impulse to nullify the complexity of time.

Rendered photographically, the work developed as part of cosmetic imbricates the conventions of jewellery with photography, marrying the material with the conceptual, the cultural with the political. Crucially, Parbs has developed a unique dialogue between craft methodologies, apt to amplify our relationship to the skin of our own bodies.

L E A T H E R H A I R A N D F E A T H E R S

2010-04-26T21:29:00.001-07:00

As a result, I opted to create these ‘garments’ using alternative materials. I made lashes from horse hair, pubic hair from emu feathers and nipples out of leather and studs However, the tangible outcomes existed so separately from any of the psychology behind this ‘feeling’ of being dressed. When viewed separately from any individual they had little to no effect on the viewer, which then posed the question of; whether ‘wearing’ something was purely dependent on the distance it was positioned from the wearer.

T H E P E R F E C T H U M A N

2010-04-26T20:31:00.000-07:00

M I C H A E L B U R T O N

2010-04-21T20:16:00.000-07:00

Michael Burton 'The Race' (2006-2007)

Through 'The Race', Michael Burton explores the possible implications of the sterile world within which we now live. Through his pieces he suggests that possible new alterations to the human body - the process of mutation, natural selection and genetic engineering could one day lead to manipulations to the human body.

Fingernail growth could be engineered to increase the surface area where bacteria can thrive. Nail biting would be encouraged as a means of consumption in order to boost immunity and as a result; health and wellbeing.

O L I V I E R G O U L E T

2010-04-21T20:08:00.000-07:00

Olivier Goulet, 'Skin Bag' (2008)

SkinBag creates seamless, realistic-looking yet fake, human skin that is worn like a catsuit. SkinBag is the creation of Olivier Goulet, a French artist who makes clothes, accessories, shoes and more out of the single pieces of organic, synthetic material that not only looks like skin, but feels like flesh too.

The clothes and accessories first draw attention for their unique, albeit creepy, look and then repulse when their intended resemblance to human skin is noted, then attract once again when it is realized that they are indeed crafted from synthetic materials.

And that is precisely the desired effect behind Goulet’s enterprise: to create a shock to the system and to make us question our relationship to ourselves.

What happens when we abolish surfaces? The cosmetic industry represent the skin as something which has only two dimensions, it is a surface for inscription. What is the third dimension hidden beneath the smooth surface? What does the interface become, if we leave behind the traditional man-machine mechanisms?

D R E S S E D I N T H E S H A D O W S

2010-04-21T17:39:00.006-07:00

‘Kiki posing nude among the ferns and grass, with the shadow of the fern against her arm like a bracelet above the elbow’

‘Entirely different in feeling is the image of Kiki posed in one of the frames for Retour a la raison, her bare torso striped with the refection from the curtain by the window’

‘what man ray created was more than style – it was a whole erotics of representation, in which the observer is involved in his associations, isolations and impositions, he not only iconises the subject, but refashions seeing itself.'

Benstock, S, Ferriss, S(ed.) 1994, On Fashion, Rutgers, USA.

S Y M B I O T I C A V I S I T

2010-04-21T17:39:00.001-07:00

My initial thought was to create a series of garments, which functioned as an extension of self: long thick eyelashes, conventional garments made from skin and gloves and shoes from fingernails. I went to visit the team at Symbotica at the University of Western Australia to discuss my concept and it was made quite clear that in order to physically manufacture human tissue a sterile and fully equipped lab would be required.

S Y M B I O T I C A

2010-04-21T17:27:00.004-07:00

We inhabit three containers: skin, clothing and buildings. We configure the design of our dress and shelter – we cut our coat to suit our cloth - but we are born in our skin.
In essence, skin grows and changes with the individual, deciding how the garment will ‘grow’ depending on the growth of the wearer.

“An artistic laboratory dedicated to the research, learning and critique of life sciences”

SymbioticA is an artistic laboratory within the School of Anatomy and Human Biology at The University of Western Australia. It is dedicated to the research, learning and critique of life sciences. It is the first research laboratory of its kind, in that it enables artists to engage in wet biology practices in a biological science department. SymbioticA hosts residents, runs workshops, produces exhibitions and organises symposiums as part of the core activities.

SymbioticA was established to provide a situation where interdisciplinary research and other knowledge and concept generating activities can take place. SymbioticA offers a new means of artistic inquiry, one in which artists actively use the tools and technologies of science - not just to comment about them - but also to explore their possibilities. It also provides an opportunity for researchers to pursue curiosity-based explorations free of the demands and constraints associated with the current culture of scientific research while still complying with regulations.

D E F I N E C L O T H I N G

2010-04-21T17:14:00.004-07:00

‘It may not be possible to define a particular piece of clothing or a specific garment as an item of fashion, but it should be possible to ascertain whether a particular piece of clothing is functioning as fashion. In the same way as a bin liner, for example, is not an item of dress until someone wears it. So a garment is not an item of fashion until someone uses it to indicate their actual or ideal place in a social structure.’

Barnard, M 2002, Fashion As Communication, Second Edition, Routledge, London.

Erwin Wurm, Plastic Process

the general response to whether the shirt was being worn was "from some angles"

which garment is the model wearing - the more conservative, recognisable tailored jacket or the unconventional but 'worn' screen/mini dress?

at what point does this garment stop being considered ‘clothing’?
What makes a a piece of clothing a piece of clothing? At what point does a piece of
clothing no longer qualify as a piece of clothing? If the garment is constructed from
a material which is sheer, loosely woven or has holes in it, is it still clothing? if it is
an object/smell/substance not usually associated with the body but is interacting with
the human form is it clothing? is the act of ‘wearing’ something purely subjet to
proximity to self, or is it more dependent on the accepted manner or representation
of how a human would traditionally ‘wear’ something?
To paraphrase Magritte; if I say I’m wearing a garment, is it a garment?
I suggests that as long as the seams in a garment relate to particular anatomical
points on the body which allow the wearer to achieve freedom of movement then the garment is a functioning garment. The further the fabrication moves around the body from these particular points the more ‘decorative’ it becomes.
The façade, or face, of a building or dress, could be considered to be decorative. The foundations or structural devices on which the ‘face’ is supported is, however, intrinsic to the design’s purpose. For this reason, i regard the fabric between seams, darts and other construction devices to be ‘filler’ and therefore surplus to requirements.

S U R R O U N D I N G S A S G A R M E N T S

2010-04-21T17:10:00.004-07:00

‘ Fashion is the social by-product of the opposition of processes of conformity and individualism, or unity and differentiation, in society.’ Simmel (1904)

‘Clothing comes to share in the work or ambivalence management as much as does any other self-communicative device at our disposal: our voices, body postures, and facial expressions and the material objects we surround ourselves with (Goffman 1959)

‘ That clothes we wear make a statement is itself a statement that in this age of heightened self-consciousness has virtually become a cliché. But what is the nature of the statements we make with our clothes, cosmetics, perfumes and coiffures, not to mention the other material artefacts with which we surround ourselves? Are such statements analogous to those we make when we speak or write, when we talk to our fellows? In short, as the novelist Alison Lurie (1981) has recently claimed, is clothing not virtually a visible language, with it’s own distinctive grammar, syntax, and vocabulary?’

P E R C E P T I O N

2010-04-21T17:10:00.001-07:00

"What you see is where you see it. Perception is reality. You are judged by who you're with. That said, in the long run you will benefit much more if you endure the temporary snubs and jabs and stand up for who you believe in. If you sincerely like his work and if he's a nice person who would also stand up for you, then start your own scene. There's nothing like a point of view. Confidence and decisiveness will conquer wishy-washiness." Mark Kostabi

‘the desire for approval did not die out as a man passed through the different stages of civilisation. The same motives must be satisfied, whether the individual lives in the jungles of Africa or on Park Avenue in New York City. The only difference lies in the expression which is given to these motives, and this is determined to a large extent by the ideals of the nation to which the individual belongs.’
Hurlock, E.B, 1929, The Psychology of Dress: An analysis of Fashion and its Motive, AYER Company, USA

C L O T H I N G A N D B O D Y

2010-04-21T16:44:00.005-07:00

‘fashion and clothing are in the business of dressing something up as something else, that they take the body and disguise it or present it as something that it is not. It is the claim that fashion and clothing impose meanings on a raw material that either does not originally have any meaning or which has a sort of natural meaning, The second is that fashion and clothing may be used to mislead, to make people respond in ways that they would not or should not.’

‘is clothing an aesthetic object separate from the body it encases or does it protect and enhance the human form? A central concern is not only the clothes that cover our bodies but the bodies we recover under our clothes.

’Benstock, S, Ferriss, S(ed.) 1994, On Fashion, Rutgers, USA.

lash bodice

lash scarf

accessorising the hair garment

http://www.showstudio.com/project/makeupyourmind

L A N G U A G E

2010-04-12T05:19:00.003-07:00

"Language complicates things. We often think language mirrors the world in which we live. I find that's not true, i find that language makes the world in which we live.
Things don't have an immutable value by themselves, we describe them a value.
Language can't be understood in its abstract, it can only be understood in terms of story - and everything, all of this, is story, and it's important to remember that because if we don't then we have become ahistorical."
Chris Abani, The Stories of Africa (June 2007, TED)

L I N E L I G H T E X E R C I S E

2010-04-12T05:02:00.001-07:00

This week we did a workshop involving extrapolating a 3D object from a 2D linear drawing using a projector and a smoke machine. In a group of 3 we drew a 3D image made up of three 2D shapes to create a 3D 3D smoke cubby.

We were then asked to interpret our 3D smoke results using fabric. Jemi, Jacinta and I used bamboo rods to construct geometric shapes which we then pushed into a tube of fine mesh.
Below is the outcome.

PERFORMANCE ART

2010-04-12T04:56:00.001-07:00

T H O U G H T S P R O V O K E D

2010-04-12T04:37:00.005-07:00

1. Shadow's cast by a particular object alter and shift depending upon where the light source is - Could a garment's shadows be considered the elements surrounding the 'real' or 'final' garment? for example;

patterns
cutting
design process
merchandising
wearer interaction etc...?

2. Is darkness a giant shadow or simply a bi-product of light? similar to nudity - is nudity only exist as an opposing state to being clothed?
"nudity and nakedness are human constructions"
Barnard, M 2002, Fashion As Communication, Second Edition, Routledge, London.

3. Is being sufficiently clothed for a situation the same as being 'dressed' (this idea of being 'over-dressed' or 'under-dressed' for a particular time/place)
* As a result, is being naked in the shower then being appropriately 'dressed' for that situation?

4. After removing my stewed apfel bustenhalter i was left with a sticky stewed apple residue invisible to the eye but sensitive to touch which made me feel more 'dressed' than when wearing the fresh and more structurally sound bustenhalter which appeared more identifiable as a garment. This got me thinking about garment residue.
when we undress are we left with a garment 'residue' - a feeling, a memory, the markings the smell - are we 'undressed' as apposed to naked? can we ever really be 'naked' again? from the first moment we are wrapped/swaddled as a child are we then forever after simply 'undressed' or once we shower/bath do we rid our selves of all residue making us fresh and naked for the following dressing?
...... or when you're showering are you dressing your physical self in water?! artist wank!
*note to self - start saving lives...

5. Are we really only concerned with which body parts are exposed, combined with environment in feeling 'dressed' (environment being both physical and mental)?

6. is feeling comfortable the same as feeling dressed? - i wear an awful lot of uncomfortable clothing and would still consider myself dressed in them.... perhaps not appropriately dressed for some situations but dressed all the same.

7. Can you be naked but appear 'dressed'?

KEYWORDS/THEMES

naked vs undressed
silhouette
behind the garment - pattern/cut
viewer perception
wearer perception
comfort
the language of 'dress'

H A N D M A D E

2010-04-12T04:35:00.003-07:00

Henry Bursil, 'hand shadows to be thrown upon the wall' (published 1859)

Pilobolus Dance Theatre, add for VW

Tim Burton, Vincent (1982)

THE RAVEN by Edgar Allan Poe (1845)

Once upon a midnight dreary, while I pondered weak and weary,
Over many a quaint and curious volume of forgotten lore,
While I nodded, nearly napping, suddenly there came a tapping,
As of some one gently rapping, rapping at my chamber door.
`'Tis some visitor,' I muttered, `tapping at my chamber door
Only this, and nothing more.'

Ah, distinctly I remember it was in the bleak December,
And each separate dying ember wrought its ghost upon the floor.
Eagerly I wished the morrow; - vainly I had sought to borrow
From my books surcease of sorrow - sorrow for the lost Lenore -
For the rare and radiant maiden whom the angels named Lenore -
Nameless here for evermore.

And the silken sad uncertain rustling of each purple curtain
Thrilled me - filled me with fantastic terrors never felt before;
So that now, to still the beating of my heart, I stood repeating
`'Tis some visitor entreating entrance at my chamber door -
Some late visitor entreating entrance at my chamber door; -
This it is, and nothing more,'

Presently my soul grew stronger; hesitating then no longer,
`Sir,' said I, `or Madam, truly your forgiveness I implore;
But the fact is I was napping, and so gently you came rapping,
And so faintly you came tapping, tapping at my chamber door,
That I scarce was sure I heard you' - here I opened wide the door; -
Darkness there, and nothing more.

Deep into that darkness peering, long I stood there wondering, fearing,
Doubting, dreaming dreams no mortal ever dared to dream before
But the silence was unbroken, and the darkness gave no token,
And the only word there spoken was the whispered word, `Lenore!'
This I whispered, and an echo murmured back the word, `Lenore!'
Merely this and nothing more.

Back into the chamber turning, all my soul within me burning,
Soon again I heard a tapping somewhat louder than before.
`Surely,' said I, `surely that is something at my window lattice;
Let me see then, what thereat is, and this mystery explore -
Let my heart be still a moment and this mystery explore; -
'Tis the wind and nothing more!'

Open here I flung the shutter, when, with many a flirt and flutter,
In there stepped a stately raven of the saintly days of yore.
Not the least obeisance made he; not a minute stopped or stayed he;
But, with mien of lord or lady, perched above my chamber door -
Perched upon a bust of Pallas just above my chamber door -
Perched, and sat, and nothing more.

Then this ebony bird beguiling my sad fancy into smiling,
By the grave and stern decorum of the countenance it wore,
`Though thy crest be shorn and shaven, thou,' I said, `art sure no craven.
Ghastly grim and ancient raven wandering from the nightly shore -
Tell me what thy lordly name is on the Night's Plutonian shore!'
Quoth the raven, `Nevermore.'

Much I marvelled this ungainly fowl to hear discourse so plainly,
Though its answer little meaning - little relevancy bore;
For we cannot help agreeing that no living human being
Ever yet was blessed with seeing bird above his chamber door -
Bird or beast above the sculptured bust above his chamber door,
With such name as `Nevermore.'

But the raven, sitting lonely on the placid bust, spoke only,
That one word, as if his soul in that one word he did outpour.
Nothing further then he uttered - not a feather then he fluttered -
Till I scarcely more than muttered `Other friends have flown before -
On the morrow he will leave me, as my hopes have flown before.'
Then the bird said, `Nevermore.'

Startled at the stillness broken by reply so aptly spoken,
`Doubtless,' said I, `what it utters is its only stock and store,
Caught from some unhappy master whom unmerciful disaster
Followed fast and followed faster till his songs one burden bore -
Till the dirges of his hope that melancholy burden bore
Of "Never-nevermore."'

But the raven still beguiling all my sad soul into smiling,
Straight I wheeled a cushioned seat in front of bird and bust and door;
Then, upon the velvet sinking, I betook myself to linking
Fancy unto fancy, thinking what this ominous bird of yore -
What this grim, ungainly, ghastly, gaunt, and ominous bird of yore
Meant in croaking `Nevermore.'

This I sat engaged in guessing, but no syllable expressing
To the fowl whose fiery eyes now burned into my bosom's core;
This and more I sat divining, with my head at ease reclining
On the cushion's velvet lining that the lamp-light gloated o'er,
But whose velvet violet lining with the lamp-light gloating o'er,
She shall press, ah, nevermore!

Then, methought, the air grew denser, perfumed from an unseen censer
Swung by Seraphim whose foot-falls tinkled on the tufted floor.
`Wretch,' I cried, `thy God hath lent thee - by these angels he has sent thee
Respite - respite and nepenthe from thy memories of Lenore!
Quaff, oh quaff this kind nepenthe, and forget this lost Lenore!'
Quoth the raven, `Nevermore.'

`Prophet!' said I, `thing of evil! - prophet still, if bird or devil! -
Whether tempter sent, or whether tempest tossed thee here ashore,
Desolate yet all undaunted, on this desert land enchanted -
On this home by horror haunted - tell me truly, I implore -
Is there - is there balm in Gilead? - tell me - tell me, I implore!'
Quoth the raven, `Nevermore.'

`Prophet!' said I, `thing of evil! - prophet still, if bird or devil!
By that Heaven that bends above us - by that God we both adore -
Tell this soul with sorrow laden if, within the distant Aidenn,
It shall clasp a sainted maiden whom the angels named Lenore -
Clasp a rare and radiant maiden, whom the angels named Lenore?'
Quoth the raven, `Nevermore.'

`Be that word our sign of parting, bird or fiend!' I shrieked upstarting -
`Get thee back into the tempest and the Night's Plutonian shore!
Leave no black plume as a token of that lie thy soul hath spoken!
Leave my loneliness unbroken! - quit the bust above my door!
Take thy beak from out my heart, and take thy form from off my door!'
Quoth the raven, `Nevermore.'

And the raven, never flitting, still is sitting, still is sitting
On the pallid bust of Pallas just above my chamber door;
And his eyes have all the seeming of a demon's that is dreaming,
And the lamp-light o'er him streaming throws his shadow on the floor;
And my soul from out that shadow that lies floating on the floor
Shall be lifted - nevermore!

I N C L A S S S H A D O W E X E R C I S E S

2010-04-12T04:33:00.000-07:00

shadow swing

K U M I Y A M A S H I T A

2010-04-12T04:28:00.001-07:00

If your shadow was a living entity but if it was a living entity, it’d probably go on its own trail after the light of day has subsided. As the works of Kumi Yamashita, she uses smart visual effects to create an illusion of shadows in her artwork. Firstly, she uses mundane objects as wood or metal scattered randomly without order, at first glance you would somewhat question the aesthetics behind it. But everything comes together when light is cast over the objects revealing a silhouette of people. It forms an illusion of reality as you come to understand that the objects become a symbolic part of the shadow.

Below are some selected works by artist Kumi Yamashita.

Profile, 1994
wood, light, cast shadow
Description: The number and the alphabet blocks, lit from the left, cast a silhouette of a man's profile.

Exclamation Point, 1995
wood, light, cast shadow
55 x 39 x 6 in.

Building Blocks, 1997
Light, wood, Shadow
Collection of Boise Art Museum, Boise, Idaho.
Description: The building blocks of various widths on the wall, lit from the right, casts a silhouette of a woman.

City View ,2003
Light, Aluminum, Shadow
Permanent display at the 2nd floor of Nanba Parks Tower, Osaka, Japan.
Commissioned by Nankai Railways Inc.
Description: The numbers scattered on the wall, lit from the right, cast a silhouette of a woman.

A little animated story based on the shadow sculpture "City View" by Kumi Yamashita. By Peter Eszeny.

G A R M E N T I N T E R A C T I O N

2010-04-11T23:58:00.001-07:00

Erwin Wurm 'plastic process' (1995)

"The act of dealing with sweaters, putting them on and taking them off, is hardly ever perceived consciously. When the object, i.e. the sweater, is stretched so that the body of the wearer can find its way into this envelope, when it shrinks so as to adapt to the body's contours and to create a shape or a lack thereof, an essential plastic process takes place." Erwin Wurm

Ä P F E L B Ü S T E N H A L T E R

2010-04-11T02:40:00.000-07:00

dried

Fresh and peeled

stewed

M A T E R I A L W O R K S H O P

2010-04-10T22:13:00.000-07:00

WORKSHOP 2
PART 1: Choose ONE material from EACH category

MATERIAL CATEGORY 1
Units: an object/material you can use in repetition to form/ assemble an object
a. Pins
b. Chips
c. Balloons
d. Salt
e. Other- choose another material that sits in this category

MATERIAL CATEGORY 2
Wet Solids: material you can cut/ carve/ melt
a. Butter
b. Soap
c. Chocolate
d. Wax
e. Other- choose another material that sits in this category

MATERIAL CATEGORY 3
Fluid: a material that has no fixed shape
a. Icing Sugar
b. Dirt
c. Water
d. Hair gel
e. Other- choose another material that sits in this category

MATERIAL CATEGORY 4
Sheet: Flat surface
a. Foil
b. Tape- Masking/ Cello
c. Paper
d. Glass
e. Other- choose another material that sits in this category

PART 2:

Step 1: Choose one item of clothing you are wearing

Step 2: Re make your garment x4 using your select materials

Step 3: 'Put on' your garments & Document

material category 1 - lentil briefs:
Lentils were mixed with craft glue and molded into the shape of brief front and brief back pattern pieces on a smooth surface to dry, when i attempted to put on the pieces the glue covered lentils stuck my hands like gloves. They were converted from one garment to another.

I then attempted to 'put on' glue-free lentils. This method wasn't as effective in making me feel dressed. I assume this was due to them being 'put on' over my dress, and hence, being unable to feel them.

material category 2 - soap briefs:
A bar of soap was carved into 3 dimensional briefs using a skewer.
Soap briefs were 'put on' by working up a lather on the skin.

material category 3 - glue briefs:
I created a brief front and back pattern mold using aluminum foil. To put on the garment i poured the glue from the mold on to my skin.

material category 4 - paper briefs:
A miniature brief pattern was cut out of paper and seams glued together. I attempted to put on the garment as one would put on a conventional pair of briefs, however, the scale of the paper briefs made it impossible for them to be worn on the same part of the body.

A L T E R N A T I V E M A T E R I A L S

2010-04-10T22:03:00.000-07:00

Janine Antoni 'lick and lather'

"I wanted to work with the tradition of self-portraiture but also with the classical bust...I had the idea that I would make a replica of myself in chocolate and in soap, and I would feed myself with my self, and wash myself with my self. Both the licking and the bathing are quite gentle and loving acts, but what’s interesting is that I’m slowly erasing myself through the process. So for me it’s about that conflict, that love/hate relationship we have with our physical appearance, and the problem I have with looking in the mirror and thinking, ‘Is that who I am?’" - Janine Antoni

Rachel Whitehead 'plinth'

Mathew Barney 'Cremaster cycle' (trailer)

T H E F A S H I O N S Y S T E M

2010-04-08T23:34:00.000-07:00

"There are, then, for any particular object (a dress, a tailored suit, a belt) three different structures, one technological, another iconic, the third verbal. "

"To study the garment of Fashion would first be to study each of these three structures separately and exhaustively, for a structure cannot be defined apart from the substantial identity of the units which constitute it."

"'real' clothing is burdened with practical considerations (protection, modesty, adornment); these finalities disappear from "represented" clothing, which no longer serves to protect, to cover, or to adorn, but at most to signify protection, modesty or adornment."

"Only written clothing has no practical or aesthetic function: it is entirely constituted with a view to a signification"

"Thus far, we have referred only to Fashion magazines; this is because, on the one hand, descriptions from literature proper, although important in a number of great authors (Balzac, Michelet, Proust), are too fragmentary, too variable historically to be of use; and on the other, descriptions from department-store catalogues can be easily assimilated into the descriptions of Fashion."

Possible garment shadows - garments designed/constructed purely from descriptions found in literature?

F A S H I O N O L O G Y

2010-04-08T00:44:00.001-07:00

the term 'fashion' originally came from the Latin facio or faction which means making or doing (Barnard 1996; Brenninkmeyer 1963: 2). In Old French it became fazon; in Middle French facon then facon and faconner in French led to the Middle English word 'fashion,' meaning to make or a particular make or shape.

could garment shadows be considered the processes around the making of clothing? like the shadows cast by an object, it's dependent upon the direction in which the light is shone. The cut, the patterns, the fabric, marketing, merchandising, photography, etc.

The New Oxford Dictionary on Historical Principles published in 1901 defines the word 'fashion' primarily as the action/process of making, manner, a prevailing custom, a current usage, conventional usage in dress and mode of life. As 'the fashion,' it is defined as the mode of dress, etiquette, furniture and style of speech adopted in society for the time being.

Despite 'etiquette, furniture and style of speech' not being 'clothing' specifically they all play their role in 'dressing' us to a certain extent.

"In 1904, Simmel, an expert in seeing the dualistic side of social phenomena, saw fashion as the desire for imitation and differentiation."

"Clothing and dress are the raw material from which fashion is formed. Fashion as a belief is manifested through clothing. Fashion-ology debunks the myth that the creative designer is a genius. Fashion is not created by a single individual but by everyone involved in the production of fashion." "trying to define a particular item of clothing as fashion is futile because fashion is not a material product but a symbolic product which has no content substance by/in itself." "Fashion as an intellectual topic has been perceived as, on the one hand, too trivial and not worth spending time on and, on the other, a legitimate topic of analysis." "'Costume' means mode of personal style or dress belonging to a nation, class or period."

The clothing choices we make are, in a way, a costume we assume in order to be viewed and/or perceived in a particular way. Particular dress elements are used as symbols which, when placed along side one another, send a certain message.

"On the basis of social psychological research, as well as on the points of agreement found in some early writings concerning the interpretation of clothing behavior, we see that clothing is a symbol of crucial importance to the individual. As a non-verbal language, it communicates to others an impression of social status, occupation, role, self-confidence, intelligence, conformity, individuality and other personality characteristics. (Horn and Gurel 1975)

"French writer Honore de Balzac (1799 - 1850) personally experienced the importance of the smallest nuances of behavior and ornament - for instance, the way a cravat was tied, how shoes were polished, the type of cigar smoked or how a cane was held - and understood how they were regarded with utmost seriousness by bourgeois consumers."

"Fashion and clothing have for a long while remained scholarly unmentionables. The unwillingness of social analysts to recognise the power of how people - of how they themselves - clothe, decorate, inscribe, perform and otherwise gesture with their bodies and avoidances ..." (Niessen and Brydon 1998)

"The question of fashion is not a fashionable one among intellectuals ... Fashion is celebrated in museums, but among serious intellectual preoccupations it has marginal status. It turns up everywhere on the street, in industry, and in the media, but it has virtually no place in the theoretical inquiries of our thinkers. Seen as an ontologically and socially inferior domain, it is unproblematic and undeserving of investigation; seen as a superficial issue, it discourages conceptual approaches (Lipovetsky 1994)

"People cover or decorate their bodies fora variety of reasons and modesty is one of them, Other reasons include protection, the desire to be sexually attractive and adornment."

C L O T H E S S W A P P A G E

2010-04-07T23:21:00.000-07:00

WORKSHOP 1
This week we were asked to partner up with someone of similar size and swap clothes. Questions were raised as to whether that included; underwear, stockings and shoes and the response was "sure, if you like. But if not, why not?" I hadn't met Jane (my partner) prior to this exercise so considering we'd never even exchanged niceties, exchanging underwear could be perceived as pushing the friendship a little... I suppose the thing with underwear is that once worn they're 'used' goods. They're a garment you can't try before you buy as they may or may not come into contact with bodily fluids. i guess the stigma surrounding the swapping of briefs could be likened to the idea of borrowing someone's used tissue. as for stockings - Jane already had to wear a leotard, i thought I'd save her the aggravation.

Clothing is a way of dressing up the body in order for it to be perceived in a particular way. it's sort of a costume or a disguise used to fool or mislead the viewer; Professional clothing worn to a job interview, outfit choices made for a date, garments that are cut to make the body appear a particular size or shape. I suppose that in wearing Jane's clothes i wasn't 'packaged' the way i would generally package myself. i don't often wear jeans as they make me appear shorter, and if i do, i wear high waisted jeans with a semi fitted top as my top half is smaller than my lower half and i find if i wear a loose fitting shirt with jeans i look broad and shapeless.

Other things which made it apparent i wasn't in my own clothing was the scent left in them wasn't my own, the fabrication (I don't often wear synthetic fabrics) and the presence of a tag, made more obvious by the fact that i was naked under the grey top. I often wear vintage or handmade clothing which doesn't have a tag or i cut the tag out.

B L O G N A M E S

2010-04-06T23:07:00.000-07:00

S H A D O W S T U D I O

2010-04-06T19:44:00.000-07:00

INTRODUCTION
"I open a fashion magazine; i see that two different garments are being dealt with here. The first is the one presented to me as photographed or drawn - it is image clothing. The second is the same garment, but described, transformed into language; this dress, photographed on the right, becomes on the left: a leather belt, with a rose stuck in it, worn above the waist, on a soft Shetland dress; this is a written garment. In principle these two garments refer to the same reality (this dress worn on this day by this woman), and yet they do not have the same structure, because they are not made of the same substances."
(Barthes, 1983)

A method of dress presented as fashion changes what people believe clothing to be. In this sense, fashion is something that exists in peoples minds that manipulates the way people respond to clothing. As Yuniya Kawamura has written:

"Fashion does provide extra added values to clothing, but the additional elements exist only in people's imaginations and beliefs. Fashion is not visual clothing but is the invisible elements included in clothing."

So What are clothes? What does it mean to feel dressed? Could wearing clothes or being dressed merely depend on the material clothing is made from?

In this studio students will explore the possibilities of what clothing could be when considering what it is that makes us feel dressed. A series of workshops will encourage students to reevaluate traditional ideas on the use of materials within clothing and fashion design practice.

PROJECT BRIEF
To participate in and document a series of workshops that work towards my own definition of what clothing could be. I will develop my own clothing/ fashion equation that will be used as a tool to help you realise and pint point key concepts within the development of my project.

I will research the material qualities of dress to create a series of 'garment' shadows, which re evaluate traditional presentational outcomes.