Rather than considering the STEAM project as an end-off-course assignment, I think it is more of a summary presentation of everything we learned from our first IDC class. The project encompasses a range of skills including team corporation, information research, and most importantly artistic analysis. From a state of confusion to the final production of our unique audio-guide, our ITF has helped us tremendous. Special thanks to Hamad Sindhi who guided us through the entire project by offering us detailed instructions and always responding to questions promptly!
(Saskia Down the Metro by Red Grooms)
For the project, my group chose to present artist Red Grooms’s painting Saskia Down the Metro, which was found on the eighth floor of the Newman Vertical Campus. The painting shows a scene of the New York City subway where is heavily packed with people. We picked this piece to present not only because of its unique combination of serigraph and collage, which really enhances the painting by adding a special three-dimensional texture, but also because of the exaggerated cartoonish style that the artist uses to depict the scene, every space in the painting is filled with either a figure or a small detail that one sees on a subway ride. Every figure has a distinctive fashion style, which I believe truly typifies the diverse and tolerant atmosphere that uniquely belongs to New York City.
On the actual day of the STEAM festival, despite we had few visitors for our own project (which was mostly because of the terrible spot where our project was placed at), we still had fun walking around and seeing other people’s projects. Seminar three’s projects were particularly eye-catching as they were placed in the center of where the event was held. I looked at lots of them and think that they did a wonderful job. Most of their posters are organized and informational, the topics range from environmental to biological to historical. It was evident that they had devoted lots of efforts in doing researches and planning the organization. When I approached to a poster about the story of a female African-American scientist, the group member kindly explained to me about their findings. The positive interactions on the STEAM festival was the aspect that I really enjoyed besides looking at other people’s projects.
Overall, I think the STEAM festival is a fun and meaningful event, for it not only enables information exchange but also fosters positive social interactions. One thing I would strongly recommend the project director to improve is to give students fair presentation opportunity as I believe a lot of the projects were positioned at awkward places that could be easily overlooked.
