For the STEAM festival, we have two proposals.
The first one would be a New York themed book. On the left side of each page, there would be famous poems related to New York. On the right side of each page would be famous photographs of New York that relate to the content of the poem on the left side. Our book would probably consist of 10-15 pages of poems, and the amount of photographs would vary based on the content of the poem. This would relate to the themes and readings of the semester in many ways. First, we will be starting an entire unit on poetry, so we plan to incorporate the lessons we will learn about analyzing poems when we choose which ones to incorporate into our book. In addition, we will be using New York City as the subject matter of our work. Therefore, we plan to look at Ameena Walker’s article titled “New York’s best public art installations this season” to serve as inspiration for the pictures we choose. We also plan to incorporate excerpts from Camera Lucida, and specifically about Roland Barthes’s definition of the studium, in explaining our methods of choosing which photographs to display, as the studium is a main source of inspiration for us when we decide which photographs we like.
At this point, we plan to display this book in one of two ways. Either we will print it and have a hard copy, or we will create a digital book that can be scrolled through on an iPad or computer. We think both options will function as an interactive way for viewers to engage in our work, and we are looking forward to seeing the finished product.
Our second proposal for the STEAM festival is to create a large poster board in the shape of the New York City skyline. However, as people move closer, they will realize that the large picture is actually made up of very small pictures of New York City artwork. The idea is to create a mosaic. This will include both art work that can be found in the city, or art work that depicts the city. Public art, street art, and artwork in museums will all be used, and we will make the big picture of the skyline come to life by using these smaller pictures. Like the first proposal, we plan to incorporate many of the themes and readings from the semester into our project. Again, we will be using New York City as the subject matter of our work. We will be looking at the many ways in which art is displayed, from art galleries and museums to the physical streets of the city. Therefore, we may analyze Brian O’Doherty’s “Inside the White Cube” and Ameena Walker’s, “New York’s best public installations this season” to help us focus in on all these different art forms.
We hope to display this work of art at the STEAM festival on a large white oak tag or poster board that will be cut into to shape of the skyline. The smaller pictures will vary in size to accommodate the larger image. We plan to print these pictures on paper in high resolution and then paste them on to the poster. We think it will be a unique way to draw viewers in from far because of the desire to take a closer look.
Hi team,
Both of your ideas, here, show promise. I have to admit I like the first idea’s combination of text and images, and the second idea’s delightfully innovative format. I wonder if there’s a way to combine them–perhaps including blocks of text (NYC-related poems, or prose paragraphs about the city) among the images that make up the collage? (Perhaps these are windows, or doors; perhaps they don’t map on to a particular architectural element). Or–if you feel these belong in separate streams–you could even do two separate skylines posters: one comprised of images; one of text. What I am drawn to with the second idea, especially, is the pull between the larger image–the city–and the individual tiles of the mosaic: the specific images and bits of text that are irreducibly separate, even as they add up to a whole. That seems to me a crucial aspect of the city itself: made up of infinite variegated pieces (places, people, objects, moments). Very Barthes!
For inspiration, I’d like you to look at other works of art that use the ‘shape’ of the city as their starting point. Your proposal reminded me of the old Peter Sis whale image that used to hang in the subway (you can google this–it’s very playful). The MTA’s archive of posters might be a good place to poke around–nothing here is exactly like what you’re proposing–a good thing–but there are many works that playfully represent the city in its broad outlines (skyline) and in tiny detailed images (your individual pictures): http://web.mta.info/mta/aft/posters/posters.html?year=1999&poster=19
By next week, please reply to this comment with another comment, offering:
1) A revised or clarified description of the project. How will you be using images? How will you be using text?
(2) An account of the materials you will need, and how you plan to obtain these materials. If you are not sure how to make your ideas into material reality, say so–Jake and I can help out.
(3) A schedule or timeline for the work. What do you plan to do, when? What are the stages or phases of the project? Please look at the syllabus for a sense of how much in-class time you’ll have to work on this (one session–you will need more!) and figure out what you can do before then, and how to maximize that time.
Excited to see this develop!
Best,
Prof Kolb
1) Our revised project is to stick with the second idea of the mosaic sky line, but instead of only using pictures, we will also incorporate 3-5 poems about New York as pieces of the mosaic.
2) The only materials we need are a large sized oak tag and glue and we will buy them together. Everything else we will need we already have.
3) Starting now until November 20th, we will compile the pictures and poems that we want to use for our mosaic. Then we will come to class with everything ready to print. After class at some point during that week we will meet up at my apartment, cut out the skyline poster board, and then glue everything to the poster. This plan will leave us with an extra two weeks in case we are running late, and it will also leave us to time to make changes if we find they are necessary.