For our STEAM festival project, we plan on incorporating several topics into our final presentation. We would like to document the beauty and life of New York City in our project and to display it in different mediums. We believe that portraying and documenting New York City in several different ways would allow for a better representation of our city. Additionally, using several topics and mediums would allow our project to complement the diversity of New York City while telling the stories of the city through different lenses.
For our first idea, we plan on incorporating photography, NYC and gallery space to create a single cohesive project. We plan on going around New York City with the mindset of capturing unique and eye-catching moments and documenting those moments by taking photographs. We also plan on taking photographs that capture the passage of time in order to portray the concepts presented in the book Camera Lucida by Roland Barthes. In order to present these photographs, we plan on printing the pictures out on high quality photo paper and adding it to our replica of a gallery. This brings us to the second part of our project. In order to incorporate the topic of gallery space to our project, we plan on creating a gallery space by using styrofoam or cardboard to create walls and spaces which represent a gallery space. In order to present this project at the festival, we plan on placing the printed pictures on the created gallery walls in order to simulate the appearance of an actual gallery. This would allow us to present our photographs in a way that would allow for proper contemplation of the message behind each photograph. It would also allow for people to understand how a gallery space affects the way a pictured is viewed.
For our second idea, we plan on incorporating photography, NYC, gallery space and poetry in our project. We plan on documenting the beauty and diversity of New York City while also capturing the decisive moments around us. In addition to capturing moments around the city, we also plan on capturing poetry displayed around NYC subway trains. We believe this will allow us to further portray the beauty of New York City by adding an element of writing and poetry. This will present a shift from the bustling streets and buildings of the city. In addition to this, we still plan on creating a small replica of a gallery space and adding the pictures on the gallery walls. In the second part of the project, we plan on creating a presentation on powerpoint which would portray our interpretations of studium and punctum in our photographs. In order to present this, we could use a laptop to make it accessible for people to view and interpret on their own. This would allow us to present the photographs in a gallery space while also showing our interpretations. In addition to this idea, we thought of maybe printing out the poetry seen around the city and displaying it in a book. We could create this book with paper or cardboard and it would allow people to easily access the poetry.
Hi team,
There are several really strong ideas here–perhaps, at this stage, more ideas than you need for the STEAM festival project. I think your task, at this stage, is to figure out more concretely what you want to produce, and to break down the tasks that this project requires by team member.
Here’s my own thinking at this stage: it sounds to me like you’re interested in creating a (1) CURATED GALLERY SHOW with accompanying (2) WALL TEXT or a CATALOG (which can be electronic). Here’s what I mean:
(1) The idea that emerges, twice, here–of creating a replica gallery–is a really interesting one. Logistically, it might make sense to create a three-walled diorama rather than a closed-off, four-walled gallery space. You could even create a couple different “rooms,” each using space in a different way to showcase your images. You will need to think about size and display (will the photos you print for the diorama be tiny? Will they be large, relative to the wall sizes?). You should feel free to use photos from the class IG account as well as new photos; it might be useful to incorporate any taken by classmates–as well as group members–that make up a gallery show.
(2) You also mention having some surrounding, contextualizing material in addition to the display of photographs. This is in fact common in art galleries: sometimes, text appears on the wall next to photos; often, a book or catalogue reproduces key images and contains written material analyzing them, and enriching the viewer’s experience. Your powerpoint idea is essentially the creation of an electronic catalog–a very strong idea! For some tips and pointers in doing catalog/wall text well, have a look at this article: https://www.theguardian.com/culture-professionals-network/2015/aug/04/writing-gallery-texts-panels-common-mistakes-interpretation
Your next steps are both logistical and artistic. Within the next week (before 11/4), please reply to this comment with
(1) A sharpened, streamlined account of what you’ll be producing–a model gallery and–?
(2) A breakdown of who will do what. Will each of you provide a certain number of photos, and analyze a certain number in the catalog? Or will some of you be photographers, others curators, and still others writers/art critics? (This latter format could work really well; I can imagine, say, one room dedicated to a single artist’s work; another room curated by a single curator; a gallery designer creating the actual spaces; and an art critic writing up analyses of key images for the catalog.) Divide up the labor!
(3) An account of what materials you will need, and how you plan to obtain these materials. If you need help, or encounter problems that are hard to solve, say so!
(4) An account of your timeline / schedule. What work will you do independently and collaboratively, and when will you do it? Please look at the syllabus for allotted in-class times for working on STEAM. Your group–and all groups–will need more time than this, so figure out now what you’ll be doing when, roughly.
I’m really excited to see this develop!
Best,
Prof Kolb
1. For our STEAM festival project, we decided that we will make a curated gallery show with accompanying electronic catalogue. Our model gallery will be a three-walled diorama with tiny pictures printed on them. In addition we will created an electronic catalogue in the form of a powerpoint to accompany each picture with text and interpretations of the photography.
2. In order to divide the work equally, we will have Suhaib be the dedicated photographer who will take new photographs. Nick will be a curator who will curate pictures from our class instagram account. Yusef and Jason will be the art critics who will analyze the presented pieces of art and write up their analyses in a catalog in the form of a powerpoint.
3. We will need a certain set of materials to successfully complete this project. As noted, we will need styrofoam and cardboard for the creation of wall spaces to display the printed pictures. We can likely obtain these materials easily from resources at home. Of course, we will also utilize a laptop for the electronic portion of the project. We will also need basic supplies such as glue and scissors for the construction of the wall spaces (these can be easily provided from home as well).
4. For the time being, Suhaib and Nick are working independently in order to collect the photographs they wish to present in the gallery. At our first in class meeting, they will share the selected photos to Jason and Yusef and allow them a week to write their analyses on the photographs. In the meantime we will also be collecting supplies in order to create the replica of the gallery. Outside of the class, we will determine a date and time in order to meet and create our replica of the gallery and decide on the organization aspect of our presentation.