On Monday we got our brief for the new project. It is a group project. The theme of the project is Utopia/Dystopia which is an interesting topic. Imagine your own Utopia.
I started this week by researching basic information. I watched several films, read parts off books, and researched on the internet.
I watched ‘Her’, ‘2001: Space Odyssey’, ‘Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind’, ’12 Monkeys’ and ‘1984’.
I really liked the aspect of a computer which humans build turn against the people like in ‘Space Odyssey’. I loved the visuals in the movie but it was a really long movie. In ‘1984’ you are always watched and controlled. It is supposed to be a Utopia, a perfect world for the people where order rules. I believe Utopias can be very subjective, one’s utopia can be the other’s dystopia.
In general I enjoyed all of the movies and I got a wide view of different approaches to this topic.
I went to the Whitechapel Gallery and looked at Harun Farocki’s video games installation which showed the evolution of several games. I really like the idea of people living in their own utopia by playing a specific game. In video games you can choose who you want to be-famous, rich, a hero- anything. You can loose yourself in a game and dedicate your life to it. I found this game called ‘Second Life’ where people create their own avatar and have almost no limits.
http://www.alphr.com/features/354457/whatever-happened-to-second-life
I created some colour schemes with ink which reminded me of natural forms. Therefore I looked at Ernst Haeckel’s work which is detailed anatomical drawings of nature. I think nature will be a big part of my utopia because I feel like we have to go back to honouring nature and everything whats in it. I link this also to the exhibition ‘Intellectual Barbarians: The Kibbo Kift Kindred’ where I have been.
After watching ( and partly reading) 1984 I felt like I could combine ‘Big Brother’ with nature. I got the idea from Archigram’s ‘Plug-In City’ which uses cells to create everything so everything can connect with each other. I thought about an environment where nature takes over again and watches us with walls made out of cells. People are controlled but have no own mind.
I also created some figures with a lot of eyes in their heads. Nowadays it feels sometimes that people want to do everything at the same time. Having lunch, talking and typing on their phone. With a lot of eyes (and a bigger brain/more complex) we could do that.
Artists
Archigram
Gilbert&George
Ernst Haeckel
Bodys Isek Kingelez
Paul Noble
Eduardo Paolozzi
Thomas Morus
Johanna.Blaha 