Final Evaluation

Final Evaluation 

In this evaluation I aim to look at both the success and probelms I have experienced throughout my project in my research, planning, time management, how my original aims might have changed and my final outcome.

Looking back at the title of my project “Human interactions, an exploration in to how humans interact with objects and materials”, I would say my work has taken a slightly different direction. As my research progressed I became more interested in the pycology of how people feel about objects rather than how they interact with them. One of the reasons for this change was the success of using people for my primary research, in which I questioned people about the value of objects. The friendly nature of the questionnaire was very casual causing people to open up and relax, revealing some interesting results. When researching peoples interactions, I wanted to video how they used my objects, however this led to people feeling embarrissed, confused or too shy to even participate. The nature of the two experiments were very differernt, the camera making the results less genuine than those from the questionnaire. I pushed my primary research by taking advantage of the crits to use them for research. Once displaying my objects I would often ask people to write down feelings they had towards them and I could observe what they did with them away from a pressured environment.

During my secondary research, I struggled to find artists or exhibitions that were relevant to my project. I could have prevented this by researching events in London before the project started. I could have used resources that were easily accessible to me such as the Time Out website or Tate Britain leaflets and putting details on to my action plan. This lack of preparation led to the rushing of my notes on artists and a lack of time for visiting more exhibitions. Being too vague on my action plan also created problems like not having a quiet space to film my experiments which meant noises of people slamming doors or talking came out on my video. I should have book a room by asking my tutors in advance. On the other hand, not having a completely silent space suited the spontanuity of the experiments. If everything was too perfect it could have looked staged and maybe even nerved the participants even more. 

A positive to being vague on my action plan is that I had room to experiment, something which I could have done more of. Feedback from a crit commented that I often over think things which has led to huge amounts of evaluation on my blog, instead of spending the time doing more 3D work. Feedback also noted that my project fits together too well, in other words I needed further exploration in order to find somthing unexpected and not so in keeping with the direction I was already going in. I resolved this when in Falmouth because it forced me to use what was in my surrounding environment. I collected found objects from the beach which had different aesthetics to the previous metalic forks I had been using. I then used the trip to explore the relationship between objects, site and context.  (For more explanation refer to blog entry: Critical Review of my Action Plan). 

  

Lastly, I had originally planned for people to interact with my final piece however, I think this would have been too predictable or obvious when concidering the title “Human Interactions”. My new outcome is a contrast being, very static, my objects trapped in frames dislpayed like precious artifacts. I explored how the display of objects can alter peoples feelings of value towards them in response to my questionnaire results. 

‘When asking people to forget the original use or value of their object and then give it a new use, the common answer was to display or frame it in some way. I have interpreted this, discovering that a valuable object subconciously still holds meaning to the individual therefore they are reluctant to damadging, taking apart the object or using it in a way that would destroy its value. The only option is to  preserve it, giving it the status of a piece of art work.’ 

(Blog entry: Evaluation of the value of objects questionnaire)

Overall, by using people as a resource it gave my project momentum and feeding off other people kept me active. The main problem I had was a lack of preparation and time partly due to the pressure of interviews. If I had more time for the project I would make the effort to visit exhibitions and other locations. Visiting Falmouth has shown me that inspiration can be found when least expected. I think that the fact my project changed direction is evidence that I have challenged myslef to explore a variety of ideas leading to an unpredictable and satisfying outome.       

Critical Review of my Action Plan

At the beginning of this project I made myself an Action Plan which I would follow throughout the project to help me plan my time, note down any interviews I had to attend of any important critiques of tutorial dates. Throughout my project my original action plan has dramatically changed, so much that I have had to rewrite it and edit as I went along. By reviewing the changes that I have made I hope to evaluate and understand why I had to make so many changes.

Things that I changed to improve my Action Plan:

Trip to Falmouth:

One positive point is that I hadn't planned anything specific to do on my original action plan during the time that I was away at Falmouth and Plymouth because I thought I would be too busy focusing on interviews. Instead I found myself using my time effectively and relevantly when collecting items from the beach at Falmouth, keeping in mind the original concept of my project, (To create unfamiliar 'tool like' objects that people found aesthetically pleasing). One thing I wrote down previously on my blog which I think highlights how I used my time away in a relevant way was that "I was hoping that by visiting an unfamiliar place, I might stumble across unfamiliar objects". I found that this statement was true as I found lots of naturally made objects from the depths of the sea such as leathery plant growths and sea weed parts. I found this part of my project very exciting because I couldn't easily go back to that location and if I did go back I wouldn't find the same objects which to me made the objects very unique and special.

The fact that I not only enjoyed the visit so much but that it was also very useful for my project has made me think that I could have planned more places to visit asides from exhibitions, because I think it added variety and a new direction to my project. I think that sometimes it's good to get 'out and about' or in to the outdoors whilst doing a project because it is a good way of relieving stress and is an alternative to getting bogged down with huge amounts of reading. I think that sometimes just visiting a place for the sake of it can be surprisingly inspiring even if you think it won't be.

Changing my resources:

My main inspiration for the project was the programme the "Human Planet"which I had planned to use as a further resource by recording the objects I saw and categorising them in to what they were used for. However I found myself getting bored of watching the same episodes over and over again so ended up using it a lot less than I'd planned to. I think turned out for the best because it made me look for other sources of inspiration and varied the types of research I used for example I focused a lot on my primary research and using people as my main resource.

Things that I should have changed in order to improve my Action Plan:


Being too ambitious:


When looking back at my original action plan I noticed that I had planned to complete my experiments by the end of week two as well as completing all of my artist research. During the first two weeks of my project I ended up focusing on artist research looking at books in the library and creating sketch books rather than conducting experiments. I think that whilst creating my action plan I hadn't considered how the process of researching artists/ visiting exhibitions is quite time consuming because you have to know where to look. I think that by setting myself such a short amount of time to do this in the first place, made me rush this research and my notes on different artists weren't as in depth as they could have been. I think I felt like I was getting behind because I hadn't achieved what I'd set out to do, however I know now not to be too ambitious when creating an action plan.  

Being too vague:


I had planned to conduct a series of experiments to help me explore how people interacted with different objects. However I had no idea in what context I would set the experiments in, what the objects would be, or where I would conduct them. One of the things I had trouble with was finding a space to film that wasn't noisy. Throughout both the filmed experiments I did there were noises of people walking through the space and slamming doors which I think was a result of me not booking a space in chelsea or asking a tutor for advice. In the end the "curiosity Box" film turned out to be quiet successful and I'm hoping to project it in the final exhibition which has made me think I should have recorded it on something more substantial than my digital camera to improve the quality. This also comes down to a lack of preparation. I should have booked a video camera in advance by asking the foundation office.  

One thing I wasn't very thorough about was what exhibitions I would go and visit. I did visit both the Susan Hiller and Orozco exhibitions at the Tate and also Camer-less photography at the V and A during the project but I could have been to a lot more that were more relevant to my research. I should have started researching what exhibitions were on at the time of my project as I was writing the action plan for example looking at the "Time out" website which has information on exhibitions around London. 

Conclusion:

Overall I think that there were a lot of things I didn't consider when writing my original action plan that could have improved my time management for example not using resources that were easily accessible to me such as asking my tutors for help about filming or using the "Time out" website to look up exhibitions around London. Having said that, I think that if I was too specific on my original action plan about what I was doing I don't think I would have discovered other sources of inspiration such as the Falmouth visit. I also think that by being vague on my action plan gave me room to experiment e.g. not focusing fully on the interactive part of my project but instead on the phycological part by researching into how people value certain objects which is what my final outcome is based on.   

Visit to the scrap Yard

Last week when I visited the scrap yard I collected more objects that had been discarded in a rubbish pile. I thought this was a good opportunity to collect some more scraps to make new objects that had come from a different context to the ones I collected at Falmouth. Here are some photos of the scrap yard and the objects I found.

The objects I found consisted of a heater, old wood and metal scraps, an old boot, a metal handle, a hair brush, an old cleaning cloth, some netting and leather strips. Before using these objects I had to clean them because they were extremely dirty and smelly. One problem I had was that the old boot I found was unusable due to the smell and to avoid getting ill I decided to throw it away. The difference about collecting the objects on the beach at Falmouth is that these objects had been sort of cleaned by the salt in the sea, the ones I found in the scrap yard however could have been crawling with disease. Despite this I started making objects, keeping in mind the idea of creating tool like objects that were unfamiliar to people. I found that many of the objects I made took the same kind of form, using the wood scraps as a handle and then attaching something to the end of it. They certainly don't look as interesting as my beach objects, one reason being that I didn't have a varied mix of natural and man made objects- but this only highlights the difference in objects depending on the context. For example I was less likely to find natural scraps such as sea weed or shells from Falmouth, because I was in the middle of London. I thought about this as I was making and decided that I would make my objects much more sharp looking to reflect the context I had retrieved them from by doing things like not sanding down the wood as much leaving sharp corners. I thought it would contrast with the soft looking wood from the beach that had been carved by the sea. Here are some photos of the objects I created:

I have decided not to take this concept any further because I feel like my use of materials is getting too similar and repetitive. I think I should now move on from using scraps to using the workshop at college to vary the type and appearance of materials in my project. For example I have already started doing this with the vacuum former whilst exploring how to frame of mount my objects. Also these unfamiliar tool like objects are clogging up my room and smell very bad!

FMP: Last 2 weeks, problems setting in.

It is now down to the last two weeks of the project and I have got a lot of work to do not only for the hand in date on the 1st of April but also for the exhibition on the 17th of April. To help me tackle both of these deadlines I have decided to make my final piece for the hand in date about how I display or present my objects which will also make it easier to decide what my work will look like in the exhibition. I have started looking at various methods of display such as cabinets or shelves. I asked the library if they had any going spare or any that I could rent out for the show but they are being used for another subject so this was a dead end. To overcome this problem I visited the scrap yard near my halls which although I didn't buy anything from because of the large price of some of the antiques, it instead gave me loads more inspiration as to how I could display things. Here are some pictures I took of things I found:

These glass bells were particularly appealing to me because they reflected a medical way of displaying things e.g. the darwin museum/ the welcome trust which I have visited in the last few months. The only thing is that because they are behind glass you don't see the texture of my objects and the reflection of the glass distracts away from the aesthetics of them. Also it restricts interactions people have with them. However It is a good way of formalising my objects and making them look more valuable than they actually are- relating back to the results I got from my questionnaires. When asking people to forget that their valuable object had any value or use to them and what would they now do with it, all of them said that they would display them in some way or frame them giving them the status of a piece of art work. This is why making my objects non interactive might be a positive way of resolving my project because it might make people question why they are framed of displayed in this way- would people value the objects behind glass or much prefer to be able to touch them. Maybe the fact that they are behind glass would make the will to be able to interact with my objects stronger.  

With this cupboard I thought I could add shelves to it and stack my objects around it and people could then walk inside and be surrounded by my objects. I think storing them as a collection you get the full effect of how many objects I have made. I could make it an interactive thing so that people could lift my objects out and then rearrange things. However the cupboard cost £100 pounds and was over my budget so it was another dead end.

After visiting the scarp yard I started using the workshops again and creating moulds of various objects I had made out of alginate, vacuum forming and clay. This is what I came up with:

My first attempts at making moulds of my objects didn't quite work out. Alginate is a very tricky materials to use because it sets very quickly if you don't get the ratio of powder to water right, so these experiments turned out a bit lumpy and didn't look that tidy. The fact that the colour is so candy like also does not appeal to me, in the shop they only sell this colour so this is another reason why perhaps it's not the best material to use. Also this particular piece is only half of the object because I didn't have enough alginate left to do the whole thing, so if I were to use this technique again I would have to buy a lot of it and this would be very expensive. All in all this material would be too expensive, complicated, and unattractive to use in the presentation of objects. 

The second experiment I did was using the vacuum former to act as holders for my objects. I think the result is very pleasing and is an effective alternative to glass to frame my objects behind. The only thing that I'm not sure I like about the appearance of the plastic is that the machine puts a pattern on to the rest of the plastic. I think it makes the plastic look to much like actual packaging used by Argos or a company for mass production. On  the other hand this is quite a nice contrast to whats inside e.g. the packaging reflects a generic mass produced system whereas whats inside is one off and unique. The way of overcoming this would be to remake my clay models and then attach them to a smooth board so that the pattern did not come out on to the plastic. The problem with this is do I have enough time to make 9 of them- the time consuming bit being the making of the clay models. One thing I was going to experiment with further is framing the plastic with wood- like a photo frame which would make the edging look nicer. I would then be able to hang them up like photo frames.

Here an example of one I made in the wood workshop:

 I think the frame makes the plastic edges look more professional and less cheap but I also think it dominates most of the piece, you can't concentrate on whats inside. I might solve this if I painted the frame white so it blended in more or if I cut it thinner so it wasn't so bulky. Either way I don't think I will carry on with this method as it took a very long time and although it might look good to have all my objects in frames lined up suspended in the air I don't think I'd have time to make the frames as well as all the vacuum forms and clay moulds. 

This was my most recent experiment which involved using foam board to cut out the shape of the objects so that it slotted inside the board. I tried to disguise the outer edges of the board with white cotton so that you could not see the foam layers- overall trying to make it look neater but I'm still not quite sure I achieved this. I also tried lining it with white electrical tape with this was too shiny and contrasted too much with the matte foam board. I wanted to create a book with my objects slotted in to the pages and instead of using an existing book to do this I would make my own using thick foam board pages attaching the whole thing together with two big metal rings. The only problem is that as people turned the pages the objects would fall out. Also each page would be extremely bulky and maybe not that appealing. Although this would be a nice way for people to interact with my final piece I think that displaying them so that they can immediately be seen as a collection would create a bigger impact.

The Curiosity Box

After collecting items from the beach at Falmouth I created a series of tool like objects that weren't made with any specific function in mind but the idea of provoking responses from people according to the shape and form of the objects. I enjoyed this method of making from scraps of natural/ man made objects because I didn't have to think about it too much- all I was trying to achieve was making something that was aesthetically pleasing in order to provoke an interesting response.

The objects that I like the best are the ones which are quite simple for example this corn cob tied together with wire and old rope. I like how the object is a combination of man made and natural materials because  it creates a variety of textures and colours such as the artificial bright blue colour of the string and its spiky texture, compared to the corn cob's dulled down mustard colouring and nobbled feel. To make the objects relevant to my project I decided to put them in to a context in which they would be put to use in some way.

Today I started filming people interacting with my objects. I chose a remote hallway in college with white walls as not to distract away from the experiment. I then stored all my objects in a small white box so that people could not see the objects before I started filming and plan how they would use them. The only instructions I gave to people were that they had to open the box, pick as as many objects as they wanted, interact with them for as long as they wanted, then put them back in the box and shut the door. I also said to them try not to get embarrassed or talk because the main focus is on the movement you create with the objects.

I think the films from today were much more successful than those of the fork experiment where people had to try and pick up as many peas as they can because it wasn't so so specific. The experiment let the participant be as free as they wanted in terms of which part of the body they used, if they used the area around them and also how they used them. In other words the purpose of the experiment was very black and it was left to the participants willingness to get involved and their imagination to make it as interesting as they wanted. This was one of the reasons I was unsure as to whether the experiment would work or not. I thought people might become too embarrassed, run out of ideas or conscious of the fact that they were being watched and may not fully embrace the experiment. In some cases this did happen and the number of objects they picked up was in some cases as small as one. In others people became very expressive and did things such as attaching objects to the hair or body, jump up and down, or make sound with objects by hitting the box.

Speaking of sound, quite a lot of people liked using the objects in a way that produced sound for example hitting the box, knocking together parts of the objects or rustling them with their fingers. The sound was also quite ambient in the space that I chose and echoed around the halls which I thought created an atmosphere. One of my instructions I gave to the participants was not to talk so that the focus was on the movements but what I found was that sometimes speech can be as valuable as movement. When picking up an object Pip started nocking parts of it together (like two conkers on a string) and said how she used to "play the spoons" when she was little. She responded in this way because the object had a similar form to that of a pair of 'spoons'. I thought this was interesting because it shows how memory can become part of peoples response to the shape and form of objects.

In response to these films I will examine what aspects of the objects pleased people for example which shapes or materials they responded to the most. I could then use this information to inform further making of abstract objects that aren't necessarily used for something but instead attract peoples attention through aesthetic qualities. I could also try and collect scraps of materials from another context e.g. college or around Camberwell in which I live. I also need to think about the way I will present the objects for the exhibition. I have decided that instead of creating one final piece for the exhibition I will display my objects, films and research as a collection. I have been thinking about presenting my objects in a way that is still interactive for example in a cabinet or shelf that people can open or pick up the objects. In order for this to work I nee to make sure the object are not stolen or broken which is why the use of some written instructions might be useful.

Before going away I was worried that my project research was fitting together to well and was too thought out so overall I think these curiosity objects made from beach scraps have been successful in adding another pathway to my project. Also I think they have overcome some of the problems I had when using my forks such as people being too familiar with the function of a fork and in result were not as experimental as they could have been.

Trip to Plymouth/ Falmouth

Last week I was away at interviews in Plymouth and Falmouth so I had a limited number of research that I would be able to do in terms of making so instead I decided to do some reading, writing and collecting of objects. Here is what I discovered on my trip:

So far I have read the books that Pip gave me to look at and have found out a number of interesting opinions and facts which have been influential for the next step to my project. Whilst reading the book “Home made- contemporary Russian folk artifacts”, I descovered that people living in Russia, who were experiencing the collapse of the soviet Union, could not buy anything in the stores because there was nothing for sale and as a result had to make do wih their own handmade tools and objects. Vlandimir Arkhipov set out on a mission to collect these objects and record them in this book. He started out by asking people he knew such as friends and family but as people heard about the book more and more people and their objects started to find him. He quotes in his book that all the objects he recorded have three characteristics in common “functionality, a visual uniqueness and the testimony of the author, who is both the creator and the user”.A lot of the obejects he discovered were unrecogniseable to me but looking through the book I found it interesting to see if I could guess what the objects were before reading about them. I found that I was often able to tell what the different parts of the objects were originally but not necesarilly what it was used for. What I also liked about the book is how everything to the person who made it, their name and age, a photo of the obejct, and even a monolgue has been dicumented which I think links well to the questionnaires I did at the beggining of my project.  

Some of my favourite objects form the book included a ‘Home for a Queen Bee’ consisting of a boy’s Grandma’s hair curlers, an elatic band and two bottle tops. At first I thought the object was much bigger than its actual size because I couldnt tell what it was made from but as soon as i spotted the bottle top I could scale up the rest of the objects. I think the hair curlers are also very interesting aesthetically because when I fisrt saw them I thought they were made of rubber but then the text explains they are actually made of plastic. I also like how the objects use and importance is very specific (looking after the queen bee temporarily whilst bees are tranfered to a new hive) which to me makes the object more valuable than one which has a genral use such as a hammer or another kind of tool. 

I also like the ‘Berry picker’ because i think its delicate and small narure suits it’s function of priking hols in berries before making jam. I like how simple its construction is, consisting of a plastic bottle top and 4 pins which meet at a point in the centre. Like the ‘Home for a Queen Bee’ its use is again very particular and the fact that its use is so hard to guess makes it more interesting. 

The second book I looked at was “Inspiratioanal Objects”, a visual collection of “simple, elegant forms” by Alison Milner. A fact that I found interesting in the book was that “the American product designer Karim Rashid recently estimated that we each interact with 520 objects a day, the majority of which we take for granted and barely even notice”. I also found it interesting to see how she had chategorised each object depending on whether it was a liquid, wire, malleable, solid, sheet or natural object. the criteria she looked at was what the object was made from, what it’s original state was, and the processes determining it’s new form. I like how the aim of the book is slightly phycological in the way that each object is placed carefully next to other objects on the page in order to make the viewer question why they are placed that way. It’s all to do with how familiar the viewer is with each object, how the viewers contrast or look for similarities between the obejcts, and their own personal attatchment or memories with certain objects. The fact that all the objects ar photographed in black and white makes these comparisons and the ability to question the order of the objects easier. I think that colour is a completely separate component of an object to the form or texture of an object which is what the main focus is in the book. By using colour it would have distracted the viewer from these components which is somthing I might want to concider when involving people in further research. 

Today I started to collect found items form the beach at Falmouth. In response to the book “Home made” I decided to try and make my own objects out of things that I found in the environment that surrounded me. Seeing as I was in an unfamiliar place whilst doing this I thought it might help me stumble across more unfamiliar objects. The items I collected were bits of worn wood, coloured rope, polystyrene parts, string, sea weed, pebbles, half a dog toy, tenis ball strip etc.I tried to collect items that were a mix of man made and natural items to create a contrast of textures when combining them to make new objects. 

Fork Frustration!!!

I have decided to name my series of altered forks "Fork Frustration" because of the feelings people have towards them. Here are a few images of some more forks that I created in the metal work shop and then displayed in the crit on friday.

 I found the crit extremely helpful because I got lot a lot of feedback from people when I asked them to write down the feelings they got when interacting with or looking at my forks. Some of the things they wrote down were:

"They are very frustrating!"


"Wierd but it's not the type you'd see everyday"


"The latex is infuriating because it looks like it would work but when you pick it up it just flops- misleading"

These are the kinds of responses I hoped to get out of people because now they have more of a negative attitude towards an object that they once recognised. However, not everyone felt negative about the forks, one person even said that they were quite satisfying to look at.

"I still think that you would use them to eat food"


"Jewelleryesque"


"They make me think of other uses for food, potato masher"

The fact that people are still reminded of food makes it evident that I haven't altered the appearance of the forks enough to change everyones feelings towards them. Maybe I need to take more extreme actions in the metal work shop to make the forks completely unrecognisable? However what I like about my fork's so far is how the changes I have made to them are quite subtle.

Further research:
To test how people interact with my fork's further I have conducted a number of filmed experiments involving a person trying to pick up as many peas as they can from a plate using my altered Fork's. I decided to make them test my forks out in the usual scenario in which a normal fork would be used (for eating food) to see how different/ hard my forks are to eat with. Whilst the participants were filmed a lot of them let out sounds of frustration or struggle when trying to pick up the peas- another influence for the title "Fork Frustration" or got embarrassed and started laughing.

Here are a few of the videos I found entertaining:

Many of the contestants enjoyed the challenge of the activity and I got a very positive response from them which has encouraged me to let the interaction with people and my made objects direct more of my research. Many of the contestants came up with similar actions or approaches when picking up peas according to the shape of the fork and I have struggled with getting a variety of results from people. One reason I think this happened is because my models are still too familiar with people (people can still tell that they are forks), and also they are all a similar size to a normal fork. In response to this problem I could experiment with making my models a variety of sizes. I think if they were bigger it would give a bigger opportunity for interactions with more of the body rather than just the hands which could give my research more variety. Also people looking at my work in the crit would often pick up the forks and place them on different parts of the body for example running them through their hair, stroking their cheeks or arms with them, poking other people with them, or even pretending to lick them! So even this shows that there are many more opportunities for bigger interactions. I could also change the nature or location of the experiment because the pea experiments restricted the interactions to just the hands. Maybe I could introduce more than one person in each experiment?, Do I want to hold the experiment in a private space or public in a performance art type of way?, Would a public space alter people's will to participate/or embarrassment?

Familiarity vs. betrayal

After conducting my questionnaires and analysing the results I decided to focus on particular things that people said and certain objects that people spoke about. For example I have decided to focus on the objects that people value and are familiar with such as Rupert's Fork or Pip's paintbrush. Rupert said that he "appreciates the size and feel of it in his hand" so I have taken this and decided to try and alter his feelings about fork's by altering their shape/ form and material from which they are made. One artist that has helped me with this idea is Cornelia Parker. She comments in the book "Altered Objects" on how lots of her work is created through "Cartoon deaths", such as the flattening of silver object by a steam roller, or "little acts of betrayal". I have interpreted her thoughts about betrayal, to see if I can alter the object enough to make someone feel differently about it, by betraying the original function of, for example a fork, and by betraying the person who once valued it by now making them feel more negative towards the object.

By creating models out of forks which can no longer function properly i hope to provoke feelings of frustration towards the objects. I have already tried out one of the models (the double fork) by giving it people and all of them said that they wanted to snap it, this being quite an aggressive action towards the object because they know what a fork normally looks like and how the prongs are fundamental for a fork to work, hence why I am using the word "familiarity" relating to objects.

What I will do after creating more models is film people trying to use each one in comparison to how a normal fork works. I will aim to film as many people at once so that the end product will be a massive projection of all the people that participated.