water

How do I continue with this resit? It is clear that there is visual appeal in my work but as the tutors stated, which I agree with is that there is no depth to the project apart from the visual.

I attempted to include the use of a philosophical approach through my research of the mind-body problem. However, this seems to me now like an addition onto an existing project. Or maybe I just didn't frame it right the first time round.

You started out promising, but after the DDW, it seems that you were unable to progress. It seems to be a lack of clarity on your part, even though we see some opportunities for you to explore further. Look at your positioning and then decide on one thing to explore further. The installation you propose doesn’t feel like it is the right way to go, which makes us think of a panic move. Take a step back to reflect on this project and it’s worth will show it to you eventually.

You have visual and aesthetics skills that you can work with, so the installation of course looks appealing and interesting but, Why an installation? for who? where? there are many questions marks… is an installation necessary? lets work further on that.

The tutors saw that there is still alot to be done with my project. THey see that the visuals tell a narrative but is their view of the narrative the same as mine? They also mention that the project really only needs a redefining of its final stage as in the context of the presentation. I think I need to take a step back and work on defining the storytelling in a more succinct way. The end presentation should make sense and should not be crazy complicated. The end piece I guess doens't necessarily have to be an end product but maybe an inquiry or something that just states an interesting thought.

For the next two weeks, I will work intensely on defining the reasoning or logos of the project. Should I try to make something in reality that may improve the communication of the project?

What could improve my narrative is the use of a real time effect. With my previous tests you are watching an experience rather than experiencing it. It's counter-intuitive right? Anyway I want to bring the experience into reality so I will recreate the experience through the use of a distorted mirror.

The narrative that I tried, but failed to communicate was the disconnect or also connection that I noticed between body and mind through my experiments with water.

As I should have done from the get go, I began on the process of making my experience a reality. I modelled a wave pattern that I took from my research with water droplets. my hope was that this would be that I could achieve a satisfying amount of distortion in the mirror that I would make.

I spent a few days working through the process of realizing this distortion mirror. From wood I laminated , I carved a positive and negative mold on the cnc that I would use to form the mirror.

I really like the visuals that I created with the wood grain and would like to experiment with it in the future but for now is irrelevant to the current project.

I polished some aluminium sheet that I bought as I thought it could function well as a mirror and clamped the aluminium between my custom plywood molding to form the aluminium to my desired shape. This took a lot of work and experimenting as initially it was not working properly, but after cutting more molds on the CNC and annealing the aluminium, I got it to work.

Narrative/thought process

From the start I tried and failed to attach a narrative to my visual work. I have trouble creating a narrative from a process as I am more used to creating a narrative first and then working through it but I guess this is a more archaic approach that in some ways is being replaced. From the beginning my connection with water and my theme was that of water as my 'therapist'. I used this as when I think of water in my present life and in the past, I think of my experiences with it being of a therapeutic nature. I have sailed, scuba-dived, swum competitively, etc, and this is no coincidence. I just adore the tactility of water.

So moving further on this topic I was interested in understanding the opposing effects of water. More specifically water as a method of torture. So, knowing me. I had to experience this for myself. I set up everything as official as torture can be and I subjected myself to it. The experience was very interesting. Throughout the process, I began to notice a connection between my mental and physical state that I had not experienced prior. This experience led me on a tangent that resulted in me questioning my belief in logic and the sciences in general. It led me onto a path of exploration into other possible explanations for consciousness.

In short, my physical and digital artistic research inspired a theoretical process that evolved into a method of sharing this process. Maybe my end goal is an open debate or rather an inquiry.

Reflecting on reflection

Water is a highly dualistic, often paradoxical matter. While at some points it is a virtue of therapy and calm, which I can relate to, at other times it is the bringer of pain. This conflict is what spurred an interest in me initially which led to a visual and experiential exploration into the effect of water on the body and mind. The evocative visuals and aroused senses that the water caused in me forced me to take a new outlook on my preconceptions of my beliefs of logic, science and consciousness.

This eventually evolved into the material experimentation experience that I present today. Ideally, this work would act as a visual experience that will stimulate thought surrounding the concept of fluidity in mind and body, but in the least evoque some sort of reaction.