Game Project

== > Invent a game for 6 players.

        It should reflect your your curiosity, particular interests and inventiveness.

Well, i was in France when i found out about this project game and my mind was thinking so strongly when i thought i needed a game easy to carry in a suitcase! That is how the idea of a card game came to me.

While i was watching TV, turning channels, and when all i could find was cooking shows and i thought why not a card game for food? After all is cooking not an art? 

I believe that food is a way of discovering about eachother and that it can brings discussions. Also, it is very talked about at the moment as much in France as in England and i guess in a lot of other countries.

So here it is :

  Recipes of the world

How to play :

Each player takes 1 card from the STARTERS, 1 from the MAINS and 1 from the DESERTS, then 6 cards from the INGREDIENTS are distributed to each player.

The goal is to get each ingredient that you need to get your complete menu.

To get the ingredients the first player asks for one ingredients to his neighbour on the left, if the person to the left has the card, he HAS TO give it, if not then the player picks up a card in the deck.

The first who gets his complete menu WINS.

  

Party Project

 A party with no guests

==> Create a party on the above theme. 

You should make suitable :  

• Decorations
• Costumes 
• Food and Drink
• Music/Sounds

After an awkward silence...................., we decided to close the door with cling film and to bring empty bottles, empty boxes to represent the idea that there is a party but we do not need what is inside because there are no guests.

After all, a party with no guests, what is the point? So, we made a party with no point!

                                                                                                                

Video project

---> Make a Sweded of Citizen Kane.

A sweded : The process is called sweding, upon completion the film has been sweded.

It comes from the Michel Gondry film Be kind Rewind when the characters must re-record classic movies to replace broken VHS tapes. The process is described in the film as “re-making something from scratch using whatever you can get your hands on.”

This was our second group project and i cannot really explain this experience because it turned out that we had some problems with the camera but the great thing about this project is that i discovered a brilliant film : Citizen Kane by Orson Welles.

Orson Welles, was an American filmmaker, actor, theatre director, screenwriter, and producer, who worked extensively in film, theatre, television and radio. Noted for his innovative dramatic productions as well as his distinctive voice and personality, Welles is widely acknowledged as one of the most accomplished dramatic artists of the twentieth century. 


He made Citizen Kane in 1941, it was his first feature film, in which he starred in the iconic role of Charles Foster Kane. It is often considered the greatest film ever made because of his innovative cinematography, music and narrative structure, more particulary his distinctive directorial style featured layered, nonlinear narrative forms, innovative uses of lighting and chiaroscuro, unique camera angles, sound techniques borrowed from radio, deep focuse shots, and long takes.

Liverpool Trip

Liverpool Biennial

Exhibition : Walker Art Gallery
Artist Name : Allen Jones
Nationality : English
Work Title : Hermaphrodite
Dimentions : ~ 2m x 1m




I noticed this painting at the Walker Art Gallery and i have chosen to write a review about this one because it is one of the paintings i spent the most time wondering about.
My frist questions were why can we not see the faces of the characters? and Why is the colour yellow dominant in this painting?
By looking at the painting from a distance, another question came, why is the background so clear and symetric when the main subjects are distorted?
The title of the painting is Hermaphrodite which means by definition :  "an individual in which reproductive organs of both sexes are present"
So why can we see the women's shape more than the man ?
This question brought me to read the description of the painting  which says that " it is one of his [Allen Jones] first portrayals of hermaphrodites". 
Then, the latter brought me to my last question and also to my answers :


How has the artist's future work been influenced by the women?

Liverpool Trip

Crosby Beach


Work Title : Another Place
Artist Name : Antony gormley                                             
Nationality : English
Media : Sculpture
Dimensions : Human size






I really liked this exhibition because it reminded me that i have been in their place many times...dreaming and questioning about life when i was sad or when i needed to find serenity.
My hometown is near to the beach and the winter i used to put on my windbreaker, went to the beach, sat on a tree tronc that the sea brought back on the sand and looked at the horizon.
Are these statues waiting for something? or Are they looking for something? Do they want to escape or are they just looking for new horizons?
Why are they all looking in the same direction and in the same pose?


I believe that this exhibition generates a feeling of an individual nature as well as a universal one. Individual because as i said everyone can identify themselves in questioning the statues thought and universal because everyone has already questioned his/her lives.

"Chronicle of a Summer"

« Chronicle of a summer » is a documentary film made during the summer of 1960 by sociologist Edgar Morin and anthropologist and filmmaker Jean Rouch.

At the time, two types of cinemas distinguished themselves which are the “cinema direct” also called “fly on the wall” by the American and the “cinema vérité”. The “cinema direct”, that Edgar Morin uses, consists of an absence of the director in the film. The director has to be as discrete as possible, never intervene. On the other hand, the “cinema vérité”, that Jean Rouch uses, claims subjectivity.

“Chronicle of a summer” is torn between Rouch’s vision as well as Morin’s vision. For instance Marceline’s monologue represents Rouch’s vision because of the pre-recorded voice, this monologue was planned.  On the other side, we have Marilou’s interview where we can feel Morin’s influence because of its sincerity, the emotions that Marilou shows in this scene were not planned. Another distinction of this film, (which is actually Rouch’s particularity) is that it includes what happens during the shooting as well as what happens during the showing.

Considering what has been analysed, the point that I am attempting to make is, are there any differences from today’s reality shows such as” Big Brother”?

Except the obvious fact that “Chronicle of a summer” is a documentary and that “Big Brother” is pure entertainment, what makes them different?

In many reality TV programs, camera shooting and footage editing give the viewer the impression that they are passive observers following people going about their daily personal and professional activities; this style of filming is often referred to as fly on the wall or “cinema direct”. Story "plots" are often constructed via editing or planned situations, with the results resembling soap opera. In other shows a “cinema vérité” style is adopted, where the filmmaker is more than a passive observer, their presence and influence is greatly manifested. Reality TV programs are supposed to have been created as a social experiment but I think this is an excuse to justify humiliations that the participants endure and more than that, to justify the fact that we like to watch them.

In this case, “Chronicle of a summer” is quite naïve in his will to film the truth (first scene with Marceline), in his sincere question: which character are we playing in front of the camera and in real life....?

Just a quote from Jean Rouch that I particularly like:

The « cinema vérité », said J. Rouch, is made of lies (which), by chance, are more real than the truth”

The Mary Greg Project

The Project in brief: After spending a day at Platt Hall. We require you to develop ideas that might be used for a special Exhibition. The Exhibition is hoping to use all the Public Areas of Platt Hall for a short special "EVENT". The theme of this event is Mary Greg and her Bygone Collection.


My focus: the key collection!

Different kind of events
An investigation as a performance.
Web site: "Investigating the Mary Greg collection at Manchester Art Gallery"--> Word taken in the first degree. 


The Audience
After the visit to Platt Hall:
We could take pictures of some objects, turn them into flyers with a catch phrase written on the back, eg: "Would you like to know where this key gives you access to ? Then come to the Platt Hall on the.....2012 to find out!"

After the group tutorial:                                                                               

Find a way to make my flyer more interesting, like a piece of art. How about making the key?(laser cutter)  It could be a kind of flyer that people do not want to throw away and I could use them as the starter for the "Investigation".

                                                                                         


Ways to interpret the collection
A performance: An investigation where people would
have to discover where the keys are hidden and then make hypothesis about their use.
The flyers could be the start point of this investigation, people would have to bring them.


Story Lines
After the visit to Platt Hall:
"The objects, their hidden stories, who owned them, where did she obtain them from?"
"Perhaps you can help us untangle the truths from the fiction?"
--> We could let visitors write their own theory, hypothesis..


Visitor Participation
"How can we allow people access to the storage areas without compromising the safety of the collection?"
--> Divide them in little groups.
--> Give people plastic gloves at the entrance of the storage areas (within investigation).
-->Place "guards" in each room to look after the objects. 


While I was trying to make original flyers, the idea of making my own keys came to me. Thus, the last week before the presentation with Liz I have concentrated my work on this idea. I went to the Mac suite to draw my keys on Illustrator and then to the laser cutter to make prototypes of my keys, two in wood, two in plastic and two in an other kind of wood. The cost of a hundred keys would be 5 pounds which is quite cheap.
Finally, my work was more about the way to promote the event so I decided to reoriente it on this aspect to present it to Liz.

 

Jean Dieuzaide

La Gitane à l'enfant

Jean Dieuzaide is a french photographer born in 1920 and became well known for his portrait of the general De Gaulle.
Portraits are my favorite inspirations in photography and I love the way he catches the expressions of his subjects.
So here are a couple of my favorite portraits.

Salvador Dali

La petite fille au lapin

The Ruins of Detroit

 French photographers Yves Marchand and Romain Meffre have taken beautifull artistic pictures of the declining town of Detroit.
I love the oxymoron that these pictures portray, they are beautifull and terrible, they have greatness and decadence.
Unfortunately, I cannot put all the pictures in my blog but here are my favorites!

William Livingstone's house

Melted clock, technical school

Woodward Avenue

Theatre

Room 1504, Plaza Hotel

Piano, Saint Albertus School

Packard motor factory

Manchester Underground

At the begining of the 19th century the City of Manchester began to take a new dimention. This was the start of the industrial revolution where steam driven machinery and enormous man power helped dig tunnels and waterways underneath the heart of the city to better distribute merchandise throughout the metropolitan as well as the country. Later on in the early 20th century these tunnels were exploited as bomb shelters during the second world war.

Today this underground world is mostly unused however, we can now be guided through them as a piece of Manchester's history.
In my opinion, it is really interessting to discover this unseen world that dwells beneath our feet. As we go about our day to day lives we are unaware of this exciting man made mysterious tomb that our city has been built on.

During my visit I was able to take pictures of these history filled tunnels but these images may never project the darkness that is the reality of being over a hundred feet below the surface of Manchester.  

 

                             

I would have loved to have more time in there and more material to play around with lighting but unfortunately that was not possible so here is a link to a site which better portrays the artistic potential of this environement.  www.28dayslater.co.uk/forums/showthread.php?t=53777

Amnesty International

For my second assignment in Contextual and Professional Studies Framework I have chosen the question 8 which is: "Using an example of a company, or product that you have chosen from contemporary culture, discuss how the image of this company, or product has been visually constructed through branding and advertising."


I have always been interessted in advertising and have even considered it as a future career but I am still not sure because I do not want to work for companies selling mindless product. This is why, for my assignement I have chosen to work with the image of Amnesty International. All the campaigns made about this company represent what I like in advertising, they are really artistic, full of creativity  with a huge impact and a strong message!
To give an idea of how I would like to work with advertising, here is one of my favorite adverts made to promote the company.

New shapes

         Once my first prototypes were made I realised that the shape of the keys were not appropriate, so to better express the antique aspect I decided to make new shapes based on the Mary Greg's collection.

        I have also engraved the website (marymaryquitecontrary.org.uk) and my catch phrase ("Would you like to know where this key gives you access to?") on the keys so once they have the flyer, people can directly go on the website and know what this is all about. Moreover, I believe the fact that people cannot see all the information as on a traditionnal flyer, adds intrigue which will entice the holder to investigate futher.

20cm, wood, full engraving

20cm, plastic, full engraving

   

15cm, wood, full engraving

15cm, plastic, full engraving

  

15cm, wood, hollow engraved

These keys are bigger and thicker than the first one's which might be a problem to be flyers but I can make them smaller and it gave me the idea that we could put the bigger one's in strategic places all over Manchester such as well known pubs, art galleries or museums this could promote the event even better.

It's all about perception

This project is about the influence of masculine and feminine through languages.

The starting point of this project came from a thought that I have had when I have begun to learn English. Do I see the world and art in a different way from others people because of my mother tongue?

Basically, do languages affect our way to see the world?

In French everything is masculine or feminine, starting from a car to emotions such as love or anger, so does it make me think differently or does it add barriers to things that we take for granted?

As well as I wanted to develop this project I also wanted to develop my skills in making and editing video. Thus, I rented a video camera and interviewed people from different mother tongue and asked them about some objects which I found relevant if they thought it was more masculine or feminine and why, aiming for a documentative approach. Then, I could see what will come out of it.

The video done, I realised that the answers vary from people through their culture and their education more than from their mother tongue even if it influenced it.

My conclusion is that It's all about perception and the discovery I made in the language part of The phenomenology of perception by Maurice Merleau-Ponty illustrates exactly what came out of my video which is that we cannot dissociate speech and thoughts, they are interactive, one cannot exist without the other.

To carry on this theme I am considering doing a theatrical performance involving body language.

Time Line Exhibition

'Hearts', Oliviero Toscani, Benetton campaign, March 1996

The Time Line Exhibition was running from the 80s to the present day and we had to bring an image of our choice during this time.

This image comes from the united colors of Benetton which is an italian clothing brand. It launched in march 1996 during the ati-racism day and the reason why I have chosen this one is because it represents what I like in advertising which is creativity, controversy and impact.

Thus, I decided to do my assignement for the HCC lecture on this company!

AILEY 2

Interessted in all kind of performances at the moment, I went to the Lowry to watch Ailey 2 which is a contemporary dancing company.
Above is my favourite choreographed piece.  

The Greatest Sin of All

The Greatest Sin of All is a thought-provoking site-specific promenade performance piece which retells stories of survivors and victims of the vicious Nazi regime, in particular, those from the Jewish Community, political dissenters and the disabled. 
The piece uses the ruined grandeur of the internationally famous Victoria Baths as a sympathetic and emotionally involving backdrop for the production, which took the audience on an intimate journey through the horrors of the period, experiencing through true accounts the personal human devastation felt by so many during this dark chapter in modern history. 
Travel from the war-torn ghettoes of Krakow, through to the raided houses of Berlin and Prague, and finally, to the harrowing emptiness and silence of the Nazi death camps.







I really loved these performances, the Victoria Baths is a beautifull building and the way we were guided through the different performances was original. The audience was really close to the performers because of the limited space of the rooms. This really intimist theatre is one of my favourit kind because you feel like you are involved in the performance and it is a great feeling.