http://www.hazardousexperiments.eu/

Butch Anthony's Museum of Wonder from Etsy on Vimeo.

20.3.2012

A sunny day in Munich.

A peek into the kiln: flasks are ready.

Casting copper. Be careful, wear leather shoes, apron, gloves.

From kiln to vacuum, from crucible to vacuum, then quench.

Then clean.

Playing with wax; from 2D to 3D, make min. 30 models – work fast.

Red wax, black wax, blue wax, pink wax, green wax.

Cast bronze.

(while you wait, make a two-part mould with plaster to make hollow wax forms)

Cast shibuichi.

(make the other part of the mould)

Keep playing with wax.

Look, talk, walk, galerie, galerie (well, bookshop), Akademie.

Beer, food.

A nice day.

Food for thought.

What do you guys say? Shall we start stealing? :)

Robo-Charge by Shih Yun Yeo

Robo-Charge@Kinetica Art Fair London 2012 from shih yun yeo on Vimeo.

Shih Yun attaches bristle brushes to small robots and lets them draw motifs on the paper. The strokes are dictated by rules she made up and by using the element of chance from a dice.

"Goldfish Salvation" Riusuke Fukahori from ICN gallery on Vimeo.

Transformation

One form-17 different materials! sounds easier than it actually is. Still everybody came up with different ideas. From natural material to completely industrial. Next step: choose your favourite and transform it.
So the rest of the day was about cutting, burning, sewing and many other options. That's how you get many other things out of just one.

Plastinates

Process: Plastinates from Etsy on Vimeo.

With the sheet of paper under the table,  upside down and without seeing , we were drawing some objects which were placed on the table. After we chose the two most interesting, beautiful oder precis drawings. Out of the 16 trials of different materials we took the most to work with and with that and one of those drawings we created a jewellery piece in only 3 hours.  

I couldnt believe that Peters words :“I hope in the end you start to like the material“ will become true, but it was really incredible to see how every material can be transformed. When you put your effort in it and go on working you can find ways you would never have thought that they exist.

Monday, 31 January 2012

Today’s lesson was about materials experimentations and working and drawing restrictions. This made me think about some important questions you’d better ask yourself while you are working with a new material or making a new piece:

1.    Are you working with or against the material?

2.    If you never break rules, will you ever discover something new?

3.    Is it possible to work with no rules at all?

4.    Are you making a fast, simple and repeatable piece or a more complicated, unique one?

5.    Are you using a certain material for conceptual or esthetical reasons?

6.    Do you want to hide or to show the material?

7.    What happens if you try to overcome your physical limits while you are working?

8.    Which are the criteria to judge a piece?

Sometimes questions are more useful than answers.

Today was the first day of our one-year project with Peter, who as we were told will confuse us, a lot.

We started by talking about basic geometry and different shapes, but most importantly about lines. One would think that it would be quite simple to describe sonething as common as a line, but we all found out pretty soon that it is actually quite difficult.

One of our first tasks was to go out and take pictures of various lines, in order to built objects which would project shadows in form of our found lines.

I thought it was very interesting to have to think the other way around. Insted of just finding out what the shadow of an object is, building one that will have the shadow you want it to have... (indeed, very confusing)

Wednesday: La Specola

Shakudo, mokume-gane, layers, unusual wedding rings, lipstick, women's independence, La Specola, museum rules, old fashion, drawings, drawings, drawings... euplectella aspergillum, cochlicopa lubrica, insects, tiny perfection, sternocera aequisignata, iridescent, dimorphism, extatoso matiratum, phasmatodea, omotteri memracidi (insects or thorns?!), farfallafoglia, strange appendixes, encope emarginata, bear juggler, fennec fox (...and his big termoragultory ears), baleen, upupa (funny crest!), aye-aye, uccello tessitore, colors explosion, uccello parasole, wax, Clemente Susini, artery of head and neck (seems to coral!!) exposed organs, pearls string, foetus, Gaetano Zumbo, draw the death, anatomy, make a piece of jewellery following the rules....don't think too much...do it!

World Sketching Tour from World Sketching Tour on Vimeo.

Be Present. 2/2/2012

Whenever we set a goal, we think we are on the right track to it, but more often than not something appears and disrupt the plan. My fashion instructor used to nag at us during the last month before collection deadline, "Always expect the unexpected, even simple things like crossing the road, do not assume drivers are looking out for you, you have to be alert." It was reiterate this week.

In my opinion, sticking to a plan is a good thing, but following it in the most precise and straightest line is a dumb thing. Yes, you'll achieve the goal faster, however you'll most likely miss the plenty of unforeseen paths that might lead you somewhere else, which might improve your final creation to a whole new level. You'll get what you planned, but not what it could have been. Which is a pity.

Now I share with you a famous quote by a Zen Master,
"In the beginner's mind there are many possibilities, but in the expert's there are few."
-Shunryn Suzuki

Attack of the killer oranges

A short film about lines, circles and disruption.

By Anna, Enrica, Lavina and Nur.

The winner

A short film about lines, circles and disruption.

By Hana, Lena and Valentina.

Enzo

A short film about lines, circles and disruption.

By Chiara, Magdalena and YuQi.

Tuesday, 31st January 2012

Three inches golden lotus - pain and body modification (of others) as a status symbol.

Khoom Fay - fairies of the sky

Kimchi Jeon - chop chop chop, cheeee, cheeka cheeka

Insultation foam – plastic- the great Pacific garbage patch

Disruptions! They happen.

Polystyrene.

Textiles. Fabric made from milk.

Matthew Barney: Drawing restraint 9, Cremaster. Self imposed rules. Restrictions. Ceremonies (rules you follow even if you don't understand them)

Rules, order, chaos and movies: circles, lines and disruptions; disturbance, friction and restraint.

Movies:

Attack of the killer oranges

Enzo

The winner

Make up rules

and then swap them

Calvinball!

The hidden mother

‘This was a practice where the mother, often disguised or hiding, often under a spread, holds her baby tightly for the photographer to insure a sharply focused image.’

http://www.retronaut.co/2011/10/the-invisible-mother/

The Hidden Mother

http://saint-lucy.com/one-picture-one-paragraph/melinda-barlow/

Cabbage flowers

Are these flowers or cabbages? It seems that the inner feelings of cabbages of falling in love were expressed. The deep purple looks like the depth of love. The green cabbage that was running wild turns beautiful purple leaves when missing and having someone in mind. The cabbage that has purple leaves radiates the scent of a woman. Whoever falls in love is beautiful, isn't it? The green cabbage has become a beautiful flower.