09.27 Research Questions
Warm up: Take the first thought that comes up and continually note subsequent thoughts
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Peter Greenaway's theatrical cinematography, loss of identity, consciousness, ephemerality, decentralizing forces, a dog's favorite toy, meaning and
value of objects, Shroud of Turin, Mona Lisa, Bill Viola, Ragnar Kjartansson, Cisternene, Superflex Studio, The Lousiana Museum of Modern Art, William Kentridge, Silhouettes,
Portraiture, Sargent, Gustav Klimt, The Crossing of the Delaware, The Met, Period Rooms, Victorian Era, Post Mortem photography, spirits, Psycho, Psycho house, Cornelia Parker,
Transformation, Religion, St Peter's Basilica, Baldachino at St Peter's Basilica, St Peter's Tomb, Angels and Demons, Rome, Hadrian's Mausoleum...
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Interests
Now, let's begin. The following are general fields of interest.
Art
Film
History
Built Environment
Humans
In particular, I'm interested in the following.
Art - Video
Art - Still life
Art - Portraiture
Art - Interactive
Art - Light
Art - Materiality
Art - Ephemerality
Film - Sublime
Film - Narrative
Film - Suspense
Film - Theatrics
History - Roman History
History - Lore and Religion
History - Founding of Cities
History - Revisionist Histories
Built Environment - Exhibition Design
Built Environment - Ephemerality
Built Environment - Forced Perspectives
Built Environment - Light and Transparency
Humans - Communication
Humans - Consciousness
Humans - Life and Death
Humans - Values
Humans - Memories
Research Questions
From the interests above, I explored questions I'd be interested in investigating further. Most of these questions are focused around Humans, which I later reflected upon as the central
thread between the disparate interests. While the inquisitory is around Humans and the "soft" parts of our being, the other topics serve as potential vessels through which the inquiry
channels its findings. A couple of questions were chosen to explore further by investigating the data associated with it (**).
In a world engrossed in darkness, what are we able to gather around us? **
Is it possible for two people to be feeling the exact same emotion?
What physical aspects of ourselves can we transfer into a digital realm? **
How do we determine the value of something?
Observations
To begin thinking about this question, I decided to track how time and duration are affected by the lack of sight. The idea is to draw a straight line from point A to point B to the closest
of my ability within the given amount of time. This involves pacing, an understanding of where our pen currently is on the paper, and it relies on the motor skills to manifest these
interpretations.
Within a 1 minute time frame, lines were relatively straight and uniform. As we look at the 2 minute time frames, the line begins to waver, although directionality isn't entirely affected.
Lastly, for the longest duration, the mind found it difficult to find the target, resulting in an undershooting on the first pass, and an overshooting during the second. A short test
at a 1 minute time frame after the successive 4 minute frames resulted in an overshot line, but generally true in direction.
As part of this observation, I included material swatches of varying textures that intend to be touched and observed for sounds without the use of vision.
For the second question, I tracked objects within my immediate vicinity. This included objects both "desirable" and "undesirable", both meaningful and meaningless. For each of these items,
I took inventory of how much of each were in the room, and I plotted this information onto translucent trace paper. Each subsequent quantity is represented by redrawing the object onto the
sheet above.
QTY 1
QTY 2
QTY 3
QTY 4
QTY 10
QTY 16
While this was an exercise in counting, the physical representation of objects fading away can help us appreciate qualatative differences in a tangible way. For me, this chart had an inverse
association. The items I had most of, mostly pens and junk mail, also carried the least amount of meaning. One can imagine if this exercise were shown to a collector. He might find a different
association between quantity and meaning. For him, this might even help him understand which particular aspect of his collection he relates most to.
After discussions and consideration for scope, the research questions have expanded into the following.
What would go in a sensory toolkit for navigating in the dark?
How do we instill value into something foreign to us?
How can a user transform an object so that it gains value?
How do you share an emotion without the use of senses?
How can we connect with someone or something from another time?