LO
- Understand the basics of a ‘creative practice’
- Begin to think about the role of technology in a creative practice
- LO1, Demonstrate an ability to produce creative work (Process)
- LO2, Demonstrate an ability to evaluate your creative work (Enquiry)
- LO3, Demonstrate an ability to present your creative work (Communication)
Introduction (What did you do?)
In week one, we were assigned to do a creative response to No Ghost Just A Shell. This multimedia project was initiated by Pierre Huyghe and Philippe Parreno as a deviation of No Ghost In a Shell (1989). The copyrights for a background character called Ann Lee were purchased by an anime company called for commercial use. Artists are allowed to put their artistic response to Ann Lee in any medium of their choice, this includes 3D modelling or 2D art.
For my artistic response, I created 2D sketch prototype on a app called PENUP. It is a customized USB that can potentially be further developed and even sold in a limited amount.
Research (Pre-Production)
For this research, I curated a mood board for visual inspiration. for Ann Lee, my interpretation aligns with the theme of the actual show Ghost In A Shell (1989), which is Sci-Fi Futurism however I’ve made it more personalised in terms of Afro-Black Futurism. I’ve always loved the emerging trend of Afro-futurism from the late 90s to the early 2000s, the movement represented a new millennium with a visualisation of over-the-top technology.
For the communication of the design, I chose a technological and philosophical route, exploring the relations between the mind and all the information that downloads into us, whether it be good experiences or bad (traumatic events), it makes us into the person we are. As humans we are waiting to be filled like Ann Lee also. But I’ve made this into a mini design for everyday use.
Production(evolving ideas, inspirations, relating it to Ann Lee and what does this mean in terms of your interpretation)
Evolving Ideas (Progression)
Initial Design
I knew I wanted my design to be made someday, so I chose something simple for everyday use. In the technology industry, USBs are always used. It also holds information and storage in Gigabytes. This means whatever is uploaded onto the USB is information that remains there until deleted. At this point, the correlation with Ann Lee is that she is empty, a being waiting to be filled and so is a USB. They are both empty souls waiting to be occupied by the user.
Second Stage
At this stage, I was just messing around. I just drew another USB stick and started drawing random things on it. I came up with a cool design which was inspired by Oc-Doc from Marvel’s Spiderman, however, it did not fit the artistic response. Throughout this process of sketching and designing, I realised that I wanted the USB to potentially have Ann Lee attached to it some way.
Third Stage (Final)
This is the final product that I came up with, I decided that Ann Lee would be attached to the USB, essentially making her apart of it. If you look closely, the USB is connected with her brain. Philosphically and scientifically, your brain is programmed by what you consume and your environment (evidence). So if the user of this USB places it in a computer, it will be offloaded onto the USB but design wise it looks like it is connecting to her brain(through her afro). The inspiration came from the anime where it was pictured to see a young lady connected to a metal helmet half asleep. This displayed to me that she was downloading information from an external source(the machines).
I’ve also decided that I wanted to make Ann Lee look more modern and have more Afrocentric features(without being stereotypical). So I took the main character of Ghost in a shell and traced over it, whilst making some editorial changes to the hair and eyes.
final evaluation: why this project? are you happy with the way it turned out? what was bad about it? what is the significance of ann lee and your interpretation, any takeaway?
Evaluation
“I am a product. A product free from the marketplace I was supposed to fill. . . I was bought but strangely enough, I do not belong to anybody. I belong to whomever is able to fill me with any kind of imaginary material anywhere out of the world. I am an imaginary character. I am no ghost, just a shell.”
Why this project?
From this quote, I was able to conceptualize a couple of ideas such as her being a product and her being brought (I’ve made her sellable in a literal sense), she belongs to whoever fills her (the user of the USB and what they upload into her) and she is just a shell waiting for gigabytes of information to fill her mind.
Are you happy with the product? What went wrong?
I am quite happy with the way it turned out, I liked how my ideas evolved and I didn’t try and go ‘over-the-top’ with designs. The whole idea of creativity is being able to make and evolve, which I am now learning. I feel like a simpler design would’ve maybe been more key if I was looking to actually sell this product in the future, but who knows maybe I’ll be able to 3D Model and sculpt and 3D Print this. So in terms of design, It could be simplified for commercial use. Another reason could be is to actually read into the character of the brief, I mistook Ann Lee for the wrong character in the original anime, however, this ended up working for me in the end.
In conclusion, my interpretation is mixed with introspective, philosophical thinking, about my personal identity and culture. It explains themes of the mind interpreted to computational technology (the USB).
Feedback:
- Ideas for further development, modelling, printing.
- Apply coding, 3D Modelling. (not sketches every week, unless its pre-production).
- Maybe not too much on the blog? depending on if you can do that.
- Efficient Writing. Thoughts on lecture, visual representation, bullet points.
- Use bold and brighter colours on important words