Lifestreaming is the digitization of your life. It is a constantly updated archive of your documented activity. Publicly posting and aggregating your data in one place online builds your reputation, reveals patterns, and provides opportunities for real time interaction with others.
My current work splinters a lifestream into specific areas of focus. It is an editing of my lifestream that leads to more intentional documentation. I am experimenting with “goal-oriented lifestream design”, which includes projects such as my Financial Lifestream. I have a goal: take control of my personal finances and stick to a budget. So I am feeding everything finance related in my life into one site, so I can first visualize my financial situation, then measure it (with web services and embeddable widgets), and then begin to consciously manage it.
The questions I hope to address through this investigation are these: what critical feedback loops are created in goal-oriented lifestreaming? Are there systems of analysis and pattern recognition that can lead to measurable behavioral change? Where does lifestreaming interface with design pedagogy and media literacy?
Santiago Forero
STUDIO ART
Housewife (from the series I Want to Live in America)
digital print
44 x 36 inches
Cecilia Rios Velasco
DESIGN
Lobster abdomen research
Nature offers unlimited source of inspiration for designing products, we can be inspired from the form, color, shape, mechanism, etc. When we translate these natural elements to a 3D object the results can be surprising and innovative. My research focuses on analyzing natural systems and biological traits in order to utilize them as a source of inspiration for designing products. By using this discovery method we get away from the preconceptions we could have of a product and it allows us to pursue design in a non-traditional manner, which is usually dictated by goals. This project was conceived to explore a discovery oriented process in which we approach the natural element with no preconceptions of what the final object might be, focusing in the translation of the mechanism: the movement of the lobster's abdomen.
Video showing the actual motion of the lobster's abdomen switching from slow to fast motion.
Two 3D models were constructed in order to represent the mechanical movement of the lobster's abdomen.
3D Model representing the movement of the lobster's abdomen using a kinetic device.
3D Model reversing the movement of the lobster's abdomen using a kinetic device.
Possible application for the mechanism: Rain harvesting system with kinetic energy generators
Scott Eastwood
STUDIO ART
Alter
mixed media
21 x 72 x 51 inches
Lisa Willman
DESIGN
Is there anything missing here? Well, that depends on what information you wish to garner from the image. This is a cross-stitched representation of an original photograph, with all portions of the image that did not support the theme of “desperation” eliminated. Materials were selected to embody the discomfort of the image.
Designed to test theories of cropping techniques, this piece also falls under the designer's larger research interests into the parallels that can be found between handicrafts and the experiences of trauma victims. In the onslaught of a traumatic experience, the human mind will sometimes repress any information that is either not vital to the victim's survival and/or that may be too overwhelming at the time for the victim to be able to process. In this piece, the absence of all peripheral information allows the viewer to focus on only the parts of the image that are central to a theme. In the wake of a traumatic experience, the body and mind will begin to heal themselves by slowly releasing the withheld information into a position where the victim can begin to recollect it. The details of traumatic events that were once suppressed will sometimes come to surface in fragments, much like the fragmented nature of this piece.
(Photographs by Heather Renee Photography)
Marc Payzant
STUDIO ART
A Gentlemen's Club Parking Lot
acrylic on paper
42 x 50 inches
Bethany Johnson
STUDIO ART
Smoke Machine II
burned paper
13 x 9 inches
Sonya Berg
STUDIO ART
Deep End
oil, graphite, charcoal on paper
52 x 75 inches
Jacqueline Abreo
DESIGN
The Frida Kahlo painting, Self-Portrait with Thorn Necklace and Hummingbird, is currently on display at the Harry Ransom Center in Austin, Texas. For my project, I have chosen to redesign this exhibit in three different proposals. Each proposal provokes the visitor to understand the artist and her work in a different way.
In the first scheme, the visitor can engage with the painting by having a physical relationship with it. The drama of Kahlo's life is illustrated through the design of the space. In contrast, the contextual information is presented objectively, only including the artist's name, date, title, and media.
For a more personal approach to understanding Kahlo, her diary is used to communicate her history. By displaying the artist's private thoughts and sketches along with her self-portrait, the visitor can relate to Kahlo more intimately. The contextual information becomes more visual and meaningful than in a traditional label because it is part of the entire wall where the painting is hung.
Lastly, I redesigned the exhibit in a time-based proposal where the label is projected as text moving across the wall. The visitor can reflect and think about the meaning of the specific words describing Kahlo's life to better understand her as an artist. Each visitor may find different connections between her life and work.
My study resulted in three unique designs that challenge traditional methods of displaying a painting, including the way that it is hung and labeled. The design of each exhibit is embedded with meaning and influences the visitors' understanding of the artist and interpretation of the artwork
Santiago Forero
STUDIO ART
Untitled No. 9 (Stereoamerica) (from the series Portraits)
digital print
44 x 36 inches
Scott Eastwood
STUDIO ART
ABCs
mixed media on felt
48 x 60 inches
Marc Payzant
STUDIO ART
A Sign of Life in the Cardboard Garden
acrylic on paper
38 x 50 inches
Wei Wei
DESIGN
This is an animation investigated under my research topic—the interaction between the imaginary world and the real world. In this work the narrative moves back and forth between the paper as an object and the illusive space “inside” the paper. In this world, the movement of the paper can influence the imaginary world “inside” the paper.
There are three scenes: playing kite, making kite and painting kite. They are arranged along the edge of the paper and form a loop—the cloud in the first scene brings rain to the last scene.
In my research I investigate animation (an “imaginary world”) by tying it to the “real world”, because in response to the real world, we can more fully understand the magic of animation.
