Recently, I am thinking of an idea to do a performance base on the Happiness Temple, the story I wrote recently. The rough idea is the place will set up with some worshipping equipment such as joss sticks, red candles, the bowl putting joss sticks and also the sculpture/ picture of the “Smiling Buddha”. I will be acting be a loyal believer of the “Smiling Buddha”, just like the young man in the story. So, I will keep worshipping the Buddha in hoping of the Buddha will blessing me to be happy and I keep smiling throughout the performance. Besides, I will give a piece of paper written, “Happiness isn’t from the outside, it’s from the bottom of your heart” (快樂不在外界，幸福在自我心中) to the audiences.
The main idea of the performance is showing how ridiculous it is if forcing someone to be happy and the desire people want to be happy. However, it is just a very brief idea and I worried about the cultural difference will affect the audiences’ experience as well. I don’t have any experience of doing a performance. I discussed with Jonathan about this idea. He asked me a lot of details about the performance and some of them I had never thought before. He said there are always many uncontrollable elements during the performance. So I have to plan every detail I can control precisely, especially the setting of the performance which is full of Chinese culture. The cultural difference will be a concern in this performance. The audience may not know the Buddha I worship is just an imaginary one. Therefore, there are much to develop and plan such as what I will be worshipping in concrete (eg: sculpture/poster), the duration and think about the cultural difference.
Recently, I had a chat with Betty, Dannii, Leah and Taiyoh in Pelican. We talked about the happiness index in different countries and why people in some countries do not smile often. And then we discussed the old portrait paintings which people were unlikely to smile as well. But now it becomes common among us to smile in our pictures. And I am interested in the idea and would like to know more. So I take a look more about it on another day and I found something interesting.
I found a video giving a brief idea of why people in the past did not smile in photographs.
They needed to hold still for exposure to turn out right so it is difficult to smile (TRUE!! I had the similar experience of it when I was doing the photogrammetry for 3D scanning my smiley face. It was so hard to hold the smile)
Photo is the most of important document in that time so they should be serious
In 17th Centuries, smile for a portrait meant stigmatised as somebody was either poor, drunk or innocent and did not want to bring these attitude to the photograph
They didn’t want to look silly. If the foolish smile caught in the photo, it fixed forever in the photograph forever
A Century of Portraits: A Visual Historical Record of American High School Yearbooks
Apart from that, I find a paper, about A Century of Portraits: A Visual Historical Record of American High School Yearbooks by Shiry Ginosar, Kate Rakelly, Sarah Sachs, Brian Yin and Alexei A. Efros (https://people.eecs.berkeley.edu/~shiry/publications/IEEE_yearbooks.pdf). They analysed a dataset of nearly 40,000 frontal-facing American high school yearbook photos by computation to glimpse into the historical visual record. From the result, we can see how the style elements, or trends in fashion and social norms changed in every decade. Although the graduation photos could not represent all the photos taken at that time, it is a good way for us to compare the differences and giving us an idea of how their facial expression changed in taking photos from time to time.
From the analysis, I would like to highlight the changes in the smile during a century. It is significant when we compare the 1900s and the 2010s. Their images are from slightly smile to a smile with teeth. One of the reasons why the 1900s one looked serious is just like point 1 in the previous video. And from photos, I realised even smile has its own history. Our habit or culture to smile are changing too.
Smile Revolution – Colin Jones
So I go on to research more about the smile history and I found a book, the Smile Revolution in 18th Century Paris by Colin Jones. In the book, Colin took the self-portrait by Élisabeth Louise Vigée-Le Brun with her Daughter in 1786 (same as the book cover) as the introduction to explain people were uncommon to smile with their teeth in the paintings at that time. When the painting was exhibited, it caused a dispute among artists and the public. The journalist at that time described it was an affectation which artists, connoisseurs, and people of good taste were unanimous in condemning. Although the idea of the smile with the teeth showing was not exactly new, Vigée-Le Brun actually identified with this gesture is seen as throwing away the rulebook of Western art. However, it also caused a revolution of the smile in the late 18th century. A smile with white teeth presented good health as well. It became the symbol of an individual’s innermost and most authentic self.
Moreover, the book mentioned the history of smile has been started since the prehuman ape. Smiling and laughing are deeply ingrained forms of human communication predated the acquisition of language. Besides, Smile is one of the easiest expression for human to recognize. Colin also proposed smile as socialization and lubricate social interaction. Because smile can influence others and make other people smile too. It is not only subjective and individual, but also collective and social.
It is common for us to link the idea of smile together with laugh and happiness. So I think it is worth to take a look at smile from history. I had never thought of an informal chat will be related to my practice and lead me so far and I am happy about it. The reason I shared these documents is not aimed or wanted to prove people in the past were really never smile in paintings or photos, instead, trying to understand the reasons behind from both technical and historical perspective.
By a facial expression, we can understand the background and culture in certain period. Even just a facial expression, it can lubricate social interaction. And I think that makes sense because a smile can really influence the others. I think emotions or even emotional reactions are more powerful than I thought. Sometimes, they are not only self-feeling but they are also able to affect others as well.
Today we went to LCC to see Stanley Kubrick archive. It was a rare opportunity that we could see some document and draft how Stanley Kubrick and his crew planning for movies. Especially the research for 2001: Space Odyssey, it was interesting to see imaginations to the future by different companies in the 1960s. From these researches, we can find the reason why the movie becomes the pioneer of sci-fi movies and why the scenes are still not outdated. As a fan of the Shinning and the Clockwork-Orange, I was so excited to see some real props such as the documents (All works and no play makes Jack a dull boy) on the typewriter, Danny’s shoes in the Shinning and the newspaper about Alex had been brainwashing in Clockwork-Orange. It was funny that the newspaper was edit from the real newspaper. So, when we read the article related to Alex’s brainwashing, it would become another unrelated newspaper in the next paragraph.
Victoria line poster by Tom Eckersley
Then, we also looked at some old comics and advertisement. I like the poster design for the Victoria line. It is clear and simple. Besides, I found one of the comics’ format can be the way I visualise the story of Happiness God.
We had a group tutorial to present our works. Arlette, Danni, Friederike and I were in the same group and Matt was the mentor in our group. Although I did the same last year, I still felt nervous. Actually, it was a good chance for me to practice and review works I have done until now again. Compare with last time, I think I have improved. Because in the past I’m not familiar with asking people questions or giving comments on their works. I think it is related to my background. As most of the time, we would not ask tutor/classmate questions or speak in front of the class. In our culture, if you ask questions in the class, that’s mean you may not pay attention. So I felt a bit hard for me to express my opinion last year. But now, I feel better to ask questions and give some comments which are a good learning process to me (and still need to be improved).
About the works, I found there is some similarity in each of us practices which are amazing. I’m glad that the feedback I received was positive and I got some inspirations on what I can explore more as well, for example, the relationship between happiness and suffer. I think it is an interesting idea and I have thought of an idea on what can I do for this relationship which will do after low residency.
Gallery Visit
In the afternoon, we visited Camberwell Space, Assembly Point and South London gallery. I got some inspirations in ceramics from the work in Assembly Point (Recently, I’m into making ceramics).
Besides, there was a work in the South London gallery I would like to highlight. It is “I Shall Live for 100 Years” (1985-) by Paula Morison. The artist used 2 websites to count the time she has left to her 100 years old (right) and how long does she has been alive (left) respectively. As the artist decided to die at her 100th birthday, she can count down the rest of her life clearly. The idea and presentation of the work are simple and clear. However, it made me reflect a lot in our lives. From watching the timer counting down second by second, I can feel our life are fading.
We always think we still have a lot of time to do many things so sometime we will leave something behind. But in fact, we don’t. If everything quantises into numbers, for example, the time we meet our families and friend or as simple as how many movies can we watch in a lifetime, we will know we don’t have much time to waste. Moreover, no one can predict how long can they live. Even though the artist sets her target as 100 years old, she can’t guarantee as well. She takes it as a performance or even a challenge to herself. Maybe it is relatively a sad reflection on life, I will treasure the life/time I still have now.
Recently, I read an interview with Chan Yik Long who is a Hong Kong artist and this is my first time to see his works. Most of his paintings relate to fear. The abstract fear of demons, planted in Chan’s mind since he was still a little boy, that weighs most heavily on his paintings. Now, fear becomes his main inspiration and what he is trying to give a form to fear.
From the ferocious creatures and faces he drew in the painting, it is easy to feel the darkness and even the fear. What I admired about his works is Chan tries to express his feelings and at the same time he is physicalising the emotion (i.e fear) through his painting. Besides, art also acts as a therapy for him to tackle the fear, the demon in his heart. Chan’s works make me also think of the work from the Japanese horror manga artist, Junji Ito (伊藤潤二). No matter on the style of Junji’s drawing or the plot of the stories, readers can experience the fear and horror which is even more realistic than a Horror movie.
Drawing of Junji Ito (Selected the one which is less horrible lol)
Overall, I like the idea Chan wants to give a form to fear and I think I have underestimated the power of paintings. Sometimes I was too focused on what is the best way to express something and I made things become very complicated at last. I think sometimes I can try to use a simple way to do the same thing just like the Happy Cycle #5 I have done and it can also work well.
I read the article, “Transforming the physicality of Emotion” by Joan Truckenbord wrote for the ISEA 2011 in Istanbul. The ideas are really interesting and inspiring. What’s more important is just explained my practice. I hope I was in ISEA 2011 in Istanbul to join the discussion 😦
Although it focuses on how the physicality of emotion transforms in the digital world. He shows some example including his works and some daily objects on why emotion is physicalised. Human is not the sole proprietor of emotion. Emotion resides in objects and emanate from the material world. Besides, memory takes an important role in it. Objects become sites of memory which evoking our emotion. It also helped me to shape the title of my research paper!
In the tutorial, I showed the draft in the previous post and also the 3D printings which I have printed so far to Jonathan and explained what I would like to do with these different facial expressions. Besides, I also explained the difficulties I faced with the material. Jonathan pointed out the draft I would like to make may mislead people to think the human core is a certain emotion, such as angriness (from my draft). I didn’t consider that before and that was completely not I would like to express through my work. As I would like to explain emotions are part of ourselves and we cannot take away or ignore some of them at the beginning of this project. From the tutorial, I found that I was lost because of the limitations of transparent materials I can use at school. Jonathan reminded me that the material is a medium helping us to present and explain our concept instead of being a barrier. I admitted that those technical problems made me started to confuse what I would like to do at first and it was a really good opportunity for me to reflect and find my direction again.
Theatre mask
Jonathan also told me about the concept of theatre masks which might be related to my practice. The actor in Greek ancient time will wear the exaggerate mask to present their emotion of the audience who seated far away from the stage. Moreover, he suggested different ways I could play with those facial expressions, for instance listing out all the layers separately instead of putting them in one face together. Projecting different facial expression on the face could be another way I could play with. I thought of using the one by the 3D scan which did not have fine details and that will be good enough for projecting different emotions. Besides, light may help the transparency for the printings.
I got many ideas and inspirations I can work with after the tutorial. I am glad that the tutorial just like saving me from the lost. There are so many information and things I have to digest. But the very first thing to do now is to clarify the concept of this project (I don’t think of the title yet)in order to redirect what I really want to make and do not let the medium overcontrol the concept and make myself lost again. Besides, I will try to film the process when I am shooting (scanning) my facial expression as it will be interesting to see the change in the facial expression when holding in a long time.
Moreover, we went through the strength and weakness we discussed in the last tutorial again. I found that I have improved in some weakness. But still, need to work hard to the others and turn them into my strength!
Moreover, in these few weeks, I tried to make another 3D print (smiley face). After watching different tutorial, my edit skill in Recap Photo Pro has been improved. I’m now more familiar with how to edit the model.
However, there was some error appeared when I was printing the smiley face. So I and Adamina adjusted the filament outflow to 200% and it worked well at the beginning. However, some details were too rough and the printer was jammed when printing the nose at last. The filament at that part became clear plastic in that part. Although it somehow failed, it is quite interesting & funny result (my nose looks similar with uncle Mcdonald lol) and fun to learn.
original model (background have to be removed)
3D Model – Smiley Face (after edit)
the nose is like uncle Mcdonald LOL
Meanwhile, I also keep shooting other facial expressions of mine (sadness and angriness). I found that the angry face is the most difficult to hold among others facial expression. I tried quite a long time to practice and hold the facial expression. My facial muscles were keeping shaking after few seconds. Throughout the process, I got some inspiration for facial expression. With the result of 3D-printing and more experience in using Autodesk Recap, I am more familiar with how to edit the model to get the better scanning and printing result.
Yesterday, I tried to print the smiley face again with natural PLA filament to see how transparent it can come out. The printing will be finished on Friday.
Last month, I saw an exhibition of Pe Lang, a Swiss installation artist in the Digital Art Museum in Zurich. The installations in the exhibition were related to minimal kinetic artworks which control and put physical forces in action with a captivating elegance. The way he made use of the feature of the material and physical phenomenon to create elegant works are brilliant. Most of the works in there were using motors to provide motions but each of them in different works was performing different features and they were interesting. It was easy to see the artist was experimenting with different possibilities to make use the material. For example “Simplicity no.1”, it was used the motor to rotate 16 rods by one rotating clockwise and the other counter-clockwise to create the waveform while “Modular no.1” was using motors attached with fish silk to create vibration for tiny rubber rings to bounce and create the illusion that the ring could move back when it touched another ring.
The exhibition is really inspiring as the way the artist experiment the medium he used was appealing. He used many small components together to create a large installation or mechanics system. And also encourage me to do more tests on my projects to explore more possibilities.
In mid-point review, coursemates suggest me to see different artworks. One of them is “The Happy Show” by Stefan Sagmeister. The exhibition consists different info-graphics showing the happiness levels in different topics of Sagmeister, for instance, marital satisfaction and what food makes people happy etc. Besides, there are some installations including interactive one in the show. The Happy Show offers the audience the experience of walking into Stefan Sagmeister’s mind which he attempts to increase his happiness via mediation, cognitive therapy, and mood-altering pharmaceuticals.
Although Stefan Sagmeister is a designer and typographer, his exhibition blur the boundaries of art and design. The info-graphics he exhibited are simple and full of aesthetics but shown a clear information and figure to the visitors. The interactive elements in the show (such as people can score how happy they are from 0 to 10 and viewers can draw their symbol of happiness and upload to the internet) are good as the audience and get involved and it can be another “information” for other audience. From his graphics, images and installation in the exhibition, the audience can know more about happiness and understand more about Stefan Sagmeister’s opinion towards happiness. It inspires me the possibility to analysis happiness which is abstract information in a concrete way and the topics he talked are interesting. I hope I can have the chance to watch “The Happy Show” in future and know more about it.
Wong Chui Yin, Iris 