Δ2: Week 3

Date : 18th October 2021

Second Triangulate Project

Reflection based on the feedback from the previous two weeks:

During the first half of unit 2, my research focused on how a diagram without a specific content and context can be interpreted by the viewer. How the combination of shapes, lines, arrows, and their position in a composition can form new stories, dimensions, and perspectives. The range of experiments I made (constantly working with interpretations of the others) in combination with some written references and other artists’ practices, indicated somehow how an interpretation is formed. However, this information cannot be 100% accurate, as each person has a different way of thinking, observing, and perceiving what they see.

The previous two weeks, I have started exploring how an image can be translated into a diagram and how an image can be a source of data behind it. Working with photographs I have taken while I was walking on a specific road near my house, I came up with a series of visual representations, that looked more like illustrations rather than diagrams. However, apart from that this experiment made me observe and analyse my surroundings, it brought me a little closer to the urban environment. I have continued playing with a series of images to form a story and a diagram, concluding to have iterations with many blurry areas of research, without a clear approach. Reflecting on these first experiments, I have continued by defining the terms diagram and illustration. A diagram could easily be described as a simplified illustration that represents something in graphic form in contrast with the illustration which is a visual interpretation/explanation of something (e.g. a piece of text). Worth mentioning is that there are a dozen types of diagrams; They can take different dimensions and appear on almost every topic.

briefly

The diagrams created based on the images were more illustrations than diagrams (they follow the image visually).

Diagram: A simplified illustration that represents something in graphic form.

Illustration: A visual interpretation/explanation of a text.

What makes a diagram, an actual diagram?
SYSTEM – FUNCTION – DATA.
It is more practical.
It is not a visual representation.
It represents something unseen (visual reduction).
It has instructions.
It has a purpose.

If I want to combine diagrams and illustrations, I have to convince the viewers. Define the terms first.

During the previous two weeks (first triangulate project, studio practice work), I was exploring how an image can be a source of data in order to be translated into a diagram. My research was focused on urban streets, buildings; things we see while we are walking.

How I will continue with my studio work/practice:

Diagrams + Storytelling + Urban Environment.
My aim is to explore, observe and record things while I am walking outside. These can be objects, labels, stickers, people, etc. I do not want to have something specific in my mind, being as open as I can to new perceptions; I want to let the environment around me make the decisions for me.

The method I have already started to develop, forming stories, recording, and analysing data through diagrams will be the main technique behind my urban journeys, in combination with image and text.

Please read the ‘writing and research’ section below for a more specific explanation of my studio practice work.

Limitations
– Black and white
– Images, diagrams, and text
– Book format (storytelling)

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Week 3 (Oct 11-18) – Writing practice (Second triangulate project) + studio practice work

Some References

Richard Long

Richard Long (1945) is a sculptor and practitioner of land art, deriving inspiration from personal experience, geographic history, and plant life. He creates works that trace his physical movement through space; simple creative acts of walking and marking about place, locality, time, distance, and measurement. Even if his work is mainly sculpture-based, his way of thinking and working articulates for me that art can be made anywhere, using raw materials from nature. Follow lines in a space, connect what you see to form a piece of information, and build new spaces through nature are a few of the ideas coming to my mind. The act of building ‘spaces’ reminds me of Ricardo Basbaum’s work, using a different approach and method. As already mentioned, Ricardo builds discursive and non-discursive spaces through his diagrams, creating dialogues and stories.

The shadow – Sophie Calle, 1981

«In April 1981, at my request, my mother went to a detective agency. She hired them to follow me, to report my daily activities, and to provide photographic evidence of my existence.» (Sophie Calle. Double Game. With the Participation of Paul Auster, London 1999)
In «The Shadow» she sets the detective’s photographic account against her own observations: the observer becomes the observed. The viewer is the third witness. This search for her own identity fails to reveal a clear picture here, too. Sophie Calle’s face does not appear in any of the pictures: her figure emerges like a shadow throughout the detective’s photographs.

(source: http://www.hausderkunst.de/englisch/aus/daten_pages/0008.html)
Susanne Holschbach

Let’s be honest, the weather helped – Walid Raad, 1998

“Like many around me in Beirut in the late 1970s, I collected bullets and shrapnel. I would run out to the streets after a night or day of shelling to remove them from walls, cars and trees. I kept detailed notes of where I found every bullet and photographed the sites of my findings, covering the holes with dots that corresponded to the bullet’s diameter and the mesmerizing hues I found on bullets’ tips. It took me ten years to realize that ammunition manufacturers follow distinct colour codes to mark and identify their cartridges and shells. It also took me another ten years to realize that my notebooks in part catalogue seventeen countries and organizations that continue to supply the various militias and armies fighting in Lebanon: Belgium, China, Egypt, Finland, Germany, Greece, Iraq, Israel, Italy, Libya, NATO, Romania, Saudi Arabia, Switzerland, USA, UK, and Venezuela.”

Theory of the Derive – Guy Debord, 1956

“The derive involves playful and constructive behaviors and an awareness of psychogeographical effects. They take on a very different approach from just strolling or taking a journey. If a derive the individual, or several individuals, drop their everyday tasks and activities and go on with movement and action. They let themselves be drawn by the attractions of the terrain and what they find there. They do not have a motif in mind, they are just experiencing the city open to new perceptions.

A derive should not be merely one or two hours, the individual should not be aware of the time. The intention is to have a mental map of duration and your surroundings.

So how exactly does one “derive”? Well as a new learner and practitioner of the concept, going to the place without an ultimate motive, clearing your mind of subjections and judgments to your surroundings is a very hard thing to do. Although you have been to this area of the city thousands of times before, it must never reflect on your past experiences. You have to let the surroundings absorb you.”

– Maria Flores, The Archiologist Founder

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Writing and research

(a) Review your first triangulate project. Is there a gap to bridge? A different or opposing viewpoint to explore? A shift in context, medium, or format?

(b) Review your existing writing. Have new insights been generated that could be brought into the written work? Could the second triangulate project explore a structural or formal approach to writing that would start to link it better to the studio practice?

What makes a diagram, an ‘actual’ diagram?
SYSTEM → FUNCTION → DATA

– It is more practical and sometimes has instructions.
– It is not a visual representation. It is a visual reduction instead.
– It represents something unseen.
– It has a purpose.

Which is the way to combine diagrams and illustrations in my practice?

As I found it really interesting to record and observe things I do or find while I am walking, I have decided to continue my research finding ways to extend this. Walking is the time when I think and observe things and situations; An urban meditative journey.

My practice now focuses on extracting data/information using photographs captured in the urban surroundings in order to create diagrams and stories. Under graphic communication design terms, my enquiry aims at:

Using diagramming as a graphic communication tool/method to generate stories through the analysis of photographs captured in the urban environment.

Walking, observing, and analysing.

My aim is to explore, observe and record things while I am walking. These can be objects, labels, stickers, people, etc. I do not want to have something specific in my mind, being as open as possible to new perceptions; Letting the environment around me make the decisions for me. The Theory of the Derive by Guy Debord has a similar approach and aim. Involving an awareness of psychogeographical effects, the participants are invited to let themselves be drawn by the attractions of the land/environment and what they find while they are walking. They do not have a motif in mind, they are just experiencing the city open to new perceptions; Letting the surroundings absorb them (1958, pp. 62-66). Even if they have been to a specific area thousands of times before, they must never reflect on their past experiences.

Data and information are most of the time not clearly seen in an image, however, they are there, hidden or connected with it. Consequently, the image is used as the base, the starting point from which new information and spaces can occur through the diagrams I create. A background to build on the rest of my work. This is also why the diagramming method I am developing is not the traditional way of data representation. It Is characterized by an illustrative approach in combination with data analysis and narration. A mixture of images, diagrams/illustrations, and text. Worth mentioning is that not all photographs can be translated into data, although they all have context and meaning. Besides this, my own perception and thoughts are recorded in the project as well, as I am the one who decides which photographs I will study. This gives a more personal approach to the research which makes it even more interesting.

Concerning the book as the format I am using while working on my studio practice, this embraces the storytelling feature of my work. Having a layout, and one page after the other creates a sequence both in the story that occurs through the photographs and diagrams but also in my research in general. I treat this book as a method of research; A medium that will help me explore my enquiry. When it comes to the urban environment and nature, many unexplained things can be observed. Behind each tree, sticker, garbage, etc. there is an act; a story. But such things, when analysed and put together can form new stories.

Richard Long (1945) is a practitioner of land art, deriving inspiration from personal experiences and life in nature. He creates works that trace his physical movement through space; simple creative acts of walking, focusing on place, locality, time, distance, and measurement (Artnet, 2021). Even if his work is mainly sculpture-based, his way of thinking and working articulates for me that art can be made out of everything, even from materials found in nature. Following lines in the environment, connecting what you see to form a piece of information, and building new spaces through nature are a few of the ideas that come to my mind. The act of building ‘spaces’ reminds me also of Ricardo Basbaum’s work, with a different approach and method. As already mentioned, Ricardo builds discursive and non-discursive spaces through his diagrams, creating dialogues and stories (Basbaum, 2016).

Data analysis and visualisation can be really interesting, but chaotic sometimes, as there are many different approaches and methods that you can follow. Even if the subject or the design is complicated, the information has to be clear in order for the viewer to read and understand it. David McCandless’ Types of Information Visualization chart, represents some of the possible methods that can be used in order to analyse a piece of information or a topic (McCandless, 2012). Nevertheless, in my case, the starting point is not a list of data/information. It Is an outdoor photograph that has to be first ‘decoded’ before continuing with the design of a diagram. This can visually use and follow elements based on the image or can be something extremely different.

Walid Raad in his project Let’s be honest, the weather helped, followed a really interesting way of recording the location and number of bullets he found on walls, cars, and trees in Beirut in the late 1970s (The Atlas Group, 1998). Capturing every site of his findings, and keeping detailed notes, he used dots to cover the holes in the photographs based on the bullet’s diameter and manufacturer (size and colour of the dot). Here, the same shape of the hole (circle) is used for the investigation and recording of the bullets (dots) as well, helping in ‘covering’ all those holes after the war; An act of humanity.

Reference List

Basbaum, R. (2016) Diagrams, 1994 – ongoing. Berlin: Errant Bodies Press.

Debord, G. (1958) ‘Theory of the Derive’, in Internationale Situationniste #2, pp. 62-66.

McCandless, D. (2012). Information is Beautiful. London: Collins, p. 128.

Artnet (2021) Richard Long. Available at: http://www.artnet.com/artists/richard-long/ (Accessed: 15 October 2021).

The Atlas Group (1998) Let’s be honest, the weather helped. Available at: https://www.theatlasgroup1989.org/weather (Accessed: 18 October 2021).

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Studio work

Μy studio work (practice) is based on the writing above.

Using diagramming as a graphic communication tool/method to generate stories through the analysis of photographs captured in the urban environment.

Walking, observing, and analysing. Letting the environment around me make the decisions for me.

(book’s spreads)

Δ2: Week 3

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