Part A
Mission Statement:
Science and art – twin pillars of creativity and innovation in any dynamic culture. Commonly they are seen as different as day and night. Many contemporary artists reject this. They are creating revolutionary art at the frontiers of scientific research that is breath-taking in its creative reach and mind-stretching in its assault on traditional categories. They see art as an independent zone of research that pursues areas of science and research ignored by mainstream academic disciplines. They are developing technologies that would be rejected by the marketplace but are nonetheless culturally critical. They are pursuing inquiries that are seen as too controversial, too wacky, too improbable, too speculative for regular science and technology. They proclaim that art must assume its historical position of keeping watch on the cultural frontier.
In embracing the spirit of experimentation, risk taking, innovation and creativity this unit will encourage an interdisciplinary approach to art making. You will work outside of your comfort zone, experimenting and making unconventional connections between concepts, techniques and processes.
Consider this theme in its broadest sense, as a starting point for your own.
Preliminary aim:
Through this unit of work I want to explore technical involvement in the human body with the use of science being the underlying theme. Science is used frequently in medical health; I want to use this as an influence towards involving medical technology into certain element, such as the human body.
Research:
Exo-Evolution Exhibition
This exhibition shows an interconnection between art and science; and the artistic application of new technology. This exhibition involves a lot of interesting pieces of work creating unique interpretations of the work presented. The work involved in this exhibition combined scientific and natural elements together creating intricate installations.
Nandita Kumar
Nandita Kumar is a new-media artist who creates immersive environmental spaces. Her work was involved in the Exo-Evolution exhibition. She explores the process through which human beings construct meaning from their experiences and creates an elemental representation of that by creating sensory narratives through the usage of sound, video/ animation and performance, or through smart phone apps, customised motherboards and solar/microwave sensors. Throughout her work Kumar reflects the striking contradictions within the industrial and natural landscape. In her research, she locates inherent patterns, modes of sustainability, cultural hybridity, technology and the synergy between nature and our current urban environment.
Fritz Kahn
Fritz Kahn was actually a gynaecologist and a popular scientific writer; through his career began do develop an artistic influence throughout his life. He became interested in the structure and function of the human body; creating complex illustrations of a surrealistic interpretation of the internal body.
Nunzio Paci
This artist uses similar concepts to what I would like to do with my own work. Paci used more of a natural insertion into the human body. His personal influence for the work he created was to find the balance between reality and imagination through exploration of man and nature.
Development of ideas:
Primarily for this project I wanted to direct my work using 3D work involving ceramics. To start generating ideas I began using Photoshop with assistance of a graphics tablet. I had an idea to use technological science as an influence towards my own art work. I became aware that technology was becoming essential to health care. As a result I wanted to use a foetus and have the umbilical cord be the mechanical part. I believe this could create many interpretations; one of which being that the foetus itself could be mechanical although it looks very realistic. Another interpretation could be is that the baby has to be technologically assisted in the womb; however this could create an alternative suggestion as to whether the foetus is actually in the wombs environment or it is in an external environment with assistance from science.
The way in which I achieved the mechanical effect umbilical cord was by using a graphics tablet which allowed me to then use the pencil tool in a very small size. I was able to zoom in close onto the outline I had drawn for the umbilical cord; I was then able to use layers of colour to achieve a 3D effect on the cord. I was not satisfied with the outcome of this design. The design as a complete unit did not finish as expected. I think it was due to the use of Photoshop to create this design; I was unable to get a realistic outcome or a realistic idea of what I would be able to make from this design.
As a result, I then started designing ideas that I could possible create as not only a response to the artists but what I could develop into a final outcome of this project; using the artists’ as an influence towards my own work. Throughout the designs I will be considering design aspects such as various visual effects of the design and different outcomes that I could achieve through the manipulation of the design.
I was really interested in the idea of using a mechanical umbilical cord coming from a foetus. As a result, I sketched a secondary image of a foetus still in the womb. I found the drawing of the foetus successful. However the mechanical umbilical cord I drew, I felt did not convey the scientific element I wanted to achieve. As a result, I developed this design by experimenting using different cable designs to determine a cable that would be more suitable for my design as a whole.
Leonardo da Vinci
This famous artist produced a drawing of a baby in a womb. I found this very similar to the sketch I created of a foetus. As I found this artist after I has created my drawing, I am going to use Leonardo da Vinci as influence towards my future work, such as the technique he uses to achieve I final outcome.
I then became interested in the way in which trees are anchored to the ground through their roots; similar to the way in which all wires are connected to a master board or simply a battery. Instantly I realised I would be able to generate a lot more design ideas and therefore provided more developmental work for this project. I became aware that by using different medias I would be able to achieve different outcomes. As I wanted the scientific technological influence throughout my work I was interesting in using wires to provide that aspect of my project. I was able to get some Copper wire. Through experimentation with the wire, seeing what outcomes and effects I would be able to achieve using this media; I found the metals properties to be useful for my project as it has a glossy effect and it is malleable. This lead me to respond to the artist’s I had looked at for this project.
As I wanted to use Ceramics primarily for this project I wanted to incorporate the copper into my ceramic work. However considering the Health and Safety of doing so, I would be unable to add the copper to the tree structure the way I wanted to. After conversing with a teacher I became aware that I would be able to put a small amount of cupped into the kiln; ensuring that the copper was isolated and contained so it could not run onto the surface of the shelf in the kiln. I then had to design ideas that would ensure the Health and Safety of carrying this project out was not breached. More over, I created designs that I would be able to achieve without putting copper into the kiln.
I also had an idea of creating a 3D sculpture only using Copper as the chosen material. Through my experimentation with Copper at the beginning of this idea I was really interested in the outcomes I was receiving and believe I would be able to achieve a successful outcome of this idea.
Evaluation
Upon discovering the overarching theme for this Unit was Science and Art I became very intrigued to what I could accomplish in this project. Instantly I was interested in the involvement of mechanical science in natural elements. I wanted to explore the different ways in which mechanical science can interfere with living components.
For this project I was interested in using 3D work not only because I enjoyed using 3D design in my exploratory stage, but because I wanted to work on my skills in that area of art.
Through essay writing on a 3D ceramicist known as Peter Meanley, it became apparent that a lot of critical thinking needed to be applied to sketched designs. It was important towards the development of the final outcome, presenting an intentional thought process to the project. Through designing different sketches it can become clear which design is going to be the most successful in comparison to the others. It also presented the variety of designs that can be possible. I believe this is an easier way to work when working in 3D media as I was able to sketch different design ideas and create 3D work of what I found most successful out of the designs. I found this effective towards the making of the 3D designs as I was able to make the design I found unique; rather than waste time making 3D work that have greater possibility of not being effective or successful.
For my project I began with sketching what I thought was a major influence of nature; a foetus. I believe a foetus is a prime example of nature; the aspect of reproduction being recognised as human nature to reproduce and multiply. I then used this stimulus to recognise that science has greatly influence human nature such as In Vitro Fertilisation (IVF); creating a foetus using scientific technology. This then influenced my work as I decided to sketch the foetus with a mechanical umbilical cord. The umbilical cord is very important towards the baby as it has been widely described as the foetus’ ‘life-line’, conveying blood and nutrients to and from the foetus. The interference of technology through the making of the foetus I found could influence the very structure of the foetus. However I wanted a very realistic look of the foetus when I made it in 3D. This then lead to further development that the scientific involvement could be internal, as if it is passing through the umbilical cord to the foetus. When I sketched the foetus, the outcome was successful and effective, which did make an impact on the media I had chosen for this project. The result of making detailed sketches made me think about carrying out my project through Fine art drawing or painting which I also enjoy. However I figured I would be able to incorporate the fine art aspect into my 3D work.
To develop my work creating a more in depth example of what my project could possibly look like, I decided to use Photoshop to manipulate an image of a foetus. I used the same concept as my idea of the scientific technological interference and change the biological umbilical cord into a more metallic looking cord, similar to an electrical cable. This became time consuming and I did not find the outcome of the image conveyed the scientific technological influence of my idea. However the aim of using Photoshop was to develop my understanding of the programme and to try gain Moreno confidence in using the programme as it could be useful for future occasions. I do not want to disregard the media plainly not due to me not being confident or particularly good at that media, I aim to be always challenging my skills in order to develop my skills.
In order to develop this sketch into a 3D design I used clay to create a foetus. I wanted to make my 3D model personalised rather than using secondary images which I did in my sketches and Photoshop work. Fittingly, someone I know very well had recently had a baby and I asked permission to use photographs of her baby to use in my work. I only used the face of the baby on my model so I was not exposing anything indecent in consideration to the family of the child. The remainder of the model I created using secondary photographs. However, the process of making this I do not believe was the most successful as I attempted to make it in form of the foetus that I had sketched; of which the foetus was in a foetal position. Therefore the head of the foetus was not on touching the surface as the back was curved, as it would be in the womb. As a result there was not support for the head and resulted in the head falling off. This could have been as a result of me creating the torso of the foetus and then adding the head on separately. Regardless there was a weakness created within my design. the outcome of this design was not successful. due to the structure of the foetus it became difficult to handle the design i wanted to achieve.
As it was very time consuming to sculpt a foetus I decided not to develop this idea any further and focus on a different design that I would be able to manipulate and experiment in greater depth.
As my original idea was to investigate the insertion of science into nature; I became quite interested in the way trees are anchored to the earth through their roots. The concept of trees in their entirety I found fascinating. Tress convert carbon dioxide into oxygen, providing for other species to either photosynthesise or survive in general, such as living species that need oxygen to function. I then decided to involve technological science into the trees.
Through the designing of this idea I found it much easier to develop different designs such as the structure of the tree truck or home the branches are formed. I was more enthusiastic towards this idea resulting in me experimenting using copper wire which had a very interesting visual effect, the colour of it and the polished characteristic of the metal. Copper is a very malleable metal, making it easier to construct shapes. This lead to me reflecting back to the artist research I carried out; replicating and experimenting with their work using copper. Interestingly the copper wire was part of a cable that I was having to strip the plastic coating off. The Copper wires that were contained left an internal impression on the plastic. I was able to use some printing ink enabling me to use the end of the plastic like a stamp, printing the impressions onto the sketchbook page. I found this to have a nice visual effect and looks similar to the surface of Kumar’s sculptural work. However the pattern was not as obvious as I expected when printing.
Part B
I became interested in the mythological aspect that I could integrate into this project. Mandragora Officinarum is a type of plant species more commonly known as Mandrake. This species of plant can be found in small areas of northern Italy and the coast of Yugoslavia. the main species Mandragora Autumnalis.
The reason why I decided to use the mandragora plant was because they are part of nature and have been widely recognised to have limbs similar to humans.
In order to develop this further in my own work i started to sketch the original Madragora plant species. I then thought of how I could create my own designs, I began to decide on what possible forms and shape my design could have. I wanted to keep the natural element of the design being interfered with technological science. Fruit was one possible form my design could take. I sketched different fruits introducing surrealistic elements within the design such as limbs and a face; relating to the original Mandragora as it has been suggested the structure of the species is similar to a humans such as having limbs.
I then became aware the way in which fruit is used to describe the shape of someones body; more commonly in females. The shape of someones body can be described as having ‘a pear shaped body’ or ‘an apple shaped body’; health related issues have been assumed based upon what shaped body someone has. This then lead me to investigate further into this topic.
Magritte
Rene Magritte was a Belgian surrealist. In his work he used fruit in order to achieve a surrealistic impression in his work. As my own work has a surrealistic element with the involvement of hybridity, I found Magritte’s work to influence the development of my work as he has created a surreal image using the combination of physical human characteristic and an object. This led me to consider the way in which I want the surrealist element to be portrayed in my work. I want to accomplish the same outcome in my own work such as the involvement of human characteristics within objects. This lead into the development of my project.
Guiseppe Arcimboldo
He is an Italian painter, known for his works involving heads made entirely of objects such as fruit, vegetables, fish and books. I believe I would be able to use this artist to consider the other possibilities that I could achieve through the use of fruit and vegetables. This could relate to the body shapes based upon fruit; just a more contemporary way of the use of fruit accentuate features of the body.
I decided to use fruit and vegetables as I believe they are very similar to the mandragora plant. I wanted to create some sort of sculptural work relating the vegetation. Firstly I looked at fruit. I wanted to involve in some way, characteristics of a human. The drawing I created were not clear of what the final product could actually look like. This then lead me to buy some fruit. This allowed me to calve into the fruit; creating depth and shapes I would not be able to achieve through a drawing of the fruit. As I had a 3D sculpture, I was able to add other materials; such as adding wire to create the technical science aspect of my project.
When I was investigating vegetables and how I would be able to manipulate their shape to suit my project it was more difficult as the structure of the vegetables are different. However the consistency made it easier to work with as the vegetables were more able to hold their structure.
Interestingly the structure of the parsnip was unique. The marking on the skin of the vegetable created a spiral around the body. I found this very similar to the way in which wire can spiral; which I found out through the progression of this project. This led me to calve a spiral into the structure. I found it was a more successful design to use as it can be discussed that the ordinary structure of the parsnip is indicative of science having an impact on consumables. Technology is having an effect on the structure of the vegetable species.
When I was creating sketches and producing the 3D pieces of work, the designs looked like caricature type designs. This is not what I wanted to achieve in my work. In order to move away from that idea into a more realistic approach I decided to look into the modern issues toward food. As I was interesting in using consumable products I decided to look at the diseases that can affect food. For some of the diseases there are already scientific involvement to prevent some vegetables.
Clubroot is a fungus disease that only affects vegetables similar to broccoli. The plants have a yellow coloured and stunted, largely malformed ‘clubbed’ roots. This disease can be more severe in warmer weather.
Tuber disease may be infected with superficial skin disease, such as common scab, powdery scab and rhizoctonia. The food can still be consumed when infected with the disease, if the infected areas are cut out.
Wilt disease is a fungal disease than is accountable for most wilting and deaths of fruit and vegetables. Some hybrid tomato varieties are resistant to fusarium which is one form of wilt disease.
Reflection:
As I started to look at the biological aspect of fruit and vegetables it became apparent organic products are being scientifically interfered with. I then thought that through direct manipulation to the fruit; that it is then possible to change the actual structure of the fruit. I then thought I would be able to base the remaining part of my project exploring this topic, while still relating to the naturalistic theme which is present in the Mandragora experimental work.
I found that this could relate to the speculation that once it was discussed that changing the structure of consumables would be considered in order to make other aspects of packing and selling the product would be easier. It was discussed that the use of technology could change the structure of bananas. If bananas were rectangular shaped; it would make shipment of the product much more sufficient. Making the shipment of the product possibly cheaper and the manufacturers would be able to make a lot more money on their product. I want to exploit this aspect of scientific involvement with food; manipulating the structure of the vegetation for a more positive financial outcome.
I decided to use bananas as I recall the speculation that bananas should be shaped differently in order to make the packing of the food easier. This would decrease the amount of space that is wasted; of the fruit were to be rectangular, manufacturers would be able to stack the fruit. This would then prevent the amount of wasted space in shipment containers.
However it could effect the sales of the bananas as the public may not want to buy bananas that are not their natural shape. Due to the structure of the bananas being changed the consumers are aware that science has had an influence on the product. Other foods are already being tampered with by science, but it is not as obvious. Most foods are influenced by science through a chemical form; for example, added chemicals to exaggerate the colours or certain foods. However, it could have an opposite affect and the consumers may want to buy newly shaped bananas.
I decided to created sketches of how the bananas could look. Different shapes and the consideration of different sizes. Trying to replicate the variety of bananas that already exist. I was very interested in the idea of using science as an influence on food especially bananas.
I wanted to involve typography within my work in some way. I found that I would be able to create impressions in the clay using letter stamps. As a result, I generated a series of phrases and words that I would be able to stamp into the clay when I made the newly shaped bananas. I used priming ink and printing letters to print into my book. This would assist my decision of what to have written on my final outcome.
I wanted to develop my drawing into 3D work. I used clay to create rectangular bananas. The designs that I made were very successful. The developmental work assisted my knowledge of what I could do differently when creating my final piece. Creating the different shapes and sizes informed me of what design I would be able to use for a final piece and ways in which I could improve my designs to have the most successful outcome.
I wanted to express the fact that they were bananas to the public. Rather than create my own packaging I bought some bananas from a supermarket. I would then be able to use packaging that was designed for organic bananas. Highlighting than the product contained inside the packaging is surprisingly an organic product. I found this to be a very successful way to present my final outcome and created a more shocking, intriguing effect on the viewer.
Photo editing:
I order to develop my work further I wanted to digitally edit the ceramic designs I had made.
As I needed to wait for my ceramic pieces to be fired before the glazing process had begun; I decided to digitally edit the photographs I had taken of the pieces of work. Firstly I created a repeat pattern of one of the experimental designs I had created with ‘EVOLUTION’ printed onto the surface of it. The repeat pattern was successful in itself but seemed too structured. As a result I used a different arrangement to determine which repeat pattern would be most successful.
This designed seemed more realistic as what I aim to achieve through creating the repeat pattern is for the ceramic bananas to look as if they are appearing from a conveying line in a factory. This pattern is not a successful repeat pattern. If two of these images were side by side, as shown. The images do no line up to create a repeated pattern. 
I moved onto painting my ceramic designs on Photoshop. At first I wanted to keep to the traditional colouring of a banana. I was able to invert the colours on the bananas which created a lot more emphasis and created a pleasant visual texture in some areas of the design. I used a graphic tablet to assist in manipulating the photograph, such as going round the text ‘ORGANIC PRODUCE’.
I decided to paint the ceramic designs different colours to determine whether I would want the glaze to be a different colour to yellow. The text was more visible when using the different colours, I still used the paint bucket tool to fill in the darker area of the letters with black. Out of these designs I created a gif with a coloured background. I also made another gif using the coloured bananas with a black background. I made the colour more intense as it looked better contrasted with the black.
After firing:
It became apparent that the method of printing that I used was not successful as the text is not very distinct. For these experimental pieces I used rubber printing letters that aren’t intentionally made for ceramic materials. When creating my final piece I would use the correct equipment in order to achieve the best outcome.
final outcome:
After being glazed and fired; the outcome of the design was very successful. The way in which I was able to achieve this design was through stages. Firstly I glazed the entire piece in yellow glaze. I then used a calving knife to scrape the glaze out of the letters. This enabled me to use a small brush to paint in black glaze for the individual letters. I used black glaze on the tips of the bananas too, similar to the way in which organic bananas look.
I wanted to express the fact that they were bananas to the public. Rather than create my own packaging I bought some bananas from a supermarket. I would then be able to use packaging that was designed for organic bananas. Highlighting than the product contained inside the packaging is surprisingly an organic product. I found this to be a very successful way to present my final outcome and created a more shocking, intriguing effect on the viewer. I believe it made the final outcome of this project very successful by putting the ceramic bananas into the bag. I made it clear that two of the ceramic bananas in the bag were shown which are ‘BANANA’ and ‘MAN MADE’ as I believe they are the most important ones out of the four in order to create the intended impact.
Evaluation:
For this project I was interested in the involvement of technological science in nature-particularly in vegetation throughout part B. In this section I frequently changed my ideas as I found new and more modern ways I could portray the issues based around the influences of science on organic products. Through the exploration in part B I was able to create ideas all having a common theme but all having different outcomes.
During part A I believe I was not very experimental with my work, which then influenced my development through part B. My work turn out to portray more of a ‘shock factor’ impact as I made it visually evident of the impact science has had on organic products. More commonly the scientific influence on organic food is not visible and involves the use of chemicals to assist and protect the growth the fruit or vegetable.
The relation between part A and part B influenced the progression of this project. Relating to a foetus being a very natural occurrence I believed could be significant of having a plant growing underneath the soil, also forming a human-like structure. This lead to my exploration of the way in which the structures of various fruit and vegetables could change. I found one method of discovering whether manipulation of the structure was possible through calving into the organic products. I do not believe the outcomes were as successful as expected. Some of the designs and outcomes looked like caricature designs. Which is not what I wanted to achieve. I found it difficult to involve the scientific element within the designs other than the analytical perspective that they were surrealistic and the being influenced in some way by science. I found it difficult to involve wire into the sculptures due to the designs. This lead to the development of the calving into more technical designs, like cables which I found much more effective. Through this designs change, it made the technological influence more obvious and did not warrant the involvement of wire to further indicate the technical aspect.
To indicate the explorative aspect of this project I involved the body, relating to the natural element of my project. I found research that suggested body shapes can be described through the use of fruit. I wanted to explore this in further depth through using a life drawing session of which I would be able to experiment with the shape of the body and determine whether any of the fruit fits to a particular body shape.
Due to looking at vegetation I became aware of the disease that attack the fruit and vegetables. Through research which informed me that chemicals are used organic products to protect them from developing certain diseases, more commonly the wilt disease. This led to the idea of science being used to change organic produce, possibly the structure of products.
I moved onto looking at bananas in particular. I was interested in the suggestion that bananas should be made rectangular for packaging purposes. This would be visually evident of the scientific involvement. I wanted to create the rectangular bananas to exploit the scientific involvement in food produce. I created my design through 3D ceramics using clay. The material in itself and the glazing process is a scientific process; making my experimental pieces and final outcome a scientific process. As not all scientific influences are visual, I wanted people to be shown the scientific influences. To exaggerate the theme of science in my work I wanted to add text to my work. I was able to do this through imprinting words onto the surface of the clay. This worked favourably towards my design as it heightened its’ relevance.
I believe that my final pieces made an impact on the viewer as it makes people want to look closer at the designs and investigate the bananas. Having the bananas in the packaging works positively towards my design as it does not only inform people what in contained; but coincidentally the sticker on the paging on the surface of the bag and obstructs the view of all of the bananas. This is a positive thing as it encourages people to get involved with the work and move the packaging around in order to see the other bananas. As a part of this process they well be able to feel the ceramic bananas, adding a sensory experience of the work.
In relation to what I primarily wanted to achieve in this project has changed. Written in my Preliminary aim at the beginning go the unit I had a keen interest in using the human body. Although that was the main focus throughout my project; in part B my work deviated from the idea of using human characteristics, towards an organic produce theme. However I still had the last section of the part B work relating to the work prior.
Morgan Collin 