IN TRAINING

HUNTING AND GATHERING

PREPARING FOR WINTER

“Simulacra’ is a term I first learned through Don Delillo’s novel “White Noise”, but it was coined by  french philosopher Jean Baudrillard in the 80’s. The concept is much better defined by an entire novel but to try to simplify, simulacra describes a relation between life and society as a kind of simulation. The lack of thrill, complacency, and detachment of the human condition, and the idea that there is something or someone just out of sight keeping the cogs turning.

This prototype represents one of my designs. Although it went fairly well, I found quite a few things to improve my design by creating this prototype.

I discovered I need to resize the support piece and the slot for it on the back legs . I’m also considering putting the support on the front legs after sitting in the chair myself. I also plan to make the cut out between the two legs more ornate on the final chair.

I also need to realign and measure my finger joints that attach the seat to the legs. They did eventually fit together but it was a bit too tight.

I also need to remember to change my approach in rhinoCAM  as you can see where the approach cut into the back of the chair pieces

And as for proportions…

These two chairs are meant to attract two different kinds of people. The first one being a strange low to the ground rocking chair would attract people in a good mood or maybe someone with a more light hearted playful demeanor. The second chair being fairly standard dimensions but also  very ridged, would attract someone perhaps more reserved/serious in nature or mood. These two different style chairs being placed next to eachother would perhaps bring these two opposite types of people together in conversation not where the subject is the goal but what each person observes om the other about how they view and live their lives. I am not sure of the location yet but I was thinking to place the chairs in the c floor of Doherty. Students are always sitting along the walls and leaning against the walls waiting for their classes, so the lack of seating would increase the probability that my chairs will actually be sat in.

When creating my habitat I wanted to play with the relationship of the inhabitants and the habitat itself, and how the latter can be shaped by the former. While designing this I was imagining the “habitat” of a renaissance woman. Everything is dark and barren as she lives hidden away in a cave among a mountain range representing her solitude. The lattice and shard looking pieces are meant to symbolize her presence, her thought, her work. Inside the cave is cluttered where she spends her time, she looks around her and there is only this big mess of all her projects and studies. Then outside the cave reaches a much more organized beautiful arrangement of her presence. But it reaches out into blackness, disconnected from everything, representing the futility of her efforts.

Unfortunately the project is not complete but I had fun experimenting with acrylic.

Ghassaei has used various materials to make record, in her most recent project she has used sheets of maple wood in which a laser cutter makes the grooves for a music track. Only about one song can fit on each side of the 12 in sheet because of the thickness of the laser beam. Listening to the final product really completes the project as art.

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One cut out shape let’s you make a variety of combinations. Typically done with paper and/or plastic. Good simple example of repetition.

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