ioana turla

Notes:

- ' New design approaches are to be based on a positioning
that is both critical of the current state of things and constructive, in terms of actively contributing to broad cultural change.' This idea seems to fit in with the general consensus of meta modernism and it shows that design is evolving together with all other facets of art.

- the idea of a unionised society where design is catered to communities rather than corporations could have a strong starting point in the field of art

- this idea of active design could lead to great advancements in mediums where certain groups or cultures are represented. Collaborating with people who have the social and personal knowledge and experience would be very insightful and would lead to accurate and satisfying representation

- it is a known fact that freelance artists tend to be their own producer, manager, advertising team, promoter, manufacturer and so on. Promoting this idea of intertwining people's capabilities in active design would also facilitate this issue. Art tends to be isolating and this type of 'networking would help with that.

- in the age of late stage capitalism, an unionised effort for sustainability might be the solution for society in general, not only in the field of design in the context of art

a project the text reminded me of is the fundraiser that was started by @lanajay_art on instagram for the australian forest fires back in january.
She made an illustration that she sold, the proceeds going to charity, which lead many different artists across the platform to do something similar within their own craft.
The project was highly successful and thousands of dollars were raised between the international network of artists that took part in it.

this is my 2.2 major project which i worked on together with a group of classmates. It is a project i directed, but much of what you see is made by my wonderful classmates. (tap on it)

original post by @lanajay_art

and here are a few of the posts that have emerged from this initiative.

this is pretty light in my room

this is an animal crossing star gazing date i had with my best friend

exercise 3: tuning in

For this exercise I chose to talk to one of my closest friends’ father. The conversation was done as a video call, but for his privacy and upon his request I did not record it- moreover, the conversation was in Romanian. I did document it, however, by taking notes, so while this is not verbatim, it gives the general idea of his situation. As a little background information, my friend and her family live in the UK, my friend goes to university in Edinburgh, while her parents live close to Essex. Her father worked as a handyman/ engineer in a hotel before the pandemic started. The hotel closed down for good due to the situation.

How old are you?
I am 56.

What is your medical situation?
I am old, there are several things that ache, but the most pressing problem is my cancer. You know, it has good and bad days, I could still go to work before all this happened.

What is your living situation right now?
[my friend] is living with me and [my friend’s mom again. I’m happy she is here and I get to see her a lot, but she’s missing out on her uni experiences. I am always stuck inside because I’m a person of high risk for the virus right now, so she and her mom are the ones who need to do all the outside-chores. I do things around the house when the day is good; I make bread, I tinker with stuff that needs fixing.

What was the scariest thing you had to do during the pandemic?
Having to drive to Edinburgh to get [my friend], probably. I wasn’t sure I would be able to cross the border or if they would send me back. She couldn’t stay there, but there were no other means of transport. It was right when Boris took the decision to close and cancel everything. And yea, I was in my car for the most part, but I had to get gas, take breaks, stuff like that. Feeling like I might never see my family again because I had to be outside took a toll on me, I must admit.

What do you miss most?
I miss going outside. Driving to the beach, beach days are so relaxing. Although after all this they might not be anymore. I also miss work a lot. You know I’m not the type to lay around, I’m always working on something.

What are your biggest concerns about the pandemic right now? What about for the near future?
Right now, my health. And money, since I lost my job and I’m not sure when someone like me would be allowed back into the field. And for later, I am concerned about how this dent in income will affect us and [my friend]. With all my medical bills and the lack of a steady income, I am not sure yet we will be able to pay for her internship. I think that is what is scariest, actually; that this thing will affect [my friend]’s future.

exercise 4.3:
bridging the distance

If i was to create a performative action inspired by this exercise i think i would like to put together something that would bring the community together. I live in the south of rotterdam and there is a very wide variety of people here with different cultural and ethnic backgrouds. I believe something like a weekly moment to meet your neighbours and bring people some soul food would be a great conversation starter and a wonderful oportunity to get to know the cohabitants of your area.

exercise 5.1:
going public/ going underground

- public action often has a bigger impact

-public action can be filmed and shared online and in a more anonymous manner afterwards as well

-public action is taken more seriously by officials

-it can be very empowering and unifying

-public action can be dangerous for those performing it

-it is only directly shared with those who see it in person and depends on people then sharing it only, therefore it relies on the more 'underground' medium as well

- it can be misinterpreted as it tends to not spoon-feed the message it is trying to convey

- it is easy to share information online

- the information is formatted to be shared this way, making for more accessible and eye catching material

- anonymity is kept more easily

-'call for action' type projects are easier to join and share around, which makes raising awareness easier

-while it is easier to be seen, it is also easier to be ignored

-it is not really performative and does not call for action the same way a public work does

- it relies mostly on online media and people being active wherever you share your work

exercise 5.2:
going public/ going underground

of course there are cases of 'organisations' like Anonymous or just big trends that start online and end up having a big impactin in real life in which case they ove from underground to perforamtive

I found that my best chance at potential alternative communication is through the roof of my building, which my apartment has direct access to...

...as this is the only route i've taken in quarantine, and even that only every 2 weeks...

...and this is the view out of my window...

as i mentioned before, the roof is already quite the meeting place for barbequing and hanging out in my neighbourhood, so i can easily see it as a good place to attempt alternative communication

exercise 5.3:
going public/ going underground

My idea for an alternative speaker's corner is centered around one of the many problems i have with the quarantine; namely, how easy it is to just...do nothing...all day.
Thus, i find it would be nice to organise a space where people share one thing they have done during the last week.

This idea can be carried out both online and in real life. Online all it would require is an instagram page or something of that sort. In real life it could be either something like a projector that would show people's submissions at the end of the week or a pinboard system.

What people share can be anything, from haircuts

or laundry...how your plant is doing...anything goes!

@lizclimo on instagram

@jcrispyrice on instagram

exercise 5.4:
going public/ going underground

For this exercise i wanted to expend on a personal project i made during the quarantine.
I believe asking people for images that share certain similarities and then making collages out of them could become some sort of language, as depending on the shape, the object photographed and the theme and atmosphere of the images certain different messages can be conveyed. This would be sort of a way of encryption.

The experiment i made before is centered around the theme of my own coping mechanisms and habits during quarantine.

I grouped with Maya for the resit period. After all these months of isolation it was refreshing to work together again.
Since the lockdown was basically over for her, while I was already back in Armenia in a full quarantine, we couldn’t relate the COVID isolation of April anymore. First, we had the idea of doing a projection mapping and sharing thoughts of people on buildings, so basically having the contrast of small bits of personal thoughts on big, uncomfortable spaces. This took us to a conversation about our current situations, and we realized that, in a way, we have similarities in our background: some current political heat, the socialist past, a lot of abandoned spaces.
We thought it’s more relevant and more open (educational, why not) to combine our current situations, common historical past and connect our project to it.

Also, we noticed how the quarantine detached people from the world, as everyone was literally interacting with their own close, small environment (room, laptop screen), so we wanted to create a space where people could just share simple images from their lives and see, learn what life is like in other parts of the world.

We thought of making collages with all these scenes/buildings and distribute it as posters around with short texts about human survival/class struggle/social conditions, however, not in a very sophisticated way.
For collecting images and sharing with people, we thought opening an Instagram and taking people’s submissions of places they live in, or just images from their city that mean something to them. This could be an Instagram page for instance. That would also allow to create a network and share personal images of scenery, to make these collective images (collages) and talk about really simple, human actions and encourage humans to share their visual environments with each other and think about questions, especially after/during a pandemic that has made us question a lot.

Our audience is every citizen, every person who evern walks around or just wonders how people further than they are living.