The tutorial with Aleya was really helpful. Here’re the updates of my last reflection and the investigation for this project:
REFLECTION
Surrounded with all kinds of advertisements in every aspect of daily life, unconfident consumers are unconsciously manipulated to form values conveyed by hidden ideas of advertisements. The theme of our manifesto is manipulating advertising. Our practical work falls into three categories: the messages, the effects and the questions. My response focuses on consumers’ conscious struggle due to the effects of manipulating advertising. When the values conveyed by advertisements become major within society, social pressures increase for consumers whose original beliefs and desires conflict with the demands of the society, following struggle in the conscious self.[1]
I created two slides (Figure 1-8). It is a process of being exposed to increasing manipulating information and more confused to determine opinions of existence.
Figure 1. Photo by Author. 
Figure 2. Photo by Author. 
Figure 3. Photo by Author. 
Figure 4. Photo by Author. 
Figure 5. Photo by Author. 
Figure 6. Photo by Author. 
Figure 7. Photo by Author. 
Figure 8. Photo by Author.
Texts projection was inspired by Fiona Banner’s 1066and Shirin Neshat’s Unveiling, showing the forces advertisements bring to consumers. To further suggest its power of shaping cultural norms, I set the color of background same as figures’ clothes initially, creating an effect of figures absorbed into the background, inspired by Anthea Hamilton’s Brick Suit.[2]
Using blur to capture disorientation was originally inspired by Amrou Al-Kadhi and Holly Falconer’s Glamrou (Figure 9). A triple exposure is used to describe the experience that can fracture your sense of self as well as hold it together.[3]Multiple positions of the model in drag indicate multiple identities. The combination of separation and overlay creating blur and shadow suggests the disorientation. I felt the confusion and struggle with identifying self, very related to my idea. Therefore, I decided to create layered clear figures with blurry movements as the hesitation of determining a way of existence. However, after looking through my photos and thinking over the emphasis to make, I realized my real intention was only to show the conscious of being unsettled, unclear and messy. Blur is unclear itself and makes figures unable to sit in the image while clear captures are too solid. That is why I only kept blur as the key element in my final work.
I also did an installation, producing a visual mess and uncertainty (Figure 10-17). However, photography work is better displayed in a zine.
Figure 10. Photo by Author. 
Figure 11. Photo by Author. 
Figure 12. Photo by Author. 
Figure 13. Photo by Author. 
Figure 14. Photo by Author. 
Figure 15. Photo by Author. 
Figure 16. Photo by Author. 
Figure 17. Photo by Author.
I also had a plan for overlaid texts printed on reflective material where readers could see their distorted faces, encouraging self-reflection on psychological activities while making a choice.
From this project, I have learnt to express the conscious struggle through blur, distorted surfaces, color-changing lighting, disorganized texts and reflective materials. Technically, I have experimented with multiple or long exposure and projection. I am satisfied with the elements shown in my work. I think I have showed the conscious struggle on mind to people suffering from being unable to achieve authenticity, the way of existing fully controlled by one self, regardless of external pressure.[4] And I believe my work helps them realize what is happening on their mind while making a choice, think about the reasons and consequences.
However, with more time, I would experiment with advertisements projection instead of texts to relate to the theme more closely, sound for the slides to strengthen the effect of struggle, plastic sheet in portrait photography to create another way of showing conscious struggle and projection mapping to create a better visual effect. Also, I might develop my idea to more specific reasons of this conscious struggle due to manipulating advertising.
547 without footnotes + captions + Bibliography
Bibliography
Al-Kadhi, Amrou, and Holly Falconer, Glamrou (London: Hayward Gallery, 2019)
Baliousis, Michael, and Stephen Joseph, and P Linley, and John Maltby, and Alex Wood, ‘The Authentic Personality: A Theoretical and Empirical Conceptualization and the Development of the Authenticity Scale’, Journal of Counseling Psychology, 55:3 (2008), 385-399
Heidegger, Martin, Being and Time (New York: Harper Perennial Modern Thought, 2008)
Kierkegaard, Søren, The Present Age (New York: Harper Torchbooks, 1962)
Marx, Karl, Capital, Volume I (New York: Dover Publications, Inc., 2019)Sartre, Jean-Paul, Being and Nothingness: A Phenomenological Essay on Ontology (New York: Washington Square Press, 1992)
[1]My view on this has been inspired by my reading of Jean-Paul Sartre, Being and Nothingness: A Phenomenological Essay on Ontology (New York: Washington Square Press, 1992). Alex, Wood & P, Linley & John, Maltby & Michael, Baliousis & Stephen, Joseph, ‘The Authentic Personality: A Theoretical and Empirical Conceptualization and the Development of the Authenticity Scale’, Journal of Counseling Psychology, 55:3 (2008), 385-399. And Martin Heidegger, Being and Time (New York: Harper Perennial Modern Thought, 2008).
[2]Karl Marx, Capital, Volume I (New York: Dover Publications, Inc., 2019).
[3]Amrou Al-Kadhi and Holly Falconer, Glamrou(London: Hayward Gallery, 2019).
[4]Søren Kierkegaard, The Present Age (New York: Harper Torchbooks, 1962).
INVESTIGATION
Wandering along the District tube line in London with my partner Olivia, I became interested in the range of direction signs on the roads and how citizens seemed to be efficiently directed on autopilot while Olivia was attracted to the ‘flawed beauty’ of marks of time on architecture.[1]
At the beginning, I wanted to create a space to bring consciousness back to citizens and demonstrate that autopilot mode leaves no trace in memories or life (Figure 1).[2]It was going to be a double layered square space with one entry to each layer and a very narrow corridor in between to force people to move forward, suggesting the effect of direction signs, influenced by Bruce Nauman’s installation, Changing Light Corridor with Rooms.[3] In the inner square, each wall would be projected a video to create a sense of moving while viewers would actually only turn around in the center watching the videos (Figure 2-4), indicating the state of autopilot not creating any actual trace. The shaky videos would bring uncomfortable and dizzy feelings and bring back consciousness, similar to the situation of getting lost or off track. Finally, viewers would escape consciously.
Figure 1. Photo by Author. 
Figure 2. Photo by Author. 
Figure 3. Photo by Author. 
Figure 4. Photo by Author.
However, after chatting with people, I started to realize citizens had their own choices and stories hidden behind all the directions they followed. There are more invisible traces than what we think we see. How the city and citizens look depends on how we observe them from different perspectives, which is connected to Olivia’s idea of appreciating muted beauty.[4] Olivia encourages a different perspective of the aspect of the passage of time while I focus on the aspect of the general view on the city and citizens. In the end, I created a different installation (Figures 5-8), which divided the floor to variable units of squares consisting of four arrows each, representing how the city is divided by crossings all over the roads. No matter how people move in the squares, they always seem directed to go straight, turn left or right, the typical patterns of citizens navigating the city.
Figure 5. Photo by Author. 
Figure 6. Photo by Author. 
Figure 7. Photo by Author. 
Figure 8. Photo by Author.
Three additive primary colors and a clear color were used to reproduce a broad array of colors. Observing people walking into and out of the cuboids, as you move around, multiple combinations of colors can be seen while from one spot, only single combination is seen (Figure 9-12). This also applies to our way of perceiving the city and citizens. Different perspectives bring surprises and new discoveries while a single perspective may only generate the same feeling or vision each day.
Figure 9. Photo by Author. 
Figure 10. Photo by Author. 
Figure 11. Photo by Author. 
Figure 12. Photo by Author.
This work was inspired by Olafur Eliasson’s installations, Seu corpo da obra (Your body of work) (Figure 13), Colour activity house(Figure 14) and Your rainbow panorama (Figure 15). Compositions of colors continually change in response to viewers’ movement through the space.[5] Viewers are co-producers of color as well as their image of reality.[6] We are viewers or producers of history itself, seen as we contribute, or give, more than we receive.[7] I was impressed by the setting of having viewers as a dynamic part of creators of the artwork. I found it very relevant to my idea of observers as a vital role in creating the view of the city and citizens. Therefore, I decided to build a space for viewers to be able to change the view of colors while moving, representing the initiative of forming their own experience in the city and with other citizens.
Figure 13. Taken from https://olafureliasson.net/archive/artwork/WEK107097/seu-corpo-da-obra-your-body-of-work#slideshow. 
Figure 14. Taken from https://olafureliasson.net/archive/artwork/WEK100040/colour-activity-house#slideshow. 
Figure 15. Taken from https://olafureliasson.net/archive/artwork/WEK100551/your-rainbow-panorama#slideshow.
From this project, I have learnt to use viewers as an active part of artwork and to relate the phenomenon of color to the formation of our views towards our surroundings. The intention of my installation is to encourage citizens to see the city and each other from refreshing perspectives, to find different aspects and stories of them over instant assumptions, and help them realize they act as an active and essential role in getting an impression from their living environment. I think I have partially succeeded in realizing my intention especially in terms of the connection between the changing perception of colors through moving and multi-dimensional understandings of the city and citizens. However, I do not think I have achieved my goal to interpret the relationship between citizens, and between citizens and the city through a more personal or radical approach because my installation lacks innovation compared to Eliasson’s installations. And my idea can be too generalized for some citizens because they may have their own preferences for the way of seeing the city and others, or they may behave as they are directly.
With more time, I would experiment with the color schemes for direction signs in United Kingdom, blue with white, green with white and yellow, white with black and black on yellow, instead of RGB to relate to the theme more closely.[8] Installing my work outdoors in the busy area of the city could capture citizens’ authentic reaction or interaction with it. Also, I would develop my idea in a more personal perspective of seeing the city instead of generating opinions on majority of citizens because it is very easy to fall into my own assumptions rather than facts.
840 without footnotes + captions + Bibliography
Bibliography
Berg, Anders, (2015), ‘Seu corpo da obra (Your body of work), 2011’, https://olafureliasson.net/archive/artwork/WEK107097/seu-corpo-da-obra-your-body-of-work[Accessed 14 September 2019]
e-flux, (15 June 2011), ‘Olafur Eliasson shows Your body of work in San Paulo’, https://www.e-flux.com/announcements/35440/olafur-eliasson-shows-your-body-of-work-in-sao-paulo/[Accessed 14 September 2019]
Gold, Taro, LivingWabi Sabi: The True Beauty of Your Life (Singapore: Andrews McMeel Publishing, 2004)
Great Britain: Department of Transport, Know Your Traffic Signs (London: TSO, 2010)
Keizo, KIOKU, (2010), ‘Colour activity house, 2010’, https://olafureliasson.net/archive/artwork/WEK100040/colour-activity-house[Accessed 14 September 2019]
Lawrence, Robyn, Simply Imperfect: Revising the Wabi-Sabi House(Gabriola Island: New Society Publishers, 2011)
Moderna Museet, (2015), ‘The central themes’, https://www.modernamuseet.se/stockholm/en/exhibitions/olafur-eliasson/about-the-exhibition/[Accessed 14 September 2019]
Tate, (October 2011), ‘Bruce Nauman Changing Light Corridor with Rooms 1971’, https://www.tate.org.uk/art/artworks/nauman-changing-light-corridor-with-rooms-ar00044[Accessed 19 September 2019]
Wittmann, Marc, Felt Time: The Psychology of How We Perceive Time(Cambridge: MIT Press, 2016)
‘Your rainbow panorama, 2006-2011’, (2011) https://olafureliasson.net/archive/artwork/WEK100551/your-rainbow-panorama[Accessed 14 September 2019]
[1]Taro Gold, LivingWabi Sabi: The True Beauty of Your Life (Singapore: Andrews McMeel Publishing, 2004)
[2]Marc Wittmann, Felt Time: The Psychology of How We Perceive Time(Cambridge: MIT Press, 2016)
[3]‘Bruce Nauman Changing Light Corridor with Rooms 1971’, Tate (October 2011) https://www.tate.org.uk/art/artworks/nauman-changing-light-corridor-with-rooms-ar00044[Accessed 19 September 2019].
[4]Robyn Griggs Lawrence, Simply Imperfect: Revising the Wabi-Sabi House(Gabriola Island: New Society Publishers, 2011)
[5]‘Seu corpo da obra (Your body of work), 2011’, Anders Sune Berg (2015) https://olafureliasson.net/archive/artwork/WEK107097/seu-corpo-da-obra-your-body-of-work[Accessed 14 September 2019]. ‘Colour activity house, 2010’, KIOKU Keizo (2010)https://olafureliasson.net/archive/artwork/WEK100040/colour-activity-house[Accessed 14 September 2019]. ‘Your rainbow panorama, 2006-2011’, (2011) https://olafureliasson.net/archive/artwork/WEK100551/your-rainbow-panorama[Accessed 14 September 2019].
[6]‘The central themes’, Moderna Museet (2015) https://www.modernamuseet.se/stockholm/en/exhibitions/olafur-eliasson/about-the-exhibition/[Accessed 14 September 2019].
[7]‘Olafur Eliasson shows Your body of work in San Paulo’, e-flux (15 June 2011) https://www.e-flux.com/announcements/35440/olafur-eliasson-shows-your-body-of-work-in-sao-paulo/[Accessed 14 September 2019].
[8]Great Britain: Department of Transport, Know Your Traffic Signs (London: TSO, 2010)
Then we had a pair tutorial with Kyung Hwa. She suggested us to add our names in each slide. She didn’t understand how I talked about my installation… She thought my work didn’t show what I expected. Anyways, she suggested me to demonstrate the arrows and squares of the installation in the slides with a floor plan as well as size and title. She recommended neutral video documentation of installation instead of still images with set lighting and only showing essential photos in the slides. Here’re my slides:
I feel I really failed this project…
Eva Wang 