Friday, 19 August 2011

Film_18th August_3.24pm

 

Once again documenting the drying, moisturizing process. This was straight after my bath.

Film_18th August_2.57pm


This film is of me having a bath. It is not particularly visually exciting but the sound qualities vary dramatically from the films of myself having a shower.

The bath is the more relaxing, time-to-think, not on-the-go convenience of the two and this is portrayed nicely through sound. The bath is quite a silent place, where one can sit down, lie down and relax. The shower is a loud place, where one has to be alert and standing and it's not so easy to get lost in one's own thoughts.

There are a few moments in the video - 14mins long [also reinforcing my want to stay in here longer] - where the sound doesn't equal the flowing movements within the bath. For example, turning around in the bath makes loud suctions sounds, and the noise of myself scratching in the bath creates a slapping sensation.

Film_18th August_2.46pm


This film looks at setting up the bathroom before my bath and getting ready to hop into the bath after it's run. My body is represented in the tiles beyond the bath tap, however once the bath has been running for a while and the steam has started to cover the tiles, my body is only slightly visible through the tap.

It is interesting in relation to the mirror in the bathroom that most features of the bathroom are made from a mirrored or reflective surface; heavily glossed floor and wall tiles, chrome taps, faucets and handles, glass partitions and ceramic products.

Supervision notes

_Diagramming. Linear, time, movement diagramming.

_Analysis informing several design exercises. Thesis doc = "critical and reflective documentation of my practice."

_Seminars - reading that had analysis of movements/diary - look back on.

_Project needs to be sited now. Think about how is my project framed. Pragmatic // Poetic.
Re-design of the bathroom I'm using now. Restrictions of the site - bonus. Say "this is the site."

_Title. Theorize tailor-made. Could be tailor-made physically, or tailor-made through my experience? Personification?

_NZ housing. Lots to work with - inform my direction.
Communicate to audience what the house is. Describe house. "2009 NZ Stonewood house." Built by...designed by...

_Pragmatic - Pre-Chch design exercises. Height of faucet for me etc. Remember, things extend from the bathroom - hot water cylinder, pipes, laundry etc. Think beyond the surface - lining, glue, 'stuff'. Redesigning the current bathroom 'tailor-made' to personal body shape, size etc.

_Poetic - Post-Chch design exercises. Particularly film of feet through tiles - my relationship to my NZ home. Video, soundscape, sensual, provocative. Documenting the NZ bathroom actions, movements - relationship to body through film.

_Reflect upon what I have done so far. View it for all it's worth, in other ways and think about how it informs my project and my projects direction.

_Laura Ford's thesis. Look online. Few chapters I'd like on bathroom, surface, domestic house etc.

_Re-model my current bathroom - 2 iterations of the same design or different methods. 2 pragmatic // 1 pragmatic, 1 poetic // 2 poetic. Think about the 2 different directions my project could take.

_Next supervision at 9.30am on the 2nd Sept w/ Ant.

Anything else I have missed out/should consider?

In response to last supervision notes dated 12.08.11

_Skype! Has been fixed. Bought a new camera and have sound & video now working on my parents PC. Laptop is still not working.

_Have been keeping my bathroom diary - visual and textual. Very specific to me - have been recording exactly what I do in the bathroom each day - not just showering etc. Could be just checking if I have food around my mouth.

Was hoping to keep this diary for a month, but now I have a week of data I want to start generating designs from this.

Started doing the sketch a day idea. Wasn't working - it was really hard to visualize anything but the bathroom I use, mainly because I had just done these actions. Hopefully now that I have heaps of data it will become easier.

_Still need to make a more specific list - use the diary to generate this.

_Be specific. - Have been specific - down to what hand I use for switching on the bathroom light.

_Have requested Georges Perec - Species of Spaces from Massey.

_Writing workshop. Have told JP, will be in Wellington on the 13th Sept.

Film_17th August_7.39pm. Part 3

This is the 3rd installment of the showering film. Continuing on with the same focus of the shower glass - this installment, like Part 1, would be quite ambiguous again with the sound probably being quite unfamiliar to most listeners. The shadow of my body performing movements/actions/routines/rituals is projected onto the shower wall. This film looks at the drying/moisturizing/in-between post-shower actions.

The sound and visuals, if you did not know it was the bathroom, might not be clear.