Unit X - Research

Topic 1 - Research:

From the research I have undertaken to inform this project; looking into how technology has and is taking over jobs and the relationship between art and technology, how technology can help improve production but also how it differs and loses that handmade stamp to the object. As a starting point we decided to draw from circuit boards and hands. These are two contrasting instruments when producing objects and items but both do similar jobs in the end, whether that be different finishes or one being more capable than the other. We discussed how a machine needs a human to work, to input all the details it need needs before it starts working, yet a machine quickens the process of making something more than a human.  

http://www.pcbuniverse.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2010/08/printed-circuit-board-24.jpg

http://malcolmmarler.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/03/open-hands.jpg

I watched a short video which explores how young people have lost interest in going to museums, therefore have made them more interactive to keep them interested whilst also gaining knowledge on the subject. From the video it seemed that they were very much technology based interactive art pieces. As a group we went the The Museum of Science and Industry, as soon as we entered the first room of the museum it was full of interactive art, some involving simply pressing a button to start a machine. I'd never been to a museum that has been that interactive before and personally felt more enthusiastic when learning about them. There was also the nostalgia of it being very different from when I was a child when you'd simply look around and read about the pieces. Here are some photographs and videos from the Museum we visited on 22/03/2017.

A fashion designer I have looked at is Mary Katrantzou. Her work gives off a very technological feel from my perspective, due to the structure of some of her garments, they consist of lots of lines and have the reds, blues, yellows and metallics you'd tend to find inside technology like the wires.

  As I am doing embroidery, I have started exploring by hand embroidering and stitching the details of a circuit board using colours like, grey and the primary colours; red, yellow, green and blue. Because the biggest influence in the beginning samples have been circuit boards and wires, the lines have been very structured, to represent the circuit board but also very random to represent the wires. After being inducted on the Cornely sewing machine, I found that, because of the wire effect it gives off, I'm definitely going to use this throughout the samples and incorporate it with other specialisms, whether that be printing on top or sewing this onto a knit or weave sample. After looking at the technology side which is more structured, I've now started to look at the structure of hands, I've been drawing hands in different positions, admiring the cracks, curves and lines they naturally produce. From this I am going to hand embroider the hands which I have drawn, whilst using the threads I have used when embroidering the circuit boards, because the threads I have used give of a shiny, satin effect which links to the metallics from technology like buttons, bolts and screws, so I may even consider using metallic threads if I can find any which would be the right thickness, whilst also looking for more fabrics that I could use. I have purchased a silk type fabric and a thick woven fabric which resembles a circuit board and the digital world, which I am going to test the hand embroidery on.