Invisible Worlds Exhibit at the Natural History Museum

 

Observations from the field trip:

The Invisible Worlds Exhibit was truly an immersive, interactive, and appealing experience! Before you go into the main event room where the projections are, there were some interactive screens where you could take some fun quizzes regarding the theme of everything being connected. For example there was one about how closely related humans were to other organisms; another one was picking a food and matching up what the sources of the ingredients were. There was also a lot of educational information on the screens alongside photos and videos. Inside the main event room, the video was seamlessly projected onto the curved walls of the circular room. It was also blended into the floor, and the transitions between different content such as the whale blending into plankton, and then later into DNA visuals were all smoothly conducted. It was even more enjoyable because some parts were interactive, where you could step on certain bubbles/blobs on the floor and see the particles move from the floor and then disperse onto the walls (like the water or blood). There was also many smaller particles following each person underneath them, and they would move as you moved; the color and visuals would adapt to whatever material was currently playing in the video. 

After being in the exhibit for a while, I went to explore different parts of the museum before it closed. I saw numerous projections of videos about animals, history, and documentaries, and most areas had a bench for visitors to sit on while they watched the videos. I also saw the dinosaurs exhibit which was quite fascinating!

Finding of the Week:

I saw these ceiling hexagon-shaped lights at the metro station on Broadway-Lafayette. I have been to this station before but never took this particular exit route, and then I saw these cool lights as I was heading up the stairs to the exit! They possibly change colors overtime but I was not sure because I had to quickly leave. I haven’t seen any other light installations like this at other stations so I was pleasantly surprised!

Midterm Project Proposal

Artist: Jean-Michel Basquiat

1. Concept
   1. The concept is to express Basquiat’s abstract graffiti art style and honor him as an influential artist through a projection using both 3D and 2D elements.
      1. Using words in his art as an expression of speaking up for himself/people with similar backgrounds and circumstances(e.g. Self-doubt, marginalization, poverty, discrimination, vulnerability in the streets of NYC)
2. Relationship between content and object
   1. Basquiat’s crown is a representation of his power struggle and yearning for his worth to be acknowledged by others, he struggled with feelings of self-image issues, finding inner-peace and the idea that he should be crowned
   2. He also used the color black to signify that members of the Black community should also be represented and seen as intellectuals in society
   3. Basquiat also had a fascination with the human body and skulls as a symbol of vulnerability, death and the feeling of only being worth a mere pile of bones that black people were normally stereotyped as.
   4. Plastering graffiti on the objects also symbolizes part of his background as growing up in the streets of NYC and with his friends, would go around graffiti words such as “SAMO” meaning “same old” as a protest against the segregation on the black community 
   5. Frames will be used to hold up and signify for people view Basquiat’s art on a high pedestal, how he views himself and how he viewed society as a form of lens

Blueprint (top and side view of a diagram of your setup)

1. Material
   1. Poster board
   2. Skull + Bones model
   3. Paper
   4. White Paint (maybe)
   5. Projector
2. Object
   1. All Objects will be secured onto the Poster Board
   2. 3D Crowns
   3. 3D Skull 
   4. 3D Bones
3. Content
   1. Potential graphics to map: 
      1. Color changing + line boldness/stroke changing
      2. Dripping in paint
      3. Words: the text could appear as if it’s being spray-painted in real-time, with virtual paint splashes spilling out onto the 3D surfaces
      4. Skull: Tape over mouth (symbolize silence), tears, brain
      5. Words, visuals, different aspects and elements of his artworks popping in and out onto the board
   2. Inside the Frames
      1. Left Frame: Collage/video/slideshow of Basquiat’s Self Portraits (Significance: How he views himself)
      2. Right Frame: Collage/video/slideshow of New York City in 1980s (Black and white pictures of the streets, subway, etc.)
         1. The city played a significant role as it inspired Basquiat’s artworks.

 

1. Choice of projector
   1. Optoma Mini Projector
2. What did you learn from this process?
   1. The underlying meanings and emotions of Basquiat’s art and what it symbolized to him and to the public. The explanations behind recurring symbols in his art, such as elements of anatomy (bones, skulls, human bodies), are related to themes of vulnerability, life, death, and the fragility of humans. When Basquiat was a child, he was in a car accident that injured him severely, and while he was recovering, he read a classic medical textbook which also explains why human anatomy is often seen in his artwork. He also utilized anatomy to address the issues of race and identity: disembodied parts and skeletons indicated the racism and discrimination Black people faced as they were often dehumanized by others in society.