PechaKucha Night in Rotterdam 8 Oct

After the Scotland trip, I arrived Netherlands for another journey. I love Amsterdam so much, there are canals all around city, clean and healthy is the feeling once I arrived. Of course visiting Van Gogh Museum is a must~ here I got another blog that is about window display, https://vindowconcepts.wordpress.com/2015/09/30/grouping-skill-in-vm/ yea, one of the article was inspired by the van gogh museum gift shops.

Then I went to another city called Rotterdam…..I really really like this city since not only how clean it is, healthy feeling but also the iconic building everywhere. I asked local people and they said since this area was destroyed in the 2nd world war, buildings are nearly all new. I stayed in the Cube House Hostel  a few days. Library is besides that and here is where I met Makystudio, It is run by 2 HongKongese that living in Rotterdam. They were “building” a giant robot for something like children reading week. and I found their other works are so energetic, colourful and fun. here’s their link: http://studiomaky.com/

is good to meet them and share the art culture. they also invited me to the 34th Pechakucha night. Pechakucha is a presentation that limited in 20 slides with 20 sec each. presenter have to well control the time and context in each slide.

Kwannie and Man-Yee are presenting their Makystudio’s works.

On the other hand, I got much input from the presentation night. some are artist. some are disigners and some are photographer. here the list for my ref.

and the most impressive one for me is a man who quit a job….and start to do something benefit the society. He turns coffee trash into an industry. Since there are so many coffee trash everyday….and his concept is to find out what can be done by them……he collect the trash and do experiment….or testing or ….I dont know his real process since the pechakucha limitation….haha…..anyway….the finding thing is he found out the trash can grow some mushroom so that human can eat…saving environment….saving money…..upcycling….here’s a link for his work: http://www.wdka.nl/2015/03/03/march-5-2015-lecture-mark-slegers-rotterzwam-the-circular-city/?lang=en

his name is Mark Slegers, Rotterzwam is the company name.

after I saw his presentation….already a business now….I feel my endangered animals project could have inspired by him…although not yet have any idea….but at least I could see how people upcycling …..that benefit society, other people and himself.

Collecting used or unwanted lipstick for sculpture/ 收集二手或不用的唇膏製作雕塑之用

As I am posting request for second hand, unwanted lipstick, for upcycling sculpture project. Here I try to illustrate my concept. The main purpose is to raise awareness of endangered animals. There is a deforestation problem due to the large amount use of palm oil, for manufacturing daily product such as lipstick, shampoo, chocolate, etc. Thus, the animals are lack of living habitat and prey for food.

由於我在多個社交群組徵求已用或不用的唇膏，作為升級再造雕塑之用。在此我描述一下概念。主要是借我的雕塑增加大家對瀕臨絕種動物的關注；由於大量使用棕櫚油生產日常用品如唇膏，洗頭水及朱古力等，以致森林過份被開伐. 因此動物漸漸失去生態居住及獵物。

Endangered Animals suffering from the problem/ : Sumatran Tiger/ Sumatran Elephant/ Sumatran Rhino/ Sumatran Orangutan

受影響的瀕臨絕種動物包括:蘇門答臘虎/大象／犀牛／猩猩

I try to cast my sculpture by mixing my own lip balm/ lipstick without palm oil. On the other hand, I am thinking to cast with second hand, or unwanted lipstick; the project itself involves upcycling and, at the same time through the collecting process, to let my friends know such problem. Thus, no matter the lipstick they donated are made with or without palm oil, they started to know it more, and I am working on a upcycling project as well.

我嘗試以其他物料製作不包含棕櫚油的唇膏雕塑。另一方面在構思以已用或不用的唇膏製作雕塑；製作概念在升級再造的同時，收集過程中讓我的朋友們開始認識這個課題。所以不論他們將捐出的唇膏有否棕櫚油，他們在這也認知更多，而我亦將廢物升級再造。

Link for more info/ 更多資訊:

http://www.rainforestfoundationuk.org/what-you-can-do/others-ways-to-support-us/be-an-ethical-shopper/

http://wwf.panda.org/what_we_do/footprint/agriculture/palm_oil/

Inspiration of palm oil issue

After I searched for the palm oil product harmful to the living habitat of endangered animals, I begin thinking of sculpture made by recycling palm oil product….e.g. lipstick, there is an sculpture made by used lipstick, to raise awareness of consuming products (1 lipstick sold in every 4 seconds)

I appreciate the recycling of the used lipstick but the sculpture itself is not really impressive…..maybe that’s the linkage with business….for me, I don’t like the wooden base, its like a fixture (not eco-friendly, and the sculpture form is not creative) 😛 this maybe what I learnt or inspired by the MA course here.

Animal Sculptors found

For my reference, sculptors found, really amazing works~ both of the using some basic unit or recycling method to build sculptures.

David Mach: http://www.davidmach.com

Andrew Chase: www.andrewchase.com

Upcycling Art

Found two up cycling art series online, one is by tires and one is by watches. Those are attractive~ I did some upcycling shuttlecock as well. or some modelling frames. In a way…I also like to do….collecting unwanted items, transform it, make it reborn~

Susan Beatrice

Yong Ho Ji

Suggestion from Tas

Tas is not my tutor, he is responsible for all the things in ceramic studio. To my blog followers, if you think he is a technician you are wrong. He’s an artist and knows a lot besides ceramics. Sometimes I will ask him for concept or production advices when feeling confused. anyway…for my animals with wooden geometry structure, the materials are fragile, joining not looking professional, structure good but skill seems childish……I would like to make it stay longer, or at least really look like art piece…(what is art then?!) well….keep making to inspire, so I ask Tas’s advice, first, he suggest me to try the method of “Jade Armor”……wow?! what’s that?! Chinese traditional one?!

 

well, not exactly, then he show me an artist called: Paul Astbury

by making different shapes/ size and collage on the object, to make a well finishing art piece. I do really think this could help to build my animals art piece, because somehow it is like an armor to protect the animals!!! at the same time, it hide the inperfect joints made by different angles. Finally, is the beautiful, colorful, shinny, well-finished surface……all fits my direction! imagine……what if…..

Tas then show me one more artist called Tony Cragg, he use different materials like dice, hooks to cover object, simple but the outcome is impressive:

I like them very much, as I also like up-cycling things, but seems not having a good direction…..I keep lots of old shuttlecock, see if it is useful somedays. and through googling…..also found another interesting artists:

Vietnam Coca Cola Campaign

a creative campaign of Coca-Cola, not only for the usage itself but also for the brand image building! Eco-friendly, up-cycling, creativity~

Interim Show

Interim show, to show the unit 1 process, getting feed back, receiving comment…..I was showing the Noah’s Ark chair…..although some people admire the concept and the chair itself…..but actually is not a success one.  Firstly, if I a not standing besides, and talking to the audience, they don’t know the concept. Moreover, I haven’t got deep research into the boat…well the chair shape is just all images in my mind….and come up. Finally, is too much within the art piece. (Roger also think adding too much, same as a dish with many favor…spicy, sweet, sour…..!!!) For this work….Upcycling, Noah’s ark story, animals conservation, chair function, is too much~ Anyway, is a good learning process for both making object and conceptual thinking.

Noah’s Ark chair 1:1 Production

I want to make a 1:1 dummy so that I could know those joints and supporting structure.

They are all off-cut and wood left behind by the students before….during the process, I keep thinking if I needed to make another one, or keep this up-cycling as the installation. As long as it could deliver the message, rather than buying new wood……common reason of animal extinction is LOSS of HABITAT.