June 6 to June 16, 2022
Partners: Anya, Bipasha, Dany, Farah, Faiza, May, Sofia, Ziyuan, This Ain't Rock n Roll
Brief: Design and facilitate a Visual Assembly on the topic of The Curriculum of Care
Main Questions
Now as we are into the final week with just a few days left before the Visual Assembly, we still need to answer the question: how do we make a curriculum visually appealing/striking?
We have most of the logistics and prompts in place, but still no clear idea of the visual outcome.
The elements we had to finalize were:
1. Logistics of printing and distributing promotional materials
2. Visual elements of Visual Assembly
3. Costumes and staging of event
4. Logistics of workshop
2. Branding
3. Building of our visual outcome
Branding
Working with the ideas of deconstruction and the bold imagery of punk and agitprop, we proceeded with more drafts of our promotional materials. We added our values of mutual aid, trust, curiosity, and no hierarchy along the borders of the posters.
We wanted to deconstruct the old educational institution and transform it into something new. Some visual ideas we had were having the old values exploded and fading into the background as new values pop in the front,
First Few Drafts of Posters
We liked the idea of nature overtaking old decaying buildings and vines reclaiming old structures, growing through/out of decay. Vines also grow in every direction, thus they fit with our non-hierarchical system.
So, we decided to add some green vines along the borders of an institution that has been broken apart. Eventually, we decided on a purple background as it was less aggressive than other color schemes.
Staging
We were still stuck on the idea of how to stage the Visual Assembly. Would it be a performance, dance routine, mere lecture? We all agreed that we wanted to spice things up and do something unconventional. Suddenly, with only a couple days left to spare, Sofia came up with the idea of a wedding between Care and Curriculum. The values Mutual Aid and No Hierarchy would be the witnesses.
With this idea, we had cracked the key on how to stage the event and make it out of the ordinary.
Building the Model: Deconstructivism
In terms of the visual element of the Visual Assembly, we still needed to have a strong visual element. We thought of the ideas of deconstruction and repair.
What would it look like to deconstruct the curriculum?
I went to the British Library and came across this work called the Antibook, which deconstructs the traditional bookform and reinvents it as an icosahedron.
The work of Russian Constructivist artist Gustav Klutsis also proved influential in terms of his striking and bold geometric designs:
I also came across the artist Christ Burden's The Other Vietnam Memorial (1991).
We liked this inspiration because it worked well with our idea of deconstruction. We decided to build a giant handbook that opened out in all directions. The pages would be blank except for the prompts, which would then be filled in by workshop participants. They could write their answers and build models of their visions and add it to the banners.
Sketches by May
We now had the visual element nailed down and were ready for the Visual Assembly.
Visual Assembly
Invitation and Wedding between Care and Curriculum
c. Xanthia Mavraki
Discussion within Groups and Making
c. Xanthia Mavraki
Presentations
c. Xanthia Mavraki
Photos by John Fass
Video by Sebastian Ervi
Feedback
Our initial feedback was that the event had been executed well and the questions were thoughtfully designed. John did point out that the materials and workshop structure we incorporated were quite conventional. It would have been fun to try out more experimental ways of running the workshop.
We also unfortunately did not have a high turnout. The location of the Visual Assembly kept getting moved and we finally had to do it in a room at LCC, which made it more difficult to hold a public event. It was also the end of the term so most students were busy with final projects.
Other feedback we received on presentation day was that the wedding could have been expanded a bit and we could have tied it together better with the material part of the workshop to make it more cohesive. At the moment it felt quite disjointed.
Going forward, we would like to analyze the posters from the Visual Assembly and see whether any common themes emerge.
Package
John encouraged us to make something more tangible to be able to hand over to future organizers of Visual Assemblies, rather than something more abstract.
We decided that we want to hand off a sort of handbook that will include readings, research methods, best practices, and references. We will include the workshops that we organized and what we learned from these workshops.
Drafts of Visual Assembly Handbook
Key Takeways:
Overall, it was really fulfilling to work on a project that involved so many different elements. It was highly social and collaborative, and we had to constantly be designing for all aspects of the Visual Assembly. It involved detailed logistical planning as well as creative thinking for designing the visual and performative aspects.
I enjoyed working with everyone in the group. It was great to reach consensus through respectful discussion and engagement with each other's ideas. We also knew when to work together, such as on key decision-making or conceptual ideas, and when to split off into smaller groups to execute ideas.
If I were to do the brief again, I'd start thinking about more experimental ways to materialize the Visual Assembly and think more outside the box for workshop ideas.
Comments