User:Rensvanpinxteren/Draft

Draft minor

Introduction

As a student Graphic Design I believe that you need to interact with the media and technology of the time, this is one of the main reasons why I choose to graduate with the Minor Digital Craft. During this minor I want to discover technologies within the digital realm and expand my knowledge to substantiate new discoveries.

The other reason why I chose this minor was because of my previous experiences with Digital Craft. In the previous years of my study I’ve had the opportunity to emerge myself within the practice Digital Craft and I liked the method of learning by making. By discovering my capabilities within the digital realm I will develop the skills I need for my craftsmanship. I realized that the minor Digital Craft offers me a broad spectrum of interests which fascinate me. By making I want to understand, control and substantiate these subjects and obtain this knowledge to use it in future projects.

Process

During my past projects I discovered that I use my imagination to visualize a mental image as a method to decide if my findings are actually worth it to develop these into a project. This method give me the opportunity to question myself if the subject of interest relevant and what is the authentic value of this discovery, can I distill a coherent story out of the subject, contains my visualization on this subject a qualitative aesthetic singularity and what is the moral responsibility of this technology. With these personal statements I determined the value of my subjects and start my research process. The way that I approach my process is often very analytical and in which I’m constantly looking for elements that connect with the subject. These elements are really important to me, because by remixing these findings, new perspectives emerge.

By reflecting on this method I realize that my process helps to create the story that I want to tell and that I use my work as a medium to debate. But due to this, it’s important to decide which kind of story could be relevant. Should it be a speculative, an expressive or a real story and what could be the impact on the information in which I want to relate to? Therefore I’m willing to change the visualization of my artwork and by this way I construct the story that I want to tell to spectators. This could be one of my signatures within the course Digital Craft.

Craftsmanship

If I have to define my craftsmanship I think that it would be hacking and storytelling. I’m always really fascinated by the medium itself and the way I can conceptualize a new feature with it. That is also the reason why I really like the phenomenon of smart materials and how you could connect data with a physical medium. So by combining different aspects I want to create new perspectives. That is also why the last few projects really motivated me. By first experiment I discovered a way of working which can lead to unexpected new findings and help me to go out of my conceptualizing comfort zone. I found out that sometimes your fixed fascinations need to make way for better findings. This way of working has increased my way of thinking and conceptualize within Digital Craft.

Reflecting

By working on projects within a small time frame, I also discovered a few borders. I’ve noticed that I’m thinking almost immediately in final form instead of first just experimenting and explore the possibilities of the material. This way of thinking was really framing me, but since I’ve noticed I really started experimenting. Another barrier that I discovered was constantly working without taking a moment to reflect and look at your process from a distance. I noticed that if I’m working without reflecting I make decisions that takes a lot of time and are not necessarily required for the research that I’m working on. I noticed this during my last project where we discovered a really accessible approach of experimenting with our material. With this way of working we had the ability to create a lot of content which we could use in many different ways. In this process I made the decision to focus on another element of our project, which was less interesting. We lost a lot of time because of this decision.

Historical context

If I question myself which historical technologies really fascinate me, it will be most likely examples that made the difference during the second world war. Like cryptography, radar and battlefield communications that eventually led to the discovery of the internet. These subjects are just examples of technologies that nowadays have a big influence and social impact.

Conclusion

I believe that you need to interact with the media and technology of the time, this is one of the main reasons why I choose to graduate with the minor Digital Craft. Understand the moral responsibility existing and upcoming technologies. I want to gather as much knowledge about the digital realm to develop projects and debate about the way we use this. I’m a future person and I want to make a change by making work that have impact on society. Therefore I need to question myself: Where is the line between real and speculative? By visualizing a mental image to give myself approval to actually develop a project. Therefore I’m willing to change the visual of my artwork and that is my signature within the Digital Craft course. If I should define my craftsmanship it would be hacking and storytelling. I’m really fascinated by smart materials and artificial intelligence because of the impact on society. And I think that I need to discover my way of storytelling. Should it be a speculative, or a real story? So I use my work as medium to debate about awareness of the influences of nowadays technologies.