Emma Rijk

Hi! My name is Emma Rijk, third year student Spatial Design and minor student Digital Craft. On this Wiki page you can find my project from quarter 7 about Making Is Connecting on the bottom. The work on top is quarter 9 about Meme's, this project is currently being developed.

Black Lives Matter

Meaning and Impact

The meme 'Black Lives Matter' is founded by Alicia Garza in 2013. This happened after Garza wrote a comment under an article that involved police brutality against black people. Garza was soon backed up by her future co-founders Patrisse Cullors and Opal Tometi who helped creating the hashtag and gain popularity.

The goal of the hashtag and meme 'Black Lives Matter' is to raise awareness of police brutality against black people. It has come to attention that an alarming high amount of police officers have not been sentenced or received a mild punishment for their brutality during work hours.

The movement started in USA when a police man called George Zimmerman shot Trayvon Martin. Martin actually did not have a gun or any other dangerous tool with him. Because of that fact, Martin did not cause direct great danger and so, the shot fired by Zimmerman, the police was unnesecary.

This year the aruban man Mitch Henriquez was put in a 'neck grab' and sat on by 5 police men. Henriques passed away in The Netherlands, The Hague for no clear reason. The death of Henriquez brought the 'Black Lives Matter' movement to the Netherlands. This resulted in riots and protests on the streets in The Netherlands and mostly the area of Schilderswijk, The Hague.

Spreading the word

When searching in google for 'Black Lives Matter' it instantly becomes clear that most of the people spread the word through the computer. Sometimes the message stays true to the original message and sometimes it differs to racism and lines such as: 'White Lives Matter' and 'All Lives Matter'.

The part that caught my interest is the way people bring the message out in different ways then digital. The following images show some examples that proof there are other ways to get the message out:

Inspiration

Research 1 - Billboard next to the road
Research 2 - Every age protesting
Research 3 - Neon lights
Research 4 - Set in a personal context
Research 5 - Visual communication
Research 6 - Written down in portrait
Research 7 - Text and visual double message
Research 8 - On the street in a protesting march

Exhibition Black Lives Matter

Floor Steinz and I make the group supporting the 'Black Lives Matter' meme. Together with a few other students we have created the group 'Abuse of power'. The 3 duo's creating this group have all communicated on the 3rd of september about the theme and approach. Rens van Pinxteren came with the recent news about refugees. Right now the news is mainly focused on all the refugees that flee overseas and eventually drown, or get send back. Our group wants to focus on this topic from the point of view from the politics (from the meme Women In Binders), a group covering the violence and lack of respect from authorities (the group with meme; pepper spray police), my own group will be covering the racism and inequality of value of these lives.

Floor and I brainstormed about the subject racism and inequality. We came up with the idea to take the symbol of a scale to communicate the distortion in value of lives. We have made a few sketches to find new ways to make a scale. We decided to make the scale partially 2d so Floor can use her Illustration background. The other part of the scale will be spatial so I can use my background.

To bring our meme of 'Black Lives Matter' in our piece we decided to print two hearts, one white and one black. Both hearts will be poured in a epoxy weight so they float. The black heart will be in a small weight representing the value of the heart in the context. The white heart will have a bigger weight and communicate 'more weight, more worth'. This is obviously not how we think of black and white people, but we hope this will bring consciousness to the viewers of how absurd the situation is.

The standard of the scale will be a sticker designed by Floor. The stand of the scale is not the most important part of the installation but will support the message so we decided to make that part 2d. The hearts in weights will be spatially put up in a position were the scale will point the heavier heart lower and the lighter heart higher. This part will come forward so the attention will be on the hearts.

Inspiration

First trial on 3d printer - unfortunatly the 'UP 3d printer' needed a proffesional cleaner for the nozzle. So the first prints failed.
The result for now - The hearts have been sand down and stripped from the support material. The next step will be painting them with lack.
=Quarter 7 Making Is Connecting=
==About my work==
===Statement===
Roll different ceramic sorts into a thin piece I decided I wanted to make my own machine.In the beginning I
Bought a spaghetti machine to find out what the best material would be to put in between two rollers.
After finding the right substance I wanted to create my own rolls that shape the material. In the end
I want to try to create a collection of dishes using the thin pieces of ceramics. The dishes will have the
The content of my work is based on a combination of a few techniques, first of all I want to create a
Part of a tool that can be replaced with different parts. I’ve learned more about materials and the
Experimenting with them: I did this in my process of finding the right substance for my spaghetti
Machine. Additionally, I found a project that doesn’t really fit in the story of Ruskin or the idea of
Industrialism. My tool is literally a combination of mastering the right combination of material and the
Right combination of rolls,which needs experience.However,it’s also a machine and the actual movement
That gives the material shape is a repetive and not difficult as it is basically circling a wheel forward to
Make the rolls move the material in between. Thus, the question I would ask is whether my machine really is a machine that
Makes the user feel detached from the object repeating a constant, braindead movement or is the crafter
Enough involved in the ‘preparation’ of the actual process that it makes him feel more attached and
Fulfilled when he makes the object.
Source:http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pasta
In the end it boils down to these categories:
*Making a tool
*Experimenting with materials
*A position in a larger debate
==Why I Make==
I make to find a new purpose and understanding of a historical machine.
I want to push the boundaries between crafts and industrialism, ‘When is a machine bad for the well-being of an employee and what is crafts exactly?’
I want people to doubt what they think they know. I want people to reconsider what they have.
=Summary Making Is Connecting=
==Chapter 1==
Making = feeling and thinking
Feeling and thinking = part of making
Crafting can be fullfilling, nessecary, and can make a person aware of its process. This makes it possible to put ideas and knowledge in the process while the crafter also learns something in the meantime.
So, because of the crafting you become a part of your work and so, it can grow and develop as long as you are a part of it’s creation.
Ruskin was a social thinker and his ideas of a better society were that the industralism would have to go and we should have more respect for the people and the environment.
For Ruskin, financial wealth which does not contribute to
The stock of human happiness is no wealth at all.
John Ruskin - A human being can be forced to work
As a ‘tool’, following the precise instructions of their masters,
Making things correctly, but they are dehumanized and their
Spirit is gagged. Or they can be allowed to ‘begin to imagine,
To think, to try to do anything worth doing’ – and this might
Lead to roughness, failure, and shame, but also unleashes ‘the
Whole majesty’ of the individual.
We are always in these days endeavouring to separate the
Two; we want one man to be always thinking, and another
To be always working, and we call one a gentleman, and the
Other an operative; whereas the workman ought often to
Be thinking, and the thinker often to be working, and both
Should be gentlemen, in the best sense.29
Conclusie Ruskin
His great contribution was to establish individual
Autonomous creativity as a core value which society must
Nurture, not crush, if it is to retain any moral authority, or
Quality of life.
THE MEANING OF MAKING II:
CRAFT TODAY
Les Theorie practice
Ideas Ruskin
Ideas Morris
Whilst ‘fine art’ is more
Dependent on hierarchies and elites, upon which it relies
To validate the work, craft is more about creativity and the
Process of making at a vibrant, grassroots level: proud of its
Grounded, everyday nature, and not insecurely waiting for
An artworld critic, collector, or curator to one day say that it
Was all worthwhile.
Whilst ‘fine art’ is more
Dependent on hierarchies and elites, upon which it relies
To validate the work, craft is more about creativity and the
Process of making
==Chapter 2==
DIY can be spread in 3 different kinds: The decorative, the vernacular and the politics of work.
Decorative: craft that doesnt meet up to the standards of ‘fine art’
The vernacular: craft that speaks the language of the craftsman, were it comes from, wat it knows and wat it can use.
The politics of work: craft with a message
Central to the diy culture was that all was of equal status, to connect with nature, people and themselves
Ivan Illich believes that children should learn from experience and not from a forced schooling system that only learns abstract ways and not everyday important things like building, growing food etc.
Stewart Brand: wanted people to see a picture of the whole earth so that people would be more concious of their place in a unlimited source of the earth
PUNK DIY
A similar but different version of the DIY ethos is the ‘lofi
’ music and zine culture, infl uenced in part by the punk
Scene. This DIY culture is characterized by a rejection of the
Glossy, highly produced, celebrity-oriented mainstream of
Popular culture.
Amy Spencer
Believes in a different magazine called zine to be a gift, its a about feminism, something she was very involved with.
DIY culture and web 2.0
The internet has been a great source for the DIY culture. It helped the group of people with the same believes to find a platform to learn, create and share together.
The main reason why people in this time decide to do DIY is because of the sustainability, this is the first century were we recognise the damage we created to the earth and also the urge to stop it.
=Inspiration=
Insp1 - glazing, cups, individual pieces
Insp2 - layers, tones, delicate
Insp3 - colouring, matt, foulding, attached pieces
Insp4 - natural, layers, volume
Insp5 - flow, organic, material
Insp6 - flowers, natural, think/thick differences
Insp7 - cups, folds, natural, one piece

Spaghetti

Spaghetti machine 1 - tests with self drying clay
Spaghetti machine 2 - tests with machine, clay and tissue paper
Spaghetti machine 3 - the result of the clay and tissue paper. A special texture that reminded me of animal skin
Spaghetti machine 4 - using flower to keep clay from getting stuck in machine
Spaghetti machine 5- river clay run through the spaghetti machine with different materials: baking paper, aluminum foil, old sheet and paper.
Spaghetti machine 6 - first succesfull long, thin piece
Spaghetti machine 7 - paper made print in clay
Spaghetti machine 8 - amount of clay used for one piece in machine
Spaghetti machine 9 - from cube to long piece for better use in the machine
Spaghetti machine 10 - mozzarella
Spaghetti machine 11 - mozzarella and paper (no succes, will not let go of each other)
Spaghetti machine 12 - result of mozzarella and paper
Spaghetti machine 13 - bread through spaghetti machine
Spaghetti machine 14 - to keep from getting stuck in machine, wrapped between two pieces of tissue paper
Spaghetti machine 15 - nice result, firm, dry piece of bread
Spaghetti machine 16 - result was good, but was hard to get off tissue paper
Spaghetti machine 17 - disassembled spaghetti machine for more information about building my own tool
Spaghetti machine 18 - close up of technique inside spaghetti machine
Spaghetti machine 19 - view from above

Oven

Backing powder and clay experiment
Yeast grains and clay experiment
Selfrising flower and clay experiment
Flower and clay experiment
Mixing the ingredients with the clay
The amount of added ingredients to the clay per test
The clay tests with flower
The clay tests with selfrising flower
The clay tests with yeast grains
The clay tests with baking powder
Clay and selfrising flower first time oven 950 degrees (left least flower, right most flower)
Clay and yeast first time oven 950 degrees (left least yeast, right most yeast)
Clay and flower first time oven 950 degrees (left least flower, right most flower)
Textile texture in clay
The experiments in the oven
Clay with baking powder