Exercise to the 3rd Lecture
Form and Content
General guidance
Design the exercises in an abstract, non–objective way … that is concrete. That way we won’t have problems with “meanings” and we will see primarily the art.
Old analog media have an absolute advantage in implementation. Mostly drawing, collage… You take an image and upload the product to an online classroom.
However, make sure the footage is of good quality; straight papers, parallel edges without perspective distortion, and above all good lighting. Post processing is also possible on a computer.
However, all the themes are adapted to work with the computer.
I use equivalent terms of shape and form. They have the same meaning. I just want to make a clear distinction between the form you have to choose, create, or as required by the task, and the shapes that emerge at work, or the shapes that are already a property of everything that is visible
You submit all the pages of the exercise in a single common acrobat — pdf data file.
File name: name_surname_3.pdf
Image size (height) 1080 x (width) 1920 px.
My surroundings is only exceptionally judged by absolute criteria. One meter doesn’t tell me much. This is definitely too much for the height of the table, and quite low for the height of an adult. Saying I live in a red house usually tells me more because the buildings are generally not colorful. Still, I don’t know what that particular shade of red color is. So I learn a lot more from relationships when I compare objects with each other. Relationships such as larger – smaller, closer – farther, front – back, bottom – top … fairly quickly give me the image of space or surroundings.
As I tried to show the course of our work of the subject in lectures, we will revolve around seven parameters, variables, or functions that describe just that. Three, which are conceptual or constitutive, which establish space (magnitude, distance and angle), three that visualy realize space (coloration-illumination, (superficial) texture and optical density), and another one just for the confusion (meaning).
Shape and background problem
I find framing everywhere. I frame the picture as a work of art from the surroundings. I am so attentive to fine art work as is and often find it completely isolated from the surroundings. Shelves, pedestals and showcases represent “scaffolds” for displaying objects. The plate frames the tea cup and the layout defines the scenery elements on the table. Trimming, cropping, edges, frames, and breaks (cesures, cuts) are the basic sources of design.
The edges represent a protective buffer around the contents of the design. They also provide space for additional information. The wider edges expose the objects clearly. With the narrower edges I can give the impression that the content looks bigger.
Image that goes beyond the edge extends apparently over its borders and the background disappears. The subject looks bigger and more important. The subject can go beyond the background from one, two… sides – the intimacy and effect of the subject change.
The subject itself can be interpreted in its own way. By adding elements, I change its meaning. I can combine them in one hundred and one ways. Other elements may be subordinate or parent to the object; they may be larger or smaller, placed next to or across the object; they may be transparent or opaque; they may be clear or doubtful. The elements can respect or deny the boundaries of the object. I create conflicts in legibility with the elements I place over the object. With frames, bases, translucent colors, I separate the elements from the object..
Tasks
3-1
I imagine architecture when for some reason I have to “lay” something over it. Suppose that I have to mount the inscription Ljubljanska banka across the facade. Let’s say I want a climbing plant to outgrow the house. How do I do this so that the house is not “showy” (I mean the difference between a tidy man’s beard and a beard that someone leaves to grow so they don’t have to shave). I could have to put another facade over the house because of the heat protection or for some other similar reason (like Union Brewery). I think a lipstick on the face would also be a good comparison. With it, masks in theater or opera, or just anyone at home can achieve incredible facial changes.
The most literal example, however, would be how I elevate the Zois House (opposite our faculty) from the house of a former provincial town to a true palace. I propose to “paste” the elements of the classical composition over it: semi-columns, pilasters, cornices; I indicate the risalites (with them I get a multi-part facade) and the base.
There are three other interesting examples to inspire:
Austin Kleon: Newspaper Blackout Poems,
Tom Phillips: Humument and
Jonathan Safran Foer: Tree of Codes
Another example. What happens when a sound is added to a silent film. The impression is that the movie is no longer the same. The Argentine composer Mauricio Kagel was experimenting with this when he was writing the music for the otherwise silent film Nosferatu.
3-1a If possible, take a landscape oriented image or its cropping of 1080 x 1920 pixels. In principle, if possible, if it comes out … I use this one image for both cases of the first task and for all 9 cases of the second task.
3-1b I look for “provocative” elements to place over the image.
3-1c Overlay or replace part of the image with new elements. One should illuminate the other. The elements are not only parts of the image but are active and act as focal points. While working, I wonder: is the image flat or spatial? How does it look upside down? How do the lines, shapes and patterns of the picture lead me to place the elements? I produce two compositions. Preferably each on its own format. In principle, I start in both instances from the same basic »grand—image”.
3-2
Window and door openings may be frameless. Traditionally, however, every window, door, had a frame. The facade has a sewn edge at the corner and a cornice at the top. Cornices are also between the floors, and below is a rustic. To express myself as a graphic designer: this improves readability. The purpose of any design is to accelerate the transfer of information. But how do I find the entrance in a smooth glass facade.
3-2a In principle, if possible, if it comes out… I use this picture of the first assignment for all 2 cases of the second assignment. If necessary, I isolate the main, leading form.
3-2b I create nine compositions with an edge, a frame, a background, or a combination of everything around or behind of the former image or just an isolated part of it. I use the edge to highlight something with it, expose it. The edge can dominate the image and become the dominant form itself. I include other elements in my solutions. I can change backgrounds instead of edges and frames.
Preferably each on its own format. In principle, I start in both instances from the same basic »grand—image”.
Fig. 1: Vir neznan