APD - Week 4

Theme

Play and Place

Context

When I was thinking about Place, the first thing that came to my mind was the miniature buildings and integrating it with the real world. I was inspired by the artist Steve Wheen where he creates miniature garden scenes and places them into his neighbourhood for passers-by to interact with it. I find the works quite inspiring as it helps in promoting the audiences' imagination.

When I was deciding on the sculptures, I decided to go with a building that is closest to my heart. It also resembles the structure near Chinatown in the city. According to artist.org, my project was considered as an outdoor site-specific artworks where the sculpture would integrate with the background sculptures, where I planned to make the sculpture that has a similar shape to the arch at Chinatown.

Method

Creating a miniature sculpture that the passer-bys could take photos of and share it on social media.

Response

I made a building with the clay I found at my place. I molded them based on a building that resembles my hometown the most. It took me quite a while to mold it into what the sculpture I was hoping for. When the sculpture was drying, some shrinkage happened to some of the places. 

I was hoping to put it in the streets near Chinatown, where the big arches are. However, considering it was in the middle of the pandemic, I decided to keep it in my house for now. I put a sticker of a generated qr-code where the user would be able to scan and a website about some info of the building, and also a short guide on sharing the photos they took for social media posting.

Reflection

This was a messy project at first, where the clay would not mold to what I was hoping for. However, the end result came out quite alright. I also implemented the learnings from the previous readings about maker culture (week 3), where I used technology as a side for the project which plays a part there. By allowing the users to take photos which acts as an interaction.

Looking back at the idea, I was re-planning the project in a smaller and more personal scope. The idea was to create a miniature room where some of the furniture is movable, and the audience would be able to customise it, creating more fun and play while doing so.