Pursuing
an interest from First Impressions of Sex, the project below. My
concluding project for my 4th year concentrated on a similar
objectification of touch. This time concentrating on the emotional
requirements of an individual user, and making these objects into
meaningful artefacts to that one person.
I
presented this project through one real person, Jess, and looked at how
she thought touch and emotion were linked. This was through absence of
long distance friendships and a long distance relationship with her
boyfriend. The importance of touch was really explicit to her as
everyday natural touches, as well as touch of support, comfort and
appreciation for example had been extracted from her life. Through this I
hoped to give her objects that she could form her own relationships
with, like friends or boyfriends, at first getting to know the objects,
then understanding them, then finally trusting and sharing with them.
The
series consists of 8 ambiguous, neutrally coloured objects void of any
specific visual associations, each with a very specific set of
characteristics which the owner will assign to specific emotion needs,
outlets or inputs. There are 8 objects to coincide with the 8 emotionals
humans can have of joy, fear, sadness, anger, surprise, disgust,
anticipation and trust.
Jess
held strong accociations with certain materials, forms, textures etc
during close research with her, and I kept this in the back of my mind
when developing the objects with her.
The
final 8 pieces in the series are designed exclusively to fit into the
context of a narrative that is a true story for Jess, often something
she will experience everyday. This could be from dressing up to feel
glamorous for a "date" over Skype with her boyfriend, missing holding
his hand in the street or feeling guilty about not phoning her friends
when she has to much work to do. In this way she then uses the object to
facilitate a particular emotion through touching her objects. In some
cases she felt they replicated a certain touch, some were a good outlet
for say anger, and some changed her emotion such as cheering her up.
emotion - surprise (sudden good feeling)
scenario - getting glamorous for a 'date'
object - satin pillow with wool stuffing, silk tassle
experience - sensual and fulfilling, keeps the feeling of glamour up. keeps esteem
emotion - trust
scenario - missing holding hands
object - silicone sphere with small bumps
experience - satisfied and comforted, feels in sync
emotion - fear (anxiety/stress)
sceanrio - missing a call due to work
object - leather coated sponge with small bumps
No comments:
Post a Comment