EXPERIMENTATION LOG — Faces and Fake IDs

Aim

How might I create an object/product that the cyborg//witch uses?

How might I "code" (signal) the cyborg//witch as a monster?

How might I reinvent the body in the image of a cyborg/witch through an object/product?

What if the cyborg//witch occupies a deep future time?  The Anthropocene? The Chthulucene?

Precedents / context

I was looking at a few texts/works Zoe suggested, all of them super helpful :-)

I've been looking at the witch and cyborg as othered beings, but haven't explicitly explored them as monsters, when they are definitely coded as such. Bayo Akomalafe (2018) writes about how monsters are an important 'cultural technology' to define/redefine ourselves, and humanness/non-humanness. They are a strategy for radical and transversal human reckoning, which situates itself firmly in the Anthropocene. 

How could I play up the monstrosity of the cyborg//witch to open up some of these ideas? 

Rhonda Holberton (Design Futures Initiative, 2019) talks about her speculative design work, a line of cosmetics for cyborgs, 'Index Formulations' (2018). She speaks of a re-skinning (moisturising/skincare) that we ritualise, and designed a line of cosmetic products. Made with active ingredients, they are packaged with a strange assemblage of copy borrowing from marketing speak, radical political texts, science fiction and climate change science. This idea of 'cosmetics for cyborgs' is so rich, and for me, taps into ideas about femininity and identity that come up around the cyborg//witch. 

Plastique Fantastique (n.d.) is an art collective doing experimental work around myths, popular culture and politics. Their work has a shocking, playful but visceral quality to it, and there's some really interesting projects on their site. I was particularly taken by some of their text/performance based work, through which alternate realities and stories are called into being by wordplay. 

Could I use words in a similar way, to construct different ways of telling/talking/being?

I was also looking extensively at the work of Maren Karlson , an illustrator who creates strange, alternative fairytale worlds and characters. Her use of familiar/subverted visual forms and texture is really effective in creating an otherworldly atmosphere, and it's definitely an influence. (Stone, 2017)

Similar to my last experiment, I have Grace's death forms in the back of my mind and wanted to build on the ideas developed through that experiment. I was also talking to Carmen about some yokai (Japanese demon/spirit monsters) experiment/drawings she did, and that influenced my experimentation. 

Process / methods

• Cyborg//Witch as monster? Started thinking about masks, shadows
• Did some silly sketches, mostly playing with visual tropes around the witch — horns, "evil" look, hooked nose, warts, etc. Drawing, visualising a feminine monstrosity?

• This sketch in particular, is starting to get somewhere quite scary and interesting. 
• Thought about mirrors as not a cosmetic product, but object — is there an interesting provocation here for self-reflection/self-monstrosities? 
• I like how there's no clear start and stop to the face — is it the entire rectangle? is it just a floating assemblage of eyes, a nose and a mouth? Also makes me think of AR face filters, which is a rather entertaining output

• Decided to draw more faces to try and recreate this sense of unease. Taking inspiration from Maren Karlson's work, and Carmen's experiments. They're these weird little witchy demon beings/creatures. 
• The initial visual link to face filters and the isolation context now makes me think of these 4... creatures being on a zoom call with each other. What are they discussing? How do they know each other? Is it a professional or social setting? Some sort of collective / gang / congregation / council / coven ?
• In drawing these faces, I realised their was another exciting opportunity for cosmetic cyborg products (Holberton, 2018) — fake eyelashes. There are all sorts of different eyes here, and if one should desire some flirty fake lashes to really up the allure, there must be a whole range to accomodate these various arrangements of facial features. Could be a really fun speculative object. 

• Decided to revisit the fake IDs with these more interesting characters. 
• Scanned them in and started to make up names and (fake?) addresses, dates
• Was referring to my real license, and put in an "official" vaguely symbolic watermark. 

Reflection on action

• This experiment was really satisfying, in making something that is graphically "designed". I think my design skills got a good, quick brush-up and it was fun making sure the details were accurate — the rounded corners, the watermark. 

• I think they're compelling too, as official documents. There's a tension in a speculative future document — how much do you spell out, and how much do you leave for the imagination? I didn't know what to name this cyborg//witch world/state, and I think the blank is rather evocative anyway. The '-land' is a subtle reference to storytelling and fairytales; starting to construct the kind of twisted world these entities might live in. An interesting exploration of Lisa Gitelman's (2014) concept of 'blanks'. How might authorial and non-authorial blanks be used in a future, world-building context? To give a sense of a more complete, bureaucratic system, and also suggest a fluidity of truth, or time? Perhaps to allude to an element of suspicious activity and criminality in defiance of order and bureaucracy?

• It was challenging at first, but fun to approach the naming of these characters and their "addresses". Details like a neutral title of 'W.H.O.' over the gendered 'Mr/Ms' and the coupling of witchy and cyborg-esque language started to shape the kind of world I was trying to materialise. The addresses where challenging because I wanted to playfully allude to the nature of a fake ID. So the addresses don't really make sense, and you could imagine them leading a law enforcement officer on a wild goose chase. I think there's something really interesting about documents that hold such self-awareness, and playful but manipulative power. 

• Regarding the illustrations themselves, I found they were really helpful in starting materialise/visualise this witch//cyborg coupling, in a way that feels very natural to me and my practice. It was fun to generate alternate forms in a structure that is very familiar — the face. I was trying to assemble a combination of eyes, eyebrows, noses, mouths, teeth, face shape that was unexpected, sinister and twisting expectations of the feminine.
  
  Also got feedback from Zoe to think about the cultural specificity of monsters, and how more research/selective references could help refine these characters and what their narrative might be. Also playing up the tension between aesthetics — what is the line between cute and creepy? Or sexy and grotesque?

Reflection for action

I think this was a successful making experiment, in establishing a firmer standing, or perspective from which I can continue to explore this world. It mostly makes me think about all the possibilities yet to explore and determine, which is a bit scary but great for this stage in the project. Also makes me excited and definitely set on this direction of world-building. 

I think, having completed a more polished experiment now, perhaps I should go back to rougher prototyping and making to move quickly through concepts and potentials for this world. More work around the scope and boundaries of this world, or alternatively, similarly more specific elements. I really like Zoe's feedback of looking at cultural and illustration references to build more of a foundation for these characters/agents, and especially as a way to bring in references to Chinese/East Asian culture. 

Illustration is something I really enjoy, but can find stressful, so I think I'll revisit it after pivoting to a few different things and experiments. 

References

Akomolafe, B. (2018, November 5). When you meet the monster, anoint its feet. Emergence Magazine. https://emergencemagazine.org/story/when-you-meet-the-monster/

Design Futures Initiative (2019, July 6) PRIMER19—Rhonda Holberton: Cosmetics for Cyborgs [Video]. Vimeo. https://vimeo.com/346641460

INDEX Formulations. (n.d.) Who we are. https://www.indexformulations.com/about/

Plastique Fantastique (2008). 9th Plastique Fantastique Communique: Be no PIMP, Be no HOOKER, Be a PARAZITE! [Performance script]. Serpentine Gallery, London, UK. http://www.plastiquefantastique.org/docs/pimps-and-hookers.pdf

Plastique Fantastique. (n.d.). Plastic Fantastique make new life. http://www.plastiquefantastique.org/index.html

Stone, B. (2017, January 20). The witchy dreamscapes of illustrator Maren Karlson. It's Nice That. https://www.itsnicethat.com/articles/the-witchy-dreamscapes-of-illustrator-maren-karlson-200117

Karlson, M. [@maletears69]. (2020). [Illustration instagram page]. Instagram. https://www.instagram.com/maletearz69/

Gitelman, L. (2014). Paper Knowledge. Duke University Press.

Image: http://www.nbcnews.com/id/18533937/ns/us_news-crime_and_courts/t/shoplifters-ordered-wear-sign-i-am-thief/#.Xpw5nlMzaAw

EXPERIMENT LOG — Clock Briefs?

*Experiment conducted a week ago, 12/4/2020*

Aim

How does the Cyborg Witch "know" time?

How might I create an "object" that tells witch/cyborg time?

Clock Brief 4: How might we present an alternate historical timeline (either from a marginalised perspective, or a ‘what if’ version of history)?

How might I make a Wicked clock?

Precedents / context

Working off the alternate history prompt of Clock Brief #4, I want to start fleshing out this cyborg/witch world. Time seems like an interesting place to start. 

Thinking peripherally about the methods I outlined in my presentation/pitch document — the body as a potential space/platform to experiment around. 

Also was talking to Grace, and seeing her speculative experiments around designed 'blank' forms, as put forward in Paper Knowledge (Gitelman, 2014). Thought it was really cool, and I wanted to explore similar collaborative/participatory methods more, could I find ways to do this within the clock brief? 

Process / methods

• Started thinking about an alternative history centred around witches. What if witches were to get their revenge on the patriarchy? How would that play out. Interesting idea, but I wasn't really getting anywhere concrete with it. 

• Started thinking instead about how the Cyborg // Witch knows time. What is their form-expression/understanding of time? And subsequently, a "clock"? 
• Different ways of knowing (mostly sensory): tell / know / see / hear / feel / sense / converse / taste / touch. Could this be explored through an object — knowing through speech --> a mouthpiece? Some sort of head piece?
• Brainstorming different kinds of timepieces, or time objects: watch, clock, crystal ball, book, timekeeper, sunkeeper, planner, daylight savings..?
• Brainstorming time metaphors (different visual metaphors) — tree, river, diverging paths, threads (spinning, cutting, the Three Fates), Chronos, thief. 
• 'What if time was a choice?' — vending machine format — What if days were "administered" through a vending machine? 

• Refocused on Cyborgs and Witches — What is politically deviant? wicked? — time? body? How to express, represent/exploit queerness, labour/class, gender, race? 
• A clock that wastes time? I kept drawing these hourglasses because their shape was interesting. An exaggerated, deviant? take on the traditional hourglass. A room full of seconds? What does that look like? 
• Started to think about othered bodies and how they have to fight to exist, and survive. What if all time was stolen? A time heist. Wicked, anti-establishment time. Time is the "quest". 
• If it needs to be stolen, it was guarded. What is the protocol around this. Signifiers for stolen goods: security tags, clothing tags/labels, ways to hide items, store alarms, class signifiers and assumptions — "trashy"-expensive. I was mostly thinking about a shoplifting scenario — often associated with teenage girls, how to use/subvert this stereotype?
• Shifted from time to object-signifiers of the theft — quick sketch of a wanted poster, did a google search and found brilliant!!! 'I AM A THIEF' sandwich boards!!! They are real, and I assume the woman in the photo is a real Walmart thief — an alternative punishment to jail for shoplifting. 
• Started to think about fake I.D.s and hiding your identity as a way to "steal" time, or "buy more time"

• Decided fake IDs would be a fun object to materialise "stolen time" through.
• It also ended up being an interesting object to try exploring authorial 'blanks', which Gitelman (2014) outlines in contrast to non-authorial blanks such as forms, invoices, cheque books. An ID card is in essence a form that you have filled, made official through printing on a durable sheet of plastic, that you are required to show to authority figures as proof of identity. Because the idea of a cyborg // witch world is so vague at the moment, I decided to use the idea of blanks (in the place name and years) to keep it open and give a sense of mystery. 
• It was fun starting to think about names and place. I started making a list of cyborg-related and witch-related words, and stuck them together to create a 'coupling'; hybrid of both. E.g. 'Humanoid++ Na$ty'
• Looked at my own drivers licence for reference. I wanted the same "official" watermarked symbol in the middle, hence the quick venn diagram. For the photo, I obscured their face with a witches' hat, but you can see a knowing smile... it's fake, shhh. 

Reflection on action

• I really like the idea of fake IDs, and framing these Cyborg Witches as criminals so devious and wicked that they shoplift time! And get away with a whole life on stolen time, in part because of these high tech fake IDs. 
• I don't know if I'm doing the speculative design right, though. There are a lot of ideas here, and I think some could be explored further but I have a hard time pushing them past the 'what if' stage 
• It took a while to get the to fake IDs/stealing time, was a bit frustrating but I think this could be explored more. 

Reflection for action

I'm not sure what I want to do next. I could try and make a more polished version of the ID, but I'm not sure what I would get from the process if I'm just recreating the sketch. I did think about making other identification documents e.g. a passport, wanted posters, so could go with that. 

I'm frustrated that I feel stuck because I think speculative objects and design work really well with my research area, but I feel like I'm having a hard time actually doing it. I might need to go back to my research agenda, pull out more specific prompts and find more visual precedents. 

References

Gitelman, L. (2014). Paper Knowledge. Duke University Press.

Image: http://www.nbcnews.com/id/18533937/ns/us_news-crime_and_courts/t/shoplifters-ordered-wear-sign-i-am-thief/#.Xpw5nlMzaAw

EXPERIMENT LOG — Coding the Witch / the Cyborg

Aim

How might I visually represent the Witch and the Cyborg through code? 

How might I bring together the Witch and the Cyborg in code so that they occupy the same space? 

Precedents / context

After feedback from Task 1, I needed to start making and coding to engage in research through design. I talked about code poetry in my presentation, but that feels really daunting, and I think requires breaking down the process more. I thought I would start really simple, and get the cyborg and witch together at least on the same canvas. 

I was also thinking about circular forms and motion after having done a conceptual overview map for the presentation. I started attempting to make some diagrams with the code, but abandoned it after it got complicated/wasn't necessary. 

Conceptual overview map

Process / methods

• Rather than getting caught up in what a cyborg or witch "looks" like, i decided to start simple with type. 
• Sketched a relatively simple interaction with the letters of each word and a circular formation/motion

• Had to brush up on my trigonometry! And figure out how to place the letters around the circle. Started with circles around a circle. 

• Placed type on top of circles. Chose this typeface because it looks like a different script, "witchy", medieval, rune-like? 
• Built another set of circles for the witch letters
• I wanted the 'witch' and 'cyborg' to interact more, so I changed them to be concentric, and started playing with colour, scale, rotation, movement. 

• Tried removing the circles, just having the type rotate around in circles, changing sizes, moving in and out of each word. 
• I also switched to the green on grey because it has more contrast and feels very "code-y", and the green very "cyber-witchy"

• I was taking screenshots through the whole process, but realised they weren't capturing the interesting effects (overlay of type, new forms and patterns) that were created by the motion. Took some photos with my phone too, which gives you a better idea of what was happening. 

Reflection on action

• I think this was a great experiment! I wasn't sure what/if I could make something in code, but I think what started out as a really simple HMI ended up somewhere unexpected and exciting. 

• In terms of my coding abilities, I took Creative Code last year, so I am decently familiar with the concepts, language, workflow, but I've been doing a lot of revision and I was nervous about whether I'd be able to execute what I wanted. But coding is something I'm very interested in getting better at, and I think it serves my research area well. I think this is a good start. 

• It was frustrating at first — I started with an old piece of code I didn't understand, so I gave in and decided to backtrack to relearning trigonometry. And having executed my sketch idea, I don't know if there is a more efficient way to have written the code (I suspect there is). So definitely still a lot to learn and wrap my head around. 

• Every visual development of the code sketch was really exciting. I had a lot of fun changing the speed of motion, and different interactive elements. And though I had control over the commands, I was more often surprised than not. 

• The last set of photos/visuals I think are really captivating. The outlined letterforms on top of each other, and the disappearing trail that is picked up from the rapidly moving type create a sense of mystery? Something that is about to happen? I think the typeface, chosen rather casually, works really well too because of its tall x-height. 

• Is there something interesting here with the multi-screen, screen through a screen materiality? These phone pics/videos certainly have a more interesting sense of texture, materiality and movement.

Reflection for action

I'm interested in possibly shifting between the digital and tangible in my experiments, to let the material reveal its own ideas and create a dialogue between them. Perhaps I could take the exploration of type / generative words / commands (from a previous experiment) into a physical space? The rapid movement of letters and visual code that came out of this reminds me of... a password decoder? We've looked at examples of volvelles, and it echoes that same shape. How could I explore this outcome/the questions raised in a tangible material space?

I'm also eager to bring in some more collaborative methods to make the most out of the cohort and my peers. The generative / random / crowd sourced material could come from them through prompts? I should also look into the suggestions from Monday's critique around visual research and precedents. 

CRITIQUE SUMMARY — Experimentation Task 1

Notes from critique 6/4/2020

Zoe and Chris

• Start making first. 
• Start small! How do you visually represent this? Use language?
• How do you design a deviant experience?
• How do you recontextualise code (language) to be "witchy"?
• Start around code poetry, but think about how accessible it actually is
• Think about the tone you want to have... design towards that?
• Talk to Mike? collage/anarchy
• Design anchors/visual prompts: feminism + design, Guerilla Girls, collage
• More texts: look at Haraway's 'Staying with the Trouble' — online videos, with Anna Tsing, also a documentary

Madi and Aaron

• Again, start small! Especially if I'm scared
• Look into the Post Digital Publishing Archive

Action list 12/4/2020

• Start code experiment(s), write up logs
• Code Poetry (start poetry separately?) find a way to construct language first (maybe next experiment)
• Research suggested visual prompts, Post Digital Publishing Archive
• Watch/read more Haraway (with Tsing) — Staying with the trouble, vids, documentary
• Think about generative // collaborative experiments, talk to mike about collage/methods

*UPDATE* 18/4/2020

Written Feedback / action list based on Pitch Document 

• Read Donna Haraway's 'Staying with the Trouble'
• Watch Haraway documentary 'Storytelling for Earthly Survival'
• Do more thinking/visual research into explorations/speculations around The Body and wearables. Find relevant precedents
• Look at links/material from Zoe in slack !  
• PRIMER19 - Rhonda Holberton: Cosmetics for Cyborg https://vimeo.com/346641460 
• 'When You Meet the Monster, Anoint Its Feet' https://emergencemagazine.org/story/when-you-meet-the-monster/
• (Astrophysicist reads poetry?) https://www.brainpickings.org/?mc_cid=764aee99aa&mc_eid=8f363f1ec0
• (experimental art making) http://www.plastiquefantastique.org/
• Memories of a Deluzian: To Think is Always to Follow the Witches' Flight, by Simon O'Sullivan

CONTEXTUAL ANCHOR — The Cyborg Manifesto

Donna Haraway is an American feminist academic and author. She has written extensively on the meeting of science and the feminist agenda, and multi-speciesism in the context of our ecological crisis. 

A Cyborg Manifesto is one of her best-known works, first published in 1985. It is considered to be a seminal text in socialist-feminist theory, presenting arguments for the blurring of traditional binaries of human/animal and human/machine. Its context is that of a pre-internet time, where information technology was still being conceived and its potential theorised about. Science fiction was another field generating similar ideas around posthumanism and what these new technologies could eventuate. 

Haraway presents the 'image of the Cyborg' as a means to push our definitions around what is human and what is not (humans/machines, the two genders) further, or more specifically, together. Cyborgs, as a hybrid of these binaries, offer an alternative figure towards which we can understand and build a more inclusive and liberated social reality. 

'By the late twentieth century, our time, a mythic time, we are all chimeras, theorisied and fabricated hybrids of machine and organism — in short, cyborgs.' (Haraway, 2016/1985, pp. 7)

She also constructs her argument/language in an interesting way, bringing science and religion and myth together. This hybrid of worldviews brings us somewhere into the futurespace, but always with an undercurrent of the primordial. 

I keep coming back to this text because it captures the deviance and creative power that she writes about, that I want to find through my methods and design research. I think there's power and an interesting potential in the 'coupling' that she refers to the cyborg as a product of. What else could be coupled to achieve similar ends? Writing this post now, I have already conducted a number of experiments around this text and drawn parallels to the image of the Witch. I hope to carry Haraway's call-to-arms of cyborgs into our time, in the twenty-first century and beyond, and extend these ideas in provocative ways. 


Haraway, D., (2016). Manifestly Haraway, University of Minnesota Press. (Original work published 1985)