Friday, July 27, 2012

Another interesting talk with SER.

By: Professor Shaw Hong SER

Topic of discussion: "Survey of Southeast Asian Arts and Culture"
Post no. 7

Have been lagging this post for a couple of weeks already due to the heavy assignments. So, the information that I remember might be filtered down and not going be so fresh anymore. Well, it's a good thing there's notes.

Anywho, I was taken by surprise when the talk I attended was conducted by the same speaker prior to the previous talk I went which cost me 5 bucks at TGV a week earlier. I wouldn't complain though, the information he plated up for us were different and new.

The main focus he was trying to point out in the talk was that throughout many years, the culture of southeast Asia has its own influences from different countries and developed their own 'outlook' from it.

He gave some architectural examples from Cambodia, Thailand and Indonesia. What I found interesting is that all these three countries used the concept that derived itself from Hinduism, for their buildings. The Hindu God lives in a sacred mountain, not heaven. That mountain is called the 'Kalasha', or Mountain Meru.
And on those buildings' walls', there were bas-relieves (gives a 3D effect) that tells stories about their kind and era. The picture below depicts their 'Aspara', a.k.a their Celestial Being; Angel. The three pointy things on her head represent the Mountain Meru. SER told us that all the ladies in that era walked around without bras and it was a norm then. Oh wow, couldn't have imagined if everyone was like that today.



The humans at that time were illiterate, therefore pictures are much more legible for them. However, this form of culture is interpreted into the Thai culture. They still do have that pointy thing as the hat but it would represent fire. It also works like how the Halo works for Jesus Christ and all the other saints in Christianity.
 

He told us 'Nang Yai' was their form of wayang kulit. The costumes were pretty creepy if you asked me. However, it still has a very rich culture to it which makes it interesting to watch. Then, he started to talk about Indonesia.

He talked about Borobudur, which looked like an ancient ruin-Buddhist-temple. Well, it kinda is. There are about 500 life sized Buddha statues there. And that's where he started on the ancient folklore which I found seriously interesting. He asked us why was Buddha's hair so curly. He then explained that they were actually snails that glided up Buddha's meditating head, to protect it from the scorching sun the devil has conjured. Hence, the picture below. I really see the resemblance of the snail's shell to the carving on the statue itself.



He also said that the same devil that cause the massive heat wave caused a flood. A dragon felt pity for Buddha and split it's head up into 7 heads to protect Buddha like an umbrella for the flood. Interesting? This are all folklore anyway.

One other interesting thing he mention about colour in Thailand was that the colour RED was to function as an invisibility cloak. Whatever that is painted red, should be imagined that it is not there. For example, the rowers in a Thai boat race would be wearing red uniforms to give the illusion that the Phoenix boat was gliding along the river by itself. Very interesting.

I do believe what he says due to the fact that he stayed and studied in Thailand for such a long time. Plus, he's a Professor. Seems legit enough.

Well, that's all I could remember! Till next time.

-Charissa Ong

Thursday, July 12, 2012

The Culture In Design Talk

Lecturer: SER ; Cultures and Histories

Topic of Discussion: "Culture in Design"
Post no. 6



I attended a cultural talk led by Mr. SER at the TGV Cinemas on the 10th of July with a couple of my classmates Shireen, Carmen, Melissa, Gerry and Daniel (My Lecturer for MC&H). We didn't know we had to pay beforehand! Thought we woke up early for nothing. They let us in anyway, after hearing that we were degree students. Ha-ha. 

Anyway, I found the talk pretty enlightening as he introduced different cultures and their symbols and how they influence product design. ALSO, the way he presents his talk in an eccentric and enjoyable manner really helped me in the processing the information. I could tell it was pretty dull at first; from his nerves maybe, he did mention it but it turned out excitable in the end. Most of the examples he showed us were greatly influenced by the Chinese Tai ji symbol, the Yin Yang. (As shown above) Will elaborate more about this later.

But first, he started off the talk on the definition on culture. 
It said, culture was a way of life for an entire society. As long as person B follows a particular action of  person A, and as it spreads across the whole society, it would be known as culture.

He gave examples on how an ancient man would use a bamboo shoot to drink from a waterfall. If his other village mates follow him, it would be known as a piece of culture for that village.

He then stated that there were 3 Cultural Levels which were the PHYSICAL , SOCIAL , and SPIRITUAL levels. 

The three levels are divided as such:

Physical - Material Culture
             - Outer Level (Appearance)
             - Colors, textures and patterns of a product.
             - Tangible

Social - Behavioral Culture
          - Mid Level (Function)
          - Function and Usability of a product.

Spiritual - Ideal Culture
             - Inner Level (Self-Image)
             - Special content, stories and emotions of a product.
             - Intangible

Those statements made a lot of sense to me as they were breakdowns on how good designs are made. There is a lot of thought. 

Another thing he mentioned was the 4 steps into creating a design product.

1. Investigation (Research)

2. Interaction (I'm not really sure what this meant, I think I was spacing at the time)

3. Development (Sketches)

4. Implementation (Designing the product)

This way, good designs would be legal and comprehensible by your target market. 
 Below are a few products which are influenced by the Yin Yang symbol above.

A couch,
And a thermos set.


I found it pretty clever on how the designers implemented the designs into the products. There's also one more tea cup design which is absolutely amazing. I couldn't find the picture for it on the net. *sobs*

Basically its a traditional clay cup with a separation down the middle with its shape like a curve. You're supposed to place the tea leaves on one side of the cup and pour hot water into it. The separation has the words Tai Ji carved in it (in Mandarin). 

Therefore, the brewed tea would flow to the other side of the separation trough the carved words. So, you're kinda like brewing your tea right in the tea cup instead of using the teapot.

Oh! He did encourage us to visit the Thailand Creative & Design Center if we ever visited Thailand. 
It's address would be the Th Sukhumvit btwn Soi 22 & 24 6th fl, Emporium.

Read more: http://www.lonelyplanet.com/thailand/bangkok/sights/arts-crafts/thailand-creative-design#ixzz21LDz2CGG


-Charissa Ong

Thursday, July 5, 2012

mr.doob.com


A little doodle I did during Kelvin's class. Looks like SIMBA tho. haha.


Semiotics? Symbols?


Lecturer: Daniel ; Media Cultures and Histories

Topic of Discussion: "SEMIOTICS"
Post no. 5

La reproduction interdite
'Not to be Reproduced' - Rene Magritte

Rene Magritte's style has always been a favorite of mine. His Surrealist paintings inspire me as they were kind of like old-style photo manipulation. It's wonderful how he could take something so mediocre and turn it into something so unreal, magical, as though has the power to nullify the laws of physics.

The two main components of this painting is a Book "The Narrative of Arthur Gorden Pynm" and a Man, who I have found out to be Magritte's friend by the name of Edward James. What's interesting is that the mans reflection is not being reflected correctly into the mirror, contrary to the book.

I will be discussing and analyzing this painting's denotation, connotation and myth as well as the 'iconic' and 'arbitrary'-ness to which is based under Semiotics.

Denotation: A man looking into a mirror which does not show his reflection correctly. However, a French novel is reflected correctly in the mirror.

Connotation:  A wealthy, intelligent looking man checking his reflection in the mirror.

Myth: Although a man may look at himself in the mirror, he may not know/recognize himself.


Iconic: The Man's reflection (an unusual but straight message could be obtained instantly) and his novel (to be used as a constant variable)


Arbitrary: The title itself, 'Not to be Reproduced' which meant, that the man's reflection is not to be produced again by the mirror. It's name itself is very subjective.