shawnli1129

[shawnli1129]

Synthesizing Forms.

Climate change, rainforest disappears, and wildfires are the environmental issues that our human beings face today. As the booming development of technology grows, more and more primitive resources are exploited and utilized on the Earth. The primordial looking of our home is eroding. This installation is inspired by one of the previous group prompts, “Coffin” that was titled ‘How to Mourn Mother Earth’, it was to create a small coffin-shaped box and fill it with dead objects from outside. The intention was to bring attention to environmental issues, and the coffin with dead leaves (symbolic of the dying Earth) is the outcome and made a printable, accessible form of environmental activism. And my installation is titled ‘Eroding’, the intention is to create an immersive meditation process for audiences to start up a conversation. In order to have a sense of crisis and to erode, I synthesized modern technology (laptop, Bluetooth speaker), primitive resources (leaves, dirt, a potted plant), and some residue of manufactured products (plastic, waste paper, fragments of glass) in our daily basis. So I built up a covering box to cover the laptop and dig a hole into displaying the potted plant. Forming this contract and setup conveyed the lack of assets because of the differences in size and vital signs. But the implication was never fulfilled by that, so I decided to collect more dead leaves, dirt, some abandoned plastic and glass pieces, and even a paper bill to decorate this sculpture. And each element has its particular meaning towards the issue, waste paper, as the constant stream of human garbage; plastic, like the garbage that cannot be effectively and harmlessly disposed of; the residue of glass, as the garbage that most people don’t know how to deal with; potted plant, as the vitality of existing resources on the Earth; dead leaves, as the outcome reflects the declining vitality of the Earth; glitch in the video and sound, as the resources that have been eroded by the power of modern technology; paper currency, as the profit gain from some factory and real estate entrepreneurs. In the technical part, glitches and disturbing signals played essential roles in accomplishing this theme because there is a cross-generational connection between the Earth and humans; with the improvement of human life quality, the change of the Earth gradually emerged in the public's sight. And this installation by means of a meditate process to enhance the awareness of protecting our home.

[shawnli1129]

Group 5#

For this prompt we wanted to take “taking something apart” and interpret it in a higher concept than just physically disassembling an object. We started having a conversation about the dissection of social scenarios, and how oftentimes one’s interpretation of a scenario can largely depend on a patchwork of disconnected parts of that scenario, which are often taken out of context and influenced by personal biases. People (even those of us in the group) have a tendency to form conclusions without a complete knowledge of what we’re forming conclusions about. We talked about how this idea is further materializing in the innovations being made in technology, such as artificial intelligence that can quite accurately replicate the way somebody speaks and deep fake videos that can make it seem like a person is saying something they never actually said. So as we march into the future, it gets more and more difficult to attain a complete and accurate knowledge of everyday scenarios. We tried incorporating these ideas by writing a script that could be rearranged into several different scenes that differentiate wildly, but realized that doing something like this is extremely difficult, so our final realization of this idea is much truncated and simplified, to a scene that could be changed drastically by taking out a few select words, and accurately reassembled by putting those words back in.

[shawnli1129]

Group 4#

In this video, our group is following Cameron’s social distanced demo to learn how to use guitar to play G chord. Since in our group Tammer and Jack already know how to play, they can give Amy and Shawn more help and hit. And we find that the guitar is not an entry-level instrument for rudimentary players. The socially distant demos are an isolated project, but because we came together as a group and worked in the same space ( essentially breaking the social distance aspect) we were able to both teach and learn.

[shawnli1129]

Group 3#

Sounds are everywhere in life, but when we think about the sounds that drive people crazy, and can't wait to shut them, the first thing that comes is the sound in staircase played by someone else. And in this prompt, We put the sound source in a hidden and dark corner in North’s staircase, mimicking the repulsive and unreachable and unturned music we people heard every time when we walked by. Interpret this audio in a deductive way. And compared with the sound effect of mobile phones, we people think using the speaker can better reflect the impact of music.

[shawnli1129]

Group 2#

This piece is an interactive youtube video, that allows you to play a short collection of chords on the guitar by using your 0-9 keys on the keyboard. There is an A chord, D#maj7 chord, Em chord, B minor chord,  A minor chord, E major chord, D chord, Fmaj7 chord, and a collection of ringing notes, for more variety. There are many videos like this on youtube, which use the keys and time stamps to make playable pianos. Inspired by those, and the AI technical death metal we watched in class, we went about creating our own playable guitar, using each of us, and youtube timestamps.

[shawnli1129]

Group 1#

The four of us decided to walk on a hill elevated above the city of Providence where there was less traffic. Instead of walking on the sidewalk, the four of us stood in a straight horizontal line side by side, and began to walk down the hill. Throughout the short walk, each of us focused on capturing a different object in our cameras, implying how everyone has different points of views. Walking down the hill, the camera on the upper left hand corner focused on a vehicle parked by the sidewalk; the camera on the upper right hand corner concentrated on a tree; the camera of the bottom left hand corner captured the tree leaves; and the camera on the bottom right corner principally concentrated on the flowers and plants in the neighborhood. We stopped at the bottom of the hill to admire the quiet landscape on a saturday afternoon. Furthermore, we decided to do the same thing as we walked back up the hill, to capture objects or phenomenons that attracted each of our individual attention. In the process of walking back up the hill, the four cameras zoomed in and focused on different objects; such as the same vehicle, the cone, the church, and the staircase.

[shawnli1129]

Solo 10#

Perhaps unlike my elders, my friends are obsessing with the field of art and design. They had the same goal as me when we were in the application season. Although some of them may be successful in being admitted to their dream school, as we all know that application is tough and unpredictable. As my friends and I all know RISD is a well-known school with a beautiful artistic atmosphere. And in this Prompt, I interviewed a freshman who is currently studying at Parsons College in New York state. She once hoped to be admitted to RISD like me, but for her personal reasons, she chose to stay in New York.

[shawnli1129]

Solo 9#

Coronavirus is a hot topic every time when we mention the year 2020. Because almost all of our basic living conditions have been severely affected, and because of this situation, we need to do a better job of coping measures and protection. Therefore, in this Prompt, the Prompt List created by myself, if implemented, can better help the spread and infection of viruses. Such propaganda also satirizes those crazy people who don't care about the feelings and safety of others in the face of the COVID.

[shawnli1129]

Solo 8#

In my opinion, acting can be found from any Angle in our life.Acting is also a method of expression. When observing many small actions in life, it contains a lot of rich meanings, even more than words, which makes it more powerful and practical. In this Prompt, I have observed a very subtle movement when a friend wants to borrow something from your pocket. When you take out the inside of your pocket, this way of expression and acting is more direct and straightforward than when you speak.

[shawnli1129]

Solo 7#

What action is an almost innate human skill, but one that humans use every day, that is boring, and can do without a complete deterioration of human function, walking. Such mundane actions do not make people feel intrigued. In this Prompt, I took a picture of pedestrians walking and outlined it, even though most of the time people wouldn't think much about walking, but such a symbol represents the bedrock of our civilization.

[shawnli1129]

Solo 6#

Art is different for many people, and each individual has a unique interpretation of it. Therefore, commercial for art is even more diversified. It is because there are so many differences and there are so many styles and methods. My commercial reflected my own interpretation of art. A stands for Active, because art needs Active thinking; R stands for Reproductive, because art requires continuous attempt and innovation; T stands for Thinking, because Thinking is a necessary condition for all things.

[shawnli1129]

Solo 5#

What is reality, what is observed from our point of view that we subconsciously perceive as reality. If we shift our perspective to something a hundred times smaller than our own body, is their perspective also realistic? So in this Prompt, I simulate the visual effects of  how other microscopic creatures look at humans. And I put the camera on the ground horizontally and gradually step on it. This means that as our visual effects get smaller, then what humans call "reality" gets bigger, augmented reality.

[shawnli1129]

Solo 4#

In a highly informationalized age, everyone spends a few hours or more every day with electronic products, but sometimes they become so obsessed that they even forget the specific role they play in our lives. This prompt did not take me to think for a long time, but when I simply played with my laptop, I found that I am in an inseparable relationship with Non Human lives every day. Therefore, the way I represent it is that it makes the audience feel a little silly but surprised, I found that when speaking of non human lives, our life has been “occupied” by them step by step.

[shawnli1129]

Solo 3#

For an art and design student, adequate exercise time may seem meager compared with other students. Therefore, in this prompt, Considering that I have been quarantined at home in New York for 6 months before the beginning of school, I think I should also start to exercise effectively. So I simply focused my rehab on my abdomen so that I could improve my core strength. Of course the process of fitness is a long term project, like performance.

[shawnli1129]

Solo 2#

When staying at home on holidays and requiring home quarantine due to the epidemic, for a nicotine addict, vaping and smoking become the majority of recreational time in order to relieve anxiety, boredom and annoyance. But of course, as a student, such a way is definitely not healthy. So in this prompt, I took a picture of me vaping, but the smoke pattern is very skull-like.

[shawnli1129]

Solo 1#

In this prompt, the road is a long journey, but I have to say that the mood is different when I go up the hill and when I go down the hill. A brisk walk down a hill expresses preparation and the beginning of a new day, just as you go to a studio class with sufficient preparation. A slightly heavy and slow pace up the hill represents a tiring and tiring day. I also focus the camera on my feet to better express the change of the pace and direction.

[shawnli1129]

Group 10#

The four of us took a short walk to an empty cafè down the hill. We all filmed our feet in individual camera frames, showing how we were all walking at different paces, implying how we all have different habits and personalities. Although the scenes were taken separately, our ability to cooperate amongst each other is displayed when we combined the four different video frames as one. As an example, all of our camera angles shifted and turned at the same time in the middle of the walk. 

Moreover, we decided to capture phenomena that we normally would not pay specific attention to. For instance, we do not tend to stare at their feet when we are walking or transporting. We would usually look directly ahead of us so that we would not run and crash into any obstacles that we were not expecting. In addition, we thought that simply writing the word “mark” on a sticky note was not enough. Therefore, we constructed our own unique “watermarks” with our footprints.