Blind Reading: Early ideas

 

Early ideas

  • Reconciling art and research:
    Sometimes Artistic Resesarch has a strong affinity with social science research, and more particularly with ethnographic research or action research—whereby in both cases the subjects and objects of the study are intertwined and the researchers are both a participant and an observer.
    —Art and Research: Can artists be researchers? Edited by Janet Ritterman, Gerald Bast, Jürgen Mittelstraß. p. 73
  • Angela’s quad chart of a haptic idea:
    • Quad drawing for haptic tech. Project: A user who is blind depends on the developer to have included an image alt tag and to have made it descriptive. (Sketch of a screen showing a representation of the MOMA websiteshowing a painting captioned “The Screen (of Nature). Edvard Munch.”) Idea: A tablet-type device that responds to the image through raised metal pins. The user can feel the raised metal pins to experience the image. (Sketch showing computer and monitor with a haptic device.) Gap: (diagram showing connections from website, to image, to device, to user, to and from website.) Tech: Each metal pin would represent a small cluster of pixels. This grouping of pixels would represent a height and a degree of shading. The image would be represented as a greyscale image. The form of the image is more important than the colours. Signed: Angela Punshon. End of quad drawing.
  • Jan’s sketch of a projection-based idea: The illustration shows a projector at the 12 o’clock position projecting onto the ground below. On the ground, there is a potted plant on your left at around the 8 o’clock position from the projector, and a person on your right at around the 5 o’clock position from the projector. The person is looking down towards your left. Between the potted plant and the person there are a few other small objects on the ground. The drawing is labelled, on the top-right hand corner of the page, “Projection on to the ground of the same place, at a different time of day.” On the top-left corner of the page, slightly below the top edge, is written “Perhaps people would write messages or attempt to communicate with themselves!” Between that and the potted plant is written “Their own, other’s and someone else’s.” End of illustration.
  • Jan’s sketch of a curtain-based idea: In the top half of the illustration it is written: “Sci-fi idea: a civilization of people so advanced in everything, with absolutely no idea as to how they go there. In essence, they have no science. They have only the culture of the everyday.” The bottom half contains a drawing which is an outline of a curtain, labelled “curtain of mirrors” on the right. The left half of the curtain shows an assemblage, roughly square in shape, of mirrors of various sizes and shapes. End of illustration.
  • Another of Jan’s sketches of a curtain-based idea: The illustration shows a cubic space, roughly in the shape of a tent, made from four walls which are curtains. (An arrow, labelled “curtain,” points to the right side of the cubic space.) An arrow, labelled “courtyard,” points to the inside of the curtained space. In the centre of the cubic space there is a very large question mark. Between the question mark and the arrow are three words: “room,” “space,” and “representation.” At the right edge of the page near the bottom is written: “What is in the courtyard? Privacy? interiority? estrangement? alienation? wonder? a gift? an encounter? punishment? jail? court?” At the bottom-left corner the word “curtain calls” is circled. End of illustration.
  • The to-do list: Imagine a diagonal running from the top-right corner to the bottom-left corner. To the left of this diagonal is an illustration. At the top-right corner is a small window, with a pair of drawn curtains. Below the window is what appears to be a curtain rolled into a cylindrical shape. Below that is a larger version of this, with a rod at the centre of the rolled curtain, the rod turning counterclockwise. At the centre of this larger version of the rolled curtain are the words “I’m not so sure anymore…” To the left of this largest version of the rolled curtain is a curtain rolled in a counterclockwise direction and hug from a pair of crossbars. Above this are the words “hiking off a blind.” The top left corner of the page, to the left of the imaginary diagonal, is the to-do list: 1. Project Goal. 2. Background or Problem to be Addressed. 3. Propose lit review. 4. Research plan or project plan.” The last item, “Research plan or project plan,” is connected to two words, “methods” and “timelines.” End of illustration.

The curtain thread

  • Jan’s sketches
    • In the top half of the page is a to-do list: “curtains,” “sketches,” “project objectives,” “examples.” Below that appear to be two big eyes. At the bottom right corner is a sketch of a window with drawn curtains. At the bottom left corner is written: “Etymology: bound at the top; death; cortena → courtyard; bring to an end; iron curtain → prevents movement of information or ideas.” End of illustration.
    • The top half of the page shows two drawings of a spherical device slightly smaller than a person, which covers the person wearing it from head to knee, showing only the sphere and the person’s legs. The device on the left has two sets of wheels on a crossbar, while the one on the right has no wheels. Below the spherical device on the right is a helmet similar to a motorbike helmet. An arrow, labelled “frosted,” points at the helmet’s visor. Below the helmet, at the bottom-right corner of the page, is a projector, projecting a beam of light to its left onto a triangular hat with a curtain-like trim. An arrow, labelled “capture,” points at the curtain at the right hand side of the hat. End of illustration.
    • The top of the page reads the word “Reversal,” which is connected to a list with two items: “black lightning on a white sky,” and “bodies onto shower curtain.” Below this is written “Curtain over people,” which is connected to a list with four items: “pictures,” “bodies,” “barriers,” and “constructions.” The bottom of the page is an illustration labelled “What’s a sound curtain?”. It shows a construction like a wavy tunnel with two wheels on its left side. A large arrow on its left points inside the tunnel space. End of illustration.
    • The illustration shows a cylindrical object at the centre of the page, roughly filling the height of the page but only about one third its width. Inside the cylinder we can discern the silouette of a person. An arrow, labelled “viewer,” points from the left towards the cylindrical object. Several other wavy arrows also point from the left towards the cylindrical object. Several labels with arrows pointing towards the cylindrical object are at the top-right-hand corner of the page. The labels from top to bottom, read: “material diffracts light,” “reverse perception,” and “can only be viewed from straight ahead.” End of illustration.
    • The next sketch contains sketches of 8 pairs of curtains. On the top is a pair large curtains casually hanging from a rod, with a slight opening between the two curtains. A few words are written to the left of the drawing, one of which is “show,” which is underlined. Below this is a slightly smaller drawing of a pair of rigid-looking curtains hanging from a rod. To the right are written “Reveal,” another word in brackets, “Changing,” and finally the word “access” which has been circled. At the bottom are six small stylized drawings of pairs of curtains. Between the words in the middle and the six small drawings at the bottom, the words “blind spot,” in capital letters, are written in blue.
    • The next sketch shows a shower curtain, which consists of 7 roughly equal stripes. The three stripes on your left are filled with a countless number of the phrase “see through” handwritten from bottom to top, left to right. The middle stripe has a texture of small dots. The remaining three stripes on your right are white.
    • The next sketch is a diagram entitled “What are inclusive transmedia spaces?”. On the left are the words “exploration,” “discovery,” “documentation,” “practice” which is underlined, “contexts,” “questions,” and “stories.” These are connected to the centre which is unlabelled. The unlabelled centre is in turn connected to the words “one-to-one,” “interaction,” and “interiority/exteriority.” And “one-to-one” is connected through an icon in the form of a book to the word “one-to-many.”
    • In the next sketch there is a wall, about as wide as one third of the page and as wide as half the page, with a few scribbles that look like hands. An arrow pointing to the top-left corner of the wall reads “Signs in silouette. This is not the sound of the wind.” and below the wall is written “or sounds like wind.” A fan at the bottom right corner of the drawing blows wind towards the centre of the page into the wall.
  • Ambrose’s record of Luminato 2009
    • The first photograph has the proportions of a 6-inch-by-4-inch print. A divider that looks like an untreated piece of canvas divides the photograph from left to right roughly into equal halves. The space on your left has a yellowish tone, as if being lighted by an incandescent lamp or spotlight from the ceiling. The light casts a single shadow of a wooden chair roughly at the centre of the left half. Beside the chair, close to you, are two picture frames and a small rectangular wooden box. The space on your right has a whitish tone, as if being lighted by natural sunlight. Both the floor and wall are white. A small wooden table stands roughly at the centre of the sunlit room. The flap of a small yellowing envelope can be discerned lying on top of the table. A person, partially cut off from the frame, seems to be walking towards the table.
    • The second photograph also has the proportions of a 6-inch-by-4-inch print. The photo shows the sunlit room. The wooden table, now taking a little more than half of the height of the photo, is seen roughly at the centre of the photo at an angle. On the table we can see two small yellowish envelopes and their open flaps. Another envelope of the same kind lies on the floor, with its flap closed. Stacks of the same kind of envelopes can be discerned inside a small storage space under the table top. Behind the table we can see what the divider is, a curtain made from rows and rows of these yellow envelopes, neatly arranged as if in a grid. A spotlight seems to be shining on the two envelopes on the tabletop.
    • The third photograph also has the same proportions of a 6-inch-by-4-inch print. The photo shows the incandescent-light-lit room. The yellow curtain made of yellow envelopes and seen at a slight angle, occupies roughly one third of the composition on your left. It seems to have a translucent quality, allowing the sunlight from the other side to somewhat shine through it. The wooden chair is at roughly one third from your right, facing the curtain. Right next to the curtain, to your right and on the floor, is the small wooden box. And beside the wooden box, to your right and also on the floor, are the two picture frames facing the chair. The photo frame on your left is smaller and closer to you, while the photo frame on your right is farther from you but larger. Except for these objects the room is empty; there is no one in the room.
    • The fourth and last photograph also has the proportions of a 6-inch-by-4-inch print. The curtain made of yellowish envelpes takes up almost the whole composition, except for a small triangular area at the top-right corner. The steel rod from which the curtain is hung can be seen running from about a quarter from the top-right edge of the composition to about a fifth from the bottom-right edge of the composition. The flap of each envelop is closed but only loosely so, casting somewhat of a shadow behind them.
  • Ambrose’s discovery on the English thesaurus—“A curtain of cigarette smoke”
    • English Thesaurus. Synonyms for “curtain.” Your search found: curtain. curtain. noun. 1. hanging, drape (mainly US), portière. Her bedroom curtains were drawn. 2. screen. veil, shroud, pall. a curtain of cigarette smoke. See curtain something off. conceil, screen, hide, veil, drape, shut off. The bed was a massive four-poster, curtained off by ragged draperies.
  • Curtain-like veils found by Qi
    • The first photo shows an Asian peasant woman wearing off-white clothing and a hat. A veil hangs from the edge of the hat. The left side of the woman, which is to your right, can be seen peeking from an opening of the veil. The bottom right of the photo credits the photo to the web site m1905.com.
    • The second photo shows a head shot of a European woman wearing a very small white hat with a white net-like veil over the small hat. The veil has no opening, but her face can be clearly seen through the veil. The bottom-right corner credits the photo to the web site www.ijie.com.
    • The third and last photo shows a collage of two identically-sized pictures. Each of the smaller halves shows a woman singing in a concert, dressed in white peasant’s clothing with a hat with a veil hanging from the hat. The bottom-right corner credits the photo to the web site xiumei.com.
  • Magnetic curtain door

The translation thread

  • Larry’s record of a sign with an early form of tactile writing for the blind
    • The photo shows a piece of medium density fibreboard, in a portrait orientation, hanging on a steel fence that occupies the whole composition. Behind the fence is an empty room with bare concrete walls, ceiling, and floor. On the board we can discern some tactile writing, made of geometric shapes, that is neither English nor Braille.

Others’ installations

Prelude to the proposal

  • The illustration on the left half of the scan shows a schematic, dated October 23, 2012, of which the top-left corner reads “Braile linearization“ and “Encode a six-dot code in 3 dots.” On the top-right hand corner we see a sequence of three drawings, each of which shows a building with six windows, three windows on the top, and three partially obscured windows at the bottom. The first in the sequence shows the second and third windows shaded, and the second in the sequence shows the third window shaded. The arrow connecting from the first drawing to the second shows the letter “D” in braille and in English. The third in the sequence shows all three windows shaded. The third drawing also shows the interior of the room inside the building, where there is a computer on a table connected to an overhead projector which projects onto the three windows. The computer is also connected to the cloud. At the 8 o’clock position from the cloud, about one third from the bottom of the page we see another computer, also connected to the cloud. The screen is horizontally divided into three sections. The first section on the left shows a 3 by 3 grid of rectangles. The second section in the middle shows a braille pattern. The third section on the right shows the letter “d” in English. The computer is labelled “somewhere inside the main building.” The illustration on the right half of the scan shows another schematic. At the top there is a representation of the donor wall we find in the OCAD main building, labelled “real donor wall.” The donor wall is horizontally divided into three equal parts, and a computer screen, labelled “apparently non-functional,” is at the centre of the rightmost third. The label “apparently non-functional” is pointed to by an arrow, which is labelled “Is it possible to make it functional?” This is in turn pointed to by another arrow, which is labelled “Are we allowed to touch that?” The computer screen is connected to the cloud, which is to the 5 o’clock position from the computer screen. The cloud is in turn connected to a box, which is at the 5 o’clock position from the cloud and labelled “some box inside the library.” The box is in turn connected to a projector, at the 10 o’clock position from the box. Below the projector we see a flight of stairs on the left, and a wall with a 3-by-3 grid of tiles on the right. The projector is projecting on the tiles, and the tiles are labelled “fake donors wall projection?” Below this is written: “Possible uses for this wall: some sort of static installation, projection of some sort, computer controlled illumination, combination of above.” The phrase “computer controlled illumination” is in turn labelled “9 bits can encode a lot: braille, ASCII, even WGL4?” End of illustration.
  • An illustration is on the left half of the scan. On the top of the drawing there is a sketch of a building, labelled “205.” Four rows of windows, each having three windows, are drawn above a line representing the ground. The second row of windows are shaded. The third row of windows is labelled “video projection with some change in scale.” A set of three chairs, which faces away from you, is at the 5 o’clock position from the building. The three chairs are labelled “230.” End of illustration.