User:Martina/T6 Assessment

EVERYTHING IS STILL IN PROGRESS! please be patient <3

Special issues and their relevance to the graduation project

Special Issue #25

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  Playing with and modifying a rotary phone to perform a different function helped remove the intimidation I felt around exploring hardware. I discovered the value of tinkering, taking devices apart and understanding how they work. This curiosity has remained a central part of my practice and became a key aspect of my graduation project. Looking back, I think that without this early introduction to basic circuitry, I would not have developed the confidence that eventually led me to create my low-tech radio wave receivers.

Special Issue #26

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  Main reflection: imagining altered webpages as weaving patterns. Connecting the structure of the web with textile pattern making led me to explore how physical practices, such as quilting, could be translated into digital environments (through the webring).

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  Using my previous practice in traditional mediums (textiles), I explored ways to translate them into the digital. This was the first project where I allowed myself to reintroduce earlier making methods into XPUB. The project marked the beginning of an exploration that I later describe in my graduation research as "the bending of the material" - finding different materials to print on in order to enhance the translation or merging of material worlds.

Special Issue #27

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  The visit to the Telecom museum was extremely inspiring, especially looking at the massive cabling infrastructure they had set up in the basement. What also intrigued me was the chronology of the communication narrative and see it change in materiality (cabling methods, using paper, tin can methods, telcom services, telephones, mobile phones). Apart from my personal interest, seeing all of these devices and ways of telling the buildings history somehow inspired my own research (especially in the visual storytelling part of the thesis).

the development of your reading/writing practice across the 2 years

Include notes on:

• the process of writing the thesis, realising a new-found love for writing, feeling more comfortable talking introspectively about my work
• the first year was interesting, especially since i was introduced to a lot of new texts/things I was not at all familiar with
• I did try to keep a personal reader on my are.na! I really wish I had the time to develop the reader further, as I have quite large collections of texts and visual material that I have collected over the past two years. Maybe this could be a plan for the future, post graduation - maybe on my own personal website? I have to think about this!
• (Include the list of fiction books read this year! and the note taking part)

the development of your prototyping practice across the 2 years

Include notes on:

• The first year allowed me to explore many different techniques and mediums, those that stuck through were basic coding elements and sound making devices (mention the workshops about the sound board and the residency at BWDUA)

plans for final publication and grad show

(below are notes)

• I decided to print a prettier version of my thesis, one that includes more visual imagery alongside drawings I made for each chapter and subchapter. Each drawing foreshadows something that will be mentioned in that section. I really enjoyed getting back into drawing, not as a way of procrastinating (maybe partially), but because I felt that I treated these drawings as small diagrams. By drawing out these scenes or objects, I felt that I could understand them better.

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• The thesis is handbound using copper wire, keeping the main medium also present in the written component. Bending the limitations of book binding (haha).
• Viewing copies of the thesis will be also show together with the 'installation' at the grad show. I think that providing the guests with a bit of written context will help that understand the project further.

Project:

• I am currently constructing a shelf built entirely from recycled wood or free wooden furniture. One part of it is a shoe rack, one section was donated by Kamo, and the top part was an open shelf for my paintbrushes that I used ten years ago. The rest is all wood that was lying in the trashbunker at WDKA.
• The other components that are currently connecting small pieces of the shelf together is recycled copper wire, cables taken from the bin at interaction station, along with many other cables that I have collected (soon to come).
• The idea is for copper coils to be bound in different parts of the shelf, but have them all connected to the same circuitry (that will lead to the amp and headphones). Visitors will be able to listen to signals being picked up in the space, listening in to see if the copper being placed in a particular manner affects the signal at all (for example: would the signal be weaker or stronger if the copper is coiled onto the edge of the shelf?).
• I plan to install wheels, so people would be able to move it around and pick other signals during my interactive presentation on Saturday 4th.

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