Author: Sophie Molina Orozco

Dear Diary,

Today is the last day of my first week in Berlin. I am doing a June Term called Creating. Honestly, I had no idea what the class would be about, I just wanted an art related class. This is not what I was expecting, and now that I think about it, it actually makes sense.

At first, when the professor said that we would focus more about the process rather than the final product, I was relieved, because it took so much pressure off me. But after the first Make assignment, I was confused. I wanted a “critique” of my final product, and I wanted to know what the others thought of it. Now I see that what I was expecting is some sort of validation. I wanted to know what could I do to make it better.

I rushed the second assignment, I didn’t like the result. We also had our two first artist visits of the class. It was … interesting. After the first one, I was really afraid all of them would be like that, I expected more from the session and I didn’t like the way the artist referred to some things. However, after the second one, I was at ease. I wouldn’t say it will be my favorite one, but I enjoyed the visit overall. We also had the opportunity of going to the place where the exhibition will have place. I am really nervous, I am not sure what I want to make and if it’s going to be good enough. Maybe I can incorporate something I like to the project, it still feels vague how this is going to work, I guess I will have to wait another week to have clearer ideas.

We also do meditation in class. This was incredibly bizarre to me. Maybe it is because I am not used to it, and I didn’t completed all the meditations. You see, I was late to two classes and arrived in the middle of the meditation. I was so embarrassed. Anyway, I am starting to like the meditation, or maybe not, maybe I just want to enjoy it so I force my self to think I like it. I am sure that meditation will help a lot to focus, because, as you already know my dear diary, I struggle a lot when it comes to paying attention.

Well, I think that’s all for this week. I am somehow excited for next week, I am not sure why, but I hope I can have fun. Maybe my next Making assignments will be more successful.

Sincerely, Sophie

Dear Diary,

It’s me again! Today is the end of the second week of classes. Can you believe that we are done with 2/3 of the course? It is terrifying. Not the course, but how fast it is going.

I am starting to like the readings we do. Specially the second book. They (both books) do some mentions about crafts. You know I love crafts, it comes naturally when you are part of the craft circle. You know how I hate when people look down on them. Who says it cannot be art? Crafts can involve the same amount of effort as the fine arts. You know how much time I put into my crochet.

Anyway, I might complain about this with you another day, today is about my week. I had more fun this week. We had a Make assignment in groups! I was really afraid it wouldn’t go well, or I would let down my team, but I am actually happy with the assignment. It was fun to imagine apple inspired clothes. Maybe I should actually make them one day.

Talking about Make assignments, I loved the open one. I had so much fun. As my diary, you should already be aware of my aversion to any type of audio production. I don’t need to remind you the reason behind it. But I decided to mix some audios nevertheless. I wanted to try the software the professor showed us in class. Best decision ever. Yes, I admit it, listening to my own voice was not something I am used to, but I ended up liking the sound of it.

Let me tell you a secret (I mean everything I am writing here is a secret, you are my diary after all, duh), I started my assignment late, but I could have ended way earlier. I just chose not to. The final audio was long enough, but I was having so much fun I wanted to continue and I didn’t want to sleep. It made me realize that what I like about crochet is the process, not the product. It makes me incredibly happy documenting what I love. It just makes me remember all the fun I had when I was crocheting. The final audio was okay, I guess, I know nothing about audio standards for good and bad. I don’t really care either way. It’s only as if… this class was about creating and not the creation itself, who would’ve thought?

I liked the artist’s visits this week better, even if I got lost. Did I learn something? I don’t know, I am still trying to figure out some of my thoughts. But something definitely happened. Maybe I did change after the talks, maybe it was more like a multiplication by 1 kind of situation, but the effort was there. I feel the same way about the readings. I am not sure how I can translate what I read into my daily life. I still don’t get it. I feel like I need to actually read the whole book (and reflect on it) to “get it”. I am still not sure what “it” is, I will tell you once I get it.

Meditation was also nice. I get stressed because I feel like I am not doing it correctly. I am trying, and I feel I am getting better at it. I want to continue to see where I can get. I will update you about it later.

I am afraid of the final exhibition. I am putting a lot of pressure on me. This could be something I am incredibly proud of or something I will feel disappointed later on. Hopefully, I will figure this out next week. I will tell you then what happened.

Sincerely, Sophie

Dear Diary,

You might be surprised by the fact that it is not the end of the week and I am here writing. Well, you are a diary, so deal with it.

I finally got the supplies for the final exhibition, I am excited to see how we will figure things out.

The artist visits this week were amazing. Let me tell you about it. I am amazed by the way these artists create. Their artwork is completely different of what I am used to. I like listening to them explain how they work and how they create. I also want to do it. I am not sure how, but we will figure it out once I am doing it. Am I inspired?

Anyway, I am genuinely enjoying this class. Please don’t tell the professor, it is kind of embarrassing to admit it. How could you tell him? You are just a diary. Forcing me to make things helped me to actually do something. I always postpone what I want to do, I am always out of ideas. These past weeks felt different. I don’t know how to explain it, I need to organize my thoughts. I am still waiting for the rest of the week. I will tell you once I am flying home. See you then!

Sincerely, Sophie

Mariana Carvalho

Soundscape: listening to the environment, ecology. (Human framing?)

Prepared piano, different objects that change the sound of the piano (customizable), ceramics, wood, gum, screws

Free improv : experiment

Color to sound, many layers recorded on top of each other

Eutony

Instrument creation out of other materials (fan)

Friccao interna, collaboration during the pandemic, Ines terra

making animal like sound for music (Kate Bush Get out of my house)

Sound propagation on different materials

A lot of sound, all at the same time (amazing experimentation, but bad for my sensory issues)

Estudo em nylon

A lot of biting, bone conduction

microphones that emulate human hearing (how does it work?)

Listening inside someone else’s head

Talking about relation, not nece3seraly music

How non musicians express themselves

Me alimento de voces, people singing inside of her mouth (emmm ok)

Anthropophagy

Fighting for the air

Creativity: series of works, a progression, accumulation of tools, experimental, developing, deep listening , body practices

(Her process feels really why method to me )

Art usually emerges in a way that leaves no space for others. Critisisim is part of this fear, which is something understadable, as the art word is demanding in what they expect from artists. Our need of community creates a fear of being “singled” out. For the artists,this translates to their art not being perceived as art, and instead it is defined as craft. Again, I personally have a lot of problems with the concept of craft, because it looks down on something that is valuable because of arbitrary standards. The need of approval gives a big amount of power to the audience.

Slow dance… ok(?

He clearly is a dancer and not a designer, its a no for yellow background, but we will allow it this time

I like the introductions, really humanising from his side

Articulate the practice to clear

Choreography

Artistic research (4 years)

Applied choreography

Collaborative performances: audience

Test audience

Self explanatory by design

Living in Berlin is lonely, Connexxion w strangers, inspired

Exotic animal- exotic ice poc

Western queerness Nan Dan //

Censorship, undressing room, interesting, no documentation

The audience are performers

Contexto: si hay

He sees choreographies everywhere

Art is political

2 oder 3 Tiger (One or several Tigers by Ho Tzu Nyen)

Is not spectacularity only

Demythification of the artist, artist is no genius

Privileges, no blaming

Break :))))

Ethnographic methods – psychology major, intersection of knowledge

Test shows

Ethics :)))

He miswrote the name of the autor Istaban (Esteban)

Be Weed – queer diasporic future ⇒ really nice idea

The space is design to support the performance

Audience is intelligent (opposite of oval)

Collaboration (not participation)

Preparation for all scenarios

A lot of self awareness

Am I the right person to do this project?

Words: Pumpkin / sculpture

First I wanted to do an actual sculpture, but I couldn’t find the right medium, so I decided to draw the sculptures.

You might wonder why I chose a shrimp, a cat and something that doesn’t have a clear shape (it is a knee). It might look like these objects have no direct relationship with pumpkin as a theme, and they don’t. But for me, these sculptures are describing something, actually, someone. I was really unsure of what to do, my first idea was to do something pumkin carving related, but I didn’t like the idea. I was exploring so many different ideas that I got overwhelmed. So I decided to start a completly new project with my first thought about pumpkin. You see, when the word pumpkin appeared on my screen, my first thought was my sister. This might not make sense at first glance, but I does for me. She loves pumpkin spice latte, and she lets EVERYONE know this about her, and I have been talking to her lately. I decided to draw the sculptures of things that remind me of her. These are things she likes, things I tease her about and something about her life. She loves sphynx cats, I joke about her sitting like a shrimp (I hope she doesn’t read this post) and she had an important knee surgery some years ago.

This is the cat I used as reference 🙂

Hippie commune kind of style (afffectionate)

Big projects, with installations

Metal structures (which equipment they use, how did they learn)

Space craft

interactive, but they cannot go inside

work with what you have, see where it goes

recycling, upcycling

How does the other space looks like? more office like?

Festivals

Mixing videos- vj? Real time

Judy!!!!! 🙂 (she taught me how to crochet)

Light— screen

Mindfulness

Everything is performance =⇒ is the viewer part of the performsnce

Photography, design (motion), projections, never ending process

Web design

3 initial goals that framed the capstone

Technical skills

Use the materias that i knew

I don’t remember how I first came across this piece of work. I might interested in textile art, but this medium in particular is unfamiliar to me. Lace. I cannot deny that I was intrigued by the form, I didn’t think this was supposed to represent something. After reading the artist’s description of the project, I realised that it shared the same theme as my favourite painting. I particularly liked this Reinterpretation because it looked nothing like the ones I had been studying. Before seeing this piece, I didn’t associate textile art with an actual way of communicating, as actual “Art” (whatever art means ). I always thought of this medium as a way of doing clothes or a strait-forward image created using fabric, yarn and thread. This opened my horizons to consider textile art as an art not a “craft”. Now I realise I was looking down on one medium, I was adhering to the idea that a craft is not art, and that art is always several steps above “crafts” . This piece was a turning point for me. I had already been working with embroidery and crochet before this lace’s discovery. But I didn’t think I could convey such intricate narratives through this medium. i also think it was important to me to find this specific theme in textile work. I had been collecting different stories (displayed on media or in the art world) about women using violence to gain the power they were denied of. Judith beheading Holofernes has always been on the top of my collection top stories. I have studied different reinterpretations, comparing the painting done by Caravaggio and the one made by Gentileschi helped me see the way different artist react to the same theme. Translating this reinterpretation to a completely different medium also was a huge surprise to me. The fact that this art is something wearable and the way the shape interacts with the central theme was what I needed to find muy passion. I tried to make my textile projects into something completely functional before this, now I have been working in different way of communicate complex ideas through textiles. I always come back to this piece for inspiration. The lace helped me discover different ways of art making. It also remind me to look closely, to take my time. Every time i revisit this artwork, I realise something new. For example, I think it is a way use of medium to reate a necklace (a piece of jewellery that goes to the neck) to a theme involving the beheading of a man. The lace also introduced me to more historically details of the theme. I always thought this was a topic exclusively to painting. Seeing that Judith beheading Holofernes is a rather common topic among the lace making work explored my bubble. I could make textile art that is complex, that mixes stories, that represents something important to me; I didn’t have to stick to a more practical way of textiles. This lacework is the beginning of my freedom as a textile artist, it is what I needed to find the medium I am the most confortable with.

Art and Fear

The book identifies two main fears for artists: fears a bout themselves and fears about their perception by others. For me, this two concepts are often related, and one fear might encompass both ideas.. I think it is interesting how it explains the importance of workin even if the result is not good (a clear example of lateral thinking). I also thought it was interesting the way it approached the “pretending” part. The impostor syndrome is really common, and the idea that one cannot pretend to make art is a great way of fighting it with logic. I also liked how the self consciousness of the artist is recognised as an advantage and a disadvantage, as well as portraying different ways artists react to this issue.

I also really liked how it tackles the idea of the artist self projection into art. It is also interesting to have someone trying to demystify the idea of natural talent. (Which usually denies the effort put by the artist)

I personally liked the expectations part. I think this is something to which I resonate a lot, and it is interesting to get a more logical explanation

Ephemeral tomorrow

For musicians?

Architecture, music, visuals, (audiovisuals installations)

Codes have a meaning

Scientific background (neta?), discovery, phenomenon, reinterpretate in a poetic way scientific content

Gravitational Waves: topic reality, prerecorded data sets from observatories, raspberry pi

Solaris: real time data , meditative state, need to touch the pedestal, sound through the hands (mixing senses touch and sound)

Solaris, science fiction, no aesthetic inspiration, but mood ?

Satellarium III: real time position, Constellation communication

Epiphytes: humidity sensor, extension to communicate (plants, spinach, that send emails kind of thing?)

Aether Echo

Safety into account : regulation for lasers

Does the light disturbs the ecosystem? Is it a already human altered environment?