"How does it feel to lose?"
Much activism art that I have researched heavy relyed on the comments, opinions and contributions of the audience. When going into this project, I knew that a writing wall had to be included in the exhibition. It was essential to see if the people who viewed the work would have an opinion of their own or if someone involved could share their story anonymously. Someone else can read all these comments/stories giving more depth to the thoughts of the park as it's another point of view.
Experiment for writing wall
I was thinking of ways that I could structure this writing wall. I have heavily been inspired by Yoko Ono's "My mommy is beautiful". Ono left a plain wall where the only writing was "MY MOMMY IS BEAUTIFUL" over time, this wall was filled with written pieces of paper taped on the wall responding to this statement. Something so simple can trigger many responses. So I felt that I had to choose a suitable base and question/comment that links to my project for a while but can be interpreted loosely.
This experiment's purpose was to find the base of the writing wall. I felt that just sticking the question onto the wall would be too generic, so I wanted to try something different where the written comments could be hung. I thought of using nails and yarn to add the question to the wall. I used the phrase "Be The Change" as it's the motto of the organisation of Project4Change. I haven't thought of what the question would be and just used any random phrase. The easiest and quickest way to get an outline is to use a projector; I choose the font and size on PowerPoint.
When the phrase was projected on the wall, I placed dots with a pencil where I would hammer a nail in.
I chose to use red yarn as it is the same colour that stands out from the A1 photography prints. I tried to use red to represent danger, caution and trouble, which was used in the severe areas of the pieces. The 4 other colours, blue, purple, pink and yellow, represent the young people and the local community, and red is "hidden" amongst these colours.
Those 4 colours are used in the games and coloured blocks which show the fun and childlikenesses. Red is used for the text/question that will be asked as it cuts from the childlike playfulness and adds the seriousness of the situation within Blakelaw Park, leading the audience to think deeper when answering.
Making the writing wall
I have found through my experiment that nailing the nails directly onto the wall takes much time. I am using this fence and repurposing it as my writing wall so the day the set-up is quick.
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To create a seamless transition from the white walls in the exhibition space, I painted the fence to be all white. This will make the question with the red yarn stand out.
I had a long thought on what question I should put on the fence for people to answer. I wanted something short and to the point but links to the overall feel of the exhibition while still being open to interpretation that has nothing to do with the exhibition.
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The exhibition will have games throughout the week which will change. The sports hub that is due to be built in Blakelaw Park will lead to the young people losing their park. When playing board games, there is a chance that you can lose the game. Both the activity and the exhibition topic had a common theme of loss. From all of the questions I wrote down, the question "How does it feel to lose?" was the best question to ask the audience.
- If you had power, what would you change?
- Does power make a difference?
- Do you need power to make a difference?
- How would you feel if your joy was taken?
- Would you let your power take over your happiness?
- Have you let your happiness be taken for someone else's gain?
I did the same technique as I did on the wall. I projected the question, "How does it feel to lose?". From the projection, I trace the questions with a pencil.
After sketching out the question onto the fence, I realised that too much of the fence looked empty. I placed the question in the middle of the fence as any other placement looked uneven in composition. Adding the question in the middle made the fence have plenty of open space from the top and bottom. I decided to add 3 design characters of the young people's design on the coloured blocks and the poster—adding more continually as an exhibition.
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I have paint leftover from creating snakes and ladders for one of the games, and I plan to use it for the designs. For details and outlines of the characters, I will use Posca pens.
Using the red yarn for the question was great; it made the question stand out from the fence. The plan for this wall was for the answers to the question to hang onto the question. I crochet a long chain to create a line where the tags can hang. I was playing around with how I draped the chain, and I made it look wavy. I'm not too fond of how this looks, as the wave of the chain contrasts too much with the industrial feel of the nails and the straight lines of the yarn.
Final Exhibition placement
On the day to set up for my exhibition, I decided to change the chain. I stretched the chain to create straight lines that matched the yarn within the text.
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I preferred it like this as it gave the same vibe as the rest of my exhibition. It is also easier to tie the tags on the chain as it has more tension.
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In the space, I rested the fence on a plain wall. I chose the wall with the shortest length, making the audience walk around the room; it is the last piece they go to, the writing to respond activity.
At the side of the fence, I put white paper tags with strings already attached to them and a red pen on a plinth. I placed this as a table to lean on when writing.
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I wouldn't say I liked that the plinth was black, and I did not choose this colour. On the day of the set-up, I was looking for any plinth available to use on the day. If I had to choose, I would've selected white plinths to keep the space cleaner.
Exhibition Statement: "How does it feel to lose?"
“How does it feel to lose?”
Reused Fence painted white – Projector, Nails, Red yarn, Posca Pens and Acrylic paint.
To create a plain base, I painted the fence white. Using a projector, I projected the question onto the fence and marked out where the nails would be placed. I painted three-character designed by young people and contributed them to the fence using acrylic paint and Posca pens. I hammered the nails onto the fence and used red yarn to connect them. The yarn will act as a place where you can hang the responses to the question “How does it feel to lose?”.
Write down your feelings of loss.
The experience of something important is taken away from you for others’ gain.
Negative emotions turned into harsh acceptance.
“How does it feel to lose?”