Kelsey Silva-Espino

13. Viral Intervention: Final Artifact

Our final artifacts for this project are the phone stands we used to hold our lights to the board and our "desk." We threw away the chair during the project because it was inconvenient to transport and we really didn't use it for the project at all. Ultimately, you can see the desk's legs and the cable coming from each component. Our "desk" ended up taking on the appearance of a protest sign.

The final documentation for this project was a collection of all the videos we shot of the many locations where we set up our project. This project had many highs and lows, to be honest. Finding sufficiently dark locations to enable the text to project onto the wall proved extremely challenging as we searched for methods to display it. The idea was intriguing, and it was entertaining to observe the various responses that others had to our task. Some folks read it, some just gave us looks, and we had people pause and stare.

We chose to merge our "desk" light projection concept with the brain and cables concept for our final proposal. As you can see here, we chose to include the cables to represent the nervous system, a vital component of every individual, as well as the "desk," which is meant to represent therapy. Our last plan is to carve our sentence into the cardboard and use wire to support it on its own. To complete the workstation aesthetic, we would also include cardboard pencils and pens.

Do you think art can really make people question unfair uses of power? Or do most people just look at it and move on? What do you think makes art good at getting people to pay attention to these issues?

We chose to create take-one flyers for this assignment because of the public nature of it. We chose to make a flyer on Canva to print in bulk because we were short on time. Since our sentence was so gloomy, we decided when creating the flyer that we wanted to spread joy and cheer people up. We went to GL Breezeway after printing them off and taped them to a column, the ad box in front of GL, and the door of W10. It was good to see that individuals had taken the small slips when we returned to look at them a few hours later.

For this project, the idea, the main emphasis of this piece is to show how society is hindering us by essentially locking us up. The birdcage is supposed to be symbolism because usually birds are kept inside the cage, and they are a symbol of freedom due to their ability to fly. We are being kept from our full potential and freedom by societal norms. The hanging words inside the birdcage are supposed to symbolize the swarming thoughts a person has, so the inside of the birdcage is supposed to exhibit what we truly feel inside. The birdcage is locked but the key that is in the keyhole has a tag on it that says therapy to symbolize that therapy is the key to our release because after a while of being conditioned to certain things, we tend to adopt those same mannerisms ourselves and continue the chain of abuse. Therapy is the way to release this chain system and successful free ourselves from that cycle.

The brain maze explores the feeling of hopelessness that we feel in depressive states, we feel trapped and like there is no escaping this constant dread. The piece will be made of wire, a material that is easily bent and allows someone to shape it to their will. This choice of material not only reflects the theme of the piece, but is also a material that adds to a more industrial aesthetic, showcasing the feeling of being trapped those struggling with mental health feel. Also, the fact that it is a maze, albeit a complicated one, shows that there is still hope, even in dark times.

This proposal is a cardboard desk. Our sentence is carved out into the desk so when light is shining, whether through sun or through the lamp on top, the words project onto the wall through shadows. Our target audience is anybody who may be stressed out by the world today. A good venue would be somewhere outdoors near a populated area. A psychology building may be a good spot because of the mention of therapy in the sentence, or  building with government or social science classes. 

Viral Interventions: IDENTIFY

VIRAL INTERVENTIONS : (SEE)

For this project we needed to expand our mindset on how to change the color of an object without using paint. I began brainstorming for ideas and came up with a pretty simple solution which was to use tin foil. I decide to use my “Everyday monument” project. because i thought it would be cool to see how i made something one way and it can be changed to something else without having to use paint. This was definitely and interesting and creative assignment, helping me think outside the box… or in this case battery