Friday 25 May 2012

Degree show exhibition

Degree Show Exhibition

Duncan of Jordanstone, University of Dundee, Scotland

THE TIN RING EXPERIENCE


The Show             

Zdenka Fantlova
Display of process - sketchbooks, flipbooks
    
Lightbox drawer view

Looking through the drawers




Scale model

Audio and film projection above work

Scale model of Lowry Centre






Wednesday 9 May 2012

The Tin Ring Experience_ Degree Thesis










Liberty Thompson


Year 4 Interior Environmental Design

Thesis Project – The Tin Ring Experience






Contemporary Context


It is vital to keep stories from the past alive to learn from and help future generations. The Tin Ring recites a powerful story from the Holocaust.  We experience history in museums, exhibitions, books, film/TV and computer games to a certain extent but as we will never experience this first hand it is difficult to fully understand in today’s society. This is not to say we don’t know how it feels to go through adversities and life struggles, however today’s problems are often extremely different. In The Tin Ring, Zdenka Fantlova describes how her extraordinary strength and hope encourage her to persevere in the darkest times.

This thesis aims to enable us to relate to these parts of history at a deeper level to increase awareness and interest. Research and development have highlighted the importance of involving all generations of people, design and technologies to create a spatial experience which allows young people to learn, elders to remember whilst learn from contemporary design and technology (including social media, film and audio media, and live feeds and filming). The visitors are photographed at points throughout the exhibition, allowing them to become part of the exhibition and creating a memory bank of ‘history’ for future generations.

The combination of architecture, installation, film and audio media, interaction and performance come together to create a fully immersive exhibition. The thesis also questions gallery spaces, as to why they are designed in standardized ways, and how are exhibition spaces changing? As design and culture evolve, spaces where these exhibit are too. Exhibition space design can be as powerful as the exhibition itself, which this project has explored.







Content of Project


Based on the book The Tin Ring, by Zdenka Fantlova, a Jew in WW2. She takes us on an incredible journey on how hope keeps her going when at deaths door. Through exhibition design, her story is conveyed. To enable people to understand at a deeper level, the spatial experience focuses on how in today’s society we can relate to such situations, by comparing to such in the contemporary world. Combining different aspects of design, from media to installation, the exhibition enables the visitor to tell their own story. The fully immersive spaces help us engage and inspire us for our futures and generations to come.




  
How the project relates to my future directions and how can it be applied and developed?


Creating immersive experiential spaces is my passion. Film,TV set and exhibition design are the areas I intend to focus my future career. By developing my skills in concept designing, drawing and developing, as well as model making, material investigations, filmmaking and editing etc, I will be able to apply these in the art department whether in researching, concept drawing, developing and on set. Learning new techniques such as lazor-cutting, sublimation printing and improving my computer skills is something to bring the workplaces often less aware of such.





Explanation of the project to a general audience


The exhibition design is based on the book The Tin Ring, by Zdenka Fantlova, a Jewish victim in WW2. We follow her story of hope and strength through the war. The exhibition design tells her story to today’s world by relating such experiences to such in contemporary life, so we can learn, be inspired and keep the story alive for future generations.

Site-specific for The Lowry Centre,  the design creates a relationship between the architecture of the space and the exhibition. It queries typical gallery space design and the ‘how and why’. Combining architecture, installation, film and audio media, interaction and performance unites the past, present and future, whilst allowing the visitor to become part of the experience and tell their own story.

The visitor journeys through Zdenka’s story in six stages, based on interpretations of The Tin Ring. Upon entering the space you travel through freedom, restriction, confinement, deterioration, trapped and saviour – before entering the inner survival kit zone and cinema zone – where you can reflect on your journey in the photobooth. Finally, the future zone allows visitors to connect with the world on in a live newsfeed environment. The fully immersive spaces enable us engage with stories of the past and present whilst inspiring us for our own futures.






Thursday 26 January 2012

EDF Energy Montage





The series of adverts by EDF use montage and collage to emphasise the need to 'be green', encouraging you to look from a different perspective about how each of us use energy. The re-use of historical imagery and popular culture sends messages to the viewers 'bringing it home'.

This unique take on advertising is almost an experimental film, using multi-media techniques in a visually stimulating way.

An advert to remember.

Experimental Film - bulle plexiglass

Researching art-house/avant-garde film, I came across plexiglass on vimeo.

Something unique and compelling drew me into every image, which are all abstractly beautiful individually. The use of texture, colour and subject combine to create a powerful 'story' of the context of their space and place in the world. The subjects are of industrial architecture whilst focusing on what causes movement occupying these spaces - this being people and cars. We can engage with the hustle and bustle, which is intensified by her choice of music.

Here are two examples of her work, 'A Day in New York' made paying tribute to filmmaker Dziga Vertov's movie 'The Man with the Movie Camera'.



ARE YOU THERE from bulle plexiglass on Vimeo.




A DAY IN NEW YORK from bulle plexiglass on Vimeo.



you can view other works by plexiglass at: http://vimeo.com/user7998991

Wednesday 25 January 2012

Peter Greenaway - Intervals

Peter Greenaway - Intervals




Structure and Sound.

This short-film by Peter Greenaway investigates people in place, without a specific narrative. We are able to experience these places and spaces, and the activity within these spaces, allowing us to imagine our own story based on these simple black and white images.

The images are powerful in their simplicity, structure and choice of image.




"Greenaway exploits genre conventions... he deftly dodges narrative responsibilities and engages his delight in images which exist for their own sake." - Robert Brown, MFB



This 'dodging' narrative can be said for this piece of Greenaway's work, although much of his others are focused on creating narrative through various methods. eg. narration, imagery, sound, and architecture. His unique ways of story-telling are something if which adds to the success and intrigue in his work.

Wednesday 18 January 2012

Ladbrokes Advert





Under Production Designer Marcus Rowland, working with the art department, we spent a long day's exciting and fast-paced work, creating this advert for Ladbrokes at Wembley Stadium. 

The Tin Ring - A Spatial Design Response

The Tin Ring - Zdenka Fantlova










Inspired by the story of Zdenka Fantlova, I am designing film sets and an exhibition to experience her journey as a Jew in WW2, based on her book The Tin Ring. Adopting a unique perspective is, the story focuses on her strength and hope as apposed to the horrifying conditions in which they were forced to endure. The sets symbolise this, concentrating on material, scale, form and light to develop evocative and emotional spaces. Investigating derelict and forgotten environments has inspired this process and allowed me to compare this to the concept with its relevance to people today. By working with Zdenka, the thesis aims to create a powerful spatial experience through film set and exhibition design, allowing people today to live and learn through her journey and encourage them positively in their own lives.





Site Analysing allowed me to investigate textures, colours, materials, light and weather affects. All of which would influence my design development.



Furthering this would be Zdenka's story and how I interpreted this from a spatial design angle. Concentrating on different themes I felt were intriguing and thought-provoking, I developed six sets based on these ideas. Ultimately this was to create a powerful experiential design.

Concept Development through narrative.


Experience a deeper understanding of the project on my website.