SELF PORTRAIT SERIES; Final Presentation

 

The Quantified Self Portrait Series was a 9 weeks hands-on production and seminar workshops at the Queens Museum that focused on producing self portraits projects in physical forms,  the purpose of this workshop was to steer it towards building a unique and personal language for selfportraits.

We collected nine weeks of self data as our main source of materials and inspiration for self-portrait sculptures. And explored both traditional mask and face mold making, writing, drawing, clay models, as well as 3D scanning and printing, The final projects from the students can be viewed here  with additional images from the final Show and Tell session.

The students works very hard to go out of their comfort zone and explore new ways of art-making.  It’s a beautiful experience to teach such hard working students, and watch their concept  transform and take shape in the process.

Here’s a recap of the workshop:

In the beginning of the workshop, students are encourage to think about the idea of selfies – Selfies as a constant statement of self existence: “I am” ;    to build radical self-love; and social media as a self-publication platform.

During the first three weeks, the students explored different ways to collect personal small data that they can capture by writing, drawings, using excel sheets, smart phone app such as the Reporter.  Students  documented their process every week , and Included a narrative about how they arrived at the idea, any inspirations they had,  and ideas that they discarded. We looked at the project Dear-Data as an inspiration for collecting and visualizing personal small data.

A little background about the students:
85% of the students are between 40 – 60 years old.
25%  were medical technologists, worked in medical and research labs.
70% of the students are retired.
Throughout the process, we practice to ask daily questions about ourselves,  students in this workshop were interested in time spent in daily life routines, emotions,  sound of the city,  health data, travels,  encounters with strangers  and social life,   community experience. The questions to self were asked daily and enter into a excel sheet or notebook manually by the students. The results were unique sculptures combine with mixed media, poetry, and performances. 
Our quest speakers including:
Special Thanks to Nung-Hsin Hu at the Queens Museum Education Department and Workshop Assistant Judy Chu
Molmol Kuo molmol@molmolk.com
twitter: @openMolmol_MPS
website: molmolk.com   yesyesno.com

在皇后博物館為期9週的自像漫遊課程, 引領參與學員量化自身數據, 轉換為圖像後,再著重實際動手操作完成作品, 是個手作和研討形式兼具的工作坊,目的在於用逐步引導的方式, 構築出獨特和自我語彙所形成的自像。

我們用9個禮拜的時間,搜集自我數據為主要的依據, 且延伸為實物的靈感來源。在課程中, 不單只是探索傳統面具的歷史與意義,也學習製作面具模型, 並體驗文字創作、繪圖、粘土模型和3D模型掃瞄及列印, 最後一堂課為學員的成果發表會Show and Tell, 及作品展示here。

學員們非常用心努力的走出習以為常的安逸地帶,轉而發掘、 了解自我,甚至碰觸最不願坦然的那一面, 拓展許多藝術創作的可能性。引領這群認真學習的學員轉化概念、 討論製作過程、終至完成作品,是一次美麗的教學經驗。

以下是這個工作坊的概述:

課程的一開始,學員們被鼓勵去思考什麼是自拍? 自拍包涵著自我存在“我是…”的意義,去建構存在的自愛 (戀); 而社群網絡造就了自我發表的平台。

剛開始的前3個禮拜,學員們用寫作、繪畫的方式, 將他們自身的微數據用軟體中的工作表(excel sheets)功能,或智慧型手機的應用程式,如 the Reporter來記錄。學員們每個星期詳記過程, 包含陳述關於思考作品的流程,靈感的啓迪,想法的來源和發現。 我們參考了作品“Dear Data” 來當作創意發想,視覺化個人的微數據。

學員背景及組成:

85%的年齡層在40-60歲之間

25%有醫療及理工背景,曾經或現職於醫療及研究單位

70%學員已退休

在這段期間,我們每日慣常的詢問自己一些問題, 工作坊的學員們有興趣花時間紀錄的項目有: 日常例行流程、心情、都市的聲音、健康數值、旅行、 遇見的陌生人和社交生活、社區參與等。 學生藉由每日對自己的提問,用電腦軟體工作表或一般紙本的紀錄, 累積了結合複合媒材、詩、與表演的特別成果。

 

曾應邀參與工作坊的專業藝術家講師:

Laura Chen, Zach Lieberman, Laurent McCarthy, Rosalie Yu, Billy Dang

和提供律動課程,來自Gibney Dance 的Amy Miller

特別感謝皇后博物館教育部門新紐約客課程的Nung-Hsin Hu (胡農欣)

 

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