Make or design something which unfolds, opens out, or spreads out

The first thing thing I thought of was origami as its artwork created using a series of folds and it can be both intricate and simple.

I then began looking at everyday items that fold and unfold like umberellas, chairs and ironing boards etc. I also looked at fashion items that folded through pleating etc.

After looking at the use of folding and pleating in fashion I decided to try and create a sculpture/ dress that folds and unfolds, with influences for the construction that came from bustles, crinolins and lampshades. So I began doing some sketches of skirts and dresses.

I wanted to make a dress thats skirt would fold to create a kind pleat but that could also unfold to create a full lampshade like bottom. I then a drafted a pattern for the dress and began making a mock up. I had to make a few alterations to the original pattern to get the look I wanted. Originally I wanted to use boning to  give the skirt its fullnes and hold its shape but because of the size I wanted the skirt to be it wasn't strong enough and so I used copper wire instead. I then began to think about how the dresss would retract and release and decided on inserting a pull string inside the dress so I could control the movement.

Although the dress resombles the outcome I wanted it doesn't work exactly as I intended it to. I wanted pleats to be created as the dress contracted but it just folds up, if I had more time I would try to adapt the pattern to get the finish I initially wanted but as it stands the skirt folds and unfolds.

Make a work which moves from one place to another

As there are a number of things that can constitute moving from one place to another there are many different possibilities for outcomes. I've looked at artworks that physically move like; animations, clothing and accessories, things that move or can be viewed in different places like websites, flyers and advertisments, aswell as things that give the illusion or impression of movement like sculptures etc.

 After looking at various artworks and clothing  that move I looked into things that were designed to be moved like carrier bags that are about transporting goods as well as advertising for any given company.

 

I liked the idea of a carrier bag being viewed as a moving advertisment and I looked at some iconic carriers like the Bloomingdales little brown bags and some carriers that were popular especially amongst the younger generation like JD sports carriers. I thought about trying to create a carrier for a company on the high street that would or could be a useful advertising tool and that people would want to use again but I became uninterested in this idea and decided to look at the question from a different angle and relate it to another project I was doing, wear a chair. I felt that because I had created movement of the chair in the sense of its use and the position of the body it would be related to that this could lend itself well as an artwork that moves or has moved from one place to another. So I decided that I would do vector drawings of the pieces of jewellery I  had made using the chair aswell as the chair and create a shape tween that demonstrated the chair evolving. 

Overall I feel that I have answered the brief but would have liked to explore the question in more depth and with more experimentation.

Versimilitude - Make us believe we are seeing something we are not

When I read this the first things that came to mind were optical illusions as they can appear to be something they are not and they can also appear differently dependant on the viewer.

As I didn't feel up to the challenge of trying to create this sort of thing I began to look at things that were photographed up close and special effects make up.

I then went onto looking at images that were cleverly set up so they appeared to be something unreal looking.

I really like these images especially the forced perspective photographs, so I thought that I'd try to create something similar. I went out and attempted to create some forced perspective pictures but it was a little advanced for my current skill level. I then watched horizon - seeing is believing on BBC1 and found it really interesting. It asked the question is seeing believing or do we see what we belive?. It talked about magicians and fact that they have a good understanding of how we percieve the world and how to manipulate what we see through this understanding, it also stated that sight and hearing can be cheated as we sometimes predict what we think will happen and make our own conclusions. I then began to look at stereotypes and common misconceptions, like people making snap judgements about people based on a single image, or people hearing things and believing or accepting they are the truth or a fact. Whilst researching I realised that there are alot of things I had believed to be the truth that weren't. So I decided to print out 3 common misconceptions, things that most people would have heard and not questioned and the idea is that people will read them and accept them as the truth when in fact they are incorrect, thus making them believe they are seeing something they are not the truth.

This is an image of the three misconceptions I decided to mount on the wall with the truth at the bottom in a much smaller less imposing font. I am pleased with the outcome however I would have liked to spend more time looking at different fonts and methods of presentation. 

Wear A Chair

Initially I typed the words wear a chair into google to see what I got back and these are a few images of things I found.

Although I think that some of these are quite clever I want to try and maybe be a little less obvious in my response to wear a chair. So I started thinking about the materials used to make chairs like wood, metal and plastic and looked at other items made from those materials.

  

I found alot of items by various designers such as Hussein Chalyan, Stella McCartney and Yohji Yamamoto. I started thinking about making something out of a chair that was wearable rather then trying to find a way to wear a chair in its original state. As there would only be so much i could do with a whole chair i thought about trying to make something or more than one thing smaller than the actual chair and thought about trying to create some jewellery.

I brought a chair that was made of both wood and metal so that I had different materials to experiment with and began cutting up both materials.

I started out cutting aswell well as drilling holes into the chair legs and then I cut up the chair seat into various shapes. I thought about different ways I could join the pieces together and make them wearable, I also looked at Brilliantly Birmingham for inspiration and how to make some of the pieces a little more delicate. I experimented with wool, string and copper wire. 

After the experiments the pieces I felt were more successful were the neck pieces and here are the ones I feel turned out most like I envisioned they would.

On the whole I am pleased with the outcome for wear a chair however I feel that if I were to repeat this project I would concentrate a lot more on the finish of the pieces and try to make them look more wearable and polished.