Wednesday, 16 June 2010
Saturday, 1 May 2010
Thursday, 29 April 2010
Friday, 16 April 2010
Wednesday, 7 April 2010
Monday, 5 April 2010
Process and inspiration
What inspires me about my deafblind collaborator, Bent are Nielsen, is that he seems strong and grounded, happy and present. Even though he is considered legally blind, I constantly try to get an idea of how he still is able to see. During our collaboration I have not only tried to learn how a deafblind person gather information from the external environment, but also about the relationship between our brain and senses.
Most individuals who are deafblind are not completely deaf and completely blind. From what I have learned, there is a lack of understanding and awareness in the community of what deafblindness actually means. Through our senses we make new meanings of our environment, of ourselves, and people around us. With what kind of tools may we define that process of creating meaning?
Even though Bent are Nilsen is a man of relatively few words, he has this indescribable charisma that tells me a lot about him. I believe that his contentment has a lot to do with the fact that he is not alone. He lives with his dear partner, whom understands him, since she has similar abilities, and whenever he leaves the house, his dog or his assistant accompanies him. He seemed to have a strong relationship with his assistant.
I was thinking of using a material related to something in his past and to combine it with something from his present. To work in the industry with finger-sized pieces made him relax in the past, and it was a form of socializing as well. From what I learned during our material workshops the size and organization of things really made sense to his appreciation and understanding of things.
According to my collaborator, the understanding of an object or a surface is easy if it has got one type of tactile surface or material and one repetitive shape, consistence and temperature. However, if the object or surface has got two sides, he would find it interesting if they contrasted each other.
I started to think of organizing and structuring things, looking into some sources of inspiration. I started experimenting with different shapes that were abstract and representative of something bigger, in a sensory way. For example the shape of a seashell, that has an incredibly beautiful balance and contrast between the surface and smell of its outside and the gentle sound of wind and waves coming from its inside.
Working with objects and a surface with complementary sensory differences became my mission.
Saturday, 27 March 2010
Friday, 26 March 2010
Chaosorderchaosorderchaosorder.
Marjan Teeuwen, Archief Sheddak 1 (2010), Verwoest Huis 2 (2008), Verwoest Huis 8 (2008)
Wednesday, 17 March 2010
Thoughts
Der Mensch als Industriepalast [Man as Industrial Palace] from Henning Lederer on Vimeo.
Thursday, 4 March 2010
Material Workshop with Bent are Nilsen
Including piles of round and squared pieces of plastic, wooden sticks and painted, round wooden pieces, cotton balls.
Bent are Nilsen, who cannot see but hear with help from hearing aid, has an incredible “eye” for details. When trying to recognize the materials of this workshop, he uses his hands and his ears. He touches the material curiously and knocks the pieces carefully against the table - one material by one and then all over again. His guesses of what the pieces actually are are mostly correct. But the painted, round wooden pieces were identified as plastic and the squared pieces of plastic were identified as mosaic. When I tell him what they actually are, he directly answers, “Then these small, round ones have got to be painted? Are they colorful?”
When I ask him to pair, group, select and deselect materials, he thinks for a while and touches the piles again. He likes the wooden sticks because of their rough and truthful surface, as well as the cotton balls, which makes him think of warm clothes or his dog. He pairs the round, hard materials and the wooden sticks with the squared plastic pieces, both pairs defined by shape. The cotton balls are left alone. He does not like the small, rounded wooden pieces, because of their tininess. The fact that I put the piles of materials in a row made him feel aware of where they were. He also guesses that I had put out the materials in a specific order. I had not, however I appreciate that he thinks about it that way. During this workshop his hands never leave the surface of the table.
FFO Workshop 2010 02 26
At FFO we got useful information about the organization and were naturally discussing universal design, while trying out different ways of being blind. As you can see from the picture below, we where handed out special glasses and blindfolds that represented the most common visual impairments.
I tried to write, draw and braid hair, while being totally blind. It was a good experience and you got the impression of what kind of blindness you would prefer. (Like you have the option to choose, haha.) However, I think that most of the participants, including myself, would prefer having partially clear vision, from being totally blind or suffer from cataract - blurred vision. To be able to see clearly in some parts of the visual field and not at all in other parts seemed a bit disturbing, but yet manageable.
Somehow, I think I got even more respect for the blind after this workshop. I will occasionally continue walking around alone with my head down to learn more, and recommend others to do the same!
