Spaces in Between

Unsorted, disarranged, unorganised library, full of elements placed according to different components, which have an order or perhaps do not have it at all, just existing in an unrestricted randomness. Which ironically speaking could actually be seen as the same thing, since a lack of order is also an order in itself. Chaos with a clear beginning and ending kind of like a bad book. What exactly did I find there…? Big books, small books, orange, white, shiny, mat, hard, soft, precious, forgotten, books that are filled with content, wedding books. Books of a specific nature, books that are about nothing at all, ones that wait for attention and ones nobody cares about. Art books, design, educational, pointless, and sharp and blunt, basically all you can find in a library. I was asked to find a solution for the lack of structure in their position on the shelf. So the primary question that I am asking myself is; what is the point of doing it at all? Of course the obvious reason would be the easy access to the content, otherwise lost in the madness of disorganisation. However, I still struggle to understand why to bother ourselves with creating this specific order, if in the end it is still the same amount of books in the same space? Somehow I think this action is irrelevant, especially if we put so much effort into creating a puzzle that can be made in an infinite amount of ways… according to any system that a specific person would find attractive or interesting (depth weight, etc).

    In the name of captivation and curiously-provocative passage, I am trying to crack this system of easy predictable result, which in my opinion is rather obvious to foresee if you limit yourself by the boundary of an actual shelf. Instead of doing that I would rather step out of this radius. The concept that I tried to create is aiming to expand the perspective on how we view the book. What is a book actually? In short, it is a box of content pocket size captured by the single pages glued together, now isn’t that somehow equal to the very idea of a book shelf, in which many different books are aligned in the same way as the pages, however this time at a larger scale of information? Somehow I believe it is possible to see these systems as parallel ones. If a thousand books make a library; then, so to a thousand pages, and further, a book can also be seen as a pocket size bibliotheca.

The establishment of the fact that from now on, one copy can stand on its own, gives me the possibility of putting in on a pedestal and seeing it as something autonomous, in other words, let’s give the books the space that they deserve. There is no reason why they should be kept together in one place since in the end it’s just creating a bigger chaos. Let us treat books as unique objects instead of piling them on top of each other. As absurd as this sounds, to create an order you have to separate everything from each other and never put them back together again.

For my next step, I have chosen ten books from the shelf that I eventually turned into their own autonomous libraries, spread all over the city; one book for one building. I did this by searching for the places that seemed to me as the right environments for the books.  The main question that I had to ask myself, is how do I decide what aspect of the book should be the main criteria for the location, the physicality or the content. Not to leave it too vague, by physicality I mean the literal materiality of the book and where it could fit in the space of a building, so in the end it seems as the space was designed for the book and not reversed. In this case of preciseness, the dilemma of leaving the content out of the picture was not so disturbing anymore. However, after I found the main foundation that would determine the way of approach, I decided to take it further and only use the fore edge  of the books (opposite side to the spine), which presents it as more of an anonymous object rather than a work.

The result of this practice was the creation on ten completely autonomous bibliothecas, in ten different buildings. This created a situation in which a book stopped being a book, but rather a body living in perfect symbiosis with the surrounding environment.

Organizing.

Some people hate it, some people love it, and some people just don’t care. Our assignment was to find a new way to organize a couple of hundred books. I myself see organizing as something relaxing, and as something that should clear your head. Like a game, organizing is a puzzle. Making everything right and finding the perfect place for every little lost piece.

But what about objects and books that are hard to place somewhere? Books that look insignificant. How can you make them fit in? When I was scanning through all the books in the library, a nude colored book caught my eye, the cover didn’t give me any clues what it was about. There were no letters on the cover and no pictures. The way it was standing there made it look very lost in this big pile of loud and screaming books. All the books looked like they wanted to catch your eye and get the most attention. But this book didn’t seem to care that no one would ever take it out. Like a shy girl that always sits in the back of the class. But being shy and not wanting to be seen doesn’t mean that you don’t deserve some attention from time to time.

Games are a good way to make an interactive system for books, books have so many aspects that you can play with. Titles; the name of the Author; the year and of course the publisher. And even a book with nothing on the cover can have so much aspects that you can play with. All these aspects reminded me of the dots on domino dices. But instead of connecting the dots on the dices, you can also connect the titles, authors or the aspects of the book that for you has the most value. Then I remembered this game that I used to play when I was little, me and my dad would sit in the sun and play this game endlessly to help me learn how to spell words. He would start with a word and then I would come up with a new word, the first letter of this new word had to be the last letter of his previous word.

MONKEYS – SAUNA – ARTWORK

It is not a new fact that we like these kind of games, the oldest confirmed written mention of dominoes in China comes from the Former Events in Wulin (i.e. the capital Hangzhou) written by the Yuan Dynasty (1271–1368) author Zhou Mi (1232–1298), who listed “pupai” (gambling plaques or dominoes) as well as dice as items sold by peddlers during the reign of Emperor Xiaozong of Song (r. 1162–1189). This shows that the human being has always enjoyed making connections between things and objects. These games survived and renewed itself for centuries. I don’t think we will ever get bored of them.

With the domino and word games in mind I started with just connecting the titles of all the book on one of the shelves, this shelve consisted out of 49 book. After trying to find the perfect way of connecting them I found out that when i would only just play with the titles I would only be able to give a spot to half of the books, the other 25 were waste and would never find a place. Where would these books go? Would no one ever read them again? Or was there a clear solution.

What if you would see the library as one big puzzle of domino dices. Those dices don’t just have one connection point but they have three. Of course this system could also be applied on the books.

Here you see what happens when you don’t just give them one connection point but as many connection points as they allow you to make, all the dices start to create a new pattern and once you take one dice out you can put it back after at a new spot where there is no dice yet. It is a constantly changing pattern of organization.

For example I would take a book out which is about Van Gogh and the person before me thought the date of publication was very important, I will find the book at the point where the date is coupled to a different date, after reading this book and getting to know it better I decide that I personally find the Author much more important than the date, so when I would put it back in the book matrix I would find the perfect point where I can couple the first letter of the Authors name to a previous book. But of course there are maybe different things on the cover which have the most value to you, maybe it is the color, or what is showing on the cover, or maybe its even a little sticker that no one noticed before.

This way of organizing creates an opening of looking at books in completely new way. It is no longer seen in this known way of ordering them on category, subject, artist or country. This gives you the opportunity to make new connections between books and their covers. By getting rid of books shelves and opening up a space for a more playful way of organizing.

Making new connections helps you realize that there are always new possibilities in things that we already know so well. We tend to get bored or tired of things that never change, and there is only one way to avoid that boredom, to have a system that will change forever and that tells a lot about what is important.

you enter

the room

the walls

are books

their backs

turned on you

the books

won’t share a word

unless you take one of them

one brick from the wall

but the wall they form

can’t be broken down

they turned their backs

on you

you have to turn your head

sideways

to read what their names are

even when it is your own room

your own wall

it can feel like the chinese wall

in fact

it’s all chinese to you

so you give up

a big bookcase

is not in favor

of the books

nor you

the renovation of an ancient building 

now

this is

what i’m going to do

i’ll break down the wall

brick by brick

book by book

what do i feel?

which book belongs

to that

what i feel

?

and

what do i want?

which book belongs

to that

what i want

?

where am i

with this feeling that i have

and the book that i want to read

?

for each feeling

and each desire

a book

and a place

so i took all the books

out of the room, now it’s empty

like the first page

i put the books on piles

piles of feelings and desires

piles of knowledge

books can give you everything

if you take care

now this is what i’m going to do

i’ll start to write

first pile

epilogue

learning

i want to learn things

i am curious

big books

history

the atlas

dictionaries

encyclopedia

next to notebooks

and dummies

and books for dummies

how to

cut

paste

sew

read

draw

think

find

go

the place is ready

for reading

as well as doing

the worktable

second pile

introduction

loving

i want to read

about the love in the world

and want it sometimes i feel without love

sometimes i feel in love

and want it

there is a note written inside

with love, for you

i’ll read to you and to myself

poems of love

bed side stories

books that keep a place warm in

the bed

third pile

first chapter

you can’t read

on an empty stomach

stained and smelling books about food

and cooking

world dishes

when we sit here we always talk about food and share ideas for dishes and tastes on our tongues

kitchen table

forth pile
dreaming

second chapter

fantasies

fiction

stories

to disappear in

when you think you want

to watch the television

or when you are bored

you sit in the chair

and lean sideways

then you grab a book

and start to read

and to disappear

a good chair

fifth pile

books with mud and sand

third chapter

flowers between the pages

encyclopedias of plants

latin names and hours

of drawing

books of gardening

the hammock or the garden chair

sixth pile

forth chapter

dreams of traveling

flora and fauna

nature and travel books

national geographic

capitol guides

next to the computer

to book a flight

computer table

seventh pile

fifth chapter

when you’re an art student

art is everywhere

also when you’re a normal person

there is an art way of looking at things around you

it is nice to have books to leaf through

or read carefully

monographies

biographies

auto

biographies

art

philosophy

theory

catalogues

magazines

fanzines

on the easel

on the bench

on the work table

in the bathroom

in plastic jackets, shower-and-bath-proof

in on behind the closet

everywhere

the rest of the books

many thanks to-

ideas

pleas

novels

books are a part of life

but a wall of books

is too far away

to bring the books close

to accompany to your tea

and your company

to show pictures and lines

for your eyes only

the books can travel with you on vacation

or on a rolling table

through every wall of the house

a book as a bookshelf

books forming a bookcase

holding other books

showing their faces,

finally

when you break down the book wall

you will

discover books

in places unexpected

finding them back

after long loss

a rose

and its smell

between pages

a postcard

a letter

a bookmark

notes, lines, circled words

a younger you

wrote a letter

surprise yourself and others

with books as gifts in corners

and between the pillows of the bench

books say something you can’t

put into words

books that you know

that will always be there

next to your bed

or under it

on the closet

standing on its small edge

facing you

with a different page each day

books that you carry

that carry your thoughts

a small book in

a small bag

book size, pocket size

with you

body books

big books

book hats

big bags

hat books

a book in a hat

a book in a sock

smelling a little of sweat

sock-pockets for books

follow your steps

some say the library is unnecessary

some say it has already gone

words are everywhere

the library

is the world

form your library

from the words in the world

I sat by the bookshelf for less than a few minutes when it caught my eye.

Touching the earth and the sky. A small, thin, white book, with only the title on the cover and spine, in simple black type. It was squeezed between two books, towering beside it like skyscrapers, like a small alleyway just off the main road.

Somehow this book was meant to be mine for a day. Its small size meant I could easily slip it in my bag, pocket, under my arm, on top of some other books. Its blankness meant it didn’t clash with any of the covers of my other books or objects. A book that could manage to slip in anywhere, unnoticed, and hide comfortably for a while. I placed it on a pile of books I had lying around at home, and it looked like it had been there for years. I put it on the table in the living room with my notebook, so as not to forget to bring it the next morning, and it seemed to curl up its spine and go to sleep. I placed it in my bag and it slipped right under the cover, as if it had done it a thousand times before.

What made this book so naturally acceptable to its environment? I thought it was probably that it looked a bit insignificant: the combination of its small, thin shape; the white cover; the simple type. But this insignificance intrigued me. It was almost as if the book worked as a counter-weight: a blank page in all this information that was already surrounding me. Where each book I looked at was pouring out its message to me, this book seemed to suck its message back into itself, hiding it even when opened, and remaining its aura of blissful ignorance. It didn’t matter if I understood the book, if I had read it or knew what it was about, because its attraction was this mystery where I could read all that I wanted into its story.

I took the book to a place, and was curious how it would fit into a place that neither I nor it had seen before. I left my bag in a locker so the book travelled with me in my hand, clasped behind my back or dangling from my fingers. It didn’t seem to mind. The cleanness of the space fitted it surprisingly well, and it wasn’t long before it had made it clear to me that it wanted to be put down, in one particular spot by the window. At first, it looked slightly lost and vulnerable on the floor, but the longer I looked away and looked again, the more it blended in and seemed to breathe into its place. It managed to hide from my eyes at times, its reflection suddenly disappearing as I took a step forward, backward, but would suddenly reassure me by popping back into focus. I was losing it to its environment, and at the same time I had never seen it so in its place.

The moment came to take it back. I was convinced it would resist my touch, being so perfectly in its place by the window, but no sooner had I picked it up or the book folded into its position in my hand. Just as it had curled up on the table in my living room, now it rested in my palm as we travelled back to the bookshelf where I had first spotted it.

The books that had towered by its side before I couldn’t find anymore, the shelves having been rearranged with all the people searching through the library. But I knew now that there was no trouble in finding a new spot for this little book. Placed beside a window, a tower, a roadside or hovering in the sky, it would always manage to reflect its environment and tell the reader exactly what you had always wanted to hear.

In my library, you move your way through the books one on one. Each book functions simultaneously as a lock and key. You don’t know the doors it might open when you pick it from its place on the shelf. Even when you’ve skimmed the spine, recognised the author, taken in the title and flicked through its pages, you’re still under a false impression of knowing where the book might lead you. It’s only once you’ve managed to extract it from its place in the library, folded your fingers around the covers, travelled with it for a couple of days, immersed yourself in the letters and forgotten it on the train, that you start to discover what this book holds in store for you. And once the rhythm of opening and closing the story has come to its natural end, the book will lead you back to the library to be found in its new place, closing its door as softly as it opened, and unlocking the way to a new book. Only a system which has no system can enable this experience of true discovery.

And then you can touch the earth and the sky.

In Mark 9, notice that the Lord Jesus repeats three times about Hell, “where the worm dieth not and the fire is not quenched.”

A source of inspiration: Virginia Woolf (1882 -1941).

A writer very much concerned with the transformation of life through art, sexual ambivalence and the flux of time and life (in the form of corrosion and rejuvenation). Her style of writing is experimental and somewhat playful; time and gender for example are sometimes shifted in unexpected ways. She dealt with the problems some people of her time were having with the world around; most of which people today can still relate to.

She suffered from severe bouts of mental illness throughout her life and eventually committed suicide by drowning at the age of 59.

It is all about the design of a headpiece.

First, it is always about trying to get a grip on the thing, trying to get under the skin of the object of investigation. It is the same way of working for writers in general as for me trying to crawl under the skin of a writer in order to create a kind of mask.

What does it mean to be a writer?

appropriate dressing for the process

The writer is holding up the mirror to the world, and says to herself: “Look! the world is so full of life! Think of all the passions that exist there (love, hate, anger, etc.). It is a fire that cannot be quenched.” She is sitting behind her desk in her writing shack, reflecting on the world outside – creating parallel universes. The passions of this world are powerful things, and those are the things she needs to deal with. The writer shall not remain untouched for long. The writer desperately holds up to the mirror.
Writing is a way to deal with the fire, a way of protecting oneself. The writings also make the world more aware of itself – of what it does. The message is perhaps not always pleasant, but always necessary. The world as it is is not by definition how it is supposed to be. The world (and its fire burning within) needs to look into its reflection every now and then. But the fire is aggressive and with time the mirror corrodes and begins to show signs of breaking. The first shards fall of the mirror and pierce the skin of the writer. It hurts, but the writing continues. What else can the writer do? At a certain point the frame of the mirror is empty and the entire mirror has become part of the face: A MASK OF BROKEN MIRROR. The mirror has become part of the writer. Now it is the writer herself that is reflecting the world. The writer is not of our world anymore; she has become a kind of prophet.

“[…] and he was transfigured before them. And his raiment became shining, exceeding white as snow; so as no fuller on earth can white them.” (Mark 9)

painting of the first 'vision' I had of the mask I was going to make

THIS IS A WRITERS MASK. Virginia Woolf as the source of inspiration provided direction for the choice of form and color.

The fabric of the writers mask is white. White as the color of the prophet and as the color of cleansing and purity, which are the intended aims of the process of writing and reading. Technically white would also be the color that reflects the light most strongly, creating a strong contrast with what happens in the mirroring surface (which is mostly darkness, except for the fire).

It is woven textile that creates a strong association with the Victorian era, during which Virginia Woolf was born. Also, the fabric is frayed at the ends and on the sides because it is a long process to become a writer (time withers the textile).

A rectangular shaped surface filled with the luminous shards of the broken mirror is covering the face and extending downwards across the chest. The rectangular shape of the covering broken mirror suggests the mirror when it was still framed.
The mask is put on more or less like a kerchief: (1) first the mirror part is put in front of the face, (2) then the scarf-like extension goes over the head, (3) and under the chin and/or over the face, and (4) then finally back over the head to fixate the mirror part. The fabric is long enough so that it covers the whole body by (5) drawing it two or three times around the neck and head.

 
the sun is the perfect fire

The essential thing about the mask is the refection of fire in the mirror-pieces. The fire symbolizes the passions of life, or the Hell, of the world around. This fire has an immaterial quality, and this is important. Emotions and passions and other things that concern writers are often things that exist beyond our material reality. Many many words and/or a good deal of symbolism are needed to make them sensible. The light and the aggressive nature of fire would be a good way to illustrate those immaterial forces.

So in its completeness THE MASK IS REFLECTING THE FIRE.

But even though the fire is essential, ultimately, the fire is only a metaphor for the burning fire of life itself, and we can say that this fire of life originates from the sun and is sustained by the sun. Therefore the sun is the perfect fire to illuminate all that is reflected in the mask.

Behind the mask is a living being. It moves. It is communicating, but the language is of another world. The intensity of the fire seems to change all the time. We hear the fire burning. We see the flashing reflections in the mirror. In fact we can see ourselves, fragmented, through the mirror, in the fire. Fire is burning away all the time, consuming the life that is inside, but the fire cannot be quenched.
 

This is a audiopost by Lukihäiriöt Ry, hear it below

Here’s a complete transcript of the ‘Scanio’ scanner presentation that happened inside the ‘Library-Re-Edit’ project. 

 Good evening!

Thank you for coming.

We’re gonna make some history together today!

I’m happy to welcome you on the ‘Scanio’ book-scanner presentation!

It was..[cough] uh it was just a couple of months ago that I received thirty boxes filled with books from SKOR library and from the library of ‘de Pavilions’ Almere. Back to that moment, I announced that we were going to create a special way to order all the books we got. We spent some evenings on thinking what could be the best method to deal with these thirty boxes. What could we do to show the importance and diversity of the content inside these thirty boxes? We had works from Paul O’Neill and Claire Doherty and some design catalogues from 2013. We had books consisted only of plain text, books with photos,  books with only photos, books with one or two words inside, books with only one image and text for 1000 pages. There’s a really bright confrontation between text and image information books consist of. For better understanding we propose to represent it as a color gradient.

Let’s imagine ratio of 100% image content to 0% text content to be defined as a velvet color. And, on the other hand, let the ratio of 100% text to 0% image be defined as a cyan color.

So now I want to talk about the product we designed to solve the problem of thirty boxes. Our team created a book-scanner which lets you to scan the publication in order to see what is inside not even opening it. This machine is able to recognize the content considering ratio of text information to image information. As a result you receive an amount of pictures and text in the publication. The result is presented to you as a percentage and a color hue from the gradient line (this way the gradient line becomes a measuring method). I think that showing the information both in percents and colors is a crucial element for ‘Scanio’ project. The research we made showed us the importance of both categories for better understanding and memorizing the result machine gives to you. Numbers are the most precise way to represent information but having a color related to each number is also a great step in visualization of the same information. That’s why we find it so important to keep color gradient as a fundamental part of scanning books. 

So, as a final product we have a machine very simple to deal with, which can predict what kind of book is in your hands. As an example it can be easily used in libraries and book stores. The scanner creates a new possibility to make a special order for books. It gives a different meaning to the whole structure, since books are sorted from the perspective of visual content inside. Plus, it takes less time to create this kind of structure with ‘Scanio’.

Moreover, we are still developing the idea of making it possible to use the book-scanner as a personal device along with usual printers and scanners. And the ‘Scanio’ name is still a working one…[nervous laughter]

so thank you all very much for coming today

and uh, we’ll see you all soon
thanks

We asked several people to give us there feedback about the process of choosing a book, and how image/text content influences their choice.

— I would never buy a book without images. I swear. The more pictures inside, the best. If there’s no images at all then this book seems to me boring immediately. The perfect example is Robinson Crusoe with old engravings from 18th century. I can start rereading it again just because of the illustrations. Good illustrations are better then any movie based on a book. I would never buy a book without images, really. 

— 3% is my maximum. Pictures are distracting. Not sure that it’s needed for me at all.

— It depends a lot. If you are asking me about choosing between ‘War and Peace’ with illustrations and without any, i would say 100% text. If this is a book for biology class or a manual, then 70% image is the starting point. Even if that book will be more expensive i would take the one with pictures in it. 

— I’ve noticed a really funny fact about myself. In winter time I always want to read these books with plain text, no images. I don’t know why but I think this is the perfect time for those reading moments. So as a Christmas present i’d love to get a 0% one!  

— I have a childhood trauma because of illustrations in one of the books. Don’t want to talk about it. 0%.

— I’m pretty scared of books without any imagery content inside. I would start with 45%. 

— I can’t read.

0
|
|
|
|-Observing a timeline, we can see it is partitioned into
|three parts: past, present and future. We have knowledge
|of the events that took place in the past and we
|experience those of the present and we cannot know what
|future holds for us. The same basis can be applied as far
|as books are concerned. The idea proposed, is based on
|the linearity of a timeline (it’s core structure).
|A library whose key principles are continuity and
|chronological order. A library filled with books from the
|beginning until now, and the rest empty, only to be filled
|with books in the future.
|
|–The clarification systems are reviewed periodically, so
|that they can adapt to the constantly changing environment,
|in which moves humanity, and be consistent with the
|developments taking place in the world. Both in terms of
|new phenomena (e.g. new fields of knowledge, new
|technologies and new political conditions) and for
|reviewing the old phenomena (e.g. elimination of prejudices).
|
|
|—Past belongs to the past. “Quod periit, periit”, What
|has happened has happened and it cannot be changed.
|Nobody can write a book at the past. People, most of the
|times, want to relate, to identify themselves via dates
|and chronological order. One, remembers who he is and
|where he came from, his roots, his beginning and his
|present, through particular events that happened on
|specific dates. As far as art is concerned, a field
|where chronological cohesiveness plays a big role by
|itself, everything has to do with time. For example,
|regarding the authenticity or non-authenticity of an
|artwork; the sources which an art historian resorts to,
|show that a work belongs to a particular artist, or to
|identify the origin of the project, or the date of its
|creation, or in order to document whether an
|interpretation of other historians is or is not accurate.
|This linear chronological function shows us the process of
|knowledge methods of expertise, of knowledge regarding the
|use of materials, of production, of technical achievements,
|all conquered by man over time.
|
|
|
|—-Helen Bakalo wrote in her book “Rhythms
|and Definitions of European Art, 1980″:
|“…The time in which events take place, seems
|immobilized; it has no fluidity at all. The clues
|that would reveal to us the continuously changing
|present do not exist. It is as if we recreate the
|past mentally, only after its registration in our
|consciousness, not like living it with our senses
|and partaking dramatically…”.
|
|
|
|
|—–The systematic study of the past, based on
|chronological order, focuses primarily on human
|activity up to the present time. This study of
|events includes not only historical records, but
|also the causes that led to them. In addition to
|this, we appreciate more, objects that are old
|and damaged, as it is somehow believed that they
|are able to hide wisdom from another era. Using
|this kind of classification, we can derive
|information and details and not only a simple
|historical order. We can observe social issues,
|topics, problems, ideas which kept people busy at
|that specific period. Book binding, preference to
|covers, colors, font, topic, quality of paper,
|which decision took the graphic designer, even the
|number of published books, can give us a lot of
|information for the time period in examination.
|For example: During the 90’s, many libraries decided
|to withdraw many of their books because of an
|innovation, the internet. Later they regretted this
|decision but it was too late (another historical
|event of our timeline).
|
|
|
|
|
|——It is not about an impersonal way of research.
|It is more of a personal matter. If, for instance,
|someone is interested in me, in finding information
|about me at a particular time period, that someone can
|just think about my date of birth
|(incidentally 19/05/1995) and discover many things about
|my childhood, the way that I grew up or even some of my
|habits and interests, drawing information from the input
|data of such a classification and getting to know what it
|was like growing up in those times. It is not only
|necessary to find and read ones biography, but also to
|understand the events that affected and developed that
|particular one.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|——-All in all, the compatible “search” can be
|changed. We will not be lured just from a fancy title
|or a nice colorful book cover, in order to decide for
|a book. We will “search” based on how far we would like
|to dive into the past, the present, or to the presume
|of the future; based on our needs.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|——–Note no1: This plan is working much better in a
|bigger scale. A small collection of books, for example a
|personal one, can depict obviously the taste and the
|development of a person, as a kind of a diary with thoughts.
|But in a bigger scale, this can be seen from an
|anthropological point of view and by many more aspects,
|as mentioned above.
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|———Note no2: A possible ergonomic solution could be
|the addition of the date of publication, on the spine of the book
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My first choice was Tails. The fast flying little fox from SEGAs retro platform game Sonic the Hedgehog. Me and my ten years older sister played that back in the 90’s. It was rad! She was Sonic of course and I was Tails. I researched Tails a bit, turns out he’s a he not a she and his real name is Miles Prower, a pun to Miles per hour because he so fast. But his identity is maybe a bit too two dimensional, literary and metaphorically. And I was stuck with to simple ideas, not wanted to complicate my not so complicated relation to this little lovely creature.

Lets move on.
So I needed to think of a new person. Roy Batty played by Rutger Hauer from Blade Runner (1982) came to my mind. He is a “Replicant”, a robot who together with his Replicant friends rebel against their predetermined work-for-humans destiny. And then “Major” from the renowned classic anime Ghost in the Shell (1995). She is a cyborg cop, that faces questions about humanity while fighting a new life form, a computer virus with a free will. And I can not help of thinking of Leeloo Dallas. The tangerine colored hair girl from The Fifth Element (1997) played by Mila Jakovovich. She is a bodily product of an experiment to create the perfect human, but who escapes her birthplace, the lab, right away. A forth person unavoidable to think of is Arzach. Created by french comic book author Moebius. Arzach is a half human, half (?) whose self assigned mission is to guard the planets. Never on one or the other side of a conflict, just a fighter for peace.
But I also think about a bum in a carbon box on the street. With layers of clothes that lost their color. With all the time in the world to turn inside to his or her own thoughts. One with a personal outlook on life. One who everyone recognize. One who is around. A rambler.

Roy Batty The Replicant, Motoko Kusanagi aka Major, Leeloo Dallas and Arzach
And below, some guy in a park with a vulture

 What I did was to combine the persons in my head, creating a somewhat abstract genderless sci fi hoodlum. Who only exist in my mind, and barely not even there. I am also stuck in a aesthetics far away from the clean cliché futurism. And closer to the bum.

A way to further define my person is perhaps describe her environment. First of all its not in a known place but in a nonspecific dystopic far future. A environment similar where my persons described above are use to themselves. Its a supercity, to big for any authority to control. Left to its own self sufficiency. Every man and woman to him and herself and a free open market. In many ways, life for people is back to more primitive ways, but with an endless access to advanced technologies. The half mined out metallic asteroid Omega in the video game Mass Effect may be the represented place. A messy sanctuary for bandits and outlaws.

The Fifth Element                                                               Akira

I know I wanted to work solely in black, maybe to make a little challenge for my self since I always prefer color.
I wanted a rough worn-out feeling. As if my person been around a lot, wearing the hat through fail and foul. I went to a fabric store to find some second hand leather but an old jersey fabric with pilling and nubs caught my attention. On waterlooplein I found a old leather hat which was soft in material but tough in attitude. I brought it with me for inspiration and material.

Since I wanted a little bit of PUNK to the hat, and to avoid making just another wizards hat I added some METALL.
like these eyelets and of course safety pins.

I needed a way to make a big stable shape. So I sewed in metal sticks to be able to form a shape I want.

I liked the look of the needles sticking out like spikes before I sewed the sticks in. I made some tryout on how I could keep them there instead, but decided it was to dangerous and non-practical. I want my person to have a wearable hat she can be active in.

With the bendable metal base I could try different shapes. Head in the hat skeleton or on top.

Many try-out on the shape of the hat. Like a cone, onion or a smashed cylinder?
On how to where what type of cap. Small one, round one, multiple ones, on the back, under the chin?
On how to were a cape. And if to wear a cape. Be anonymous, be protective?
I heard in a movie about superheroes ones that capes are really unhandy because they get stuck everywhere. We liked the idea of a cape. I decided to make a detachable cape. I wanted to have “big ears” on the hat. The cape now has “big ears” that are used to fix it to the hat, together with a black rope. Very convenient. I decided to have three caps in the front. It makes an odd but not crazy look. The person wearing it looks cool and mysterious. It covers almost the face whole but you still have mouth and eyes and nose accessible, so it is comfortable.

Everything is attached together more or less only with the eyelets, pins, ropes ect. You can more or less see the construction from outside.
Result

Library is an international transit point of knowledge where people arrive and depart by spending some hours with the books or any form of educational materials.

Whatever method you choose to store your books it is important to organize your books so that the students, teachers or an individual reader can find the things they look for easily. To classify books, comprehensive cataloging systems, like Dewey Decimal system, or the Library of Congress Classification system are in common use but I believe, for every collection we don’t need to follow (necessarily) these systems.

The best way to start organizing your collection is to split the books into fiction and non-fiction, or storybooks, schoolbooks etc.

After that the complexity of your organizing depends on the size or the thickness of the book collection, or let’s say according to the Volume. In general it is better to group books by subject than by author.

After that classification (fiction/non-fiction), the complexity of your organizing depends on the subject of the content of the books. Most of the library collection starts with a tag line “ SUBJECT ” and or sometimes in an alphabetical order or by volume (which is rare). In general it is always better to organize a collection in an easy way to access method because often it is tiring to search or get a “particular book” in a library.

As libraries are public space, all the time different people, from a philosopher to a beggar, children to amateurs, visit it. All the time in advance it is not sure which book from particular authors or subjects someone who visits the library will choose. Sometimes they just want to go random through the books. These people are more interested in the title of a book and its volume rather than whom it’s written by or what the content exactly is. After going randomly, they try to figure out their own taste of reading. Technically, cover, color and images of the book attract these kinds of readers.

Being so curious about the size and the color of a book, it comes first in our sight neglecting its neighboring small and thinner books. And those thinner books look just like a single drop of water in a giant ocean.

Readers, who are amateur and confused, hardly figure out thinner books (although they are without distinction) through the bookshelves.

I always think that the identity of thinner books disappear being a sandwich between two giants. As the book is out of sight and hard to find. And most of the times, all the attention are attracted to thick and bulky ones.

When books are separated according to the subject or title, the biggest fear is still to loose the value (visibility in the crowd of thicker books) of thinner books.

After visiting many libraries, I started thinking, what might be the best idea to bring these thinner books into highlight? What could be added to the traditional book management systems of libraries so that one doesn’t need to be specific while selecting books and still make contact with all kinds (thicker to thinner)?

How to organize the books in any library, so that they don’t get obscured by the world of thicker books and make them visible and valuable?

 One and only solution to bring all thinner books into highlight is “separate all thinner books from thicker ones”.  Instead of classifying books according to the size, height, color, subject, it could be more profitable to organize them according to their thickness. This is how all the thinner books (which are lost in the bookshelf), comes into highlight and their values are saved. And the readers pick up those books automatically.

• How to start?
• Organize/ display books according to their thickness.

History ->Thickest-Thicker-Thick-Thin-Thinner-Thinnest

                                                      OR

Fiction -> Thinnest-Thinner-Thin-Thick-Thicker-Thickest

It may also be worth organizing book collection according to the grade or level, where books for younger readers or children can be stored in a lower shelf, and philosophical or difficult books for older readers in a higher shelf. Book published nationally and internationally can also be categorized in the same way I mentioned above.

After categorizing all the books according to their subjects and contents, it will be very easy to place them according to their thickness. By using this method, all the books get their identity, space, importance and appreciation. And there will be less confusion and tiring in searching the respective book of one’s choice. The thinner books are highlighted too in compare to thicker. They can be in reader’s sight very easily and reader doesn’t need to spend too much time in search of the thinner sized book which normally hide in between the thickest books.

As this method is very useful, there is high probability that readers will give equal importance to the all books.

• Where?

This system of managing books can be handy and useful for almost all types of libraries. As public libraries are open for all kind of people and crowd, this system can be easier for people to figure out particular books whether it is thick or thin. This method of handling books in a library will be (I believe) very inviting for new amateurs readers especially who enter the library with an intention to read something but don’t know what to read.

In school and home, the same system or method can be followed. As we know in a classroom and in a house, there are no big collection of books. Every one knows where and how she/he has placed the book. But still it will be very functional to organize the small collection according to their thickness as it will help to create a fun environment for the readers (from small kids to bookworms). This system must be kept very simple to encourage pupils to browse through the collections.

Universities libraries can implement this system too, so that during their small break time they can quickly go through all kinds of books with out loosing their time. Thinner books are better for short breaks.

Conclusion

By using this method of distribution or classifying books in a library, helps books, an easy approach. Technically too, it will be very handy for an individual collector or librarian to take care all the books, from thinnest to thickest easily and can keep good records.

 

"Don't ask from where I have come, 

My home is far, far away. 

Why do you wander so far? Wander so far?"

- "Olive Tree" by Sanmao 

Sanmao to me was an incurable romantic, a lonely dreamer and a gifted drifter who had spent most of her life travelling and writing. The stories and the journals she wrote beautifully reflected the unforgettable journeys she undertook, the incredible places and people she had seen. Sanmao studied philosophy in Taiwan and continued her education later on in Spain and Germany. After her study and the tragical loss of her fiancé, Sanmao returned to Spain and there she made up her mind to follow the sunset of Sahara . Her life as a drifter and a writer then began.

I’ve always been very much moved and inspired by the stories of her life journey, as her writings didn’t only describe the wonderful experiences of her trips but also illustrated the difficult realities she had to deal with. (Here is one of her stories – “The Mute Slave” collected in the book “The Stories of Sahara”.)  Because of her kindness and courage, she was able to prepare herself to face all the challenges and risks of her adventure. To me Sanmao’s writings mean much more than a travelogue, significantly they stand for her values of life. Therefore, I decided to take Sanmao as the person/source of my inspiration for this “Identity” design project.

As I was quite familiar with her books, in her writings what interested me the most was her fascination with her previous incarnation. In the book “Wan Shui Qian Shan Zou Bian”, she wrote that she had always believed she was an Ecuadorian Indian girl in her last life. When she traveled to one remote village hidden in the Andes, she felt immensely connected to the highland, as if she had come back to the homeland of her previous life.  As she wrote, in her last life she was a Cañari (“an indigenous ethnic group traditionally inhabiting the territory of the modern provinces of Azuay and Cañar in Ecuador”) girl named Hawa. The name Hawa in their language means heart. She was a pharmacist’s granddaughter who lived her entire life happily and peacefully in the village of the silver lake (also known as the lake of heart) till her death.

“Wan Shui Qian Shan Zou Bian” in Chinese

As her imaginary previous life fascinated me so much, I decided to design the headpiece based on her last life story and research on the indigenous inhabitants of Ecuador as a starting point. It was at first difficult to figure out the ethnicity of Hawa in English and there was no Chinese information regarding the ethnic group she belonged to. However, after several rounds of research on the history of the indigenous people of Ecuador, I was able to confirm that Hawa’s ethnicity was Cañari. Research on history, culture  and custom of the Cañari was then further conducted.

Interestingly, I found the Cañari indians loved wearing hats. “Those of you who have been following our South American journey know how important, and ubiquitous, hats are to the people of the Andes. Fedoras are to be found everywhere, stovepipes are not uncommon, and the Cholas of Bolivia have turned blower hats into a jaunty fashion statement of national pride. Many wear straw hats, and in Ecuador at least, have them refurbished by painting them to make them last longer. I must also mention Panama hats, which are not from Panama at all, but are exclusively an Ecuadorian creation”, Alison and Don wrote in their post “The Cañari of Ecuador, a ‘palace’ and a pig”. 

Nevertheless, among the different types of hats they wear, I found one kind that was particularly special. The hat is made with a wide brim and many strands of colourful yarns falling from the edge. The Cañaris usually wear it for festivals and celebrations.

On the other side of my research, I discovered the Cañaris created a very unique moon worshipping system using large rocks. “The Incas worshipped the sun, but the Cañaris worshipped the moon. There are 28 holes on the larger rock, one for each day in a lunar month.  Each hole is drilled at a different angle and when water is added, the Cañaris would look at the reflection of the moon in the small pools. This was their way of receiving messages from their god.  The other “holey rocks” were most likely used to hold paint (for painting faces, textiles, etc), “ Mellisajane14 wrote in her blog “Ingaprica: Incas in Ecuador”.

After a few rounds of research, I began to develop ideas for the design of the headpiece for Hawa. In the end I decided to make masks for her to wear, as I believed Hawa – the preexistence of San Mao should be a vague figure without revealing a clear face.

Meanwhile, inspired by those bright, colourful yarns and holy rocks, I planned to seek and experiment with similar and relevant materials so as to resemble the Cañari elements. Wood and bamboo were selected due to their primitiveness associated with the Cañari indians. Clay and small rocks were also applied, echoing those incredible rocks.

After the experimental trials with materials, a clearer image of the mask that I wanted to make gradually emerged. The try-outs with the clay mask as well as the small rocks didn’t turn out strong enough to mirror the Cañari moon worshipping system. However, the results of colourful yarns in combination with wood and bamboo were quite intriguing. Hence, I decided to further continue the mask concept mainly using yarn, bamboo and wood. As the techniques of applying yarns I developed during the experiments were different, I was suggested to make two masks using both techniques (yarn with wood and yarn with bamboo). In the first technique, long strands of yarn in selected colours were made and locked to an organic-shaped wooden stick that was found in the street, creating the idea of a mask that could cover most of the body. While in the other one, yarns were applied as components to bind the bamboo sticks.

As I discovered that yarn strands in volume and layers would turn out more visually powerful in the form of masks, and bamboo sticks bound with brightly coloured yarns placing vertically would create a refreshing effect. Therefore, I decided to continue working on the mask of yarn strands by creating more volume in layers. On the other hand, I tried to come up with a few scale models to explore the overall shape of the bamboo mask. I found that a mask of bamboo sticks in different lengths and a more or less geometric shape could be primitive and fit well in the Cañari vibe. I eventually chose one shape that I thought would connect to the story the best and made a paper mock-up of it.

Simultaneously, I kept working on the mask with layers of the yarn strands. In the initial plan, hemp rope was used to coin around both the ends of the wooden stick, building a vast contrast between the fineness of the yarn and roughness of the rope, while small gaps were left between the yarn and the rope for hair fixation, creating a way for Sanmao/Hawa to put the mask on. However, I discovered it would be even stronger to leave out the hemp rope and cover the rest of the wooden stick using only hair.

As for the bamboo mask, I continued building and finishing it according to the mock-up and came up with another means of fixation by attaching a few strands of straw rope to tie around Sanmao/Hawa’s body. The process of building was a bit struggling due to the difficulty of binding the slightly bended bamboo sticks.

Nevertheless, after two months of efforts, the masks were eventually finished. Although there were struggles and doubts, I was quite happy with the process as well as the results. After finishing the works, I decided to try them on for photo documentation. As you can see, the photos were taken in different settings. Wearing the colourful headpiece with the long yarn strands, I thought that it was necessary to feel the wind and frame the yarn flying moment at my balcony. I felt spiritual and  being transformed into a shaman from an Andes tribe. It was incredible. When I firstly put on the bamboo mask, I felt the urge of being completely natural. I wore the bamboo mask naked and did some tribal dancing and humming in my room. I felt happy and free then. In the end, I decided to keep the pictures taken at the balcony original and fresh, while adding some effects to the photos of the bamboo mask, making it a bit strange and whimsical.

I’m certainly glad that my father introduced Sanmao’s books to me at my younger age, when talking about the relations between writing and experiences of life. Without her journeys, I believe that she couldn’t have told so many wonderful stories. And it definitely helped me to rediscover myself and to a certain extend shaped my view/values of life. To me life is a long journey after all. I  made these two masks for her/ her previous incarnation in remembrance of her free spirit. These two masks carry special meanings to me, as they were made for Sanmao – an incurable romantic, a lonely dreamer and a gifted drifter who I feel deeply in common with. 

Goodbye Sanmao.

Op het moment dat ik mijn boek uit had gezocht in het paviljoen, ben ik afgegaan op de associatie die ik had met het boek. Het voelde als een van de eerste boeken waar ik vroeger zelf in ging kijken. Het eerste wat ik deed was snel bladeren, de layout en de plaatjes bekijken. Daarna bekeek ik de voorkant en de achterkant. Het enige waar ik naar keek, waren de visuele aspecten en niet de inhoud.

De stofomslag is een tijd beschouwd als niet belangrijk, het werd alleen gezien als bescherming van het boek en werd vaak weg gegooid. In deze tijd is de omslag wel een duidelijk onderdeel van het boek maar vaak is de visuele content totaal anders dan die van de cover van het boek. De omslag moet het boek aanprijzen en meteen duidelijk maken welk gevoel je kan krijgen van de inhoud. De meeste covers van de boeken met een stofomslag zijn heel minimaal, bijna altijd hebben ze alleen maar een kleur met de tittel van het boek op cover of op de kaft.

In de bibliotheek die ik bedacht heb kom je binnen in grote ruimte waar alle boeken op kleine stapeltjes liggen. Het enige wat je ziet is een kleur en een titel. De stapels zijn combinaties van boeken die aan elkaar refereren. Als ik boeken bekijk of lees zie ik altijd wel een bepaalde link met een ander boek. De stapels worden gemaakt door de mensen in de bibliotheek en de werknemers. Zo ontstaat er een wisselwerking aan informatie en associaties puur op informatie. Bijvoorbeeld als je een een onderwerp hebt over verschillende hiërarchieën in de middeleeuwen dan kan je een boek hebben over de werking. Of je hebt een boek van een filosoof die zijn visie er op loslaat. Een boek dat geschreven is in het heden en terug kijkt op de situatie of het is juist een boek dat in die tijd is geschreven. Op die manier krijg je heel veel interessante links van informatie door verschillende mensen. En de link die een persoon legt tussen de boeken kan weer heel erg verschillen tussen de link die jij er mee legt.

Met die gedachte van gebundelde informatie ga je naar de volgende ruimte met je stapeltje boeken. Die ruimte staat vol met boek omslagen. De bezoeker van de bieb gaat met het stapeltje in zijn hand lopen door de ruimte en is op zoek naar omslag met het juiste gevoel voor zijn combinatie aan informatie, de keuze van de omslag is dan ook volledig subjectief. De omslagen hangen tegen de muren aan. Maar ze hangen allemaal op een verschillende hoogte dus op dat moment komt het boeken stapeltje ook weer goed van pas, door op de boeken te staan kan je bij een bepaalde omslag komen. De bedoeling is om je volledig uit te strekken, de omslag waar je dan bij uit komt moet je pakken. De omslagen waar de bibliotheek het meest blij mee is hangen dan ook het hoogst zodat die zo min mogelijk worden gepakt. Er zijn vijfhonderd dertig verschillende smalle gangen met muren van drie meter hoog. In die gangen hangen alle stof omslagen. Die zijn ook weer onder verdeeld op bijvoorbeeld omslagen met huilende kinderen op de voorkant, covers met blauwe letters of Indiaansen rituelen. Al die dingen zijn dus weer gebaseerd op het visuele aspect. De zijwanden van de gangen zijn helemaal leeg. De stofomslagen hangen alleen aan het eind van de gang zodat het even tijd kost voor dat je de omslagen helemaal goed kan bekijken. Dus het eerste wat je ziet als je naar binnen kijkt in de gang is een soort van sfeer aan kleuren van foto’s, tekeningen en letters.

Waneer de bezoeker zijn omslag en boeken heeft gevonden neemt hij ze mee naar de de laatste ruimte. Daar gaat de omslag in een grote machine waar de omslag om de boeken heen word gewikkeld. Als de bezoeker het stapeltje dan volgende keer meeneemt legt hij de stapel op de eerste rij met alle stapels die weer terug moesten naar de bibliotheek. Als er dan nu weer iemand anders komt kan hij/zij de combinatie bekijken en bepaalde boeken er weer tussen uit halen die hij/zij nodig heeft voor de combinatie. Maar doordat hij  eerst nog moet zoeken door de combinatie door die van iemand anders kan hij/zij nog weer op andere combinaties komen.

I                     A    M       W HI   M S I  C  A L

I      A              M          L  O  O S   E    

I      A M           G R AC   IO U  S

I     A M    I   N    LO V   E

A N  D    I     S   A Y    T HI  N  G S

I    S H  O   U    L  D      N O  T  S  A Y

Oh, it was such a glorious day. A new assignment, a new struggle. Exciting, i’d say.

I couldn’t imagine who to pick.

See, we had to choose one very special person to use as a subject or better said, starting point, for this project.

“D    E S  I G    N     A      H   E A  D    D   R  E S  S”,

A sentence said a bit  too much during the last few weeks. However i was motivated. So motivated that i started collecting materials, before even knowing who to pick as a subject. Who the hell would be good enough for me? What about some current and past obsessions? Radiohead’s Thom Yorke? My favorite artist, Anish Kapoor? I could’ve taken quite a leap, by using a fictional character. Rocky Horror Picture Show had a lot of great characters to base something on. How about Frank-N-Furter?

Nothing was interesting enough for me and nothing really sticked to me.

After doubting for quite some time, i made my decision. Olof Dreijer!

For readers who don’t know who that is; Olof Dreijer is one halve of the Knife. A Swedish electronic duo, consisting of siblings.

I’ve been listening to them for quite a while now and they became one of my most favorite musical acts and after seeing them live on the 6th of may, back in 2013, i became obsessed. I have all their mp3’s, almost all of their records on vinyl and even listen to Karin Dreijer’s (Olof Dreijer’s sister) 90’s band “Honey is Cool” .

I          A     M      G E  T   T    I     N      G      O F   F     T R  A   C    K

After deciding whom to pick, i did some spherical research. Collecting images of landscapes, materials and weird textures that i thought would be inspiring for and to me, regarding the project.

The collected images are based and connected to the different almost completely unnatural sounds, used in the Knife’s and Olof Dreijer’s other projects’ songs.

What really sticked to me was the amount of metal and plastic imagery between the collected images. Noticing this, i disregarded my former material choices and decided to use something more rich. I ordered 5KG tin/lead and started playing around with it.

First i made molds of objects (toy-soldiers, plants, self-made statuettes) using polyurethane foam, floral foam, clay and plaster and of course dripping tin into the earlier said molds.  The results were surprising and inspiring, but didn’t really fit to what i wanted to succeed.

I      A    M       G   E  T    T      I    N  G         E  X     C  I  T     E  D

I know now and i knew back then, that i like(d) being unorthodox. Thus I wanted to make headdresses for the dead, AKA taxidermy’d animals. Still having most of the earlier made abstract tin shapes, i started putting them to use. Even though it looked quite good, I found out that this wasn’t the way to go. In this case it was all about aesthetics and not so much about Olof Dreijer. This is something i could use in a future project, but it was very disconnected from the wanted atmosphere.

I        A    M      M O   V  I   N     G      O N

Most of my end-products came from improvisation and experimentation and even though i can be a wild card at times, I did know I wanted to base the mask on my own face. This was logical, to me, as i was the one who’d wear it to feel / be like Olof Dreijer.

I made a mold of my face and afterwards poured some porcelain plaster into the mold, with amazing help of a peer (I am in doubt if i should name her by her name or not). Having a lot of trouble with keeping the mold completely in shape, the plaster cast turned out a bit misshapen and crooked. However in the end i was satisfied with the result, as it was inspiring to see how it turned out and i am inspired to do more. I want to make plaster casts of everything.

I         A  M              H           A  P       P    Y

After making a plaster cast of my face, i wanted to go trough several other proci, before deciding that i was finished with the project. The first one being, making another mold of the cast, using silicon. When it was completely dry, i took it of the plaster and the result was as magnificent as I hoped for. Not having to0 much time to waste, I went on to the next step. Dripping tin into the latest silicon mold, resulting in several masks of my face.

This being a step and not a result, i started playing around with plastic rope, whilst burning the skin off my fingers by attaching the pieces in this manner. I created a grid-mask, using my head as a base and painted it yellow (making a low-key reference to the Knife’s first album’s cover) and when it was dry, i attached two of the tin-faces to the grid using copper-tread.

I            B      E  C A   M E         D I     S S A    T I   S F   I E D

Soon after finishing the headdress, i wanted to make a sweater to go with it. Using the same grid in the same dimensions and painting it in the same color, it became a unity. It became a whole. The sweater is a bit of a hassle though. It’s quite sharp and i had to accept it hurting me constantly, when wearing it. And thinking about pain and pain-relief, i knew this was still not enough.

I                 A    M             B      L   I     N  D

Using clay to make a mold of old sunglasses, i started experimenting with the same dripping techniques to make the wanted shape for my soon to be glasses. Also i decided to use glass that was in my own eye-strength, so i’d be the only one that’d be able to see through them.

I                AM                    S    A T ISF IED

This was it and it still is. I presented them, in a very non-humble way, as it is! A peer wearing the headdress and myself wearing the sweater and glasses.

I got good feedback and i am very grateful for this project and how it turned out

I AM DONE

I AM DONE

I AM DONE

I AM DONE

Since books can’t fly, lets angle them instead

I’m usually a patient and thorough person. My apartment is always in an acceptable order, I iron my clothes, I bike at an average pace, I don’t lose my patience when I stand in the slowest line at the grocery store. If I start reading a book, I always finish it sooner or later.

But; whenever I visit a bookstore or a library, and I get confronted by thousands of books, I completely lose my patience.

I know that there is a very clever and simple system to find what you are searching for, and that someone carefully placed every book in alphabetic order, neatly lined up on the bookshelves. But when I stand before the books, I get the same anxious stomach ache as when someone asks me a simple mathematical question that I usually can answer in one second, but in the stressed situation I turn red and stutter that I don’t know.

So how could I avoid this brain-freeze related paralyzation in the context of books?

Solution:

So lets start with the order of the books. The order is usually determined by the alphabetic order of the authors name or the title, which makes sense since it’s both practical and logical, which I’m a big fan of.

Now imagine that you stand before the alphabetically organized bookshelf, turning the pages in Hendrikje Koersen’s poetry collection De witte boot. You are now amazed over the treasure you found, and start to eye the bookshelf after more poetry.

Here is the interesting part:

Imagine every book containing poetry, magically hoovering in front of the bookshelf, making it easy as a piece of cake for you to find.

Sounds good right? Unfortunately I’m not a wizard and therefore not in a position to change the laws of nature, but I can however physically highlight a category of books, by tilting the short-side of them, so they hang over the bookshelves end, pointing out in the room, without actually falling down.

To angle these books, you could use a very simple wooden tool as in the illustration below.

Left picture: Angler, viewed from the side

Right picture: Angler, viewed from above

How:

I have chosen to call this tool an angler, since it is used to literally angle books. (Angler is also the word used to describe a person who is doing angling, a kind of sport fishing, which is fitting since you hold your fishing rod in a angle similar to my wooden tool.)

Left picture: The Angler

Right picture: Fishing rod 

The angler-tool is made of a very simple construction of wood. It can both be used in singles or in groups, but in the context of bookshelves, I will describe the usage of multiple angler-tools.

To use it you first have to fasten it to a bookshelf, and then put it in the angle that is needed. You can choose from five different angles, each representing a different category.

I have chosen to represent poetry, architecture, design, photography and fine art in this scenario, since I study at an art school where these subjects are the most presented in the school-library. In theory, you could add even more angles to the tools design, but I believe that that would affect the clarity of the category’s in a negative way.

Picture: The five different angles that can be used

The tool has five angles, each representing on of the category’s above.

The angles are:

90

110

130

150

170

The angle 170 will be most far out from the bookshelf, and thus also highlight the book. I want to use it as a category for Poetry, because I believe that poetry it is an underrepresented subject that is read the least in art schools in comparison to other subjects. Having this subject highlighted could direct more attention to poetry and maybe influence someone to take a look in the book, even if this person usually does not read poetry.

Angle 90 would be used for books about Fine Art, since I believe that Fine Art is the subject with the highest quantity of books, which therefore makes it important for them to stay further back so they don’t block the view of the angled books, hanging out a bit from the bookshelf.

It is also a category of books that are often used for research in an art university, so it is important for their title to be visible to make them easy to find.

Angle 110 would be used for the Design-category, for the same reason as Fine Art.

The 130 angle would be used for Architecture, and angle 150 for Photography.

Picture: Illustration of how a book-shelf using the angler could look.

Result:

By using this angler tool system a modified bookshelf will look like a relief due to the books protruding in different angles. If you are looking at the bookshelf from a distance, you should have an easy time recognizing the different categories by the angle of the books. Looking at the bookshelf from a closer distance, you would be able to find your book by using the alphabetic order.

By making the bookshelf look like a relief instead of a plain overview, it will invite the viewer for a more tactile experience of the books, because you are not only able to touch and see the spine of the book, but also the front and back side, the material of the cover and the colors of the pages.

The tool may only be a small object, but it would affect not only the angle of the books physically, but also the viewers visual perception of the bookshelf, both from  far and close distances.

by Marguerite Bonneil
who has been proposed to design a headpiece for someone of her own choice.

You want to know about my design process ?
How do you want me to explain it to you clearly ? It’s such a mess …

OH I LIKE IT //1// Bring your shits and sheets

First aim. Find a character. Find an universe. Find an aesthetic.
You didn’t ask me to create a headpiece.
No, no, no. You asked me to design it.
So, if I wanna be free in my design,
I should design my own character.
Let’s see what I want to work with,
let’s hang this stuff on my wall,
and see what comes out of it…

I WANT SOMETHING WHICH IS

TELL A STORY //2// Colors, characters and desires

I want to tell a story, a story for grown-ups,
to remind them that we are never the same,
to remember that we never know what is going to happen.
I want to tell a story about materialities,
about this objects among us, in which we recognize ourselves so well.
I want to tell my fascination for objects, who are so human,
because they all reflect one human’s mind.

Here is the beginning of the story;

(this is a slow gif, be patient)

Gold, Clear Pink, Sand and soft.
Those are the materialistic translations of Young Georgy.

–

Georgy has a neighbor, a creepy neighbor …

Slimy, Latex, Yellow, White, Creamy, Blury. Those are the materialistic translation of The Creepy Guy.
He looks at her through his window when she’s going to school.
And when she’s coming back.

Georgy met a new girl, Kristy, she became her friend.
Her BFFFE (Best Friend First Forever & Ever).

Fluo, Shiny, Plastic, Too much. Those are the materialistic translations of Kristy.

As you may have understand Kristy is the one who is gonna free Georgy.
Adventurous, gorgeous, extrovert, insolent, our girls discover London’s night life. As usual, they went out on a Saturday.
Georgy is gonna tell you what happened.

So now, we have a story with 3 characters.
At one point they were 4, including a man that Georgy would meet at this party.
As you will understand everything didn’t happened as it was supposed to.
And I wanted to show the Georgy Before (16 years old) and the Georgy later (20 years old).

Cool blue, dark, This is how Georgy would materialistically look at her 20-tieth.

4 HEAD PIECES, YOU WILL MAKE 4 HEADPIECES.

TRYING-OUT // 3 // Sounds Like Ready-made

And here comes the mess … In my time, in the productions and of course in my head.
Due to a loss of phone, and nothing else to take pictures, this part of the process suffers of a lack of documentation.

–

–

“Marguerite you’re really a magpie”
(It’s this bird who gathers all the shiny objects)

Short travel to Frankfurt, lucky to go to Ambiente.
This fair is what I would describe as the supermarket of the supermarkets, all kind of product design for your house, your kitchen, your garden … professionals come there from all around the world to select what they will sell in the shops of their various brands, in one, two or three years.
I’m really happy to see that it’s the first edition of the Jewellery section in there, and I go to look for some inspiration…

“As your work is more intuitive I would advice you to make a model you can work on.”

Let’s make a model in clay, try too put all my precious objects all around this head. Begun to make some pearls …

“Marguerite, I would love you, not to use pre-made pearls or elements, but to make your own materials.”

Here are some really bad pictures of some (really good ?) try-outs.
Enjoy the quality of the details !

Use materials / create your materials.
What is trying out ? When are you done ? When is it enough ?
How does your material constraints and lost your abilities ?

“Oh now I know what I wanna do ! I want to write a play !
So I need to find my comedians and then I’ll be able to make it on their heads, Georgy will be my roommate, The Creepy Guy will be a friend. And who will be Kristy ? I think I can be Kristy … ”

“Hey come here I need your head”
“Here I am, what is your problem ?”
“No… I don’t have any problem. Just need your head, sit here, please.”
“Ah… I thought I was smart…”

“I don’t want be the creepy guy, I wanna be the sexy one”

“Me, actress ?!? Your model ?” (biggest smile ever)

So. My process is in a mess.
I don’t know yet which try-out is for who, even it’s more or less define from the color… I begin to write some part of my play which doesn’t go anywhere, I prevent myself to tell my teacher about it. I want to work with materials I don’t have, and I don’t want to work with material I have. As usual, I’m more speaking about what “I’m busy with” than really being busy with it.

SHOWING CODES//4// how to make a choice ?

In this way I decide to make decision !
I decide to make first a “structure”, a fabric structure, and then the other elements will find their place, naturally (I hope).

FIRST STRUCTURE, GEORGY.

As Georgy is the main character, and that she has two mind steps, it’s the first headpiece I will focus on.
Young and then (a little bit) older, she shifts from clear pink, to strong blue (indigo or Klein), between this two colors is the violet.
The two structures will be violet. The two structures will be the same.

SECOND “STRUCTURE”, KRISTY.

SEWING PROCESS

Between Proud and Ambitious //last// Holidays, Prada and All-nighter.

When does your life melt with Georgy’s ?
Do you remember being the shy young Georgy ?
Are you now the seductive shiny ass Georgy ?
Have you ever been ?

Will you ever be ?

How did our filmsy rose Georgy lost herself ?
What really happened during this Bacon night,
How did Kristy disappear ?
Did she loose herself in some hairy arms ?

And here is our Creepy Guy.
THIRD STRUCTURE, THE CREEPY GUY.

“

[audio:https://designblog.rietveldacademie.nl/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/we-want-to-thank-all-our-friends.mp3|titles=”We want to thank all our friends” by Session Victim]

Tessa used to be a regular guest at the well known Studio 80 on Amsterdam’s Rembrandtplein. She would come here to dance, celebrate and have a good time on the weekends. Eventually becoming a part of the Studio 80 family. Knowing Tessa, it doesn’t seem very surprising, that the management has asked and offered her a place as the door host, as I have gotten to know her as a very friendly and warm personality.

She is obviously fascinated and driven by the music, the vibe and the immense sense of freedom, which a club can provide. Letting a feeling of time escape and falling full body into music and dance.

She became a very familiar face over the years working her way up into the management, knowing almost everybody who came to visit the “Studio” regularly. However Tessa has a huge thing for hats, head pieces and the occasional costume. She would change outfits and if you only met her a couple of times like I did, you might not recognize her.

Studio 80 sadly shut it’s doors at the end of January 2016, however they did so with one hell of a goodbye. I have rarely heard such good music, in such exciting ways and locations.

With this assignment coming up and all of this fresh on my mind, it seemed like the perfect idea to do a head piece on the young, hat fascinated lady, who made this great club what it was. However there is one more factor, that we figured out a little later; She was the first “Amsterdammer” I have talked to, when driving from Düsseldorf to Amsterdam with my dear friend Martin, to hear some real music. It was her time of working as the door host.

In Studio 80 there was always a sense of moving. Wether this was a graphic design, a light installation or just playing records while sitting on the couch for a big audience at the goodbye event. The Studio 80 people would come up with the craziest concepts and all the guest would support this „hype“ without question.

Tessa obviously played a very social role in the club and as all of us know, it’s not easy getting along with everybody. Although I felt that she would be perfectly up to the challenge, I wanted to give her the ability to change her appearance quickly, but also to disappear when she feels the need to.

I recently got in touch with the idea of doing a projection and then mapping it onto a three dimensional object. For me it was something I always wanted to try and dig myself into, because I was absolutely curious what the outcome would be.  This way I had the ability to change or to create scenarios for a lot of different situations. Which I felt could come in handy on an entire evening of meeting people and disco.

Deciding to move forward in this direction I felt it was time to talk to Tessa about my wish to do this project on, to ask her questions and to get a better feel of what makes and drives her. My main question was where Tessa draws the line between her very social & fun job and her own personal private live. She made it very clear to me, that this line exists  boldly and that social media such as facebook benefits her with her work. Happy to hear that!

The goal for the next step was now to create a wide variety of content. For me this should include character change, light, darkness, motion but also graphic design. Of course the projection content should focus on the ability of disappearing as well as blending in and supporting a greatly motivated Amsterdam when it comes to music.

However first I had to figure out the technology. I found a basic projection mapping software named „Madmapper“ early during the project. After doing research on the software I understood, that the content would now have to be created using animation and cutting programs (like aftereffects and premiere pro). It would then be imported into the projection software and masked to the face it was later projected on.

Starting of with pens and paper I started experimenting what could be possible and although I was trying to come up with possible content, I was amazed how these lines, shapes and colors could change a face just like that.

After transforming a lot of these ideas into animation something was still missing. I felt, that something being human imagery. It did not yet make sense (almost alienating) to project something on a human face, not including any visual aspects of it. Filming the portrait of several people, I excluded some of their eyes, mouths, faces, to underline a certain feeling with an interesting visual response.

the green line is the mask for mapping it onto a real face

The last big challenge in this project was now, to tie together the pieces without telling a story. All the projection content is intended from me to leave the narrative to your imagination. This was especially hard, because a translation of one animation into the other felt storytelling to me in most cases.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v-IXYLVMbEY

I believe, that this projection could be something nice for Tessa to „wear/carry“. It does not only (as initially intended) give her the ability to hide and disappear, but also to show her mood or a need, and to enjoy herself.