Thursday, March 19, 2009
Some years ago I found in internet journey letters by a designer from Moscow, Artemiy Lebedev (www.tema.ru). There was one thing I was interested in a lot: road signs, street signs, signal lights that surround us everywhere we go, but with a national identity. So, last week I found in a library book, called 1000SIGNS, about same things, but with bigger collection of sign pictures from all over the world. I found it very positive and interesting, that, for example, toilet signs can look different and at the same time tells something special about the country or society they are coming from from. I can’t add any other comment, you have to see it.
And there are also some funny signs about dogs and…
cat. nr: 754.9-mus-1
keyword: identity
Thursday, January 15, 2009
Seeking: a tool to exchange one woman‘s masculinity for one man‘s femininity (read carefully)
Most people‘s gender-conciousness & gender-identity is located in the mind, so a physical tool could only manipulate the exterior signs. Thus, the tool‘s effects are limited to the exterior, and disappear once the interaction with the tool stops. This could mean altering someone‘s posture, movement, appearance etc.
So there will be a physical difference, but one could also try to show the cause along with the effects: Where does the excess masculinity or femininity come from? Are they rooted parts of this person‘s genes or did they arise out of circumstance/necessity/coincidence during the building of their identity?
Interesting gender phenomenon in Native American cultures
Friday, January 9, 2009
In the first four weeks of the basic year, „e“ and her class were instructed by the teachers to: „Make us remember you.“ They used nicknames, objects, made works and performances. This was the first design project, so the whole working process was new to the students. But the teachers were there to talk, direct, and give hints to inspirational sources. „e“ decided that she could best communicate her personality by talking about her favourite dresses and the memories, emotions and characteristics connected to them. The students got to know each other very well through that project by seeing each person‘s creative expression of themselves.
Link: to the pdf file: http://www.amsreview.org/articles/kleine01-2004.pdf
posted by Jane Mumford