NO STRINGS ATTACHED

Our first project start year three, we were asked to inhabit and make work in your new space with the materials you have on your person. As part of this task, we were asked to make five experiments which explores these ideas - physicality in space, social, psychological and materiality. I decided that I would explore my studio at university and at home, specially during the current climate, my practice is divided between these two spaces, so I felt it was important to experiment with my presence in both. Both are very different spaces – my studio is a in a stark white-cube space, whereas my home studio is much more cluttered and sentimental. This juxtaposition was interesting.

UNI STUDIO - I began thinking about how my presence could make an impact on the space along with the materials/objects I had on my person (miniature sculptures I made for the summer project, paper and my phone). I experimented with the miniatures, stacking them on my desk to create precarious configurations. They looked okay but didn't make much impact or achieve what the brief asked.The space was not used to its full capacity and my presence/work was undermined by the scale of the work in comparison to the space. I began imagining how these sculptures would look like on a huge scale. I experimented with this idea by photographing the sculptures and using collage to insert them into the space, like they were invading. I had the 'yellow work' pouring over the top of the walls, lurking into the space. It made me think about, at what stage does the sculpture become too big? Does it make too overwhelming, un-playful, perhaps even monster-like?

HOME STUDIO - I took a series of photographs, experimenting with how different pairs of the miniature fit together, the entanglement or rejection of form. The sculptures merged, twisted or pushed together to make new dialogues and compositions. I liked how together they presented precariousness and formed a totally new shape through the physical relation. I would like to see what these would be like on a large scale, how would the body interact with it, a large sensory environment made with shapes that interact with each other and the participant.

For my final experiment in my home studio, I wanted to physically, visually and audibly take over the space. I made a set using the coloured paper I had available in this studio making a quick, tacky looking miniature set. Bright orange 'wall', pink 'flooring' and LED lights which reminded me of a backdrop for a children's television show. With my miniature sculptures, I put them into the 'set' and filmed my immediate haptic reactions to them using my hands - roll, squish, pull... It was interesting that , without much thought, how I played with them to the camera how I felt they should act, as if they had a personality.

This was the experiment I wanted to explore further and refine as it had the most scope and was the most interesting to me in terms of personifying the shapes. I wanted to give them agency and characteristics of their own. I did this through imagining how they would communicate if they could make sounds. I found various free sound online and began assigning some to the shapes. The blue pyramid was the pointest of the shapes, looked almost inflated. Using Sony Vegas, I edited different 'pop' noises whenever I squished or disrupted the state of the form. The red and blue arm-like sculpture reminded me of the body and so I used a quite grotesque sniffing noise, that when I squeezed the shape harder the noise become more prevalent.

Overall I am pleased with the finished experimental short film. It made me explore the forms passed them being 'sculptures' and more like beings that could be activated through interactions. I would like to explore adding sounds to forms more in future projects.

VIEW FULL VIDEO HERE: https://lucywinnicott.wixsite.com/artwork/pop-gulp-squish

Sensory/Play Mat, Final piece planning and making

PROJECT PROPOSAL

To explore the ideas of sensory play in conjunction with forms and materiality, for my end of year piece I propose to create a sensory mat inspired by those found in soft play areas or sensory rooms as well as a short animation on a loop. I have been inspired by the animation work of Katy Dove, in particular, 'Luna' (2004) and 'Motorhead' (2002) which played around with the relationship between the movement of non-directed painting forms and sound to create an activate abstraction through the immateriality of the screen. The music played a vital role in the reception of the work - 'Luna' presented a therapeutic tranquillity, whereas, in 'Motorhead' the forms reflected the pulses of sound. It was the use of visual and sound techniques, to establish an emotional response that is an area of focus in the development of my work. I have researched the interactive installations of Ernesto Neto who often creates an environment that invites the audience to participate through lying down on the large soft sculptures, immersing the viewer in the space. Moreover, I have researched ideas of ‘Relational Aesthetics’ by Nicolas Bourriaud. The aim is for my work is for it to be experienced and to create "a momentary grouping of participatory viewers" (Bourriaud, 2002).

For this piece, I will make a sensory/play mat made from various materials and stuffing. It will have detachable soft sculptures that can be placed together to create a large enough space for viewers to lie or sit. I will create two-part sculptures by cutting the shapes, machine sewing, reversing the material, stuffing before stitching the material up. I have picked toy stuffing as it will be comfortable for the viewer. On top of the sculptures, I will attach pieces such as mirrors, crackly material and other sensory-based materials in order to reflect a child-like play mat that also encourages interactive play. My animation will depict moving paper and embroidery collages that flow through the screen in differing rhythms and paths. Although this part of the work is not tangible, the shapes are from photographs of physical work and so this will present materiality on an immaterial surface. It will feature chime sounds which I hope will provoke a therapeutic response. The installation will engage with touch, sound and the visual to produce an engaging sensory experience. I will project my animation onto the ceiling using a projector which will create a visual landscape of moving colours and forms into the room and it will be watched from the mat, forming an immersive environment.

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THINKING AND MAKING

I wanted to create a sensory/playmat to go along with my short animation as part of my final end of year show to establish a social experience as well as a viewing 'platform' to watch the animation on the ceiling of the space. Ernesto Neto often uses soft sculptures to create a soft surface in which viewers can lie and be immersed in the installation, using sketchy fabrics and wadding/foam. The audience almost become extensions of his work, physically engaging with their bodies. Several elements are used to form Neto's installations to build an environment and drawing on themes of sensory dialogue. The idea of several pieces is also seen in the fibre art of Sheila Hicks, who makes abstract sculptures - almost like blobs which are constructed into much larger installations which have a stackable quality. In her Venice Biennial piece 'Escalade Beyond Chromatic Lands', Hicks stacked the sculptures up the walk to create a cascade of colour that could be broken apart and moved around - could be a totally different piece with how the sculptures are positioned in the space. I decided to make the mat out of several pieces, breaking down the ideas I had of the sensory mat into more manageable chunks. Each of the sections will be unique and fit into each other to create one large piece.

I picked six different fabrics from the fabric shops - a variety of colours and textures to define different sensory responses also creating a colour palette for the mat. I planned out a rough design of the shapes and began cutting them out, using the previous shape each time so that they assemble together once made. Once all the pieces were cut out, I machine sewed them and stuffed with toy stuffing - I chose this material as I am familiar with it also it would create a soft surface for people to lie on. Ideally, I would have used foam cut to measure but this would have been expensive and perhaps not necessarily needed. Unlike previous sculptures, however, I only filled them up halfway to so that the surface of the forms would be flat so people would be able to walk on it. I made the basis of the mat but, apart from the stacked section, it was a little boring and didn't have sensory appeal.

I wanted to emulate the functionality and play of an infants mat... the sounds, touchy-feely bits, colours. This is where this work was lacking. I started to experiment with leftover material from the mat and household items to create sensory reliefs on the mat that whilst the viewer is watching there is added interest through touch and sounds:

• Foil and cardboard mirrors with wool

• Pom-poms

• Bumpy 'ladder' (rectangle soft sculptures lined up)

• Squishy Spikes (small pyramid-shaped stitched soft sculptures)

• Iridescent crackly bobbles (cellophane and thin fabric)

• Zigzag (filled with bean bag beads)

I liked how these pieces looked handmade, you could see the making process and this brought the piece back to reflections of materiality within play. I attached the pieces to the mat, breaking up the elements into sections that have varying forms of sensory activity. The audience will be able to lie, sit, walk across and engage with the sensory details.

(Above) I have created a digital mock-up of my final piece for the end of year show and the completion of the context 'Endgame'. Using photoshop, I cut out the image of the sensory mat and a screenshot of the animation to make a visualisation of what the installation would have looked like if I put it together in the exhibition.

As my final reflection on my installation, I am pleased with the overall outcome as I believe both the tactility of the mat in conjunction with the therapeutic, abstract animation will be able to form an immersive sensory experience. Moreover, it establishes the viewer as the central part of the work and a focus on their experience - through touch, visuals, sounds and internalisation of experience in a space which I hope would have a therapeutic, calming atmosphere. I have combined material and immaterial properties together to create an environment focused on producing sensory as well as playful responses. However, during the making process, I struggled with who would be experiencing the work, who is the target audience? Children or adults? I had a few discussions about this during tutorials and group conversation and came to the conclusion that it is for both. The work will likely be in a gallery setting, so both adults and children would be present. I have taken inspiration from children's sensory mats and scaled it up so it would be inclusive to everyone, moreover, have exaggerated features. It is a shame my work will not be experienced as I would have liked to continue the work by documenting the interactions that take, but this is something I can try once I bring my work back to the studio in year 3. I think this work has scope to be explored further and I would possibly like to expand on the mat to create an entire floor covered in soft sculptures.

Collage and Animation

On reflection of my previous experiments and crit-show pieces, I found that often the work (although made a statement alluding to play) wouldn't create an immersive environment where people could actively engage instead my work would just be viewed - not my original intention! The overall consensus I get from crit feedback is that my work should fill the entries pace, which is a great idea and how I envisage my work but the expense and the long process of making my work, which isn't always easy to do. Much like a sensory room which can be found in special needs schools or hospitals, I would like there to be sensory stimulations present on all surfaces in the space to create a constructed, inviting environment. I began to look at alternative ways of displaying abstract forms present in my soft structures. I like how when people play with the soft sculptures they activate them into a tangible interaction. Such activation is present in the animation work of Katy Dove. Dove paints and draws random forms without a pre-determined outcome, she then scans these into an editing software to animate them virtually on the screen. Her practice explored abstraction and the relationship between moving image and sound - this created a kind of pre-language made from forms instead of words. Dove would animate the forms corresponding to natural, musical and human sounds, each animation very different to the next. 'Luna' (2004) combined clock chimes and voices, as the forms appeared to float through the screen - twisting, shifting and disbursing in random paths. In contrast 'Motorhead' (2002) presents energetic electronic sounds whilst the forms pulse and would break apart and back again in the loud reliefs of the music. I could imagine animation being projected to spread across the walls in a space to create illusions of materiality and interaction through animations.

So I began to experiment with this idea. I didn't want to create shapes online as I wanted the texture present on the screen. I started utilising materials that I had at home due to the lockdown and I found this pushed me to use material I wouldn't have thought about using for my project. I combined coloured paper and embroidery thread and explored abstract forms on a two-dimensional surface by cutting out the paper at random then stitch details and connections through the thread. The embroidery thread also added extra depth and materiality to what was a flat form. Often the forms would be off the top of my head or a reflection to previous soft sculptures. I then scanned the collaged forms into my computer, cutting out the background using Photoshop and imported them (as well as other paper cutouts I had made) into AfterEffects.

Before editing, I made a rough timeline of how I wanted the forms to move across the film - The timeline helped me to focus on where each of the forms should start and end through the duration of the animation. The editing process took me the course of three days due to the fact it was my first time using the software and I underestimated the amount of time each frame takes with so many elements. I played around with the positioning of the forms, testing out the motions of movement through the timeline and also through trial and error of what worked best. The shapes weren't particularly responding to music (in the sense of moving exactly in time with sounds) but quite universally flowing movements of turns, bobbing up and down and shifting in and out of the frame that I later added sound in. Like 'Luna', I wanted the animation to connote tranquillity in conjunction with play with forms - this led me to research sounds that promote calmness and sounds in nature, I ended up deciding on 'Wind Chimes (2)' by an unknown artist which I was drawn to the random chimes which intensified and softened in an abstract rhythm. I Imported the music into the software and experimented with fading in and out the music and the timing of the chimes. I think the collages were visually successful as even though the screen the textures were visible and they had an element of vibrancy in the craft-like materials. This work, I feel, explored the activation and abstraction of material forms on the screen. It is a short animation running just over 1 minute, however, I am pleased with the outcome where the forms are digitally animated alongside the tranquil sounds of the chimes to create a therapeutic dialogue. I want this work to be projected and the movements of the forms to fill the space to produce a calm, sensory environment. This has been one of my favourite experiments in my practice where I have been able to create a dynamic of materiality on the screen... definitely will be exploring animation further.

The full video can be viewed here: https://lucywinnicott.wixsite.com/artwork/sensory-animation