It’s been a month since I posted anything. I will cover
three different topics here:
1.
My reflection on the previous semester
2.
The ongoing of the past month
3.
Things to look forward to this semester
Reflection on semester 1:
My initial interest was in space and our relationship with it. At Srishti
I was trying to find the specific direction that interests me within space that
I could pursue for a longer term. It was partly the reason why I took up Mine the
City for my first ADP project.
Artistic research was the other module that interested me. I liked it
when initially we had discussions on sketchbook, artists, and processes. I felt
the course could help expanding our learning through more research and
experimentation. It later took a different trajectory.
The other course was on qualitative research. Initially it was really
disconnected to what I was doing as the research was based in the field of
education. But it later benefited me as I got to apply the learning for Mine
the City project.
> My work on Mine the City has been satisfactory so far. It helped
me by interpreting and engaging with it in multiple ways. I can now see certain
areas which I can take further.
In terms of medium, I have explored photography both by experimenting and
exploring a specific theme.
Importance of research and how to analyse them were some indispensable
lessons learnt during the qualitative research module. I have since used them
extensively for Mine the City work.
Initially I had also mentioned in the blog that I am interested in
learning programming. But as the semester passed by, I learnt that it is not
programming that interests me in but the ability to make interactive
prototypes, so that I need not depend on drawings alone. That said, I initially
started with Processing but could not sustain the enthusiasm for long. Now I am
trying to understand the basics, so I am learning object-oriented programming
and understand logic.
Some
issues which I encountered in this semester were the readings. Initially I made
a list of books which I read, but they were not helping in contextualizing the
works, so I later started reading on certain theorists like Lev Manovich etc.
As was evident in the final presentation, I was nowhere able to reflect on
them. But I am now taking guidance from faculties on how to build up on the
theory. I have not started but I hope that there will be substantive
improvements in the next term.
Ongoings from last month
A brief
into how I spent my last month. I mostly tried to do things that I was unable
to take time out for during the course. So other than catching up with family and friends, I read
a lot, learned HTML, started learning Python (in progress) and participated in a Hackathon competition.
It is not possible to quantify the progress but I think it helped me to refocus and plan my next course of action for this semester.
Outline of the new semester
The
second semester started this month. With slight modifications from the previous semester, we had the option of doing an independent project.
I have taken up some new courses, while I intend to continue few of the old projects side by side. So there is the ideas to experience class, part of
S.Labs, which will introduce topics related to interfaces and context related problem solving. Then there is the course on illustration. It is a studio based course that will help us understand illustration with respect to the context and medium. Then
there is postmodernism. And lastly I have signed for the independent course.
I think the first semester helped me understand areas where I could focus and areas that needs to be worked on. Taking cue from that I choose a mix courses this time.
The postmodernism course would give me an in-depth understanding of the various concerns in the current timeline, the illustration and the S.Lab course is much more practical and finally the independent project is a rather focused trail.
The idea behind selecting the courses was to get a balanced learning experience. Also that each of these somehow build on one another and utilizes what I am learned previously. For example, though my background is in painting, I still find illustration difficult. My drawing skills are there but to synchronize a text with an image, I find it rather hard. In the previous semester, one of the project outcome was a series of illustration. But I somehow wasn't satisfied with the end product. So this course will hopefully help me get a better grasp of the subject.
