Lively Waste

Knee Sleeve and the constrictive/restrictive/liberating tactile sensations From the literature read this module one quote can be emphasized. Several were crucial to the project development, however the one below triggered the will to reach a different kind of material, with a singular approach and a dissimilar expression. The referred lines are - “The features (..) are ‘structured’ differently. In the same way if one is thinking of making (...) out of glass, wire, folder paper, woven straw, inflatable rubber, strips of wood, plastic, fiberglass or wire netting, etc., the relationship between the features will have to be adapted to each material”. If previously a distinct use of paper or surface was seeked, it was now achieved by using diverse mediums such as journals, magazines, newspapers and flyers, being the leader the corrugated cardboard. With the experimental evolution odd choices were made, using scalpel and knee sleeve used as pencil and brush would be one. They were however the path-answer to express emotions rooted in primary instincts. I would not agree with some philosophies that use pain or sadness as their ethic or moral guide (as it could be perceived by some in “Bhagavad Gita” f.e.), yet this not so great energy was flowing through the pieces and their sketches. A direct connotation with health would be the cause of such wounds and their manifestation. As the knee sleeve purpose follows the demand for a physical constriction for the unnatural liberty of movement. On the first poster, featuring the past, these not so bright emotions emerge from the dilacerated (scalpel action) corrugated surface. The center poster regards the present, it does so through the graphic residues left by the protection garment [knee sleeve] (used as a brush to leave textured marks). On the last poster the future is deducted, a somewhat delusional optimistic nihilism is unveiled by the chromatism used (the white and the forms that the texture brings, in the three main graphic values used [knee cap(center), leg(all of it), scars(weaved paper around the center through the surface)]). Relating the posters to their concepts and framing them in the developed process is a quite complex task. Leonardo DaVinci said “La pittura è cosa mentale”, which could be comprehended and extended to (paraphrasing) creating [painting] as the last step of this intrinsic theoretical journey, or perhaps it would be connected to the distortion needed in order to portray what would be seen as geometric f.e. [optical illusions as trompe-l'œil or the physics of the eye and retina]. If the last observation is taken in consideration we can neighbour a comparison between Leonardo and Munari’s concept of shapes and symbolism or McCloud’s pyramid of meanings behind what is attributed as icon or image. The concepts of shapes, symbolism, icons, images were summarised on the posters mainly by the textures and materials. This would be possible to grasp, their materialization if a quote from Scott McCloud is known - “The master of any medium using minimal elements has long been considered a noble aspiration”. While carefully considering the keywords (derived from the above described “detailed” introspection) to work with for this project an unexpected event took place in the university “playground”. While exercising and texting the object (knee sleeve) it lost its purpose [the elastic straps became loose, spending the last tense moments to never again support the knee]. A sudden state of ataraxia (an unfelt numbness, without connotation, as something not processed impacted us in a way that we haven’t found out in the following minutes). The complete meaning of this event was not discovered so far, however the main subject of my project “died”. The whole connection with the object was broken, the memories caused now doubt. It had been so long since I've dealt with the object daily that my non-reaction was the only possible. The following step would be to reflect on how to move on and use this discovery in the project. This would lead me to use the knee sleeve as a material (repurposing it) with as much diversity and variety as it allowed me to live in the previous years. To trespass any conventional perspective I cut down the elastics, and used them tense and strained, making an exponential connection between the emotions I was surrounded with regarding the knee, the knee sleeve, and the future to discover. The balance between concepts, emotions and graphic abstractionism (or its “counter” pole) were perhaps the meaningful un-visual guides throughout this module. The last note to be written regards the presentation and the disposition of the tryptic. Although displayed in the furthest corner of our classroom, intuition bidded that to create the physical approachability to the theoretical conception the posters should be at the closest height to one’s knees, making the observer interact unconsciously. Summarizing it, in this module I searched my past, present and future for a connection with an object that no longer exists in its first physical form. This object was the transport of values that I seeked/seek/will seek such as stability, freedom, allowance, and emotional connection. To rediscover them was a somewhat turbulent journey, an exciting one nonetheless. The choice to change from the first object (grandfather’s keychain) to the knee sleeve was not lightly made, especially after the “lost purpose event”, however repurposing it was a delightful experience. An experience that created the opportunity of creating from a lost interaction, and to use abstractionism to emphasize emotions. References: Munari, B 1966, Art as Design, Penguin Modern Classics, Paperback 2008 McCloud, S 1993, Understanding Comics: the invisible art, William Morrow Paperbacks 1st quote Bruno Munari; “Art as Design”; Character building, Variations on the Theme of the Human Face. 2nd quote Scott McCloud; “Understanding Comics: the invisible art”; Chapter VI António Lobo Antunes’s poem “I swear I’ll never forget” João Negreiros’s poem “Yesterday I went to Hell” Helena Almeida’s “Ouve-me” or “Pintura Habitada”, Raygun “anniversary issue OASIS 50”, Original Broadway “The Fantastiks”