Adam Griffiths Talk & Workshop

Talk
Has two different studios as he likes to keep his practice really open and varied by working with both screen and print.
@adam_griffiths
@ra_bear
@transient_space - a digital gallery, moving image research project.

Interested in exploring spaces between the physical world and the digital world - this could be the link between print and screen as with the project. Exploring what you can do when you don't see these two medias as two different things.

Exploring how to do "anti-design" for his work for a fashion magazine that takes a more artistic approach - thinking about how to create design while rejecting all that he's learnt about grids, legibility, conventions etc. His outcome was accidental as his layout was pushed together because of printing onto a smaller page - could translate to my projection by pushing together objects.

Curio Curia

This exhibition based in Castlefield Gallery was about experimenting with Google Vision API to submit images that are too vague for the programme to recognise therefore it substitutes it with an image that it believes is similar which creates interesting results.
Showed the outcomes of this with a gif in which each image is laid out in an original grid and it goes by showing the image in a larger size in a fixed rectangle. 

For the actual exhibition, Griffiths photographed images of the artists collaborated with him setting up their work for Curio Curia and then fed these images into the Google Vision API which therefore created a fictional copy of the exhibition. This was then set up on screens around the gallery.

This then translated into a print, "Clouds and Vision" where all design choices were based on Google - colour scheme, layout looking like Google Images, which is a catalogue/archive of the photos for the exhibition and others all using the programme. This is important to my project as it shows the relationship between Design for Print and Design for Screen and how ideas could translate into one another - especially thinking about the processes used.


Transient Space

Digital gallery exploring the concepts of time, space and the culture of trsansient screen as it's in a big space and people aren't going to wait for the whole time.
- adopting screens - can't bring a screen in so it has to take over an existing screen.
- disrupting "non-space" - never in a real gallery, always in a place where it's slightly obscure or unexpected
- presenting a "non-traditional" gallery
Even its identity is transient therefore sometimes you see the whole thing or you see it as transcience - dual identity as transient means impermanent. 

Inspiration:

• Jenny Holzer
• Government placed projected screens in China's smog crisis - This is interesting as it conveys how using screens can change people's experiences and the atmosphere.
• Eric Brandt
• Patrick Thomas

The median duration that somebody looks at an art piece is 17 seconds - consider this for projection?

Workshop
Brief: The brief was to produce a design for screen that would be projected in a location of our choice. We need to pick the location and produce the design based on an idea that intervenes in the space. We should aim for the idea behind the design to make the viewers/community think differently of the space - take notice, disrupt or change the experience of that location. It should be 5-10 seconds.

"In our current culture of content overload, the need to communicate direct ideas quickly and clearly through the screen is of increased measure. The potential of screens is vast and they can create an impact in accordance to both the content or messages displayed and where the screen is situated."

1. Select a location that you would like to propose the inclusion of a screen to intervene the space. This might be a space within the university, within the city, or international. It could be an existing place or a fictional one (e.g The Shire in Lord of the Rings?)

2. Produce some initial content for the screen that allows the intervention of the chosen location to take place – is it a message, a campaign, an advert, an installation/exhibition, propaganda, persuasive, political, subversive, reactive, symbolic, entertaining, liberating?

Submission: The submission could be a motion design/moving image/still image/sequence of images or typographic response - looking at Transient Space submissions for inspiration. The choice of the submission should be made based on what would be most significant and effective for our location. 
The submission should be punchy and bold however it's up to us based on what our idea is.

Motion: Produce a 1920px(w) x 1080px(h) mov/mp4 video (using h264 codec), or an animated GIF to size.
Still Image(s): Produce a 1920px(w) x 1080px(h) JPG image(s).
All work can be submitted to transient.spaceMCR@gmail.com
transient.spaceMCR@gmail.com or via WeTransfer.com to the email above.

Our Outcome

Initial ideas: 

• A space in the university - the wall near the canteen where students often pass could have projections used to help motivate and encourage creativity.
• Projecting onto trains to provide commuters with more information and certainty about the train/the journey - this would have to be clear, bold and impactful as commuters wouldn't be looking at it for long.
• Projecting images of nature into heavily man-made spaces to bring back some serenity and joy for the community.

Chosen concept: A projection of video snippets of nature on a wall in the train station to introduce to commuters natural landscapes in the very dull, monotone and heavily man-made/busy architecture. The projection should relax and provide serenity to the otherwise stressful environment.

The beginning of the projection starts with text - "There is a place of peace and tranquility within all of us. This is an attempt to bring you there" and is displayed on a sold black background to ensure no other distractions. The text uses a slow, fading transition and the serene audio plays (audio we decided on by looking at other nature documentaries and even spa music.) This immediately immerses the viewers in an atmosphere that isn't expected in a train station, and provides context to the projection as this is meant to be relaxing, we don't want it to be extremely thought-provoking or confusing.

The rest of the projection is slow clips and text that follow this same theme however the video is a minute long which is longer than what the submission stated however is more effective for our idea as 5-10 seconds is not enough to fully immerse and relax a commuter. When we tried a version of the projection where the clips were cut short it was too fast and stressful, and using just one short clip would also be too uninteresting for the commuters to understand the message of relaxation and nature we are trying to bring to the location.