Diary Day 1:

Today we started off by looking at an old cookie box. The activity was to Judge commodities on their personalities.

OBJECT(S

PACE) AND CONTEXT

digital diary

DANG TUYET HANH (VICKI)

Diary Day 1: (CONT)

I went to a friend of my friend’s apartment. there were 3 people living there. The previous session has showed me that by looking at commodities, they can tell a lot about the households. It is interesting to look at people’s cabinets, you can tell a lot about where they come from. the first cabinet probably belongs to an european girl (nutel-la gave me the hint) the second cabinet belongs to a south east asian (the labels and soya sauce said it all) and the last one be-longs to a middle easterner (it was a lucky guess, maybe it was the basmati rice). More about their current activities can be re-vealed just by looking at their trash. i saw a lot of instant noo-dle packs in one trash bin. I reckon it belongs to the south east asian person, he/she is probably very busy at that moment because instant noodle is quick to cook.

Diary Day 2:

The project “random act” was launched. photos were taken in two weeks time showing how people interact with objects and spaces in order to meet their objectives.

1st photo shows a man al-ter his ear’s purpose to keep a cig while trying to find another one to give to his mate.

2nd photo, I call it “gums”. “Gums” depicts how people follow each other’s behav-iours in society.

3rd photo, my fridge is so crowded so I put my water near the window to keep it cool.

4th shows the use of con-trasted material to fix a broken wardrobe.

5th I call it an “impromptu ashtray

6th signal of love

7th a-t-m aka water bottle holder.

We interact with objects and spaces in a level that is deeper then our conscious-ness. These Subtle behaviours inspire and indicate new designs everyday

Diary Day 3:

objects usually reflect the society that we live in and opt us to react in a certain way.

Spotted these kids hanging out while spending most of the time on their phone. I decided to take a photo of them as proof of how virtual environ-ment has penetrated into our world very deeply. I came across This photo on google search, this is a new product that have came out in Japan in 2014, the bowl is a charging station and an iphone holder. The fact that is it only designed for ip-hone is rather intriguing, somehow reflects apple capitalism

PHOTO TAKEN FROM A MUSIC VIDEO “LET ME TAKE A SELFIE”

Selfie sticks are everywhere now, all my friends got one. It’s a smart inven-tion, which allows phone users to take selfies in many dif-ferent angles due to greater control of the camera. Now peo-ple don’t have to deal with a fail groupie selfie any-more.

Diary Day 4: THRESHOLD SPACE IN MYBUILDING.

PUBLIC VS PRIVATEIN VS OUT ???????????????????????????

this project is about learning the language of spaces and how we interact with the transition from public to private.

Threshold 1 - at door entrace

Threshold 2

Threshold 3

transitional space

Diary Day 4: (CONT)threshold is the space is transformative for more than one space; it is designed to blur out the distinctions between the private and the public, however it separates spaces from within. Therefore, threshold space is the product of designer’s intent, which is formed to create the experience of transition and visual cues to guide a user through.

Threshold 4

Threshold 5

My utterly confusing feeling while crossing the threshold

‘the body no longer knows inside and outside but only a continuous state of being in the middle, no longer knows any borders but only potential mar-gins, no definite point of passage but only a continuous state of transition’ (Stalder, 2009)

I experience this feeling of ambi-guity while crossing the threshold. It feels as if thresh-old is the collapse of the notions of in vs out, private vs public. Threshold devices such as pin pads and intercom systems indicate a more complex relationship. Forexample. I can’t access to cer-tain areas of the building due to the pin pad. Intercom systems have altered my behaviours to welcome guests or the mail man into the house. In their own, these devices draw borders and alter a human ac-tion.

BINARY OPPOSITES BY LEVIS STRAUSS

IN VS OUTPRIVATE VS PUBLICLOVE VS HATEMALE VS FEMALESELF VS OTHERSDEATH VS LIFE...

A STRUCTURALIST’S GUIDE TO THE WORLD

WIM WENDERS: ‘ I love cities. (...) I must say, I have since come to love empty landscapes such as deserts just as much

‘You could say they are each other’s opposites, and yet they’re somehow related. ‘

Ernst Wilhelm “Wim” Wender born 14 August 1945 is a German filmmaker, playwright, author, photographer, and a major figure in New German Cinema.

In the THRESHOLD theory seminar, we learned about many theories of threshold. Levis strauus’s theory of binary opposites has however changed my perspective toward the world forever. The meaning of the idea such as “in” can only be understood due to the differ-ence and its opposite “out”. How a chair can only vary within a boundary to not become an armchair. They are different because they are related, just like Wim Wender’s love toward both the desert and cities.

Therefore threshold is the relationality between entities, a space that defines colliding coexistences.

Binary opposites theory is oftenly used in cinema. I will look at the narratives of DA-

VID LYNCH’s blue velvet to identify the binary structures and contrast relationships between entities.

The opening scenes take place in a stereotypical American neighbourhood - 1950s suburbia. The scenes represents the “ordinary” and “order” notions, however it slowly transits to the scene where audience is submerged with a close up to a severed ear. The ‘severed ear’ scene represents the link between ‘ordinary’ to ‘mystery’, ‘order’ to ‘chaos’, indicates the start of violence through out the movie.

Blond vs Dark archetypes DAVID LYNCH’s use of women is rather typical in noir-genre movies. The blond - SANDY represents the loving, daring and rational woman and the brunette - DOROTHY is a mysterious,

sexual and irrational one. They act as the opposite poles for Jeffrey - the main protagonist’s mental states. Meanwhile

the protagonist is the bridge that connects these opposites, in which Jeffrey keeps traversing back and forth his mental

states.

MIRROR TO OTHERS

SUBJECT VS OBJECTSELF VS OTHERS

Mirror has a specular nature as a reflection of our self cast on to the surface of the world – original vs reflected image. It allows “self” to see our own reflection that is am-biguous and distorted by social prejudices.

What you look at is a ‘self’ that you assume others to see.

WHEN YOU MIRROR IS WHEN YOU OBJECTIFY YOURSELF IN THE OTHERS’ EYES.

So mirror is a liminal space or threshold that connects the self and the

self perceived by others

COLLABORATIVE PIECE is made based on 2 types of binary opposites.

-modern vs tradition-Self vs Others