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How can we turn ideas into practice and words into objects?
I'm going to show you a research method which was developed -
basically for PhD students to help them construct a PhD thesis
where you organize your knowledge; your intuitive knowledge, your pre-knowledge
and you then produce a thesis.
We're going to use that method in art;
We're not going to produce a thesis today, we're going to produce artwork - objects.
Let's look at some examples
This is the work of artist Hanoh Piven.
Hanoh Piven uses found objects, anything he can find around him
and he constructs from the found objects illustrations, 3D illustrations.
Now the point is that the found objects have meanings; they must relate -
the objects must relate to the personality of the illustration, of the person depicted in the illustration.
For example, who do you think is that?
This is an illustration of Jay Leno.
Hanoh Piven starts with painting the background, using probably acrylic
so he would paint the background here
and he would paint the hair and the shape of the face, this is all acrylic.
but then he uses found objects which relate directly to the person.
For example, he uses microphones here and why microphones?
Because Jay Leno is a TV personality.
And the American flag here which makes the eye; why American flag?
because Jay Leno is American, maybe he's also a patriot.
As you can see, the flags make the shape of the eye.
so these are flag pins that he probably found somewhere and used for illustrating Jay Leno.
We see that hands of a watch, the arms of a watch, make the shape of the mouth.
and we see numbers from 10 until 12 because Jay Leno's show was broadcast at that time,
from 10 pm evening to 12 midnight.
Let's look at another example. Who is that?
You can't get it wrong... that's Barbra Streisand of course.
A microphone because she is a singer;
and a microphone which makes the nose because she has, let's face it, a notable nose...
So with one single found object, one item, Hanoh Piven illustrates his subjects,
and the found objects have direct meanings.
Now let's look quickly at this research method which was developed to help PhD students
construct their PhD thesis.
Today we're going to use it to construct art.
‘The Process of The Academic Thinking’ is a research method which says that people,
not just PhD students but anyone, already know inside what their interests are.
People know what they love. They have pre-knowledge or intuitive knowledge
and they have some ideas about what they want to do in their PhD, or what to do in their lives.
Now the problem is that we stop listening to ourselves.
There's so much noise out there.
We listen to what the society is telling us,
We listen to what our parents are expecting from us to do,
we listen to what the government is encouraging us to do.
There's so much external noise that people stop listening to themselves.
If you don't listen to yourself, you cannot listen to other people.
So this research method is based on the idea that students, and likewise any other person,
already know, inside, what they love and what their interests are;
what is the topic that they want to develop.
For a PhD student - you would develop your PhD on that topic,
on the subject that you are interested in.
But this method is good for everyone;
it's good also if you want to construct a single A4, 500 words article.
because it helps you to construct your idea in a coherent way.
We're asking the student to come up with answers to a few questions.
These are the questions that we're asking the students to answer
and these are the answers that students will come up with.
We start with asking the students: what is their topic?
In this case, the topic is creativity in art. It has to be quick and immediate,
that's what interests me.
The topic could be anything; it could be a table.
After they come up with a topic, they have to come up with a definition of the topic
and that is one sentence that defines the topic.
Creativity in Art could be defined as: ‘the process of inspiration,
conception and application in art-making.’ It looks complex but it's very simple...
If you chose a different topic - a table - then your definition could be:
‘An object to lay things on.’
After that we ask for three categories.
Three categories that explain your topic and come out of your definition.
If it was a table, which was defined as an object to lay things on,
Your three categories could be: ‘4 legs’, ‘nails’ and ‘a surface’.
These are three categories that define a table.
You can then go into sub categories, sub-sub categories,
conclusion for each category and overall conclusion.
Now let me explain the logic behind everything here.
The idea is to first listen to yourself. This is why we ask students a few questions
and they need to give us the answers. That is the answer that the students provide.
And we ask them to answer very quickly - instantly.
Students receive only three minutes.
Three minutes only to come up with a topic.
The topic will be what you want to do your research about.
You do this exercise even before you go to the literature;
even before you go to the library and you start to read,
because the problem today is that students go to the library
and there are so much books around them
they don't know what to choose. They don't know what to do.
They go like this... they don't what is the relevant information to draw.
If you do this method and you first listen to yourself, before you read the books,
then you know what interests you.
For example, the topic (three minutes to come up with a topic),
my topic, my own research interest was creativity in art.
because that's what interests me; that is what I wanted to do a PhD about.
That is what I want to focus on. It is nothing from the ‘external’ that forces me to come up with.
But the topic could be something as simple as a table
It could be a table. You could tell me, "Gil, I want to do research about a table."
"I want to do artwork about a table..." Why?... "Because that's what interests me."
So you get three minutes only when you're doing a PhD, to come up with your topic,
which is the subject which you are going to research.
Why three minutes? Because if we give you a lot of time you will start to consider -
what other people want you to do, what your parents ask you to do,
you will start to consider the external world and we don't want to do that.
If we give you three minutes, if it's instant,
if it's immediate, it comes from within, it comes from you.
So three minutes to decide on your topic. Once you have decided on your topic,
then it's easier for you to go to the library.
You go to the library, you ignore all those books because they're not relevant,
you focus there, that is my topic. These are the books that I need to draw.
Then you can relate your books and the books support you.
You don't have to get lost in so many books but you use the relevant books.
So three minutes to choose and come up with your topic;
in a PhD, that'll be the topic of you subject.
Today I'm going to show you how we're going to draw it back to art.
You've decided your topic, in this case: a table. Very simple - a table.
Then you have 3 minutes to come up with a definition of a table, what is a table?
Because ‘a table’ is a huge topic, it could be anything.
So you can tell me: a table is an object to lay things on; very simple.
You must define your topic, you must be very specific about your topic.
because in a PhD you have only three years to do research; that's not a lot
so you have to be very specific.
And there's always the danger that sometimes people come up with words, with topics,
but they mean something else.
So your definition which is basically saying the same thing again using different words;
your definition gives you a point of reference on your topic.
Then you can assess it and see if that is really what you want to do.
So 3 minutes for your topic, a table.
3 minutes to come up with a definition.
Then we ask students to come up with 3 categories.
Categories are the ingredients that make up your topic;
what is a table? what makes a table?
It has 4 legs, it has nails and it has a surface.
Now when you tell me these 3 categories, 4 legs, nails, surface,
immediately I would understand that you're talking about a table, something to lay things on.
We always ask students to come up with 3 categories, never 2,
because 2 can clash, they can act like a ping-pong game.
It's going to end up as a two-dimensional work.
When you create three categories, you create a three-dimensional work.
When you do a PhD, you also continue to sub-categories;
So each category is now divided into 3 sub-categories.
And again, you do all that before you go to the library,
before you do library research because this is still your intuitive a-priori knowledge.
In a PhD, you will then write sub-sub-categories;
you will then write a conclusion for each category,
and from the three conclusions you will then produce an overall conclusion, a final conclusion
which now, we can say, is only a hypothesis, it's only an assumption.
It is based on your a-priori knowledge, on your intuitive knowledge.
Now you have to back it up, so now you will go to the library
now you will do your library research.
And now you will focus on the books that are relevant to you.
I'm going to bring that research method back to art,
so the proposed idea is to produce a 3D object based on this method.
And the way to do it is to divide the class into groups,
so it's not individual work, it's in groups.
and each group has 30 seconds; not 3 minutes but 30 seconds to come up with a topic.
The topic will be the object that they're going to create.
You can tell me a table, you can tell me Margaret Thatcher
because you want to produce a sculpture, a 3-dimensional object on Margaret Thatcher,
like the example from Hanoh Piven who did Barbara Streisand as I showed you earlier.
It could be anything.
In groups, students are coming up with a topic, 30 seconds to come up with a topic,
30 seconds to define it and 30 seconds to give you 3 categories.
Then the students go out; they look for any found objects
and it could be anything; it could be your mobile phone, pencils, cardboards,
if you go out to the park it could be bits of tree, leaves, anything. They bring it back
and they have to construct their topic, their subject using those found materials
but they must use the categories.
For example, I had one group that chose the topic of teapot,
and the 3 categories were spout, handle and body.
So they went out to look for objects and they came back and constructed a teapot
based on their three categories, spout, handle and a body.
So this is a research method used for PhD students
but the idea is to draw it back to art
using words that students are coming up with
and turning words into objects.
Dr. Gil Dekel - poeticmind.co.uk - Words into Objects Research Method.