For the start of this semester I was a bit lost I had lots of ideas but i didnt know where to go with any of them. I started as I always do, by doing a brainstorm

the key outcomes from the brainstorm where:

• would love to expand my musical repertoire
• would like to focus on the juxtaposition of the immensity of the world and the minutiaea
• excited to work in many mediums, video, sound, projection, print, spoken word, writing/poetry
• nature
• being honest, unpretentious, and accesible to non art world audiences

Truthfully i then got quite overwhelmed with pressure (mostly self inflicted) and with some great free counselling from the uni, finally started getting somewhere.

I decided to try my hand with words an element in art I enjoy. In my process I would try and find something that was distressing me or found interesting and write everything about it until i said something that could be considered noteworthy. These were good brain storm sessions to get interesting angles and ideas flowing. I also had the intent of using some of the words as lyrics. or atleast a starting point for them.

in the same vein of generating ideas/angles/aesthetics I created a process for my music making. I am slow at this side of the art world. I feel visual I can come up with interesting things in my sleep but musically i have been working lots to try and get something sounding good, not so sure i have achieved that. but it is all about the trial and error, and for me I spend lots of time in the error stage.

I started with some small musical experiments “noodling”, creating sounds from a synthesizer and then playing what feels right.

dont feel the need to pay too much attention to them, imagine they are the scrappy drawings in a thick sketchbook. The intent is to warm up my ears and start getting the hang of making so i eventually can be critical and grow.

This one is a collection of synth noodles.

This one I my pallete was unconventional drum sounds, i attempted to slowly change them throughout the piece.

this was another beats practice, where it changes each bar.

Now i got myself into a pickle. I really wanted to give vocoding a try, inspired by musicians like Laurie Anderson and Bon Iver. It took me a couple of weeks to figure out, with almost no success. I was trying to figure out how to use it so i could play it live, in the hopes of being able to do a live performance at the end of the semester. No such avail.

I found the interface really glitchy and also the actual sounds were hard to manipulate into anything other than completely spacey. If i want to get something presentable from that technique I would need a lot of fiddle time. Which i didnt have so i pushed that to oneside.

I collated some of the sonic noodles and word noodles and created this

I found this hard to work on, its not very interesting and i recorded it in free time which meant putting it in time to work on it and sing to it would be a lot of work.

I decided to start thinking about my art as a transportation. I wanted the viewer to feel transported within the music. but on of the most exciting ways to do this is with installation work.

I then had a brainstorm.

my plan from then on was how to make video art interesting spacially without it looking like the Lume, https://www.grande-experiences.com/permanent/the-lume-melbourne . Which I personally have not seen but has been described to me as seeing a large screensaver.

I wanted to keep to a nature theme, but also wanted to project without it be projecting out onto walls. centralising the projections, and creating many angles so that someone could move through the room and get a different experience.

i was thinking about the spaces between tree branches. this is when i had the idea to project onto fabric hanging off of a tree.

Next step, finding a tree!

this one was pretti perfect, it had been accidentaly coppiced by the council since it is under a powerline. The other trees this size were only 2-3 centimeters thick.

I cut this down and then carefeull cut all of the limbs off. I measured the boot of my car with the seats down and figured I needed to shorten it about a foot. I then got a large drill bit and drilled a hole where each limb was. I then wittled down the branches so they could fit back into the hole they were from. this took many days of fiddling and labour as it had to be precise enough so they would fit and be safe. Lots of whittling.

My intitial plan was to have one projector per panel and I was to have around 6 panels.

Turns out AV loans only has two of these projectors.

video of a dusk I filmed from my bedroom window

I had three projectors going all sitting on the ground on angled mounts I had made out of corfelute. People could walk completely around the piece with the help of some cable covers.

I then had the group tutorial, which is written about in my WIL form.

The group tutorial I would say was hard. There were obvious issues (tape and stand) that were addressed. I also felt the theme wasnt as clear as people had their own idea and just ran with it. My intent was for it to be a fractalisation of perspectives through the lens of living with nature. This is not what people were talking about, they said things about it being boring or frankenstein-y abomination. I chatted with Mikala after the tutorial and I wasnt sure whether i drastically changed my piece so that people would get the exact idea, or i stick to my guns and refine the piece so that it is clean and how i originally intended. But we figured out that one of the things I cared about was people having their own opinions and reactions towards the work — to be more open-ended.

So I went on the path of refining it, people can go in their own directions and its not really an issue. If I do it well it should be more of a phenomenological response anyway.

For the group presentation I had only filmed one dawn, so all the videos played one video. This isnt what i wanted, but i could only record one at that time. My intent was too show multiple, hopefully getting one for every panel. I then spent 5 more dawns filming all of which was for nothing, none of them were good enough to use.

I even drove to a different location, but trees were in the way. So I ended up getting my mum to film a dawn in West Australia where she works, much more sun there.

I should mention one of my inspirations for this piece, and my commitment to creating a space was from my enjoyment of seeing Pippilotti Rist’s work Lungenflügel. I lay there for almost half an hour watching the video multiple times with my cousin, just seeing the world from a different perspective. Childlike my eyes followed the colours and the movement, I happily went on the journey having no idea where I was going. This state of exploration and calm was something I wanted to explore within my own work. So it was important to me that the work was somewhat seamless so that the creation doesnt need to be questioned and rather can just be taken for granted.

From this day I also figured out that I can only do the masking once everything is set up in its final position. Which means I would have to do it all in one sitting.

So I booked all the gear and booked the whole day in the space for the day before assessment.

Final set up

Each one was edited differently with different videos. Because I had two dawns filmed and six panels, I cut each video into 3 vertical strips.

The last was the music! I initialy wrote a 30 minute song that would be the exact time as the video, but i realised it would take hours for me to master and pan to be interesting in the 5.1 studio.

so I wrote a shorter 8-minute version that was easier to manage.

It has three sections so as the room lights up the music follows.

I created each sound using Mini MOOG model D

for each section i split the high and low notes and then panned them using the surround sound panner. So the music moves throughout the room, around the tree and the viewer.

Reflection

I am very proud of this piece, it required a lot of finesse in technical components which is something i think has taken me three years to get to this point of capability. I am happy with everything physical with it. I dont think the music matches as best it could, but that just came down to time and working on a piece that is half an hour would probably take a good few weeks. I am also very happy that this piece was very independant, my dad taught me how to use a chainsaw and then from then on everything physical or technical I figured out.

I am worried about the conceptual side of it, I think possibly, it ran away from me a bit. My intent from the very beginning was for it to have an affect on people, a phenomenological response. I wanted people to feel. Feel weird, or disconnected, calmed, or seen. I find it challenging to discuss academically. How can i prove that taking something out of its environment and putting it into a gallery setting is meant to make people feel discomfort or yearning or memories. Thats not up to me, so i just have to trust that it will work for people.

I have made many pieces that are intended to loop. I have often found finding a piece in a gallery that is halfway through incredibly annoying. Getting half the story without the context and then watching the resolution without the proper build-up.

I wanted to try and create a perfect loop for this piece, so I was looking for ways to do that without having too much of a glitch.

so I was thinking of mechanised things

• bicycle
• blender
• sewing machine
• escalator

I ended up choosing sewing machines as it is one of my favourite hobbies.

I also wanted to reference invisible labour and how that has changed through mass industrialisation. When a mother used to make most of the clothes for a household, now unseen hands in far-off lands do. Most people believe (and I did at one stage) that most clothes are made with automatic sewing machines where people are not involved.

That is not true,

Every item of clothing is made by hand, and many people have touched it before you.

I was also inspired by this artist

Femnet e.V. x HUMAN TOUCH

at Rautenstrauch-Joest-Museum Cologne

It is a performance piece in which the artist applies black ink to their hands and starts making garments. The end products are completely marked up, showing how much time and humanity is put into each garment of the billions the world uses and throws away.

I set it up with a tripod, a desk lamp and then the sewing machine on my desk.

I cut a long strip of folded-over black fabric to try and hide as many artifacts as possible that would ruin the loop. I ducked under the table, held the fabric, and pressed the foot.

I couldn’t perfectly match it up, which was quite a pain as the black fabric slipped around a bit. Because I was ducking to get out of the shot, I did not have that much control.

When I think of a soundtrack for a piece that continues into infinity, I think of arps. I am a vintage synthesizer fiend, which has altered how I understand the construction of sound and music. I have been lucky enough to make lots of music with this synthesizer: the Moog Model D. It is like a language I have learned (so you will see me making lots of music with this)

For this specific project, I used a different synthesizer: King of FM., a type of synthesizer that plays two synthesizers simultaneously. Whilst still being able to alter settings for both synthesizers.

So, I combined a Marimba with a synthesizer called Metamonics and then adjusted the release and decay of both to make it sound snappy and plongy.

I then altered the sequencer.

Each number indicates a variation in semitone from the original note hit (on the keyboard). So, it plays its song/sequence by holding each note, which is fun to play chords with as the notes harmonise and jump from location to location as my fingers do.

Also note that it is 10 steps long.

I wanted the arps to get chaotic, so after two bars, I decreased the number of steps by 1, so it feels like it is getting quicker. After going down to just one step, I tried lots of different steps to keep them sounding in time, so I didn’t choose many odd steps.

The number on the sides indicates how many steps it is.

I also wanted a quick and snappy feel that relates to the snappiness of the sewing machine.

I think I could develop this concept, as I find it interesting. However, I don’t feel inspired by making this kind of art; it feels too methodical and obvious (even if I didn’t do as good of a job as I would like).

I wanted to try something with modern footage because anything I try to make with old footage tends to be quite cliché.

I like the Internet trash aesthetic. It is often very unserious and feels like diving into an unknown realm. I also like that calling it art makes my old art teachers squirm.

I was inspired by this artist

IF WE DON’T,
REMEMBER ME.

IWDRM was a blog of animated movie stills active from 2010 to 2015.
A video installation was shown in exhibitions at the Contemporary Arts Museum (Houston, TX), &FOAM (Amsterdam) and The Event (Birmingham).

I like their reappropriation of film stills, turning them into whatever outcome they want.

I also like the visual aesthetic of Cory Arcangel

I especially like how everything feels kind of crusty or corrupted.

For my piece, I was inspired by a Twitter post that overwhelmed me with joy, sadness, and humility.

I wanted to harness the emotional energy that films are known for and combine different types of content. Film is high-budget, with thousands of people dedicated to a single project. It is high-class. To a tweet: low value, low impact, low resources.

While also trying to reference the crunchy garbage aesthetic of internet artists and what is often connotated by people who spend too much time on Twitter.

I found this website, on which if you type in words or a quote, it will find that from a movie (that has been added to the archive).

https://getyarn.io

I couldn’t fully find exact quotes for the tweet, so I added subtitles to ease the transition.

It was a fun project, and I think if I spent a bit more time trying to re-word the quote so it made better sense, the project would be more coherent and might carry the emotional weight I was attempting to key into.

I also think that this is a genre of art and visual aesthetic I really like; it doesn’t excite me to make it. So perhaps a little less love went into this type of art and I doubt i would be making more art like this in the future. although i think this could be done really artfully if i had some more time to spend on it.

I started with a mind map//

I was focussing on things that moved me. What I felt had immense weight and importance on a universe and personal scale.

Last semester i focused on activistic art, this semester i wanted to hone in on art that feels intrinsic. I was thinking about the art pieces that have moved me and I will never forget them.

August Friedrich Albrecht SCHENCK
Anguish (c. 1878)
(Angoisse)
oil on canvas
151.0 x 251.2 cm
National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne
Purchased, 1880

First time I saw this work I cried and it haunted me for days after, when I ever had a spare moment I was emotionally overcome.

I felt it conected to something so primal in me. Specifically the phrase and emotion “its not fair”.

Sun Yuan and Peng Yu: Can’t Help Myself. 58th International Art Exhibition, “May You Live In Interesting Times”, La Biennale di Venezia, Central Pavilion, Giardini. May 8, 2019.

This piece also made the rounds on social media, and for me it was about the questioning of creation, purpose, and intent.

I also found this incredibly interesting as so many people interpreted it differently to what the artist intende, often ascribing personal details towards it. It is actually referencing the chinese government obfuscating its harm for the public eye.

22, a million – Bon Iver

This is another piece that if i listen to it I will cry. (I also just cry a lot, artists have sensitive souls).

For me this album is about disconnect and distance, whilst understanding the beauty and the need to cherish relationships. If they are going or gone.

I know that all of the pieces are quite sad; I think it’s hard for artworks to feel important unless they have a degree of emotional turmoil. This is a bias I am aware of in myself; I am still working on cherishing work that isn’t always like this.

What I want to take away from these works is the intense emotional energy. However, they are also deeply personal, and the viewer decides how to experience the piece.

The results of the Mind map:

• Non-human time is wicked cool. Trying to elicit a glimpse of an understanding of what that means, like when you learn how old the planet is or how small it is in the scheme of the universe.
• Dancing. The music compels people to move their bodies! It’s like magic.
• Masks are weird, they make people uncomfortable… why?
• Deep ocean feeling (I love that place)
• whales! They are so smart, and we don’t even know how smart! Also, they have a language, and we are trying to decode it.
• Creating an environmental space through sound.

I decided to make a sound piece because music is such a wonderful tool for expressing emotions. Also, sometimes film can be unrelatable, so people aren’t as quick to attribute their own feelings to it (e.g., I will often have to be the “main character” because I can’t find anyone else to film, we end up attributing our cultural biases to the piece. I would like to make that neutral). It is our innate response to music. I intend to capitalise on that.

Sonic inspiration

I think it is fair to say that I have a rather broad music genre interest. I will only mention work that I think is relevant to the direct sound inspiration to this work.

For this work I was inspired by pieces with heavy digital manipulation, that don’t necessarily follow a regular music structure (but often they do).

Hide and seek – Imogen Heap

This song is absolutely haunting. What I find most beautiful is the multi-layered gated voices (meaning at certain levels (created by how loud she sings), different amounts of effects will be triggered)- something very cool and something I would’ve tried for this piece if I had more time.

Another piece to do this in a similar but different way is Bon Iver, from the “22, a million” album.

The effect of the layered voices feels so powerful. and because they are all the same voice and triggered from the same sample it feels like the many facets of a single consciousness of a mind coming together. A choir of the self. It feels amazing to sing along to, if you learn the words.

ahh yes, a classic.

The regular motif of the “ah” repeats throughout the entire piece, staying constant as different emotions are called to by the smaller sections of synth that change throughout the piece. Guided by the simple and far-off lyrics, the piece promises different lives.

This piece also has edited vocals with a computerised lush texture that I would like to recreate with my synth.

And now for something specifically synthesiser-inspired. I love Kraftwerk’s entire discography, but this song floats around in my head more often than most. The manipulation of sounds, varying textures, and melodies stacking and flowing through each other is just awesome! It sounds different every time you listen to it.

I really like Kraftwerk’s attention and dedication to the synth. I also like the fact that none of them knew anything about music; they just did what sounded good. That is currently my Modus operandi.

Here is a contemporary example of a song that prioritises digital augmentation for emotional output. I get very sad when I listen to this.

Suzanne Ciani – The Velocity Of Love

This artist uses similar synthesisers to me, and I find myself un-intentionally using them in similar ways. like the pads that create an expansive space.

Kaitlyn Aurelia Smith – Log In Your Fire

here is another example of an artist who combines arps, pads, and samples to create a lush soundscape.

This is me trialling the use of an analogue synthesiser. It is also a good way to understand my music-making process, how I affect the sound, and how I play.

This is a Moog Voyager, which is a later version of a Mac plug-in that I used. So, I was familiar with most of the settings.

I chose not to use an analogue synthesiser because it is monophonic. I could only play one note at a time, which musically is quite limiting and not what I wanted to do for this project. I am a fan of chords and playing two notes at the same time.

I started with a synthesiser plug-in.

This is the synthesiser I learned on, so I know what every button or dial does and what to change if a sound doesn’t sound right to make it what I can hear in my head.

For the main sound of the synthesiser I focused on editing these elements (from left to right)

• Three oscillators are working at different lengths (32′, 4′, and 16′). This creates that really large and cinematic sound, as when I play a note, it triggers three different notes.
• I included three different waveforms (a full saw-tooth, a half saw-tooth, and a square wave). I find a saw tooth sounds more like a flute tone (sharp and spikey). A full square wave sounds kinda like a fart, which is a good thing. This sound is good for bass or scary things. When I combine these three, it makes a luxurious, rich texture.
• I turned off noise as I didn’t want the sound to become foggy at all.
• Then I altered the filter, contour, and cut-off frequency so that it would distort slightly and then resolve in the time frame that I wanted to play the music (if I hold the key for 4 seconds, I would like it to resolve in that time, but I wanted to play quite slowly so I made it higher, 6-8 seconds)

This is a different type of synthesizer I used

It has a sequencer, so when I play one note or a chord. It will play all these notes in a timed sequence.

It is also special because it plays two synthesisers simultaneously, and you can edit each level.

I chose this synth because it had a different texture to the first “demon pad”. If the textures feel the same throughout the piece, it feels fatiguing. I liked this one because it sounded like church organs and was grand. I altered and extended the sequence steps so the rhythm would feel gradual and less dancey.

I also chose the third instrument, a wood marimba, to include a different texture. It also sounds different because of all the air between the notes, which is in direct contrast to the other sounds.

These were the many different sounds and melodies I tried and did not use. Often because they weren’t interesting enough, or they wouldn’t hold up against the other sounds that I had created.

At this point, it was just stereo. I wanted to spacialize it into 5.1. I want the sounds to envelop the listener and move around them so they feel transported, and the sound waves completely envelop them.

I showed this to the class for a check-in and got good feedback. The most common feedback from everyone was that it should be longer. And I agree.

I had been working all this on Garage Band, which I do particularly like. But it doesn’t export in 5.1, so I have to change to Logic Pro. This is quite a challenge because most of the plug-ins I have been using don’t transfer over to Logic Pro. Also, I can’t use any of my plug-ins in the school’s immersive room. So, I have exported all the midis as audio files and will transfer them to Logic Pro to spatialize them.

I extended the initial sound bath section to 4 minutes.

I then wanted the different notes of the chords to move around so they could swish around in unexpected ways.

I played this live and then recorded it, editing sections by cleaning them up and rearranging them to create emotional tensions and releases.
I split them into four tracks, depending on their position in the chord. I then exported them as individual tracks.

This shows the change in angles of the round 5.1 spatialized surround.

This shows the wideness of the sound (sometimes encompassing 1 up to 5 )

These are the volume levels. This took lots of careful consideration, even more so than spatializing the sound. I focused on keeping elements in check that told a story, but if it was too loud, it overwhelmed the listener. There were lots of elements like this; I felt like a conductor.

This is the song that I used for my class tutorial, and here is the WIL form.

So, from this and also being able to exhibit it at the photography event, I was told that people sat and listened to my music in the dark, which is incredibly brave of them, and I am immensely thankful.

Then I moved onto the final edit

I lengthened the Kalimba section, but I didn’t make it as long as the other two sections, as I wanted some variety.

I then split the organ section I had written into 3 parts so that I could move the chords around. I couldn’t do it completely, as how many notes are played at once changes how the arp sounds. So, to not make it too muddy, I just used the lowest notes.

I then exported them all as audio files and moved them into Logic Pro to spatialize them in the immersive studio.

Once I moved them into Logic pro, I cleaned them up a bit and got the timing between the sections neat then I spatialiZed it.

This is how I control the movement of the speakers.

Once I had cleaned everything up.

I exported and it is done!!

I am so proud of this work, which is rare for me. I feel I have hit all the marks I had intended to.

• An interesting-sounding piece
• a piece people feel things when they listen to
• a sense of space or environment, without having atmospheric cues
• something people enjoy
• something I haven’t heard before (for me at least)

Here’s an artist statement based on your guidance:

---

In crafting this piece, my goal was to immerse the listener in a transformative experience, using the evocative power of synthesizers as my medium. I believe that the most profound art taps into fundamental, primal emotions, transcending intellectual complexities. My aim was to create something universally relatable and engaging, irrespective of background or status.

Music, with its ability to elicit both physiological and emotional responses, became my chosen vehicle. I sought to evoke a sense of profound movement and emotion within the audience. The piece unfolds in three distinct sections, each exploring different emotional landscapes, tensions, and energies, akin to movements in a symphony.

I am delighted by the resonance the piece found among listeners, who described feeling physically transported and deeply moved. Their reactions affirmed my original intention—to create an auditory environment that speaks directly to the soul, without relying on literal environmental sounds.

Moving forward, I am excited to further explore the concept of movements within music, deviating from conventional structures to craft a narrative that guides listeners through varied emotional terrains. This journey aims to transport them to a place beyond the ordinary, where music becomes a powerful conduit for shared human experiences.

I am immensely proud of having created something I have never done before using equipment I have never used before.

I hope you enjoy listening to this piece, I think this is the beginning of a road I am excited to continue travelling.

For the worthless object task, I was given the buckles from a pair of overalls. I didn’t want to make a sewing project with it because I didn’t want to introduce any new materials. So I wanted to transform the metal somehow. Either by bending it or by smelting it in some way. metal crafts are a new hobby for me and something I am still learning.

I thought about things that were worthless, and I thought about things that had a lot of worth. or even what is a measure of worth. So I started thinking about money and different types of money, like all the 1 cent coins my grandma gave me as a kid to use as play money. or bitcoin or other shitcoins that are only made to fool the first couple hundred people who buy them and then the value drops and they are worth nothing. So I wanted to make my own coin as a nod to that, but a physical one, because I haven’t used a physical coin in months. plus I was inspired by this work by. because of how beautiful the mass of them looked together. They looked so tactile and I just wanted to pick them up and drop them to hear the sound.

So i started with a coin made of polymer clay, with the words ‘WORTH ? VALUE’ and ‘WORTH $ VALUE’ .

I then pressed them into some damp sand to get an imprint. which is the traditional method when casting metal.

but the features of the letters got lost in the grains, so i tried again with some clay i harvested from my property.

which came out a lot better, i then used a toothpick to clean up some of the edges (we will see that this was completely unnecessary)

I knew i couldn’t turn the buckles from the overalls into molten metal as the melting point was too high. aluminium melts at 660.3 °C, which i thought was achievable in my forge as i have been able to bend steal with it. so i tried to melt some aluminium from a can.

These plagues my social media and I would say most of these are terrible and a waste of plastic to create. So I wanted to create some fake ones.

so I went to my favourite AI image generator, MidJourney.

this was my prompt ‘pen attachment to hold lid, plastic, advertisement‘ and the result

pen attachment to hold lid, plastic, advertisement, useless

The goal was to make something useless with the most plastic.

these are two standouts.

I feel these encapsulate what i was going for. so much plastic, completely useless. but aesthetically appealing enough that you are almost tempted.

I tried a few more prompts

‘remote control plastic dust cover‘

Loved these, the prompt for the first one in no way did I mention wanting religious imagery. But somehow here it is. Ai is weird like that, it has a preference for certain artistic aesthetics.

For this task, I brought in ‘unique cars’.

I also brought some glitter and coloured textas to doodle on top of these.

I really like the feminist history of collage, and how it was often made for small circles. Or even personally.

2 things I wanted to focus on when making my own collage. Interesting juxtaposition in texture. I want it to feel rich but not overloaded. I often find the ones that have full images, end up all looking quite same-y. I also wanted to make it a bit silly, I wanted.

I decided to make a poster that I would imagine hanging up in some child’s bedroom. The same way girls make posters about film crushes. but about cars instead.

this is the whole piece; all of it came from the magazine. I didn’t use any base paper to begin with. I used only small text areas, so the large cars would really be obvious.

here are some close-ups

This one is my favourite, so silly.

Especially on the last two, I really liked how the text element was bridged between the background and the car because of the advertisements. it makes it look like the cars belong there, or this is where they came from.

I thought this was fun and cute, personally, I don’t think it is particularly impactful or interesting. nor did I super enjoy doing it. but it was a cool trial because you use a different part of your brain to make it. instead of making something from nothing, you have to deal with and scavenge through what you can find. and I found that a bit too limiting.

I was sick for this class, so I missed the lecture and had little time to make a project.

Although I did have an idea that turned into my final project.

I was inspired/shocked by all of the large corporation collaborations with this one Kpop group, that had all minors.

here are a few of the collaborations (you don’t need to watch them. They are proof if anything)

coca cola collab

Mcdonalds collab

Apple iPhone (the entire music video was shot on iPhone, and it has heavy product placement )

These were all released this year.

I had an idea to swap out the logos in the McDonald’s video for Rio Tinto, or try and rotoscope the dances out, then put them dancing in the middle of a mine.

But all of these options were quite difficult, out of my skill set and would have taken more than a week to complete, which was the time frame for this cover project task.

So I decided to focus on this theme for my final project.

Exploration and mind mapping

Glitter bullet

It could be a resin bullet and just a collection of them, maybe in a bullet container. Or I could make a video shooting the bullets either in the frame as an ad or just showing how cool they are and describing the military advantages of glitter. Could be a glimpse into modern warfare, covered in dust and glitter. I could bedazzle a gun and then pretend to shoot glitter out of it.

I think what all I can think about is that the combination of war and glitter is a really weird, great juxtaposition.

Gambling in Australia

this is a topic I would like to focus on, and I am not seeing much art on it. And in Australia, it is a huge problem as opposed to other countries; we have some of the worst gambling, pokies and sports betting in the whole world. And my conversations with young men often include talking about their winnings from the weekly sporting matches (as young as 15) Because, in general, AFL and other sports are for families to watch; when you go to games, the crowds are composed of families or smaller groups of people that have bought their friends. It is illegal to advertise gambling to young people in Australia, but because these shows are televised later at night is considered appropriate even if it is family-friendly watching.

I also want to consider the people gambling and the culture around it; they are almost synonymous. If you are someone who can “understand” all the statistics, that seems impressive and cool. When people only talk about winning (because losing is embarrassing), they think it is a closer option than statistically. People tend to have the sense that “but I am different, I am inherently more special, and I have a better chance than other people”, which is nothing wrong with that. That is part of being human. I am not sure that any art piece could convince someone that that is not true, and I don’t think that I would want to.

So here lies the problem of how to draw attention to the Australian problem, whilst knowing that thousands of people and organisations are trying to do this. But how would an art piece become culturally significant or even just relevant? with this widespread and dangerous issue? Affecting youth and old people (pokies)

• I could make some pokies pants (inbuilt odour-reducing nappies)
• I could make a huge pile of unsuccessful scratchies or unsuccessful lottery tickets.
• make a collection of Facebook groups or fliers for a youth sports-bet club
• I could be boring and make a documentary of youth gambling (interview kids)
• I could display some of these as ads in local newspaper (Gisborne Gazette)

Kpop x Woodside

I wanted for my cover project to make a parody video of the K-pop girl group NewJeans.

why I choose to cover this particular group is because I find its whole existence unsettling.

• all members are minors (as young as 13)
• they are forced to not live with their families
• they have to drop out of high school
• forced to get plastic surgery
• are not paid until they pay off their debts from training (which is often multiple years)
• regularly work 15 hour days, and when they get home their dorm is monitored with cameras
• if they don’t agree or want to do something their company is asking of them, their jobs are threatened. i.e “if you don’t get this plastic surgery you wont be a part of the group”
• And they are incredibly popular amongst young people and children

and this is the part that I want to specifically reference. Because of this mass appeal and especially to children. certain companies that are not allowed to advertise to children are flocking to this kpop group and sponsering them. this includes McDonalds, Apple, Coca Cola. with NewJeans even making a song directly for Coke zero. I find this all incredibly insidious especially when all this information is available to the public yet there has been no major backlash, people are okay with abusing these minors because the music and music videos they are a part of are trendy and exciting. I also wanted to make art on how overt these ‘sell outs’ are and make the most obvious and insidious sell out sponsorship of the Australian petroleum mining company Woodside !

I chose specifically this company and specifically mining companies because they are often sponsors of large high brow cultural establishments such as Opera and Ballet. as a way of showing how civilised ther companies are but also to gain access to certain sponsorship events.

So I wanted to combine these two concepts to create and insidious and uncanny creation, specifically a kpop photo album. Which is basically sold alongside a CD of the album to bolster sales as they often sell for $50. like the one I have included below

This one us a collaboration with the Power Puff girls. so I want to recreate this object with, using AI to make a fake Girl group and try and make it really overt that this is wrong in every way.

I plan on printing these AI photos into a small book, as well as having the ‘photocards’ and stickers that are essential part of these Albums.

For the final piece I think I will make an Unboxing video, which are super popular on youtube. i want to do this so I can contextualise the object more as not many people in Australia are well versed with this cultural phenomenon. I have left an example of one down below (you absolutely do not need to watch it, maybe just zoom through it to understand the format).

Beginning of trials

I have been using midjourney as I find having the two subtle variation buttons for subtle and intense variation are really helpful. it means I can refine it to something I actually wanted.

I plan on using AI and specifically midjourney

Because of the nature of AI I can never get the same face twice from the same prompt. I want the final album to look really clean and believable so having faces that constantly change wont work. I found that if I use prompts such as ‘in the style of a character page, or photo series, fashion editorial’ . i would get many faces that look like the same person.

these are the options it gave me. Number 2 (top right) was the most successful as it actually looks like a photo and the head is turned different angles. I then made 100’s more trying to refine the angles, lighting, expressions and faces.

These are some of the later results

Once I ‘made’ 5 of these ‘people’ I started creating fashionable bodies that i imagine would look good for a kpop concept.

these are what i landed on which i really liked, they looked very fashion forward anreferences ‘tech-wear’ which is very popular in kpop fashion.

the reason i created all the faces prior and the bodies second is so i can try and create angles that match the original faces so i don’t have to distort them. and so they can look consistent throughout the entire piece.

This was my first time ever using photoshop and this was the first result, luckily there are millions of videos on youtube and i plan to get better as that is integral to this piece working.

The ‘Team Woodside”, is because I want this concept to look like a sports team sponsored by Woodside, it will also hopefully highlight the youth element and allude to the fact that they are all underage.

Wil form

This is my second attempt at photoshopping the face, which I am quite pleased with.

Now I will begin creating the final photos.

I began by making a plethora of photos on mid-journey, I then sorted through them and found which photo would match which face best. I found focusing on the angle of the nose was the best key to success.

As Journey makes images at incredibly low res, I upscaled all the photos multiple times. It did do some smoothing but not too noticeable so I didn’t mind.

I then made this set-up to plan how everything was going to go, this photo was from when I had done lots of work and needed to edit it .

I then started editing the photos to get ready for the final magazine. i took some ‘ stickers’ from Pinterest to make it more cutesy and align with the current styles in kpop.

I also wanted to include some physical stickers, for the album unboxing. as this is a staple in all kpop photo albums. but i have no ability to make convincing stickers, and if i were to order them it would take too long to be delivered. so I ordered some stickers online, then took the digital version and ‘”stuck” them all over the album so they would look liked they were made for this album. instead of the other way around.

I photoshopped the images on the same page so i could make them look good together when they are folded flat. for example

This page is a ‘get to know’ page and shows personal information about the members. I took this directly from a group, and I altered some of the information to make it more insidious. the last or second last quote, is about Woodside.
“Jiwon thinks more woodside means happier communities and Jiwon wants people to be happy” . I tried to write it so it looked like a child could say that, but a child would never say that.

so I made 20 more pages, including a front and back cover (this took 6 weeks). I had planned to get the album professionally printed, but with my timing, it wasn’t possible. I also realised since it is only going to be a prop for a video, the quality doesn’t have to be that good. it just has to be legible and clean enough for the camera.

I then tried to format it into a booklet so i could print it at home, but for some reason all the software that meant to be able to wasn’t working. I think my laptop had recently updated and put all the tutorials i had been watching out of date.

so i figured out the formatting myself (it was very stressful) but i succeeded.

Paper for the win!

This is how the formatted pages looked like.

This took me quite a while as I believed the printer could smell my fear and frustration and refused to cooperate.

once everything was finished, I started on the actual making of the physical album.

I covered the front cover with a clear film to make it look more professional and sturdy.

I then made the box that all of it is stored in using an old cereal box

I then printed out these photos of faces from two of the members. these are photocards, which come with kpop albums. they are often traded like sports cards and can sometimes be sold for a lot of money, depending on how rare the issue is and how favourable the idol is. So i made two using more cardboard and clear film.

I then covered the box with printed paper, and after that with more clear film.

I also printed some text of ‘woodside’ and ‘harmonicae’ and put some clear film on them to make pretend stickers. I think they are very convincing. I wish I had thought of that sooner, so I could’ve made lots. I also covered a cd envelope with some paper and a sticker, to cover up the original cover and to make more cute things to add to the goodies.

I then put all the goodies and photo albums in the box and cling wrapped the outside, then used a hair dryer to shrink it to the box. I found a barcode sticker on an old book and stuck it to the back for some realism.

This was also my lighting and filming set-up. I chose to film on my phone camera as that is how lots of YouTube unboxing videos are filmed, and I think the quality will help hide some of the subtle construction mistakes.

I used the pale chopping board as it is a bit cleaner than my water-damaged desk.

I tried to film it all in one go, so there were minimal cuts. I also tried to read every portion that referenced Woodside, so it isn’t too obvious or on the nose. It is still almost believable.

I wrote some music for this video, but only 2 minutes worth. So I used instrumentals of other K-pop groups, which is something that is normal in other unboxing videos.

The little green portion is the music I wrote.

And tada. my final piece. I would like to think you found it on YouTube after listening to some pop music and found yourself transported to another world. (yes, it is meant to look a bit dodgy. The video is meant to look homemade. But the book is professional)