On May 29th, I gave a 10-min presentation to JAMers about what triggered me to do this project, what I am going to do, and what I dream to do.It's not that easy for me, and I would not say I am satisfied with my performance. It could be far more better. However, thanks to JAMers' kindness and generousness. They behaved less critical than I expected and gave me very constructive ideas. Then here are the presentation ...
There are four major elements in the presentation, which are 2 surprises, 1 question mark, and a dream. They formed the story why I am here in JAM doing my graduation project.
The first surprise will have to trace back to six months ago. I was in Venice to visit the Biennale Architecture exhibition. In the Japanese pavilion, It was a strong impact to me about the drawing power. When I stepped into the pavilion, it just looked like a new house with no furniture but only big, white walls. However, when I walked closer to the walls, I was surprised by the extremely detailed and delicate pencil drawings which covered all over the walls. To me, the drawings are calm but passionate, and quiet but powerful. They are naive but free all minds in the pavilion with their imagination. This was the first time I experienced such a direct and overwhelming power of hand drawings. (more about Japanese pavilion...)
About two weeks later, there were the second surprise waiting in the TUDelft IOB job market. That was where I met Dennis and had a very good impression of what JAM are doing. It surprised me that they conducted a business to help people communicate with their drawings. This impression just reminded me of the impact I had in the Japanese pavilion. This surprise gave me the idea to conduct a graduation project with them to know better of the drawing power and how to use it.
Fortunately, after several months, I am here in JAM now. However, the JAM are like a puzzle for me to decipher and read. But I do want to talk about my dream first instead of describing how to reach it. Since I can realize there are values of hand drawings through the research, I hope that I can make something to promote advantages of visual thinking in group communication. On the one hand, they could be an encyclopedia for people to explore the beauty of the drawing power in visual thinking. On the other hand, if it is set as an online website, it could not only influence other people but also receive suggestions and opinions. In this two-way interaction, it could therefore evolve themselves with time and prevent to be limited in certain presumption.
For the question mark, this is about how will I conduct the project in JAM. I think I will use another 10 mins to decribe them, but it would be in the next 10-min presentation. See you then...
Thanks to Dennis, he also filmed the presentation. You can see the video here.
It is funny, I remember visiting the Japanese pavillion with my Italian architect friends. Everybody was very impressed, everybody loved it, but I got very irritated, because to me those sketches on the walls were the shallowest form of decoration. I mean, cute, obsessive, detailed, but ultimately decoration and wallpaper-like.
ReplyDeleteAnd the outside wasn't original at all, I mean, what's the point? Fake greenhouses? Ecology? I don't know, that whole thing left me vaguely disappointed, I cannot even clearly express why I hated it so much. Maybe because I have higher expectations from architectural interventions than scribbles on walls.
HE PO! GOOD TO SEE YOU TRYING TO BALANCE OUT TEXT AND IMAGE. I know your dream can be fullfilled by contributing to the bigger picture of showing the advantages of visual thinking to anyone who will LISTEN! Remember that a lot of people will only give you one chance to get them interested. You 10 minute talk is an inspiration I think for a lot of other students! You opened up and linked your personal motivation to a very relevant trend of today... It makes me very glad!
ReplyDeleted.
To Walter
ReplyDeleteWow! You are also the first one I know who has other thoughts about what happened in Japanese pavilion. I do not want to defend for Japanese. Actually, I only sensed the impact from the drawing itself and the way they present it. However, at the same time, I also ignored their exterior setting and could not get a clue about their statement. Maybe I can say that the exhibition was really successful in making a sensation of the pencil hand drawings in the pavilion, but not in expressing its own concept in the whole context.
Nevertheless, I do think the hand drawings did give an unique viewpoint of their concept which is to blur the boundaries between nature and residential area. Instead of modern, long-lasting printings, pencil drawings seemed fragile but fit natural principles since it could fade out with time. So when I saw the hand drawings, it was an unique work to me rather than a cheap and mass-productive decoration. Through the detailed picture, I can hardly image how patient and careful the artists were to draw them. This kind of originality is something that modern wallpaper can not convey.
To Dennis
Yes, I appreciate the chance to share something good with others since I do see the values. I will keep in mind that there is always only one chance to make a good impression. And that is the reason why we talk with pictures, right?