Epilogue 12-13-10

The purpose of this blog entry is to explain to future students what I think the class named Seeing Sideways is all about.

I think that Seeing Sideways is a class intended to teach students to explore and create new things, free of whether it's "right" or "wrong". Basically, anything goes as far as assignments go...as long as the assignments are not pornographic in nature and as long as they obey school rules. I guess this class is preparation for future projects within the workforce.

Assignments include doing whatever you want with an egg, doing something that involves your identity, creating something that inspires you, and analyzing your beliefs, be they in God, in another deity, or lack of belief, and creating something from those beliefs.

You also have to make blog entries presenting such projects, and justify said projects(how it works, why they created it, etc.).

That's pretty much it from me.

Response to 11-15-10 class

Today, we discussed our identity projects. They ranged from something simple as a speed drawing to a customized Rubik's Cube. The one to which I responded the most was John Hester's identity project, because it's linked to video games, which I like very much. I disagree with his preference for playing as the bad guy in certain sandbox video games, because I don't like playing as criminal scumbags. Except for maybe Wario.

We also discussed anonymity in the internet, altruism, and how text can actually be scary. Some of the students said that imagination makes text scary, but I'm a follower of the mantra "A picture is worth a thousand words", which is why I'd connect most with Kathryn Thacker, because she's also an artist.

At the end of the lecture, we were assigned an Inspiration Round Robin, where we have to make something out of someone else's source of inspiration, and then inspire someone else to make something. Hopefully, I can do it right.

Who do I think I am? 11-13-10

For my "Identity" project, I made a cardboard picture frame with a picture inside it. On the piece of paper, I used posterboard to create four circles. I used those circles to make a "color wheel", put only showing the three primary colors: Red, Blue, and Yellow. Under Red, I have "Artistic", because I feel most passionate with drawing or sketching something. Under Yellow, I have "Intelligent", because I feel that I wouldn't be in IUPUI now if I weren't. Under Blue, I have "Autistic", but in order to tell you the significance of the metaphor I chose, I'll have to show you what the picture frame looks like in person, since I don't have a digital camera, and my cell phone's camera photos get heavily pixelated when magnified. Let's just say that it involves being an "octopus in the forest".

Providing that I remember to bring the frame to class, I will show you the project on Monday.

Response to 11-8-10 Class

Today we had another field trip, this time to Herron. We visited the "Notes to Nonself" installation. There was a roofless wooden shelter into which we could go. Luckily, it was sturdy enough for my weight. I was worried that it would collapse. We saw the forest motif and then noticed a papier-mache octopus in the middle of the installation. We later found out that the installation was about "identity".

The skulls prevalent in the installation symbolized death, and in the case of identity, it could mean death of the self, since "nonself" could mean "being part of the collective" or "assimilation". The octopus could symbolize the inability to blend in with the crowd. It could also symbolize the individual.

I read the pamphlet and it mentioned that this was inspired by Buddhist philosophy. I guess that would explain the "non-self", but after looking up "Buddhism" and "Non-self", I don't think I quite understood the concept as well as I thought I did.

We also discussed "final project" ideas, though we discovered that it wasn't a conventional "final project", since it has the same possible points as a regular blog. I had two ideas: either three ways to help debit/credit card users and/or three inventions to help monitor health. Beth then announced the assignment for this week; it involved identity and who we thought we were. Hopefully, I do a good job on this.

Overall, it was an interesting exhibit and an interesting class.