Exercise 3: Blindfold
As you will have reflected during the Research Task: New Ways of Seeing – the act of looking and listening is subject to preconceived expectations, unconscious interpretation and expectations. Often when something is regularly repeated or familiar, it can be overlooked, or our brains, ears and eyes block information deemed unimportant. Whether consciously or not, much of our environment and surroundings are blinkered as our senses become more attuned and familiar to the situation.
To challenge this and discover new ways to experience your environment and perspective on the world, this exercise requires you to limit and disrupt your awareness and senses in order to create the unexpected. By relinquishing aspects of control, the parameters of your perspective will change and alter the boundaries of your understanding. For example, eating a meal in complete darkness may heighten our sense of taste and smell, creating a different experience of something familiar. Drawing a picture without looking at the paper will focus attention on the act of looking rather than drawing. Recording music while wearing earplugs could create unusual sonic properties that veer away from common notions of harmony and melody.
Here, much like the viewfinder exercise, you are to explore and experiment with the notion of negating aspects of a process in order to seek out the parameters of your perspective and open new possibilities for understanding and creating.
Rosa Menkman, Hito Steyerl – How not to be seen (2015) Image via Flickr.
SCRIBBLES!
Drawing and scribbling can be a wonderfully expressive and fulfilling activity that allows me to tap into my creative side and explore my imagination while working on a coffee break or at my office to relieve stress. Scribbling is a great way to experiment with different shapes, lines, and textures. Not only is it a fun and engaging way to spend my time, but it can also be an incredibly effective stress reliever, helping to calm your mind and promote a sense of relaxation and well-being. With, sometimes, just a (reused) piece of paper and a pen or pencil, I let my hand wander and create intricate designs and patterns that are uniquely personal. So why not try it and see where my scribbles take me? I never know what kind of beautiful and unexpected creations I might develop!
I’m having second thoughts about my fun drawings, and because they are monochrome scribbles, I could use them to create jacquards and knit-downs in the future. It would be exciting to see them on a piece of fabric: that could be a part of a future exercise.
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