Synectics
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20.8.10
Puppy
A video vishnu took during our interactive toy design lab. Its a video of of children of construction workers 'playing' with a little pup.
screenshots from the video:
screenshots from the video:
Dolls in the park
2 days back i did a little experiment. I wanted to see how the interaction with a toy changes when played in a different environment. I placed 3 dolls in the sand, half burried hoping children will find it while playing and then i could see how they interact with the dolls both alone and with company.
I saw:
1. Kids(boys and girls)would immediately bury it.
2. Kids(a group of 3 girls and 2 boys)made a mountain of sand and placed the doll on top. They were either worshiping it or sacrificing it. But then they started singing, 'happy birthday to dear doll,happy birthday to you':) But the doll looked more like a candle on the mud cake.
3. A little boy who must have been 3,stepped on a doll by mistake and immediately said sorry to it and walked away.
There were kids that threw it out of the sand pit and never looked at it again(this happened twice-it looked like a heartless act to me). The first time it was a boy and the second, a girl.
4. 1 girl buried the dolls and carefully brushed away sand off of its face and said 'look i found a fossil'.
5. One thought it was really ugly and didnt want to play with it so she used the doll's legs to draw in sand.
6. A girl found the dolls hand and said 'look the baby's hand, and threw it away'.
7. 2 girls buried the dolls secretly so they cud come back the next day and play with it. And threatened a little girl who saw them burying it there. They said 'If you touch it, i'll say to your mother'.
But the predominant interaction was to bury the dolls in sand.
I saw:
1. Kids(boys and girls)would immediately bury it.
2. Kids(a group of 3 girls and 2 boys)made a mountain of sand and placed the doll on top. They were either worshiping it or sacrificing it. But then they started singing, 'happy birthday to dear doll,happy birthday to you':) But the doll looked more like a candle on the mud cake.
3. A little boy who must have been 3,stepped on a doll by mistake and immediately said sorry to it and walked away.
There were kids that threw it out of the sand pit and never looked at it again(this happened twice-it looked like a heartless act to me). The first time it was a boy and the second, a girl.
4. 1 girl buried the dolls and carefully brushed away sand off of its face and said 'look i found a fossil'.
5. One thought it was really ugly and didnt want to play with it so she used the doll's legs to draw in sand.
6. A girl found the dolls hand and said 'look the baby's hand, and threw it away'.
7. 2 girls buried the dolls secretly so they cud come back the next day and play with it. And threatened a little girl who saw them burying it there. They said 'If you touch it, i'll say to your mother'.
But the predominant interaction was to bury the dolls in sand.
17.8.10
Goodbye innocence
Here's an ad campaign for SHS teen clothing line which says 'goodbye innocence'. I absolutely love the props used and the art direction on the whole.
16.8.10
Dolls
A few days back i went toy hunting in the small local toy shops in Ganganahalli. There were all sorts of cheap toys both in terms of cost and quality. But there was still something interesting about them. I got 10 tiny dolls of Rs.8 each. It said Rs.2 on the pack but he refused to come down. So i think i got cheated but it was worth the 8 bucks. The hair was made of colored nylon threads and the clothes looked like they took less than 5 minutes to make. The doll could be easily squeezed, and it came with a tiny comb that matched her outfit.
Claes Oldenburg
Matt asked me to look at how the meaning of an object changes in relation to music, scale, medium, architecture etc…Claes Oldenburg is a great example.
Claes Oldenburg is a Swedish sculptor, best known for his public art installations typically featuring very large replicas of everyday objects. Another theme in his work is soft sculpture versions of everyday objects.
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Claes Oldenburg is a Swedish sculptor, best known for his public art installations typically featuring very large replicas of everyday objects. Another theme in his work is soft sculpture versions of everyday objects.
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Jeff Koons
Jeff Koons is an American artist known for his giant reproductions of banal objects such as balloon animals produced in stainless steel with mirror finish surfaces, often brightly colored. Some view his work as pioneering and of major art-historical importance. Others dismiss his work as kitsch: crass and based on cynical self-merchandising. Koons himself has stated that there are no hidden meanings in his works.
12.8.10
Roland Barthes on Toys
Every child is an artist. The problem is how to remain an artist once he grows up. -Pablo Picasso
Barthes has a chapter in 'Mythologies' - 'Toys', in which he analyses the denotation and connotation of children's playthings. He was one of the first theorists to recognise that these toys are pre-conditioning children to the gender roles that they will be expected to assume. He says that "All the toys one commonly sees are essentially a microcosm of the adult world", and that for instance, a girls doll is "meant to...'condition' her to her future role as mother". If we apply this to videogames, we can immediately see that semiotics, especially as applied to ideology, might shed more light on the role that games play in our globalised society. If we are guilty of making too many games for boys, then we might too argue that we are guilty of perpetuating what is expected from boys.
Barthes has a chapter in 'Mythologies' - 'Toys', in which he analyses the denotation and connotation of children's playthings. He was one of the first theorists to recognise that these toys are pre-conditioning children to the gender roles that they will be expected to assume. He says that "All the toys one commonly sees are essentially a microcosm of the adult world", and that for instance, a girls doll is "meant to...'condition' her to her future role as mother". If we apply this to videogames, we can immediately see that semiotics, especially as applied to ideology, might shed more light on the role that games play in our globalised society. If we are guilty of making too many games for boys, then we might too argue that we are guilty of perpetuating what is expected from boys.
Toys-Roland Barthes
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Dark side of sweetness!
A friend stumbled upon these images. I love them. This pretty much sums up my theme:)
Children have a dark side to them, which we can see if they were allowed to show it. Instead, we suppress these tendencies and force feed them with 'cute'.
Children have a dark side to them, which we can see if they were allowed to show it. Instead, we suppress these tendencies and force feed them with 'cute'.
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