BA Concept Seminar
Excercise 1
Through my origin as a Peruvian and Swiss I came to the topic of authenticity, which I analyzed further.
Excercise 2
After the first day of the theory module, I talked to several people to find a potential partner. Since me and Colin are very interested in other cultures and we both associate culture very strongly with food, we agreed to work on task 2 and 3 together. The ideas we have worked out together are first sketches of what the topic could be. We both agreed that authenticity is always ominpresent in the topics we discussed.
Excercise 3
After the Excercise 3, me and colin got together again and talked about what direction we could go in.
Our common interest was culinary. After the exercise where we had to sketch 50 ideas, it turned out that we have different goals. Our intentions and approaches are different. Although me and Colin are very interested in cultures, the topics we want to highlight are different. I like to look at a phenomenon from a distance, while Colin prefers to be in the middle of it. As a result, the topics Colin wants to cover are much more intense. The topic we talked about for a long time was marginalized groups and drug addicts.
How could we help these people to rehabilitate themselves? And how could we integrate these people more into society, so that they are accepted and not ignored?
But I prefer to analyze events like these from a distance, so that I can also concentrate on the circumstances around them. Being involved with people brings a lot of responsibility, which I don’t want to take it on myself. I’m very sure that it is extremely hard psychologically. I am not ready to devote my strength and psyche to such an extreme issue.
That is why we decided to separate again to find new partners. For both of us it was extremely helpful, because now we know better which values are important for us.
Group building with Yami
In the same day after going to different directions I decided to meet Yami and have a talk about our topic and our intentions of our BA. Since me and Yami worked a lot together in the past, we already knew that we can achieve a good project, no matter what’s the subject.
Since she was very open to find a new topic to follow, we started with a brainstorming.
We defined what our intentions for the BA project are:
Parameters
Culture, environment (layer / network) (stereotypes?)
Influence (opinion, environment…)
Character (protagonist?)
Political
critical
humor
Quality (Focus)
other illumination of phenomenon
room for interpretation
philosophical aspect
psychological aspect
socially critical
cosmopolitan view
holistic view
Value (what is important for us and what do we have)
Confronting
New perception
Fictitious reality
Empirical
Exaggerated representation
“In your face”
Group building with Yami & Lilian
While discussing our topics we found out, that Lilians topic about fiction and reality is an important part of it. That’s why we decided to do Exercice 4 together with Lilian.
Some topics we talked about:
Immersive Simulation with actors
Social Experiments
Social dynamics in online tool experiment
mystery puzzle
manipulative
goat cafe (installation)
Sell/Buy your Identity
Consciousness deplacement
Redefine yourself
Personal Adaption
Performance
survival kit für kultur
“into the wild” perspective in a city(social circle, stereotyps)
Finding common ground for a group of three
We are aware of the fact that a BA Project of 3 people needs to be clearly defined what each person brings to the table and why 3 people are needed. That is why we have created a graphic that shows where our interests overlap and how we complement each other.
Our Topic Area
Our topic for the BA project can be summarized as the question about identity. By identity we mean identity of individuals and cultures (group of individual bonding over common interests). We are very much interested in the different components of identity. Does fiction co-construct our identity? Is this why we perceive someone as fake or authentic and how we maintain our facades? Identity is a complex construct and influenced by many factors. We all interact differently with each person showing different facades of our self. Social interaction have a big influence on our identities/facades especially if is a clash between tow extremely different cultures.
Sonjoi’s contribution
Since I started with the topic of authenticity, I’m very interested in finding out how and where this phenomenon makes people feel that something is real or how it creates a reality. I would find it very exciting to investigate authenticity on the basis of different identities and cultures. It is also important for me that the topic has a philosophical background that can be viewed in different ways. I don’t want to impose an opinion on anyone with this work.
Yami’s contribution
My focus is on social phenomena, whether from a structural, psychological, philosophical, artistic or abstract perspective. I am interested in how an individual creates his identity and what influences the environment brings. One method of examining this more closely would be to explore the “facade” (Which can also be called a fictive bubble) of individuals. Because depending on how much this is lived out, the identity of the individual changes. The following questions come to mind in this topic area: How is our perception influenced? How do we deal with influences? What makes us as individuals perceive experiences differently? What happens when two polarizing individuals meet?
Lilian’s contribution:
I see my contribution especially in finding methods of immersion to artificially insert a fiction into reality. I strongly believe that our own identity and culture is imbued by fictions. What is real, authentic what a facade? By artificially inserting a fiction you can shift somebodies reality and therefore also affecting their feelings, thoughts and behaviors.
Refining Topic
We were discussing what topics we should further track, since our themes are very broad.
Topics we discussed:
-Experience people’s facades
-Internet persona vs. Real life persona
-Anonymity in real life (army, uniform > collective vs. individual)
->you are not perceived as an individual but as a representative of a group
-Disembodied but with facade on the Internet
-Anonyme Kulturen (????)
-How does an anonym culture works?
-How do you create an anonym group?
-What are the benefits of anonym cultures?
-Create a place to show an identity of you that you don’t show otherwise?
-Create a place where you can be an other you or more yourself
-Reveal your “real you”
-Create a form of self therapy through an anonym group/culture
-In what situation do we show which facade?
-Help to improve self confidence/ social interaction
-How might we discover other identity facades of people in an anomyous group?
-How might we burst social bubbles in a anonym group?
-What if you can reconect better with you hidden identities through an anynomys group
-What if an anonymous group can help you to get to know yourself better
-What if an anonymous group can help you to self reflect better
-What if there is a social space that helps you to self reflect better
-How does a social space looks like that helps you to self reflect better
-How might we create a social space that helps dicover your identeties
-How might we create a social space that enhances your self awareness?
-Find yourself through our anonyms culture
-We want to create a social space where people can discover their identity layers
Another problem was, how to show this topic of identity in an explainable way, which is funny, but informative too.
Video & Storyboard
In our conceptvideo we want to tell, that we want to investigate these phenomenas, by creating a space where different people encounter each other. Our goal is that they can reflect better on themself and see people in a different way, with more identity facets.
Some works or phenomenas have inspired us very much, for the topic we want to further investigate. Here some examples:
Alcoholics Anonymous (AA)
The only membership requirement is a desire to stop drinking. The organisation works as a self supporting group. Also every member is treated equally they all have to follow a specific set of rules.
Fight Club (1999)
Fight club was heavily inspired by various anonymous groups like the AAs. It is a group born from the frustration of the monotonous everyday life. The members of the club help themselves to make their life less dull. The substance that makes them sick is not a drug but the bureaucracy of society. For the club to work there is one important rule no one is allowed to talk about the club. Outside of their reunions, the club does not exist.
The Twilight Zone
Season 3, Episode 27
Person or Persons Unknown (1962)
David Gurney wakes up from a night of wild partying to find that nobody recognizes him, and all evidence of his identity had disappeared. He never really thought about the matter of his identity before.
No Exit (Huis clos, 1947)
Jean-Paul Sartre
Theater play
“Huis clos” Sartre sees as essential to the opinion and judgment we form about ourselves. Thus, every human being is in dependence on others, from which he may or may not break free. Habits, rigidity, comfort lead to encrustation and often make it very difficult to really decide freely. Sartre, however, thinks that even if man is in a vicious circle, it is his responsibility and decision to break it or to stay in it. If he stays in it, he goes to hell of his own free will.
