1) Independently complete Central Park observations + project (post responses to the prompts #1-5 on your LP + your poetic project and caption paragraph). To visit the stone steps and outcropping of rock that Robert Smithson photographed, enter the park at 6th Avenue and 59th street, veering slightly to the left when entering the park. Use the reference image of the Essex House (on your print out) to find the location.
1) What does it feel like knowing that so much ice used to be here, but is now gone? Is it hard or easy to imagine this site being so different?
It almost feel surreal and unrealistic to know that back 450 million years ago, the Central Park used to be actually a glacial. For instance, it is really hard to imagine due to the contrast from what its now: green, concrete, benches, light, horses, people, animals, among others. However, considering everything that I have been learning in this course and thinking about the transformation of that area, for me is the living response to such changes we are living in. For example, the Sahara Desert used to be actually a grassland which transform into a desert during the period known as Makalian Wet Phase. By 2500 – 2000 BCE the Sahara was already drying up. In this way, the transformation of the Central Park is also another example of how many regions and areas of the world have change due to several factors. Moreover, I believe that one of the main reasons that affects the world and lead to changes is human impact.
2) What sights, sounds, smells, structures and materials around you provide evidence of the Anthropocene?
First, when I arrived at Central Park the corner of 59th st and 6th Ave. was surrounded by taxi drivers, and tourists guides that provided a established package to know the city. It sounded a lot like a city: horns, people yelling, a lot of movement and transportation. Then, I walked into the park and the walking side was with concrete, then you had light on the side of benches. If you walk more you can start seeing small stands of food like hot dogs and ice creams. The smell in general of the park was more “natural and pure” because of the presence of plants and trees, however, I would say that the surroundings have a different smell. When entering the park, you can really smell what I would say that defines the Anthropocene: transportation, gases, globalization, demand, consumption and among other aspects that make up human life.
3) Do you feel like you have contributed to material realities that indicate the arrival of the Anthropocene?How/why/when?
Yes I do. By learning of such historical valuable pieces that can contribute to a better understanding of this world I also learned about myself and how we have developed in such way that affects the environment. I feel that by learning this, is important to let people know what they are walking around in Central Park and to take this evidence just as a reminder one big change, just like the daily changes we live with. Considering that the Central Park is a touristic and very attractive place to go because of its natural beauty, its size and its contrast with the city, I believe not only environmental activist but also designers, engineers, archiects, and every single person should do something to make this valuable evidence have the importance it should by teaching people what they are, because a couple of days ago I was just another person that didn’t know what these rocks were. And now that I have learned about them, it changed the way I see Central Park. Looking at those rocks inhabiting with the changed we have make and things we create like light, concrete, etc, made me realize the amount of control and power we have over nature but also For this reason, I think that it is important to transmit other what we know so that people stop missing things that can change the perspective in which they see this planet.
4) Do you think the public should be aware of the Anthropocene?
Yes, definitely I do. I believe know about the Anthropocene is knowing more about ourselves and the complexity of human life and the power we have literally in our hands to impact the world either in a good or bad way. For this reason, I think the public should know and learn from this period we are living in so that they can understand better certain things like how a place can change so drastically or how a weather can be so unpredictable. I believe that one of the most important aspects that a country should focus on is in the education they are providing, even for little kids, because is easy to get the right idea and grow up knowing your reality rather than not knowing anything and trying to learn later the unpredictable things of this world caused by us.
5) What kind of climates do you think are possible in New York City’s future?
I think that as the years pass, New York City and even the world in general would get hotter and hotter due to the amount of greenhouse gases that would be trapped inside the ozone layer. Moreover, I think this would happen if human activity and lifestyle keep going like now, with the same consumption and demand for things without caring of our impact.
PROJECT:
PART 1: Create a poetic work using the observations you gather in Central Park (words, original photography, drawings, sound recordings, and/or found objects) to
aesthetically express the transition in climate that has unfolded in this spot over
the past 10,000 years. A glacier, the urban city we see today — and an uncertain
climate future. This can be a poem, a text/image piece, a drawing or an audio/video
piece. Please post this on your LP with a paragraph describing what you made and why.
This video that I did was inspired by the fact that the main reason why this world is changing so much and so quickly is because of mankind. The video started with a hand getting closer to the rock, in this case, the rock has also a symbolic meaning of representing the world at the beginnings of the time without getting any “shape out of a raw material”. Moreover, the hands getting closer symboles the influence of human life on the planet. Finally, the hand touches the rock and stays there just like how we are now inhabiting this world and shaping it daily. However, the meaning of the video has also the opposite meaning, how a hand of a human learn and explore the environment and natural world by touching the rock and the act of touching means the curiosity of learning about it and caring about it. Finally, as the hands touches the rock without taking it back, means the protection that human need to take care about this world.
2) List three design/object ideas + sketches for your final project. Describe each idea, thinking through what you think will need and use over the next fifty years, given what you have learned in this class (a result of the great acceleration/climate change)? Describe how each of these designs/objects/ideas would help you (or make your life more easy, beautiful, useful etc.)? How might these ideas might meet the Long Life Design criteria? What systems and materials are they reliant upon in order to exist? Are these systems threatened by climate change?
- My design ideas came up after thinking about the materials that I was thinking on using for my designs. First, I thought about how many waste is created in the fashion industry and even here in the school when using muslin for the prototypes and pattern paper for the pattern construction. For this reason, I thought about creating a “fabric” with the combination of scraps of muslin and paper pattern left from the making of garments. Therefore, the meaning behind making this type of fabric is also a way of taking the first steps of the making of fashion garments into introducing those materials to the retail world. For this chosen material, I thought about different ways in which I can use this type of fabric for example in handbags, I can create paper and even tshirt that can be personalized by painting on the fabric. This design I consider that are basic ones but the beauty is in the materials they are made from. I believe that making more design out of reusing other materials is giving that material another life and function, and make the user think about making less waste as they are alaready reusing what was supposed to be waste. I believe this idea fulfill most of the long life design criteria. The ones that I consider that are strongly fulfill are user, environment and manufacturing, because of the meaning behind the material, what the product make the user think about and care about, and also the manufacturer show the appreciation and value on creating things out of another rather than the regular way of creating a garment or object. The systems and materials that these products rely on are on the fashion industry because the main materials are fabric scraps, specifically muslin. Also, it depends on the making of muslin and therefore, on the grow of cotton plants, for instance on water, air and soil. In this way, these materials are threatened directly by climate change because of the changes that are happening on the main three systems of soil, air and water. However, this designs can also trigger this aspect of threatening because instead of growing more cotton to make muslin or any other fabric, it reused fabrics to create another.
- Secondly, I thought about how other ways or with other material, rather than muslin and paper pattern, that
I could use to create more design and garments. Therefore, I thought about also the amount of waste of any type of fabric. Then I came up with the idea, instead of mashing up the fabrics to create one from all of them, to use those different pieces to create garments or objects. For example, coats, sets of bedsheets and even wall covering like wall paper to cover a wall instead of painting it and therefore, it lowers the demand on painting and it requires less systems to create and to maintain the decoration of the wall.
