Over the freshman year first semester, Integrative Seminar and Studio gave me a push on how to build refined concept based art. During the course of Bridge 4, the final project, the redesigning process of the Columbus Circle Monument was a challenge. I had to think critically about the final concept and prototype. Since it was a sensitive topic relating to different communities, leading to several controversies, I had to be careful with making sure that each detail of my monument would represent the American history correctly, not include any bias, and not be misunderstood and misrepresented.
Researching into this topic of American History and Columbus has made me want to explore the past more deeply. The contrast between how it was perceived then and how it is perceived now is major, and I would like to get to know why. There have been major vandalism cases and violence around this monument in only 2017 and in the past, it was never like that.
Over the semester, I have learned that concept development is the first and the most important step in the process of building something. If that lacks, then there are always some things that don’t make sense in the final product. I think writing and critically thinking about a concept in seminar class and then building over it in studio class helped to give my art definition and clarity. In the past, it was more like I had an idea but I wouldn’t be able to explain it to other people probably because I didn’t think about it or understand it either. I think in any future idea or project, as an artist, I would try to write about my idea and develop it before executing it.