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circus project

December 14, 2018 - Integrative Seminar 1

A girl who was somehow Japanese like and brought a passion for multidiscipline studies in art all the way to New York City, that is me Audrey ( Yi-Han ), Chou. Studying at Parsons, I held an undeclared major, however, I was always clear about my visions of art, since I love all of them, I decided to get into the Integrated design department. Music, Painting, Dancing, Filming and all different kinds of art field have always been part of my life, influencing my ideas to enable me to express through the process of creating. As an artist, I would like to continue and explore the different possibilities across the different field of art and do anything that can change people’s lives with a creative mind.

For my Bridge 4 project about circuses, my research focus was on the evolving circus towards art form, which was the modern circuses today’s that was considered as a kind of theoretical practice and field of art. Since I was young, the circus was already an interesting topic to me. I was introduced to not a traditional circus, but modern circuses like Cirque DU Solie at a young age because of my family. I’ve grown up with shows of Cirque DU Solie, and feel that instead of being a circus with traditional tents and more, for me, they are much more like a performance that appreciates the wonder of art and storytelling.

Inspired by Cirque Du Solie and their shows, I start questioning about their difference between traditional circuses and how the modern circuses were today. After doing the research, I understand the combination of sound, light, and different fields of artistic value that was combined into modern circuses are the main thing of circuses nowadays, which inspired me to make my studio project as a cross-disciplinary project.

Focusing on the word “evolution” and “multidisciplinary art”, my idea of studio project was making a moth which represents evolution and applies the movement of up and down, then surround the fabric made moth by an environment of wonder. I used an abstract form of coral made by acrylic plastics to represent the feeling of mystery and wonder. Also, I tried to combining this piece with light and music to make this project more interesting with different combinations of art. The reasons why I chose plastic as my main material was because of the transmitting that plastic has, which gives more space and changes to the lightning effect.

While doing this project, to make sure the mechanic works and all the adjustments can be fine, I did two prototypes which introduced the combination of mechanic that both go up and down and turn.
Prototype 1 only focused on the techniques of up and down, however, prototype number 2 explores the possibility of going up and down and turn at the same time, which I find out there’s a lot of adjustment needed for the length and distance between the gears.

After finishing the prototypes, I went straight into the final materials, which were mainly plastics for the mechanic and decorations. I used laser cutting for the gears and the decorations.
Then use fabrics and wire to make the moth on top of the plastic mechanics.

During the making process, I faced problems such as not being able to keep the plastic to stick tightly to each other and the unstable turning of the mechanic movements. However, I solved the problem by finding the right glue, and also, try to take out some of the plastic dowels to make the gap wider, which made the techniques at least move but not smoothly enough.

I love the plastic designs of my work the most. Because of the transparency, my project was being able to combine with a nice lighting effect that I projected in my brain. Also through making this project, I understand the use of different materials and also how different materials act with the same mechanic movement, which also thought me about different gluing techniques. Because of the word “evolution” and the theme of “circus towards art form” I have the ability to try different ideas and use mix media on my work, which reveals my interest as being a multidisciplinary artist in the future. Doing research before starting the studio projects also cleared my mind a lot, and made me stick to one theme with the basic background knowledge I need for my artwork.

Like my project of evolution and cross-disciplinary art, I would like to investigate the different possibilities of mix media ad the field of art in the future, including music, dance, art, technology, and more. Also, for the creating process, I will question my self, how can I combine different fields of art to make the so city better or solve the problems in society as an artist and a responsible citizen? That’s one of my goals and one of my passion in the future.

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