Seminar Bridge 5-Reflection

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Bridge 5

Luwenxi Song

My name is Luwenxi Song, I am currently a Fashion Design BFA student at Parsons School of Design.

For the first semester, I took Space and Materiality, Drawing and Integrative Studio & Seminar 1: Memory,  In Space and Materiality class and Integrative studio, I was introduced to approach 3D art and multimedia art in a more sophisticated way, the most important things I’ve learned, other than techniques, is the importance to put in action on what I want to do and to have the faith and courage to do so.

As a fashion design student, I believe the courses in this semester teaches me ways to approach fashion as a photographer, and a writer. For Integrative Studio & Seminar 2, I am making a magazine and a fashion film, and it is great that my other two classes, Fashion Image-Making and Time, complement the studio project well, I am able to use the video editing skills I learned from time class for my fashion film and knowledge for fashion photography from Fashion Image-Making class. Besides, time class taught me how to make illustrated animations and cinema-graph, since then I gained more interests for gif art and found it a great media to make fashion images, especially in present days where digital media is prevailing. Through Integrative studio 2, I have also found my interest in fashion film, before that, I only focus on fashion photography, I believe I will make more fashion film in the future. I think the highlight of this semester is my final presentation for Integrative Studio where I finally had my magazine printed and presented and was able to hear feedback from others. Another highlight is the field trips in Time class, one was to the Museum of the Moving Image, another is a trip to coney island where we met students from Pratt Institute who are also taught by out Time teacher and we played some games together.

Throughout this semester I was doing things that are more relevant to the major and created works that I would put into my portfolio. Throughout the first year in college, I think I am more confident and productive than before.

In the future I will keep on exploring fashion Photography and cinematography and probably other magazine projects.

Bridge 4 reflection and personal bio

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My name is Luwenxi Song, I am a Fashion Design student in Parsons School of Design, class of 2022. Fashion design has always been an interest of mine since I was a child, besides fashion, I am also interested in photography. I describe my style as nostalgic, I like to find inspirations from the past and things that resonate personal memories.

My bridge 4 project is about how Cirque du Soleil Cirque Du Soleil is thriving in 21 century when most circuses are declining due to the rising awareness of animal welfare and new entertainment technologies because it is creating shows that utilize modern technology and fully focus on human actors instead of using animals.

When searching for my topic about the circus, I realized when discussing circus art in 21 century, one of the most significant issues is its decreasing popularity, and it makes me though about the reasons for it.

Through my research, I found out that two initial reasons which cause the decline of the circus industry are technologies’ replacement of traditional live entertainments, and the raising awareness for animal welfare. And then I turned to research some of the most influential circuses in the history and was introduced to Cirque du Soleil, a Canadian circus founded in 1984, which is a fairly young circus, however, it has become one of the most popular circuses in the world and still growing. Looking through the shows that Cirque du Soleil offers to its audiences, one can easily tell why it is successful: the shows avoided the now controversial use of animals and utilized new technology to create novel experiences. To prove my point, I did some researches on other circuses, including once claimed “the greatest show on earth”, Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus which indeed was a very influential cirque with a long history of 147 years. Ringling Bros. was closed in 2017 and one of the main factors of its closing is failing to sustain the circus without the presence of animal performance.

For my studio project, I decided to make a movable sculpture of human artist performing circus art, representing circus without animals.

Besides my personal project, I also participated in the making of the catalog final exhibition’s which I tried graphic design.