Hello everyone,

Our initial design phase has started.

We are experimenting with 3D designs, sound designs, creating mind maps and we are thinking about the management of the project. It is a bit hard, as most of us have no prior experience with art.

Next to our art teacher, also our physics and chemistry teachers are involved. Last week we had lectures on sound/noise and kinetics in our physics class.

We work in 12 groups, divided over the FD1, FD2 and FD3 classes. Each group is working on a different design for a sound sculpture.

We can choose from three different type of sculptures to develop (with a specific focus on safety, as you can see):

• Stand-alone sculptures (outside)
  • Sturdy, should not collapse
  • No sharp objects, no sharp edges, that could hurt passers-by
  • No loose elements that can be taken by wind or rain
• Stand-alone sculptures (inside)
  • No sharp objects, no sharp edges, that could hurt passers-by
  • Sound should not carry wide (should not disturb classes)
• Wall-mounted objects
  • No sharp objects, no sharp edges, that could hurt passers-by
  • Maximum 30 cm deep (should not block the road)

The wall we can use is surrounding a building site for our new canteen and dormitories:

After our very first ideas, the teacher added emphasis to the artistic dimension of the work and ask us to think about how the audience should perceive our work: artistic dimensions – 3rd class – instructions-reducedsize

Group 3 from FD2 was a bit faster than the others. Here is their first mind map:

And FD3 Group 4’s mind map:

Here are some photos of us working on the project in class:

If you follow this link, you can see some of the videos we have been watching in class (updated regularly):

Videos shown in class

Bye, ZaiJian

Year 10, Foundation Class Visual Arts

NSFZ, Highschool Affiliated to Nanjing Normal University