Projekttage 3: Investigating the Big Blue (excursion) (gLV) 

introduction to the analogue art of cyanotype in conversation with the remote island of Amorgos

Angebot für

Nummer und TypMTR-MTR-1009C.23H.003 / Moduldurchführung
ModulProjekttage 
VeranstalterDepartement Kulturanalysen und Vermittlung
LeitungEirini Sourgiadaki, Anna Rubi
Zeit
Sa 28. Oktober 2023 bis Sa 4. November 2023
OrtExkursion
Exact dates to be communicated : they may differ according to boat route plan
Anzahl Teilnehmende4 - 16
ECTS1 Credit
LehrformProjectweek / Excursion
Zielgruppen(D) Wahlpflicht für Studierende MA Transdisziplinarität.
Geöffnete Lehrveranstaltung für Studierende anderer Studiengänge der ZHdK. Einschreibung über ClickEnroll https://intern.zhdk.ch/?clickenroll

(E) Compulsory voting for MA Transdisciplinarity students.
Course open to students of other ZHdK degree programmes. Enrolment via ClickEnroll https://intern.zhdk.ch/?clickenroll
Lernziele / KompetenzenA small cyanotype laboratory is to be set up in Aegiali, the northern port of Amorgos island (SE Aegean, Greece), where will be our headquarters. Cyanotype is a technique that originally was used to copy photo negatives and technical drawings before exploding into ways of creative printmaking. It is a light-sensitive chemical mixture that by exposure to sunlight turns into cyan blue. It can imprint basically anything from collected material like leaves, nets, feathers through photo negatives, x-ray scans to lace fabric or all these combined. The prints can be made on various materials like different sizes of textiles, even clothes or paper sheets, cardboard etc.

Printmaking has its poetic attributes that makes it a great tool for storytelling, working on personal projects involving nostalgia, melancholy, memory and dreams. Therefore the participants are encouraged to bring personal or collected material that they’d like to use during the workshop, such as x-ray scans, photo negatives, and personal items. The seminar will also provide examples and texts on these kinds of processes, to inspire.

The module is planned to be sequential, first part in the autumn semester and the second part in spring. Since the island entirely changes through these two periods, we’d like to invite participants to play with the circular perception: The weather, local rituals and celebrations, the strengths of light that we are using for the prints, etc. are significantly different. Therefore we encourage the participants to approach the final exhibition through the idea of two-phase documenting, archiving or journaling. Also, to dwell in working with seriality and process-focused projects.

The modules will end with an exhibition of artworks created in Amorgos. Also an online gallery will be created to display the process and the final works.
InhalteColour perception varies, so do the semantics of colour terminology, for both sighted and blind individuals. The questions around colour perception from an ophthalmology or neurobiology perspective to cognitive and artistic ones, are endless: Is there a universal human experience of the blue sky, the green grass and the brown soil? How is colour perceived in the brain, how is it translated into a communicable concept and how does it affect our perceived world, our mental and physical state? What is the role of colour in synesthesia? And most importantly, does colour have to do just with vision? In this module we will work with the generation of blue colour on print, using the major light source available, the Sun.

The Island of Amorgos is often referred to as “Le grand bleu” after the famous french film was shot at location. Its ancient name is “Melania”. “Melani”, the Greek word for ink, (“Melano” for dark blue, cyan) as it is said that in ancient times the place was full of dark trees, most likely cedars. Our investigation begins exactly with this deep tint. We’ll pay a visit to local monasteries and the water oracle, walk the trails to observe the sensual -not only vision-based- shades of blue. In the spring term, we would like to participate in local activities such as beach clean-up initiatives of the remote beaches by local fishermen and their boats. We will visit bee-hives and herb-distilleries, we’ll work with the most basic bits and pieces of the island to capture its essence.
All visits, outdoor activities and excursions will be communicated in the beginning of each seminar part, depending on what the weather allows.
Leistungsnachweis / Testatanforderung80% active participation incl. documentation/exhibition
TermineSat 28 October 2023 to Sat 4 November 2023
Exact dates to be communicated : they may differ according to boat route plan.
Dauer5 days excursion + 2 days travel
Bewertungsformbestanden / nicht bestanden
SpracheEnglisch
BemerkungWe encourage slow travel for the workshop participants whether it’s possible for them.
Students contribute to the costs by 50% (approx. 350 CHF)