Inspirational story: student creates "S(urvival)" coat for homeless

http://www.npr.org/2010/12/13/131910671/to-warm-the-homeless-a-coat-that-s-a-sleeping-bag

If you look at a house under construction these days, you'll likely see Tyvek, a paper-thin, white insulating wrap. But in Detroit, an enterprising art student is using the plastic-like home insulation in a different way — to help homeless people stay warm.

The idea seems simple enough: Design a product that keeps the wind out and heat in. How about an inexpensive jacket that quickly turns into a warm sleeping bag? A casual review of this holiday's catalogs reveals no such product. Enter Veronika Scott, a student at the College for Creative Studies.

Instead of designing cars or consumer appliances, as is more typical at her school, the junior, 21, has come up with a product that will be made by and for Detroit's homeless.

It began as a class assignment. Scott says she looked for something people living on the street desperately needed.

It took months of conversations with homeless people, Scott says, for her "to finally realize what their need was. And that was heat, and pride."

Usually, a design project would end there: A need is identified; a product is designed; and a grade issued. But Scott isn't stopping. She spent around $2,000 of her own money to construct several prototypes of her coat, called the Element S(urvival).

"I have designed high-end electronics, and I may go back to that," she says. "But right now, I personally don't feel I should be designing that right now. In this economy, there is a lot of different needs that aren't going to be solved by a new cell phone."

Little Person Big World

For my project I wanted to take a "little person" and make her seem like it's normal to be living in a bowl. When I projected this, it's into a bowl but naturally here it's just a movie. I directed Liz to just act normal so she smiles and waves at the camera as if it was a daily thing and as if she was used to "big people" always staring at her.

Turn me on BX59

Falling in love with a robot...

For my final project, I wanted to work on human as robots. I loved the fact that robots have an on/off switch. Using this idea, I imagined how a human-robot would act with an on/off switch. I imagine the perfect human being as having this switch for emotions. Going further into my research, I found a video on Aiko, a robot designed by a Japanese man. This robot resembles a cute little asian girl. The idea disturbed me. It is ridiculous how robots are built to look like these girls for other grown human beings to possess. The obsessive yet technologically advanced Japanese culture just amazes me.

So. I "made" one. I wanted to see the attraction to a robot. My robot is male. His name is BX59. I wanted to get into the idea of designing and falling in love with technology and one's property. With a few easy programs, I was able to teach my robot "love." He dressed/ undressed to my "desire." He also had a collar on all times. But interacting with my robot got awkward. You'll see.

I started to question whether hearing the right words were enough for a person or do emotions have to be connected with the words in order for them to mean something. Humans use language(s) to communicate. How else can we communicate? Through the body, the mind?
Part I




Part II

Music From the Soul

For my project I was really interested in exploring the idea of screaming. We all have screamed at different points in our lives whether it was for joy or for anger, or just about any other emotion. Screaming many times is used as a stress relief. Even though we have screamed so much in our lives we tend not to pay attention to how different everyone's screams are. I decided for this project to create a compilation of screams to how different peoples' tonality is when a scream comes into play. Screams are taken as something that startles people mainly because it is a sign of alert, but at the same time if you pay close attention screaming is composed of different chords that are often used in the music world. So In my video I intended to show how a harmonization could be formed when combining different individuals screams.

Video Installation

Elizabeth's Statement

Distorted Self Image


This project is an examination of self image. Through its many, many phases, it developed into what appears to be ordinary people, wearing ordinary things, looking into a mirror...trapped in an image of what they see when peering at themselves. A mirror naturally distorts the reflection a little, and then the rest of the distortion happens when the human mind ponders everything a perfect body should be...making their imperfections seem magnified and highlighted. The projections onto a warped surface are meant to mimic the human mind...distorting the image it sees and changing what is there.

The people were randomly taken from daily tasks, wearing ordinary clothes on an ordinary day. This decision was thoroughly pondered...take people in their natural environment? OR change them into clothes chosen by the artist? By keeping them in their normal day wear, the concept is made stronger because that, everyday people examine themselves in the mirror after choosing flattering clothes. So the camera represents the daily mirror, the trap, and the people represent...themselves. Nothing directed, nothing changed. By giving minimal direction, except to pretend they're looking into a mirror, they do their natural and routine poses that they always do.

The different surfaces distort the body in different ways. Each projection is one character, which allows the viewer to get to know that character.