RESEARCH
// kinga

CONTEXT
// is a frame in which you see things
//// that surrounds an event
//// provides resources for interpretation
// relative concept - defining the event

-----------

R
O
G
E
R
I
O

G
A
B
R
I
E
L
L
E

ART IN THE PUBLIC SPACE for CREATURES OF THE NIGHT
art pieces provided by BKOR
creatures: HOMELESS PEOPLE

YES, we are aware, that homeless people can't sleep on the streets irl, but we created a scenario when they can

our collection is about to give people HOPE
these art pieces are not giving any physical help for those who live in the streets - as probably they would require that the most - but can give MENTAL SUPPORT

------------

INSPIRATION
logotherapy, Victor Frankl
// trying to get the most out of this lifestyle
// staying sane

the bible
// written stories by many people
// always gives hope to believers
// highlight: the power of FAITH and COMMUNITY

nomadland (Chloe Zhao, 2020)
// people choosing this lifestyle
// modern-day nomads
// is it good, that people are banned from sleeping in the streets?
//// in our scenario, people CAN and DO sleep
on the streets - we create a better rotterdam

religion for atheists (Alain De Botton)
// build a sense of community
// make our relationships last
// overcome feelings of envy and inadequacy

------------

B
A
S
E

I
N
S
P
O

V
I
S
U
A
L

M
E
T
A
P
H
O
R
E
S

it's a community
it protects
it supports (mentally)

moon icon as a visual metaphor for an art piece
// it's always there
// even in daylight
// receiveable by everyone

RESEARCHING THE COLLECTION
my approach: looking at the titles (paintings)
// looking for titles that align with our idea
// keywords: hope, love, faith
// did it have any effect on me?
//// NO

Ruben's approach: looking at the artworks (sculptures)
// he was looking for a meaning
// figures - give the feeling that you're not alone
//// his more emotional approach actually took me closer to the project, I suddenly felt connected
to the art pieces

my findings:

the nomad

love spread

the breakthrough

out together
home together

power of love

residents defend
your nest with peace

T
H
E

C
O
L
L
E
C
T
I
O
N

FIKKIE
// this finding by Ruben really caught my attention, the way he highlighted the dog as an important way to be in someone's company deeply touched me
// also it turned out, that the artist is from budapest

INTERFACE
// an interface can be anything
// search for 2 different interfaces
in my immediate surroundings

-----------

// user: people interested in photography, contemporary art, people who like to discover, who like to reed, professionals
// system, systems: text, layout, pictures, color schemes, the system of literature, publication, printed media, typography
// how does the interface affect the user: readability, picture-oriented, gives information, tells stories, changes mindset, inspires visually
// how can the user interact with the interface: read, hold it like a book
// material characteristics: physical, material, solid, huge, hard, spatial,
print-based, manmade

-----------

// user: regular people who’d like to know the time, fashion people
// the system, systems: the system of time, surface divided into 12, pointers, typography
// how does the interface affect the user: tells the time, shows the brand, helps
with planning, pleases the eyes
// how can the user interact with the interface: read, see, think
// material characteristics: physical, solid, tiny, flexible, spatial, manmade

GABRIELLE, MARK
-------------->

M
A
R
K

THE USER
// the concept of representation and adjacent
// how you relate to your user

-----------

STUART HALL NOTES

three theories:
reflective
// does language simply reflect a meaning which already exists out there in the world of objects, people, and events?

intentional
// does language express only what the speaker or writer or painter wants to say, his or her personally intended meaning?

constructionist
// is meaning constructed in and through language?

-----------

CONSTRUCTIONIST APPROACH
// has the most significant impact on cultural studies
// semiotic - discursive

// difference matters because it is essential to the meaning
//// without it, meaning could not exist (black-white)
//// the Other is essential to the meaning
//// negative side: meaning can never be fixed

// the difference is ambivalent
//// both positive and negative

-----------

MAPPING THE SELF & THE OTHER:

3
T
H
E
O
R
I
E
S

C
O
N
S
T
R
U
C
T
I
O
N
I
S
T

MY ASSUMPTIONS:
// I believe that both homeless people (let’s call them houseless instead) and I have difficulties with our mental states but I have every possibility to treat it the way it supposed
to be treated, and they probably not, which
makes it the hardest to live in the street.
// A very difficult difference is hygiene, especially for female houseless people,
as we all have our periods and it is extremely tough to handle that if you stuck on the street.

MY QUESTIONS:
// Can we provide mental support with the collection? Wouldn’t that make it even harder
for them?
// Are you sure that everyone out there
wants to be part of a community?
// If not, who’s the real audience of our project? // Perhaps not houseless people in general, but houseless people who’d like to join others with the same mindset?

-----------

SEMIOTICS

semiotics - the study of signs
// smoke in the forest - sign of fire
// paddle - sign of rain
// punch on the face - a sign that i hate you

the sign has two elements:
// signifier - standing in for something else
//// the word dog
// signified - the thing/idea the person’s trying to communicate
//// a four-legged animal that barks

the way a signifier is connected to a signified has three forms
// icon (anything with a physical resemblance to the idea or thing that it’s trying to evoke)
//// picture of a dog
// index (is a sign, which has a link to the thing that is being evoked by direct relation)
//// smoke to fire
// symbol (has no relation between the signifier and signified, other than that we have decided that they should be linked)
//// traffic lights

A
S
S
U
M
P
T
I
O
N
S

Q
U
E
S
T
I
O
N
S

S
E
M
I
O
T
I
C
S

SIGNIFIERS:
cardboard sign, signs, company, blankets, sleeping bags, benches, warm clothes, cigarettes, drugs, luggage, alcohol, tent, beard, musical instruments, hats for collecting money, shelters, hygiene, blessing package, period, plastic bags, shopping bags, shopping cart, fire, dog, cat

SIGNIFIED:
poverty, request, begging, cold, coping, bad hygiene, collecting, camping, addiction, bad self-care, lack of money, help to come from another person, being in company, looking for shelter, protection

KEYWORDS:
// companionship
// beggers
// street sleepers
// addicts/copers
// jobholders
// shelters
// collectors
// homes
// hygiene
// caretakers

OUR NEW USERGROUP:
HOUSELESS PEOPLE
// because people on the streets can still have their homes
// sidenote: in Hungarian, the word 'hajléktalan' would be translated as people without a house, or houseless

-----------

TYPE & STEREOTYPE
stereotyping as a signifying practice
// representational practice
//// essentializing, reductionist, naturalizing
// stereotyping reduces people to a few, simple, essential characteristics, fixed by nature
// stereotyping is the representation
of racial difference
// those who live by the rules of society
(social types) and those who the rules are designed to exclude (stereotypes)

TYPE
// without the use of types, it would be difficult to make sense of the world
// a concept of something and fitting in the concept (table)
// a type is a simple, vivid, memorable, easily grasped, and widely recognized characterization, change, or development is kept to a minimum
// four ways of organization
//// role
//// individual
//// type
//// member

STEREOTYPE
// reduce the simple, vivid characteristics about a person and simplify and fix them without change or development to eternity
// stereotyping reduces, essentializes, naturalizes, and fixes ‘difference’
// splitting (normal - abnormal)
// gross inequalities of power

SHORTLY
// stereotyping = power/knowledge
// classifies people according to a NORM, constructs the excluded as OTHERTYPE & STEREOTYPE

--------

QUESTIONNAIRE

1. “Everyone creates stereotypes. We cannot function in the world without them.”
// 1.1 assumptions I still have:
it is indeed hard to live on the streets with mental illnesses, same for hygiene

// 1.2 personal interest in this group
I admire them a lot. I’m sure they are on the streets because they have a good reason for that - either because they’ve lost their homes, families, jobs, etc, or because they have decided to do that so. However, mental illness is not something that can be ignored for a long time,
it needs to be treated properly. I am curious about how they handle such situations, do they agree on taking action? Or do they have the strength to do it?

•

2. Signifiers that stereotype: Objects and their meaning
// 2.1 Which existing stereotypes have you found about your group?
//// physical: long hair, beard, bad hygiene, teeth loss, baggy and dirty clothes
//// mental: addictions (drug, alcohol, cigarettes) as a coping mechanism, companionship
//// environment: home-builders, street sleepers, collectors (shopping carts, bags), shelters

// 2.2 Fragmentation and Fetishised: which objects are used to stereotype with?
//// shopping carts, bags - collectors, on the go
//// tent - home
//// long, tangled beard and hair: bad hygiene
//// cigarettes - addiction, coping mechanism
//// begging - laziness
They often say that houseless people are lazy parasites who don’t want to work and live in
a shelter. They’re begging for money as they don’t want to work. If you give them money they’ll instantly buy drugs or alcohol, not food.

•

// 3. The effect of stereotypes: Power and discrimination
// 3.1 Who spreads these stereotypes about your user group?
People who live in houses, people with paid jobs, the government. It’s a kind of discrimination that I would call classism, as they make a huge part of the poverty, the penniless.

// 3.2 Examples for reversed stereotype
I’m not sure, but:

O
U
R

U
S
E
R
G
R
O
U
P

T
Y
P
E
&
S
T
E
R
E
O
T
Y
P
E

Us and them
And after all, we're only ordinary men
Me And you
God only knows
It's not what we would choose to do
Forward he cried from the rear
And the front rank died
And the general sat
And the lines on the map
Moved from side to side
Black and blue
And who knows which is which and who is who
Up and down
And in the end, it's only round 'n round
Haven't you heard it's a battle of words
The poster bearer cried
"Listen son", said the man with the gun
There's room for you inside
"I mean, they're not gonna kill ya
So if you give 'em a quick short, sharp, shock
They won't do it again. Dig it?
I mean he gets off lightly, 'cause I would've given him a thrashing
I only hit him once! It was only a difference of opinion, but really
I mean good manners don't cost nothing do they, eh?"
Down and out
It can't be helped that there's a lot of it about
With, without
And who'll deny it's what the fighting's all about?
Out of the way
It's a busy day
I've got things on my mind
For the want of the price
Of tea and a slice
The old man died

Q
U
E
S
T
I
O
N
N
A
I
R
E

------------

USER STORIES

READY: who are we building it for? who is the user? (as a…)

IN PROGRESS: what are we building? what is the intention? (I need…)

DONE: why are we building it? what is the value for the customer? (so that…)

// As a houseless person, I need to take care of my mental state so that I won't go mad.
// As a houseless person, I need social connections, so that I won't feel alone.
// As a houseless person, I need to be part of a community so that I won't feel lost.

U
S
E
R

S
T
O
R
I
E
S

3
5
C
O
L
L
E
C
T
I
O
N