term 1
living with your own ideas
make a magic machine
The first day we got the task from Kristina Andersen (Industrial Design teacher, TU/e in Eindhoven) to search for different kind of materials. Then we had a few seconds to draw ourselves on a white piece of paper and fold the paper a few times. After that we should build something out of the materials we found for the person we just draw.
My machine/prototype shows the journey through my master. It shows a box with different types of materials (sand, grassland, leaves, snow, water, soil, nutshell, stone). Now I feel a bid confused, like stepping in the darkness trying to find my way through the master and hopefully find the right trail. The different materials symbolise the different steps in my journey, where everyone is important. Also it shows you can find the right way buy connecting to the nature. And in the end you find the lightning/ the way out of being confused in the labyrinth. But there is not only one way to go!
The interventions in the group revolve around various discourses one makes, in search for identity of oneself. There is a shared common interest in finding a balance between the internal and the external parts of life. This balance is explored by different ways of engagement tied together by a common aspect of positionality.
24hours challenge
We got the task to make a self-experiment with a chosen topic and got a time period of 24 hours. In the next day we should present our results. My goal was to check how I feel being without internet and GPS alone in the forest. Before the journey I packed my backpack with food, water, an empty camera (for the documentation), some coin money, a mask, a blanket, a watch, an empty block and some pencils. i left electronic devices like my mobile phone and other products at home, so i spent the day completely without internet and GPS-signal. On my computer I checked for a metro station where I want to start the journey, without looking up the way in advance. Also my Spanish is on a real basic level. Then I went into the biggest and nearest forest in Barcelona called “Parc Natural de la Serra de Collserola”. It was a perfect sunny day without any rain and I didn’t had any plans for the day, just the video call with Angella in the afternoon.
At the beginning I felt a bit nervous. I thought about what i need to do next, whom I need to write after the trip and thought I am getting bored. When I get out of the metro station I was directly lost. I didn’t know where is the trail to the forest so I just start walking. At the beginning I tought many times about if its dump to do it, what I want to film and show in the video in the next day. But after a while I forgot about the camera, wrote a lot, spoke to myself, meditate, listen to the birds, collect different kind of leaves and smell and feel the different plants and trees. I actually liked a lot being alone in the nature, don’t needed to talk to someone or felt bored and wanted to stay even longer to connect and be with the nature.
In the end it was really helpful to feel it on my own what it means to have no internet and realise for yourself that you should be fine without it, because it's not something you can trust completely. In total I could think and act differently but not the complete time. I felt lost and afraid because of language problems and not knowing the way at all. I couldn’t write someone that I am fine, I told my boyfriend that I will be back at a specific time, but because of not knowing the way I couldn’t make It in time and couldn’t write him. I was alone in the forest with knowing people get lost there because it has the same size like Barcelona. In the end I was thinking a lot of the video and were lost about what i really wanted to show. I don’t wanted to film myself and get lost, because then I could not experience the reason for the experiment, but I also don’t wanted to ask someone who I can talk with, because then I would not have been alone and bored. It was different what you show in the video than what you really felt and also I was struggling about showing all my personal experiences with the nature, because it was really private. All in all I learned outside the city you are more relaxed and open to people, think less about events etc. without comparing myself with others. When I come home I spend directly more time on the phone, because I needed to contact many people, which makes me losing the connection again. If other people would do this experiment, maybe they get more bored in the nature or/and speak better Spanish to find the right way. But generally I think it is important for everybody to understand the difference between reality and digital life, everybody could and should try my experiment especially people who have digital dependence. Maybe it will also help to understand who you are and what you want and need.
In the future I want to go on, spend more time talking with people than checking social media and explore more the surroundings because I feel the nature open ups my mind for new ideas. Also I want to think about different products to prevent digital dependence. I like Ruben´s video of checking agriculture in the surroundings how its working and also Paula B´s to see how people when they get filmed.