Month: September 2023

I wanted to create a score that could be played in a mutable way by its players. By placing the ‘fun maintenance’ on the players, I think the players become more attached to the game. However, they still needed a starting point, so I designed the Crow and Collector roles to be easily cycled/repeated as many times as necessary.

This game should be played with at least 4 people, each person should roll a d20, if its even they are a Crow, if its odd, they become a Collector. All tasks for a players assigned roll should be completed. Players should take turns rolling a single die. once all players have rolled once, the Creator role should be added in. Once at least one person has become the creator, the eliminator role may be added in.

Current role tasks should be visible to everyone playing (like on a projector or TV).

At any point, if players get ‘soft-locked’, for example: all players become crows and get stuck; the game is over.

Starting Script:

Score A: The Crow
– adorn a feather
– find a shiny item
– bring it to The Collector
– roll for role (d20)

Score B: The Collector
– adorn a pin
– until a Crow delivers an acceptable item to you, find a chair.
– if a crow gives you a shiny item, exchange for a snack
– roll for role (d20)

Score C: The Creator
– read through current roles and instructions
– add or edit only one thing
– roll for role (d20)

Score D: The Eliminator
– read through current roles and instructions
– delete only one thing
– roll for role (d20)

Concluding thoughts:

• This game in design as well as in testing works much better in locations where more than the starting number of players can be added. whether in a classroom or outdoors where more people can ask/be asked to join in, the more fun that this game gets
• I would have liked to add in a rule to the crow roll where if they choose not to give an item to a collector, then they can do something else instead to move on, however I wanted the focus to be on the crows’ loyalty/reliability on the collector to eat. adding the components to include this feature i think would have made the game too complicated
  • maybe some rule like “either bring an item to the collector, or [some unenjoyable task], however each person playing can do [unenjoyable task] at most one time”
  • however i didn’t get a chance to playtest with this sort of rule
• i feel like it could also be more interesting for the players to sort of “mad-libs” the original task so they feel more inclined/attached to it
• current game design will often end with players all becoming either crows or collectors, while it is technically possible to avoid this, players often do not think of it/realize in time
• One of the biggest issues with the creator role is that players can make rules that don’t make sense. whether it be to bad grammar or intention, this makes the game interesting but not usually in a good way because players don’t know what to do to complete their roles tasks
• game roles/rules should be visible to all players at all times
  • because the rules can be modified, players can get confused when things are getting changed and no longer know what to do next
• rerolling needs a queue, otherwise it gets too confusing. One solution is to offer more dice so people can roll at the same time but I think this is worse. 
• “What is a thing?” This line for the creator/eliminator is intentionally left vague. As long as the person doing the action can justify it is only one thing, i think it is fine whether they decide to delete a single word, line or even role. 

Playtest notes and iteration:

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1_xUxZ0vbn7MoFV5XrkmDfuC-RPPDpOw8ydi4-ICfpLA/edit

Introduction:This a game or activity that players have to take a picture at the same time, even though they may be in different places and doing different things. But the time experienced by all is fixed, and photos taken at the same time can be compared with each other. Maybe other people’s lives are not always what they want, and their own lifestyle may be what many people dream of. We should be able to find arts in other people’s life, but most importanly in our own life.

Inspirations: Kaprow said, ‘The line between art and life should be kept as fluid, and perhaps as indistinct as possible. We use our eye to observe many things/events happened  every single day. But sometimes we just ignore it, so this game force players to stop and actually observe the surroundings, art can be anything in your life. Cameras sometimes can helps you capture the moment. By putting everyone’s moment together it would be a wonderful piece because they are so random but they all happened at the same time on this planet.

Instructions:Players get together and agree on a time for the photo shoot, and a specified theme or anything that they feel like is art.

requirments: A Device that could capture photos( cell phone, digital camera, polaroid camera….)

Timekeeper，Printer（optional）

examples: I ask my friends take a picture at 5PM today(including myself), no matter where they are or what they doing.

Me at 5 pm (Playing Cyberpunk 2077, I would called it Art):

Peter at 5 pm (Studying Art design in SNELL):

Jiang at 5 PM (exploring the city):

Justin at 5 PM(staying home and looking outside):

Discussions and Conclusion: Everyone wanted to do what I was doing at 5 pm, because they were either bored or very busy. I am the only one at that time staying at home and play video game. But I actually wanted to study like peter did at 5pm,however I wasn’t in the mood. I would also like to go out and walk around the campus, yet the weather was bad so I didn’t do it.  In fact I am totally not regret about what I was doing at 5 pm because the Night City in Cyberpunk 2077 was so beatiful, it is an art piece that I can particiapte in.

Locate a patch of ground and stand on it.

Do not move (rustling in the wind is okay).

If it’s raining, feel the rain.

If it’s breezy, feel the breeze.

If it’s sunny, feel the heat.

Continue feeling things for as long as you wish to remain a tree.

Optional: Perform photosynthesis.

I took a lot of inspiration from Yoko Ono here. I enjoyed how her works often asked impossible tasks of people (“Draw with yourself until you disappear”)–or didn’t explicitly ask tasks at all (“Water Piece: Water”). I wanted to stretch the concept of what counted as a “possible task,” while still being able to reenact it in real life somehow. Because of that, I decided on a piece where you take on the traits of something you’re not. Similarly, I tried to adopt a lot of Yoko Ono’s humor here, with lines like the optional requirement of performing photosynthesis, or the line about the acceptability of rustling in the wind.

Another thing I liked about many Fluxus works was their interest in blurring the line between art and life. In many ways, the viewer’s mindset is the difference between something that’s art and something that isn’t–and I think that’s something “anart”–like rotting food–demonstrated very well. For this work specifically, I focused on the idea that you can have a “beautiful experience” just by slowing down and paying attention to your surroundings–even if such a thing isn’t usually appreciated in the same way a more curated experience might be.

I also think this piece is interesting because of how minimalist the actual experience is. Without any game-like elements, or specific physical requirements, the experience of the piece is completely centered around your surroundings. Because of that, everyone who performs this score will see, hear, and feel wildly different things. This calls attention to the fact that life–unlike the carefully presented art at museums–is unpredictable, and sometimes unpleasant. If you’re a tree in the rain, or the wind, or the heat, you just have to stand there and deal with it. Even this unpleasantness can be beautiful, though. Like many of the food-related Fluxus pieces, it goes to show how messy reality is.

Roll the dice.

Crochet the amount of stitches, any type of stitch or knots. Make it loose, make it tight. Wear it.

Choose to connect to any previous stitches, switch yarn, or not.

Start anywhere.

Repeat until the imperfections are gone.

Artist’s Statement:

The idea behind this score is to get the reader comfortable with the idea of human error by physically surrounding them in the messiness of it. Crochet is an art that emphasizes the flaws of human error and portray it in a negative light as it would be obvious amongst the uniform stitches. I strived against this uniformity that is often found within crochet pieces. I wanted to give actors a similar feeling as to when they are a 5-year-old scribbling on a piece of paper without the stress of making sure that they have the right proportions or perspective. It promotes complete creativity from the actors similar to the Happenings as whatever happens, should happen. They are not allowed to unravel the piece and they can only stop once they have come to terms that they are human and mistakes are bound to happen.

I got the idea to use the dice after the first iteration because it’s a randomized way where the user would be pushed to be creative with their piece. When rolling a 1, they can choose the different tension, look, and length that they would like to work with. It also moves the piece away from looking perfect as the idea is to accept the imperfections and the messiness of the piece to end the score. Over all, the score can span for hours, months, or years, which is an inspiration by Yoko Ono as her scores are not always realistic. I wanted to add a deeper meaning to the silliness of her pieces thus, I decided to go with this route for my score.

I look at the result of the piece similar to that of the Happening as well. Whatever happens, would happen to the piece, the crocheter can’t unravel it. It’s similar to a time stamp where it could show the person pausing the piece to have a chat or a sudden knot appearing in the yarn and they haven’t seen it before to unravel it. It makes every iteration of the score unique to the person based on the situations around them. The same person shouldn’t be able to recreate the same exact piece later.

FOOD PIECE

A fish from the Atlantic.

An Asian grain.

A green vegetable.

A creamy substance.

An ancient ingredient.

Something from Turkey.

A Himalayan rock.

A Middle Eastern herb.

And something spicy.

Mix whatever you desire.

Apply what you mixed.

Cook everything.

And enjoy!

2023 fall

Video: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1wC3YMCMwe44wtW0XHIJWVaku3Z5i2Ocw/view?usp=sharing

Artist’s Statement:

My work was inspired by my and my parents’ love of cooking. When I was younger my parents would cook for me and I would try to learn by observing them. When I was in 3rd grade we had an assignment where we had to make a recipe for something in my Computer class. I decided to make a recipe for a Philidelphia Roll, my favorite sushi, based on what I observed. Rather than ask my parents how they made it, I decided to make the recipe on my own and show it to them afterward. When I showed my parents my work they were surprised because I had only missed 1 step. My friends who also loved sushi also saw what I wrote and asked if they could use my recipe. This experience showed me that making recipes for others that are abstract can be fun and helpful. This experience partially inspired me to make my score. Another large inspiration was the work of Yoko Ono. I was inspired by the abstract nature of Ono’s work as well as her formatting. I found the minimalist and abstract nature of her work quite beautiful as it left a lot up to the reader’s interpretation. I tried to emulate that in my work to make my recipe feel unique to anyone who tried it because they could end up using different ingredients or different cooking techniques. Ono’s short yet descriptive phrases also inspired me to make my recipe feel like it is painting a bit of a picture or has a bit of history behind it. Lines like “An ancient ingredient.” hopefully inspire the reader to do some research or think to find an ingredient that fits the category which can be fun and inspiring. Ono also inspired my formatting down to the style of date I used. Lastly, I was inspired by the worldwide nature of the Fluxus Movement. Unlike many artistic movements beforehand, Fluxus was experienced in many different parts of the world. This spoke to me because I love combining flavors from different areas while learning about them. This inspired me to use ingredients from Turkey, the Himalayas, Asia, and the Middle East while also using traditionally American and European ingredients. My goal with this score is best described through the following interaction. One day a family friend said to me that he really hated cooking because it wasn’t fun to follow recipes and make the same thing every day. I told him that the way to make cooking fun is to try things out, go to different grocery stores and use new ingredients, don’t just follow a recipe, make the food your own and even if it’s bad it’ll be fun and something you learn from.

Find a place peace and silent,

where nobody is around,

and where you can see the sky.

Close your eyes and take a deep breathe.

Play your favourite music and look up in the sky.

And you may leave when you begin to feel the silence.

The following pictures are some playtests conducted.

Top floor of the Columbus Garage during night

Park near the Carter Playground

Top of the apartment building

This score is inspired by Yoko Ono and the idea of this score comes from an art game called Loneliness, which is basically a game where player control a black square and wander in the emtpy gamespace, and can’t interact with the surroundings. When I was playing that game, I had a feeling of silence and a sense of relieveness besides the loneliness. Therefore, I want to create a score that will somehow generate similar feelings. This Yoko Ono’s style score is actually similar to meditating, but it must be conducted alone in a place where nobody is around in order to generate similar atmosphere with the game Loneliness. Also, feeling the silence is not about hearing nothing or being quiet, but is to feel the silence internally, so the score delibrately ask the conductor to play music while seeking the silence to create the contrast and let the conductor feel the inner silence more obviously. Personally, I like to find a high place such as the top of a building where nobody is there and conduct the score, but the place really depends on individual’s preference.