Catherine Smet
Van Nhi Nguyen
Catherine:
"I explored one of the buildings of the university of antwerp. I actually work there sometimes and it always struck me how few stimuli you experience when you enter a classroom of the university compared to a school like the academy. Of course there's a big difference between studying law or science and art but there's a huge difference in the spaces where they let the students absorb the subject matter.
As i went around the classrooms i saw some of the equipment used to bring the learning material across. There's also always some sort of uninspiring artwork displayed to give the students something other than white walls and chalkboards. This corner i came across shows an old school light box projector and a PA system that seemed quite unnecessary for the small space. If you look closely there's even a sink in the corner. It goes to show the clumsy ways some of the most difficult subject matters are being taught. This interaction of knowledge being presented in a certain kind of space is very interesting to me.
Today if you want to know something you can get the information you need within seconds. You just have to want it. If you apply this value to the pandemic i think a lot of people would have been happier with less of an overload of information. It confuses people, makes them angry if things don't go according to plan. But the information being spread this easily is also a huge factor to solving the problem faster."
"I explored one of the buildings of the university of antwerp. I actually work there sometimes and it always struck me how few stimuli you experience when you enter a classroom of the university compared to a school like the academy. Of course there's a big difference between studying law or science and art but there's a huge difference in the spaces where they let the students absorb the subject matter.
As i went around the classrooms i saw some of the equipment used to bring the learning material across. There's also always some sort of uninspiring artwork displayed to give the students something other than white walls and chalkboards. This corner i came across shows an old school light box projector and a PA system that seemed quite unnecessary for the small space. If you look closely there's even a sink in the corner. It goes to show the clumsy ways some of the most difficult subject matters are being taught. This interaction of knowledge being presented in a certain kind of space is very interesting to me.
Today if you want to know something you can get the information you need within seconds. You just have to want it. If you apply this value to the pandemic i think a lot of people would have been happier with less of an overload of information. It confuses people, makes them angry if things don't go according to plan. But the information being spread this easily is also a huge factor to solving the problem faster."
Van:
"I agree that sometimes the environment of the institution can be dreary. I go to an art school in Toronto, and it's surprising to me when I first came here how industrial the interior is. I find that for art school specifically it works, because the school is made up of studios and oftentimes it involves heavy industrial machineries. I also find that it is also quite interesting looking and sometimes can invoke a certain creative outburst.
I've been trying to expand my cultural knowledge on my own heritage for quite a while now. SInce i moved to a new city for college I developed an interest for cultural research. In this image specifically I painted my friend's face in what's Tuong face paint, a traditional form of theatre specifically from the North of Vietnam. The makeup for this specific character is called the devil, characterized by their white face, thin lips and bushy eyebrows. I like the juxtaposition of something traditional to the south east asian experience, against the fleeting and capitalist environment. It's something I am still trying to find the words to explain my gravitation towards it. Maybe it's a sense of dystopia and chaos, one could even consider it comedic, almost, for how absurd it is wearing traditional Tuong makeup with modern clothes, standing inside a Western institution.
Within the spectrum of Knowledge I thought I might as well use the opportunity to do something that expands my understanding of my culture through doing research."
"I agree that sometimes the environment of the institution can be dreary. I go to an art school in Toronto, and it's surprising to me when I first came here how industrial the interior is. I find that for art school specifically it works, because the school is made up of studios and oftentimes it involves heavy industrial machineries. I also find that it is also quite interesting looking and sometimes can invoke a certain creative outburst.
I've been trying to expand my cultural knowledge on my own heritage for quite a while now. SInce i moved to a new city for college I developed an interest for cultural research. In this image specifically I painted my friend's face in what's Tuong face paint, a traditional form of theatre specifically from the North of Vietnam. The makeup for this specific character is called the devil, characterized by their white face, thin lips and bushy eyebrows. I like the juxtaposition of something traditional to the south east asian experience, against the fleeting and capitalist environment. It's something I am still trying to find the words to explain my gravitation towards it. Maybe it's a sense of dystopia and chaos, one could even consider it comedic, almost, for how absurd it is wearing traditional Tuong makeup with modern clothes, standing inside a Western institution.
Within the spectrum of Knowledge I thought I might as well use the opportunity to do something that expands my understanding of my culture through doing research."