Catastrophic stars Martina
This project called Catastrophic stars it is a fragmentation of photos from reality using the kaleidoscope effect. I chose to use this effect because it is a “happy technique”, since is usually used by children and it creates a fantastic world.
The picture shown have a dark turn if the viewer will carefully analyze it. The idea behind this project is to trick the viewers mind into believing it is something beautiful, but only after a second look at the image would have found out it is the complete opposite.
Modifying the perception of this effect by using pictures of catastrophes, both natural and man-made, I wanted to instigate the viewer and make it analyse the picture better instead of just stopping at the appearance of it. This publication is a reminder of the power of nature and how people are so little when it comes to catastrophic events.
The main topic of this project called “in situ” was places, with this as the only key point that needed to be followed I have had multiple different ideas that could work as a possible project.
The first ideas that popped in my mind were about a concept of home, for example a van referring as a house to live in as a place in movement or a little more direct, represented as a photo album with the concept of different people’s view.
The second pair of ideas was something referring to emotions, having pictures of a place and have people’s opinion on the emotions that that place was giving out for them. Then I decided to concentrate on one emotion and I chose happiness, so I wanted to create a photo album of happy places of different people.
The third ideas were completely different from the others, I wanted to create a photo album/book of unusual poses in unusual places, or take a picture with something fake that does not fit to the picture in it. The fourth pair of ideas were again quite different from the others. I wanted to represent a place and it’s differences during day and night, the places needed to be chose very carefully. Also for the other idea places needed to be well chosen, because it was supposed to take a picture every hour for 24h for one or two weeks, that it would have been probably made with an automatic camera
After a lot of brainstorming I have had one last idea, using the kaleidoscope effect. The kaleidoscope tool (that will be explained better in the next chapter) is now seen as a toy, because it’s so colorful and playful.
My first idea was to play with happy places and this effect, but then I changed my mind because I thought that it would become just an happy book without any transformation and change of expectation
That’s why I have decided to play with the kaleidoscope effect but using catastrophes and shocking events instead of happy places. My idea behind this project was to trick the viewers mind into believing that it is something beautiful, but then changing their mind when reading what the picture actually represent.
The kaleidoscope is an optical device consisting of mirrors that reflect images of bits of coloured glass in a symmetrical geometric design through a viewer. The design may be changed endlessly by rotating the section containing the loose fragments. The name is derived from the Greek words kalos (“beautiful”), eïdos (“form”), and skopeïn (“to view”). It is also an important tool for pattern designers.
The kaleidoscope was invented by Sir David Brewster about 1816 and patented in 1817. Sold usually as a toy, it also has value for the pattern designer.
The kaleidoscope illustrates the image-forming properties of combined, inclined mirrors. If an object is placed between two mirrors inclined at right angles, an image is formed in each mirror. Each of these mirror images is in turn reflected in the other mirror, forming the appearance of four symmetrically placed objects. If the mirrors are inclined at 60°, a hexagonally symmetrical pattern results from one object producing six regularly placed images.
David Brewster defined several variables in his patent and publications:
– Variations in size (Brewster deemed a length of five to ten inches convenient, for one to four inches he suggested the use of a lens with a focus length equal to the length of the reflectors)
– Variations in the angle of inclination of the reflecting surfaces. In his patent Brewster deemed 18°, 20° or 22 1/2° most pleasing. In the treatise 45°, 36° and 30° are the primary examples.
– Variations in material of the reflecting surfaces (plates of plain glass, quicksilvered glass (mirror) or metal, or the reflecting inner surfaces of a solid prism of glass or rock crystal)[6] The choice of material can have some influence of the tint and the quality of the image.
– A wide variety of objects, small figures, fragments, liquids and materials of different colors and shapes can be used in object cells (apart from the more usual transparent fragments, for instance twisted pieces of iron or brass wire, or some lace, can produce very fine effects)
A catastrophe is an event causing great and usually sudden damage or suffering; a disaster. Some shocking events have been happening in this world for a lot of time. A disasters can be caused by natural, man-made and technological hazards, as well as various factors that influence the exposure and vulnerability of a community.
Natural hazards are naturally occurring physical phenomena. They can be: geophysical which originates from solid earth such as earthquakes, landslides and volcanic activity; hydrological, caused by the occurrence, movement and distribution of water on earth such as floods and avalanches; climatological which relates to the climate such as droughts and wildfires; meteorological, relating to weather conditions such as cyclones and storms; biological, caused by exposure to living organisms and their toxic substances or diseases they may carry such as disease epidemics and insect/animal plagues.
Man-made and technological hazards are events that are caused by humans and occur in or close to human settlements. They include complex emergencies, conflicts, industrial accidents, transport accidents, environmental degradation and pollution.
For this project I’ve made lots of research to identify some of the most shocking catastrophes that happened in the last two hundred years. My focus was on geophysical, hydrological and climatological hazards. Then I’ve decided to include also some of the other man-made disasters, like terrorist attacks and nuclear explosions.
The process of this topic is really delicate. I needed to analyze the picture and the kaleidoscope effect to create an effect of beauty from something with a dark story.
For the images I was firstly searching for the most curious image to transform into the effect with the aim to deceive even more the viewer. Then I have decided to look for iconic images, so in short, images that were used to let the world know what happened. The search for this images was easy but complicated at the same time, it required lot of time to actually find the image with a good quality. After finding all the images I have then proceeded to create the effect.
After analyzing the effect I tried to create an image with photoshop mirroring and multiplying the image a couple of times. They all came out as a cross, simbol of death, which was already giving some insights of what could have been behind the “pretty image”. To solve this problem I have searched for websites to create the effect, after some research I found this website (https://www9.lunapic.com/editor/?action=kaleidoscope) that creates the effect with as many divisions as needed
Photoshop process
Original image
Mirrored imgage
Horizzontaly mirrored image
Kaleidoscope effect vertically mirrored image
Kaleidoscope effect
5 sides triangular division
Kaleidoscope effect
6 sides triangular division
Credits Websites:
Parul Jain, Kaleidoscope optical device, “Britannica”, 14 March 2012, https://www.britannica.com/technology/kaleidoscope
Oxford languages, catastrophe definition, “Oxford language”, 15 February 2022, https://www.google.com/search?q=catastrophes+definition&oq=cata&aqs=chrome.1.69i59l3j69i57j69i65l2j69i61j69i65.2379j0j7&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8
International Federation of Red Cross, Disasters, climate and crises: what is a distaster?, “ifrc”, 5 May 2022, https://www.ifrc.org/our-work/disasters-climate-and-crises/what-disaster#:~:text=Disasters%20can%20 be%20caused%20by,and%20vulnerability%20of%20a%20community.
Images:
Unknown, Kaleidoscope, “Wikipedia”, 18 December 2016, https://upload. wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/e9/1819_brewster_-_treatise_on_ the_kaleidoscope_fig_18-20.jpg
University: Free University of Bozen-Bolzano
Faculty: Design and Art
Course: Visual Communication
Thomas Mayfried, Michele Galluzzo, Emanuela De Cecco
Year: 2022
Students: Martina Poschiavin