RECYCLE/UPCYCLE

30/03/2020 – 30/04/2020

TUTORS: NICOLE, ELISABETH & CHRIS

UNITS 2 & 3

Ace & Tate collaborated with sustainable materials company ‘Plasticiet’

Recycle / Upcycle– International Foundation in Art, Design and Media

Introduction

Recycle: 1) convert waste into a form in which it can be reused. 2) Use something again. (Oxford English
Dictionary)

Up-cycle: reuse (discarded objects or material) in such a way as to create a product of higher quality or value
than the original. (Oxford English Dictionary)

From the beginning of the 20th century onwards artists and designers have used found, or discarded, objects
and images as a key material for their work. Both actual, physical waste, and discarded motifs or concepts,
continue to be recovered and reused (and re-contextualized, re-appropriated and re-imagined) in
contemporary art and design. The theme of the project is ‘Recycle/Up-cycle’. It can be interpreted either
literally (e.g. taking re-cycled materials or ‘green’ thinking as a starting-point), or conceptually (drawing from a
variety of existing methods, materials, forms, colours and historical periods). Whereas in previous projects you
have been asked to follow a structured and specific project brief, this project will give you the opportunity to
develop your practice independently and produce individual outcomes.

PROJECT OUTCOMES:

- 300 word proposal and time plan with Harvard Referenced bibliography
- Blog: 4 blog entries (reflective writing, evaluation, images, videos, relevant links)
- Sketchbook: evidence of research, annotations, writing, drawings, photographs, documentation of the
continual evolution and development process including generating, exploring and refining ideas (at least 20
pages)
- Research File: Organise your file hand-outs, printouts, research sheets, evidence of active reading
- 300 word evaluation
- 1500 word Essay (Draft)
- A refined digital image of your final outcome (See information below)

While the nature of the project is such that you can work in a variety of ways appropriate to your subject
specialism and individual concerns, the work produced should reflect the project’s length and will be assessed
on this basis. As well as evidence of preliminary research, you will need to produce a refined final outcome in
accordance with your specialist area set out below:

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Recycle / Upcycle– International Foundation in Art, Design and Media

- Architecture/Interiors: High quality images of final model and design sheets.

- Fine art: Painting/drawing/sculpture photographed in photography studio/in context.
- Film/audio: MP3 or Quicktime/Youtube clip.
- Graphics/Illustration: Series of illustrations/graphics and design sheets.
- Fashion/Textiles: A finished article of clothing/accessory and design sheets
- Jewelry/Product design: Maquette and design sheets.
- Moving Image/Animation: Youtube or Quicktime clip and/or final photographs.
- Branding and Marketing: Mood board and concept sheets.

EXAMPLES

Dutch designers Iris van Daalen and Ruben Thier's The Plastic Mine is a series of home accessories made
from plastic clumps gathered from a factory floor.
The Plastic Mine collection includes shelves and tables created out of brightly coloured lumps of polyethylene,
with polished, flat top surfaces that feature intricate patterns.
The large chunks of plastic are selected from the waste produced by a factory that makes pipes and tubing for
industrial use.

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Recycle / Upcycle– International Foundation in Art, Design and Media

Fine - Art

Sarah Sze - Since the late 1990s, Sarah Sze has developed a signature visual language that
challenges the static nature of sculpture. Sze draws from Modernist traditions of the found object,
dismantling their authority with dynamic constellations of materials that are charged with flux,
transformation and fragility. Captured in this suspension, her immersive and intricate works
question the value society places on objects and how objects ascribe meaning to the places and
times we inhabit.

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Recycle / Upcycle– International Foundation in Art, Design and Media

Coinciding with the explosion of information of the 21st Century, Sze’s work simultaneously models and nav-
igates the ceaseless proliferation of information in contemporary life. Her encyclopaedic installations unfold
like a series of experiments that construct intimate systems of order – precarious ecologies in which material
conveys meaning and a sense of loss.

Fashion
ELVIS AND KRESSE - is a design company who make accessories from entierly recycled fabrics - parachute silk,
printing blankets, leather offcuts, coffee sacks, auction banners, shoe boxes and most famously
decomissioned recycled London fire hoses. Speaking about the fire hoses the designers have said - "we are
constantly thinking about waste.

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Recycle / Upcycle– International Foundation in Art, Design and Media

The hose itself is weathered and marked, the ridges and grooves of a long life are self-evident and no two reds
are the same. Some products may have the details of their extrusion and others may bear the name of the
company that makes the hose. Although they started in London, Elvis & Kresse now collect hose across the UK,
and in order to thank Britain’s Brigades 50% of Fire-Hose profits go to the Fire Fighter’s Charity.

Fashion

MAISON MARGIELA - Belgian designer Martin Magiela became famous in the 1980s for his Haute Couture col-
lections using recylced and upcycled clothing - dresses made from recycle baseball mitts, leather jackets made
from recycled leather jackets. As fashion theorist Barbara Vinken explains - "every piece that is made
according to this method, regardless of how many versions there may be, is a unique piece, because the
materials that are used in it are entieryly unique."
Martin Margiela combined his radical styling with an extremely secretive public personae - never granting
interviews and never being photographed in public his brand has remained comited to an entierly white and
functional labelling system that details only the very basic information about the garments.

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Recycle / Upcycle– International Foundation in Art, Design and Media

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Recycle / Upcycle– International Foundation in Art, Design and Media

Film

ADAM CURTIS - is a British documentary film-maker. Curtis says that his favourite theme is "power and how it
works in society", and his works explore areas of sociology, psychology, philosophy and political history. Curtis
describes his work as journalism that happens to be expounded via the medium of film.
Curtis uses almost exclusively found and archival footage from the BBC archives as well as music and sounds
drawn from a huge range of sources from pop music to experimental sound design. He recycles, reuses and
remixes this material to construct new narratives and tell complex stories about the political and philosophical
underpinnings of contemporary events.
His films have included -
HyperNormalisation (2016)
Bitter Lake (2015)
All Watched Over by Machines of Loving Grace (2011)
The Power of Nightmares (2004)

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Recycle / Upcycle– International Foundation in Art, Design and Media

Crosby Studios' founder Harry Nuriev has teamed up with Balenciaga to create a transparent vinyl couch filled
with worn and discarded clothing from the French fashion brand.
Architect and designer Nuriev and Balenciaga unveiled the oblong couch at this year's Design Miami 2019. It is
intended to promote "environmentally conscious design" by converting worn or disposed garments into a
functional piece of art.
"The collaboration between Balenciaga and Nuriev reimagines a sofa – the centre of so many homes – as an
example of environmentally conscious design, giving generations of garments and other materials another
life," the fashion brand said.

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Recycle / Upcycle– International Foundation in Art, Design and Media

Artist- Kurt Schwitters

Title - Merzbau
Date - 1923 - onwards
Materials - Various

Alongside his collages, Schwitters also dramatically altered the interiors of a number of spaces throughout his
life. The most famous was the Merzbau, the transformation of six (or possibly more) rooms of the family
house in Hanover, Waldhausenstrasse 5. This took place very gradually; work started in about 1923, the first
room was finished in 1933, and Schwitters subsequently extended the Merzbau to other areas of the house
until he fled to Norway in early 1937. In 1943 it was destroyed in an Allied bombing raid

Schwitters worked in several genres and media, including Dadaism, Constructivism, Surrealism, poetry, sound,
painting, sculpture, graphic design, typography, and what came to be known as installation art. He is most
famous for his collages, called Merz Pictures.

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Recycle / Upcycle– International Foundation in Art, Design and Media

Map enthusiast and researcher Kerim Bayer has drawn from his collection of 1,366 maps to create a graphic-
design book containing 5,180 thumbnail images.

Bayer made the Map Section book for the Istanbul Design Biennial 2018. By deconstructing the large-scale
maps, he hopes that designers will able to treat the book as an abstract design resource.

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Recycle / Upcycle– International Foundation in Art, Design and Media

TIMETABLE

WEEK ONE

DAY DATE ACTIVITY

MONDAY 30/03/2020 10AM – Stage 1 presentation 5 mins each (Online)

with Chris

TUESDAY 31/03/2020 10AM - Stage 2: Project Introduction (Online) with

Chris

WEDNESDAY 01/04/2020 Self - Directed Study

THURSDAY 02/04/2020 10 AM - English for Academic Purposes (EAP

session) with Elisabeth

FRIDAY 03/04/2020 Self - Directed Study

WEEK -

DAY DATE ACTIVITY

MONDAY

TUESDAY
06/04/2020

WEDNESDAY - Easter Holiday

THURSDAY 17/04/2020

FRIDAY

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Recycle / Upcycle– International Foundation in Art, Design and Media

WEEK TWO

DAY DATE ACTIVITY

MONDAY 20/04/2020 10AM – Online teaching session with Nicole

TUESDAY 21/04/2020 10AM – Online teaching session with Nicole

WEDNESDAY 22/04/2020 Self - Directed Study

THURSDAY 23/04/2020 10 AM - English for Academic Purposes (EAP

session) with Elisabeth

FRIDAY 24/04/2020 Self - Directed Study

WEEK THREE

DAY DATE ACTIVITY

MONDAY 27/04/2020 10AM – Online teaching session with Chris

TUESDAY 28/04/2020 10AM – Online teaching session with Chris

WEDNESDAY 29/04/2020 Self - Directed Study

THURSDAY 30/04/2020 10 AM - English for Academic Purposes (EAP

session) with Elisabeth

FRIDAY 01/05/2020 Self - Directed Study

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Recycle / Upcycle– International Foundation in Art, Design and Media

WEEK THREE

DAY DATE ACTIVITY

MONDAY 04/05/2020 10AM – Online teaching session with Nicole

TUESDAY 05/05/2020 10AM – Online teaching session with Nicole

WEDNESDAY 06/05/2020 Self - Directed Study

THURSDAY 07/05/2020 10 AM- Submit your recycle work & 5min online
presentation with Nicole

FRIDAY 08/05/2020 Self - Directed Study

Unit 2

LO1 Select and utilise a range of art and design practical and theoretical approaches to develop ideas and
creative solutions to meet given project objectives.
LO2 Identify, explore and utilise primary and secondary research from a range of contemporary and historical
sources.
LO3 Engage in visual and written investigations from primary and secondary sources to reflect on and evaluate
the effectiveness of different art and design practical and theoretical approaches and own work.
LO4 Use appropriate English language, research and study skills to inform and communicate ideas
development, creative solutions and problem solving in own area of specialist practice.

Unit 3

LO1 Apply art and design practical, theoretical, research and technical understanding to solve problems and
develop solutions.
LO2 ake responsibility for own learning by developing key practical, theoretical, research, English language,
study, planning and time management skills.
LO3 Create appropriate materials for progression including an informed and carefully selected portfolio of
work.
LO4 Use reflective skills to evaluate own learning to inform development opportunities and progression plans.

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Recycle / Upcycle– International Foundation in Art, Design and Media

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