Concept workshop & Task

Concept workshop & Task

To help us think more into concepts we have been given a task within a small group to help us think more conceptually, we have been asked to think of a concept idea and produce a small presentation on this. The concept our group has come up with is the planning of a bar called Perspective.

The name of the bar encases the whole concept, the bar will be wholly inspired by Perspective and from discussion we felt targeting it at 18-25 year olds would prove most successful.

To arrive at this task though we went through a few trial and error ideas. These were the following.

Open a bar in urban paris inspired by Art and create an artistic twist on the traditional wine bar.

We then though of the idea of creating a sports bar inspired by Art in Barcelona but this was too generic and didn't differ much from the previous idea and didn't really have a concept we could build on.

The 3rd idea and is what brought us to the perspective idea was creating a bar on the concept off color theory, the interior and the items within would work in context with each other to create different feelings and emotions through color. A very retro idea that I personally liked.

To look into the idea of Perspective some more we split into categories on what we were too research. 

We originated out own ideas based on the word perspective and will go forward with gathering information around this, Mine was the idea of Mirror tricks or trickery within the eye and how things can look different by viewing things at different angles as shown in Holbein's painting of the Ambassadors. Initial thoughts off this was to place the painting behind the bar and it would provide a great visual talking point for people waiting for a drink. When viewed at a certain angle a distorted shape turns into a skull.

Other subjects within the concept perspective were the idea of coasters and glasses interacting together like when you look through a kaleidoscope and the color changes as you play with the rotation. This idea of interaction with perspective is a cool idea.

Color and perspective colour theory deriving from our original thoughts of creating a concept based entirely on color theory.

The final one is the perspective of interior elements and how they could appear different depending on your positioning in the room. 

To begin with I found a definition of the word Perspective. 

The main definition point I am going off is the "view off prospect" and the "a picture drawn in perspective, esp. one appearing to enlarge or extend the actual space or give the effect of distance". This strengthens my initial knowledge on the term that was basically depending on how you view an item the appearance extends or decreased and this is the element I want to play on by looking into subject matters that follow this concept. 

After looking into how perspective can change the visuals off something I came up with 2 main elements, mirror tricks and perspective art work. Both these elements could be used in the Bar itself. Drinking itself is a way in which your perspective can be changed so combining this with the elements of Mirror tricks and perspective artworks will prove to be an interesting experience, a psychedelic twist on the everyday bar.

After looking into the Ambassadors painting I found out that the category of artwork style it sits under was anamorphic perspective "Anamorphosis is a distorted projection or perspective requiring the viewer to use special devices or occupy a specific vantage point to reconstitute the image".

After doing some research into other examples off this kind of work I found lots of cool pieces that could be included in the bar. 

This drawing by Istvan Orosz is an example of how mirrors could be used to change the perspective of abstract artworks. Something like this could be used in conjunction with Beermats and reflective ideas, an interesting interaction off 2 commonly boring elements off your typical bar. 

In 1976 musical artist Rick Wakeman added interactivity to there No earthly connection vinyl covers, included in the vinyl was a mirror sheet that was made into a circular shape to view the altered image in its correct form. 

Andrea Pozzo's painting on the ceiling in the Church of St. Ignazio could only be viewed correctly when viewers admired the piece from directly bellow. Something like this would create an amazing high impact element upon entry to the bar as the punters looked up. 

3D street art seen in big urban cites is something that like the above celling painting would provide a high impact entrance too the bar, a clever optical illusion that simulates large 3D scenes and can create abstract  representations of holes in the ground. 

The final high impact element that could be used in the bar would be how artwork on the walls could add depth on flat surfaces like walls. Damien Gilley, Portland based multi disciplinary designer creates such works as this like the bellow. 

Now I have included all the optical illusions of art work and interactive elements into the bar I will describe how the final interactive element could be incorporated into the Bar. The idea off mirror tricks. Like the first example off the pencil drawing by Istvan Orosz perspective can be changed massively through the use off mirrors. My idea is to include mirrors around the interior off the bar that will change the perspective view off the Bar itself and the viewer looking into the mirror. This is inspired by the "House of mirrors" found in theme parks that included mirrors that made you appear distorted in very abstract ways. Adding these types off mirrors in corridors that people would normally just blank out when walking past would add an interesting journey to rooms within the bar. I thought about putting them in the bathroom but that might be a little bit weird as people will want an accurate representation of them not an optical illusion presented back to them.

The other idea would be to create an actually room based on these "House of mirrors", a room full off Mirrors were the customers of the bar can go in and experience yet another perspective changing interactivity within the Bar.

After looking into perspective and its use in Art & Design I feel like I could create interesting links into my own work with aspects of perspective so this is going to be put on the back burner for further individual research for future projects and briefs.