THE GARBAGE BOY PROJECT

EDUCATION DESIGN & ART DIRECTION 


I researched and devised an interdisciplinary course that investigates collaborative authorship through the frame of participatory media, creative writing, and remixing. 

Check out my Medium story on this project. 

View the class proposal here.

Objective

Create a sustainable course that unites and challenges art students to disrupt imagination and authorship against the constraints of their rigid institutional boundaries. How could an industrial design student reinterpret the work of an illustration student while reducing material waste?

 

Strategy

Investigate the structure of a potential interdisciplinary course through research and a workshop.

 

 
 

Collection 

First, I collected drawn and written material from creatives (designers, artists, and children) with a survey form. A short instruction prompted participants to draw archetypes from their imaginations like heroes, villains, etc. and explain their process with a brief explanation below. This stage resulted in a collection of about 60 drawings. 

I sourced these surveys from students across many disciplines from fine art to design.

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Curation

Next, I set up a workshop where participants were challenged to read, write, and interpret content based around a mixture of drawings and discarded materials.

The workshop was comprised of recycled materials and repurposed drawings. I also created three new forms for inputs as pictured above.

Drawing Activity

Participants were asked to choose from a pile of archetypal drawings and synthesize a new creation, remixing elements from the collection.

Industrial Design student, Veda Zalarvis-Chase, remixes
several drawings into a single creation as pictured below.

The final sketch was synthesized for use as a character and object. This example provides a roadmap for how to integrate spontaneous collaboration into a 15 week course.

Writing Activity

Students created a short story based on 5 objects and drawings selected from the collection.

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Building Activity

Students constructed objects from selected drawings and objects in the collection.

Graphic Design student, Taylor Wega, not only constructed a new character
but wrote a short story to accompany the little square cutie.

Convergence 

In my proposed interdisciplinary class, You are Garbage!, Students work individually and collaboratively with a focus on critical thinking, writing, prototyping, and remixing. One major learning outcome is the ability to reinterpret and reinvent other's work as well as our own.