Following our introductory session and group workshops during the first week, we commenced brainstorming sessions to identify our subsequent research topics. We analysed and discussed matters from numerous perspectives, such as questions like ‘What brings me joy?’ and ‘What causes me sorrow?’ After deliberating on this series of inquiries, we each compiled our responses to these questions—though these answers remain relatively straightforward for now.
Phase 1 is the starting point of the whole project. In this phase, my main task was:
- Develop research themes in four different directions according to the requirements
- Create short presentations for each theme
- Analyse the feasibility of each direction through presentations and peer/tutor feedback
- Select a theme for the next Phase that has the greatest potential for further development.
The point of this phase was not to produce a definitive design, but to understand what direction I would favour, what difficulties I would encounter, and what I could gain from feedback when faced with a completely open choice of themes.
At this stage, I have prepared four themes:
- Chase
- Surrealism
- Puzzle
- Intuition (eventually chosen as the direction for Phase 2)
And during the course of Phase 1, I realised:
- I am more interested in atmosphere, spatiality and abstraction.
- I’m also interested in structured, logical expression.
- There is a big gap between the idea and the realisation of some themes.
- When choosing a theme, it is important to consider both expression and realisability.
The following is a record of my thought process, decision rationale, presentation highlights and stage-by-stage reflections on my exploration of the four themes.