Major Project: Equilibriumism “My cloud photographs are equivalents of my most profound life experiences, my basic philosophy of life. All art is an equivalent of the artist’s most profound life experiences.” – Alfred Stieglitz   This quote was the very basis of my argument and is where the concept of Equilibriumism stemmed from. I believe this quote to be the best example of a balance between Surrealism and Futurism.

Summary  Equilibriumism is a term I am using to describe the state at which opposing philosophies and visual aesthetic clash to create a seamless flowing narrative derived from the past and the need to move forward. This idea comes from the works of Alfred Stieglitz and his photographic series entitled Equivalents.

The Design Problem  The fundamental and contrasting elements that the movements of Futurism and Surrealism pertain to, including finding the middle ground where balance is achieved between the two. The understanding, development and creation of advertising for a prestigious gallery (such as the V&A).

My Research Most of my research so far has been to justify my idea to create a new art movement based upon past movements. I will continue my research, mainly into the V&A’s past advertising campaigns and some relevant sources detailing the creation of advertising. My information so far has been drawn from the following books:

My Research Writing & Illuminating & Lettering by Edward Johnston, 1983 Image, Music,Text by Roland Barthes, 1993 Camera Lucida by Roland Barthes, 1993 Graphic Design Theory Reading From The Field, 2009 Magritte A to Z by Christoph Grunenberg, 2011 Pablo Picasso by Hajo Duchting, 2013 David Hockney A Bigger Picture, 2012 Other Realities by Jerry Uelsmann , 2005 Alfred Stieglitz New York by Bonnie Yochelson, 2010 Looking In: Robert Frank's The Americans, 2009 Arrivals & Departures The Airport Pictures Of Garry Winogrand, 2004 Friedlander, The Museum Of Modern Art, 2005

My Proposal My Major Project will be the creation of an advertising campaign, promoting a small gallery within the V&A, which will coincide with our end of year show. It will be based upon my new art movement, named Equilibriumism, which demonstrates the middle ground between Surrealism and Futurism.

My Proposal Firstly I will create a manifesto, which will be the justification for movement itself. The development of my work and the gallery display will consist of three, eight-meter long, hand-drawn artifacts based upon the photographs by Robert Frank, Alfred Stieglitz, Garry Winogrand and Lee Friedlander. I will be drawing these pieces in a Surrealistic style, but with a Futurist philosophy, to create a seamless blend of imagery that displays a visual narrative derived from iconography and an overall contrasting aesthetic.

My Proposal However, I will create the surrealist drawings without crediting the photographers. This will correlate to the words of Roland Barthes in his writing, The Death of the Author. The will produce the destruction and recreation of the past, which is a Futurist outlook on design.

My Proposal All of these pieces will be filmed whilst being produced, which will then be sped up to create a seamless time-lapse of my work and my methodology. This will also align with the Futurist idea of speed and movement over time itself being an art form. I’ll also make a video panning though three high qualities scans of my finished works with a musical accompaniment. These videos will be used as digital poster advertisements as seen in some tube stations.

My Proposal My main visual artifact will be my hand-drawn collection of images superimposed over the original photographs, creating a contrasting image that will hold an almost surreal aspect and yet show the destruction and belittlement of great works of the past. The works of Jake & Dinos Chapman heavily inspired this idea.

Look And Feel For this to be a successful project, I must create a realistic art movement as well as believable advertisements for a proposed gallery. If I can fool someone on the street into believing that my work will be hosted at the V&A then I know I have done a good job. I will test this by putting my fake advert up in the underground entrance to the V&A and gauging peoples’ reactions to it. This will only be possible with permission from the V&A.

My Market My market will mainly consist of the patrons of the V&A, as well as those that travel on London transport within the vicinity of the gallery.

New Knowledge For this project I will need to found out the best combination of elements to use to create an effective, eye-catching and aesthetically pleasing piece of advertising. I will also need to find out the best places for my advertising to be placed to gain the most positive attention. A quick survey of the area should give me enough information to secure the best positions for my adverts. However I will also need to research the past successful advertisements that the V&A launched for their gallery campaigns.

My Deliverables My final submission will consist of the following:   One long time-lapse video showing the creation of my three, eight-meter, hand-drawn scrolls. A video showing people on the London underground reacting to my fake advertisement. An A3 portfolio that will contain my research, images of the production of my work, high quality scans of my original drawings, the superimposed images and a short manifesto about Equilibriumism.

Planning I plan to spend two weeks drawing the eight-meter scrolls and recording my progress. The final videos will be uploaded to YouTube. The next week will be spent scanning my scrolls and superimposing the scans onto the original photographs. After that, a week will be spent creating the adverts for my mock gallery. Once they have been printed, I will put up a few of them in the tube station leading to the V&A and gauge peoples’ reactions. The remainder of my time will be spent arranging and printing out my work for submission and subsequent gallery display.