How to analyse stuff

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How to analyse stuff

• Just one of the millions of ways

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RFID

• Radio Frequency IdentificationYour homework was
  to find out about RFID and the projects that
  people have done with the technology and those
  they have not yet made.Do a mini presentation
  of your findings to the group.

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Questions

• What do you personally think about the piece?
  What was the artists intension in making the
  piece? How does this piece relate to other
  projects by the artist? Are there are
  particular themes or theoretical ideas that the
  projects discusses?How does the project relate
  to historical ideas? What is the wider cultural
  meaning of the project?How successful is the
  piece? (Explain your criteria)

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What do you personally think about the piece?

• Your personal reaction to a project is an
  important guide for further analysis. If you
  find something exciting then this can be a good
  start for further analysis. If you dont
  understand the piece or find it boring, it might
  be that you have missed some crucial aspect. If
  you find something offensive than this is a great
  place to think about the intentions of the
  project.

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What was the artists intension in making the
piece?

• This is a difficult one and it sometimes helps to
  look at how the artists themselves has written or
  talked about the project. Like everybody else
  artists deceive themselves about their
  intensions. Take any stated intensions with a big
  dose of salt!Does the artists intension match
  our understanding of the piece? If it doesnt
  what is going on?

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How does this piece relate to other projects by
the artist?

• Well for this you need to do some simple
  research.
• Seeing the history of the artist allows you to
  make sure that you really understand the piece
  properly. Some artists continue their same
  basic concept from project to project. Some
  change rapidly with each piece.

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Are there particular themes or theoretical ideas
that the projects discusses?

• Here for example we should consider how the
  project functions. Is the project trying to
  create new social relations? How does the project
  relate to the technology? Who funded the project
  and why?
• How does it relate to concepts such as security
  and control? How does it relate to other people?
  

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How does the project relate to historical ideas?

• Does the project relate to specific art
  historical movements or events?Conceptual
  art?Futurism?Cinema?Photography?Historical
  political events?

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What is the wider cultural meaning of the project?

• This is the big question that might take up 70
  of the text you need to write at the end of this
  module. This question pulls together all the
  previous ones. Here you need a strong and clear
  argument with lots of relevant references to
  sources.Remember there are many different
  cultures in this world and a project might relate
  very differently to one than another.

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How successful is the piece? (Explain your
criteria)

• This is again useful way of bringing your own
  opinion into the discussion.Criteria are
  important. The same way I have some criteria by
  which I have to mark you, you can set your own
  criteria and explain why they are relevant.One
  criteria might be how beautiful the project is.
  Well then you need to qualify beauty and see if
  it applies to this project.

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RFID Summary

• What categories of projects have emerged?What
  have we learnt?