For this week we had to do a cognitive map and a partner automatic drawing. The cognitive map was very difficult to draw to scale and fit everything. I found it very easy to draw the buildings that I walk by or near during my regular walk up campus. Buildings on the east side of campus were much harder for me to put together since I do not find myself on that side of campus very often at all. It was a challenging experiment because It made me consider how much I pay attention to my surroundings and geolocation during my everyday walk up, down, and around campus. It was much easier to understand where things were when my friends came and looked at the map and pointed to a few blank spaces to add buildings that they were familiar with. I think this was a cool experience which I may like to try with other maps and locations!
For the automatic drawing I decided to set a timer for one minute, and let my partner and I flow within that minute. Since I could not get a large enough piece of paper, we decided to use a white board that was more than big enough for the project. At first, it was a lot of push and pull with each other over who was guiding the pen. After a few seconds we started to get smoother movements with the pen. Sometimes these movements manifested as spirals, and other times as curves, corners, and loops — it was an ebb and flow of control over the pen. As an artist, I like to look at my piece and see some sort of order and symmetry, but this was far from it. We had a finished piece that was nothing more than a composition of squiggles and lines. But it isn’t about the art, right? It’s about the experience. Which is why I take the haphazard and imperfections with a grain of salt. Art is free, art is imperfect.
Dimitri Petrakis 