Layout Being Human

A Non-scientific approach to the myth behind the brain.

Proposal ...

Creating the 'Awe factor' of our bodies

Using Tashan as our man of the moment, and one day reflection of today's society and living

He Is a human

Define human - Physically/ Factually / Dictionary/ Wikipedia

Humans are bipedal primates belonging to the species Homo sapiens (Latin: "wise man" or "knowing man") in Hominidae, the great ape family.[2][3] They are the only surviving members of the genus Homo. Humans have a highly developed brain, capable of abstract reasoning, language, introspection, and problem solving. This mental capability, combined with an erect body carriage that frees the hands for manipulating objects, has allowed humans to make far greater use of tools than any other species. Mitochondrial DNA and fossil evidence indicates that modern humans originated in Africa about 200,000 years ago.[4] Humans are widespread in every continent except Antarctica, with a total population of 6.8 billion as of November 2009.[5]

Like most higher primates, humans are social by nature. However, humans are uniquely adept at utilizing systems of communication for self-expression, the exchange of ideas, and organization. Humans create complex social structures composed of many cooperating and competing groups, from families to nations. Social interactions between humans have established an extremely wide variety of values, social norms, and rituals, which together form the basis of human society. Humans have a marked appreciation for beauty and aesthetics which, combined with the human desire for self-expression, has led to cultural innovations such as art, literature and music.

Humans are noted for their desire to understand and influence their environment, seeking to explain and manipulate natural phenomena through science, philosophy, mythology and religion. This natural curiosity has led to the development of advanced tools and skills, which are passed down culturally; humans are the only species known to build fires, cook their food, clothe themselves, and use numerous other technologies.

flesh and blood, something that we all share and can relate to,

I have 1 body

2 arms, legs, hands, feet, lungs, eyes, ears,

10 fingers and toes,

1 heart, mind and soul,

I smell, see, taste , touch and hear,

making everything around me become clear,

1 body, mind and soul, all these physicality's we all have and know.

through these human characteristics, we have 5 sense, 6 in some cases,

1.Touch

2.Taste

3. Sight

4. Hearing

5. Smell

Using these to define what how every different, yet the same, we will look at

how our body demonstrates the use of the senses

1.Touch - hands, feet and body

2.Taste - mouth

3. Sight - eyes

4. Hearing - ears

5. Smell - nose

We will,

Using bob to ...

1. Creative an emotion or emotive sentence about something he has seen/heard/smelt etc - at this point we want it to be very obscure, but evoke a sense of reliability to our time and people today (Nic's writing)

could even be a summary of a news story to suggest current affairs

2. Define a function/ workings of it, the sense/boy part that reveals slightly more, psychical yet emotional

e.g. looking someone in the eye, - creative writing form, 'gaze' 'stare'

3. fact - what it can do the part, they cry, weep in the cold, stink, blink in the sea, etc …

4. the body part - i am an eye / or an image

We will do this for each one, also thinking about how the layout of the publication affects how we read the information within it.

This is in reverse order, so that the emotion comes before the definition of the sense,

We want to Define the sense and its body part factually, and its function, then we then reveal that it is still just an eye that everyone has, its about creating a sense of wonder about us as human beings

CWDC adverts

While these are not relevant in content, the style of suggesting that an object is not just an object, that it relates to a greater meaning,

'It's not just a bouncy ball, It's a smile'

http://bethedifference.cwdcouncil.org.uk/site/#/ads/bouncy-ball

I know it is slightly reminiscent of the M&S ad's 'It's not just a chocolate pudding.....etc

However, I like the idea that a things or even smell can evoke the strongest of feelings within us as human beings, feelings which vary from person to person, yet are made up of all the same flesh ,organs and bone as each other.

Smelly things...

I was given 'Smell' as my sense to research for an area of this publication. I know what a nose is, I know that I can smell things that I like, dislike, new and old, but I didn't realise how much smell is linked to memory and nostalgia.

I began by watching a documentary about smell and London, and what sort of smells remind us of a certain place. The majority of people that were asked were in their 60's, along with a few younger people too. However, what i find most interesting is that many of the older generation referred to the smell of London being of 'smog' and 'smoke'. In relation to now, I don't think that is how i would describe the sense of it. This made me think about how over time things change, yet they are still remembered. For this project, we wanted to define a human being at this precise moment, the modern day (for us) so that once it was published we would be able to look back on it, reflectively. We watched a video about being a Human Being, and how we all have the same characteristic, and organs, but we equally have our own peculiarities, that make us different.

In order to be able to define a human I feel like we have to deal firstly with the physical being and then with the emotional being, through our senses, and how they allow us to connect with others and what we can do or choose to do with the body you have been given.

Using Smell,

1. To associate us with our emotions, and memories,

2. The brain can remember 4000-10,000 smells

3. Some believe that the smell receptors are directly liked to the brain (our emotional seat) and that's why we remember emotions through smells

4. One man described that he remembers the day his father died through the smell of rain on a pavement, as this was the weather on that day

5. 'Nothing revives the past so completely as a small that way once associated with it'

- In this way if we were to define smells of now, then when people looked back, they would be able to remember a particular time

6. Proust's hypothesis of odour memory

To be able to make it relevant to today, and keep the theme of Comfort going, I think that we need to find out the smells that represent today and that others share with one another, so that they are things that will be remembered in time to come.

Touch

Touch is one the the five senses of human beings and animals. It involves all parts of the human body but is often liked to the use of the hands. The information brought to the brain from a texture is calculated by vibrations of the epidermis, translated into nervous signals by the mechanical receiver systems. The information can be modified depending on the pressure, the speed and the length of the touch.

The touch is essential for the survive and evolution of the human beings. Fundamental key for the discovery of the environment, the exploration, the locomotion, the gripping ability, the nutrition, research of the solar exposure, socail relashionships, sexuality...

Nervous reactions to textures are an imporant part of the touch, the information is modified wether what is touched is : Hard, soft, slipery, moisturise, hairy, furry, smooth, gentle, rough, sharp, hot, cold, warm, plain. But also reactions to winds, liquids and gases.

Skin is the essential organic part of human body responsible of the analysis of these external informations but hairs, hair, nails, mucous membranes and related muscles and glands can do so. Skin weighs an average of four Kg and covers an area of two square meters. It is made of three distinct layers, epidermis (the most superfical), dermi and, subcutabeous tissues. There are two main distinct types of human skin: glabrous skin (the non- hairy skin of the palms and soles) and the hair- bearing skin.

With the four other human and animal senses, touch provides human beings a concrete understanding of the surrounding elments and a practically imidate reactions.

Troubles can alterate the sense of touch by modifying the information interpretation; skin disorders and cutaneous diseases.

Hearing

HEARING IS THE SENSE BY WHICH SOUND IS PERCEIVED.


A Person’s usual reaction to hearing a new sound is to relate it to another sound that has a similar quality

Example:

Local Natives – Gorilla manor
album review

“Local Natives have already gained a foothold in parts of Europe-- their album has received attention in the UK and they graced the cover of Scandinavia's Sonic magazine late last year-- at home in L.A., and online. With good reason too: Advance singles "Airplanes" and "Sun Hands" recalled elements of Dodos or the Fleet Foxes. The best comparison perhaps is that they're sort of a West Coast Grizzly Bear-- right down to naming an album after the location in which it was recorded. Yet whereas Grizzly Bear's Yellow House is a cozy, isolated New England seaside shack, Local Natives' Gorilla Manor is a squalid Orange County party pad.”


SOME PEOPLE HAVE TROUBLE HEARING






Humans believe the natural reaction is to develop a way in which to combat this problem, sometimes it leads to interesting outcomes.


The most successful way humans interpret sound through sight is through rhythm. This has been done in a variety of ways, usually following a rule of showing the peak's and troffs a sound makes.




PEOPLE INTERPRET SOUND THROUGH BODY MOVEMENT

BRIEF

BRIEF PUBLICATION:

Overall concept:

Bringing comfort through the idea that human beings are all no more and no less than human beings.

We all share the same the similarities but we all have particularities.

A human being is made up of organs and a complex organic system, BUT the human being can think, create, show emotions, genious, anger...

Process:

Using A single human being as a template of Humanity.

Researchs:

- What make us all the same, cells, organs, system, body, physical appearence, senses...

- What make us different , how we feel, hear, see things.

FIRST STEP:

deadline - Wednesday

Each person from the group is attributed a sense and developp all the ideas linked to that sense, in a factual way and all the emotionally related details.

- Scarlet: smell

- Steph: Taste

- Ali: Hearing

- Dan: Sight

- Nicolas: Touch

Words to start a conversation on the notion of comfort.

Home

Family

Circle

White

Technology

Love

Perception

Change

Emotions

Relationships

Universe

Community

Water

Time

Future

End

Beginning

Knowledge

Different

Boundaries

Escape

Speed

Decision

Space

Secondary Research/Exhibition/Initial Primary Research

1

“I’d probably pick time…because I find it comforting to know how much time I have, and how much I

can achieve within a certain time frame.”

2

“Why did you pick the gun?”

“Well, I read ‘protection’ under it so, you know, it’s sort of a good thing to have…my safest place would

be like, home, and like, my bed. That’s where I usually you know, feel most comfortable in, it’s my safety

zone.”

3

“Why did you choose that object, [Grazia magazine] and not another?”

“Umm…because I bought it yesterday and I haven’t finished reading it. Um, and I’m really into the whole

Jen/Brangelina thing, embarrassingly so. Basically that’s why I picked this. And it’s pretty, and colourful.”

“Does it bring you comfort?”

“Yes. A little bit. Because it’s about …it’s like TV, it’s not your life it’s someone else’s so it’s

like…interesting. And nothing can go wrong with you because it’s someone else’s life.”

“What would be the least comforting object on the table?”

“Um, probably the cigarettes. Or the gun. Either way, um….they’re life threatening things I guess. If it’s

protection it’s still because someone’s after you, therefore it’s dangerous…it’s just bad, really. And

cigarettes, they’re just really bad, also, everybody that smokes them…smells.”

“Do you have any items of comfort?”

“Um, a phone. I have a teddy bear.”

“So why didn’t you choose that?” [soft toy]

“Well, no because it’s not mine. It’s definitely…somebody’s personal thing. I mean, you have to have

your own teddy bear.”

4

“So, why did you pick these objects?”

“Because smoking gives me something to do, when I don’t have anything to do…which is a lot of the time

, and I like listening to music because it can put you in any mood, like, if you’re in a happy mood….all

music puts you in a mood (maybe)…The gun scares me, oh it’s supposed to be protection. That’s kinda

weird…I don’t have objects that are really special to me or anything, maybe like jewellery or something.”

5

“[Laptop] it’s probably because it’s more important to me than all of the others, and I have more of a

connection with it, um, I’m always on my computer and that’s how I access the majority of my emails

…it’s more of a tool for me.”

“Is there anything you don’t like?”

“I dunno…probably those black rabbits…dunno, they’re just …there’s something about them I don’t quite

like. I like bunnies but not those in particular.”

[An item not on the table you find comfort in] “Probably my bed, it’s like…warm…cosy”

6

“You have to choose one object on the table…”

“Oh the gun, that’s my baby…what’s next?” [He used one in LA for protection]

7

“Am I allowed to say none of them?...I guess, music could be one. I don’t really know, I’m just always

listening to music I guess”

“At the start of the interview you said none of them…why?”

“Yeah I did, maybe I’m just not particularly comfortable.”

8

“I would choose the camera, I don’t know, I just liked the…it looks slightly [?] …it looks like really cool”

“Do you take a lot of pictures?”

“Yeah”

“So you like to take pictures to catch memories and stuff like that?”

“Yeah”

“If that is you most comfortable object on the table, what would be the least?”

“Maybe the cigarettes, yeah, because I really don’t like the smell of the smoking”

“Do you have any comfort objects on you now?”

“Yeah, iPod”

“Do you find comfort in technology?”

“I prefer old things”

9

“So you picked light, does it bring you comfort?”

“Um, not like this, it’s not on! I guess, maybe you’re right; it has the potential of giving comfort. But as it

is now you can only just…snap it, so it’s quite fragile.”

“So what would be the least comfortable?”

“I think this…these rabbits. Um, it’s the imitation of something…so unreal, and useless, whereas this one

[lightbulb] has a use.”

“So you feel that you find comfort in an object when it brings a notion of utility and function to your life,

more than just like a decorative object?”

“Yeah”

“So why didn’t you choose the computer, the phone or even the gun?”

“Well the gun’s not real”

“Yeah it’s just like, the notion of it, the concept of it”

“Oh ok, I’m not really good at concepts, I’m better at what’s there to be honest. I would say I’m quite

good at picking things that bring people comfort, like, it’s all wool and…I think it’s…authenticity, that it’s

not made of synthetic fibres”

10

[Translated]

“The camera, because…you can keep your memories, you can keep experiences, trap the impressions. “

“Why did you choose the camera and not the photograph?”

“Because with the camera he can find his own experiences. If he had chosen the picture…it was static, it

was already made. It’s not so much the function, he likes to have that power, or be able to take his

experiences and capture them”

“What would be the least comfortable object on the table?”

“Hitler. The image shows something dark, it’s very funny that the gun is just next to him.”

“Do you have any personal objects in your every day life that bring you comfort?”

“Music. Something calm; a bit more for the soul. Not classical, but for healing”

“Why didn’t you choose the computer, the phone or the contemporary device for music? For comfort?”

“Because they’re time thieves. They use up too much time.”

“So you don’t think music and taking photos takes up too much time?”

“No, because that’s what he takes his time for. So he takes the time to sit down and listen to the music.

It’s the experience of it, and the experience of going out and taking the photograph. If he goes out with

the camera, he goes out to have an experience. There are too many stimulations, too much information

[with a computer] He can have a better concentration when there’s not a lot of different disturbing

elements….He is my grandfather, he flew in from Copenhagen to have a look at my exhibition….[he

thinks] we are too concerned about physical objects. Going forward is a good thing…progress is good,

that’s what made him able to come here today, [flying in] but sometimes progress makes us so concerned

with the object itself, so you need a better phone because it has a camera with a greater amount of pixels,

but actually you can just use your eyes and see. We don’t get to experience it because it’s always moving

beyond us. Thinking of a very poor place, you could think that…although they have all the disasters, you

can still find happiness, it’s not based on the material. It’s interesting to think that we could still be here

without all this, and still find happiness.”

11

“Why music? Because…there’s like music for every situation and every emotion you feel kind of thing,

and if you find it, then you feel comforted cause you feel like you’re not alone…well it’s because it’s kind

of like a communication with like, um, whoever wrote the music. It’s like, if you feel like…a bit strange,

then if you find the right music it suits your mood, then you kind of feel like whoever wrote that song

probably felt the same. And that’s nice. That’s why it’s comforting. I guess like music now is kind of

technology based because of the way it’s recorded, but to me like real music is live music. And when I

say music I also mean playing music myself, it’s kind of therapeutic.”

“The least comfortable…um…maybe technology, no actually, I don’t know. Kind of like, I think that

sometimes, sometimes things that you think would be comfortable and comforting can actually make you

more anxious, like money can make you quite an anxious person. Because you want loads of money

because you think it will make you comfortable, but actually, I think that the desire to want more money

just makes you an anxious person really.”

“It’s the state of mind of like, wanting more all the time, and that’s not comforting at all”

“These shoes are really comfy. At home? I guess, probably like my dad’s record collection, like, that’

really comforting. Yeah like I said, there’s music for any situation really. Just because…I kind of agree

with his selection and it’s a lot of good music…there’s like a lot of musicians I respect. When I put it on

on vinyl, you take time out to listen to it and stuff.”

“What do you think about the gun?”

“The gun? I don’t know, I guess I’m a bit of a [passivist]…I don’t think that you need to have guns to feel

protected. Um…I don’t know, I feel like…when I was younger people used to give me trouble, but no

one ever really got anything off me. Like I used to have trouble because like…I didn’t know whether to

fight back or not…I think that carrying something around with you probably makes you act more like a

victim because you’re like…scared. You’d only be carrying that round if you were a nervous person, so

like…having that is reaffirming that you’re nervous.”

“I think that…this idea that like, objects are going to make you happy, it’s just like a product of

consumerism. I really feel like this year, especially with all the economic stuff happening, I feel like

there’s kind of a backlash against that.”

“Maybe it’s just me but I feel like I’m kind of past that now, like…especially communication and

technology, they just…I’m kind of seeing the negative affect that they have. And money and…yeah I don’t

know…it’s just kind of like, to me it’s just a success of Capitalism really.”

“When you talk about all the comforts in someone’s life, they’re not just choosing objects, they’re

choosing something more”

“Because there’s always been that thing, that there’s more than the object, it’s just that people are making

money out of people’s desires to have that comfort. I really feel like there’s some real downsides to it,

people get so distracted with…talking to their friends on Facebook, they don’t realise that all they’re doing

is sitting in a room, having a watered down relationship with their friends”

“It’s really interesting to think that people want something more from the object”

12

“I’d pick the coffee, cause I could really do with one right now. Dunno it’s just a kind of routine thing I

think, I guess the way you know, coffee can mark out your day or something, you know, getting up and

having a coffee. Just part of your daily routine.”

“Umm…least comforting?…Time. Never enough time, I’m just always late”

“A bit of cash in your pocket is always comfortable, yeah you know, enough money to buy a cup of

coffee.”

“It’s to do with routine, it’s to do with you kind of…when your days are like you haven’t really got a set

routine, you drink a coffee and it’s got a fixed point”

“It’s like your phone, you know…it’s kind of nice to have your phone, you feel less comfortable when

you haven’t got your phone on you. But it’s not the phone itself, it’s the notion of what the phone does,

what it enables”

“I think we’re kind of [object-placed] but I don’t think that’s new, personally I don’t think that’s new…to

work through objects. I think it’s slightly overstated, today’s reliance on objects, I just think it’s always

been that way. You know, you only have to go to any kind of archaeological collection or something…and

you can kind of see the role that objects have played…the way that actually gave material culture, it’s…you

know, a constant. I’m not of that kind of view that there is this massive contemporary difference.”

“I guess it makes you more mobile of course, you’re kind of constantly able to access stuff…it definitely

changes the way you can behave and the way you behave in society. I mean everything you’ve got there

[on the table] is kind of ‘bought-able’, you’ve not brought in any objects that kind of tie you to be in the

home. You’ve not brought a bed in, for example. Do you know what I mean? I mean a lot of people

might’ve said they’re bed is really comforting, but I mean you haven’t brought one of those in you’ve only

brought in stuff you can carry around. So the selection of objects is already tending towards things where

you’d be able to move around, I mean the batteries…you’ve got power…you’ve brought in batteries, but

still, most people get their power by plugging things into the wall at home…so it’s kind of a difficult one”

“What do you think about the gun?”

“It’s not a real one….um, it just kind of makes me think of America really. Yeah I mean, the things that

you’ve got on the table there, the only thing you can’t carry around with you is the gun…in this country. It

seems slightly alien to me to be honest. We don’t come from a culture where you carry a gun around

with you for comfort, so for me it wouldn’t be comforting you know. I can imagine someone in America,

feeling more comfortable carrying around a hand-gun, like a hand-gun in the glove compartment of their

car, for me, in this culture, it’s not a comforting thing. I don’t think we need it, but if I was to be carrying

one around…I’d be feeling more uncomfortable. For me I feel more likely to come to harm if I was

carrying a gun around than, you know, less likely.”

13

“Why this one?” [hot water bottle]

“um…because it’s physically warm, it’s more about the sensation of being warm …the least comfortable

would probably be the coffee…it kind of reacts badly with me, it over-stimulates me. I guess one overstimulates

me and the other one kind of…soothes.”

“I generally have books…um…whatever I’m kind of looking into at the time. I suppose I sort of consider

myself a bit of a philosopher, so….occasionally I have a text or two, and my little Moleskine. A book that

I might be reading would give me comfort in the way that it makes like I’m more in touch with the world,

or something. Whereas if I just had my hot water bottle after a while I might feel, you know, kind

of…trying to [stave] off the world. You know, just hide away and have my warmth, uhh which might sort

of, in the longer term…I might realise that that’s not very productive. So like, technology and stuff kind of

helps you engage with the world, at the same time, still just warmth is pretty good.

“When I was a kid I always used to have toys with me, whatever my toy was at that time, I always used to

carry it round with me. Wherever I went.”