CCDN 231 - each experiment

The first experiment focussed on the feeling when related to the structure of feeling – Austerity. The following quote from Wild Things by J. Attfield (2000) “defining the 'minimalist' lifestyle as the type who is 'not into clutter'” can be interpreted as “clutter” being size and the amount of space taken up. To become minimalist and be a type that is “not into clutter” the size of the chewing gum can be reduced. This will force the user to savour the small amount that they do have and adhere to the true nature of Austerity in terms of rationing. The size of the chewing gum felt minimalist, it felt like the user was being somewhat ‘Cheated out of a stick of gum’ because the piece was not whole. This also forced the user to relish what they had and made it feel as if a whole piece of gum was a luxury for their mouth in terms of feeling. The smaller piece of gum was considered pointless in the users’ mouth, feeling as if it was too small to chew properly.

The second experiment used the sense of feeling of Austerity. This experiment focussed on the sense of taste. Austerity can be described effectively in Minimalist Design by Franco Bertoni (2004): “In any creative activity the term Minimalism usually refers to the radical stripping away of the expressive means and to its consequent formal austerity.” This has been taken into account by stripping away what people take for granted when chewing on a piece of gum. In terms of chewing gum, the expressive means is the continuous chewing of gum, taking all the flavour until it is rubber. “Yet Minimalism stands apart from the numerous trends that have succeeded one another convulsively over the past decades.”

For the last experiment I took inspiration from a C. Dyhouse (2011) extract stating: “Glamour has not always been fashionable. In twentieth century fashion, glamour had its clichés: glitter, fur and slinky dresses, hothouse flowers and a slash of bright red lips.” Using this information on glamour, the experiment focussed on the sense of sight. One stick of gum was painted silver to appear more high-class or “glamorous” and had a similar appearance to a small bar of silver. Because of the gums natural colour, the stick ended up appearing more of an emerald hue, which in turn can seem more glamorous. Another stick was coated in an edible glitter substance that was stuck to the gum with vodka that evaporated, gluing the glitter to the gum. Before it had fully evaporated however, some of the vodka was absorbed by the gum. This gave the shining appearance to the stick of gum, as well as an enhanced richer flavour that can be seen as a high-class, glamorous taste.

References:

Attfield, J. (2000) Wild Things. London: Berg

Bertoni, F. (2004) Minimalist & Design. London: Birkhauser.

Dyhouse, C. (2011) Glamour: Women, History, Feminism.  London: Zed Books.