# We Are Lonely, But We Are Stars
### MA Graphic Design — Context Reports 1, 2 & 3
### Chiu, Shih-Bo — Edinburgh College of Art, 2010–2011
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These three papers were written during my MA in Graphic Design at Edinburgh College of Art, 2010–2011. They are not polished essays — they are records of someone trying to find their way while getting lost.
My research was called "Uncomprehended Loneliness." It began with linguistics, took a long detour, and eventually arrived at a very simple question: if design is a form of communication, what is communication actually for?
I am still answering that question.
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## Part One: The Beginning
*Context Report 1 — January 2011*
The project conducted by me is purely a journey of self-exploring and a kind of art therapy. I am interested in the knowledge of "People" as I have had many negative experience about making friends. Also I know I am not good at communicating with people. So, by carrying out this project, I would like to learn more about the theme and help myself as well.
At the very beginning, I wrongly focused on the field of "Language" as I thought it is the straightforward way to know how people transmit information. Therefore, I looked into theories such as Semiotics and Linguistics. However, I realised that they would direct me to a narrow and even wrong way for my goal. Thus, I kept asking myself, "What is the most important factors you concerned about in this year?" Finally, I figured out that apart from "People", there are always some other keywords linked to my main concern. They are "Loneliness", "Empathy", and "Dialogue". Also, I found that there is an interesting connection among these three keywords, which looks just like a triangle and each keyword occupied the three corners.
Human beings is a kind of species who is highly eager to be connected socially (Cacioppo & Patrick, 2008). When people feel social rejection, they sense the feeling of loneliness. Although feeling lonely at some moment is normal for all human beings, chronic feeling of loneliness can be regarded as a kind of physical pain and affect our mind and body.
> *In these and myriad other ways, feelings of social connection, as well as feelings of disconnection, have an enormous influence on our bodies as well as our behaviors.* (Cacioppo & Patrick, 2008: 12)
As a matter of fact, I have been suffering from this kind of loneliness for a long time due to having few close friends and losing connection to the people, which result in the lack of understanding how people interact with each other in the society and having difficulty communicating well with others. Thus, I personally believe that learning the ability of "Empathy" and establishing effective "Dialogue" with others are two supporting concerns except "Loneliness". As "Empathy" helps us understand how others feel and "Dialogue" provides us a channel to exchange ideas. The word "Dialogue" which I used here, does not only mean talking verbally, but also any possible and effective ways of communication. Since language is not the only vehicle of expression (Priest, 1998), I would like to use this word to stand for the general idea of any meaningful and effective communication in the project.
The triangular pyramid model shows a simplest way to understand the field of research and the goal I would like to reach. The main theme, "People", was contained in the whole space of this triangular pyramid and the answer I would like to know in the end is just on the top of the pyramid. The three keywords mean three different approaches for me to reach the goal.
The first theory I would like to adopt is Object Relations. The theory is mostly discussed and utilised in the field of Psychology and Counseling. It is mainly about how a person's view on the external world and the development of stable personality were affected by external world and how the internal and external world affect each other.
> *Object Relations theories rest on the belief that the human being is essentially social: our need for contact with others is primary, and cannot be explained in terms of other needs or reduced to something more basic.* (Gomez, 1997: 2)
The theme of my project stems from my personal experience. When I was at the age of learning interpersonal experience, I was hurt by many terrible experience and not guided by my parents. My mother also ignored greatly my need for social connection. Therefore, I have been always hard to make friends and the quality of social interpersonal relationship was low.
Ethnography is the second methodology I would adopt in my project. This is due to the fact that Loneliness, Empathy, and Dialogue are three keywords for my project and I personally believe that by more social connection, such as making friends and talking with them, I am able to form effective "Dialogue" with people and thus learning how to "empathise".
> *The graphic designer, as one of the people involved in the techniques of communication, is in danger of becoming obsessed with the nature of the techniques and of forgetting the nature of the communication itself: that is, the kind of facts their meaning and their relationship to one another.* (Garland, 1996: 36)
As I stated in the first paragraph, the project itself for me is purely a journey of self-exploring and a kind of art therapy. I intended to utilise this chance to change my negative personality and poor interpersonal relationship. At first, what I really want to achieve during the whole project, to be honest, has nothing to do with design. I thought the most important thing for me to do is to cope with my interpersonal relationship and lack of friends. So I read books about Object Relations to know myself and join activities to know people. This is due to the fact that I personally believe that a good designer has to understand the people, who is always at the centre of any design, so I intend to combine my personal wish and practical project together. Thus, my another aim to carry out this project is that I would like to utilise those factors I may extract from other people to make a work to show how I connect my friends with my work. Thus, everyone around me can easily relate to.
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## Part Two: A Case Study in Language
*Context Report 2 — Case Study: Xu Bing — May 2011*
Owing to globalisation, today's world is shrinking, thus giving us the opportunity to interact with people worldwide; nonetheless, it is often challenging to communicate when different languages are involved. While Internet information can be easily accessed, many users still seek translations; hence, Google is developing an online translation program. However, even without copy translations, many variables can be altered to help readers understand the meanings of the presented words (e.g. typography and typeface). I wish to examine if a reader can grasp the basic meaning of texts written in languages other than his/her own, simply by studying specific typographic arrangements, changes in colour, or layout rearrangements. My practice and interests focus primarily on languages, typography, and typeface. I aim to explore methods to help readers visually understand and perfectly grasp the meanings of words from other languages without direct translation.
I have been greatly influenced by the work of Xu Bing and how he explores the boundaries between different languages. Xu Bing (徐冰) was born in 1955 in Chongqing, China. He is a recipient of the MacArthur Award for Genius (1999) and many other international awards. His work primarily focuses on artistic issues centring on language and calligraphy, and he is an important figure in China's avant-garde movement.
What interests me the most about Xu's work is how he explores the boundaries between different languages, and his creative way of narrowing the gap between, for example, English and Chinese — two obviously different languages — by writing English words in a square Chinese style. First, given our similar cultural background, I would like to carry out my project in a more 'Chinese' style, thus representing my identity and helping Westerners understand the Chinese language and culture. Second, today's readers actively participate in perceiving the meanings of the 'texts' they 'read' (Cavallaro 2001: 50-1); I feel that by applying other media forms, I can help viewers 'perceive' the meanings of my work more precisely.
The Chinese idiom '天書' ('the book from the sky') refers to text that cannot be completely understood. Xu adopted this idea and, in exploring it, both fabricated and cast pseudo-Chinese characters. *A Book from the Sky* is an installation comprising an arrangement of books, scrolls, and large printed sheets of paper set through movable type involving thousands of small wooden blocks (Clark 2000: 225). Xu assumed this approach because the uniformity of written characters has been considered symbolic of centralisation and authoritative power in China since the Chin Dynasty.
Another of Xu's famous projects is the *New English Calligraphy*, which adopts a concept almost converse to that of *A Book from the Sky*. The project involves a system that uses English letters to create and resemble Chinese characters. Unlike *A Book from the Sky*, *The Book from the Ground* (地書) aims to create words understood by all nationalities. During flights, he observed many common symbols in planes indicating important messages and began collecting symbols from airline safety guides. He believed that some symbols have become universally acknowledged and need only be categorised.
In summary, the three works basically stem from Xu's background and the rebellion against authority, chiefly through the use of language and words. *A Book from the Sky* represents 'meaninglessness', while *The Book from the Ground* addresses 'existence'. Both works treat all viewers equally, as they are either universally understood or not. As for the *English Square Word*, it is a 'median project': taking the form of Chinese calligraphy, it strikes a balance between 'meaninglessness' and 'existence'.
Gu Wenda, another Chinese contemporary artist, also works with Chinese characters. His project *United Nations* broaches a theme similar to that in Xu's work. He collected hair samples from around the world and wove them into monumental banners of unreadable text in invented languages. Both Xu and Gu select Chinese characters as their medium and attempt to express 'meaninglessness' through the use of unreadable characters; they do so to assert individual 'existence', separate from China's 'collectivism'.
I believe the weakest part of Xu's work is the fact that he has yet to invent 'words' that can be read by both cultures. Since I wish to bridge the gap between two languages, helping people understand the 'other' language is a priority. However, even without creating a new language or new typographical system, a work can still be considered a 'text', and the viewer can be guided — via clues, such as cultural conventions and societal norms — on how to interpret the work (Cavallaro 2001: 16).
Upon examining Xu's work and the theory of Structuralism, I discovered that my work could use the concept of 'binary oppositions':
> *A central idea deployed by Structuralism is that of binary oppositions: pairs of contrasting signs (light/dark, good/bad, active/passive, etc.) which suggest that things can be defined in relation to what they are not. The first term of a binary opposition is generally privileged as a positive concept, whilst the second is marginalized as negative.* (Cavallaro 2001: 22)
Both Xu and Gu use this concept and 'repetition' to express their ideas. Therefore, I would like to adopt two concepts — 'repetition' and 'binary opposition' — in the execution of my project. I seek to use opposing images/graphics to provide viewers with clues, thus prompting them to consider other components.
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## Part Three: The Journey
*Context Report 3 — Final Exhibition Context*
Everyone desires being understood as human beings are probably the only species with highly sophisticated ways of communication. We communicate with each other by various languages, gestures, and facial expressions. Owing to the ability of language, we are also able to write and sing. We can interact with great minds by reading. Human beings are also highly social animals. We can hardly live without the help from one another.
My research topic, 'Uncomprehended Loneliness', originated from the conditions I had observed in the human society and my personal experience. Nowadays, people are suffering from alienation and loneliness in modern society. Technology seems to help us communicate and connect people around the world. However, it is no doubt that we also feel more and more isolated and have more and more mental problems. Life is a journey. Our elderly family dies but we also give birth to our next generation. Some people suddenly come into our life while some just leave us without saying goodbye. Compared to the time and the universe, each one is relatively trivial and lonely. Someday the people around us will die and we turn out to be alone. Thinking of these, I would say we are physically and mentally lonely. The happiness and wonderful memories seem unreliable to us, especially when we think of these, but suddenly realise that everything has gone. Thus, loneliness happens to almost everyone. I presume that there must be some reasons for it and something we never want to admit in our life, which causes such a consequence. So I especially named the research topic 'Uncomprehended Loneliness' to imply that those trivial, inevitable, but 'universal' conditions happening to us. Further, I hope by expressing those conditions and answering to them, I hope the viewers can feel emphasised and understood. Therefore, it may not only relieve my personal suffering, but also comfort the people suffering from the similar situation.
The project conducted by me is purely a journey of self-exploring and a kind of art therapy. At the very beginning, I started my research from 'Language', as I thought it is the most straightforward way to know how we communicate. At the stage, I looked into Semiotics and Linguistics. I was thinking about bridging two different languages by typography, typefaces and colours. In semester one, I had been working on an ISTD project for a period of time. That project was quite interesting and successful. So I continued working on languages/typography/typeface. During this period, I was dedicated to those theories. Sadly, later I realised that I was distracted from the original topic.
In semester two, I found something interesting called 'QR Code'. It is a new barcode system invented by a Japanese company. Since I could not successfully bridge two languages, I turned to take QR codes as a media to achieve that. I had done many tests on QR codes and later I created a 'QR Code alphabet system' to single out the unreliability of languages, as each alphabet still stands for one alphabet but they are all unreadable for people.
At the same time, I had some problems with my friends. I spent too much time on some people and forgot about my classmates. Also, I fell in love with a girl but things just did not go well. These problems were really terrible and almost changed my views on life and human beings. I spent much time on painting, reading, photography, and writing. In this way, I examined myself and my interpersonal relationship with others. Those also became my source of producing work.
Then, I reflected on my topic and the experience I had got, and tried to synthesise them. I found a great connection between those experiences I had got. I am looking for a way to communicate with 'the outer/physical world' in order to alleviate my loneliness. During my research, I also read a variety of books like psychology, literature, consulting, poetry and design books. I started to take notes to record my life and the experience I got everyday. Thanks to my iPhone, I took nearly 4000 photos in this year. Those photos not only helped me to record and observe the world, also provided me lots of material for my design. But I think, the most precious lessons I learnt are all from the interaction with people here.
Since I got many experiences about interpersonal relationship and the wisdom of life, all my work aims to express my feelings as well as cope with human conditions. As I have mentioned previously, people may feel no longer lonely once they found someone also feel the same and that feeling was expressed by either artworks or graphic design works.
As I mentioned at the beginning of the programme, I consider my research purely a journey of self-exploring and a kind of art therapy. The 'human beings' are the subject I would like to know in order to relieve my own loneliness and being unable to interact with people effectively. Although the initial idea was very personal and emotional, I believe it also happens to every individual in the world. Thus, I hope I can use my project and the works I produce later to change myself and then influence people, so that those who share similar feelings with me can feel relieved and being emphasised. I am convinced that people feel no longer lonely if they find someone who feel the same feelings or share the same ideas. This is also the essence of how and why human beings communicate.
According to my research outcomes, I realised that although we are obviously different from one another, in appearance or thoughts, we are theoretically and biologically the same. The way we were born, the way we fall in love with someone, the way we live on money, indicate that we follow some invisible norms in our lives. But actually we are different. This is because that the experience and wisdom learnt from outer physical world and interaction with people are different. Sometimes we do comprehend something but just do not want to face and accept them.
My work is mostly dark and depressing as I aimed to express those 'dark sides' of the world. It is because I believe people have to experience something worst thus can they imagine the best. For example, one would probably know how good to be alive if he/she just experiences the death. For me, those work is not only the combination of materials I have got during the year, but also a manifesto to claim my point of view on human beings and the world. I hope I can use these work to criticise the world and further inspire people to realise how precious the world and each individual is.
I reassured that I would like to use the chance to make viewers to experience the conclusion I had made: that all human beings are equally the same and lonely, but the mutual interaction between us makes us different and fertilises our lives.
In short, everything makes sense as the time passes. At the first few months of the year, I was really struggling with my research. Luckily, I got great help from my tutors and the friends around me. I reflected on the manifesto I proposed ten months ago and was surprised that I did stick to it and succeeded what I would like to achieve, just like I connected the dots along the journey. I hope what I would like to say can be successfully transmitted to the audience. As I stated previously, I personally believe that one reason causing loneliness is that one's idea cannot be understood by others. Thus, I think that I will feel relieved and peaceful if the audience can understand my research, and even more touched by it.
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> Everyone lives within a group but is also an independent individual. We take pleasure in tremendous happiness, but endure immense loneliness, because we are so close, yet the distance between people's hearts is so far. By observing the crowd and myself, I try to find out what makes us identical to each other, and what makes each of us unique. Perhaps ultimately I find that, although we are essentially the same, our mutual interactions and accumulated experiences make each of us different. It is also because of our memories of such interactions, that we can be further assured that we are truly living.
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*Edinburgh College of Art, MA Graphic Design, 2010–2011*
