Gathering images and texts regarding the semiotics of clothing in the context of Interculturality 

*** 
The English gentleman vs Ribnovo wedding tradition - 
is it even possible to compare? 

Are the two so removed from each other that it is useless to explore? 

How much importance am I putting on 'visuals' without analysing the context?? Should I compare weddings instead?? 

**** 

Started an Idea Flip board - categorising the systems and attaching visuals to them

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Trying to build a visual vocabulary of clothing/semiotic signs - 

TO READ : 

Barthes - The Fashion System 
Boudrillard 
Handbook of Semiotics 
Mary Douglas - The World of Goods
Caroline Evans - YESTERDAY'S EMBLEMS AND TOMORROW'S COMMODITIES : The return of the repressed in fashion imagery today
Saussure 


FIRST DRAFT 

Breaking down the semiotics and visual communication signs into two sides - BG + UK 

This will help with the analysis 

Once I have everything categorised, I can play and mix up the meanings, for the new vocabulary to emerge

SYSTEMS THINKING 

Geographical 
Political 
Historical 
Education 
Economy 
Tradition
Religion / Spirituality / Beliefs 
Language
Art 

Focus on semiotic theory - all theoreticians are Western focused - how does this apply to Bulgarian context in my formative years? 

British archetypes - Luella book - Bulgarian archetypes - what exists? How do they compare? 

Researching (foraging) interview techniques
Hans Ulrich Obrist interviewing Howard Becker 

Question ideas: 

'My favourite style of interviewing is [the style I used when] I did a study of actors and theatre people some years ago. They all claimed that they were very busy and they didn’t have a lot of time to talk to me but they would make an hour. When I sat down with them they almost always asked me, ‘How long is this going to take? I am very busy’. So I said, ‘I’ve only got maybe two questions: the first one is, “How did you get into it?” and, “Then what happened?”’ So they laughed and then they started talking and they talked for maybe two or three hours! I only asked questions to clarify things. So that is what the interviews are for. I don’t think of it as a very complex or complicated thing to do; it’s really just a conversation. You are sitting next to somebody on an aeroplane and you start talking to them: ‘What kind of work do you do? Oh, you are an art curator. How did you get started doing that?’ I mean it’s just that kind of conversation.|

Or another kind of question that I use a lot is to ask about problems, trouble: ‘You are an art curator. What do you have trouble with as an art curator?’

I ask. ‘What happened?’ ‘What did you do?’ Something that is open and that you can respond to in a way that makes sense to you.

 One of the things he said is that one has to be a little bit technically unskilled; his interviewees often helped him to fix his machine!

Studs’ greatest trick is that he keeps quiet, he doesn’t talk a lot, he doesn’t give you his opinions, he wants to know what you’re thinking about. That’s the big trick of interviewing: to listen. It’s surprising how many people want to interview somebody and then they talk all the time.

Howard Becker - Outsiders 
              - The Tricks of the Trade 
              - Les mondes de l’art (Art Worlds)

here’s an obvious one: never ask somebody, ‘Why did you do that?’ Always ask them, ‘How did that happen?’ Well, that’s a trick, but in fact it has a strong theoretical background, which is that people don’t do things for reasons; they do things because they are in a situation, something happens, they have to react, something else happens, somebody says something, and what they do is build up what they do, over a period of time, as a response to everything that is going on around them. So if you say to them, ‘Why did you do that?’ you are essentially asking them to justify what they did. It’s almost an accusation: ‘why did you do that?’

*** 

SUZI Quattro interview questions in the Metro 


Did you learn anything about yourself from writing the book?
Is it necessary to have an alter ego if you’re a pop star?
Are you bothered that complete strangers will know quite intimate details of your life now?
Looking back, were you surprised by how determined you were to become successful?
You idolised Elvis so why did you turn down an invitation to Graceland?
When did you realise you’d become famous?
Why were you so popular in Australia?
What’s the weirdest gig you’ve done?
Is your house really haunted?
What contemporary female singers do you like?
Did you learn any tips from the reality show you did, Trust Me I’m A Beauty Therapist? NO :-) 


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Reflection 

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Very intersting to think about the different roles of the interviewer and how they can frame the interview - from 'An Anatomy of the Interview' 
Bickers, Patricia, Wilson, Andrew, umetnostni
zgodovinar
An anatomy of the interview
pp. 25-28
Bickers, Patricia, Wilson, Andrew, umetnostni zgodovinar, (2007) Talking art : interviews with artists since
1976 Art Monthly : Ridinghouse


Detective
Prosecutor 
Psychoanalist 
Interrogator
Biographer
Researcher
Analyst 
Collaborator 
Confessor 
Basking in the reflected glow of the star (Martin etc. - Princess Diana) 

A beautiful construct (for the) silent observer 

The word ‘interview’ describes a visual, not an aural experience,
literally a mutual view. It is an important genre of art history and
criticism because it incorporates the primary, the subjective and the
contingent. It is based on exchange, contestation and affirmation, and it represents an evolving critical discourse. 

* 

Which role will I assume when being the Interviewer? 
Which role will I assume when being the Interviewee? 

--- 
An interview is a performance (with a particular angle), edited and presented to the third participant - the viewer 

*** 

Being interviewed as putting on a performance - DRESS UP??

* 

Include my interview from Egoiste - 2001??

* 

Proust interview questions 


The Proust Questionnaire has its origins in a parlor game popularized (though not devised) by Marcel Proust, the French essayist and novelist, who believed that, in answering these questions, an individual reveals his or her true nature. Here is the basic Proust Questionnaire.

What is your idea of perfect happiness?

What is your greatest fear?

What is the trait you most deplore in yourself?

What is the trait you most deplore in others?

Which living person do you most admire?

What is your greatest extravagance?

What is your current state of mind?

What do you consider the most overrated virtue?

On what occasion do you lie?

What do you most dislike about your appearance?

Which living person do you most despise?

What is the quality you most like in a man?

What is the quality you most like in a woman?

Which words or phrases do you most overuse?

What or who is the greatest love of your life?

When and where were you happiest?

Which talent would you most like to have?

If you could change one thing about yourself, what would it be?

What do you consider your greatest achievement?

If you were to die and come back as a person or a thing, what would it be?

Where would you most like to live?

What is your most treasured possession?

What do you regard as the lowest depth of misery?

What is your favorite occupation?

What is your most marked characteristic?

What do you most value in your friends?

Who are your favorite writers?

Who is your hero of fiction?

Which historical figure do you most identify with?

Who are your heroes in real life?

What are your favorite names?

What is it that you most dislike?

What is your greatest regret?

How would you like to die?

What is your motto?

* 

MARQUEZ : 

WHAT IS CULTURE? 

According to UNESCO, culture is what people add to nature, everything that is produced specifically by human beings. I believe that culture is the social use of human intelligence.

One Hundred Years of Solitude / Inspired by So people fly mats, and do other wondrous things, among which we grew up and lived. I think I made up my mind not to invent or create a new reality but to find the reality with which I identified and which I knew. That's the kind of writer I am.

NEW FAVOURITE PERSON – bell hooks <3

***
шейпшифтър

Reflection

Try to be more honest with ideas and not do things for pure aesthetics or cultural capital

Find meaning

Be less of a people pleaser

It’s ok to admit that you don’t know something – is this my FFF task?

21ви Октомври 2024, Понеделник

Thinking about how I am seen by the English, but also how I see them 

Bought a book written by an Englilsh anthropologist hoping that it will help me with the deep dive into Englishness. 

***

Compiling a Vocabulary of Bulgarianness and Englishness 
ATTACH VISUALS 

БГ 

Аналог - плочи, снимки  - Analog - records, photography 
Английски стил в БГ - столовете на баба - English style in my Grandma's house - the striped chairs 
Баби - забрадки - Grandmas with headscarves and cardigans 
Балет - Ballet 
Борци - естетика  - Wreslers - Bulgarian mafia - aesthetics
Джентълмен - Men are more gentlemanly -they get off public transport before a woman and turn around to give them their hand 
Домати - розови етс. - Pink tomatoes 
Език - азбука - пишеща машина - преводи - Star Wars  - Language 
Комунизъм - чавдарче, пионерче, манифестации - Communism - manifestations (demonstrations?) 
Middle class - 
Семейство - FAMILY 
Светлина - майстора - light - 'The Master' 
София - расте но не старее , Бояна, филмов център - Sofia, Boyana, film centre where my dad worked  
Tенис - Tennis - auntie - Bulgarian champion, glamorous, 'western' 
Училище - school - 
Фолклор - кукери, маски - folklore - kukeri, masks, folk traditions, pagan 
Футбол  - football - Levski Sofia 
Цигани - Clashing patterns - Roma - clashing patterns, country style, linoleum 

UK 

Alien 
Architecture - houses 
Bags on the floor - the opposite of Bulgaria! bags on the floor are bad luck 
Bank holiday
Builders 
Cold 
Class is 
Festival
Freedom 
Gardens 
Gentleman 
Guinness  
Junk food 
News 
Newspapers 
Popcorn - eating and drinking in cinema 
Park
Picnic 
Pints 
Posh - public school, money, unattainable
Pub - alright love 
Rain 
Raving 
School Uniform
Toilets
Waterproofs 
Overly polite 
Saying sorry 
Passive aggressiveness 
Eton Mess 
Jelly 
Jellied eel 
Spotted dick
 

READ 

Goffman - The Presentation of Self 

If unacquainted with the individual, observers can glean clues from his conduct and appearance which allow them to apply their previous experience with individuals roughly similar to the one before them or, more important, to apply untested stereotypes to him. They can also assume from past experience that only individuals of a partic ular kind are likely to be found in a given social setting. (beginning) 

- the idea of going totally against the expected - Borat!!! 

'Sometimes the individual will act in a thoroughly calculating manner, expressing himself in a given way solely in order to give the kind of impression to others that is likely to evoke from them a specific response he is concern ed to obtain.' - p. 13 

- Blending in - trying to merge with

Veruschka - 

"Rather, each participant is expected to suppress his immediate heartfelt feelings, convey ing a view of the situation which he feels the others will be able to find at least temporarily acceptable" p. 14 

"social characteristics"

*

Watch 

bell hooks - cannot separate the messag4e from the messenger  

*bell hooks* new favourite person!!! 



Hooks identified the role played by the media and within education in the construction of a white-supremacist-capitalist-patriarchy.

БЕЛ ХУКС - BELL HOOKS - 

Complex 'The Bells' - Sofia 
Bels & Belin 

- more linguisting associations - 

*** Think about interviews*** 

Make a recording introducing yourself 

Address the W5 (who, where, when, what, why). Listen to your interview several times over several days. Ask yourself: Why have I chosen to focus on these things and not others?  What does this say about me and my performance of self (see Goffman’s ‘presentation of self’)? How might I present myself differently? Why might I wish to do this? Reflect on this experience and the insights you’ve gained in your blog.  If appropriate, you may choose to upload your audio recording and/or quote parts in your post. 

***

Cross-cutting competencies

HAVE                                                  TO DEVELOP

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A LOT OF READING

*** 

COMPLEXITY THINKING: 3 CONCEPTS

Here are three concepts that I use regularly.

Open Systems and Boundaries.– Open systems are open to the environment in which they are situated. Energy and information flow across boundaries. In other words, these boundaries are not fixed or impermeable. They are flexible and porous. 

Where we draw these boundaries depends on our purpose. What challenges are we trying to address? What situation are we trying to improve? What future do we hope to design?

Dancing Landscapes and Disciplines. — Our social and natural worlds are formed from deep, interdependent forces. We operate each day on a dancing landscape. That means that our knowledge about this world is always shifting, never fixed. We can best find our meaning through disciplines that deliver coherence, meaning, and a sense of belonging. In other words, in our conversations and relationships. 

Adjacent Possibilities and Recombinant Innovation.– We uncover better solutions by exploring adjacent possibilities. The process of recombinant innovation — what we capture with Strategic Doing — provides a simple, practical discipline to explore these possibilities.

Source: online, author Ed Morrison, Accessed 16th October 2024 

* THINK ABOUT ‘THE OTHER’ *

*

Foraging - looking for evidence around me to help me find my context and sense of place at this particular moment in time. 

I found a little green book which was issued to me when I registered at the 'Alien's Department', 2/10/1996

 

May be a good starting place to think about self-identity and 'the other'?  

Perceived as an alien in the UK, who is perceived an alien in Bulgaria?  Roma Gypsies. Gay People. Immigrants. Marginalised people. Disabled people.


***

Ex pats - Бивши патки (a linguistic joke - 'Pat' in bulgarian reminds one of 'patka'= duck 
SO : ex-pat = former duck (hahahaha) 
So what could a former duck be now? Invent characters -  a cockerel? A swan? A cat? 

* 

Bulgarians are good at blending in - White Europeans - but what are the giveaway signs? OBSERVE 

***DISGUISE*** 

*Estelle Hanania refs* - linked to feeling out of place - a black sheep- an alien?? 

anotherfullcircle 

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*Read 'Appadurai' Histories make Geographies

NOTES 

Summary 

The text is about the evolution of culture on a global and a local level, and how this constant development is influenced by a range of factors, such as various forms of circulation (novels, ballet, cinema, fashion magazines etc.), how they meet established circulation circuits, and also make new ones, depending on the context of the local culture.

The idea that histories make geographies, rather than the other way around means that historical agents, institutions, and powers are responsible for creating geographies, not a spatial landscape that time writes its story against. 

Production of locality 

Forms of circulation / circulation of forms

Production of locality 

Cultural fusion

E.g.Besarabian Bulgarians 

Argentinian Welsh 

German Turks

Repressed cultural forms - countries like Russia - creative underground , ex communist republics 

Opening ceremony Olympics vs LGBT propaganda laws 


Conspiracy theories - using same networks as general interest info (FB, groups etc) 

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Reflect 

This text was very interesting to me, as my work deals a lot with visual symbolism, communication and messaging through clothing, which is influenced by global but also local factors, and the translation of these meanings in different contexts. It also makes me think about the effect of different forms of circulation that could be used to reach different audiences.

Today, global cultural flows, whether religious, political or market produced, have entered into the manufacture of local subjectivities, thus changing both the machineries for the manufacture of local meaning and the materials that are processed by these machineries

The form results in acculturation, amalgamation and assimilation, creolisation - in clothing/ music/food, and results of ethnoscapes 

Communication / exchange networks - legal and illegal

Information exchange 

Traffic - flow - exchange of information, capital, creation of networks 

Histories produce geographies - unified symbols  example of symbols of protection, shevici - embroidery - balkan, Scandinavian, aztec 

Positive and negative sides - two sides of the same coin 

Situationist International 

Psychogeography 

Beuys  - Ideas and Actions,1988 ref: P0500 and Alain Borer, The Essential Joseph Beuys, 1996 ref: P0125

*

Course wise, it has been a week of a lot of incoming new information, grappling with terminology and making sense of various points of view and contexts. 

Some new words and terms in the context of Interculturality 

***ADD***

* John Jordan notes :

* Benessaieh notes : Multiculturalism, Interculturalism, Transculturalism

*** My first blog post *** 

The start of the Journey. 
Where am I? Where will I go?

THE HERE AND NOW: 


18.55
my office 
3rd floor 
10 Kingscourt Road 
Streatham Hill 
London 
England
UK 
Europe 
Earth 
The Universe

This 'zooming out' reminds me of the Charles and Ray Eames video and book "The Powers of Ten". 
The camera zooms into the skin of two people having a picninc in Central Park. 

Interestingly, it was made in 1977, the same year I was born. A full circle? 




IDEA OF HOME 

Where is home? 
Is home where 'the heart' is? 
Where is the heart? 
What makes somewehre home? 

Home will always be Sofia. 

***


ВКЪЩИ / HOME   

Left - the stairs in house where I grew up, Sofia, Bulgaria (shared coridors) 
Right - the house where I live now, London, England                                                                                        

СВЕТЛИНАТА / THE LIGHT

Листата 
Планината 
дървото 
ъгъла с трамвая 

* 

It is hard to know where to start with this. I know I have to be authentic. So perhaps the only way through would be to  talk about things which mean something to me. 

***

Another full circle? 




( I love full circles, physical or figurative. It is a bit of an obsession ) 

*The full circle of living in Fashion St 20 years ago, and teaching there 20 years later 

<!-- wp:preformatted {"backgroundColor":"background"} -->
<pre class="wp-block-preformatted has-background-background-color has-background">I feel I need to go back to my childhood, where everything stems from, the place to go to make sense of things. 

*

My father was a translator. When I was little, he worked at the National Film Centre in Boyana  and did the translation and subtitles for so many of the English language films that came to Bulgaria in the 80's, such as Star Wars, ET, etc. etc. I have a strong memory of countless evenings spent playing in the same room where my parents were working, my dad stretched out on the sofa, dictating the translated film dialogue to my mum, who would type it up on a typewriter. The sound of the typewriter, the look of it, the metal keys, the typeface, the indigo, the paper are all etched in my memory, so it feels relevant to go full circle by looping back to the idea of the typewriter for my blog, at least aesthetically. 

Ideally, I would like to blog physically and digitally, in both English and Bulgarian. I want to buy a couple of typewriters, one with Bulgarian and one with English lettering, and use the typewriter font for my digital blog. 

I will begin the search. 

*

I went to a film festival "Altered States", showing experimental films with live scores being performed. The introduction to the festival was done not by the standard way of a welcome speech, but by a person typing the speech on a typewriter, and the typing being simultaneously projected on the screen behind them. 

I though that this was a great idea as it utilised analog technology in a good way, and also broke the cliche of a welcome speech. It made the audience really pay attention to what was being typed, and patiently wait for each word to be revealed.