Here is the link to my web portfolio:
http://samantha-wise.wix.com/portfolio
Saturday, December 13, 2014
Monday, December 8, 2014
Final Project Proposal
The idea behind this project is to
bring people together not only as a nation, but also around the world. What is
the one thing that the entire world is able to share and see absolutely
anywhere? The moon. My idea is to create a monument showing the world coming
together as one, on the moon. The United States tends to take claim for having
the first man on the moon, but now anyone can be a “man on the moon” through
this monument. People won’t physically take steps on the moon, but they can
send their piece, their flag.
This idea came to me when Carlos
mentioned that we should think out-of-the-box and could even put a monument in
outer space. I couldn’t get that out of my head, so that lead me to think of
the moon. I had to come up with why I would want to put something on the moon,
and all I could think of was the first man on the moon, Neil Armstrong. Neil
Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin were the first humans on the Moon on July 20, 1969.
Armstrong described his experience on the lunar surface as “one small step for
(a) man, one giant leap for mankind.” This ended the Space Race against Russia
to get the first man to the moon. These events lead me to think, “what if
anyone could go to the moon?” I came up with the flags to show that the moon is
neutral ground; no one owns it, even though the US likes to think they do. The
flag idea came from the fact that Armstrong placed an American flag on the moon
to show that we did it. This way, the entire world can come together as one to
put their mark on the moon. This monument shouldn’t be thought of as public or
private, it’s more of a commons monument. It’s a common monument because no
country or government is in charge of it in any way. There is a sense of a
mutual agreement between everyone globally to be involved in this monument.
This monument won’t be just one
item but multiple coming together. The flags together will create this monument
on the moon as one. The simple act of sending a flag to the moon is part of the
monument too. It’s not just something to look at, it’s something everyone can
be a part of and participate in. To me, this monument represents the world
coming together as one. The moon is neutral ground that the US likes to claim
as their own only we don’t really have ownership at all. The moon belongs to
everyone is I think is the perfect place for this type of monument.
The location is the moon,
obviously, and I chose it simple because I thought it would be interesting to
have a monument there. I looked up moon monuments, just to see if there was
anything to even mark the fact that men have been on the moon, but there are
only monuments on Earth. How crazy would it be if there was a monument on the
moon? That would be pretty incredible. The
monument is based more on the interaction than on the visibility. You’re able
to send a flag of your choice up to the moon to make your mark just like you
are a “man on the moon.” You could see the moon with all the flags from Google
Earth, but not just by looking out your window. The flags would be too small to
make them visible. The flags will be arranged to look like a smaller version of
Earth. So, the countries flags will be placed where their country would be
located on Earth, just on the moon.
The monument is improbable because
it would cost millions of dollars to do this. One trip alone to the moon is
well over a million dollars and to take multiple trips would be outrageous.
Also being able to place flags on the moon to stay permanently is questionable.
I don’t think they would be able to stay put. There’s also the possibility of
country’s not being able to be involved in this monument whether they don’t
have Internet access to view the flags. It would even be difficult to get word
spread about the monument to the lesser countries. The main countries would have
no issue being able to know about the monument, see it and also participate.
This monument is important in my
opinion because it shows that the world should come together as one. It is more
focused on the moon and the fact that no one in particular actually owns the
moon in any way, but you could take the meaning of it as far as bringing the
world together. Hopefully, this monument does just that. The public gains
multiple things through this monument, I think. They get to be their very own
“man on the moon”. Only a few people have ever been to the moon and been able
to take steps or place an object up there. With this monument the people get
the chance place their flag. Anyone who is involved with this monument benefits
by the experience and the feeling of unity with others around the globe.
Various sites that I found say that
a trip to the moon today for two passengers will cost them $150 million dollars
for one ticket. For this monument if we decided to take one trip to the moon
per year and people continued to want to be involved with this monument for 10
years it would cost one billion five hundred million dollars. For this monument
if everyone sent a mini country flag to the moon each flag would cost around
$2. So if all 7 billion people in the world chose to send a flag to the moon it
would cost $14 billion dollars. Now, if I add up the $150 million dollars for
one trip to the moon plus the $14 billion dollars for every person around the
globe to send a flag, it would cost fourteen billion, one hundred fifty million
dollars. Even if all 316.1 million people (as of 2013) from the United States
sent a flag to the moon it would cost seven hundred eighty-two million two
hundred thousand dollars. Any way that you try to combine it, this monument
would be a multimillion-dollar project.
This project doesn’t exactly have a
definite timeline. This is something that could last as long as it wants to.
Over the years, more and more people could send flags to the moon and
participate in the “man on the moon” experience if they choose to. This does
not have a for sure start and finish date attached to it.
Tuesday, December 2, 2014
Inspiration & Ideas
These are just some images that I found while researching that inspired my design for this project.
Below is my general idea for what the "monument" will look like once the flags are placed on the moon. Obviously it would be a much greater scale considering the number of flags, but this is just a sample.
Monument Research Links
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apollo_11
http://www.purdue.edu/uns/x/2007b/071026CelArmstrongSculpt.html
http://degreed.com/blog/top-10-facts-apollo-11/
Wednesday, November 12, 2014
Final Project Proposal
When we were assigned to come up with an "improbable" monument, I couldn't stop think about outer space. The moon is something that every single person on Earth can view and enjoy, so why not make a monument on the moon. Once I decided I wanted to put a monument on the moon, I wanted to think of some significant event that took place there, which lead me to the first man on the moon, Mr. Neil Armstrong. Apollo 11 was the spaceflight that landed the first humans on the Moon. Americans, Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin, were those first humans on July 20, 1969. Armstrong became the first to step onto the lunar surface six hours later on July 21. This major event coined the phrase "one small step for (a) man, one giant leap for mankind. "
My idea for this project is for everyone to be a "man on the moon." So many people say they would love the opportunity to go to outterspace and/or go to the moon. Through this monument, people can do just that; virtually. This monument would be interactive with anyone who would like to be involved. It's open to the public, not only in the U.S., but anywhere in the world that is able/willing to participate. The moon is universal, it shouldn't just be dedicated to one country.
The way I image this monument working is anyone and everyone could have a simple flag of their country. With this flag the person can write their name, draw something, be creative with the flag itself. Then, somehow, we would be able to go place the flags on the moon. Through Google Earth people would then be able to view their flags actually placed on the moon. This way, they are "virtually" on the moon. It's like taking you're very own steps on the moon, just not literally.
Wednesday, November 5, 2014
Virtual Placemaking in Google Earth
For this exercise I chose to map out some of my favorite places I've been to in St. Louis. St. Louis is a major part of my life since my brother lived there since I was eight years old. I included photos with every place mark that I chose from the past two summers combined. I started at the St. Louis Arch including images of my friends and I as well as multiple different perspective views from below and also above. After the Arch the tour goes to Bailey's Range, a restaurant in downtown St. Louis. Right after Bailey's Range, the tour takes you to the City Museum. The City Museum is an incredibly unique museum in that it's not a museum at all, but a massive playground. I included an image of me and my best friend on the roof of this museum where you can ride a huge Farris Wheel. While on the roof you can see all of downtown St. Louis, which you can see in the background of the photo I have with the tour. Inside the museum there is a fun art center, which is just one small section of the inside portion, but of course it's my favorite part. I have a photo included for this part as well. Next, the tour takes us to the Wax Museum where I have a ridiculous photo of me imitating a dinosaur wax sculpture. After the Wax Museum, I included the Art Museum where I have photos of my boyfriend viewing an amazing image drawn by Chuck Close and also my brother and sister-in-law viewing some Van Gogh paintings. This next place is one of my absolute favorite spots in St. Louis, Sculpture Park. This is a unique park where there are massive sculptures placed all throughout the park. I show a photo of a massive sculpture with my boyfriend standing next to it to show scale. This park is the perfect location to have artsy-farsty events. I have a photo of a fun food truck event we went to at the park this past summer. The last place I have on the tour is the Missouri Botanical Gardens. I took my nephew here multiple times this past summer when I was his nanny. It's just a really fun place to go for all ages.
Here are some screen shots to show the places on the map and also the images that I included in the tour on Google Earth:
Here are some screen shots to show the places on the map and also the images that I included in the tour on Google Earth:
Seeing the Past in Present Tense
This is the first reading that I actually really enjoyed and feel like I got a lot out of. The main monument that I found the most interesting was the Monument Against Fascism, War and Violence - and for Peace and Human Rights. I liked that people could interact with the monument by signing their name on the monument itself. I also thought it was interesting how over time it slowly descended under ground. While I really like the concept behind this monument, it was disappointing to find out that it was a forgotten monument. When the author of this article went to find this monument, they had to ask multiple people in the town where the monument was since it was already underground. The people of the town didn't even know where it was and some didn't know what they were talking about. I couldn't figure out if that was the point of this monument was to put the fascism, war and violence behind them and in a way "forget", or if it was just an unmemorable monument all together.
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