In Adaptation

The objective of this module is to explore techniques and practice methods of creative knowledge-sourcing and critical analysis. This module introduces the process of reading, translating and adapting disparate creative mediums such as film, art and most importantly, literature in relation to architecture.

Exercise 1: The Art of Adaptation (Group)

This exercise is in preparation in the lead-up to the Final Project of adapting the literature Invisible Cities to the local conditions of the Greater KL. The everyday life of cities and its banality is a scene that has been taken for granted. While the experience of the everyday life is banal, there are a plethora of mediums/channels by which stories of cities are told/expressed, one of which is literature. Literature is a medium in which stories are told, some of them original but most are tales from across the centuries adapted to a contemporary or different context, or to a modified theme to enhance the storyline. Using the literature, Invisible Cities, as the basis, students are to study, analyse and creatively adapt it using a graphical representation.

Throughout the first exercise, my groupmates and I have managed to analyse a theme or subject matter from an artistic mediums (e.g. art/architecture/film/literature). We sourced, cited and discussed themes and references from fields related to the current and contemporary context that are significant in re-telling of stories. Then, we represented the story in a graphical approach based on the contemporary context of time.

Exercise 2: Observing the Everyday

The purpose of this exercise is to have a deeper understanding of the city in which we inhabit, Kuala Lumpur, and the greater surroundings but that of an objective standpoint in comparison to personal subjectivity. Students have to choose a artiste / philosopher/”idol” of choice whose methodology  prescribe to or can identify with, and observe a selected area in or around the city of students choice in the eyes of him/her. The objective is to be aware of the difference between forming an assumption and making an informed conclusion. Besides, students have to draw analytical inferences from informed yet authentic observations.

I have critically analysed the Greater KL with the help of my groupmates. We also managed to use appropriate materials and methods of research in the process of observing the Greater KL. I have also learned some Photoshop skills from my friends in order to complete the presentation board.

Final Project: Invisible Cities RE-SYNTHesized: An Experiment (Individual)

The final project is a synthesis of the surrealism and imaginary in Exercise 1, and the realism and physical fabric of the urban conditions in Exercise 2. It stretches further the idea of ‘adaptation’ in the style of how a film maker would overlay an imaginary (utopian/dystopian) city into the real space. This project is about the exploration of an adaptive process between the imaginary and the real, and non-physical and the physical. The main objective of this project is to understand the process of translating ideas through the process of creative adaptation.

Throughout this project, I have applied learnt skills and techniques in an exercise of creative adaptation. I have translated the City and the Sky into the Greater KL. I have managed to produce the creative adaptation using the appropriate tools and references that I have identified in my proposal. As my final image is hand drawn, I have improved my hand drawing skills while drawing it.