Lucy Mcrae talks about Hyper Human - Pushing a material to its limits

Lucy McRae talks about Hyper Human from This happened – Utrecht on Vimeo.

Often it is difficult to grasp the creative collaboration between designers, the creative moment and the reasons why.  Defining how designers understand and how problems generate solutions calls for a rationale that does not rely on specialization, rather a shared understanding of how to perceive the problem of what is to be achieved.  Radical innovations through working on the face and body can be found within alternative disciplines outside of make up and the fashioned body, which is why it is important to be informed by the intention of designers such as lucyandbart, where alternative disciplines ask for original perspectives on problems and new potential ways of how to solve them.

This form of 'Design Thinking' allows for restriction free thinking that explores the generation of ideas and considers multiple ways of representing the ideas and the solutions.  It is particularly interesting that these solutions are relatively 'low -tech'.  What does this mean in terms of make up? It means that artists and stylists are beginning to rethink how to work on the body and  build up alternative associative networks of knowledge from a wide variety of disciplinary backgrounds, and finding original techniques and methods to apply.  Simply put, we need more 'LucyandBart's' if we are to move make-up application beyond casual 'beauty'.

LucyandBart - Field Essays Publication

Field Essays Publication (Lucyandbart) from Lucy McRae on Vimeo.

The publication Field Essays analyses how behaviour constantly shapes the ways, in which our body interacts with the world and vice versa. The absurd human enhancements of LucyandBart, which let the skin perform as an intimate interface with the material world, are presented alongside an essay by the Polish philosopher Marek Pokropski.

Human Instinct and New Animal Archetypes

Video - Bart Hess/Hunt for HighTech

I may be in danger of over indulging in the work of LucyandBart but after watching SHOWStudio's 'Make Up Your Mind' again (and again), I am struck by the sensuality of the dancers responding to the materiality of the hair. The weight, movement, warmth and I daresay the aroma of the wigs, have given the performers and performance a physical vehicle to respond to. The work of Bart Hess, particularly the recorded videos, is very much in the same vein. This time the stillness of the model allows the materials to almost have a life of their own. The sitter is only the host for these new surfaces. Listening to the creak and rustle of the materials , I sense that these exteriors are not there to offer the comfort, warmth or protection usually provided by secondary surfaces to the skin.

LucyandBart - elementary ideas with a new vision

LucyandBart.com
Lucy Macrae and Bart Hess

Discussions with S this week have forced my hand and I now have decided to invest my thoughts, images, energy in this diary. I have come to the realisation that make-up as art is an exciting point of debate for a blog. That the face should be a surface to explore, not just a surface to visually enhance for the casual eye is the remit. Finding evidence of these intrusions on the face and body will question the appropriateness of the convergence of make-up design and materials technology, and ask 'what will happen?'. The inability to anticipate end-use applications in advance is key to the dynamics of my enquiry. Anyway, who cares about the outcome, when the journey can be so delightful.

LucyandBart have appeared in my discussions with S, and by sheer coincidence we have referenced different projects but always the same artists/design duo. So here is my first posting, images that I had in my minds eye when I decided to commit to show and tell. And, thank you S.