Humanity. All endings
Alexandr Veresov
Concept
As the leading theme of the work is contemporary art, the most modern, relevant and academically virgin field — memes.
The concept is based on the All Endings meme — a vision of all possible endings of a said piece of art, fiction or history, in a distinct video format that includes demotivator-influenced visuals and accompanying score.
The base scenario which is built upon and fantisized about was chosen to be the path of humanity itself, giving way for futuristic ideas and visions.
References
Development
Complete list of the concieved scenarios
The scheme of the final four endings and the scenarios they’re made of
Form
The base of the work is a set of illustrations which were chosen to be of classic pictorial genres: landscape, portrait and still life, and also an architectural elevation. Another atribute is, like in the original meme, the text — title and an abstract on the history and meaning of the ending. Finally, soundtrack to every ending was important, as it not only keeps it close to the original meme, but enriches the vibe and mood of the experience.
Graphics
The key idea of the graphics was to follow the envisioned timeline — for example, illustrations for a medievial setting resemble works from said period.
The main challenge of this approach is to match all the different illustrations, assemble them into a cohesent series without it feeling dissonant.
There were two solutions to this problem Option 1: choose similar poses, compositions and features for all genres of pictures, so that they’re recognizible akin to DTIYS challenges Option 2: choose a graphic style simple enough that it is distinct and instantly recognizible, while being flexible to encapsule features of different styles
Project
The solution to many challenges was found when an idea of text description was completed with a pictorial explanation, a scheme, or an instruction. Then, a set of illustrations for each ending was complete: scheme, landscape, architecture, portrait, stillife. The idea of a scheme or instruction instantly prompted to a certain graphic desicion — manuals not unlike in IKEA store. This matched all the criteria for the mantioned simple graphic style and let add a whole lot of additional information on top of the pictures.
Some sketches, searching for the most laconic and appropriate art style. The final graphics were chosen to be lighter, more abstract, leaving space for changes.
Final rendition of a spread
Presentation
The whole project is realized in a form of an instruction manual, A4, the following exposition form seems suitable. The objest is exhibited in packs on information stands like the ones in malls or furniture stores. It is accompanied with a few pencils to make notes, and a tablet stating 'you can find tools and proceed to assemble the endings in the store zone', pointing to the exit. The brochures are free to take away.
Soundtrack
As adding soundtrack directly to the stands would be inconvenient and unauthentic (except for some launge music suiting mall public space), as well as in order not to overload the space with equipment, the soundrtacks are put together as playlists and have links inside brochures, in the final pages together with a sort of dictionary not unlike in fantasy novels.
The experience does not require, but benefits from being familiar with scifi genre, meme culture, futuristic theories and scientific concepts in general.
The book
Thanks for your attention!
