STORY ABOUT A NAME | BEHIND A NAME | A BIT ABOUT A NAME

Something which I post in Feb 16, 2014 at 8:49 am, in one of social networking site (vkontakte) which is the twin brother of facebook and popular in Russian speaking countries.

This is not an important topic, and VK is a mini blog, it is not the right place/media to post this kind of stuff (it should be posted in a web blog or a web journal). But I want to post something, and because I’m not good looking, and I’m not a model, and I’m sure people don’t want to see my ugly face in a photo or a photo blog, so I prefer writing a story. And also because I want to practice my writings and my English, and I still don't have a blog yet, so.. here’s nothing:

Surfing in few chatting sites or social media sites with name (Indra Drakula), which I often use from years ago until now, made me had several questions related to my name. Some people wanted to know whether my name really is Indra. Some Indian guy thought that I'm a girl from India because my name is Indra. Some people thought that I'm Hindu, also because my name is Indra. And some questioning about why my last name is Drakula, and they said it's not a good name (it's a name of an evil character).. so.. here’s the story:

#Drakula is not my last name/family name/surename. It’s started because in #Indonesia, sometimes when we call a friend by their name (close friend), we took only part of their name, to make them easy to call, (eg: Indra —> Dra, Surya —> Sur, Wisnu —> Wis or Nu, etc.). And usually, some of my friend called me "Dra" and they add "kula" to make fun of my name or to joke. And because for me it sounded “cool” and it rhymes with my name, so I use it for my last name.

#Drakulev is a name which I made up not long ago when I’m starting to use VK, and also from seeing some people's name here. I saw many people have last name ended with "ev" (if male) and "eva" (if female). Including my brother's name (Rustam Gadzhiev), ended with "ev". I thought that maybe his last name actually was #Godzilla and they (Russians) changed it to #Gadziev (joke).

#Indrik is the name which my sister (Anna Mashkova) gave me or used to called me when we started to get acquainted (before I use VK long time ago, maybe thousand years ago), which she twisted or distorted from my real name (Indra). And recently I found out that Indrik means a #unicorn (cool, I love it).

#Indra, is a common name for boys in Indonesia. As other names which come from Vedic mythology [#Wisnu (#Visnu), #Bayu (#Vayu), #Surya, #Bima (#Bhima), etc.], they are also common names amongst Indonesian people (especially Javanese).

My real name or complete name is; "Noor Indra Harjanto", it is from three different language (Arabic, Sanskrit and Ancient Javanese). It's all my name because Javanese people usually don't have surenames or family names. My grandfather who gave that name for me, and for us, a name is a prayer from parents, it is how our parents wanted us to be, it has meanings, and in my case, my name means:

#Noor (Arabic: نور) = Light
#Indra (Sanskrit: इन्द्र) = One of Devas in Hindu mythology, King
#Harjanto (Java script: ) = Prosper
If combined, it means something like: "Lights of a King (Deva) for prosperity".

Maybe it's what my grandfather hoped or wanted me to be; to bring or to become lights for others, or maybe just for my family. But I don't know, I'm just guessing, because I did not had the chance to asked it to my grandfather because he already passed away when I'm still a kid.

I'm Indonesian, I'm Javanese and I'm Muslim. Maybe some of you wondered why my name is Indra (sounded like Hindu's name) but I'm a Muslim. It's related to Indonesian/Javanese history. Before Islam came to Indonesia or Java, Javanese people have a spiritual form of belief or some kind of religion called #Kebatinan and after that #Hindu came to Java, and later on #Islam came to Java.

My name is a mixture or acculturation of these three different culture and religion. Same as Wayang Kulit [(Shadow Puppet/Shadow Theater), (literaly; Wayang = Shadow, Kulit = Skin), (philosophically: the story and the puppets/characters, is the shadows/reflections of people’s characters in real life)] — which one of its puppet/character I used for my avatar — it's also a form of acculturation of Javanese tradition, Hindu and Islam. One of Muslim leader or Muslim saint (named: Sunan Kalijaga, born:1460), who spread a more moderate Islam in Java, use Wayang Kulit for #Dawah (Arabic: دعوة ) and spread/teach Islam in Java.

In modern age like now, #wayang could be thought or analogous as a movie/film/video which we see in theater, as a media to send messages, from the storyteller to the audiences. In this case, because that time Javanese people already familiar with story from #mahabarata or #ramayana, Sunan Kalijaga take and adapted it to send messages to its audiences which is teaches from Islam about righteousness or good deed in life.

Quote:
“He believe that Islam should be teach with peace (not with violence), through art and culture. His beliefs and teaching are more sufistic than salaf, applying arts and culture as medium for his dawah. He was also tolerant to local tradition. His exegesis from the Quranic perspective led him to believe that people will keep away from dawah if their personality is questioned. In this premise one should consider a “step by step” approach to his people by the principle of following yet influencing. To him, if Islam is truly/fully understood, then people will gradually give up their old habits.” (Wikipedia)

“This method can be seen in Indonesian artworks, particularly in carvings, shadow puppets (wayang kulit), gamelan (javanese traditional musical performance), and singing. From this idea he popularized Baju Takwa (a traditional dress custom for Indonesian Moslem), Sekaten (a festivity), and Grebeg Maulud, amongst others.” (Wikipedia)

And if you notice the puppet of wayang kulit, the puppet is just like a "stick figure" (not in realistic form), it's an adaptation of Islamic teaches. The song which I've attached, also a creation from him (Sunan Kalijaga). It's with Javanese language but contained philosophical meanings, as a media for him to teach Islam in Java.

There are many types and transformations in forms and presentation of wayang kulit show, but basically it’s rooted from the traditional rules of wayang kulit. One of wayang's style, which you can see in the picture I've attached, is a new style or a new form of wayang called Wayang Ukur. It's created in the 80's, by Indonesian artist from Yogyakarta (named: Sukasman, Born: 1964).

New form of Wayang Kulit called Wayang Ukur. Created between 1980-1990, by Indonesian artist from Yogyakarta (named: Sukasman, born:1964).
Photo courtesy of Stan Hendrawidjaja.

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EINDYOGYAHOVENKARTA

Seperti kebanyakan masyarakat di Indonesia, mengunjungi negara-negara maupun kota-kota lain di dunia apalagi kota-kota di Eropa, bagi saya hampir tidak pernah terpikirkan, alasan finansial serta perbedaan nilai mata uang yang ada, membuat mimpi itu sangat sulit terwujud. Kunjungan tamu dari negara Belanda, tepatnya mahasiswa Fontys Hogeschool Eindhoven (Eindhoven), memicu rasa ingin tahu saya terhadap kota tempat tinggal mereka. Berkat fasilitas Google Map dan Streetview saya dapat sedikit mengintip kota Eindhoven dan sedikit melakukan perbandingan antara kota Eindhoven dengan kota Yogyakarta. 

Daerah Istimewa Yogyakarta (D.I.Y) adalah sebuah provinsi yang memiliki 4 Kabupaten (Sleman, Kulonprogo, Bantul dan Gunung Kidul) dan 1 Kotamadya (Yogyakarta).  

Kotamadya Yogyakarta itu sendiri, terletak di tengah-tengah D.I.Y, diapit oleh Kabupaten Sleman dan Kabupaten Bantul, yang secara administratif memiliki luas wilayah 32.5 km2  berpenduduk 388,088 jiwa. Pada perkembangannya, setelah dibangunnya Ring Road yang mengelilingi Kotamadya Yogyakarta, serta memotong sebagian kecil area Kabupaten Sleman dan Kabupaten Bantul, luas daerah urban di D.I.Y  menjadi meluas. Bagian dalam area yang dikelilingi oleh Ring Road, menjadi pusat keramaian atau perkotaan di D.I.Y. Bila diukur dengan menggunakan aplikasi/software Google Earth, area bagian dalam Ring Road Yogyakarta memiliki luas kurang lebih 82 km2. 

Eindhoven Kota dengan luas 88.84 km2 dan berpenduduk 217,192 (sensus 2010) merupakan kota yang terletak di provinsi North Brabant.  

Bila membandingkan luasan kota Eindhoven dengan luasan area perkotaan di Yogyakarta (daerah dibagian dalam Ring Road Yogyakarta), maka kita akan dapat melihat bahwa keduanya memiliki luasan yang hampir sama. Namun keduanya memiliki berbagai macam perbedaan, dari segi jumlah penduduk, penduduk kota Yogyakarta 2 kali lebih besar dari penduduk kota Eindhoven. Serta masih banyak lagi perbedaan-perbedaan yang dapat kita temukan pada kedua kota tersebut. Karakteristik fisik, sosial, tata kota dan lain sebagainya.

Saya sadar tulisan ini adalah jauh dari istilah riset, tulisan ini hanyalah merupakan latihan bagi saya untuk melatih kejelian saya dalam mengamati dan membandingkan kedua hal, serta latihan untuk menuangkan pikiran dalam sebuah blog, yang mungkin pada akhirnya dapat diarahkan menjadi suatu riset atau karya ilmiah, dengan harapan bahwa nantinya temuan yang didapat dengan membandingkan kedua kota tersebut dapat dijadikan referensi bagi perkembangan kota Yogyakarta.

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CRANBROOK PROJECT: SITE ANALYSIS DIAGRAMS

This week, I put together some diagrams that build off of the language of the first illustration created last week. As mentioned in the last post, the intro page illustration was designed to be a "teaser" for the pages to follow and get the viewer interested in exploring the the project deeper without giving too much away. The site analysis drawings produced this week are meant to bring some clarity to the underlying concepts of the project and help make sense of the intro illustration. 

Many of the formal moves in the design are related to the shift in the grid system which are derived from the major axis of the campus. This idea therefore took hierarchy graphically in the diagrams by using cool tones set within the warm background. I also wanted to emphasise the spatial relationships created by the placement of the new design so again I used cool colors to contrast the warm tones. I tend to layout all my project pages by moving from a macro view of the project (site plans, diagrams, process work) into more specifics and details of the project (floor plans, sections, vignette renderings) as the pages progress. For this diagrams spread,  I began with a macro view of the site with several diagrams overlayed on top of each other. I then broke down the overlayed diagrams into each individual diagram. I finished with a zoomed in view of the design explaining the proportional relationships. The next few spreads will look at the floor plans, sections and elevations continuing the idea of getting deeper into the details as the viewer moves through the pages. 

I have been making a big push to finish up this first series of portfolio pages before the end of the summer. Because of this, I haven't had much time to really breakdown the individual illustrations and explain the workflow. I plan to get a deeper into this stuff once the summer slows down and I get some more free time to allocate to this site. I am almost done with this portfolio (this being the last project) in which case I will start to look at finishing touches and printing. Stay tuned

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THEATER UPDATE 2

Progress is being made on the theater section of project portfolio upgrade.  I put together some floor plans and sections/elevations of the design as well as compiled some of my past process work into another spread. I decided to group the plans, sections, and elevations into one spread because a) I want to leave more pages for process work and b) I like the visual relationship between the drawings. I typically don't render floor plans mainly because I prefer the clean, diagrammatic look of simple line drawings with poche walls. But, because I wanted to emphasize the geometric relationship of the plans ,sections and elevations, I therefore wanted to illustrate them similarly too. 

I have been designing and developing the 3D model as I put together this portfolio and I therefore haven't had time to fully resolve all of the geometry.  The 3D model was not in a place where I could cut a section and render the floor plans. Instead, I took the CAD floor plans that I had been developing along side the model and imported those into Sketchup and quickly extruded them. I now had something that I could throw into Kerkythea and render as seen below.

Above, A Sketchup model of just the first floor plan.

Above, A  base rendering in Kerkythea of the first floor plan.

To finish everything off, I took a site plan rendering that I had made previously and blended it with the floor plan rendering to add a some texture and give some context of how certain walls relate to the exterior form. I also took the CAD floor plan and overlayed it on top of the illustration to get neatly poche walls and edges.

This project section of the portfolio is almost complete. I still want to add  more site analysis diagrams along with some eye-level perspectives of what one would see when experiencing the different spaces of the design. The spreads are still lacking a sense of scale and place so I want to end with renderings that show people inhabiting the spaces, activities that will take place, and how this design blends with the site to generate a unique and exciting experience.

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CRANBROOK PROJECT: INTRO SPREAD ILLUSTRATION

The summer is coming to a close and I am making a final push to wrap up “Project Portfolio Upgrade”. I have spent the last two weeks developing a new 3D model for one of my old projects from undergraduate school. Some of you may recognize the design as it has appeared in many pastPOSTS and TUTORIALS. The project was originally developed for a competition by Cranbrook Academy to design an addition to their art museum. It has always been one of my favorite projects and I was excited to revisit it and have a second go at it.  

I was in one of those moods to experiment and use more of the right side of my brain. The intro spread to this project seemed like the perfect place to do something a little different. The design has many  strong lines that at first glance don’t appear to relate to one another. There is also a grid system that influenced many of the big moves. With all of this complexity, the illustration needed to expose the rules of the design i.e. how the form responded to the grid systems as well as how the forms related to one another.  I wasn’t looking for a diagram though. The intro page should be strong graphically but at the same time be abstract, encouraging the viewer to investigate the rest of the project pages. 

Above, the new 3D model based on an old project from undergrad.

There was also an opportunity to use this illustration as a study for areas of the design that have not be developed yet like the roof garden and interior details. Breaking away from the 3D model and developing this illustration has spawned a few new ideas that I know I would not have arrived to had I not gone through this exercise. The complexity of an illustration like this really draws me into the project and gets me thinking about things that I just don't think about when modeling and sketching.

This illustration, like all of the other intro spreads, will set the tone for the rest of the portfolio pages of this project. Be sure to check back over the next few weeks. I plan to churn out a few more spreads and hopefully get out some new tutorials that are long over due.

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