Chairs - CSM

One of my tutors at Saint Martins was commissioned to stage an installation in the public walk way of the university. He laid out hundreds of chairs in straight lines, with passages to walk through, and had volunteers handing out pieces of paper inviting the audience to 'perform an act of their choice'. The results were interesting, people generally didn't interact much, especially if they were on their own. There were a couple of groups of people that lay on the chairs or moved a couple of them into knew positions, but on the whole it was very tame and polite.
      My class of course changed all that, being performance design students this is the kind of thing we study and design, and couldn't help but take advantage of the freedom we were being given. We started by putting all the chairs away, as if to rebel against the idea of the chairs existing, and trying to push the idea of being able to 'perform an act of any kind' to a limit. My tutor who's exhibition it was seemed some what un-happy with what we were doing and at one point tried to put them all back in order. It was an interesting response, and the class and my other tutors had a debate about wether he was right in acting as he was, trying to control the freedom he had given to the public.
    The fact that is was in a public space meant that he couldn't technically stop anyone from doing what they wanted, and he should of taken that into consideration. My other tutors encouraged us to push further and see what else we could do with the space, and how we could change the way other members of the public interacted with it. We built a spiral of chairs, which people began taking photos of and asking to be part of. They had just as much right to be in the space as we did, but by occupying an unusual dynamic, people felt obliged to ask to take pictures.

We spent a good few hours playing around with the space, by this time my tutor who's installation it  was had gone elsewhere. I would be happy if I had done something that sparked creativity and a rebellion to the polite norms of a public space, but perhaps his integrity was not sufficiently met by the way we decided to interact with the piece.

Anyway it was really fun and produced some interesting observations.



:)

Catch up!

Hello peoples of the world, I have been a little berried in university work and have thus abandoned my blog for way too long! I have a few exciting ideas lined up for future posts, that will be up with in the next couple of weeks. In the meantime I thought I would share a few pictures of what i've been up too, this mostly entails causing havoc at uni and just generally loving my course and course mates. I'm a happy bunny in other words and want to share some of the fun!

My walk to uni via KX Tunnel 

 

Much needed drink with my best friend before heading to work on an instillation at The Hospital Club 

As first years we often get asked to help the 2nd and 3rd years with their projects, this one was for someone creating a womb environment using umbrella frames and red fabric. The finished piece was amazing but I only have pictures of what it looked like early on. It was a great experience, and my first time working on a project over night. I left in the early hours of the morning zombified and rather disorientated but it was a great experience!

Me looking like a psychopath :) 

Don't worry I haven't completely lost it, nearly, but not totally. These pictures are from a performance  that me and my friends put on as part of a task we were given. We were three witches that fed off peoples secrets and allowed members of the public to unburden themselves by selling their secrets for a sweet. We did a funky dance and chanted and stuff, as you do. It was a lot of fun!

Meet Dilly!

It's Sunday and i'm ill, I thought if there was anyone else in the same position then what better to do than look at a cute puppy. My dad got a tiny little Pug puppy a few weeks ago and I thought I would share some pictures of the little guy. His name is Dylan and he's the cutest thing.

Happy Sunday!

Day Trip to Brighton!

As I have mentioned in a previous post my family and I are planning a move to Brighton, soon as our London home sells we'll be well on our way to starting a life by the sea...which I cannot wait for! 

I went on a little road trip to visit schools and just mosey about with my mum and sister and had such a lovely day. I took a few photos and just thought i'd share them with you.

  

We finished off our trip with a late lunch at quaint little pub. The guy that served our table was so sweet, and they served AMAZING burgers. Good food, fab company and the weather was sunny with crisp cool air - can't think of anything better! 

Awkward Stories

So after spending way too long trying to tweet a funny story in 140 characters I reluctantly gave up, and had the idea to perhaps do a little segment of funny stories on here.
I attract bizarre people and this combined with my willingness to chat to anyone often results in rather strange and sometimes dangerous situations - varying from ex-spies running from the Government to mad old women try to convince  me i'm an alien...

I have had many jobs some I have loved some I have hated - doing Street Fundraising for charities was one that I enjoyed at first but after nearly being punch in the face 4 times I decided to hang up my clip board and admit defeat.

 The job in itself was one big recipe for disaster - When you are stood in the middle of a busy London high street trying to stop people for 8 hours the likely-hood of coming across a psychopath is surprisingly high. After being threatened, stalked, and abused by various members of the public I put down my wind breaker and cried in a corner for a few days, before crying in bed for a month.

I may be mentally scarred, have bad anxiety and now hate everything and everyone..but hey I have some mildly funny stories to show for it.

THE TIME I ALMOST DID BATH SALTS

On this occasion I was working in Kings Cross outside the station, near the scary policemen with the unnecessarily big guns - It was a sunny day and I was wearing way too many layers as per usual. The day prior I managed to break my wrist (a story for another day) so was wearing a huge white cast and sling, which to my dismay didn't get any sympathy stops.

 After a long day in the sun; with not a single sign up, I began to feel a bit delirious and like a starved lion hallucinating about meat, I dreamt of a sweet old lady approaching me and signing up so I could go home - then, there on the horizon I saw a quirky looking older women with crazy hair and layers and layers of weird jewellery.. A  H I P P Y !! Bells rang and birds sang.

This grey haired women, with layers of pearls and home-made looking jewellery did stop and after ignoring my cheery greeting she frowned and stared at me for a few minuets, before opening with

'Oh dear......you don't look very well. You look awful'
I thought she was referring to my broken arm and weather beaten face - she wasn't.
'You're green. You're scaly and green. Seriously what the hell is wrong with you. Are you an alien? Oh my god you're an alien.' She had a horse deep voice and spat when she spoke.
She sounded terrified. 'You're a real alien ahhh. I always thought i'd see one! Are you okay?!'

I was just stood there like...

Being the awkward person I am I decided to ignore this women's insanity and proceed with my pitch, which was a stupid idea - 'I'm doing fine, but i'll tell you what's not doing so fine.....Africa...' As I launched into my pitch on water purification she interrupted me 'You should go back to you're own planet. You alien. You are horrible. *mean words mean words* I also think you should chop off a limb you would feel much better'

Cue awkward silence.

She saw my confused face and proceeded..
'I can help you if you like, just an arm or leg will do. I promise you'll feel much better.'
She tried to convince me for about half an hour, then I realised that I was arguing with a mad women about why I wasn't going to amputate my own leg and had a WHAT HAS LIFE COME TO moment.

I tried to leave at this point but she held by arm and told me she had a secret to tell me, which made me want to leave even more as i'm bad at keeping secrets but she insisted I stayed.
She began 'Well i'm really into bath salts..and I think you should try them.' Not what I was expecting 'They will stop you from being an alien and turn you back into a human, so you need them. Here have mine.' She handed me a little bag of crystals and smiled at me, I thanked her thinking it was very sweet but there was no way I was putting them into my bath when I had a nice Lush bath bomb waiting for me at home. I carried on with my day and didn't see her again...

It was only when I got home to my family a few hours later, with the bath salts, that I was informed that I had just taken part in a drug deal. I was disappointed to hear that the sachet did not contain any lavender scented bath crystals but instead a zombifying drug that has been known to make people eat each other. Oops.

HALLOWEEN!

Happy Halloween folks! This year I went as a dead person/vampire/zombie...basically smeared a load of crap on my face and left the house. I actually really liked the whole going out looking like death thing, certainly takes the pressure of trying to impress anyone. 

If you live in Britain you'll know that it was extremely hot this halloween, which coincided with me having a terrible day which led to me being a very grumpy zombie. Frustrated Tas + Humid Heat + being dressed for Autumn = HALLOWEEN DISASTER

Heres some tips for having a smooth running halloween:

1) PLAN AND BUY YOUR COSTUME IN ADVANCE - I planned my costume in my mind very far in advance but left it till 6pm Friday evening to actually purchase it. I went on a 4 hour quest for face paint, which of course was no where to be found so I had to change costume ideas and make use of the what I had. Getting your costume and make-up sorted before hands eliminates stress and allows for a more chilled time getting ready!

2) DRESS UP - It's the one time of the year where you can rub blood all over yourself, where fangs and scare children with out being called a nut case- embrace it!

3) WALK OF SHAME - Be prepared for the awkward walk of shame, when you've drank too much and the night has come to an end as you walk down your road alone at 6 in the morning wearing a ridiculous costume as the sun rises and the early birds leave for work and you try to play it cool. 

(reddit.com)

Heres a few clearer pictures of my Halloween make-up as I edited the first pick for dramatic effect dun dun duuuuuuuuuun. 

+ my awesome pumpkin socks

My university is in Kings Cross and theres always something fun going on, they laid out hundreds of pumpkins and allowed people to take them to carve. Really brightened up my day to see people making an effort just for purpose the of making people smile. 

Hope you all had an amazing Halloween, now that it's over it means we're one step closer to Christmas aaaah *throws confetti* 

LFW OOTD

Hello! This is very late but finally got hold of a picture taken of my outfit at LFW and wanted to share! I'm loving baggy tailored trousers paired with brogues. It's a comfy and effortless look but still allows you to look smart and stylish. I paired mine with a fluffy crop top and Hello Kitty socks as ya do.

<a href="http://www.hypersmash.com/hostgator/">www.hypersmash.com/hostgator/</a>

London Fashion Week

So being the spontaneous cat that I am I decided to buy a last minute ticket to LFW as I've always wanted to go and couldn't face waiting another year.

It really was as you'd imagine it, lots of intimidatingly cool looking people all strutting their stuff as you begin to feel slightly inadequate and wonder why you bothered leaving the house - however, that being said after the initial awkward few moments of dodging peoples photos and wondering why I was the only hot and flustered looking person there, I relaxed and had a grand old time! The fashion show we had booked to watch was at 5.30 so we had plenty of time to go into all the pop up shops filled with beautiful clothing and stand in awe as people, un-phased by the 3 digit price tags, tried on fancy coats and hats. I ventured into the Maybelline shop and couldn't help but pick up a few make-up bits, that I shall be reviewing very soon!

Fab day finished of nicely with a glass of wine over looking beautiful London! 

Chilled Sunday

Breakfast at Bill's

Myself and a group of friends went for a delicious brunch at Bill's not far from where we all live. It was my first time eating there and I loved it! The interior and over all style of the restaurant is really cool and the staff are all really friendly.
After filling up the tanks we headed over to our local park to play tennis, which was a good laugh. I have really bad hand eye co-ordination so spent most the time running after the ball, or amongst the hedges trying to fish out a stray shot.

Simple things like going for breakfast, chilling with friends or attempting to play tennis really make me very happy.

Hope you all had a nice Sunday, and an even better week ahead! 

Affordable Skin Routine

As of about 2 weeks ago I had never had a 'skin routine' but after feeling fed up of having bad skin days I thought i'd give a routine a shot. I am someone who is terrible when it comes to taking make-up off, I can spend hours putting it on, but won't spend more than 2 minuets taking it off.

- Garnier Cleansing Water: I had seen lots of beauty bloggers rave about this product and compare it to the Bioderma one that is super popular, so seeing as it was super inexpensive I bought it to try out. I have been really impressed with it so far, it melts away make-up and leaves the skin feeling super clean.

- Clean & Clear Daily Wash: I will sometimes use this as well as the Cleansing Water, but try not to use it everyday as it has exfoliants in it which can be damaging to sensitive skin if used excessively. This product is good, lasts for ages as you only need a small amount.

- Simple Oil Balancing Cream: Once my face is clean I use a small amount in my t-zone area, it's very light weight and soaks in fast. I also using this before I put on make-up, this doesn't stop you getting oily throughout the day but certainly reduces it.

-Simple Age Resisting Night Cream: The penultimate step is to apply a layer of this all over. This is a heavy duty cream, hence why it is for night time, that moisturizes and smooths. 'Age resisting' is a big old claim, and although at age 20 wrinkles aren't an issue it's always a good idea to start taking care of your skin early on.

-Simple Eye Roll On: This is cooling and soothing, and I find that after wearing mascara and make-up around my eyes it's really comforting to put some of this on. I also using this in the morning, and it helps me wake up a little.

I don't think you have to spend a fortune on luxury skin care items to see an affect, it's all about being persistent and sticking to a routine to see results. I think Simple do really great and affordable products that are gentle on the skin, and the price means that you're able to try out lots of their different products until you find the right one for you. Along with good skin care products, a healthy diet and lots of water will make a huge difference to your skin.

                              

Hope you enjoyed this post, comment below if you have any products you'd recommend trying!

Tasmin x

Random (potentially quite boring) Facts About Me

- At some point during a night out or party I will shout 'PLAY SOME BEYONCE'. Every time.

-If you ask me 'so what have you been up to?' I will have nothing to say. I could of robbed a bank, swam to Australia or cloned an animal but at that specific moment in time I will think of nothing interesting to tell you

-I wish I liked coffee

-I have had more jobs than the average person i'm sure

-If I don't want to go somewhere for whatever reason I will find a reason in my mind to justify not going (Also why I have had so many jobs)

- I hate general knowledge games because I get flustered and forget everything I have ever been taught when it's my turn

- I found an old diary when I was clearing out my room, on the first page was a list written in 2003 so when I was 9 and this is what the list said (minus the retarded spelling):

* Get a job in an old peoples home

*Learn to play harmonica

* Stop being an idiot

*Get a brain scan

(I found it hilarious)