Week 2

In the second week, I decided to focus on Method 2 from the first week. I observed more residues and created more detailed and precise records for each of them. I also drew inspiration from the documentation methods used in Masando Abe’s The Movement of Clouds around Mount Fuji and the International Meteorological Committee’s International Atlas of Clouds and of States of the Sky.

After completing these records, I noticed that different types of residues surprisingly shared some similar patterns of behaviour.I used different coloured dots to record and categorise the residues.

At this point, I also started to question why these behaviours were happening. What was causing them? Was it human intervention, the structure of the sink, the movement of water, or the properties of the residues themselves?

These questions gradually shifted my approach from simply observing and documenting the residues to thinking about the sink as a small world of its own. I began to consider how different elements within this space interacted with one another, and how I could recreate these relationships through my design.

In this sense, my method gradually moved towards worldbuilding and staging.

Week 3

In the third week, I started thinking about how to show these findings to the audience. Initially, I wanted to create an interactive website, but I realised I wouldn’t be able to finish it within the limited time. So I turned to a more traditional way of presenting archival material — print. In the end, I decided to make a zine.

I also continued to think about how to describe the movements of these residues. Should I use more concise and precise language rather than conversational descriptions?

More importantly, I started thinking about how readers would engage with the zine. I wanted them to experience the process of discovering, recording, archiving and grouping the residues, and eventually shifting their perspective of observation.

So I simplified the text in the archival records, removing some of the descriptive language. Instead, I introduced small physical interactions, such as tearing, folding and drawing, allowing readers to experience the movement patterns of the residues through their own actions. Finally, at the end of each group, I included an explanation of the behaviours within that category.

I wanted to give readers a sense of the sink as a three-dimensional space. So I designed the cover using paper folding to mimic the shape of the sink, and positioned each residue’s number according to where it was found.