Funny Garbage: 10 Years of Making the Web Worth Watching
Stop Global AIDS Web Site
Project Overview
The Whitney Museum approached Funny Garbage to create an online space to serve as a companion to its exhibition, Over the Line: The Art and Life of Jacob Lawrence. The Whitney established two main goals for the Jacob Lawrence site: to provide an online space and offline tools for children (K-12) to learn about Lawrence’s work and world and, to inspire the user to create and make visual the idea of “who you are,” “where you’re from,” in a serialized way. FG developed a concept to embrace these two goals centered on a main theme of Lawrence’s life and art: “narratives.”
The site is organized around the themes that define Lawrence’s art and the idea that exploring Lawrence’s life and work narratives provides a unique and dynamic space for students to learn. Exploring the universal themes in Lawrence’s art and life will open the student to the presence of these themes in his or her own life, and provide the educator with a number of tools to encourage students to explore these themes in their past, present and future historical contexts.
Conceptually, the site is divided into 2 integrated focal points, Jacob Lawrence and the user. The Jacob Lawrence areas introduce the user to Jacob Lawrence’s art and the narratives that informed and make up his work. This includes a gallery of 12 images, biographical history (family, education, Harlem community), the social and cultural context of his life and times (segregation, racism, discrimination), aesthetics (motifs, techniques, processes and materials) and his approach to storytelling.
The user areas encourage the user to reflect upon Lawrence’s life and work and to use these reflections to explore and create his or her own narratives. The focus here is to provide materials for students and educators to learn about Lawrence and themselves. These sections include Power Point and painting projects for users to download and create on their own, downloadable storyboard templates, examples of projects created by students, “Jacob Lawrence webquests,” and “webographies.”
The site is organized around the themes that define Lawrence’s art and the idea that exploring Lawrence’s life and work narratives provides a unique and dynamic space for students to learn. Exploring the universal themes in Lawrence’s art and life will open the student to the presence of these themes in his or her own life, and provide the educator with a number of tools to encourage students to explore these themes in their past, present and future historical contexts.
Conceptually, the site is divided into 2 integrated focal points, Jacob Lawrence and the user. The Jacob Lawrence areas introduce the user to Jacob Lawrence’s art and the narratives that informed and make up his work. This includes a gallery of 12 images, biographical history (family, education, Harlem community), the social and cultural context of his life and times (segregation, racism, discrimination), aesthetics (motifs, techniques, processes and materials) and his approach to storytelling.
The user areas encourage the user to reflect upon Lawrence’s life and work and to use these reflections to explore and create his or her own narratives. The focus here is to provide materials for students and educators to learn about Lawrence and themselves. These sections include Power Point and painting projects for users to download and create on their own, downloadable storyboard templates, examples of projects created by students, “Jacob Lawrence webquests,” and “webographies.”
- WHAT: Activism, Art Direction, Client Side Development, Education, Information Architecture, Programming
- WHERE: http://www.stopglobalaids.org/
- WHEN: May 17, 2002
