In groups you will choose one specific gesture out of the ones suggested:
Trace its lineage paying attention to:
the different contexts that is being performed in (digital spaces, physical, together with others,)
the bodies that perform it
its evolution
& your thinking process (mental derive)
Question to investigate:
1. Where & when does this gesture appear?
2. What is the history of this gesture? Did it evolve through time?
3. What is the cultural meaning of this gesture? Did it evolve through time?
4. In which other contexts does this gesture appear?
5. How did the gesture travel from one body to another one (becoming contagious)?
6. How does the gesture have different meanings depending on the body that perform it (ages, body ability, gender, race, class) ?
CREDIT YOUR SOURCES!
Use hyperlinks to link to original content or add the reference on the caption.
THINK OF DIGITAL DERIVE!
Does the design require you to follow a specific choreography?
How can you use it to your advantage?
PROPOSED GESTURES:
Interacting with trackpad from computer
Bowing
Refusal sign, No, Stop
Opening or holding a door for someone.
BOWING
x CULTURAL MEANING OF THE GESTURE x
In United Kingdom
RESPECT
- House of Commons in session
(bowing gesture familiar to woman – ordinary!)
- to the monarch by her Staff
In European cultures
GRATITUDE
- on stage, an exclusively male practice (woman do “curtsy”),
- now there are some excemptions but in most shows the tradition is kept
In East and Southern Asia
- informal, formal, and very formal bowing
RESPECT and GRATITUDE
In 1956, boys in a Catholic school in Japan express deference to their teacher by bowing.
In recent years, the bow was becoming less common in Japan, replaced by the handshake. But among coronavirus concerns, bowing may be making a comeback.
*kowtow – (Han Chinese culture) a kneeling bow is performed, which may be so deep that the forehead touches the floor, since the collapse of Imperial China became extremaly rare and has been replaced by normal standing bow
APOLOGY
- tend to be deeper and longer than other types of bow
GREETING
- both when meeting and when departing, automatically accompanying the greeting phrases; silent bow replaces such phrases as "hello" or "hi."
x OTHER CONTEXTS x
Religious settings
Important part of Japanese tea ceremony
Martial arts
SOURCES:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A8mDiTDvf2I&ab_channel=CrescentMoonKarateAcademy
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7tt7NBIVeMY&ab_channel=DonGoede
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4wQVxj_0Mdo&ab_channel=TEALEAVES
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zXDNDRWg4q8&ab_channel=EliteM.A.Centers
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jb8Yk8LaUoc&ab_channel=TrueTube
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-SwC9mZnF0s&ab_channel=AnilSakya
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WILCUELAFH0&ab_channel=BloombergQuicktake%3ANow
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3kBm9542m64&ab_channel=FiveThousandYears
https://www.nationalgeographic.com/travel/article/ways-people-around-world-say-hello-without-touching-coronavirus
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3OivIizKRMg&ab_channel=BenForsterBase
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pRZqRjxkHpk&ab_channel=MrBean
https://www.nationalgeographic.com/travel/article/ways-people-around-world-say-hello-without-touching-coronavirus
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5gOMovWEszo&ab_channel=JapanRetailNews
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yAHKqtsGZLU&ab_channel=pixiekatten
https://www.tofugu.com/japan/bowing-in-japan/
https://simple.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bowing#:~:text=Bowing%20was%20originally%20a%20gesture,showed%20deep%20respect%20for%20someone.&text=In%20European%20history%20bowing%20was,that%20it%20scraped%20the%20floor.
For now it looks like every country already had some type of bowing.
Each with another meaning. I couldn’t really find how this gesture is spread around the world but when I think for myself I think there were already existing people doing this for greetings, shows of respect, religion etc. when we started traveling and presenting things all around the world other countries took this gesture over.
How did the gesture travel from one body to another one?How does the gesture have different meanings depending on the body that perform it?
Where & when does this gesture appear?
How did the gesture travel from one body to another one?
The gesture of bowing is mostly used as a way to show respect, remorse or grattitude. Besides that bowing is also commonly used as a way to show respect, remorse or grattitude.
- In early Europe males were expected to bow and scrape. While doing the bow the mans drawing back his right leg. Such that the right foot scrapes the floor. While doing this the mans right hand is pressed horizontally across the abdomen while the left is held out from the body
- In britisch, australian and other commonwealth courts lawyers and clerks are expected to preform a cursory bow of the head only to the judge when entering or leaving the law court.
- Basic bows originate at the waist and are performed with the back straight and the hands at the sides (for men) or clasped in front (for women), and with the eyes down.
Generally, bows can be divided into three main types:
- informal,
- formal,
- and very formal.
Informal bows are made at about a fifteen degree angle and more formal bows at about thirty degrees. Very formal bows are deeper. In extreme cases a kneeling bow is performed, which may be so deep that the forehead touches the floor.
Bows of apology tend to be deeper and last longer than other types of bow. They occur with frequency during the apology, generally at about 45-50 degrees with the head lowered and lasting for at least the count of three but sometimes longer. The depth, frequency and duration of the bow increases with the sincerity of the apology and the severity of the offense. Bows of thanks follow the same pattern.
When addressing a subordinate, a manager, supervisor, or other leader generally only nods the head slightly (some may not bow at all), while the subordinate bends forward slightly from the waist.
When dealing with non-East Asians, many East Asians will shake hands and bow in the same time. This is not always going correct. Thats why people slightly turn to one side to avoid bumping heads.
ASIA
JAPAN
People greet each other with a bow in Japan. Depending on the person their greeting, and their social status, bows differ in angle and duration.
Shin bows are the deepest; from a kneeling position, the bower bends forward from the waist, placing the hands palms down on the floor in front of the body, with the fingers facing.
Gyō and sō bows respectively are less deep and less long. From a kneeling position and bowing from the waist, the hands are slid over the knees until the tips of the fingers touch the floor in front of the body.
RELIGION
form of politeness
For Islam:
In Islam, there are two types of bowing, The position involves having the forehead, nose, both hands, knees and all toes touching the ground together. Ruku' is bowing down in the standing position during daily prayers (salat). The position of ruku' is established by bending over, putting one's hands on one's knees, and remaining in that position while also praising Allah and glorifying Him.
Christianity:
It may take the form of a simple bow of the head, or a slight incline of the upper body. A profound bow is a deep bow from the waist, and is often done as a substitution for genuflection.
Orthodox:
The first type is a 'head-only bow'. This type of bow does not have its own assigned usage, but can be used only instead of a 'belt-low bow'
(2) in some situations, such as when one cannot make a lower bow because of too many people in the church or for back problems. People also should keep standing in this position during reading of Gospels and some other important periods of the service.
'Belt-low bow' (поясной поклон) can also be called an 'ordinary bow', since it is the most widespread type of bow. Most bows during the Eastern Orthodox service are of this kind. However, sometimes, for example, during the Lent, the bows became lower and 'earth-low bows' (
5) should be used instead.
'Belt-low bow with touching earth by a hand'. This type of a bow could be treated in two ways: sometimes it's only the 'very thoroughly done type 2 bow'. Sometimes, on the other hand, it's a 'lightened' version of an 'earth-low bow' (5). For example, when Popovtsy Old Believers ask their priests for a blessing, they should, theoretically, perform a 'earth-low bow'. However, since one could ask a priest for a blessing during an occasional meeting on a street, where it is rather uncomfortable to make a full 'earth-low bow', usually one only touches the earth with one's right hand (usually the back side of a hand).
Metania (метание, 'metanie') is also a 'lightened' version of a 'earth-low bow' that is used in Orthodox services sometimes.[1]
Zemnoy poklon (земной поклон, full earth-low bow) is a special type of bow which is especially important for Old Believers. It is also performed by the priest and many of the congregation during the epiclesis.
The history of bowing
In European history the men would bow and scrape as the woman would curtsey. This was to show respect.
Nowadays in European culture bowing is mostly seen at performances as a thankyou.
Alternative for Bowing: BRIDGE
A very low and deep bowing gesture (kowtow) has been known mainly in Imperial China, but it’s still sometimes performed in Southern Asia. Person, which wants to show a respect, goes to the knees and almost touches the ground with a head.
Main purpose of it is to show respect and gratitude to the authority, which together with other rituals - keep the feel of hierarchy alive.
Thinking of it reversely, starting from the level of human heart behind that gesture: is it always that person behind feel truly honest about it? Very often not. Mostly, it’s the tradition keeping it alive and creating this imaginative wall, behind the conversation cannot happen.
Even for the informal bow, popular in nowadays Asia, it can often be uncomfortable, or not along the way - concerning true emotions and freedom.
To create a space for a conversation, without pushing anyone because of the tradition – is the goal. We could use the reversed bow – a bridge, with a face directed towards the another with which the person is interacting. The goal is to make it a bit humoristic, and to lean a conversation towards more open and honest.
ALTERNATIVE FOR BOWING; NOSE BUMPING
What if instead of bowing with a distance,
we would shorten the distance and touch our noses ?
The eskimo kiss -->> (Kunik)
The Eskimo kiss is where the two people press the tips of their noses.
The Hongi -->>
The Hongi is a gesture performed by the Maori people, which is exists of 2 people pressing their noses together; sometimes including the touching of the foreheads.
In the Hongi, the Ha (breath of life) is exchanged in a symbolic whow of unity.
REVERSED BOW