Leeds Beckett University BA(Hons) Architecture
2017–2018
Timetable Briefing: Tuesday, November 7, 10am Collage + action plan presentation: Friday, November 10 Film presentation: Tuesday, November 14 Final Crit: Friday, November 17, 10am
AD1.1 Temporary Narratives
P1 Filming as a Public Action
Tutors Mohamad Hafeda Anna Pepe Ann Stewart
Housing for All, Francis Alys, Mexico City, 1994
PROJECT AIMS
LEARNING OUTCOME
The project aims to develop your sensitivity and awareness towards space and the built environment. It introduces you to architecture as an open field of various types of proposals in different forms and media rather than thinking of architecture as hypothetical proposals of buildings mediated through drawings and models. You will examine directly the implication of your design decisions through conducting a physical intervention in a public space. It is one of a series this year to unpack public space and to think of its spatial, social, historical and political components that an architect has to deal with.
– Exploring critical and practical means to investigate and respond to a space. – Developing a personal interest and curiosity in the built environment. – Initiating an individual work process and investigation. – Building on students’ intuition in responding to a space. – Exploring different forms and media of architectural interventions.
BRIEF Film a public action that you will conduct, using your body and props, in one of the sites allocated to your group in Leeds City Centre. The action is your response to an issue that you have observed in the public space and requires you to act upon. The project invites you to engage in the urban environment you live in, to have a position, and to be active. One of the definitions of action is ‘the fact or process of doing something, typically to achieve an aim,’… ‘especially when dealing with a problem or difficulty’. The issue that you need to address could be spatial, social, economic, political or environmental. Examples of issues of public space that you might think of include; boundaries, territories, hierarchies, thresholds, inside-out, conflict, surveillance, security, privacy, communal, soundscape, materials, traces, memory, waste, etc. Your action could be practical in its attempt towards solving a problem and it could be symbolic, poetic, or confrontational in its response. Your action should be propositional in the ideas it provokes and the spatial situations it constructs at the site. The action could be about performing a domestic activity in the public space in order to comment on the current use of public space, or to introduce a new type of activity. It could be about testing an idea or an experiment, or revealing a hidden aspect of the public space. It also could be a form of mapping and recording a phenomenon at the site or simply commenting on an issue. The possibilities are vast and the action will act as a break that interrupts the site existing conditions and introduce new ones. The project requires you to spend time at the site observing and recording using drawings, sketches, notes, photographs, video, audio, and other collected material. In addition, talk to people, ask questions and follow your curiosities. You need to try different work strategies, in search of those that respond most affectively to your issue of interest. This may require you to be a silent observer in one place waiting for something to happen and an active user moving around in another. It is important to conduct some experiments or exercises that could be part of your action or leads towards the final action. You are recommended to always film your observations and experiments as they might be used in your final film. The filming process in the site is an integral part of the action and of the project as a whole. It is an intervention in itself in the site. You need to consider the elements and the procedures involved, including the presence of the camera as well as the preparation of the set/act. You need to consider the network of information and people you are building throughout your project (from research to intervention). In addition you need to consider the filming and editing strategy in line with the conceptual underpinning of the action. In this respect the film is not merely a documentation of the action but part of it. Note: You need to choose an interesting urban space for the project. Explore interstitial urban pockets in the city and refrain from working in the middle of gardens and parks unless you have a strong purpose.
Your action shouldn’t cause any permanent change or damage to the space or to any person. It should leave no physical trace, its only residue will be the film you produce and hopefully the memory of those being involved in it. We can’t take photographs or film people without their permission. You will work individually in planning your action but you are advised to help each other in implementing the action and filming it. You can provide the props/objects from a charity shop or anywhere else. STAGES Stage 1: Observe and record You need to spend a full day recording the site at different times - morning, noon, afternoon and evening. Your observation should focus on the site users and spatial practices. Focus your observation on a limited area of no more than 100m2 (10mx10m). Use sketches, photography and any other recording method. You are required to have a sketchbook with you at all time. 1.1 Construct a photographic collage of the site you chose. Show clearly the space, the architectural elements and conditions, spatial practices and any other observations. Convey time and movement at the site. For Friday, November 10, you are asked to research an artist’s action and to present it to the class. Refer to the Research section at the end of this document for topics. Stage 2: Plan the action This should start by testing your ideas through a series of small actions. Produce an A2 sheet of the plan of your final action. This will be in the form of a drawing of the space where the action will take place, showing the props and people involved as well as the sequence of the action – how it starts and finishes. Stage 3: Film the action Prepare the site in advance for the action and then film it. Edit your film as a final piece using footage of the final action itself as well as other relevant footage that you have gathered during the process. Film the space before, during and after your intervention. What has changed? What is the impact of your intervention/action? How did you change the way this public space is used? How did you impact the way others engaged with it? What aspect/component/issue of public space did you engage with and comment on. SUBMISSION Minimum output– Research process - A2 sheet Precedent research of artists’ work - A2 sheet Sit Photographic collage - A2 sheet Action plan - A2 sheet A one-minute film Photographic documentation of the film - A2 sheet Sketchbook
REFERENCES
TO RESEARCH
Websites Francis Alys francisalys.com/sometimes-making-something-leads-tonothing/ francisalys.com/samples-2/ francisalys.com/the-green-line/ Michael Rakowitz http://www.michaelrakowitz.com/parasite/ www.michaelrakowitz.com/minaret/ Febrik serpentinegalleries.org/exhibitions-events/directory-public-actions Liberate Tate www.liberatetate.org.uk/performances/the-reveal/ www.liberatetate.org.uk/performances/hidden-figures-2014/ www.liberatetate.org.uk/performances/human-costapril-2011/ Rising Tide risingtide.org.uk/fossilfoolsday/actions Tools for Action www.toolsforaction.net The Laboratory of Insurrectionary Imagination www.labofii.net/experiments/crash/
Dada Situationists; Derive Fluxus; kits and events Happenings
All the projects references incuded in the PDF presentation on CAGD Artists Photographic Collage David Hockney Gordon Matta-Clark Jan Dibbets John Stezaker Enric Miralles Super studio Frank Dresme Aleksandr Rodchenko Laszlo Moholy-Nagy El Lissitzky Hannah Hoch Von Oben Munari Buno
READINGS Herman Hertzberger. Lessons for Students in Architecture. Rotterdam: 010 Publishers, 2005. Particularly ‘A Public Domain’ pp:12-87. George Perec. Species of Spaces and Other Pieces. Penguin Classics, 2008. Particularly ‘The Page’, ‘The Bed’ pp: 9-19, and ‘The Street’ pp: 46-56.
MAP OF LEEDS CITY CENTRE
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Ann
Mohamad
Anna