CITY IN
FLUX
Brief My brief is to reserach the visual language of the City and how imagary, artifacts, sounds and aphemera bombard our scences with visual messages and experiances. Using creatives who have used City as influence in their work, I will take on visual research to create an outcome with relation to City in Flux.
City in Flux One of the most interesting aspects of a city is its history and culture. Cities can begin as trading out posts, shipping yard or could have experienced an immense change through war or an industrial change. These changes can be as visual as a monument or can be as subtle as a design accent. These changes are not possible without the change of the society we live in. History relates to humans in the form of knowledge and discovery, which all suggests narrative and ideas on how to interoperate the past, which in turn helps us understand the present and future of our cities. The culture of a city can be regarded as our intellectual achievement from the past, making people or society a stronger theme since we build culture into our cities.
Flux can be interoperated very broadly to mean many different things, such as change; motion; flow and alteration. My first instinct and my favourite idea, is to use evolution as a theme in City in Flux. Evolution can suggest a city can progress, adapt and transform. An example may be the revolution of technology and how it has been implanted into our roads and skies to support the technological age. Another example could be the industrial revolution, where tower were erected and factories were born in the time of mass production. Using these words and ideas in connection to the city can be powerful in creating a narrative for the people who live within it.
In my opinion, Victorian and Roman architecture are very powerful at portraying their times and are so relatable to their timeline that it has become subconsciously known by most people. Their designs have become iconic and connected to emotions, which is what is most powerful in a piece of art. An example could be how when looking at a tower block of concrete, emotions from the tragedy of the divide of the rich and the poor in the 80’s. My aim will be to replicate this use of emotional stimulation.
Typography Using typography to portray a certian style or era of a city is powerful. An example is the 30’s art deco style assosiated with the Empire State Building, a style that many artists have replicated for its usique and timeless effect. The same principles can be seem here. The photographer has used the typography in his surrounding to suggest a certain style. For example, the champagne gold “C” bellow suggests a noir, 1950’s style. It is easy to relate to concept because of the representation it has had in cinematic and Hollywood productions.
other hand, having a curly, soft and delicate font would create unease about the integrety. Looking at type in this way reminded me of the way road signs have been designed. In the UK, our road signs have been designed inteligently, to create an easier to read and understand system on the roads. Instead of doing as America does and keep every word and name capitalized, the words are presented normally. This way, our eyes recognise the shape of a word. A quick glance may be all that is needed to understand a word, rather than having to take your eyes off of the road to concentarte properly. The same can be said about colours and shapes, they only needs to be glanced at to be understood.
Looking to the bottom right, the Water sign has a style of typography which is strong, bold and rugged. It is there to represnt the man holes itself, the style of This inteligent design can be used in situation the typeface, bold, strong and capitalized, suggests around the city to portray differnt meanings, areas that the man hole cover is strong and thick. On the and emotions.
Lidia Varesco - http://typographyinthecity.tumblr.com
Typography This next look at typography and the city is very different. Instead of looking at type inside of a city, the city has become the type and is instead representing the type. The architecture represents the buildings and the city, which hold history, stories and a lot of detail. Each one of these images show enough to represent thousands of people and thousands of years’ worth of stories and history, which are being squashed down into a single letter. When letters are often shown to be tiny, insignificant things. What the artist may be implying, is that the words that we use are significant and important, as well as the way we use them. Just like how the way he has used a single letter to create a story.
Kaan Iscan - https://www.behance.net/gallery/16806247/1
Film
The Zero Theorem is a film by Terry Gilliam and is a representation of a derelict future or a dystopia. The overall feel of the setting is corrupt and run down, although colourful. Which is very contradictory. Firstly, the art style of a graffiti on the walls is in the style of Terry Gilliam’s work, which is very surreal and abstract. , the opposite of graffiti. The story behind this film, is proving that the universe has no meaning. Relating it to City in Flux, they’re trying to prove that everything will turn to dust, with no meaning. Below is a very strange poster that was used on the
set to create an absurd atmosphere. “Batman the Redeemer” is a stab at popular culture and religion. Gilliam is trying to suggest further that life and the universe has no meaning and to do this he mocks the idea of religion by using a popular icon such as Batman.
Games Video game have quickly become a part of our lives, matching the boxoffice and budget of movies. Although games have limitaions, they are fully computer generated, so can be very imaginative, vivid and abstract. In addition, the idea of a game is extremely immursive, so these possative aspects are greatly emphasised.
Small things from the 50’s, noir era have been taken and expanded to create an over egsagorated represenation of these times.
This is brilliant when for my brief, an edertisement to attract people to the city would benefit from certain, historical or cultural aspects being the focal point. The Crazy situations, such as being underwater or The concept artwork has been created by Jim floating in the sky also give a personality to the city, Martin and has been created for a game series making it less dull and predicatable and making it called Bioshock. The setting each game has been exciting. set in, is crazy and impossible. Rapture (below) is an underwater city with an egsagorated noir theme.
Jim Martin - http://jimmartindesign.co/bioshock.html
Ben Lo - http://benlo.carbonmade.com/projects/4115314
Games
Another video game, on the other end of the spectrum, show the decay and estruction a city goes through and how the people react within. Fall out shows a world that has been through a neclear appocalypes. The rubble is all that is left and the people of the cities must make do and create. Considering flux, the resurection of a society fits in perfectly and shows a rapid and drastic progression of a city, like New Vegas (above).
Music An album form the Specials in 1981, Ghost Town, was created with the intention of portray the riots, unemployment and violence in the United Kingdom. The summer of 1981 saw riots in over 35 locations over the United Kingdom. Jerry Dammers, singer and song writer of The Specials used a minimal amount of words to paint his picture of the 80’s decay. The song was meant to convey themes
of urban decay and deindustrialisation in the inner cities. Whilst travelling on tour, Dammers noticed how the gigs descended into audience violence, supporting the frustration and depressive theme of the songs about these harsh times. Since the song was written and sang in the 80’s the distress and destruction can relate to the changes Thatcher had on the country, especially on the North West.
“The overall sense I wanted to convey was impending doom.” Jerry Dammers 2011 “When we recorded ‘Ghost Town’, we were talking about [1980]’s riots in Bristol and Brixton” Terry Hall
Animation The process of animating is a brilliant way of showing change and flux. Especially in a city, were there is so much going on at one time it’s hard to keep up. It also bring an image to life and suggest a personality. In this case, it is jolly, fast paced and peaceful. I chose this piece because it contradicts with many other themes and ideas in my research, the happiness of a changing city is unique. It may suggest the development in the city, such as technology and industry is welcome.
Rafael Varona - https://www.behance.net/gallery/16854501/Self-Promotional-Work
Architecture Driss Ouadahi Driss Ouadahi uses architecture to create an environment of urban alienation. “Sterile modernist public housing developments, wire netting and underground passageways.” These seem to be a consistent theme in his work. The way these ‘ugly’ buildings are presented show signs of his dislike towards them, each mesh of concrete is obscuring an otherwise beautiful view. Whether it is an iconic landmark or a natural landscape, they’re all obscured by this grid. This relates clearly to City in Flux, because were able to see the destructive properties of modern times and the evolution of our cities or country sides
Driss Ouadahi - http://www.lawrieshabibi.com/artists/42-Driss-Ouadahi/overview/
Architecture The use of architecture in these picees shows a sense of iscolation and constriction around the cities. Althought the cities in these images are the focal point, the nature surrounding the building is powerful and vast. This suggests that the nature is much more powerful than our civilization, it makes our livleyhoods seem insignifcant in comparison. By relating this to City in Flux, the nature within these pieces could be taking over. We, as a scoiety, took tried to destroy nature to pave roads ansd build skyscrapers, but it is suggested in these images that nature is fighting back, constricting us. On the other hand, they could also show great opportunity, by showing the progress we have made so far and showing us also the progress that can be made on the fields around.
“City Escapes reflects on a vast growing world that lives in constant contradiction. A World looking for peace while creating chaos. It reflects on our need to go back to our natural existence while destroying those very possibilities in the name of evolution and progress. It’s a brief reflection of a growing detachment from ourselves, in our growing capitalist world of consumption and consumerism.�
DA Artstudio - https://www.behance.net/gallery/3478421/Cityescape
Architecture
Driss Ouadahi uses architecture to create an environment of urban alienation. “Sterile modernist public housing developments, wire netting and underground passageways.” These seem to be a consistent theme in his work. The way these ‘ugly’ buildings are presented show signs of his dislike towards them, each mesh of concrete is obscuring an otherwise beautiful view. Whether it is an iconic landmark or a natural landscape, they’re all obscured by this grid. This relates clearly to City in Flux, because were able to see the destructive properties of modern times and the evolution of our cities or country sides
Peter Steinhauer - http://www.petersteinhauer.com/
Urban Decay Urban decay is the rot of a city. It the process of a previously functioning city turning to dust. Deindustrialization, changing of population, restructuring, abandoned buildings, high local unemployment, fragmented families, political disenfranchisement and crime are all reoccurring themes and causes of the idea of urban decay. They also show the idea of a changing and fluctuating city landscape. In the 1970’s and 1980’s, the United Kingdom experienced severe urban decay in major cities such as Glasgow, Manchester, Liverpool and East London, caused by population decrease.
Building Blocks The sole idea and purpose of Lego and building blocks is change. To be able to build and rebuild with flexibility, all conditional on the feeling of the person building. I believe this is similar to a city in flux in the way that the people within the city have the power to create and destroy with just as much flexibility. This image portrays New York as expandable and with no limits, as if the buildings could keep getting higher indefinitely. It shows a sign of growth and evolution in the way our cities are built, which is why I like this piece, although a
downfall may be that it is very one directional, not showing any history of New York what so ever. An integration with New York in the 50’s would make a good concept, although not with this specific art style. The colours are modern, which support the future of the city, not the past. The process of creating this 3D render begins by taking a bird’s eye shot of New York and pixelating to create the information used for the buildings. The addition of colour creates a perfect reference for the 3D modelling to begin.
JR Schmidt - https://www.behance.net/gallery/5338513/Lego-New-York
Building Blocks Building blocks can be used in a very different way to portray a feeling of destruction, decay and reconstruction. This project illustrates the process of our cities and the way we can easily replace the history and stories with something meaningless. It suggests that our history disintegrates and crumbles and cannot be replaced. The blocks are not appealing to the eye, they seem like acne on aging the monuments, much like how modern building seem out of place amongst a town or city of historic, beautiful buildings or how wind farms can be an eye sore on a landscape. I would love to see this work at a much larger scale, to show the visually destructive properties in a city and not just a monument.
“This is a beginning of art project R(L)ec(g)onstruction. It’s attempt to draw attention to the destructive processes of monuments, and the need for their conservation.”
Danylo Chushak, Myroslava Skira - https://www.behance.net/gallery/17141601/R(L)ec(g)onstruction
Space Chris Hadfield was an astronaught who lived on the International Space Station for monthes. During his free time, he would take these stunning photos of the Earth from above. Being able to see structure and natural shapes from this perspective shows the brilliant progress humanity has taken and the comparision it has with nature. Seeing the city lights at night from above shows a clear progression from a populated center to the less populous edges,
constantly showing a gradient of bright to dark. The way it is shown, suggets an evolution from one spot, it reminds me of a baceria under a microscope that has spread from one to become millions of cells. It would show the same progression. The dark patches of the city images are seen as opportunity for the furture of the city.
Time
Salvador Dali is famous for his surreal art work. In his work, he shows objects morphing and flowing. This is a metaphor of the decay he was visulizing. The liquified clock suggest that time has a power over this world to decay and destroy, much like how the clock is being destroyed. In addition, he used ants in his artwork to suggest decay directly. By using ants, it shows that nature is taking back what it used to own.
Salvador Dali - http://www.salvadordali.com/
Time Eddie Dangoor uses phototography to show the progression of time within the city. He uses the people and huge crowds to portray the fast paced, busy, crowded feeling of a city. By over laying many image onto each other and turning down there opacity, Dangoor is able to show a ghosting effect on the people. The over lay of these transparent people, created a build up of colour and darkness, making them stand out more. This created a patturn of populous areas. The realtion of the people ande the architecture of the city shows how fast paced and mobile we are as a society and how incredibly quick we are in comparison to the still and slow degrading buildings around us.
Eddie Dangoor - http://eddiedangoor.viewbook.com/
Shapes Wassily Kandinsky’s use of shapes are both colourful and random. The atributes of each shape and line can corrospond to the differnt aspects of a city. For example, the line can represnt roads whilst squares can represnt ordinary buildings. The way Kandinsky has drawn these shapes, has created a very odd composition, making the shapes and lines seem kinetic and full of motion. This simple way of drawing and presenting shapes can be importants to portraying a city that is changing.
Wassily Kandinsky - http://www.tate.org.uk/art/artists/wassily-kandinsky-1382
Shapes 2 Piet Mondrian worked in a form he called neoplasticism, which advocated the use of pure abstraction and universality. This was done by reducing the essentials of form and colour to their simplest. Piet used strictly black and white and primary colours along with mainly vertical and horizontal lines, the focus being on composition and the power it has on a piece of artwork. ‘Broadway’ is the piece I am interested in most, since it breaks down the city into its simplest form, from a bird’s eye view. A grid of con-
nections of shapes in different sizes and colours. It is easy to relate these images to the city because these connections are familiar, even when they have been broken down, our minds can identify larger boxes as building and long lines as roads, just like how we see a map.
Piet Mondrian - http://www.tate.org.uk/art/artists/piet-mondrian-1651
IDEA 1
Double Exposure Photgraphy The people within any city, I believe, are one of the most interesting and fluxuating aspects. Being able to represent them as a society is imp0ortant to representing the city atall. Which is why I have chosen Eddie Dangoor as my inspiration in the City in Flux project. The people of our cities are the fasted changing and cause the biggest changed to building and culture.
Eddie Dangoor - http://eddiedangoor.viewbook.com/
EXPERIMENTS I began by taking photography in Huddersfield town center and on the roads. Capturing the people was important, but I also believe the cars make an interesting subject. I was able to create a succesful selection of ghosting effects that represnted the artist well.
Using too many photos in a single piece like this would cause and information overload, too create a piece with effect, I only used 6-8 photos per piece. Laying them one over the other, i reduced there opacity equaliy to around 20% too allow them to merge into one. I also used the blend mode ‘Screen, which take away any black in the images, making them merge together more. The black layer at the bottom was to compensate for the loss in each image. Lastly, I used the Hue/Saturation and Levels adjustment layers to add more contrast and colour.
Jay Mcintyre - https://www.behance.net/gallery/9160821/Torontox3
IDEA 2
Typography
Kaan Iscan - https://www.behance.net/gallery/16806247/1
Using famous landmarks, I was able to replicate a simlar style to the artists creation on the left, creating an N and and S. The colour was created by using a layer with a
Furthering my reserach into typography and the city, I began to look at the artwork of Ganz Toll, who create illustrations of sky scraper which have a simplistic, constsitant style which is very scalable, perfect for type. I bagan experimenting on the right with the intigration, using buildings I had created in Illustrator. I began with a more detailed building and moved on to a more successful, simplifed building in the ‘Town’ piece. The simpler of the three work much better in place of the letter, since not many type faces have the amount of detail I added. Keeping a constsitant amount of detail between typeface and illustration seems important.
Ganz Toll - https://www.behance.net/gallery/20461259/Fox-Life-Lucky-Ladies
Using the pen tool, I was able to create consistant sides to the building that would stay straight, because I would hold down the Shift key. Using the Shape Builder Tool, I would create an object to act as a cutter, creating windows. This tool worked by merging the two objects together and allowing me to discard the unwanted fill. I created all of one side of the building and mirrored it to the other side.
Belinda Swoboda - https://www.behance.net/gallery/11014397/City-Type-photography
PRODUCT RESEARCH Nottingham City
Nottingham - http://www.vpoint.tv/portfolio/nottingham-city-council-days-work/
Liverpool City
Liverpool - http://tv.visitliverpool.com/?order-by=viewed
IDEA 3
Animation TSB is a company that has to convince people to use there services, therefore representing them in the correct way is essential. In addition, being a bank TSB are always betting on the future and the future of it’s customer, so being able to addapt to change and represnting there customer futures in there adverts is essential to keeping there trust and loyalty. I’m relating this to how the people wlithin a city would be represented and how they change.
PAST
PRESENT
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