050910 portfolio 01 by kim walker

design portfolio kim walker the bartlett school of architecture volume

fall term 2009 electronic mail web design work reference catalogue

kimberlycwalker@gmail.com www.kimberlycwalker.com www.kimberlycwalker.tumblr.com www.paperspaceinspire.tumblr.com

social space

01.1 design work

My project is about people. because it is people that make the place.

Within that larger context of people, Iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;m interested in how the same space is perceived and viewed differently by different people; everyone sees varying things based on who they are, where they come from, their values, interests, a million things. I am interested in dualities, in two parts informing a whole, in how the whole becomes greater than the sum of the parts. And I am interested in the movement and activity that people give to spaces through their shifting body gestures and actions. Architecture is used to construct the space which people inhabit and move in. The space informs peopleâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s actions and the people inform the space, it works in two ways. I want to design a personal architecture that is about both contrasts and similarities - conscious & subconscious, individual & collective, the now & memories of the past, physical & virtual - that inform and strengthen the other, neither part is autonomous, the existence of one is conditional on the other. The whole becomes greater than the individual parts. People exist in a the space of their own creation.

a series of continuing explorations:

people and their environment

I began by observing the many verbal, gestural, and material habits and movements which compose the everyday coming and going of people. Their animate activity and movement is contrasted with the inanimate buildings and street that is their context. People and their environment are inextricably linked, together forming a system that changes and evolves creating the life of the city.

social structure

Then I began to see individual people as part of a larger social structure which is made up of relationships, patterns, processes, values within a context. This was shown by overlaying a sequence of people who moved by the same corner in a moment, this occurring over and over every day.

choreography of a moment

At that same corner the next week, I noticed a repetition by different people of the same motions and ways of moving through or interacting with the space occurring. These particular qualities started to sort themselves out as different Characters in my mind. Each Character playing a role in the dynamics of the everyday, specific to this time and place but with a universal quality to them, because nothing was much different than actions which might take place on a corner in new york or somewhere else but it wasnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t in nyc it was on air street in london. I then took these Characters and notated their movements into a choreography.

I also used a mirror to construct images that show not only what I was looking at but also something else which is behind me, to the side, above. In doing this a new image is created of two related parts, suggesting what else is there. A reflection arises from a consequence of something else. It is suggestive of that which you are not looking directly at.

a universal everyday event, dinner.

Next comes a closer look at a specific event, dinner. A dinner is a creative process with a constantly changing sequence of familiar actions with a rhythmic structure to them. The process invites the participation and interaction of people with each other, it is a carefully designed activity that also allows for spontaneous, unplanned moments. Movement happens around the table; the table is the stationary object about which the activity of dinner is juxtaposed. The table acts as an enabler, engaging people and bringing them together.

time scales

I looked at how we see on two time scales, these being: synchronic, occurring at a specific point in time, the now. and diachronic, occurring or changing along with time, the meaning behind what we see. Meaning is essential to human beings. We like to make sense of our outer and inner worlds and find meaning in our environment and in our relationship with other humans. Working through this idea of time scales, I took that same corner of Air Street and called out points in the scene which were noticeable to me, because I was the viewer. I turned these points into thaumatropes, showing the idea of the two time scales and how, as the thaumatrope spins, it creates an illusion that two images are one continuous image.

Reflection and a constructed image

Changing tactics, I investigated the idea of reflection and overlap. This came from filming a short train ride in which, by putting my camera close to the window, I captured not just what was passing outside the window but also the reflection of what was going on inside the train, as seen in the clips, an overlap of two places that are related in that moment. I was intrigued by that point of overlap, where one dissolves into the other.

reflected moments

The final drawing speaks to an ever changing point in time fixed around a stationary object, in this case the object is the table which I was drawn to in the dinner exploration. The table is a tool which people engage around. The inner circle shows reflections on the wall of what has been and of what may be, the reflected moments. Outside the circle there are trees and buildings and time changing and the world continuing its daily movement. A memory is constructed in the mind of the viewer as the viewer catalogues their experience for future reference. Memory provides an identity for who we are. These are two connected worlds in which we live. our unconscious and conscious, the physical and the virtual, now and memories. We exist in our own subjective world which is constructed through what we have done and where we come from but live surrounded by a world beyond our own skin.

ecological

animate people

peop

who instructs whom? cause & effect

relationships, context, patterns, processes, values a specific moment as part of a larger social structure nothing is meaningful in itself

c o nt 2

annotating a relevant data set

aesthetical

repetition of similar actions and motions the Characters play a role in the dynamics of the everyday sequence of steps and movements create a language

diachronic/synchronic

visual assimulations

ti m 4

seeing with two time scales synchronic, occurring at a specific point in time diachronic, occurring or changing along with time

ghost forest

enia

everyday universal event

establish proposal

this installation was choosen because the people were a part of the art piece, they surrounded and activated it, giving it life

din n

strategic tactics confirm proposal

food speaks to culture, values, geography, health, enjoyment people gather together around a table rhythm of the process of a meal a spatial environment is created over a meal

reflected moments

type

ti o n

ace

choreography of a moment

e nt

notational

/- s p 5

social systems

e xt

instructional

project within a project

animate & inanimate environment & people are inexitricably linked movement, activity, together create life of a city

revealing the invisible highlighting connections observing

e fl e c 7

an ever changing point in time fixed around a stationary object memories provide an identity for who we are idea of subjective realities

process map

lavender hill people a young mother is pushing her new born baby in a carriage, everyone they pass peers at the baby and makes that ‘oh so cute’ face. a pink scooter and matching pink helmeted driver sneak up through the line of cars and are the first off the line at the green light. a youth with a buzzed hair cut looks dressed for football practice as he saunters in the direction of the park.

the man wearing a nike hat, stops for a second and looks behind him, then continues in the same direction.

she get off the bus and is wearing a bright red scarf with matching red earrings.

a group of school girls, dressed in their uniforms of plaid skirts and red jumpers and knee high socks, amble down the street, they are loud, chatting and giggling, and unaware of anything but themselves.

they walk down a side street and turn the corner onto lavender hill, mother and son hand in hand, enjoying being together.

a trolly full of boxes is pushed into the Lavender Hill Food & Wine off-license.

the large, black lady, braids in her hair and a fluffy, fake fur trim lining the top of her coat, glances at the local area map on the bus stop sign, learning where she is.

two men peer into a red baby carriage, smiling.

the jogger winds his way down the street negotiating his path through the people and street furniture; wearing shorts and an adidas jacket, he is breathing hard.

a man with thick hair that is becoming speckled with grey, leaves the comic shop.

a toddler pushes his stroller while his father walks beside him, it is slow going as the little guy can’t see where he is going and continually hits posts and signs. an elderly man, hunched over, uses his cane to assists him with balance, moving at half speed in contrast to the other people’s speeds around him, he gets along though, slow and steady. a young mother weaning converse on her feet pushes a double stroller with two kids, boy and girl, seemingly a year apart; they pass the elderly man with the cane, heading in the opposite direction. the girl stands at the crosswalk waiting for the light to change green, talking on her mobile loudly. a couple of boys run out into the street, narrowly missing being hit by the bus, they just get to the other side safely. several people walk into The Italian Job Cafe, and then come back out and take their seats at a table on the sidewalk patio that is raised a step up. a small, silver, hatchback car is driven up onto the sidewalk and parked in front of an empty storefront. the driver, a man, get out and unlocks the store door, carrying some bags inside. a boy with a bright blue plaid shirt under a black jumper is carrying a large package, he walks just behind a tall black man in a similar black jumper who is listening to an ipod. a blond woman comes out the door of the Anthony Laban salon, looking fresh and put together after a hair style. biting her lip, the large woman seems concerned about something. a ladder is leaning up against a tool shop, it is for sale. the napoli pizza delivery guy comes out of the store, puts a stack of pizza boxes in the back box of his motorcycle and zooms off.

the full front of the cafe glazing is opened, the doors folded up accordion style, and two men sit in two reds chairs at the red table on the sidewalk, their bicycles leaning against the table, two tvs are playing inside.

two woman bump into each other on the corner, they stand there, catching up.

the business suited man carries bags of groceries in both hands. a young man in bright red trousers, walks with large strides in front of a vividly painted lime green facade of the a wood fired pizza restaurant. a boy in a green hood sits on a bench that is just off the sidewalk in a small, slightly overgrown plaza. he is alone there. a pretty mother stands at the crosswalk, holding a hand of each of the three kids - two identical boys and a girl - that are with her. a couple stops to looks at the adverts in the window of an agent’s office. an elderly, nondescript woman sits on a low brick wall under a large ASDA Superstore sign. a bouquet of white roses and red daisies and little yellow flowers are being carried by a lady. a group of men, with pints in hand, are leaning against the stone facade of The Falcon. a rush of people exit from clapham junction train station, flooding onto the sidewalk.

air street people an attractive young woman dressed in business attire is leaning against the arch off of Air Street, her long, dark hair tucked in between the stone facade and her shoulders, looking towards regents street, she stands motionless, only her hand moving to mouth, smoking. several construction men in their muddy boots, hard hats and neon vests take a cigarette break on the street, sitting legs crossed on a long piece of wood in front of the magenta pink wall that was put up around the site with advertisements of the new development on it. a man connected with the construction site, dressed in suit with neon vest over top, stands outside the gate looking important, pointing up high into the scaffolding, walkie-talkie in hand. a petite blond girl walks by, carrying several shopping bags, her boots clicking on the pavement, leading the way. a larger woman, dressed in a puffy white coat and holding some sort of small plant in her hands, perches in front of a white wall, chin in her hand. smiling, the brunette woman with dark hair and fringe over her forehead and eyes, looks across the street at a friend and waves. outside the chocolatier two elderly ladies are in conversation over coffee and sweets. three people- a young man, a young girl, and a short older woman- walk down the street side by side, none of them know each other. a business man dressed in pinstripe is entranced by his iphone, and not seeing anything around him he bumps into a girl walking her bike through the narrow confines of air street. several students are taking all sorts of pictures of whatever it is they find interesting in their observation of air street, click click click, mostly it is the buildings. a suave mid-age man in a long black coat strides under the arch, on his way from somewhere to somewhere else. outside the tapas cafe a larger middle-aged man comfortably rests, a coke and an empty plate sit on the aluminum table next to him. leaning against a green doorframe, a lady in red sends a text message. a woman and her son stop outside the newspaper stand, the woman buys a guardian paper. cycling up on his blue cruiser, the youth locks it to the pole of a street sign and with satchel over his shoulder and scarf wrapped around his neck, saunters around the corner. a crowd of people wait for the light to turn green to cross busy regent street, a couple brave or just impatient ones scamper over during the red light. a cement truck is guided by two men in orange jackets across air street and through the opened construction gates into the interior of quadrant 3 construction zone.

a woman in a mustard yellow jumper digs through her purse to rescue her ringing mobile while a man watches her from the corner. a balding man peers through the glazing into McDonald’s and then glances at the ‘big tasty with bacon’ advertisement, the glow of the golden arches on his face. the bike messenger squeezes with his bicycle through the crowd. inside Piggys at Picaddilly cafe a woman orders a drink and the server behind the counter takes her money, returning change to her and then handing her a coffee. inside the Bureau of Change three workers exchange money behind protective glass and type into computers. up high in the sky, a man controls the crane that moves all day, picking up and putting down heavy materials. a group of tourists walking on regents street toward picaddilly cross air street, undiscovered. a little boy wrapped in a green hoodie sits like a king atop his father’s shoulders. a trendy girls nods her head to the music heard only by her through her headphones. walking slowly in front of an ornamented fence, the business man shuffles through his briefcase. the elegant, aging woman with blond-white hair, dressed all in black with a gold necklace, stands in the middle of the sidewalk, staring intently at her mobile, typing. two particular men, one younger one older, both wearing spectacles, walk down the middle of the road, looking like a grown up version of father son.

I am interested in the everyday choreography of a city. In the way it moves and functions and lives, in urban spaces and street-life. More specifically, I am interested in people and their interactions with the city. Throughout each day I watch, I watch the movement of people and the movements that people generate and how these movements are directed by space and objects of a built environment.

I view a city as made of two parts that are choreographed together. (one) inanimate: the city ‘set’ as I will call it for now - buildings, machines, tools, vehicles, streetlights, doors, windows, pavement, sidewalks, etc - which are used, created or made to operate by humans. These inanimate objects only become valuable through their users, (two) animate: the living people who in using, constructing and engaging with the inanimate objects create movement, activity, and progress. Together these two parts create a living system that evolves and changes, bringing life to the city.

In the context of observing and experiencing the two sites (lavender hill and air street), I was most interested in the people: In their actions and movements, dress and habits, conversations and communication, in their ordinary day to day coming and goings. In considering the ways in which the site or ‘set’ they were a part of made them act (bus stop, crosswalk, table and chairs, curb, road, sidewalk, scaffolding, gate). In watching how people were using and giving life to machines, objects and tools (walking canes, cars, strollers, surveying, cameras, bicycles). In being curious about what circumstances, ideas, needs, brought about the design of the set. In noting the cultural variation and individuality present and yet also the similarity and conformity to an assumed way of life. There is much that you can interpret and assume about people through their visual cues, gestures, appearance and behavior.

These two images, created in response to my experience of the sites, speak to the fact that I see two facets of a city: animate and inanimate, people and buildings, as separate but linked entities. In separating the two parts, extracting the people from their surroundings and vice versa, one can begin to better perceive the relationship between them and the dependence each has on the other.

In the images, constructed site lines illustrate the perspective view of the buildings, making the viewer aware of their place as a viewer, that perception is in the eye of the beholder. The building-set has been reduced to a flat black and white image,

8 sends a text message. a woman and her son stop outside the newspaper stand, the woman buys a guardian paper and . cycling up on his blue cruiser, the youth locks it to the pole of a street sign and with satchel over his shoulder and scarf wrapped around his neck, saunters around the corner. a crowd of people wait for the light to turn green to cross busy regent street, a couple brave or just impatient ones scamper over during the red light. a cement truck is guided by two men in orange jackets across air street and through the opened construction gates into the interior of quadrant 3 construction zone. a woman in a mustard yellow jumper digs through her purse to rescue her ringing mobile while a man watches her from the corner. a balding man peers through the glazing into McDonald’s and then glances at the ‘big tasty with bacon’ advertisement, the glow of the golden arches on his face. the bike messenger squeezes with his bicycle through the crowd. inside Piggys at Picaddilly cafe a woman orders a drink and the server behind the counter takes her money, returning change to her and then handing her a coffee. inside the Bureau of Change three workers exchange money behind protective glass and type into computers. up high in the sky, a man controls the crane that moves all day, picking up and putting down heavy materials. a group of tourists walking on regents street toward picaddilly cross air street, undiscovered. a little boy wrapped in a green hoodie sits like a king atop his father’s shoulders. a trendy girls nods her head to the music heard only by her through her headphones. walking slowly in front of an ornamented fence, the business man shuffles through his briefcase. the elegant, aging woman with blond-white hair, dressed all in black with a gold necklace, stands in the middle of the sidewalk, staring intently at her mobile, typing. two particular men, one younger one older, both wearing spectacles, walk down the middle of the road, looking like a grown up version of father son.

air street people. an attractive young woman dressed in business attire is leaning against the arch off of Air Street, her long, dark hair tucked in between the stone facade and her shoulders, looking towards regents street, she stands motionless, only her hand moving to mouth, smoking. several construction men in their muddy boots, hard hats and neon vests take a cigarette break on the street, sitting legs crossed on a long piece of wood in front of the magenta pink wall that was put up around the site with advertisements of the new development on it. a man connected with the construction site, dressed in suit with neon vest over top, stands outside the gate looking important, pointing up high into the scaffolding, walkie-talkie in hand. a petite blond girl walks by, carrying several shopping bags, her boots clicking on the pavement, leading the way. a larger woman, dressed in a puffy white coat and holding some sort of small plant in her hands, perches in front of a white wall, chin in her hand. smiling, the brunette woman with dark hair and fringe over her forehead and eyes, looks across the street at a friend and waves. outside the chocolatier two elderly ladies are in conversation over coffee and sweets. three people- a young man, a young girl, and a short older woman- walk down the street side by side, none of them know each other. a business man dressed in pinstripe is entranced by his iphone, and not seeing anything around him he bumps into a girl walking her bike through the narrow confines of air street. several students are taking all sorts of pictures of whatever it is they find interesting in their observation of air street, click click click, mostly it is the buildings. a suave mid-age man in a long black coat strides under the arch, on his way from somewhere to somewhere. else outside the tapas cafe a larger middle-aged man comfortably rests, a coke and an empty plate sit on the aluminum table next to him. leaning against a green doorframe, a lady in red

‘We only see what we look at. To look is an act of choice….We never look at just one thing; we are always looking at the relation between things and ourselves.’

John Berger, Ways of Seeing

And so architecture must be both parts, animate and inanimate, because architecture is not just the buildings, it is more than that, it also includes the use and engagement of people with their surroundings.

air street

giving a recognition of a backdrop, of something to be played upon. And the people in the foreground are sketched with ink, rendering them a more fluid quality with a focus on faces and their expressions, individuals that make up an ensemble. A narrative description of the individual people and their particular actions that I observed is incorporated. The images take on a graphic quality through the removal of detail, plainly depicting the two parts as separate; that is what we see, but we know that the two parts are actually one, that they are inextricably linked together.

lavender hill people. a young mother is pushing her new born baby in a carriage, everyone they pass peers at the baby and makes that ‘oh so cute’ face. a pink scooter and matching pink helmeted driver sneak up through the line of cars and are the first off the line at the green light. a youth with a buzzed hair cut looks dressed for football practice as he saunters in the direction of the park. she get off the bus and is wearing a bright red scarf with matching red earrings. they walk down a side street and turn the corner onto lavender hill, mother and son hand in hand, enjoying being together. the large, black lady, braids in her hair and a fluffy, fake fur trim lining the top of her coat, glances at the local area map on the bus stop sign, learning where she is. the jogger winds his way down the street negotiating his path through the people and street furniture; wearing shorts and an adidas jacket, he is breathing hard. a toddler pushes his stroller while his father walks beside him, it is slow going as the little guy can’t see where he is going and continually hits posts and signs. an elderly man, hunched over, uses his cane to assists him with balance, moving at half speed in contrast to the other people’s speeds around him, he gets along though, slow and steady. a young mother weaning converse on her feet pushes a double stroller with two kids, boy and girl, seemingly a year apart; they pass the elderly man with the cane, heading in the opposite direction. the girl stands at the crosswalk waiting for the light to change green, talking on her mobile loudly. a couple of boys run out into the street, narrowly missing being hit by the bus, they just get to the other side safely. several people walk into The Italian Job Cafe, and then come back out and take their seats at a table on the sidewalk patio that is raised a step up. a small, silver, hatchback car is driven up onto the sidewalk and parked in front of an empty storefront. the driver, a man, get out and unlocks the store door, carrying some bags inside. a boy with a bright blue plaid shirt under a black jumper is carrying a large package, he walks just

behind a tall black man in a similar black jumper who is listening to an ipod. a blond woman comes out the door of the Anthony Laban salon, looking fresh and put together after a hair style. biting her lip, the large woman seems concerned about something. a ladder is leaning up against a tool shop, it is for sale. the napoli pizza delivery guy comes out of the store, puts a stack of pizza boxes in the back box of his motorcycle and zooms off. the full front of the cafe glazing is opened, the doors folded up accordion style, and two men sit in two reds chairs at the red table on the sidewalk, their bicycles leaning against the table, two tvs are playing inside. the man wearing a nike hat, stops for a second and looks behind him, then continues in the same direction. a group of school girls, dressed in their uniforms of plaid skirts and red jumpers and knee high socks, amble down the street, they are loud, chatting and giggling, and aware of only themselves. a trolly full of boxes is pushed into the Lavender Hill Food & Wine off-license. two men peer into a red baby carriage, smiling. two woman bump into each other on the corner, they stand there, catching up. a man with thick hair that is becoming speckled with grey, leaves the comic shop. the business suited man carries bags of groceries in both hands. a young man in bright red trousers, walks with large strides in front of a vividly painted lime green facade of the a wood fired pizza restaurant. a boy in a green hood sits on a bench that is just off the sidewalk in a small, slightly overgrown plaza. he is alone there. a pretty mother stands at the crosswalk, holding a hand of each of the three kids - two identical boys and a girl - that are with her. a couple stops to looks at the adverts in the window of an agent’s office. an elderly, nondescript woman sits on a low brick wall under a large ASDA Superstore sign. a bouquet of white roses and red daisies and little yellow flowers are being carried by a lady. a group of men, with pints in hand, are leaning against the stone facade of The Falcon. a rush of people exit from clapham junction train station, flooding onto the sidewalk.

lavender hill

animate : inanimate

â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;We interpret something by putting it into a particular context of concepts, values, beliefs or circumstances. To understand the meaning of anything we need to relate it to other things in its environment, in its past, or in its future. Nothing is meaningful in itself.â&#x20AC;&#x2122; Fritjof Capra, The Hidden Connections

motion & activity

I am interested in people, this is true, and within the notion of people, the idea that ‘no individual can exist in isolation’ (the hidden connections, fritjof capra) and that living systems are dependent on and linked with non-living systems, these nonliving systems being generated by the living systems. This leads me to the study of social systems: looking at the relationships, context, patterns and processes that are generated through networks of communication that are fundamental to human societies, and thus developing for myself a further awareness of what it is that interests me in people and how they live and communicate daily. In these images of the sites, I focused on motion and movement of people. I thought about: people, so what about them… peo-

ple, yes, they are alive (animate), and are constantly in a state of movement: what about capturing all the people that move through a street corner in the matter of a minute or two? and piling them all on top of each other to generate a documentation of what has passed in that specific moment. The idea being the formation of this virtual community of people who passed by each other within that specific moment I captured, and in turn recognizing that they are part of a larger social structure in which this occurs over and over every moment of every day. We are constantly passing strangers whom we don’t know on the street but we, all being part of a social structure, are connected with them in one respect through simply sharing the same circumstances.

social systems

b. mobile as this person is speaking on their mobile to someone who could be anywhere in the world, they are usually not fully participatory in this world that they are physically in. for all we can see, they are having a one-sided conversation with a little device, although we in fact know there is someone on the other end. the ‘texter’ also falls into this category, instead of speaking into the phone and seeing where they are heading, the ‘texter’ is often staring down into a little screen and typing a message to send to another mobile device as they walk, thus they have no notion of what is happening around them, and are more likely to bump into someone else or walk out in front of a car.

its seems thi realize that

h. stop, in t

g. pointi

this person is walking solo, they are on the way to somewhere and seem to have a clear idea of where that is, there is no hesitation, they are passing through, usually at a quicker pace than others but some are not in such a hurry. they are not too interested in what’s around them. the majority of people fit this description.

much of the time be separate from are out of their fresh eyes. they get them back on of the way agains directions, this is made.

a mother pushing his little munchk father with the c erness happens mo slower than the o ing the street, e

f. family

e. three’

there also can oc this can make wal behind. a group o corner to discuss

d. two

two’s are usuall two friends; it category, but is of stuff that wa looking importan things you might

c. headpho

quite similar to t this person is sli music playing that secret.

as this person the world, they physically in. a little device ‘texter’ also f seeing where th screen and typi they have no no bump into someo

b. mobile

a. the m

this person is w clear idea of wh ally at a quicke too interested i

the characters

a. the mover

man str man tru acr man man

c. headphones quite similar to the ‘mobile’ character and also fits within ‘the mover’ category. this person is slightly removed from what is happening in this world because of the music playing that only they can hear; it is like a personal soundtrack, a kept secret.

d. two’s two’s are usually in conversation. they can consist of couples, two women, two men, two friends; it is as yet undetermined if a person and their dog counts in this category, but is being considered. many times they are shoppers, carrying bags full of stuff that was just bought, or business men wearing their pinstripe suits and looking importantish. they are out for coffee or a bite to eat, or any number of things you might think up.

e. three’s there also can occasionally be found groups of three (or more) people walking together, this can make walking next to each other difficult as one person usually has to walk behind. a group of three tends to be less decisive, they can be found to stop on the corner to discuss where they are headed.

f. family a mother pushing her baby in a stroller, a toddler wobbling along, a father with his little munchkin riding piggyback. much of the time it is the mother or the father with the child, once in awhile they are all together- I imagine this togetherness happens most often on the weekends. because of the child, they tend to move slower than the others around them, stopping on corners to hold hands before crossing the street, etc.

g. pointing, lost & confused much of the time these three traits show up together, but sometimes a ‘pointer’ can be separate from ‘lost & confused.’ this person(s) is generally a tourist as they are out of their known setting and are more keen to notice what is around them with fresh eyes. they tend to have a guidebook or map that is taken out to reference and get them back on track, while referring to the book/map they also tend to move out of the way against a building’s edge. sometimes they will ask another character for directions, this initiating an interaction among strangers. sometimes a photograph is made.

man men rig wom wal man

h. stop, in the middle of the street its seems this character(s) get to the middle of the street and then suddenly realize that they don’t know where they should be heading, or they get distracted with something else around them, and they just stop, right there in the middle. stopping in the middle is sort of okay at this location as there is not high traffic and the street is small, but without fail a vehicle will drive up and honk their horn to get this character moving again. they are not necessarily tourists. many times they will stop, then turn around and head back the same way that they had come from.

i. stop, on the corner sometimes this occurs because the person has run into someone they know and an informal contact ensues before they separately continue on, this is a fun scenario. sometimes many people are stopped together on the corner to wait for a vehicle to pass, then en masse they continue on. sometimes a person alone just stops for a moment, for whatever number of reasons.

j. the cycler

this person has two speeds, either he/she is cycling by which means they pass quickly, sometimes having to dodge the pedestrians (especially the ‘texter’) or he/she is walking their bicycle wherein the narrow sidewalk becomes an obstacle course trying to get around people and the street furniture, etc. when walking the bike, the person may be looking for an unoccupied pole or railing upon which he/she can lock their bike to and then continue on to their final destination via foot. within the cycler category there can be found subcategories of: the ‘safety cycler,’ dressed in a bright neon vest and riding a ‘get you around town whatever’ bike; the ‘pro,’ very fit and riding a fancy, geared up, fast road bike; and the ‘too cool’ hipster in tight jeans riding a fixed gear, many times this is a bike messenger; among others.

woma away woma man1 left man1 righ men1

choreography of a passing moment ACT 1 man1: walks in front pushing a stroller man2: stops on near corner for truck to pass, then continues across the road diagonally man3: points, from opposite corner man4,woman5: stand, look at a map

1/f

2/i

4,5

2/i 4,5/g

4,5/g

head

shoulder hip

knee foot

direction of movement

3/g

2/i 4,5/g

2/i

3/g

2/i

3/g

2/i

ACT 2 man4,woman5: stand,look at a map men6,7: walk side by side, left to right woman8,man9: couple holding hands, walking closer man10: crosses left to right

8,9/d

6,7/g

8,9/d

10/a 4,5/g

6,7 4,5

4,5/g

8,9/d 10/a

8,9/d

4,5/g 6,7/g

10/a

8,9/d 10/a

8,9 10

ACT 3 woman11: crosses street heading away, on mobile woman12: stands on far left corner man13: walks bicycle around far left corner man14: crosses street left to right, texting men15,16,17: walk in a group, away

12/i 12 13 14 11

11/b 13/j

12/i

11/b

11/b 13/j 14/b

13/j

11/b 14/b

15,16/e

13/j 11/b 12/i 14/b

15,16,17/e

15,16,17

Within the site studies I have been observing and recording the social interactions of people using different methodologies. I visited Air Street at the lunch hour on a monday from say 11:30-1:00ish, and found an empty stoop in which I could sit out of the way and observe/record/notate what was happening around me. I began to notice a repetition by different people of the same motions and ways of moving through or interacting with the space occurring. These particular qualities started to sort themselves out as different Characters in my mind. Each Character playing a role in the dynamics of the everyday, specific to this time and place but with a universal quality to them.

Separately, but in connection with the Character development, I researched different types of notation used to record events. I was most intrigued with dance notation; it produces beautiful line forms that simply show motion, and it provides an applicable method for me to follow. I then used the ideas and symbology of dance notation to translate and notate a segment of what I observed from 12:35-12:38 on the 9th of November at Air Street. Each of the characters began to take on their own movement, the parts of a body following a sequence of steps and movements to create a language, which when written together, a choreography ensues. These Characters of Air Street are performing.

choreography of a passing moment

When I see the world I experience it through two time scales. In the first, the synchronic time scale, I see the moment, what is happening right then at that point in time, with time as a constant. This is only concerned with the NOW. I notice the typological characteristics, time of day, the weather, the season, the location, who is around me, what I am doing, where I am going; the everyday surroundings. Contrastingly, there is the diachronic time scale, with time as a variable. Diachronic is concerned with the way in which something has developed or evolved through time. When I look deeper, or want to know more, or question, I ask why it is that way, how it came to be that way. This ascertains a deeper knowledge of what you are looking at, sometimes you question and find out more after, and other times there is information that you have learned over the course of living which suddenly makes sense or in learning about a subject you start to see whatâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s around you differently. Once you know, you canâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t go back to the time where you did not know, this knowledge has become a part of you and will inform the way you see forever more. In dissecting the moment, I am looking for what it is made up of. I am looking at all the pieces, all the moments, that together create activity and the life of the city. I am not just looking for what is there now, but how it came to be. To me the story is the interesting part, everything becomes much more vivid and intriguing when you know a narrative behind it all. An interesting example of these time scales would be a Newspaper. The Newspaper prints the daily news, the now of everyday, the synchronic. But if you look at Newspapers chronologically through history the small incremental, diachronic movements begin to speak of a culture through time.

thaumatrope:

A disk or card with a picture on each side is attached to two pieces of string. When the strings are twirled quickly between the fingers the two pictures appear to combine into a single image due to persistence of vision. Persistence of vision is the eyeâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s ability to retain an image for roughly 1/20 of a second after the object is gone. In this case, the eye continues to see the two images on either side of the thaumatrope shortly after each has disappeared. As the thaumatrope spins, the series of quick flashes is interpreted as one continuous image.

synchronic: diachronic:

occurring at a specific point in time occurring or changing along with time

synchronic/diachronic moments

Seeing comes before words. The child looks and recognizes before it can speakâ&#x20AC;Ś The way we see things is affected by what we know or what we believe. John Berger, Ways of Seeing

This image is descriptive of how one experiences the world. The top layer is a charcoal sketch of what I saw on air street (synchronic) and the layer underneath is a montage of bits and pieces about me and what I have been thinking about and working on both recently and further back, these address and reveal how I see now, the background information on me (diachronic).

seeing

project within a project

1 at the National Gallery, choose an art piece that you are attracted to for any reason. 2 add to it as if defining a performative artifact of your very own; the artwork you find is a starting point, it should not be reproduced. 3 create an intervention that describes interest carried through your work so far.

choosing

I had chosen a painting from the National Gallery, when, upon leaving, I noticed people motioning out towards the square. We had been on such a mission to get to the museum, pick something, and get back that we had never actually seen what was around us. I followed the pointing finger from the man next to me out into Trafalagar Square and thought, hey look at that, that’s neat. In the square, laid horizontally on top of white plinths, were ten huge tropical tree stumps. They were beautiful sculptural objects in themselves with their roots all tangled together in the air. The larger story spoke to deforestation, visually representing what is happening to the world’s forests. Additionally I think I picked this piece because it was was surrounded and activated by people, instead of people standing and looking at paintings hung on walls, they were in a public square looking from all angles and levels. People were a part of the art piece.

ghost forest

‘The connection between deforestation and climate change, and the challenge to express that visually, is the basis for Angela’s most ambitious and logistically challenging work yet. The concept is to present a series of rainforest tree stumps as a ‘ghost forest’ – using the negative space created by the missing trunks as a metaphor for climate change, the absence representing the removal of the world’s ‘lungs’ through continued deforestation. Its location in Trafalgar Square is key: it is one of the world’s most visited tourist sites and the epicentre of Western industrialisation over the past 200 years. For the majority of visitors, the scale, beauty and diversity of the stumps will be unlike anything they have experienced before. Nelson’s Column stands over 50 metres (169 feet) tall, the approximate height many of these trees would have stood at in the wild.’

intervention

What interested me in the installation were the parts missing, the fact that what wasn’t there, the absence of, is what made you perceive the deeper meaning. What is unseen reveals more that what is seen. The void has a presence that is felt. I negotiated positive and negative space, solid and void and the hidden crossover where each dissolves into the other and the idea of two parts combining.

ten studies :: overlap of positive negative space

These are a series of quick models playing with what is solid and what is void, this duality of how we read space. The two which are most interesting to me are the thread ones in the forth row down; the threads dissolving into space as their density becomes less, looking at where that point of dissipation occurs, of one vanishing into the other.

paper tree :: remaking a treestump of newsprint

The idea was to remake a tree by using a material which began as trees before it went through man made industrialized processes. The cultural material being a stack of the left over free newspapers that London hands out every night. In the end I used the paper trunk to make a print. This is representative of one thing changing into another - a tree becoming a newspaper, my newspaper stump becoming a print - and of negative/ positive.

ghost forest : paper tree

people eat together

Eating is a commonplace, universal event; all people take part in this ubiquitous act each and every day the world over and yet it is also personal and specific to the individual. A meal tells of the culture and the geographical location of values and health. Eating is a daily necessity for basic nourishment, but it is also an act of enjoyment and pleasure. We eat with friends, we eat with family, we eat by ourselves, we eat at home or in restaurants, we eat food from other countries, we eat food from our country, we share, we converse. If it’s summer we eat fresh produce and barbeque outside, if it’s winter we eat warm cozy stews and mashes inside. A meal - the food and people gathering around the food - constructs an invisible spatial environment. A meal can take place anywhere, but that anywhere has a context that is incorporated with it, that anywhere has a story behind it.

dinner as a city

Lawrence Halprin, a designer of urban spaces, writes that, ‘Though we do not have a clear picture of the ideal form of a city, we do have a clear image of the purpose of an ideal city. This purpose is clearly to make possible a rich and biologically satisfying life for all the city’s people. What we are really searching for is a creative process, a constantly changing sequence where people are the generators, their creative activities are the aim, and the physical elements are the tools.’ (Halprin, Cities, p7) This purpose of an ideal city that Halprin speaks of can be liken to the purpose of a dinner. A dinner is a creative process with a ‘constantly changing sequence’ of actions that are generated by people using tools from the kitchen and tools that are grown from the land. A dinner invites the participation and interaction of people with each other, it is a carefully designed activity that also allows for spontaneous, unplanned moments.

dinner as a performance.

Halprin also states that ‘The city comes alive through movement and its rhythmic structure. The elements are no longer merely inanimate. They play a vital role, they become modulators of activity and are seen in juxtaposition with other moving objects.’ (Halprin, Cities, p9)

As with the city, a dinner is actually a series of small, familiar events that have a rhythmic structure to them - buying, preparing and cooking the food, serving it, eating the food, and cleaning up. Movement happens around the table; the table is the stationary object about which the activity of dinner is juxtaposed. All the elements are used together to make the meal.

this dinner

This dinner which plays out here is a special event, a thanksgiving feast. Thanksgiving, an American tradition taking place once a year on the forth thursday of November, has a long history to it: ‘The first Thanksgiving was celebrated to give thanks to God for helping the Pilgrims of Plymouth Colony survive the brutal winter. The first Thanksgiving feast lasted three days providing enough food for 53 pilgrims and 90 Native Americans. The feast consisted of fowl, venison, fish, lobster, clams, berries, fruit, pumpkin, and squash. William Bradford’s note that, “besides waterfowl, there was great store of wild turkeys, of which they took many,” probably gave rise to the American tradition of turkey at Thanksgiving.’ (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thanksgiving) The essence of this Thanksgiving, although celebrated in London and on Saturday, is the same as every year: cooking all afternoon, smells drifting from the oven, catching up with new and old friends over a glass of wine, eating far too much and then having pumpkin pie for dessert. It is a good time to be with friends. It is one day, one meal, which is repeated every year by all Americans, one meal which has a story about how it came to be and tells of the beginnings of a country, and yet one meal which will never be repeated in exactly that same place with those same people in that same context. It is a fixed moment in time.

‘Though we do not have a clear picture of the ideal form of a city, we do have a clear image of the purpose of an ideal city. This purpose is clearly to make possible a rich and biologically satisfying life for all the city’s people. What we are really searching for is a creative process, a constantly changing sequence where people are the generators, their creative activities are the aim, and the physical elements are the tools.’ Lawrence Halprin, Cities

dinner as a performance

the last supper historical

the union christmas dinner

family & friends, gathering together

eat at a table, a table as a tool

In the Christian Gospels, the Last Supper was the last meal Jesus shared with his Twelve Apostles and disciples before his death. The Last Supper has been the subject of many paintings, perhaps the most famous by Leonardo da Vinci.

In this illustration by Thomas Nast, Abraham Lincoln, representing the North, is holding out a hand of friendship to the South. The image shows Lincoln opening the door to a large banquet hall, and inviting hungry rebels in from the cold. This image is surrounded by images of scenes of surrender in the Civil War. The lower left inset shows Robert E. Lee Surrendering to Ulysses S. Grant. At the point Nast made this drawing, this was simply a hope, but it did occur within the next six months.

The idea of the family dinner as a time when everyone sits down to eat together, as a time to catch up on the daily happenings. Today, family does not necessarily mean only the people you are related to, family can be old friends and new friends, housemates, classmates, officemates, etc. The family meal brings people together over this simple act of eating, it is a moment to sit down and escape from busy lives, enjoying life.

A table is a simple object.

It can come in all shapes, sizes an materials - square, rectangular, oval or round - with legs attached that raise the horiontal plane up around two and a half feet off the ground. The table itself is insignificant here, as such it is simply an inanimate object, just a tool. But a table is brought to life through the ritual of eating food upon it. Smells, colors, foods, drinks, utensils, are placed on the table and people sit down around it, food disappears, hungry people become full, the table is cleared and cleaned until the next meal.

eat anywhere, food can travel

banquet meal, a celebration

food, cultural geography

motion of eating, movements

People generally eat on tables, at least in western cultures, but a table is not necesary for a meal. Eating can take place anywhere: on the grass, in a boat, in a car, on the curb of a street, or steps in a public space, there is a context but the context is changeable. What is important is the act of eating. The act of eating creates a spatial environment, a territory which envelopes the act.

A formal event which honors, remembers, celebrates an occasion will usually include a meal. The meal may be of several courses and have the correct table settings and people dressed fancy- it is elaborate and brings with it a ritualistic tradition. But this banquet ceremony is not so different from an everyday dinner in that at its core it includes people eating food together.

The food being eaten speaks to the culture and their customs, values, habits that are rooted in a long history and evolution. Much of this history has its basis in geographical location - the natural surroundings and climatic conditions - the tropics have a lot of bright fruits, cool and damp places eat warm and hearty stews. Food also depends on the season and what is available. Currently there is a movement for eating local, for organically grown produce and free range animals; this is an indicator of larger social issues.

The action and process of how people eat, hands and arms moving repeatedly back and forth from plate to mouth creates a motion that can be captured. The rest of the body is fairly still when eating.

There is a great amount that food says about a culture.

dinner. an everyday universal event

one

preparation chop, cut, stir cook set the table

two

carve the chicken serve the food fill the plate sit

three

pour the wine cheers glad to be together eat

four

food from plate to fork, fork to mouth , and then into belly plate empties

five

dessert so good so full sit back, converse if necessary lie on ground to stretch

dinner : rhythm of event

people in relation to the table

the table as a simple object that enables events to happen and activates a space.

dinner : gestures

‘In art, new ways of seeing mean new ways of feeling; you can’t divorce the two, as, we are now aware, you cannot have time with out space and space with out time.’ David Hockney

reflections in train travel In filming my journey on the train from hackney downs to liverpool street station, I captured not only what was passing outside the window but also the reflection of what was happening inside the train. That reflection and the overlap it creates is the most interesting part. When it’s dark outside (building or tunnel) the reflection of the inside is greater and vice versa- this is something which could be measured and controlled in other ways. Interestingly, even though I increased the speed of the footage, the feeling that it evokes is one of traveling in slow motion through the city. Reflection is a consequence of something else, it is looking back, remembering.

reflections / allusions

The Reflected Moment speaks to an ever changing point in time fixed around a stationary object. The table stands still while people and the outside world move around it. A reflection is created by a body or surface throwing back light, heat, or sound without absorbing it; it arises from a consequence of something else. The wall that encircles the table captures the reflections of the people who have inhabited and may inhabit the space around the table, the memories of them.

I find it curious the ways we as individuals remember. One person can remember something completely different about the same event than the person they experienced it with. A story about a time together with ten people will be retold by each in ten different ways. We don’t remember time in a chronological fashion, there are some moments which appear larger or get switched in time with other moments. People see varying things when experiencing the same moment.

the components

The moment is a point in time. It can be long or short. It can be used in many ways, we can: live for the moment, look at the moment, think any moment now, prepare for the moment of truth, be not a moment too soon, or ask for one moment please. A lot and a little can happen in a moment. Through time a memory of the moment can change, the details become blurred and we remember some parts and not others. A photograph holds onto the physical scene, which acts to spur a memory, but without having actually experienced the moment in the photo it has less value. A moment is removed from the rest of the movement of the world, it happens between people, or between a person and their experience. A moment occurs when someone recognizes it as a specific time in the course of time. A moment is constructed in the mind of the viewer as the viewer catalogues their experience for future reference.

Table :: A universal, everyday object around which people engage with each other, memories are created and people are removed from the constant spinning of the outside world. The Table stays still in its place in the center, it is stationary but people move about it, around it, sit at it, reach over it, put things on it, crawl under it. The table is shown after or before the event, it is empty of people. Reflecting Wall :: The wall reflects and gathers the motions, gestures and actions of the people who have participated in a moment around the table. It collects these reflections together in a memory. Train :: The train signifies repetitive movement through the world, of a person looking out and seeing the world go by through the window, not participating, simply watching. Trees :: Nature, the changing seasons, time moving in a annual speed. Buildings :: The city, human life, urban life, the constructed environment which humans build and activate and through which we move daily. Entry :: The hole into the Reflecting Circle allows one to access the memory of the moment from the world. Viewer :: This is the mind that is the storer of things remembered.

Our memories provide an identity for who we are. This brings me to the idea of dual realities: of memory and of real life, of local and global, of the individual and the collective, of the physical and the virtual. How each informs and strengthens the other, neither part is autonomous, the existence of one is conditional on the other. It is about living ‘in the moment’ but being surrounded by memories that create who we are and visions and desires of what the future may bring. At the same time that the world is becoming more and more global there is also a push towards what is local and knowing your community. We exist in the physical world but live surrounded by ‘a world beyond our own skin.’ (Rebecca Wright)

reflected moments

social space

01.2 reference catalogue

An image is a sight which has been recreated or reproduced. It is an appearance, or a set of appearances, which has been detached from the place and time in which it first made its appearance and preserved - for a few moments or a few centuries. Every image embodies a way of seeing. John Berger, Ways of Seeing

So when I say that architecture is not everything, I mean that there are other things in life, and simultaneously, I mean that there are things that are not architecture, but which fit round it so closely that they help to show what it is. Paul Shepheard, What is Architecture?

reference catalogue 1 Rebecca Horn 2 Jochem Hendricks 3 Sophie Calle 4 Dance Notation 5 David Hockney 6 John Baldessari

‘So I began to imagine lines in space that could be bent, or tossed, or otherwise distorted. By moving from a point to a line to a plane to a volume, I was able to visualize a geometric space composed of points that were vastly interconnected. As these points were all contained within the dancer’s body, there was really no transition necessary, only a series of “foldings” and “unfoldings” that produced an infinite number of movements and positions. From these, we started making catalogues of what the body could do. And for every new piece that we choreographed, we would develop a new series of procedures.’ William Forsythe, choreographer

The Portland progression, a choreographed sequence of open spaces. The space is choreographed for movement with nodes for quiet and contemplation, action and inaction, hard and soft, yin and yang… These places were for the first time designed to be used, to be participatory, NOT just to look at — they say COME IN not stay off… Lawrence Halprin

8 The City Dance of Lawrence and Anna Halprin As part of the Time Based Art festival in Portland, I saw the City Dance performance in 2008 which featured dancers in and around the Ira Keller, Lovejoy and Source fountains, as well as Pettygrove Park, all designed by Lawrence Halprin, with live music by members of the Third Angle New Music Ensemble. The piece was divided into four stages, each taking place in a different park with the audience traveling to each location guided by performers. Each location featured a different composer and choreographer with music starting before and trailing after the audience entered the space. This performance was beautiful and is significant in how each stage perfectly suited the public space that it was in, the spaces were enhanced and seen in a new way through the choreography of the dancer’s movements

reference catalogue 7 William Forsythe 8 Lawrence Halprin

Textured Glass (1998) Metropolitan Transit Authority These simple glass blocks, with their textures turned at angles to one another, serve as a reminder that even in similarity, otherwise overlooked backgrounds have vast differences, and that considered as a whole, those differences create a subtle beauty. The tension between the glass blocks and tiles serves to force the blocks into a separate plane from the surface.

I’ve always been fascinated by the elusive nature of silence. At its most simplistic, it’s the space between sound, a period of time without speech or noise. But silence seems much more complex than that and it’s certainly not always golden. We may crave it sometimes but it’s worth remembering our beginnings: we did not float in silence in the womb but in a rich cacophony of heartbeats and breathing, indications of a world beyond our own skin. 14 Rebecca Wright, Seven Silences

reference catalogue 9 Rachel Whiteread 10 Julien Pacaud 11 Improv Everywhere 12 Stu Loxley 13 Lead Pencil Studio 14 Claude Heath