the bartlett school of architecture 2010
* this understanding being as much for the author as for the reader.
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people
walker
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participant name:
how do we relate to the spaces that we inhabit each and every day ? ex•change
bridging the gap>
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>between thinking about>
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>and experienceing architecture ex•change
:: a big thanks to mom dad shaun pat kenzie lou guy & all the performance participants
all project work by_ kim walker 18 june 2010 design report the bartlett school of architecture university college london 2009 - 2010 tutor, shaun murray electronic mail, kimberlycwalker@gmail.com design blog, www.kimberlycwalker.tumblr.com reference blog, www.paperspaceinspire.tumblr.com independently produced at sixteen anton studios 2-8 anton street, e8 2ad, london, united kingdom
index 01
1
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getting started
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7
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begin at the beginning
03 29
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understanding the basics
04 47
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learning more
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69
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in review
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73
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bibliography
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79
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appendix
2 4 5
8 12 16 20 24 30 31 31 32 48 49 56 60 66 66 66 70 71 74 76
01.10 viewing people in architecture 01.20 noting the way of working 01.30 establishing the structure of this manual
02.10 02.20 02.30 02.40 02.50
03.10 03.20 03.30 03.40
looking at the choreography of the city defining people as editors of space interpreting time, motion & rhythm appreciating site specific performance deciphering documentation
choreographing, a passing moment seeing, synchronic/diachronic eating, dinner as a performance participating, a lived space
04.10 continue from before 04.20 determine, document & interpret the setting 04.30 define the roles of the characters 04.40 write the script 04.50 gather the toolkit 04.60 perform the script 04.70 document the performance
05.10 a larger context of the work 05.20 see the city perform
06.10 bibliography 06.20 references
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‘All the world’s a stage, and all the men and women merely players: they have their exits and their entrances; and one man in his time plays many parts, his acts being seven ages.’ [William Shakespeare]
01 getting started this section explains how to read this manual, providing a brief understanding of what, why & how this work is presented.
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01.10 viewing architecture as choreography
This work explores architecture through human involvement with it; it questions how we relate to the spaces we inhabit everyday. By investigating and being more conscious of these elements which are not architecture but which fit tightly around it informing and defining it - a more complete understanding of what architecture is can be found. The project is threefold, it begins by observing people in social environments within London and developing time based methods of working with image and language to communicate the interdependency that an environment and the people within it have on each other. The final project proposes to explore this understanding further through a site specific performance, using human participation as a vehicle for bridging the gap between thinking about and experiencing architecture. The performance will take place in the Exchange Square, a public space that is privately owned. Located in the financial district of The City in London, the Exchange Square is part of a large, singleuse development that is activated by people during the work week and void of them on the weekend. The performance will construct and record the making
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of a hybrid space in this Square, inserting people there on a sunday and, through their participation, creating a sequence of temporary stage sets that articulate the reciprocal relationship between form and action. Architecture, in this project, is seen through the lens of choreography. ‘All the world’s a stage,’ as Shakespeare eloquently tells us, and thus in this work the city is examined as an ongoing choreographed performance made up of characters who play their particular roles which are displayed as unique rhythms and movements set within the stage of the built environment. The architecture of this project is communicated through the human language of small habitual stories based in the contemporary urban landscape. People are editors of space. The sense of a physical space can change tremendously depending if people are present or not. How they situate themselves and act within it is defined by the physical forms in the space, and vice versa, the physical forms are defined by the desired actions. Thus it becomes a reciprocal relationship between people and the built environment, each in turn defining the other. People attract other people; the success of a public space in a city is dependent on them to create activity and interest in the environment. The pulses and patterns that people create and which are found within the intersection of social and physical space are explored in this work.
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01.20 noting the way of working
The iterative methods of making the work shown in this report have evolved throughout the length of this course. There is a relationship between what is being stated in the project - about people animating space, about architecture being lived in, messy, forever unfinished, and made of many small repetitive elements - and the intuitive way of working. It is less concerned with perfection - allowing things to be a bit untidy seems somehow to give more depth, more life, more interest in the drawing by showing the motions of how it came about. In talking about gesture and the uniqueness of people, a hand quality is added back into the drawings, over photographs and into the assembly of the report; marks and making that come from the movement of the hand and the hand’s connection to the body. Through discussing the use of time in choreography, a language of step by step geometric notation is denoted, connecting lines and points, overlaying a sequence of images together. Language has also been essential, developing a lexicon to describe the movements of the characters in combination with the image to tell the story.
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01.30 establishing the structure of this manual
This report is organized in three major sections that come between the beginning and the ending. The first section, Begin at the Beginning, identifies the interests and references which have been used in establishing the territory of the work. The second section, Understanding the Basics, shows the investigations from the first two terms, demonstrating the development of the main idea and the tactics of working to produce drawings which visualize these ideas. The third section, Learning More, ties these previous two together in a final work that delves deeper into the concepts, illustrating an understanding and evolution of what it is that people bring to a place.
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this mark denotes supplemental material to be found in the appendix
[ ]
material within [ ] denotes an author/artist/ title of the quote/drawing/work, further information to be found in the bibliography at the back.
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Please take the thoughts/ opinions/ideas/images/ drawings found in this manual as those expressed solely through the subjective view of the author. It is the wish of the author that the reader use this manual as a basic guide, in turn finding their own interpretation of the material, customizing it to their individual preferences and implementing it within their daily experience of the city. It is the hope that this is just a beginning.
‘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?
02 begin at the beginning this section identifies the territory of the work by establishing the many talented & stimulating artists/ architects/choreographers/writers/ philosophers/people* who have come before to be used as references and inspiration in this project.**
* Some newly discovered
and others happily rediscovered in relation to the subject. Due to space constraints, not all these artist/ architects/choreographers/ writers/philosophers/ people are discussed here, please see reference blog for more.
**
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[http://www.roh.org.uk/discover/ballet/asone.aspx]
[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Choreography]
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02.10 looking at the choreography of the city
The study and analysis of the movements of people in the city as a choreography has been a core subject to this project. Choreography is the art of designing sequences of movements in which motion, form, or both are specified; the sequence is designed by working between inherent tectonic, social, cultural, kinetic, and representational qualities. Choreography may also refer to the design itself, which can be expressed by means of dance notation. The elements that go into a production at the theater or ballet - composer, director, set design, costume design, lighting design, choreographer, sound - are all likewise found layered together within the everyday choreography of the city; people are part of an ongoing performance in which their movements, actions, mannerisms, gestures, and behaviours not only add to, but also create the life of a place. People are found in recurring sequences that tell a story of a space defined through their presence and position within it in relation to the inanimate contextual objects. The Ballet entitled As One, is inspired by the everyday urban environment. The choreographer, Jonathan Watkins, says it came out of ‘watching a block of flats from the outside, witnessing so many people inhabiting separate spaces, side by side, without connection.’ Watkins creates five slices of life that represent typical urban living patterns: from the sociable to the isolated, the career-obsessed to the couch potato. The work is about ‘knowing who you are,’ says Watkins, and becomes a comment on both man’s unique identity and place within
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[As One] a ballet by choreographor Jonathan Watkins
[William Forsythe] the lines that the body can make in space
a wider social group. William Forsythe’s methods of choreography are algorithmic in nature and create a distinctive style of movement and interaction. He discusses this in a conversation with The Open Group: ‘Since I work primarily with ballet dancers, I analyze what they know about space and their bodies from their intensive ballet training. I’ve realized that in essence ballet dancers are taught to match lines and forms in space.... 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
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(http://openendedgroup.com/index.php/publications/conversations/forsythe/)
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.’ He continues, connecting notation, performing and recording as a new way of making art, ‘My own dances reflect the body’s experiences in space... once you begin to analyze the nature of an event carefully, as we did with ballet, you begin to see completely new possibilities for counterpoint... This logic is simply about creating ways to connect... I imagine that in this new form, performance and recording and notation, three strands of the performing arts that have always been separate will be fused. So that you can have the notation shaping the performance, the performance shaping the recording, the recording shaping the notation, and so on.’ In architecture physical elements suggest certain actions, choreographing people moving in space. Diller & Scofidio’s Para-site installation project at the Museum of Modern Art in New York uses the physical construct of the building to interpret and re-contextualize the visitor’s viewing of the institution. Starting at the entrance they note that in substitution of ‘the ceremonial grand stair of the historic museum, which elevated art into a privileged domain above the abject street, is a set of escalators within the museum lobby... Their slow mechanical motion, however, perfectly updates the grand stair’s other function: to serve as a stage for the exhibitionistic display of moving bodies.’ (Diller & Scofidio, 1994; 166) In another way, architecture can be used to choreograph spaces together. The landscape architect Lawrence Halprin developed a philosophy of design that
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reached far outside of the confines traditionally imposed by the architectural field. In collaboration with his wife, postmodern dancer Anna Halprin, they re-imagined the movement of people in space and rethought spaces for people to move in. The City Dance of Lawrence and Anna Halprin took place as part of the 2008 Time Based Art festival in Portland, Oregon. It was a performance using dancers and live music choreographed specifically for a sequence of public spaces that had been designed by Halprin to be participatory and activated by the interaction of people. The piece was divided into four stages, each taking place in a different park with the audience guided by the performers from one park to the next, the music starting before and trailing behind the audience along the path.
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[performance] the city dance, portland, oregon
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02.20 defining people as editors of space
The work is interested in how people can be active participants within a space, in how they become editors of it through the ways in which they use and engage in a practical way with their environment. People modify a space as they move within it and place themselves in relation to the physical forms around them. Henri Lefebvre, the French sociologist and philosopher well known for studying the social production of space writes that ‘bodies produce space by introducing direction, rotation, orientation, occupation, and by organizing a topos through gestures, traces, and marks. The formal structure of these actions, their ability to refunctionalize existing urban spaces, and the visual power of the supporting props contribute to the creation of public space,’ (Torre, 1999; 249). A group of women in Argentina known as the Mothers of Plaza de Mayo formed a silent march encircling the May Pyramid in the central public plaza as a literal response to the police’s demand that the women ‘circulate.’ In doing so they appropriated the plaza as a stage for the enactment of their plea. ‘Their ability to redefine that space is suggestive that the public realm exists not just by buildings and the spaces formed in between them but instead is represented by social actions,’ (Torre, 1999; 243). ‘Public space is produced through public discourse, and its representation is not the exclusive territory of architecture, but is the product of the inextricable relationship between social action and physical space,’ (Torre, 1999; 249). The film Houselife by the filmmakers Ila Bêka and Louise Lemoine displays the well known House in Bordeaux designed by Rem Koolhaas/OMA in an unfamiliar light. The film ‘focuses less on explaining the building, its struc-
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[film still] Koolhaas HouseLife
[diller & scofidio] Para-Site installation, modern museum of art
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[http://www.whitechapelgallery.org/exhibitions/sophie-calle-talking-to-strangers] [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Choreography] [http://www.koolhaashouselife.com/html/the_film.html]
ture and its virtuosity than on letting the viewer enter into the invisible bubble of the daily intimacy of an architectural icon,’ presenting a new way of looking at architecture. The film shows the daily involvement of the users with the building, its imperfections, showing the life of a building through values which are not merely aesthetical. The filmmakers are interested in understanding what happens ‘as soon as a person starts inhabiting a place’, and Rem Koolhaas, watching their film, said: ‘what I find interesting in [the] film is the way it shows daily participation. It is not flattering, but is realistic, and with no bad intentions. Just a sort of documentary on practical engagement and on its results... And for me it is very beautiful because it creates a certain stability, it stabilizes the image.’ Improvisation in choreography provides dancers with a score, a set of generalized directives that serve as guidelines for movement and form and offer a wide latitude for personal interpretation by the dancer. When navigating the daily life of the city, spontaneous situations occur in which people have to improvise their plans or actions. This adds interest to one’s day and meaning to life by questioning daily routines and behaviours. The artist Sophie Calle uses improvisation in her work documenting social interactions and encounters that she sets in motion, presenting compelling narratives that are part journalism, anthropology and psychoanalysis, as well as literature, diary and photo novel. In her project The Bronx, 1980, Calle asked residents of the south Bronx in New York to take her to a place of their choice. Through this she relinquishes control of the situation and ends up with something more powerful, revealing an object’s personal meaning to tell a story. And in ‘The Gotham Handbook,’ a collaboration with novelist Paul Auster, he gives her instructions on how to improve life in nyc which she followed by fixing up a phone booth in her own unique way.
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[Sophie Calle] The Gotham Handbook
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02.30 interpreting time, motion & rhythm
The city is not a static thing, and thus it’s kinetic qualities must be interpreted in this work within some kind of time frame. The cultural anthropologist Edward Hall writes in his book, The Dance of Life, that, ‘Time is treated as a language, as a primary organizer for all activities, a synthesizer and integrator, a way of handling priorities and categorizing experience, a feedback mechanism for how things are going, a measuring rod against which competence, effort, and achievement are judged as well as a special message system revealing how people really feel about each other and whether or not they can get along,’ (Hall, 1983; 3). Motion happens within a time frame, it is a sequential action and can noted as a change of position with respect to a reference system of space
‘Time can be a metaphor for all of culture. I.I. Rabi, a physicist, said ‘The real answer was given only in this century by Einstein, who said, in effect, that time is simply what a clock reads. The clock can be the rotation of the earth, an hourglass, a pulse count, the thickness of geological deposits, or the measured vibrations of a cesium atom.’ They all have one thing in common: each is a physical mechanism, however, culture’s clocks add dimensions to physical time.’ [Edward Hall] The Dance of Life
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coordinates (Kepes, 1965; p. i). A rhythm, as seen in the repetition of a motion, is the very essence of time. Equal intervals of time define a sequence of events as rhythmic. Through his proxemic research films studying the space between people, Hall found three things that were apparent from the beginning: ‘(1) Conversational distances were maintained with incredible accuracy; (2) the process was rhythmic; and (3) human beings were locked together in a dance which functioned almost totally outside awareness,’ (Hall, 1983; 154).
[E.J. Marrey] Study of Human Movement
[Bruno Munari] Articulated Sculpture
In his book The Production of Space, Henri Lefebre writes that ‘architectural volumes ensure a correlation between the rhythms that they entertain and their musical resonance. It is in this way, and at this level, in the non-visible, that bodies find one another. Should there be no echo to provide a reflection or acoustic mirror of presence, it falls to an object to supply this mediation between the inert and the living: bells tinkling at the slightest breeze, the play of fountains and running water, perhaps birds and caged animals.’ (Leach, 1997; 142) The architects Todd Williams & Billie Tsien emphasize the need to slow down time in the design work that they do. ‘Our desire to
[Diller & Scofidio] slow house
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http://www.twbta.com/#/2204
[photograph] when the lights turn on the city goes by
continue to use the tools of the hand, even as we may begin to use the computer, has to do with their connection to our bodies. Buildings are still constructed with hands, and it seems that the hand still knows best what the hand is capable of doing. As our hands move, we have the time to think and to observe our actions... So, decisions are made slowly, after thoughtful investigation, because they are a commitment that has consequence. It is better to be slow.’ In his essay ‘Motion, Sequence and the City,‘ Donald Appleyard speaks of the daily sensation of movement that we experience in the the city. ‘As the pace of travel quickens, and the cities continue to spread, motion increasingly saturates the urban experience. It is evident in the painter’s brush, the blurred photograph, the movie of urban life. And each day, most of us, by one mode or another, travel through the city. It is not always a pleasant experience. Clutter, congestion and hazard see to that. But there
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[photograph] wheels turning standing still
are moments and there is a potential for great delight. Motion can bring a sense of freedom, vividness and power to city travel. It can enliven a dead scene. And it plays a primary role in the formulation and communication of the city image, its structure and meaning, for the city is apprehended as we move within it (Kepes, 1965; 176).
‘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 without time.’ [David Hockney]
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[http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/663123/performance-art]
> 02.40 Appreciating site specific performance The cumulative piece of work for this project will be a performance. This utilizes a group of people to perform certain actions as an ephemeral ‘event’ through a combination of time, space, the human body, and a relationship between the performers and the audience. The actions in this performance are specific to the site that it takes place within. Architecture and site specific performance art share many of the same basic fundamentals through their engagement with space and use of place as a strong influencing factor in the design process. Within a performance, props and instruments are used both in performing and documenting the performance. These extensions are ‘a particular kind of tool that not only speed up work and make it easier but also separate people from their work... Extensions are rooted in specific biological and physiological functions; they can be viewed as externalized manifestations of human drives, needs, and knowledge, and they even reflect our unconscious drives,’ (Hall, 1983; 129).
[Bodies in Urban Space] by choreographer Willi Dorner
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http://www.guggenheim.org/new-york/exhibitions/past/exhibit/3305 [http://kreiderandoleary.wordpress.com/category/video-shakkei/]
The performance, installation and multimedia artists Kreider + O’Leary make their work in relation to sites of architectural and cultural interest. In their project ‘Video Shakkei’ they drew from the Japanese practice of shakkei, or ‘borrowed landscape,’ by visiting a number of selected sites in Japan ‘to perform a sequence of actions or ‘live drawings’ in response to the spatial and material qualities of each location. The actions were recorded simultaneously from differing points of view using two hand-held and two miniature high definition video cameras... It was an exploration of the nature of the ‘captured’ architectural drawing, proposing a relationship between architectural site, performative action and time-based drawing.’ The traditional context of the museum acts as a site for Tino Sehgal’s art. He constructs situations that defy the expected experience in those environments, ‘focusing on the fleeting gestures and social subtleties of lived experience rather than on material objects. Relying exclusively on the human voice, bodily movement, and social interaction, Sehgal’s works nevertheless fulfill all the parameters of a traditional artwork with the exception of its inanimate materiality.’
‘If you’ve ever wanted to see the interior of the Guggenheim Museum in its pristine state, now’s the time. For the solo show of the young European artist Tino Sehgal, the great spiraling rotunda, recently ablaze with Kandinskys, has been cleared out. There isn’t a painting in sight. Yet the space isn’t empty. On the rotunda’s ground floor, a man and woman entwine in a changing, slow-motion amorous embrace. On the ramps above, people walk and talk in pairs or clusters at a leisurely pace, with new participants periodically joining conversations as others drop away. Mr. Sehgal’s art is made up almost entirely of such balletic tableaus and social encounters.... Still, at the end... I felt stirred up, but light and refreshed, the way I sometimes — but not that often — do when I feel that I’ve met art in some very bare-bones way. It really is about life. It really is about communication. It really does have no answers.’ [Holland Cotter] ‘In the Naked Museum: Talking, Thinking, Encountering’
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The performance ‘Nights in this City’ took place in Sheffield in 1995 and Rotterdam in 1997 as a guided tour of the city at night. Tim, one of the directors, records his thoughts about the work in a letter: ‘What a strange project this is, with its audience and performers inside a bus - slipping through the centre of its cities and out of control... with versions of truth both legitimate and illegitimate. In the end perhaps it is simply a guided tour of the unremarkable, of the banal made special. The text we’ve created - pointing out buildings, street corners, car-parks, patches of wasteground - is always overlaid with other texts - with the whispered or even shouted texts of other passengers (‘That’s where I used to work... That’s the place where...’) and the silent text of actions created by those living and working in the city as the bus moves through it. Sometimes it seems as if all we have to do is gesture to the windows and ask people to look,’ (Kaye, 2000). Enclosed in this letter is the essence of what this project hopes to capture: that by asking people to do something, another story will unfold from it. It ends up being less about performing specific actions and more about the unknowns that those actions may lead to, it is about setting up a framework that acts as a prompt for unplanned moments to happen within.
left [Nights in this City /sheffield 1995/ /rotterdam 1997] diverse letters and fragments relating to a performance now past opposite page [page one, ten feet and three quarters of an inch of theater] a documentation of a site specific theater work Tri Bywyd performed by Brith Bof
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[Baldessari Exhibit, 2009; Tate Modern]
[New Oxford Dictionary]
>
02.50 understanding documentation
A large part of architecture and consequently the work of this project is the process of visually representing and documenting an idea to be able to communicate it to others. The ways of documenting are as varied as there are people and the methods used are descriptive of the individual and that which is being presented. Notation, a type of documentation, is a series or system of written symbols used to represent numbers, amounts, or elements in something such as music or mathematics. Throughout his artwork, John Baldessari uses a combination of image & language, creating a relationship between the two. In one way he combines them in order to create the possibility of multiple readings and in another, by placing mundane and meaningless images together he is able to construct a narrative or emphasize a viewpoint or emotion. His use of a script and storyboard format is of interest to this project in how he displays images sequentially to explore different scenarios, suggesting multiple narratives. The lengthy titles become a necessary part of understanding and reading his work. When asked to document their site specific theater work Tri Bywyd for a book, the performance group Brith Gof created a piece of work that asked for the reader to follow a set of instructions detailing how
‘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
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[Bernard Tschumi] The Manhattan Transcripts
[labnotation] from ‘Two Ecstatic Themes’ [John Baldessari] Throwing four balls in the air to get a square (best of 36 tries)
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[dance notation]
(http://kreiderandoleary.wordpress.com/category/video-shakkei/)
to extend the documentation by photocopying, enlarging, cutting away the margins, placing the pages in sequence and taping them together to create a document that will be one foot three inches high and ten feet and three quarters of an inch long, and then to colour onto the areas indicated. (Kaye, 2000). This allowed the documentation to fit within the required format while also giving the reader a part in the documentation process. In the documentation of their project ‘Video Shakkei,’ Kreider + O’Leary created a series of drawings as word-and-image composites, reflecting on the process and practice of site-specific performance and time-based drawing. These were then edited together into filmic composites with a likeness to the architectural drawing, ‘the result is a series of hyperdigitized, absurdly choreographed and poetically rendered filmic images of place relating the landscape or architectural space to performed event, and this to narrative sequence.’ This way of working through word and image and time-based drawings is found within and will be refined in this project’s work.
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[Kreider + O’Leary] Video Shakkei: Post-Performance Drawings
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‘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.’ [Fritjof Capra] The Hidden Connections
03 understanding the basics this section provides a knowledge of the development of the work. It shows a couple investigations that established the framework within which the project has been built upon.
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The course has been made up of a continuous series of small, overlapping investigations which have built upon and drawn pieces from each other. It has not been a linear process, instead progress is made by jumping around - three steps forward, two sideways, one back - as if a choreography - then pulling the repeated bits of these tested ideas together. The broad elements of time and movement as described within a social context and experienced through the personal view of people have remained a consistent thread woven throughout the work. Shown are four investigations which have been significant in framing the interests of the project and defining a personal architecture, setting the structure for the final project. Through these projects, the evolution of ideas, interests, tactics and graphic techniques can be seen.
^ reography of a passing m > 03.10 choreographing, a passing moment
a
term one
r
orner map
1/f head shoulder hip knee foot direction of movement
[notation drawing] showing act one, stanza one, a script of the passing moment, dance notation used as reference
At the beginning of the first term the idea of choreography and the city appears. This investigation 1/f observes and records the social interactions and movements of people within an intersection, using dance notation to make a written choreography out of these captured sequences.
^ 3/g
^
2/i 4,5/g
^
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Due to space constraints in the main body of this manual, please see the appendix for a complete description.
2/i 4,5/g
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03.20 seeing, synchronic/diachronic term one
^ ^
On the same intersection as used in the previous investigation, the environment of the site was studied, looking at how people see and experience their movement through the city on two time scales. These being: (one) synchronic, occurring at a specific point in time, dealing with the right now. And (two) diachronic, occurring and changing along with time, giving the meaning and reasons [pen drawings] showing two images that combine to form one, behind what we see. evoking the two time scales
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03.30 eating, dinner as a performance term one
^ ^
The simple event of sitting down at a table over food is a common act that brings people together, making them stop for a moment in the day and interact face to face. It is composed of the same actions and sequence, yet each iteration plays out a bit differently. In this investigation two corresponding parts are found: (one) the simple object of a table as an enabler that engages people, and (two) the analogy of a dinner that happens around a table to the purpose of an ideal city. [photographs] the table in four states of use through dinner
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> 03.40 ParticipatinG, a lived space
term two
In the second term performance in architecture was examined, looking at the engagement of people with other people through their environment. This investigation identifies the structure for what the final piece of work will be, and shows the evolution of drawing techniques and tactics. The work was developed in three parts: The first part, defines the location and elements of a staging area where space is continually being shaped and reshaped by people, acting as a frame for social performance. The context used is the west plaza of Covent Garden and the grand Hall of the Royal Opera House. Within these two places the focus is on the people who are watching the performance; the audience as an integral part of the show, reshaping the context as it circulates as both a body in itself and made out of individual bodies to form the whole. The second part locates specific human sequences found in the staging area and defines them as characters through their actions and movements. Within the staging area people behave in certain ways and passing movements, actions, and gestures of individual people are captured and examined. These captured instances reveal something of what lies beneath the surface of that which is seen, shaping a temporary space that is continually changing, imitating itself over time. In his book Lights Out for the Territory, Ian Sinclair explores those marks people leave behind, discovering that ‘the physical movements of the characters across their territory might spell out the letters of a secret alphabet,’
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(Sinclair, 1997; 1). When calibrating human sequences, the movement or action becomes a language, as a diagram in time, slowing everything down and measuring the incremental and individual gestures that are combined together to form a whole movement. The notions of Diller & Scofidio as they re-question the role of people as both participants and observers throughout the multidisciplinary work that they do crossing performance and architecture were an influential source when thinking about the active participant within architecture. ‘Perhaps it is the personal interaction with the meaning of a narrative, in film or other experience,
[graphic collage] linking street and theater performance spaces in covent garden
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which is the pre-eminent concern today. The fixed scene and action of the theatre is discarded for the reactive improvisation of street performance. The emphasis like jazz is on unique event, not bounded by a closed form but constructed around a recognized format. The spectacle includes the spectators who define it by their presence and active interpretation.’ [Diller & Scofidio: Ritual, Architectural Review Feb. 1989, p54] Lastly, the third part deals with reconstructing the scene. The movements of the characters and their expressions are used to connote forms. In observing, replicating and composing the movement, gestures and orientation of a body caught in an action, a story emerges that describes a character. The captured sequence is further articulated by measuring the step by step motions and calibrating the shifting space and sense of expansion and contraction in between the movements, giving form to the actions. The recomposed scenes explore a sense of the spatial environments created by people through their incremental movements. Combining the individual characters’ calibrated instances creates new sequences that blend together as one. Traced marks that embed the movements and gestures into a surface create forms and shapes. Recomposing these scenes involves the mapping of geometries and patterns which people generate in space. The graphic techniques developed through term two produced drawings through a process of adding layers, transforming one iteration then working on top of that. The process tended to begin (1) with photography, combining a series of photographs together to show movement over time, (2) this image was next cropped, edited, and drawn over using vectors in the computer, (3) subsequently this iteration was print-
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ed out on transparencies, cut up and joined three dimensionally with other materials (wood, thread, fabric) and (4) then this model was lit and re-photographed, (5) and finally a printed copy was drawn over by hand in pencil, adding movement through the hand. Bits of one sequence were reused to make another drawing, showing an unfinished process where one ending is the beginning of something else, where each part pulls from and builds upon another.
By stitching these images together, a sequence of movement through time in the space is shown. [photograph series, top] plaza at covent garden, people gathering and dispersing through time for each streeet performance [vector drawing, bottom] the shapes formed through the ebb and flow of people in the plaza
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[mixed media, left] site context, the plaza at covent garden [mixed media, bottom] the street performer orchestrating the passing people to form an audience around him
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[mixed media, right] site context, the grand hall at the royal opera house [mixed media, bottom] to see & be seen, the performance is found in the people observing & performing for each other
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example*,character[s] two; mother & son, break/reconnect The small child, eyes wide taking in the excitement of the plaza, sneaks his hand from his mother’s grasp, running, stumbling away from her and finding the brick wall, placing his hands on the brick wall to steady himself. The mother, watches, then as instinctual habit, as protector, follows after, gathering her child’s small hand back into hers.
* for this project four characters were developed, only one is presented here.
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[photographs, left] series showing movement and action of the characters [vector drawing over photograph, opposite page], handhold; calibrating the human sequence of the characters’ actions [pencil over photocopies, bottom] shift apart, as one; developing the forms of the movments that define the characters through their actions
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[left page, pencil] cropped parts of larger drawings, indicating shifts of the characters’ forms [this page, charcoal] reconstructing the scene, the invisible intersections which the characters leave as traces
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[iterative drawing, mixed media] reconstructed scene, the characters crossing paths and the constructions found within them
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[iterative drawing, mixed media] reconstructed scene, two points of view in the grand hall
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[iterative drawing, mixed media] reconstructed scene, the crowd as one form made from many
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[iterative drawing, mixed media] reconstructed scene, double take
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‘This is one of the concerns of performance art - the reinvention of the art of action which is the art of the exercise. The exercise is not a drill done for some more obvious purpose. The exercise is done for itself. Doing something for itself is a very deep purpose. The exercise is action. And without action nothing made can be begun.’ [Anthony Howell & Fiona Templeton] Elements of Performance Art
04 learning more this section brings the previous investigations & research together into a cumulative project that is presented as a site-specific performance.
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The story of this particular performance uses human participation as a vehicle for exploring and being more conscious of: [1] how we relate to the spaces we inhabit, bridging the gap between thinking about and experiencing architecture; [2] the reciprocal relationship between form and action; [3] visible and hidden boundaries within social space which shape a place; [4] the temporary reconstruction of a given landscape - making something new out of the ordinary, forming a stage set from the everyday urban setting.
>
04.10 continue from before, a reconstructed scene
This work begins at the point that the previous term left off: with the idea of ‘reconstructing the Scene.’ The Scene is a slice of everyday life that plays out within the city: the movements of people in and through the public domain and the ‘sensuous form of a sequence derived from the succession of motion, mass, space, light, surface detail, activity and goals,’ (Barley, 2000; 183). There are four parts to this project. The first part observes the Scene as it occurs at the site during both the lunch hour of a weekday and a weekend day. The elements of a choreography - sound, dialogue, lighting, movement, characters, props, and set - are
48
recorded. The second part interprets these elements, editing them together to reconstruct the Scene into a script which rearticulates the space. The third part is the performance of this script. The final part is the post-performance documentation; this uses the material recorded in the performance and through a combination of film, models and drawings contrasts, compares and reveals the different spaces which separately shape the same place.
>
04.20 determine the setting
The performance will be sited in the public realm of the urban landscape. In a city people are drawn to places where they see other people; a public space with people in it can feel vibrant and animate. While, if you take the people out of this same context, it becomes lifeless, feeling eerie and leaving a vacuum of something missing. Today’s culture of building has become one of developers amassing large real estate holdings together and building vast developments. In America the current trend of shopping mall design is to create a quaint ‘town center’ with brand-name corporate retail lined streets and plazas; yet these developments are usually placed far from the actual city center as an island surrounded by the vast freeway system. These places lack any sort of realness and diversity of a true city, everything is decoration, an imitation of the real thing. The public realm of the street becomes privately owned by one large corporation, controlled by se-
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broadgate estate the city, London
exchange square
broadgate estate
[site location] london /// the CITY // broadgate // exchange square
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curity guards. The life of the place revolves solely around the single-use of retail and consumerism. The financial district in London, known as The City, is, in contrast to this ‘town center’ shopping mall, a piece of the historic fabric of the central city. Still, there are similarities. The district is all hustle and bustle during the work week, business men and women, bankers, hurrying about to and from the office and meetings and lunches. The street level of the buildings are full of open shops and pubs and restaurants. But then on the weekend, when the bankers are at home, it feels almost as if one stepped into a ghost town: nobody is in the streets and most of the shops are closed.
Located just west of Liverpool St. Station in the City, the estate of Broadgate was developed as a highly innovative business district in the late 80‘s and early 90‘s. It is advertised on its website as: ‘The Capital of the City. Situated in the heart of the City of London’s Square Mile, Broadgate is much more than just a geographical area, it has become a dynamic, thriving business community where over 30,000 people work each day.’ And this statement is true in many ways. Except, if
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[http://www.broadgateinfo.net/app/home]
In his essay ‘The Capital of Suburbia,’ Ricky Burdett writes about the public and private faces of London questioning ‘if, and how, London can leverage private funding for public-realm projects without relinquishing control to private interests.’ Noting that the ‘increasing privatization of the ‘public’ realm raises questions about whether and how London’s public spaces can create the spontaneous possibilities of truly urban places and still continue to be spaces where you feel safe lost in a crowd.’ (Burdett & Sudjic; 2007, 154).
one walks through Broadgate on a Sunday, this ‘dynamic, thriving business community’ has disappeared and is nowhere to be seen. In the design of Broadgate, the consideration of urban planning and architecture led to the creation of four well designed and connected plaza spaces for the city. Yet these seemingly public spaces are actually private, owned and controlled by a corporation with its own legal set of rules to be followed - one must be granted permission to take photographs or film anywhere in Broadgate. This project will use the Exchange Square in Broadgate, for the site of observation and performance. A filming agreement and permit have been obtained from Broadgate Estates in order to use the space for the performance, the resulting paperwork becoming an element of the project revealing an unseen but felt social boundary that is significant in forming the place. exchange square
[broadgate estate] showing location of the exchange square
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hidden boundaries: public/private [a dialogue] date/ friday, 15 may time/ 14:22 location/ exchange square
me, standing in square with camera: takes a picture of the buildings. older man in neon yellow jacket with broadgate estate logo (security guard): walks towards me. him: ‘have you got permission?’ me: ‘huh. no. permission for
[the exchange square] a weekday lunch and everyone is out sitting on the steps in the square
what? to take photos?’
him: ‘yeah. you need permission. it’s a private estate here.’ me: ‘OH. okay. I won’t take any more then.’ me (in my head): what? really? this isn’t actually public space is it. suddenly it feels different, i feel uncomfortable in it, like i’m not supposed to be here.
me, walking away: glances back at the security guard. security guard: walks in the opposite direction from me. me, with camera: covertly snaps a couple more photos and then quickly leaves the ‘public’ plaza.
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[the exchange square] on a sunday the steps are empty of people
site documentation the exchange square: how the space changes between the weekday/weekend.
[looking across the square to the west] documented : wednesday, 19th may, 13:00
[looking across the square to the west] documented : sunday, 16th may, 13:00
[chess, trees & benches] documented : wednesday, 19th may, 13:00
[chess, trees & benches] documented : sunday, 16th may, 13:00
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[leaning on the wall] documented : wednesday, 19th may, 13:00
[expanse of the square, looking north exchange house in the back] documented : sunday, 16th may, 13:00
[under tensile canopy] documented : wednesday, 19th may, 13:00
[under tensile canopy] documented : sunday, 16th may, 13:00
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>
04.30 define the roles of the characters
For the performance, each participant will be cast into a role. The roles are linked through form and action, cause and effect - each character having a consequence upon another.
guide The guide orchestrates and directs the performance, controlling the rhythm of when each group is moving and still. The Guide is the author of the script. uniform: white
Recorders The recorders keep the documentation of the performance through moving and still photography. They are not hidden out of view, but instead are part of the action, recording each other as well as the two groups. uniform: black
Extras The extras are people who are momentarily passing through the square, involved in the performance for as long as they are within sight. uniform: varies
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group a: en[act]ors The en[act]ors re-enact the ordinary everyday behaviours which have been observed taking place in the square during the weekdays. They perform a sequence of actions in response to the spatial and material qualities of each location. The group is split into subgroups of 1, 2, and 3 people. Characters with specific assigned actions and movements are assigned to each subgroup. These characters respond to the physical form that the Act hinges around, each individual interpreting the given action in their own way. Everyday props are used in combination with these actions, such as mobile phone, book, newspaper, camera, soda, apple, cookie, etc. acti
a
group b: re[form]ers The re[form]ers make changes to something, rearticulating the space around them. They become elements that are no longer inanimate - they play a role as modulators of activity and their stillness is seen in juxtaposition with the moving participants from group a. Their prop, large sheets of bright green stretchy fabric, is used in combination with their bodies to reform the space, constructing a temporary stage set within the square, forming vertical and horizontal planes to enclose space and create boundaries, delineating the space between people. uniform: green
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for
b
m
on
uniform: orange
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[playing & testing] the many ways of using the green fabric to make forms and show the connections and space between people,
>
04.40 write the script, dialogue, movements & actions
The script is developed through the observation of the weekday scene. It is a document that specifically describes the locations of the performance Acts and the movements and actions of the characters at each location. The script is a detailed set of instructions - much akin to a set of construction documents and specifications which architects compile - provided to the participants through which they will interpret and perform the actions in their own individual ways. There are six Acts that will be performed at different locations throughout the Square. Each location having its own characteristics, tectonics, and physical form and materiality which shapes the behaviour and conduct of the characters within it. The amount of time for the performance was established by the filming agreement set forth by Broadgate Estate; they allowed for a maximum of four hours use of the Square. This defines the rhythm of the performance - allocating three hours total for filming, within that twenty minutes for performing at each location and ten minutes to move in between them. Each Act will consist of two scenes with the en[act]ors maintaining similar actions in both but the re[form]ers changing their position and way of using the fabric between the two.
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ENTER
EAT
PERFORM
ENTER
ENTER
SIT
PLAY sit
sit
DRINK
LOOK
LISTEN
EAT
LEAN
ENTER
EAT
sit sit
sit sit
EAT
WALK UNDER
EAT
[activity zones of the Exchange Square]
‘Space, as frequentation of places rather than a place stems in effect from a double movement: the traveler’s movement, of course, but also a parallel movement of the landscapes which he catches only in partial glimpses, a series of snapshots piled hurriedly into his memory and, literally, recomposed in the account he gives of them.’ [Nick Kaye]
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storyboard, 6 acts: Set in a sequence as experienced moving through the plaza. Each Act centers around the interaction of a physical form [noun] with a human action [verb]. In performing each Act a temporary stage set is created, rearticulating the context thru human movement.
[act sequence] site plan, Exchange Plaza
4
5
6
3
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2
1
stairs/step
fence/stand
game/play
stage/jump
ledge/lie
wall/lean
bench/sit
passage/walk
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[sitting] [take picture]
[sweep]
5
4
4
6
6 2
5
1
4
5
3 8 3
5
3
6 7
6
4
1
5
/standing/
2
/sweep/
6 2
5
1
4
5
3 8 3
[sweep] [crouching]
2 1
3
3
6
4 7 2
1
5 6
5
2
5
[sitting]
act 01, Scene 01.2
4
4
6
1 1
5
[sweep]
5
1 2
3
/take picture/
1 2
1 1
5
2 1
3 5
/standing/
2
/sweep/ /standing/
act 01, Scene 01.1
3
/sweep/
3
[jump] 2
[sit, tucked up]
2
3
2
3 4
1
8
[fabric draped over stage] 6
6
3
8
5
5 5
[sweep]
7
4
7
4
5
2
/standing/
[sit, legs out]
6
6
5
[jump]
1
5
4
1
4
3
1
[photo]
6
6 [read]
[eat]
4
[text]
5 5
[sweep] 1
4
3
1
[photo]
6 [read] 6 2
[eat]
4
act 02, Scene 02.2
[text]
2
[stand, hold fabric horizontal above head] [stand, look into station] [stand, fabric stretched under feet above head]
act 02, Scene 02.1 2
6 4
3 3
3
4 4
5
1 1
1 5
6
7
2 2
1
1
1
2
3
2 2 1 1
1
3 3 6 4
5
4
8
2 5
5
[sweep] 5
6
2
3
6
6
[read]
2
act 03, Scene 03.2 [on mobile]
5
[sweep] 5
4 3
[look at map]
1
1
1
7
2
[stand, look into station]
4 3
[look at map]
3
6
4
6
[read]
act 03, Scene 03.1 [the performance choreography] 6 Acts of 2 Scenes each, digrams depicting the movements and actions of the participants.
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4
[on mobile]
4
[sit on wall, facing in] 4
2 1
2 3
2 2
5
4 3 3
6
[sit on wall, facing out]
8
7
6
2 3
[sit on wall, facing in]
2
5
4 3 [photo] 3
5
[text] [photo]
1
2
2
4
1 [eat]1 1
8 7
2
1 4
1
[all the re[form] 2 ers are standing 5 by the sculpture]
[eat]1 1
6
6
[sit on wall, facing out]
2
6
[sweep]
2
[sweep]
1
6
[read]
5
[read] 3
5 3
act 04, Scene 04.2 4 4 5 3
act 04, Scene 04.1 3
6
1
5 6
1
1 6
2
[read]
[fabric is draped/ humg over the steps, benches, tree, ground] [text] 6
2
[read]
4
[eat] [standing, act as chess pieces in the game]
7
[eat]
4 1
b
5
5 2 3 4
a
3
2
[text]
b6
7 8
1
1
4 5 1
b
b
a 4
1
[photo]
5
6
3
4
8
2
2
6
3
[sweep]
5
2
3
[photo]
[sweep]
act 05, Scene 05.2
6
3 5
3
[mobile] 4
act 05, Scene 05.1
1
6
3
[mobile]
[sweep]
2
4
5
1
6
1 2
[sweep]
2
5
4
[all: freeze, 5 sec] [all: are low to the ground, sitting or kneeling]
3
8 7
[standing, fabric above head at diagonal, lower]
4
1
3
2
7
8
5
2
[standing, fabric above head at diagonal, higher] [freeze] [standing, fabric under feet, over head]
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act 06, Scene 06.2
6
5 2
3
6
act 06, Scene 06.1
5
6
4
1
5 2
3 4
key
1
stationary camera x x
group a, participant x, begin group a, participant x, end direction of movement, group a
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perform action specific to Act [xxx] perform action specific to character
x
group b, participant x, still
nylon fabric, nylon fabric, elevation plan 1m x 4m 1m x 2m draped fabrid
>
^
The toolkit is a list of the materials, equipment & props to be used in the performance. A complete list is found in the Appendix.
>
^
04.50 gather the toolkit
04.60 perform the script
The performance will take place from 12:00 - 16:00 on Sunday the fourth of July in the Exchange Square. A full list of the participants can be found in the Appendix.
>
04.70 document the performance
The performance provides the base material, recording human participation with the site in film and photographic form. The interest then becomes how the collected information is organized and pieced together to tell a story of what is found within each temporary stage set. It interprets the three different types of space that are found - animate, inanimate, and hybrid - blending them together and rearticulating what is seen and experienced in the square. In documenting the performance, moving and still images will be utilized, editing together the story and showing the time-based nature of the project. The relationship between text and image, playing
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with language to add another element to the drawing, will continue to be used and expanded upon. The iterative process of building up the layers of choreography on top of each other will be employed to create an aesthetic of ‘working drawings,’ the notation of a script to be read and performed. Elements are cut out of the context, editing the whole into pieces, snapshots, to be choreographed together in a new way. The documentation becomes a score of the performance, a record of what has past and also a piece to be reread and perhaps performed again. The fabrics and material which are used in the performance are reused: as a screen for projecting upon, as elements of the stage set models. The documentation is presented in an installation combining film, drawing and model; where the three spaces are projected onto scaled models of each designed stage set.
3 types of space: weekday [active] observed
hybrid [performance] inserting people into an inactive landscape; constructing activity
weekend [inactive] observed
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‘Architecture, we hope, is first of all a field of knowledge, and only then of action. Our hope is rooted in the judgement that actions are most constructive when informed by an idea that fits into a larger understanding of ourselves and the world. When we design and build, we demand that they embody such an idea of human experience and how it is enabled by the conception, design, and construction of space. Our existing knowledge is important, because it is the structure of what is already here. Architecture, like other fields, reveals the structure of the familiar. It remains only for us to see this structure as though it has not been seen before, freshly, as though for the first time. This is, I believe, the task of architects.’ [Lebbeus Woods] Architecture of Energy
05 in review this section concludes the body of the instruction manual with the hope that it has facilitated a further understanding of the work undertaken. it is left as an unfinished document & with its incompleteness the ultimate interpretation is up to the reader* to define the boundaries it has shaped for themselves.
* and the author
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>
05.10 a larger context of the work
The city is an amazingly complex and diverse system containing a fluctuating rhythm of people moving throughout it. On and off the street this constant ebb and flow of life continues in a never ending performance. The city has a personality, it takes on human qualities and behaviours when it is spoken of, it ‘...is in addition to everything else an expression of the culture of the people who produced it, an extension of society that performs many complex, interrelated functions, some of which we are not even aware of,’ (Hall, 1966; 178). Within a city there are many factors and forces social, political, economical, environmental - that contribute to the shaping of a place. People take part in the city in many ways as they use and endlessly reshape it. This work has investigated these ideas by looking at several microcosms within the city of London and asking how the context shapes the people and, vice versa, the people shape the context. It has looked closer at the ways which people move within and use everyday places, such as a street intersection, a table, a foyer, and a plaza. The people found in these places are seen as individuals with a story that they tell through their movements, and they are seen as a collective, a small piece of a larger group that embodies a similar character. The overlaps and interactions of these characters with their physical environment creates the performance of the city, unscripted and founded in the real life of a place. Architects make drawings for buildings as the common language which they use to communicate with the
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builders and engineers and other players in the construction of the built environment. But the technical information necessary in a plan or a section drawing is unable to convey the sense of a place as it is experienced thru the sounds of a car honking, people chattering, a train passing by above, shadows flickering on the wall, reflections caught in a window, a breeze rustling the leaves of a tree, people arranging and rearranging chairs outside a cafe to catch the last rays of the afternoon sun on their faces. The plan comes to life when one walks through it, head twisting all around to catch the every detail, only then discovering what it is that architecture is truly made up of. It is in using the city as a laboratory - in getting involved with the complex, messiness of it at the shared, eye level of other people who use its spaces in their different ways, in noticing the ordinary grace of the everyday scenes with which it comes alive - that is critical to this project’s (and correspondingly to all architects’) understanding of what architecture is and what architecture can be. The work throughout this course is a product of my life: it is developed by simply walking down the street with a camera slung over my shoulder, sketchbook in hand, friends at my side, letting what will happen, happen, and, with my eyes open wide, being a part of it all.
> 5.20
see the city peform 71
‘The space between people working together is filled with conflict, friction, strife, exhilaration, delight, and vast creative potential.’ [Bruce Mau] An Incomplete Manifesto for Growth
06 bibliography a mostly complete list of: books essays artists architects websites exhibitions films & performances which were referred to and looked at throughout the making of this work.
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>
06.10 bibliography, texts
Barley, Nick. Breathing Cities: The Architecture of Movement. Birkhauser, London. 2000. Benjamin, Walter. ‘The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction.’ in One-way Street and Other Writings. Penguin Group, London. 2009 [1936] Berger, John. Ways of Seeing. Penguin Group, London. 2008 [1972] Burdett, Ricky & Sudjic, Deyan: Eds. The Endless City: The Urban Age Project by the London School of Economics and Deutsche Bank’s Alfred Herrhausen Society. Phaidon Press, London. 2007. Calle, Sophie. Double Game: with the Participation of Paul Auster. Violette Editions, London. 2007. Calvino, Italo. Invisible Cities. London: Random House, 1997. Capra, Fritjof. The Hidden Connections. HarperCollinsPublishers Ltd, London. 2002. Diller & Scofidio. Flesh, Architectural Probes; Princeton Architectural Press, New York, New York. 1994. Firebrace, William. Things Worth Seeing: A Guide to the City of W. Black Dog Publishing and William Firebrace. 1999. Hall, Edward. The Hidden Dimension. New York: Double Day, 1966. Hall, Edward. The Dance of Life. New York: Anchor Books/Double Day, 1983.
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Harmon, Katherine. The Map as Art: Contemporary Artists Explore Cartography. New York: Princeton Architectural Press. 2009. Helfand, Jessica. Screen: Essays on Graphic Design, New Media, and Visual Culture. Princeton Architectural Press, New York, New York. 2001. Hogben, Gavin. ‘Ritual. Recent Architectural Installations by Diller and Scofidio.’ The Architectural Review 1985 February: 54-57. Jacobs, Jane. The Death and Life of Great American Cities. Vintage Books Edition, New York. 1992 [1961]. Kaye, Nick. Site-Specific Art: Performance, Place and Documentation; Routledge, London. 2000. Kepes, Gyorgy. The Nature and Art of Motion. George Braziller, Inc. New York. 1965. Leach, Neil. Rethinking Architecture: A Reader in Cultural Theory; essay, Henri Lefebvre, ‘The Production of Space (Extracts).’ Routeledge, Oxon. 1997, Pile, Steve. The Body and the City: Psychoanalysis, Space and Subjectivity, Routledge, London. 1996. Shepheard, Paul. What is Architecture? An Essay on Landscapes, Building, and Machines. MIT Press, London. 1994. Sinclair, Ian. Lights Out for the Territory. Penguin Books Ltd, London. 1997. Torre, Susana. ‘Claiming the PublicSpace: The Mothers of Plaza de Mayo.’ in Gender Space Architecture. p140-145. Routledge, United Kingdom. 1999. Whyte, William. The Social Life of Small Urban Spaces. Project for Public Spaces, New York. 1980.
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>
06.20 references: artists, architects, exhibitions, film, performance, etc
Baldessari, John. Exhibit, ‘Pure Beauty’ at Tate Modern. http://www.tate.org.uk/modern/exhibitions/ johnbaldessari/default.shtm Bourgeois, Louise; Tate Modern installation: I Do, I Undo and I Redo. http://www.tate.org.uk/modern/ exhibitions/bourgeois/default.htm Brand, Steward. film, How Buildings Learn. http://video.google.com/videoplay?doc id=8639555925486210852# Calle, Sophie. Exhibit, ‘Talking to Strangers’ at Whitechapel Gallery, http://www.whitechapelgallery. org/exhibitions/sophie-calle-talking-to-strangers Diller + Scofidio. http://www.dillerscofidio.com/, Refresh; http://awp.diaart.org/dillerscofidio/intro.html Halprin, Lawrence. Landscape Architect. http://halprinlc.org/halprininportland/ Hendricks, Jochem. http://www.jochem-hendricks.de/ englisch/w_zeitung/non_index.htm Horn, Rebecca. http://www.rebecca-horn.de/pages/ biography.html Forsythe, William. Choreographer. http://www.theforsythecompany.com/index.php?id=11&L=1, http:// openendedgroup.com/index.php/publications/conversations/forsythe/ Koolhaas HouseLife. filmmakers, Ila Bêka and Louise Lemoine;, http://www.koolhaashouselife.com/html/ the_film.html
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Lead Pencil Studio. http://leadpencilstudio.com/ main McQueen, Steve. film, Girdiani; http://www.nytimes. com/interactive/2010/01/29/arts/20100129-giardini. html Notation, dance. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ Dance_notation Richardson, Emily. film, Transit; http://www.emilyrichardson.org.uk/ The Royal Ballet. http://www.roh.org.uk/, Performance: As One/Rushes/Infra: Infra. choreographer Wayne McGregor’s, http://www. roh.org.uk/discover/ballet/asone.aspx As One. choreographer Jonathan Watkins, http:// www.guardian.co.uk/stage/2008/nov/15/dance Sehgal, Tino. solo exhibit, Guggenheim Museum, March 2010; http://www.nytimes.com/2010/02/01/arts/ design/01tino.html?pagewanted=1 Tod Williams & Billie Tsien Architecture. http:// www.twbta.com/
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‘Travel through the city creates a sequence of experience. This sequence is a moving encounter with the environment, in which the traveller acts according to his own purposes, while the environment reciprocally shapes his experience. If we describe a sequence as a succession of events, each event, set against the remembered past, will affect the traveler’s attitude, response and perception of the future. Thus each experience is relative. A dark space, entered from a darker tunnel, may seem very bright. Past, present and future are joined.’ [Donald Appleyard] ‘Motion, Sequence and the City’
07 appendix supplemental information found here. 07.10
choreographing, a passing moment; complete description
07.20
seeing, synchronic/diachronic; complete description
07.30
eating, dinner as a performance; complete description
07.40
letter of invitation to participants
07.50
participant list
07.60
toolkit :: materials, equipment & props for performance
07.70
broadgate estate filming agreement
07.80
working script for the performance, handout to participants [insert]
79
>
07.10 choreographing, a passing moment complete description
This investigation is a starting point to the year’s work, it begins to scratch the surface of the idea of choreography and the city which is to be refined and explored throughout the course. It begins with observing and recording the social interactions of people and movements occurring within the small intersection of Air Street and Glasshouse Street just behind the busy Regent Street and Piccadillly Circus on a Monday in November at the lunch hour. Here, there was 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, with each Character playing a role in the dynamics of the everyday, specific to this time and place but with a universal quality to them. 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. After defining these Characters, the structure of dance notation was used to record specific sequences of their movements through the intersection; this becoming a written choreography of a passing moment to be performed.
80
the characters
ally at a quicker pace than oth this is mover walking solo,around they a. the tooperson interested in what’s a. the mover clear ideathe of that is, ther a. mover this person iswhere walking solo, they a. the mover ally at a the quicker pace than other a. mover clear idea ofmover where that is, ther this person is walking solo, th a. the a. the mover this person is walking solo, th toothis interested in walking what’s around t is solo, th ally at person aidea quicker pace than other clear of that is, this iswhere walking solo, clearperson idea of where that is, th th this person is walking solo, clear idea of where that is, th too interested in what’s around t ally at a is quicker pace than oth this person walking solo, they clear idea of where that is, th this person is walking solo, ally at a quicker pace than oth clear idea of where that is, th ally at a quicker pace than oth too interested in what’s around clear idea where is, ther b.ally mobile at aofquicker pace than oth clear idea of where that is, th too interested in that what’s around ally at a quicker quicker pace than oth too interested in what’s around ally atinterested a quicker pace than other too in what’s around ally at a pace than oth as interested this person iswhat’s speaking on around tootoo interested in in what’s around t too in what’s around theinterested world, they are usually n b. mobile physically in. for all we can b. as mobile person is speaking athis little device, althoughonwet b. mobile the world, they are usually not b. mobile as ‘texter’ this person speaking t alsois falls into on this b. mobile physically in. for weheading can s b. mobile the world, they are usually not as thiswhere person isall speaking on seeing they b. mobile as thisdevice, person is are speaking on amobile little although we in b.b. mobile as this person is speaking on physically in. for all we can sn the world, they are usually screen and typing a message t as person is speaking on thethis world, they are usually ‘texter’ also falls into this cn as this person is speaking on the world, they are usually n a device, although we in physically in. for all we can they have no notion of what aslittle this person is speaking on ti the world, they are usually n as this person is speaking on physically in. for all we can seeing where they are heading, the world, they are usually physically in. for all we can ‘texter’ also falls into this cn a little device, although we bump into someone else or wal thephysically they are usually not in. for all we to can the world, they are usually a world, little device, although wen screen and typing a message physically in. for all we can a little device, although we seeing where they are heading, ‘texter’ also falls into this physically in. for all we we can s a little device, although we physically in. for all can ‘texter’ also falls into this they have no notion of what is a device, we ‘texter’ also falls into screen and typing a although message to seeing where they are heading a little device, although wethis in ‘texter’ also falls into this a little little device, although we where they are heading bump into someone else or walk c.seeing headphones ‘texter’ also falls into this seeing where they are heading they havealso noalso notion of what isct screen and typing a into message ‘texter’ falls into this seeing where they are heading ‘texter’ falls this screen and typing a message t seeing where they are heading screen and typing a message t bump into someone else or walk they have no notion of what i seeing where they are heading, screen and typing a message t seeing where they are heading they have no notion of whatchi quite similar to the ‘mobile’ screen and typing a message t they have no notion of what what i bump and into someone else or wal screen typing a message they have no notion of i screen and typing a message t bump into someone else or to wal c. headphones this person is slightly removed they have no notion of what i bump into someone else or wal they have no notion of what is bump into someone else or wal they have no notion of what i music playing that only they can c. headphones bump into someone else or wal bump into someone else or or walk quite similar tosomeone the ‘mobile’ chara bump into else wal secret. c. headphones this person is slightly removed fro c. headphones quite similar to the ‘mobile’ chara c. headphones c. headphones music playing they canfro he this person isthat slightly removed quite similar to only the ‘mobile’ ch c. headphones quite similar to the ‘mobile’ ch c. c.headphones headphones secret. quite similar to the ‘mobile’ ‘mobile’ ch music playing only they can ch he this person is slightly removed quite similar to the d.that two’s this person is slightly removed quite similar to the ‘mobile’ ch this person is slightly removed secret. music playing that only they can quite similar to the ‘mobile’ chara this person is slightly removed quite playing similar that to the ‘mobile’ ch music only they can two’s are inremoved conversati this person is slightly removed music playing that only they can secret. this person is usually slightly fro music playing that only they can this person is slightly removed secret. two friends; itonly isonly as yet undet music playing that they can d. two’s secret. music playing that they can he secret. music playing that only they can category, but is being consider secret. secret. d.usually two’s secret. two’s are in just conversation of stuff that was bought, d. two’s two friends; it is as yet undeter two’s two’s are d. usually in conversation looking importantish. they are d. two’s category, butusually isis being considered d. two’s two friends; it as undeter two’s are inyet conversati things you might think up. d. two’s two’s are usually in bought, conversati d. two’s of stuff that was just or d. two’s two’s are usually in conversati category, but isitbeing two friends; isin asconsidered yet undet two’s are usually conversati two friends; it is as yetare undet looking importantish. they ou two’s are usually in conversati two friends; it is as yet undet of stuff that was just bought, or category, but is being consider two’s are usually in conversation two friends; is asup. yet undet two’s are usually in conversati category, butit is being consider things you might think twostuff friends; it is as yet undet category, but is being consider looking importantish. they are ou of that was just bought, e. three’s twocategory, it it is as yetyet undeter but is being consider two friends; is as undet offriends; stuff that was just bought, category, but is being consider of stuff that was just bought, things you might think up. looking importantish. they are category, but is being considered of stuffimportantish. that justthey bought, category, but was is being consider looking are also can be of stuff that was just bought, looking importantish. they are things you might think up. ofthere stuff that wasoccasionally just bought, orf looking importantish. they are of stuff that was just bought, things you might think up. e.can three’s this make walking next to ea looking importantish. they are things you might think up. looking importantish. they are ou things you might think up. looking importantish. they are behind. a group of three tends t things you might think up. e. three’s things youyou might think up.up. things might think there also occasionally be fou corner tocan discuss where they are e. three’s e. three’s this can make walking next to each there also can occasionally be fou e. three’s e.group three’s behind. a ofoccasionally three tends to f this can make walking next to each there also can be e. three’s e.toe. three’s also can occasionally be hf three’s corner discuss where are there also canof occasionally be f behind. aalso group threethey tends toea this can make walking next to f. there family there can occasionally be f this can make walking next to ea there also can occasionally be this can make walking next to ea corner to discuss where they are hf behind. acan group of three tends t there also occasionally be fou this can walking next to ea there also can occasionally be f behind. amake group of three tends t a mother pushing baby in aea this can make walking next to behind. amake group ofher three tends t corner to discuss where they are this can make walking next to each behind. a group of three tends t this can walking next to ea corner to discuss where they are f. behind. family his little munchkin riding pigg behind. a group three tends t corner where they are a to group of of three tends to corner to discuss where they are behind. a discuss group of three tends t father with the where child, once in corner to discuss where they are f. corner family to discuss they are h corner to discuss where they are a mother pushing in on a str erness happens her mostbaby often th f. family f. family his little munchkin riding piggyba a mother pushing her baby in a str slower than the others around t f. family f. family father withstreet, the child, once in his little munchkin riding afamily mother pushing her babypiggyba in awh a ing the etc. f. f. family afamily mother pushing her baby in a w f. erness happens most often on in the a mother her baby a father with pushing the child, once awh his little munchkin pigg a mother pushing herriding baby in in a his little munchkin riding pigg slower than the others around them a mother mother pushing her baby in a w his little munchkin riding pigg erness happens most often on the father with the child, once in a mother pushing her baby in in apigg str his little munchkin riding a pushing her baby a father with the child, once in ing thelittle street, etc. his munchkin riding pigg father with the child, once in slower than the others around them erness happens most often on th hiserness little munchkin riding piggyba father with themost child, once in his little munchkin riding pigg happens often on th g. pointing, lost & father with child, once in erness happens most often onin th ing thewith street, etc. slower than the others around t father thethe child, once in awh erness happens most often on th father with child, once slower than others around t erness happens most often th slower the others around t ing the street, etc. erness happens most often on on thetr slower than the others around tw much of than the time these three erness happens most often on th ing the street, etc. slower than the others around t ing the street, etc. slower than thefrom others around g. pointing, lost &them c ing the street, etc. be separate ‘lost & confus slower than the others around t ing the street, etc. ingare the street, etc. out of their known setting ing the street, etc.lost & c g. pointing, much of the time these trait fresh eyes. they tendthree to have a g. pointing, lost & be get separate from on ‘lost & lost confused. g. & much ofthem thepointing, time these three trait back track, while r g. pointing, lost & g. pointing, lost are out ofway their known and be of separate from ‘lost &building’s confused. much of the time these three & tr the against a setting g. pointing, lost & much of the time these three tr g. pointing, lost &aan c fresh eyes. they tend to have gu g. pointing, lost & much of the time these three tr are out of their known setting and be separate from ‘lost & confus directions, this initiating much ofback the on time these three tr bethem separate from ‘lostwhile & confus get track, refe much of the time these three tr be separate from ‘lost & confus fresh eyes. they tend to have a tr gu are out of their known setting is made. much of thethe time these three trait be separate from & confus much of time these three are out of their known setting of the way against a‘lost building’s ed be separate from ‘lost & confus are out of their known setting get them back on track, refe fresh eyes. they tend to a be are separate from ‘lost &while confused. out of their known setting be separate from ‘lost & have confus fresh eyes. they tend to have a directions, this initiating an int are out of their known setting fresh eyes. they tend to have a of the way against a building’s ed get them back on track, while r areget outthem of their known setting fresh eyes. they tend to haveand a are out of their known setting back on track, while r is made. fresh eyes. they tend to have a get them back on track, while r directions, this initiating anaint of the way against atobuilding’s fresh eyes. they tend have gu get them back on track, while r fresh eyes. they tend to have a of the way against a building’s get them back on track, while r of the way against a building’s is made. directions, this initiating an h. stop, inon the middle getof them back on track, while refe the way against a building’s get them back track, while directions, this initiating anr of the way against a building’s building’s directions, this ainitiating initiating aned is made. of directions, the way against building’s this an of the way against a is made. its seems this character(s) directions, this initiating an is made. directions, initiating an an int made. this directions, initiating h.is stop, inthis the middle realize that they don’t kno is made. is is made. made. with something else around h. stop, inthis the middle itsstopping seems character(s) gs in the middle is h.realize stop,that inthey thedon’t middle know h. stop, in middle seems this character(s) traffic and the the street is gs h. stop, in the middle h.its stop, in the middle with something else around th realize that they don’t know its seems this character(s) honk their horn to get this h.stop, stop, inthe the middle its seems this character(s) h.h. in middle stop, the middle stopping inin the middle is sor its seems this character(s) with something else around thw realize that they don’t kno tourists. many times they its seems this character(s) realize that they don’t kno traffic and the street is sor sma its seems this character(s) realize that they don’t kno stopping in the middle is with something else around that they had come from. its seems this character(s) g realize that they don’t kno its seems this character(s) with something else around honk their horn toelse get this cs realize that they don’t kno with something around traffic and the street is sma stopping in the middle is realize that don’t know with something else around realize that they don’t kno stopping inthey the middle is s tourists. many times they wil with something else around stopping in the the middle isth honk their horn toelse get this cs traffic and street with something else around stopping in middle is with something around traffic and come the street is s s that they had from. stopping in middle traffic and the street is tourists. many times they wil honk their horn to get this stopping inand the middle is is sors traffic the street s stopping in middle honk their horn to get this traffic and the street is s honk their horn to get this that they had come from. tourists. many times they w traffic and the street is smas honk their horn to get this traffic and the street is tourists. many times they w honk their horn to get this tourists. many times they that they had come from. honk their to getget this cw tourists. many times they w honk their horn to this that theyhorn had come from. sometimes this occurs beca tourists. many times they w that they had come from. tourists. many times they wil that they had come from. tourists. many times they and an informal contact enw that they had come from. that had come from. that had come from. isthey a they fun scenario. sometim sometimes this occurs corner to wait for abecause vehic and an informal contact ensue sometimes this occurs because sometimes a person alone j is aan fun scenario. sometimes andreasons. informal ensue sometimes thiscontact occurs beca sometimes this occurs beca corner to wait for a vehicle sometimes this occurs occurs beca is sometimes a fun sometimes and an scenario. informal contact en this beca and an informal contact en sometimes a person alone just sometimes this occurs beca and informal contact en corner to wait for a vehicle is aan fun scenario. sometim sometimes this occurs because and informal contact en sometimes this occurs beca is aan fun scenario. sometim reasons. j. the and informal contact en is aan fun scenario. sometim sometimes acycler person alone just corner to wait for a vehic and an informal ensue is a fun scenario. sometim and an informal contact en corner to waitcontact for a vehic is a fun scenario. sometim corner to wait for a vehic reasons. sometimes a person alone j is corner a fun scenario. sometimes to wait for a vehic is a has fun two scenario. sometim sometimes a person alone j this person speeds, either corner to wait for a vehic sometimes a person alone j reasons. corner tocycler wait forfor a vehicle sometimes a person alone j corner to wait a vehic the reasons. timesj.having to dodge the pedestri sometimes a person person alone j reasons. sometimes a person alone just reasons. sometimes a alone j bicycle wherein the narrow sidewal j. the cycler reasons. reasons. this has two speeds, either h reasons. andperson the j. street furniture, etc. whe the cycler times having to dodge the pedestrian j. the cycler this person speeds, either cupied pole ortwo railing upon whichh j. has the cycler j. the cycler bicycle wherein the narrow sidewalk times to dodge the pedestrian thishaving person has two speeds, either final destination via foot. within j. the cycler j. cycler this person has two speeds, either j.the the cycler andthis the‘safety street furniture, etc. when person speeds, either bicycle wherein thetwo narrow sidewalk times havinghas to dodge the pedestri the cycler,’ dressed in a this person speeds, either times having to two dodge the which pedestri cupied pole or has railing upon he this person has two speeds, either times having to dodge the pedestri andtimes the street furniture, etc. when bicycle wherein the narrow sidewal ever’ bike; the ‘pro,’ very fit an this person hashas twododge speeds, either h having to the pedestri this person two speeds, either bicycle wherein the narrow sidewal final destination via foot. within t times having to dodge the pedestri bicycle wherein the narrow sidewal cupied pole or railing upon which he and the street furniture, etc. whe cool’ hipster in tight jeans ridin times having to to dodge the pedestrian bicycle wherein the narrow sidewal times having dodge the pedestri and the street furniture, etc. whe the ‘safety cycler,’ dressed in a br bicycle wherein the narrow sidewal and the street furniture, etc. whe final destination via foot. within t cupied pole orthe railing upon which others. bicycle wherein narrow sidewalk and the street furniture, etc. whe bicycle wherein the narrow sidewal cupied pole or railing upon which ever’ bike; theor‘pro,’ very fit and and the street furniture, etc. whe cupied pole railing upon which the ‘safety cycler,’ dressed in a br final destination via foot. within andcupied thethe street furniture, etc. when pole or railing upon which and street furniture, etc. whe final destination viajeans foot. within cool’ hipster in tight riding cupied pole or railing upon which final destination viavery foot. within ever’ bike; the ‘pro,’ fit and the ‘safety cycler,’ dressed in a cupied pole or or railing upon which he final destination via foot. within cupied pole railing upon which the ‘safety cycler,’ dressed in a others. final destination viajeans foot. within the ‘safety cycler,’ dressed in a cool’ hipster in ever’ bike; thetight ‘pro,’ veryriding fit an
the mover
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
mobile
1/f headphones
head
3
4,5
shoulder
oreography of a passin hip
2
knee
two’s
foot
1
direction of movement
three’s
a
or s
family
corner a map
3/g 1/f head shoulder hip
stop in the middle of the street i. stop, on the
knee foot direction of movement
cor
i. stop, on the corn i. stop, on the corn i. stop, on the cor i. on stop on the i. stop, stop, on the the cor cor i. stop, on the cor stop, on the cor i. i. i.stop, stop,on onthe thecorn cor corner
[above, notation drawing] showing act one, stanza one, full sequence shown next spread a script of the passing moment, dance notation ACT 2used as reference
man4,woman5: stand,look at a map men6,7: walk side by side, left to right [right, the characters] woman8,man9: couple holding hands, walking closer man10: crosses left to right
3/g
2/i 4,5/g 1/f pointing, lost & confused
2/i
81
the cycler
2/i
a usunot ion.
n re ith the d le us
ACT 1
ACT 1
man1: walks in front pushing a stroller
man1: walks inman2: front a stopspushing on near corner for stroller truck to pass, then continues road diagonally man2: stops onacross nearthecorner for man3: points, from opposite corner truck to pass,man4,woman5: then continues stand, look at a map across the road diagonally man3: points, from opposite corner man4,woman5: stand, look at a map
1/f
4,5
shoulder hip
2
3
4,5
1/f
2/i 2/i 4,5/g 1/f 4,5/g
3/g 3/g
head
3
2/i 2/i 4,5/g 4,5/g 1/
headknee foot
1
shoulder
direction of movement
y. the
hip
2
knee foot
1
direction of movement
men,
s
full nd of
ogether, walk n the
3/g
2/i 4,5/g
stand,look at a map man4,woman5: at a mapto men6,7: walk stand,look side by side, left men6,7: walk side by side, left to right right woman8,man9: couple holding hands, woman8,man9: couple holding hands, walking closer walking closer left to right man10: crosses man10: crosses left to right
3/g
h
ethove oss-
2/i 4,5/g 6,7/g 6,7/g 4,5/g 4,5/g
8,9/d 8,9/d ACT 2 6,7
6,7 4,5 4,5
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 8,9
can ey with and out for aph
ly racted dle. h nd y e way
2/i 4,5/g
ACT 2 ACT 2 man4,woman5:
2/i 4,5/g 6,7/g 6,7/g 4,5/g 4,5/g
8,9/d 8,9/d
10/a 10/a
10 10
6,7/g
8,9/d
6,7/g
8,9/d
10/a 4,5/g
6,7 4,5
4,5/g
10/a
8,9 10
ACT 2
man4,woman5: stand,look at a map men6,7: walk side by side, left to ACT right 3 ACT 3 couple holding hands, woman8,man9: woman11: crosses street heading walking woman11: crosses street heading away, on closer mobile man10: crosses to left rightcorner away, on mobile woman12: stands left on far woman12: stands on far left far corner man13: walks bicycle around man13: walks bicycle around far left corner 3 left to left corner man14: crossesACT street man14: crosses street left to right, textingwoman11: crosses street heading away, on right, texting men15,16,17: walk in mobile a group, away woman12: stands on far left corner men15,16,17: walk a group, away far man13: in walks bicycle around left corner man14: crosses street left to right, texting men15,16,17: walk in a group, away
6,7 4,5
12 13 8,9 12 13 14 1012 13 14 15,16,17 14 11 15,16,17 11 15,16,17 11
kly, someng their d people r an unocon to their ories of: wn whatthe ‘too ger; among
ACT 3
6,7/g
8,9/d 12/i 12/i 12/i
11/b 11/b 13/j 13/j 11/b 13/j
82
12/i 12/i 12/i
6,7/g
8,9/d
10/a 4,5/g
11/b
11/b 11/b
4,5/g
/f
g
1/f
2/i
2/i
2/i 4,5/g
4,5/g
2/i
3/g
2/i
8,9/d 10/a
3/g
8,9/d
4,5/g 6,7/g
10/a
11/b 13/j 14/b
13/j
11/b 14/b
83
2/i
15,16/e
13/j 11/b 12/i 14/b
8,9/d 10/a
15,16,17/e
the characters the characters
the mover: This person is walking solo, they are on a. the mover the way to somewhere and seem to have a clear idea a.person the mover is walking solo, they arethey on the to somewhere and seem to h ofthis where that is, there is no hesitation, are way passing clear idea of where that is, there is no hesitation, they are passing throu through, usually at a quicker pace than others but some this is walking they are theare waynot to somewhere seem to h ally person at a quicker pace solo, than others buton some in such a and hurry. they a clear idea of a where that is, there is no hesitation, arefit passing too in what’s around them. the majority ofthey people this throu descr are notinterested in such hurry. They are not too interested ally at a quicker pace than others but some are not in such a hurry. they a in too what’s around in them. the around majority of people fit this of people fit this descr interested what’s them. the majority description.
the characters the characters
b. mobile
this person is speaking on their mobile to someone who could be anywher b. as mobile mobile: As this is speaking on participatory their mobile toin this world that the the world, theyperson are usually not fully a. the mover as this person is on their mobile someone who couldconversatio be anywher physically in. forspeaking all we can see, they areto having a one-sided someone who could be anywhere in the world, they are the world, they are usually not fully participatory in thison world a little device, although we in fact know there is someone the that otherthe en a.person the mover this is walking solo, are on the way to somewhere andconversatio seem to h physically in. for all wethis can see, they are having a one-sided usually not fully participatory inthey this world that they ‘texter’ also falls into category, instead ofare speaking into the phone clear idea of where that is, there is no hesitation, they are passing throu a little device, although we in fact know there is someone on the other seeing where they arecan heading, the ‘texter’ is often staring down into aen l physically in.quicker For all pace we see, they are having onethis person is walking solo, they are on the waya to somewhere and seem to h ally at aand thanthis others but some are not in such a into hurry. a ‘texter’ also falls instead of speaking thethey phone screen typing a into message tocategory, send to another mobile device as they walk, clear idea of that is, there is‘texter’ no passing throu too interested in what’s around thehesitation, majority ofthey people fit this descr seeing where they are heading, the often staring down into a l sided conversation with rectangular piece ofisplastic, they have no where notion ofa what is them. happening around them, andare are more likely ally aand quicker than others are in such a hurry. a screen typingpace a message to send tosome another mobile device as theythey walk, bumpatinto someone else or walk outbut in front of not aother car. although we in is them. someone on the too interested in know what’s around the majority of people fitmore thislikely descr they have nofact notion of there what is happening around them, and are someone walk in frontinstead of a car. end.bump theinto ‘texter’ alsoelse falls or into thisout category, of c. headphones speaking into the phone and seeing where they are b. mobile quite similar the ‘mobile’ and also fits within ‘the mover’ cate c. headphones heading, The to ‘texter’ is oftencharacter staring down into a little as this person is speaking their mobile to someone anywher this person is slightly removedonfrom what is happening in who thiscould worldbebecause b. mobile quite similar to the ‘mobile’ character and also fits within ‘the mover’ screen and typing message tonot send to theplaying world, they aonly are usually fully participatory in this world thatcate music that they can hear; it another is like mobile a personal soundtrack, a the ke as this person is speaking on their mobile to someone who could be anywher this person is slightly removed from what is happening in this world because physically in. for all we can see, they are having a one-sided conversatio secret. device as they walk, thus they have no notion of what the world, they are usually not fully participatory in this world that the music playing that only they can hear; it is like a personal soundtrack, a a little device, although we in fact know there is someone on the other ke en physically in.falls forthem, all weand canare see, theylikely are having one-sided conversatio secret. is happening around more to bump ‘texter’ also into this category, instead of a speaking into the phone a little device, although we inthe fact know there is someone ondown the other en seeing where they are heading, ‘texter’ is often staring into a l d. also two’s into‘texter’ someone else or awalk out intofront of a car. falls into this category, insteadmobile of speaking the phone screen and typing message send to another deviceinto as they walk,
seeing where ‘texter’ is often a l two’s usually inare conversation. they canaround consist of staring couples, two into women, they are have no they notion ofheading, what is the happening them, and aredown more likely d. two’s screen andsomeone typing a message to send toif another devicedog as counts they walk, two friends; it is as yetorundetermined a person and their in bump into else walk out in front of mobile a car. two’s in conversation. they consist of couples, two women, they are haveusually no is notion ofconsidered. what is happening around and are more likelyb category, but being many can times theythem, are shoppers, carrying two friends; it isjust as yet amen person and their countssuit in into someone else orundetermined walk out in if front ofwearing a car. ofbump stuff that was bought, business their dog pinstripe headphones: Quite similar to or the ‘mobile’ character category, but is being considered. many times they are shoppers, carrying b c. headphones looking importantish. they are out for coffee or a bite to eat, or any numb and also fits within ‘the category. This person is their pinstripe suit of stuff that wasthink just mover’ bought, or business men wearing things you might up. quite similar to the ‘mobile’ within ‘the or mover’ cate looking importantish. they are out for and coffee orfits a bite to eat, any numb c. headphones slightly removed from what ischaracter happening inalso this world this person slightly from what is happening in this world because things you is might think removed up. quite the ‘mobile’ character and within ‘the mover’ cate because theto music playing that onlyit they can hear; it music similar playing that only they can hear; isalso likefits a personal soundtrack, a ke e. ofthree’s this person is slightly removed from what is happening in this world because secret. is a personal soundtrack. music playing that only they can hear; it is like a personal soundtrack, a ke there e. alsothree’s can occasionally be found groups of three (or more) people walkin secret. this can make walking next to each other difficult as one person usually has there also can occasionally be found of threethey (or more) behind. ad. group of three tends to be groups less decisive, can bepeople found walkin to sto two’s this can walking next toare each other difficult as one person usually has corner tomake discuss where they headed. two’s are usually in conversation. they can consist of couples, two women, two’s: Two’s are usually in conversation. they can behind. ad. group of three tends to be less decisive, they can be found to sto two’s two friends; it is as yet undetermined corner to discuss where they are headed.if a person and their dog counts in consist of couples, two women, two men, two friends; it are usually in conversation. consist of couples, women,b category, but is being considered. they many can times they are shoppers,two carrying f. two’s family friends; isjust as if yet undetermined if adog person and their dog countssuit in of thatit was bought, or and business men wearing pinstripe is two as stuff yet undetermined a person their counts category, but is being considered. many times they are shoppers, carrying b importantish. theyinare out for coffee or a wobbling bite to eat, or aany numb f.inalooking family mother pushing her baby a stroller, a toddler along, father this category, but is being considered. Many times their pinstripe suit of stuff that was just bought, or business menthe wearing things you might think up. piggyback. his little munchkin riding much of time it is the mother or t looking importantish. they outfull forof coffee or bite to eat, or aany numb a mother pushing hercarrying baby inare a stroller, a toddler wobbling along, father they arewith shoppers, bags stuff father the child, once in awhile they are that alla was togetherI imagine this things you munchkin might think up.on his little riding piggyback. much of the time it is the mother or t erness happens most often the weekends. because of the child, they tend t just bought, or business men wearing their pinstripe three’s father the inthem, awhile they are togetherI imagine this slowere.with than the child, others once around stopping onall corners to hold hands before erness happens most often on the weekends. because of the child, they tend t suits and looking important. They are out for coffee or a ing the street, etc. there also can be them, found stopping groups ofonthree (or to more) three’s slowere. than theoccasionally others around corners holdpeople hands walkin before bite to eat, or any number of things. this can street, make walking ing the etc. next to each other difficult as one person usually has there also can occasionally be found of threethey (or more) behind. a group of three tends to be groups less decisive, can bepeople found walkin to sto this can make walking next to& each other difficult as one person usually has g.topointing, lost confused corner discuss where they are headed. behind. a group of three tends to be less decisive, they can be found to sto much g. oftothe time these three traits show up together, but sometimes a ‘point pointing, confused corner discuss wherelost they & are headed. separate from ‘lost & confused.’ this person(s) is generally a tourist as f. be family 84 much of the time these three traits show up together, but sometimes a ‘point are out of their known setting and are more keen to notice what is around th be separate from ‘lost & confused.’ this person(s) is generally a tourist as
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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.
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 assume 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.
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.
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g. pointing, lost & confused
a mother pushing her baby in a stroller, a toddler wobbling along, a father f. family much of the munchkin time these three traits show up of together, a ‘point his little riding piggyback. much the timebut it sometimes is the mother or t be from ‘lost confused.’ this person(s) generally a tourist as father with pushing the child, once in they are all is togetherI along, imagine aseparate mother her & baby in awhile a stroller, a toddler wobbling a this fathe are outlittle of their known setting and are more keen to of notice what is around erness happens most often on the weekends. because the it child, they tendth t his munchkin riding piggyback. much of the time is the mother or fresh eyes. they tend to have or map that is to taken to refere slower than thethe others around them, stopping on holdout before father with child, once a inguidebook awhile they arecorners all togetherIhands imagine thi get them back on etc. track, whileonreferring to thebecause book/map also tend mo ingerness the street, happens most often the weekends. of they the child, theytotend of slower the waythan against a building’s they will ask another charac the others around edge. them, sometimes stopping on corners to hold hands befo directions, this initiating an interaction among strangers. sometimes a phot ing the street, etc. is made.
g. pointing, lost & confused
much of the time these three traits show up together, but sometimes a ‘point g. pointing, lost & confused be separate from ‘lost & confused.’ this person(s) is generally a tourist as h.much stop, intime the middle of the stop in the middle of the street: It seems are out of the their known setting and are more street keen to notice is around th of these three traits show up together, butwhat sometimes a ‘poi fresh eyes. they tend to have a guidebook ormiddle map is generally taken refere be separate from ‘lost & confused.’ this person(s) is atothen tourist this character(s) get character(s) to the middleget of the street andthat then its seems this to the of the streetout and sud getare them on track, while referring tomore the book/map they also to outback ofthat their known setting and are keen to heading, notice what is around realize they don’t know where they should be or tend they getmod suddenly realize that they don’t where they should of fresh the way against aelse building’s edge. sometimes they willis ask another charac eyes. they tend to haveknow a guidebook orjust map that taken out in to refe with something around them, and they stop, right there the directions, this initiating an sort interaction among strangers. sometimes a phot get them back on track, while referring to book/map they also tend to be heading, or get distracted with something else stopping inthey the middle is of okay atthe this location as there is not is of made. the wayand against a building’s edge. theyawill ask will another char traffic the street is small, butsometimes without fail vehicle drive u around them, and they just stop, right there in the middle. directions, ancharacter interaction among strangers. sometimes a ph honk theirthis horninitiating to get this moving again. they are not necessa istourists. made. Stopping in themany middle sort will of okay thisturn location timesisthey stop,atthen around and head back the
that they had come from. ash.there is not and the small, but stop, in high thetraffic middle ofstreet the isstreet without fail a vehicle will drive up and honk their horn seems this character(s) get of to the of to the street and then sud h.itsstop, in the middle themiddle street realize that they don’t know where should be heading, or they get d geti.this character moving again. They arethey not necessarily stop, on the corner with something else around them, and they just stop, right there the s its seems this character(s) get to the middle of the street andinthen tourists. Many times they will stop, then turn around and stopping the they middle is sort of okay at has this location as there is know not realizeinthat don’t know the where they should be heading, orthey they get sometimes this occurs because person run into someone and the way street isensues small, but without fail stop, a vehicle drive u head traffic back same they had come from. with something elsethat around them, and they just rightwill there in th and anthe informal contact before they separately continue on, this
honk horn to middle get this moving again. they are in the is character sort okay at location as not there is no isstopping a their fun scenario. sometimes manyofpeople arethis stopped together on necessa the tourists. times will then turn around and head will backon. the traffic and is small, but without fail athey vehicle drive corner to many waitthe forstreet a they vehicle tostop, pass, then en masse continue that they had come to from. honk their horn get this again. are not neces sometimes a person alone just character stops for moving a moment, for they whatever number o tourists. many times they will stop, then turn around and head back th stop reasons. on the corner: Sometimes this occurs that they had come from.
because the person has run into someone they know i. j. stop, on the corner the cycler and an informal contact ensues before they separately this occurs because the person has run into someone theypass knowq this person has this two speeds, he/she is cycling by which means they i.sometimes stop, on the corner continue is acontact funeither scenario. Sometimes many and on, antoinformal ensues (especially before they the separately continue on, is this times having dodge the pedestrians ‘texter’) or he/she wa a fun scenario. sometimes many people stopped together on the sometimes this occurs because the person has run into someone peopleis are stopped together on the corner toare wait for bicycle wherein the narrow sidewalk becomes an obstacle course trying tothey get kn ar corner to wait for a vehicle to pass, then en masse they continue on. and anfurniture, informal contact ensues before they on, th and the street etc. when walking the bike,separately the personcontinue may be looking a vehicle to pass, then en masse they continue on. sometimes a person alone just stops for a moment, for whatever number is or a fun scenario. sometimes many are stopped theo cupied pole railing upon which he/she canpeople lock their bike totogether and thenoncontin reasons. Sometimes a person alone stops forpass, a moment, for corner tovia wait for within ajust vehicle then en there masse can theybecontinue on. final destination foot. the to cycler category found subca sometimes a dressed person alone just stops moment, fora whatever the ‘safety cycler,’of in a bright neon for vesta and riding ‘get you number around whatever number reasons. reasons. ever’ bike; the ‘pro,’ very fit and riding a fancy, geared up, fast road bike; j. theincycler cool’ hipster tight jeans riding a fixed gear, many times this is a bike mes
others. this person speeds, either he/she is cycling by which means they pass q j. has thetwocycler times having to dodge the pedestrians (especially the ‘texter’) or he/she is wa the cycler: This person has he/she two speeds, either bicycle whereinhas thetwo narrow sidewalk an course getpas ar this person speeds, eitherbecomes is obstacle cycling by whichtrying means to they and the street furniture, etc. when walking the the‘texter’) person may looking he/she is cycling by which means they passbike, quickly, times having to dodge the pedestrians (especially the or be he/she is cupied polewherein or railing which can lock their bike to and then to contin bicycle the narrow sidewalk becomes an obstacle course trying get sometimes having to upon dodge thehe/she pedestrians (especially final via foot. within the walking cycler category can be may found and destination the street furniture, etc. when the bike,there the person be subca look the ‘safety cycler,’ dressed inwhich a their bright neon riding ‘get around the ‘texter’) ororhe/she is upon walking bicycle wherein the cupied pole railing he/she canvest lockand their bikea to andyou then con ever’ bike; the ‘pro,’ fitwithin and riding a fancy, gearedthere up, fast road bike; final destination viavery foot. the cycler category can be found su narrow sidewalk becomes an obstacle course trying to cool’ hipster in tight jeans riding a fixed gear, many times this is a bike mes the ‘safety cycler,’ dressed in a bright neon vest and riding a ‘get you aro others. get around people and the street furniture, etc. When ever’ bike; the ‘pro,’ very fit and riding a fancy, geared up, fast road bik cool’ hipster in tight jeans riding a fixed gear, many times this is a bike walking their bike, the person may be looking for an others.
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 commuter’ 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.
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07.20 seeing, synchronic/diachronic complete description
On the same corner as used in the previous investigation, the environment of the site was studied, looking at how people see and experience their movement through the city on two time scales. These being: (1) Synchronic, occurring at a specific point in time, dealing with the right now. And (2) Diachronic, occurring and changing along with time, giving the meaning and reasons behind what we see. In the first, on the synchronic time scale, the specific moment notes what is happening right then at that point in time, with time as a constant. These are the typological characteristics: the time of day, the weather, the season, the location, who is around a person, what the person is doing, where the person is going. Experienced in parallel, 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. Why it is that way? How did it come to be that way? What one has experienced, knows, and learns in their life gives shape to how one sees the world around them differently from the next. No two views are exactly the same. An example of these time scales is a newspaper: in it is printed the daily news, the now of everyday - the synchronic - concurrently through history the small incremental - diachronic -movements seen in a newspaper begin to speak of a culture’s development through time. A person’s movements and actions similarly shape their relationship with the city.
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[drawing, charcoal & mixed media] ways of seeing /two layers/ synchronic & diachronic
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Every experience is relative and is subjective to the viewer. This investigation is interested in the specific pieces which make the corner what it was on that particular day to the one who is experiencing it. To visualize these ideas a collage of the corner of Air Street was constructed, calling out specific points in the scene which were noticed by the viewer. Two examples are: the bricked-in windows which were assumed to be left as a policy imprint from the past when London had a window tax; and two men who were smoking under the awning, they came from separate directions but from their gestures they knew each other and had stopped to catch up out. These specific points in the scene were turned into thaumatropes. The thaumatropes - a simple child’s toy - demonstrated the idea of the two time scales. Two images were placed on opposite sides of a circular disk with a string attached, when it was wound up and spun, the user’s eyes, through persistence of vision, see an illusion in which two images combine to form one continuous image - two parts become a whole.
Seeing comes before words. The child looks and recognizes before it can speak. The way we see things is affected by what we know or what we believe. [John Berger] Ways of Seeing
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[photo collage] on the corner of one stop food & wine
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‘Travel through the city creates a sequence of experience. This sequence is a moving encounter with the environment, in which the traveller acts according to his own purposes, while the environment reciprocally shapes his experience. If we describe a sequence as a succession of events, each event, set against the remembered past, will affect the traveler’s attitude, response and perception of the future. Thus each experience is relative. A dark space, entered from a darker tunnel, may seem very bright. Past, present and future are joined.’ [Donald Appleyard]
[above, models] physical thumatropes, two images combine to form one image when spun [right, drawings] images on the thumatropes
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07.30 eating, dinner as a performance complete description
The simple event of sitting down at a table over food is a common act that brings people together, making then stop for a moment and interact face to face. It is composed of the same actions and sequence, yet each iteration plays out a bit differently. In this investigation two corresponding parts are found: (one) the simple object of a table as an enabler that engages people, and (two) the analogy of a dinner that happens around a table to the purpose of an ideal city. Dinner 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 setting. A meal tells of culture, geographical location, values, and health. Eating is a daily necessity for basic nourishment, but it is also an act of enjoyment and pleasure. People eat with friends, with family, by themselves, people eat at home or in restaurants, they eat food from other countries and food from their homeland, people share and converse. If it’s summer there are barbeques outside, if it’s winter there are 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. The dinner which is recorded and played out here is a special event, a thanksgiving feast. Thanksgiving,
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an American tradition taking place once a year on the fourth Thursday of November, began as a three day feast shared between the Native Americans and the Pilgrims as a celebration of thanks to God for helping them survive the brutal winter. 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 wine, eating far too much and then having pumpkin pie for dessert. 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 again be repeated in exactly that same place with those same people in that same context.
[photographs] the table in four states of use
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Lawrence Halprin, a designer of urban spaces, writes: ‘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 compared to the purpose of a dinner. A dinner is also 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. 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.
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This investigation was not developed beyond photography and analysis of a dinner, but it is an important piece in showing the development of a subject matter to be further expanded upon.
[photographs] dinner sequence in five stages 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
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four/ food from plate to fork, fork to mouth, and then into belly plate empties
five/ dessert so good so full sit back lie on ground to stretch
[photo montage] motion of the dinner
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[pen drawings] people in relation to the table
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07.40 letter of invitation to participants
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07.50 participant list: _project director kim walker _actors* Patrick Berning Simon Winters Zayne Armstrong Louise Mackie James Kirk Kelly Ordemann Paul Johnstone Johannes Muentinga Adam Phillips Mackenzie Bryant Nat Spink Guy Woodhouse Andrew Simposon Rich Hardy Natalie Wright Gintare Rudyte Holly Smith _camera crew* Ollie Palmer Lucy Jones Duane McLemore * most likely, some participants may change
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07.60 toolkit materials, equipment & props for performance equipment • (2) video cameras, stationary on tripods • (1) video camera, hand held • (3) photographic cameras • tape, to mark the camera locations on the ground
props • stretchy fabic, bright green in color • food & drink: sandwiches, crisps, soda. • reading material- book, magazine • green and orange shirts
07.70 broadgate estate filming agreement following pages
07.80 working script for the performance a hand out to the participants [insert]
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ex•change
an act of giving one thing and receiving another in return.