I'm pleased with the work I've done so far this week, but at times I've felt a bit worried about my project becoming too confusing. This project is about 3 times as long as our usual foundation projects and I've found it a bit of a struggle to keep the momentum going. Today we had a crit in the studio which helped alot. Some people looked through my work and said that they found it difficult to follow my development. I've been doing most of my writing and annotations in my log book so my work feels like its divided up into words and pictures. I'll have to look back over my work so far and connect the dots between my experiments and developments.
Here is some photos of my work with MDF
After tracing out my map onto the Mdf I cut out the shapes using a jigsaw. I'm really pleased with the result but I need to add some supports to the piece to make sure it doesnt fall over and hurt anyone.
I added a piano hinge to make the sheets open out like a book.
To try out the process for my event on sunday I did a trial where I asked my mum and 2 family friends to take part. I made them close their eyes and mark out a random spot on the map of crouch end. I then went to each spot and recorded my surroundings.
I displayed my findings on my installation, screwing in a hook to the place they marked and hanging the photos, objects and sketches from string attached to the hooks. I thought when the information was displayed it looked good- I can really imagine loads of strings all feeding out from different areas showing all the different places around crouch end. I think people will find it really interesting and hopefully it will get them thinking about how the different areas are used. I also like the way that in the focal space of the installation the photos and notes will all become mixed up as the different strings cross over. I think Crouch end can be divided alot of the time despite the fact that alot of people from diffent cultures and age groups live there.
I thought the trial was alright, but I my ideas weren't presented clearly enough and the process became quite convoluted. I didnt like the fact that the people's role in the project was over in a matter of minutes. As this is a project about rejuvinating a community spirit and getting people actively interested in the spaces around them, I want the public to play a more active role in my installation. By people choosing a place at random, their connection to the different areas is limited. I want this piece to weave into the patterns of people's daily lives.
So as a way to improve my Crouch end event I'm going to step back a bit from the process and see what happens when the development of the installation is put into the hands of the public. I'm going to provide each person that's willing to take part in the piece with a small kit. It will have a disposable camera, a pen, paper etc. and I'm going to ask them to take it with them wherever their going and record their surroundings.
I'm aware that some people wont be up for taking part, but I hope that some will have a go. I'm most worried about people walking off with the disposable cameras.
Anyway, I'll have to see how it goes on sunday and hopefully I'll be making a film of the event. As the project is based on how people interact with Crouch End and ways to catch peoples attention and get interested and involved in the area, I think a film will be the best way to record what happens.
There were so many more photos. I expected to find alot of shots of the clocktower when I picked up the prints and I thought I would find this a bit boring and predictable, but actually I really loved looking at the different way people had recorded it. I liked the fact I knew exatly where the person was standing when they took the picture and what was surrounding them at that specific moment- for example, Paul (the newspaper vendour) has the best view of the clocktower because his booth sits directly infront of it, but his photo gave me the chance to see exactly the view he's seen almost every day for 32 years.
