UNIT 1: BRIEF 1: WEEK 2:
Methods of investiagtaion
Focus on one part of your physical site to investigate deeper and more exhaustively using a variety of techniques, to find a volume of findings.
Brain dump
I put all my thoughts in a brain dump Miro board to help me sort them.
Notetaking
I chose one window in the physical site as my deeper investigation. Windows we look through, we look out, but we rarely look at. I sat outside the physical space, at the window, and looked at it. I took notes to investigate this.
Sketching
I sat inside the physical space and looked out. I initially thought I would look where my eyes fell, then look through the window in lots of other ways, but I didn’t get further than the first stage. My eyes fell on a parked car, that was in the middle of the window, directly opposite me, at eye level. I looked in depth at the reflection in the curve of hte car that caught my eye. I eventually worked out it the reflection of my the physical space I was sat in, warped by the bodywork of the car, to create patterns that led to mythical beast formations.
Mobile making
In looking at the car and its reflections, I was also drawn to the strong lines created at the junctions between parts of the car that needed to move or be moved.
I took a sketch of the curves and made a mobile to investigate how they would move free of their structure to investigate pattern, shape and form.
Listing (Collage WIP)
I wanted to investigate the space between myself and the window from sitting outside the window. I listed the physical things in the space (approx 1.5m) and then I listed the things I could sense in the space. I wanted to make a collage of the things I could sense, but didn’t have time…
Model Making WIP
I thought about the window as the future of surveillance. In the future how windows would literally be the all seeing eye. So I thought about if the window would be one eye, or two eyes. Then I thought what if it was a hundred eyes. Or a thousand eyes. Would they look up and down, left and right. Or would they swivel 360˚. Would they simultaneously survey inside and outside as a window serves inside and outside? As reflections are simultaneously inside and outside. What if it wasn’t an eye, but a brain… I wanted to make a model of the window of eyes…
Diagramming WIP
When it suddenly dawned on me that the reflection in the car was the building I was sat in, I started to investigate diagramming to work out how it got there. I looked at where the sun was, the line to the building, then the line to the car. I went outside to view the building from the sun’s angle / perspective, I did a rough diagram in my notebook, but couldn’t get the angels right or the perspective, or quite work out how to do it, but I think I could have investigated this further if I had more time. In the process of initially finding the sun, I realised how small the area of reflection in the car that I was sketching was, and I started creating a diagram of that as well, which was enlightening to how small an area I was looking at and how small the car was in the frame, ironically when sketching it it felt like it filled my vision. I feel there is something in this worth investigating further too.
Cataloguing
All the colours I could see and how many times they appeared. But this was at the end of my time and I was a bit tired. It did draw me to see things I hadn’t seen before. I think there is more to be explored here. But it bored me a bit so I stopped.
Personality
I was thinking about the frame around the window and how if it wasn’t there would it be a window, or just a sheet of glass. This led me to think of it falling and smashing on the ground or staying in place without a frame. This led me to think about how strong the glass was but also how vulnerable. This led me to think about the personality of the glass and who it was. This was what I thought:
Strong, but vulnerable
Physically and mentally {Thick, robust glass, that easily cracks}
Reliable and loyal
{Always there}
Kind and gentle
{Just a vibe}
Generous
{Gives light to the interior, gives light to the exterior through reflection}
Proud, but not arrogant
{Stands tall, but not in your face}
Needs cleaning,
doesn’t need feeding