Arch

T-Mobile Advert

2009-01-25T23:20:00.001Z

Amazing!!!!! If I was in London, I would have gone for the audition and been part of the dance!!! It's so much FUN! :D

Life is for Sharing Filmed at 11am on Thursday 15th January 2009 at Liverpool Street station, London The Making of T-Mobile Dance

Birdies Dance

2008-11-12T12:23:00.005Z

A bit dark.
But the music used is from one of my favourite contemporary composers - Arvo Pärt!

Tabula Rasa by Miguel Robles

Dancing Queens

2008-11-05T23:25:00.003Z

intertwined

2008-11-01T18:42:00.001Z

Event Posters

2008-10-31T09:58:00.005Z

Event Posters

2008-10-30T10:42:00.004Z

Minutes 28.10.08

2008-10-29T10:56:00.004Z

28.10.08 – Group Meeting Minutes

10:15am in Studio
Present: Jen/ Tori/ Julie/ Carolyn
Apologies from engagement + construction teams – out and about engaging and constructing.
Apologies from Kris – options module clash mon-wed this week and next.

Overview - Brief meeting to update Carolyn following Monday’s group meeting – group ran through ground covered and main outcomes and conclusions. Explained idea of a Friday/Monday/Friday ‘layering’ of performances, in order to build upon existing information, research and material. Carolyn agreed that this was a positive and logical approach, and the event would be an opportunity to showcase ideas and films to date, in a way that will not be possible at the final assessment.

Julie explained the three current subgroups to Carolyn (see minutes 27.10.08) – roles of each, and relationship between three.

Carolyn suggested contacting BBC Radio Sheffield for publicity; Sheffield Live was also mentioned. Importance of publicising next Monday’s event as quickly and widely as possible.

Public exhibition on monday - Persistence Works is looking likely for the final event – just waiting for final confirmation. Events team have viewed a couple of possible venues, and although this is the most expensive option, it is by far the most attractive. Suggested that team members contribute £10 or similar, then rest to be made up from budget (Trish agrees).

Timing of event – 7-9pm was planned – CB highlighted that this gives people the chance to leave work (and not come back into town). 6-8pm now proposed + agreed by group.

Carolyn raised the point that entering Persistence Works can seem uninviting to new visitors – maybe we address this by taking over the foyer etc? – to be discussed further by events + PW. Home make cake and tea looking likely (licensing problems with alcohol..?) – this could go in the foyer. Need to think about glasses + crockery. Cater for 100ish?

Events team to push getting out publicity asap, as soon as venue is confirmed.

Whole school event - Ran through idea for workshop based on Arch work and the Arts Tower – investigating memories of the tower and movement through the building using the paternoster as a tool. Carolyn agreed that the idea of installations in the lift and the bus stops are synonymous and that it would be an appropriate idea for the group to pursue. Provisionally next Thursday – group to discuss after the exhibition. Agreed that this should not be integrated with the final presentation.

(+ Pol/ Tilly/ Jonny)

Friday’s meeting – structures + engagement teams to provide rationalised information in order to produce a more choreographed piece w/dancers in collaboration with Simon (?). Schedule to be produced by events team based on info from s + e teams.
Structures – time constraints in building everything we want to build. Realistically will have to give a ‘flavour’ of the final scheme. Carolyn felt that the structures proposed were too ‘rigid’ and finished – if we accept we can’t build within the time period then we should be designing something which really pushes the boundaries.
Final design strategy – highlighted importance of reclaiming/recycling. Carolyn suggested we contact one of her sites for leftover materials etc – structures to pursue.

To Do
• Structures team to continue building and developing amazing final ideas
• Events team to continue sorting logistics of Monday, and draw up schedule for Friday. Also complete, email, print and distribute posters and invitations
• Engagement team to feed info to other teams to inform development
• Everyone to find as many people as possible to bring on Monday to make it a success!

Other Information - Please keep checking emails – bits of info are feeding in from suppliers + TO’S/SB all the time

Next Meeting – Wednesday 29th October @ 5.30pm (studio) - to run through progress since monday

Hans Hemmert

2008-10-29T09:46:00.010Z

When I was shopping with the builder group searching for fabric yesterday, I kept thinking Hans Hemmert's latex artworks! They always make me laugh, though the original idea behind these artworks is about isolation and alienation.

Hope they light up your busy productive week! :)

Check out more: http://ingesidee.de/page.php?pgid=14&lang=en

Rotation Panels

2008-10-28T11:25:00.003Z

Interactive structure I (2D version)

Interative structure II (3D version)

Minutes of Meeting 24-10-08

2008-10-27T20:26:00.001Z

Meeting with Clients and Professional Dancers 24-10-08

10am in Sharrow Community Forum

Engagement techniques
Caroline Reese is fantastic knowledge source to be tapped in regard to making people participate within dance. It is a real skill in making people feel comfortable enough to join in. – They own bus stop just as much as we do. Instead of just ‘doing art’ at somebody, we need to really consider what is necessary to break down the boundaries.

- We’ve found from our week of research that often got more interaction from people about our installations when they didn’t realise that we were involved in it. Speaking to them about the intervention as a fellow outsider. Perhaps we can build on that by going ‘incognito,’ pretending to be someone ‘everyday’ waiting for bus in order to get stories.

We decided not to let people know who we were or what we were doing during the last week, creating more gorilla events. We believe that this worked well for what we were trying to investigate. People very early on started coming up to us and mentioning other bus shelter installations that they had seen. We felt we managed to create an identity through the events rather than through a name or image. Trish mentions, however that this afternoon and during the next week we may want to look at having signs saying who we are and what we are doing as this may well aid in the engagement of the public.

Trish mentions that often a good engagement technique is to ask as a specific question as possible. So instead of saying ‘tell us a memory of a journey you had’ ask ‘have you ever felt intimidated on a bus?’ or ‘how do you travel to meet the person you love?’

Installations within Shelter – discussion after viewing videos
However engagement doesn’t always need to be so direct, it can just be a piece of ‘art,’ such as leaving a sofa in a bus shelter. It’s all about giving someone a new view of their world, changing someone’s day.

The bus shelter itself is an interesting forum due to the feeling of liberation of action you get when in it - the protection that the context gives us. Similar to the ‘white cube’ art gallery concept. This provides difficulty in itself - when does movement go from everyday to ‘art.’

After watching video of man cleaning bus stop – When do you go from being a performer to being in the audience? Is there a way of creating a situation where people can from one role to the other within the timeframe of the piece?

Timeline of shelter – During the course of a day the shelter can go from being empty to being very busy to being empty again. Perhaps this in itself in a dance? We shouldn’t be scared of the shelter being empty, something very beautiful and sculptural about it.

We found that often the memories and stories that people did share with us were quite painful. Simon suggests that perhaps this is the case as it is the most prominent memory on their minds. Trish mentions that Sharrow is quite poor so often we may well hear painful and difficult stories and that she appreciates that it is often difficult not to react to them but to remain as a passive recorder of the memory. – It is suggested we look at the work of DV8 – Lloyd Neeson and how they/he worked with very painful stories in a beautiful but shocking way.

Discussion after afternoon collaboration
It is mentioned that perhaps the structures we produced this week weren’t necessary as yet within the project. That an intermediate step would have been just to take the dancers out to an empty bus shelter and see how they react within that environment. Some of the ideas that we wanted to examine could have been looked at by just using the structure of the shelter. For example –

- Turning bus timetable as adaption of structure.
- Playing with Perspex as if it were reflection etc.

After that we could have added additional things to engage with.

We found that some structures worked better than others as platforms for interesting performance. Both structures looking at framing and suspension worked well for the dancers, giving them plenty of material to work with. It was felt though that the framing was perhaps too much of an ‘art installation,’ cutting off the public from interacting.

Is there a way of producing the same effect but without creating such a barrier effect?
The two structures which looked at structure moving with body and body moving with structure had good theory behind them, but it was felt that in order to get the desired effect they require a lot more thought about materiality and construction. All worked well however in giving us a good base for further experimentation in the up-coming week.

Interestingly it was found that the ‘event’ that encouraged the most public engagement was the harness device when no dancers were actually using it. We must use this knowledge to discuss how to create installations which invite questions and interaction.

The dancers were asked whether having a public audience changed their performances in anyway? It was mentioned that the audience reacting to certain movements, by laughing for example, made them want to play up the comedic aspect more.

It is agreed that the overall thematic approach of all of our installations has been that of separation and connection and that this should help us to be more specific when attempting public engagement.

SEPERATION AND CONNECTION

Issues of space
Simon asked whether there is a minimum space required for audience participation? It is suggested that perhaps the size of space is not the issue, but the subconscious barrier of embarrassment.

Possible future events/installations
Simon suggests the idea of having two or three people at a bus stop in ‘normal’ clothes waiting for a bus. Slowly but surely they start to move in rehearsed unison. This can be small, underground movement which suddenly emerges. This involves people in something special that would hopefully enrich their day.

Possibly something that can be looked at to do with the dancers next Friday?

Other ways of sharing stories – Perhaps using ipods/downloadable pre-recorded stories. Ring up telephone number to hear story about that bus shelter?

Exchanging memory. Ask everyone to turn up to an event (possibly final event?) with a memento or object which tells a story. You then swap and leave with someone else’s object.
It is agreed that we need to look over our past research, see what has worked and what hasn’t in terms of public engagement and expand on these ideas. Eg. Post-its, chalked-in footprints, curtains, postcards etc….

Final event/Upcoming week
Trish and Simon want the final outcome/strategy to be something that is ‘live,’ not something which is static and just toured around. A collection of techniques for engagement which can be used in many different towns can be used by Trish and Simon to collect memories and stories which will form the basis for dance performances.

How will the research we collect shape the thing built for the final event?

How best to showcase the memories and stories that have been collected?

- Projection (of text, image, other dance performances…?)
- Playing with shadow – structure out of shadow?
- Playing with scale – scale used to describe emotion?
- Framing of bodies?
- Structure moving dance, dance moving structure?

The dance performances will grow from a mixture of the research collected by our strategic bus shelter installations and as a reaction to the structure we design as a platform for the dance. The strategy for funding should also include information on who Trish and Simon would need to approach about getting permission to have slightly more permanent exhibitions in bus shelters.

These installations can be of any sort, ranging from built structures to post-it notes. Their raison d’être however must be as aids for engagement; encouraging people to leave stories and memories of public transport and journeys. They will also have another function, one of enlivening interest in the final dance performance that will be created. Hopefully they will aid in creating an audience for this piece.

USE INTERVENTION AS INVITATION

- What will encourage people to come in?

Final structure
Would be good if it could pack away – Ikea, DIY set of constructional diagrams?
Should involve projection in some way – play with layers and shadow.
Include something that the dancers can suspend from. – suspension of time as well as ppl.
Include strong lighting in someway (again playing with shadow)
Should involve framing – can be very cinematic
Should involve mirroring in some way. (Would be fantastic if we could include a mirror which spins)

How is it constructed?
How does it travel?
How is it disassembled?

Overall it should be something which amplifies the ideas that have been collected to turn these into ‘performance.’

It is suggested that perhaps the structure can be something with a base frame that different structures can then be attached to, depending on the specific areas of interest Trish and Simon are looking at for one particular performance. – Something adaptable to the situation.

Overall Conclusion
1. Strategic set of tools for engagement around bus shelters
2. Design of a structure for the showcase of collected research

Agenda for Monday 27-10-08
1. Discussion on the points that came up from Friday’s meeting.
2. Decision on path of action for up-coming week and division of labour.
3. Decision on what we want as a final presentation/exhibition of the project.
4. Conversation about whole school event.
5. Discussion on group outing on Tuesday evening.

Minutes 23.10.08

2008-10-27T18:37:00.003Z

23.10.08 – Group Meeting Minutes
10:15am in Studio

Present: Tilly/ Jen/ Tori/ Pól/ Kris/ Jonny/ Hayley/ Helen/ Carolyn/ Julie

Overview of Activity - The group updated Carolyn with a brief overview of our activities over the past few days – a picture of how we have gone about creating interventions within Sharrow to test out various ideas – two days of “challenging perceptions” of the ordinary (Jonny). Video prepared by Pól was shown to demonstrate the initial outcomes, along with explanation of specific ideas and interventions.

Interventions - Ideas - Development of ideas - Orange Chickens explained the development of the ‘Sharrow as a Stage’ interactive dance forum, including how the addition of chalked dance steps had encouraged public participation.

Audiences - Tilly described the ‘bubblewrap’ intervention, and its appeal in particular to a young girl; other groups found that it was the older generation who were the most willing to discuss their feelings and associations with what we were doing (or in some cases, nothing related to what we were doing!)

Participation - Carolyn asked what the public had been asked and how they had reacted; general discussion about memories of Sharrow, what the bus meant to the public, what their thoughts were when using the bus stops etc. It was largely agreed that people did start sharing memories as a result of the interventions – this improved over the day (possibly due to the installations ‘establishing’ themselves over time?) – Hayley pointed out the possible increased success if they could be left for, say, a week – agreed that the projects ‘grew’.

The ‘living room’ installation created a stage in which to sit, and it was pointed out that no one stopped to question the group during its stay in the bus stop; equally, no members of the public wanted to join in. Carolyn pointed out that, in that situation, she probably wouldn’t either…

Jonny mentioned the participation of bus drivers, in particular whilst playing games in the ‘living room’, one joined in by calling out letters for Hangman… Whilst this was a positive experience, far more common were negative reactions from bus drivers and employees of the transport were less encouraging yet unsurprising.

Key idea – “I remember you from yesterday”; “weren’t you the ones at XXX bus stop?”; “are you anything to do with the XXX in the bus stop down the road?” - already having an impact on the community, sparking memories, forming network, creating a stir!

This idea was pursued, in that through stage + celebration we were creating forums for memories (Hayley). Carolyn pointed out that this was valid – even if the information does not come back to us directly, the fact that ideas are being generated within the public shows that we have, to a degree, achieved what we set out to do.

Discussed problems encountered – question of legality of a barbecue in public (although in practice the intervention was not stopped)

Many group members agreed that there was great value in the public’s reactions after the initial event of the intervention had taken place, and that these responses were often more relevant and useful. Tilly mentioned one man who had completely reinterpreted the meaning of the Post-It bus stop, as a place for regular commuters to leave notes for each other and have ‘conversations’ via the notes.

Journeys to and from the interventions – Helen’s birthday – Pól + Jen arrived by bus, trying to link event + journey.

Sounds and transmission of noise – Murderous Red Robins explained how a visual intervention (tinfoil) became much more about sounds and distortion, as the tinfoil ‘carpet’ changed and aged with the presence of users, encouraged by the pleasing noises that the foil made when moving. ‘Bird box’ idea – placing a familiar sound in a familiar (garden) object, but in a manmade structure – was meant to be contrasted with a more urban environment – this may be pursued next week.

Carolyn mentioned French artist Sophie Calle and the Architecture Foundation’s bus stop competition as possible avenues of research.

Group summary (HA/JH) – 1. People have a lot to say if given the chance

2. Bus stops do work as a forum

3. Great value in reviewing work after event.

From point 3 - Group discussed how well some of the images and footage have come out when looking back after the event – in particular, the Post-Its (colour, shadow, framing of void) and the distortion of the Perspex during the ‘living room’ (manipulation of the form). Carolyn felt that this was a strength of work so far - to maintain an appreciation of the aesthetic throughout.

Carolyn felt that the open ended-ness of the ideas was a positive aspect, meaning that conclusions were not forced upon the public.

Meetings – It was brought up that the group had experienced some difficulties with the client meetings, in that they seemed estranged from our own line of work, and that as a group we felt we needed to give direction to the meetings at this stage in the live project. Carolyn agreed – has spoken to Trish who is happy for us to lead – concluded there has been slight misunderstanding about whether it would be appropriate for the group to take more control.

Our role – that at times, it has been unclear what exactly we as a group can bring to the Arch project (dancers and artists seemingly have more expertise and experience in the relevant areas). Pól suggested that we offer constraints; Carolyn had noticed that this was what the dancers were asking for last week – it was generally agreed by group that this was required. Carolyn also felt that we were not always confident in the skills that we brought to the project as architecture students, such as spatial awareness, sense of scale, sensitivity to materials + texture, etc. – and that we should be confident in exploiting our own knowledge and skills.

The group’s position within Birch O’Shea was also brought up – whether we are leaning more towards Trish’s practice, Simon’s approach, some form of ‘mediator’ or another factor all together. It was suggested that our bringing together of the public and the professional performer could be both the challenge and the role that we try to fill within the Arch project as a whole.

From this it was suggested that the group should provide something “more architectural” for tomorrow’s session – Julie also felt that this was something Simon had been pushing towards. It was agreed to work with what had already been accomplished to aim for this.

What the bus stop means – Thoughts both for and against deconstructing the bus stop idea – does it remain a literal forum or become more metaphorical? Ongoing food for thought. Jonny suggested coming up with 20+ rough ideas which could be refined over the next weeks.

Final presentation/whole school event – As a group, we need to start thinking about how to present the live project – what/when/where/how would be most appropriate. Agreed by all that a staid, traditional presentation would be inappropriate and not in keeping with the work. Do we improvise an event beforehand to replay on assessment day? Group discussed live performance, street event, exhibition with satellite performances – to be discussed more next week.

Assessment – Carolyn ran through basic structure, namely: 50% on process/structure of project/ingenuity/outcomes – self assessed? 50% on success of the team/analysis/awareness of problems – at presentation [n.b. do not take this as certain – check]. She also suggested that we discuss any presentation ideas with Russell.

Conclusions - We have been pursuing (and confused by) two threads – professional dance, and public engagement in performance (Jonny). These threads are slowly coming together – feels like we are beginning to make sense of the project and our role within it, as we tie together ideas.

- We are now in a position to take a stronger position in running the client meetings on Fridays, where previously we have been unsure in our ideas/avenues of exploration

Our next steps – 11.15 onwards (discussed after Carolyn left)
- Prepare (in smaller groups) 1:1 prototypes for the dancers to use tomorrow afternoon, based on interventions and last Friday’s session
- Format the material gathered from the interventions to present to dancers and clients
- Plan tomorrow’s meeting – structure, material, objectives

Other Information - Next Meeting – Friday 24th October @ 10am (be there 9.30am) at Sharrow Community Forum
(group, Trish + Simon, Carolyn, dancers)

DAPPLEMENT OF MEMORIES

2008-10-26T21:36:00.002Z

This guerrilla installation involved the tedious task of sticking copious amounts of post-it notes to a busy bus shelter in Sharrow. The aim was to provide a physical forum for the community to display their memories of the place, their stories and their messages. The community engagement was very sucessful providing our team with many rich stories, jokes and downright hilarious colloquialisms. The passers by seemed drawn to this once mundane bus shelter and were not afraid to voice their opinions graphically. As a composition, the shadows became the focal point, magnetising people into the space. Although the nice men at the 'transport office' thought otherwise and within 2 days this beautiful piece had vanished. Of course if we knew who carried out this act of vandalism we would be very co-operative...quack quack

Re-imagining the ordinary...

2008-10-26T21:13:00.002Z

Sharrow Engagement 21/22-10-08

2008-10-26T13:32:00.011Z

Structure inspired Movement - friday session

2008-10-26T13:26:00.004Z

Minutes of Meeting 20-10-08

2008-10-26T13:19:00.001Z

10.45am in studio

Present: Av/Hayley/Jonny/Kris/Hoi Sun/Julie/Tilly/Jen/Pol/Tori/Helen.

1. Meeting Trish on Wed 22-10?
Trish was contacted (17/10/08) regarding meeting up on Wednesday. Currently she hasn’t responded with answer. It is decided that unless Trish gets in contact we will carry on with the week as planned.

2. Action plan for beginning of week.
It is decided that the most important thing that needs to be achieved this week is to create physical representations of our bus shelter ideas to date. It is agreed that this does not mean that we spend a lot of time creating structures but instead use easy available materials to create environments and situations which we want to study further. (Re-appropriating everyday structures.) The three groups will stay as they stand and will each go out and create installations and record the results in as many different mediums as possible. Each group is given a bus route to look at further.

Green Mallards – Bus route 22
Orange Chickens – Bus routes 97/98
Red Murderous Robins – Bus route 3

3. Postcards
Photographs will be taken of each installation and turned into 110 x 150 postcards which can then be left at the bus stop as a trace/memory. The idea of leaving them on buses is also discussed. Some of these postcards can just be keepsakes and others will be SAE’s with questions pertaining to our project. Julie will email Julia Udall to ask whether it would be possible to use the Sharrow Community Forum as the return address.

4. Image
It is agreed that all our postcards/future communication should include the #02Arch logo somewhere in an attempt to start to create a recognisable brand for any future event. Groups to work out amongst themselves how best to include it in their installations (or whether it is necessary.) Remember, any paint or adhesive must be water-soluble!

5. Bracelets
At meeting 15-10 it was decided that we should create bracelets with our #02Arch logo on them as something, in addition to the postcards, that we give out to locals as thanks for their participation. Helen and Hayley agree to look into this further. Possibility of buying cheap plain bands from the moor market and spraying them?

6. Carolyn meeting 21-10
It is agreed that Julie will email Carolyn asking to meet up with her on London road rather than in the arts tower so as best to take advantage of the whole day in Sharrow.

7. Recording the movements of the different groups.
It is agreed that an A0 map of Sharrow/Sheffield will be printed out and on it we will each map (in our agreed colours) the three bus routes we are looking at and the position of bus stops along the way. Jonny will print this map out and tack it up in the studio.

Another A0 sheet will be used to map in a looser fashion where our installation/events take place and what they consist of. Tilly will set this in motion and we will all add to it along the way.

8. Wednesday meeting 22-10-08
It is agreed to meet up on Wednesday at 5pm in the studio to go through all the research that has been collected and discuss what worked well and what didn’t.

9. Friday meeting 24-10-08.
It is agreed that this meeting must be planned by us down to the last detail, however this is not going to be possible until we have reviewed research on Wednesday. From this it will be decided which paths we will experiment with further, designing and creating a number of installations which the professional dancers will interact with on Friday.

10. Salsa
It is agreed to meet at the Forum at 7.15pm on the 21-10 for a group salsa session. It is mentioned that some people are going to the Wigglesworth lecture beforehand but will attempt to get down to Division St as quickly as possible.

Agenda for Wed 22-10

1. Comments on 21-10 Salsa lesson.
2. Mallards to run through their research.
3. Chickens to run through their research.
4. M. Robins to run through their research.
5. Discussion on the running of Friday’s meeting.
6. Agreement on actions to be taken before Friday.

Look, public engagement with dance!

2008-10-24T18:32:00.004+01:00

Dance Baby Dance

2008-10-23T16:54:00.002+01:00

Bus shelter Installation 'dance with me'

2008-10-22T23:30:00.003+01:00

HoiSun, Julie, Helen, Pól, Jen

Structure inspired movement - friday session

2008-10-21T23:42:00.008+01:00

Movement - Dismantling the structure 2

2008-10-21T23:37:00.001+01:00

String is quite a fasciniating thing all of a sudden!

Movement - Dismantling the structure 1

2008-10-21T23:19:00.004+01:00

Entrapped

2008-10-21T23:10:00.003+01:00

One by design, the other by choice...
experimenting with structure and movement at Workshop 3 last friday

Sharrow Is...?

2008-10-21T17:55:00.006+01:00

If you came to this blog after picking up an envelope from a washing line at the Abbeydale Road/Chippinghouse Road bus stop - thank you! Please feel free to browse the blog, which should hopefully shed a little light on who we are and what the heck we were up to... We would be so grateful if you could leave a response to this post with any thoughts you may have about the project or Sharrow itself.
Thanks again!

'I call architecture frozen music'

2008-10-20T23:16:00.002+01:00

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

Is Dance thawed Music?

memory of the sharrow street piano

2008-10-20T23:15:00.003+01:00

Attainment / Memoir / Evolution / Decay / Destruction / Nostalgia

Meeting Minutes 15.10.08

2008-10-20T23:13:00.001+01:00

Meeting 15.10.08
Apologies: Kris sent apologies; she will be a little late
All other group members present.

Update/Review of where we are up to:
Last Friday’s meeting with Simon and Trish was positive but not very directive.
Interesting difference in their take on the ‘outcome’ of the project: public intervention, satellites? (Simon)/ internal event (Trish).
Discussion over the conflicting ways of working – circumlocutionary process; our ‘architectural thinking’ causing us to want to focus on an end point rather than fluid evolving process as the main body of work.
Video and books of ideas well received.

Outcome:
Need to define and take control of the direction for the next 3/6 weeks.
Define Plan of action for each week.
Divorce Friday’s meetings from the ‘working week’. Friday sessions to be used to inform work, but not necessarily be a ‘eureka’ moment each week to direct us.
Julie expressed that 'only a few ways it can go' - an event of some sort todemonstrate our findings in the 6 week project.
Tori highlighted the fact that, referring back to the brief sheet as provided bythe clients, in fact we have answered a lot of the questions raised initiallyby the client with respect to the areas they would like our work to explore.We need to throw ourselves into the participation element of what we areexploring. These could be meetings with: dancers, schools, individuals, local groups, andinterventions at bus stops which will all feed into final event.
Julie and Tilly reported back on their investigations into whether a bus-stopgraveyard exists: there is one - for the whole of south yorkshire!
There is to be a huge contract to renew bus stops across the region in 2-3weeks. We can have as many as we like and they can be delivered to wherever wewant them. Question of cost was raised - to be dealt with as and when delivery timeis closer. Julie is in discussion with the man concerned to see if negotiation can bring us even just one bus stop in the interim.Obtaining a bus stop (or several) might become part of a longer term strategyfor the project.
Where does this take us?This provides a focal point for us in the project; Gives us context.It could provide a theme for discovery of info - eg. if we can find out which busstops are to be removed next and when, perhaps, like the street piano, we could collectmemories of events at bus stops, ask questions about where people think their bus stop will go,what will happen to it etc.Tilly suggested that her brother may be able to provide some sort of contraption to mobilise the bus stop, possibly some sort of trailer, so we can move a bus stop around if that is appropriate.The Bus stop as a focal point:
Possibility of visiting the bus stop graveyard was suggested.The bus stop ‘graveyard’ is a hugely emotive situation - accumulation of journeys, memories etc. Suggestions of past journeys, memory, collected memory - use to inform 'product'?Interventions: Leave a mark on a bus stop - in a specific location?Setting up a stage for events - a model that we could apply anywhere?Discussion as to mobility of bus stop. Jonny raised the point that Bus stops are stationary; it is the people who move - the audiences come and go. Does the bus stop need to move around?Intervention in a bus stop.
Bus stop as a decontextualised object? Is its meaning inherent in its structure?
Discussions re impact of a new bus stop - influence on the community?
These participatory, emotive events can be used to feed into our end point.
Getting a bus stop will give us a sense of ownership of the project and interventions.

Where do we go from here?
Aim is to obtain a bus stop to start implementing our own interventions.
We decided to stick with this concept as a focal point to guide us through the project.
Look into the national network – long term strategy; outreach
Jen highlighted that our elemental experiments/tests can feed back into the long term strategy.
Helen highlighted that whatever council reactions are to our interventions will be positive research, even if seemingly a negative response.
The decision was made to brainstorm with people around a series of subjects:
· Journeys
· Dancing
· Installations

It was decided the best way to approach this is was to sub-divide the group into 3, taking 1 bus stop per day, over a series of days. ‘Giving to receive’ - providing a souvenir at each ‘test’ event. It is expected, however that there will be a degree of overlap between the groups’ activities.
Groups to investigate:
· sharrow community groups – local groups: art groups, school, dads’ group, asylum seekers (broader journeys)
· Dance groups – professionals and lay people – about journeys, movement and architecture
· Individuals – interventions at bus stops

Sub groups (drawn out of a hat):
DANCE GROUPS
BUS STOP INTERVENTIONS
LOCAL COMMUNITY GROUPS
Tori
Kris
Jen
Hoi Sun
Jonny
Pól
Julie
Hayley
Av

Tilly
Helen

Blog Privacy:
Discussions re our options post conversations/emails with Carolyn and Russell
Generally the fact that concerns have been raised, impacting the way we work and progress is a positive thing to work through and deal with. In simple terms it is the client vs the school and a compromise must be made.
2 blogs, one public and one private, was generally agreed to be a huge amount of work and difficult to ascertain then what detail should go on which blog as the process is so integral to the outcome of this live project.
Leaving the blog with restricted access was agreed to be detrimental to the success of the blog, which is in itself an integral part of the live project. Already feedback has been received from people outside the group who have questioned why they cannot access the blog.
Copyrighting the blog was discussed, but not seen to be a viable solution that the clients would be satisfied with.

So – a solution?
This leaves us with the question of confidentiality – which needs to be discussed further with the clients. However, the situation as we see it can be summarised thus:
We understand that the clients were made aware of the purpose of the live project, as a collaborative piece of work, and our requirements from that educationally before undertaking involvement.
Our approach to the public/private divide, rather than through the censorship of intellectual property, would be to propose excluding any information with regard to funding on the blog. The project therefore, as it exists in the public domain would appear purely educational. Anything with respect to a long term funding strategy could either be privacy protected on the blog, or not posted. The project would not be publicly ‘advertised’ therefore as something warranting funding merit.
Discussion also turned to include the fact that the idea of intervening with bus stops and dancing in public is not an original idea in itself – we are drawing on the previous work of other individuals and groups – and thus ‘privatising’ our work seemed inappropriate.
Privatising the blog seems in direct conflict also with the open engagement nature of the project, and we would highlight the collaborative context in which the project is set.
Discussion led to the proposal of a ‘statement’ to email about this – seen as less confrontational , also set out in writing, and will avoid the possibility of losing a lot of time discussing this at the meeting on Friday.

To Do/Further Ideas:
Provide mobile music for interventions – Tori to provide cd player
Record salsa lesson ( music and vocals) – play in bus stop
Reflections from those who attended salsa class on Tuesday
All welcome at Salsa at the Forum next Tuesday – from 7.30pm onwards, £3
Julie volunteered to look into short term funding – approach Julia Udal at SCF.
[Brief discussion about funding: our services worth £15000 on funding proposal – something to be aware of. Keep receipts for any expenditure for materials etc for hopeful future reimbursement]
Jen suggested collecting ‘found’ objects – freecycle, gum tree. This could direct our approach to installations.
All: Investigate local scrap yards/gumtee/freecycle for stuff we can use for live project.
Client meeting Friday – keep open, see what the dancers bring to the meeting and their reactions to our ideas- Funding – Julie is happy to carry on investigating funding options from shine Sharrow- Everyone to sort themselves out within the smaller groups.
Last 30 minutes of meeting 15th October
Av/Hayley/Julie/Hoi Sun/Kris/Julie/Helen
Hayley: Identity of live project?
Julie: At the 10/10 meeting it was decided to hold off from making a strong identity for ourselves until we have a definitive path and ideas/events in the making.
Discussion:
The need for perhaps a more subtle identity to add to events, esp. the more gorilla installations in bus stops. A ‘tag’ of some kind to just tie everything together?
This means that when it comes to advertising the final gallery presentation/satellite galleries we can use an image which has (hopefully!) filtered into the Sharrow conciousness.
This is agreed to be a good idea.
Julie: There is already a sort-of image coming through from the work already done, the #02Arch that can be seen on the blog and was also included in the emails to Trish’s contacts and was on the postcards. This could easily be printed onto stickers or made into a stencil….
Julie and Av: Will investigate non-permanent ways of ‘tagging’ installations – easily-removable adhesive/water-soluble paint/something as simple as post-its?
Helen: Do we need some sort of identity for ourselves?
Discussion:
Agreed that we don’t need anything as obvious as t-shirts. How about something around wrists? Decided to create bracelets with our ‘identity tag’ on them. They will provide us with something (in addition to postcards) that we can swap with people in return for answering questions/participating in our installations and events.
Helen/Hayley: Will investigate ways of producing these for little/no money. Colours/materials/ways of transferring image etc.
All: Decided that people who went to Salsa yesterday should add their thoughts on the matter to the blog.
Dance participatory group: Look into break dancing/street dancing tomorrow. Loxley 4pm-6pm.
Av: Ideas for group participatory events?
Discussion:
Asking groups about journeys they’ve had on public transport, people they’ve met. Asking how people move on buses, maybe getting them to do some spontaneous dance?! Getting kids to build their own bus shelters out of card? Brainstorming about how they would like to improve the normal bus shelter if they could do anything? Taking them outside to visit the Sharrow shelters? Most important, it needs to be really interactive. Collecting research through as many formats as possible, – photo diaries, video, reflective journals, questionnaires etc.
Note: Anyone who needs local people/group contacts please check the stakeholder beast that is pinned in studio, or if in doubt contact Julie.

Team Intervention

2008-10-20T23:09:00.005+01:00

[code name birdface]

Random thoughts + outcome after meeting on Fri 17.10.08

2008-10-20T22:19:00.004+01:00

Outcome:

Dancer: Debbi + Riccardo

Student: Av + Hoisun

OK Go - Here It Goes Again

2008-10-17T20:06:00.019+01:00

Dance on the treadmills which was mentioned in the meeting today!

One of my all time favourite music videos!

More about the song and the video: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Here_It_Goes_Again

Enjoy! :)

A reenactment by students for a talent show in a High School

Pictorial Thinking

2008-10-17T08:12:00.001+01:00

Stream of consciousness - thoughts from salsa night etc

2008-10-17T00:42:00.004+01:00

"... a transformable, changing space for performance..."
Re-reading parts of Richard Sennett's book reminded me of the fact that the city can act as a backdrop to one's actions...the idea that one is an 'actor' in public space, and not entirely oneself.

"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."

(Shakespeare, As you like it, 2/7)

This provoked several surprising thoughts - while many seem to feel the need to consume a few drinks before getting out on the dance floor, I am quite the reverse. The dancefloor is one of the few places where I feel I can truly be myself, without inhibition, and be 'fully expressive' -particularly with salsa. The 'performance arena' gives me the confidence to do things outwith my normal comfort zone; it provides context. Tuesday's session being a prime example, where I was much more forward than I would ever be in usual social circumstances.

The idea of 'usual social circumstances' is itself challenged by our public engagement in salsa. The class, albiet a formalised setting, is a meeting of strangers. Yet a sense of belonging to the group soon develops. Like at a bus stop, the common activity - of waiting, a shared moment/experience - or a clumsy move in salsa gives one a feeling of inclusion. The environment is longer a threatening room of strangers, but a bunch of friendly people who want to engage with one another. It is also interesting in the fact that it challanges the comfort zone of intimacy with strangers. A dance floor can be packed, forcing dancers within each others' personal space...I like the phrase, 'dancing on a postage stamp'...which can be very uncomfortable with a stranger. However, in the context of dance, I realised that it often feels more awkward to comply with conventional personal boundaries than to get 'up close and personal', at which point the movement usually becomes freer and the dancers connect both literally on a more intimate level but are also more 'in tune' with each other. The people who come to these classes are all there for different reasons, but the general feelings exuding from the group en masse on the dance floor were enjoyment, relaxation and a sense of fun... I think we may even get the more sceptical 'non-dancers' of the group up on the dancefloor next week!

Music, for me, is critical to dance. You can dance to 'silence', but I would assume usually there would be an internalised soundtrack for this activity. This rather raises the question of what dance would be without music. A decontextualised awkwardness of movement highlighting the oddity of 'unconventional' movement? What would a world be like without any music? Could we call the noises of the everyday the soundtrack to the city - a backdrop to its activities?

How does this relate to Trish's point of feeling one's personal space can be invaded by noise? It would seem to me that today's society is one that is rarely subject to complete silence - even traffic noises are probably continually supplemented by music as we all walk around with headphones jammed into our ears. Does this focus ourselves on the self and our own movements as we respond to the soundtrack in our heads, or is the reverse, that we detach ourselves from the physical realm, both other people and the built environment, true?

Who knew a night on the dance floor could bring out such deep questions!?!?

Parcour 16th October

2008-10-16T19:00:00.015+01:00

Images - to go with the film (below)

2008-10-14T20:23:00.003+01:00

Taken the same day as filming, exploring the snapshot views of movement and grouping. Note the sneaky video camera in some of the pictures...

Study of the Bus stop as a STAGE

2008-10-14T17:18:00.000+01:00

Minutes for Client Meeting 10.10.08

2008-10-14T17:00:00.003+01:00

IN ATTENDANCE:
Tori/Pól/Tilly/Jonny/Jen/Av/Kris/Hoisun/Julie/Carolyn/Trish/Simon
APOLOGIES:
Hayley/Helen - dissertation

Tilly : Brief description of how we got here, synopsis of postcard idea, early brainstorming, how we imagined the project to be, our thoughts, our aspirations this week and how we settled on bus-stop idea. Description of the brain storming which occurred post group meeting on Monday (06.10.08 ), the residue of the brainstorming session after we had time to dwell on it was discussed. Initial concept evidence presented to Simon and Trish.
Julie: Describes the movement she witnessed within Sharrow, description of ‘street piano’ installation which captured the hearts of many on Sharrow and the loss they felt when it was dismantled and moved on. The sadness of the community at this loss was documented in on-line forums on the internet, the notion that maybe these forums could become a physical hub for interaction in the public realm. A place which forces and encourages interactions with strangers and neighbours alike. Theoretical correlation with the work of ‘Richard Sennet’ , whereby the public space is equated as ‘theatre’. Re-imagining the everyday, re-appreciating the ordinary.
Trish: Comments on the bus stop as a starting point. She likes the idea of linking personalities. Remembers an installation in a bus station where an artist nestles in a bus station and asks people for information and stories. – a fond way of connecting with people. A network!
Simon: enjoys the idea of connection, the Sharrow prototype could offer the model for identical works in other cities, other countries. Can be linked in the dioramic scale locally but can be linked panoramically across countries. Interested in the potential for framing views as explored in Sharrow workshop last week.
Trish : the bus stop is a simple structure which could be embellished more. Familiar to all people. “an interesting thing the dancers could interact with”. On analysing our postcards comments that (it) “could be something without a figure in it”, “visitor becomes involved- every time a bus arrives, a new audience arrives. “users become performers”. “where are people going when they wait on a bus? To meet a lover? To the hospital? To a birth? To a relative? Their story becomes interesting”. Bus etiquette dissected... who gets on first, where people stand, which way to look, codes of contact, dynamics of conversation, polite chit-chat. People say ‘thank you’ to the bus driver in Sheffield – a unique colloquial friendliness.
Simon: comments on how their work makes the ordinary extraordinary, celebrating and reawakening the ordinary. The world set to music, rhythm of people ‘plugged-in’ to iPods etc. People in their own musical bubble. Not desirable invasion of our own personal space when people play music out loud. Actions are always comfortable as long as we can move away to another location, very uncomfortable when trapped with a strangers unconventional actions. What is acceptable movement in public spaces?
Trish: lay down in city chambers, people showed affectionate glances rather than strangeness. Trish’s interest in occupying space at the time.

Pól and Jen’s Video watched for 4/5 minutes : study of how people move around bus-stops

Carolyn: informs us of the good news that Trish and Simon had secured a grant from the arts council to perform this research and pay the dancers, rent the Sharrow hall space etc and have some left over for materials. Interested in recycling materials. Good news on funding front.

Discussion:
Idea of temporariness of bus stop, The Sharrow forum group are interested in animating Sharrow with things such as street furniture, green spaces . A desire to adorn the journey to football matches from the train/ bus stops. (talk to Colin at Forum)
What happens old bus stops? Is there a bus-stop graveyard? Idea of promoting public transport.... celebrating bus stops. Forum have a relationship with the highways dept. (Colin, Dave Whickfield – 2508384). Maybe an audience travel around on a bus, various installations along the route. Transportable audiences.
Trish: Collect bus-stop stories. Use them as a vehicle to listen to the Sheffield people. Don’t be scared of community spin-off ideas. Memories of a place. Homely feeling, a familiarity of some bus trips.
Tea Break
Julie: introduces h r attempt at a stakeholder map. She describes how our project is alot more complex and loose than other groups as there is a very fluid tangy concept and not a prescripted brief and client map. She introduces her Venn diagram illustrating the links between numerous groups who all would have a ‘stake’ in this project.
Discussion
The public are the main stakeholders in our project. Enforce a pride and sense of community in Sharrow. City council people should be interested. (Colin from distinctive Sharrow should have names and numbers of people on highways dept. Andrew has liaisons with creatives).
How do you get people into galleries to view art whom are unaccustomed to going into galleries. Reach out and offer art to the people.eg. ‘Encounters’ took over shops. Verify what we need to know from these people. Join the dots. Sheffield is called the ‘creative city’. Artists reside in the town hall so obviously the city inspires art.” This is a great time to do things like this” (apparently). Its all research in this project – do not get disillusioned by rejection, rejection is research. This is very challenging community engagement.
Simon: arts council see this as very important information we’re gathering, hence the funding. How do we get more people involved? Invite people to a performance. Generate your own ways of engaging with the public. Simon tells of an analogy whereby an old women posted him a ceramic piece of art to mark her 70th birthday and in return asked for him to post her something artistically valuable. Interest in getting things through the post. Get peoples postal address’.
Trish and Simon: Very happy so far, Strong ideas. Maybe we create a witty questionnaire for city officials. We need to catch their attention and get a response. ‘what’s your favourite dance’?
Dry stuff:
The pragmatics of this, boring council stuff. How can we make it happen? Health and safety compliance? Boring. Find a bus shelter graveyard.
Simon and Trish:
Physical object / Concept / Dance / Idea –what is it?
Trish sees it constructed in an interior space like a theatre or room. Simon sees this as an outdoor masquerade. Maybe both?!
Dancers will throw a whole new element into this fire. The ritual of dance needs to be seen in conjunction with this concept. Record what happens when we meet the dancers. Subtle interventions need to be documented. Get people to interact, maybe give them a reward ... cocktail umbrella/ reel of old bus tickets/ gift / keepsake.
Explore how to animate form railway station to Bramall lane, excite the ‘distinctive Sharrow’ group. (Simon Argall –Sheffield United)
Maybe get (Sue Beeley) to introduce us to GCSE students who may like an input.
Careful what you broadcast. Keep a lid on creative ideas in case other groups with more funding steal our ideas. Copyright is an interesting area. Monitor what is public / private. Especially Blog.
Too early for a tagline but ‘Sharrow as a stage’ is a great start.
Keep fluidity and anonymity , good to be invisible this early on. Studworks where musicians work – maybe enhance soundtrack to this ( Alan-Sheffield live- radio show)
Investigate the stakeholder map more , create more accurate adjacencies between groups.

Agenda
1. Have a first go at a funding strategy (Jen and Hoi Sun)
2. Create a dance / Spontaneous installation involving dance (Pól, Tori, Kris,)
3. Coherent collection of information so far (6th years - post dissertation)
4. Create Postcard and email stakeholders (Tilly and Julie)
5. Minutes of meeting (Pól)
6. Video Camera resource (Jen or/and Kris)
7. Discuss privacy issues with blog (group)
8. Video installation at bus stop (Pól)

Inspiring MJ Tube dance

2008-10-14T16:43:00.002+01:00

'Plan' of dancing

2008-10-13T20:51:00.004+01:00

Tried to do some research on funding but end up daydreaming about dancing in the public.

I think it could be challenging to invite strangers to dance with us in the street as it is not ‘normal’ behavior in the public. So I try to find some interesting ways to break the ice.

Going back to my initial thinking of this project, I began in the search of the common ground between architecture and dance. I started looking in different ways of recording both art forms. Then I found the similarity of the plans of buildings and the steps of Waltz: both are 2-dimensional, yet by looking at them one can hardly picture what the building or dance could be like. And from the steps of Waltz, I start thinking other 2D images that restrict a person movement. Then I found Hopscotch.

Anyway, below is some suggestions of how to start a dance with stranger in public using the steps of Waltz and Hopscotch:

1. Teaching people how to dance.
Print the steps of Waltz on cardboards, and then invite people to dance by following the steps.
Or, just simply compose a set of movement and invite people to follow.

2. Learning how to dance.
Ask people to show what sort of dancing they like, and then we follow.

3. Playing games.
Print Hopscotch on cardboards, and then invite people to play with us.

Hmmm… these ideas are not yet good enough, but hopefully it helps!

Good luck!

we might have some competition...

2008-10-13T19:10:00.001+01:00

brilliant video of a girl dancing in public spaces....

http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=TY48S6udKEo

emancipating from the cannons of traditional representation

2008-10-13T18:58:00.004+01:00

Bus Stop Ideas 08/10/08

2008-10-13T17:40:00.014+01:00

2008-10-13T17:17:00.001+01:00

Here I am livving in Sharrow

where the streets are too narrow,

I travel around in a wheel barrow

eating a marrowhere in Sharrow.

Not nice if you have a Car

'Cos its near Hunters Bar

Parking is few and far

Here in SharrowIts not Harrow

Some say Sharrow's a dump

That gives me the hump

'Cos when I'm in hurry

I go there for a curry.

In Sharrow makes me hurry.

There's a lump

That just may be a dump

Srry to hear of your ordeal,

For your pain I really do feel,

The tikka can be hot,

Really makes you trot,

Next time I suggest a pub meal

A poem about Sharrow - from the 'community'

Through the exploration of dance notation what can we learn about the limitations of Architecture and its representation of the architectural experinc

2008-10-13T12:57:00.007+01:00

Key points of a dissertation relating Atrchitecture and Dance - Sundal Roy

Architecture and Dance, two seemingly antithetical art forms share a number of similarities. Both are concerned with describing shapes in space. Both are defined through the direct experience of the body.

Architecture exists wholly in any given moment; a dance peice in its entirety only last in the memory and imagination.

Both are experienced through passage of time and journey

Dance 'almost invisible', archietcture is 'almost permenant'.

So if we cannot perceive it except through the passage of time, do we know that the rest of it actually exists? Dance only exists when it is danced. After time, it is no longer perceived , therefore no longer exists. Yet, there is no way we can know if architecture really exists when we can no longer see it.

Architectural representation denotes the passage of time, depth and perception: we rely on our memory and experience to animate the representation

The nature of a space is defined by its boundaries, the objects that are placed within it. In this way, architecture is able to define space, by drawing attention to a version or versions of any of the infinite possibilities of the structurability of space.
Yet it is when these boundaries are removed, when we consider chora as an informe, or formless space that it becomes difficult to define

‘A dance sketches out a possible structure of space within an infinite set of possibilities. The dance is an exploration – a celebration perhaps – of the infinite structurability of space.’

It is dance’s evanescence that highlights the possibilities of the space. Through the passage of time, bodies in space eliminate the spatial structures in which they find themselves- they describe the space in which they are no longer found, but once were. Once danced, these possibilities exist only in our memories.

Architects have long struggled with the constraints of representing that which exists in three dimensions into two dimensions. This is a challenge enough without having to consider the fourth dimension- time.

Above: baroque dance notation indicating each step. What is not notated, and how would you notate this any way, is the movement between each step. The expression, the impulse are not accounted for.

Any type of preffesional notation in dance, architecture and music requires pre-requisite knowledge of notation; how to read adn understand it.

Notating danace with music locates the peice in time and space (Using Labanotation as below)

As many architects ‘invent their own individual drawing approaches…from the most personal, to the most conventional’, so too have choreographers and dancers broken free of the esotericism of such systems and many resort to their own methods of representation for the purpose of depositing their ideas.

Many of these systems are ‘varied in nature’15, as for different individuals they serve different functions. Consequently, the viewpoints vary from planimetric diagrams or centrifugal drawings to frontal sequences of vignettes of stick figures, which place a hierarchy on certain moments in time.

Above is an example of a planimetric drawing by the choreographer Trisha Brown. The full potential of this method as system of notation has not been exploited in this drawing, partly due to the lack of architectural context. The reason for this, as with all drawings, can be found in the purpose of the drawing. Trisha Brown’s drawings are not intended for the replication, restaging or even archiving her choreographies, let alone the representation of an experience

So how does dance relate to architecture?

As both dance and architecture are experienced through the body’s own senses, of which the most information, for the average person, is relayed through sight, a visual representation is the obvious choice. As we have seen, it is the purpose of the particular system of representation, be it architectural or with reference to dance, that determines its success. Personal repositories to be used by the individual choreographer as short-term memory triggers do not need to communicate all layers of information. It is sufficient, and even preferable to use reference points, such as figurative representations of the body, words or other symbolic diagrams which may be esoteric to the author. Each one of these has an association in the memory of the choreographer and are intended to trigger the necessary memories in order for the choreographer to recreate the intermediary phrases
Architectural representation, like choreography, makes assumptions about the understanding the reader has of its subject. It relies on the reader to imagine their own versions of the possibilities of the space they are comprehending
Where dance freezes the sequence of events, allowing the reader to understand the entire piece that unfolds over time, at their own pace, architectural representation privileges the “completed” architectural object, as if, once resolved, it is fixed in time. There is little recognition of the transition from building to architecture once it becomes occupied
Notation in any form emulates the objective, how do we encounter the subjective?
Movement, and therefore dance, is different in one space to another. Likewise, the ‘logical reduction of architectural thought to what can be shown’38, in terms of orthographic drawings, reduce architecture to a singular, completed object. They fail to acknowledge that the architectural object cannot exist without the three interdependent layers of movement, event and programme .

Some interesting correlation between architectuire and dance, mainly encompassing notation and the passage of time. Interesting initial ideas of how we (as architects) may be able to objectify, to some degree, the notion of dance. If any one wants further information i have it.

Dancing in Peckham (1994) by Gillian Wearing

2008-10-12T15:42:00.007+01:00

Source: http://www.guardian.co.uk/culture/2000/jun/03/art

It is inspired by a woman dancing madly by herself at the Royal Festival Hall in London.

In the 25-minutes video, Gillian Wearing re-creates the scene in the middle of a south-London shopping centre. She danced with the music in her head. She would like to test the public responses by doing the private action.

I copied this artwork for a show: Man made - a project about masculinity and art in Hong Kong in 2004 which was a research work finding the difference between male and female artworks.

I danced in the street and in the display window of the gallery.

I only danced in the street for 5 minutes as I found it’s really weird and felt like a crazy man! Yet I danced for more than an hour in the display window because of the protection under the gallery in which I am an artist rather than a crazy guy!

Anyway, good luck with the experiment!

Compassionate bus shelter

2008-10-09T21:54:00.004+01:00

The deprived and homeless people are urban common problems. However, generally people would discard them and just consider them as an ugly part of the city rather than make a contribution. Most rarely you would find any design of public facilities which comprise them as a part of the users.

On the contrary, these Bus Shelters House–the third project by architect Sean Godsell–are designed for the homeless. The previous designs are the Future Shack, housing module made from a shipping container; and Park Bench House, the park bench that could alter as a shelter when needed.

As homeless-concerned facilities, these shelters are provided with built in mattresses and hoardings that customized for storing blankets, food and water. In addition, these shelters also operate as an art gallery for struggling local artists.

By identifying themselves with the community’s issues and cultures, these shelters really blend with the community. Deep analyses about the issues which take place in the community are definitely required to produce a straightforward and worthy result.

Tomorrow's Meeting

2008-10-09T19:18:00.001+01:00

Quick note to check everyone's up to date - tomorrow's meeting (10/10) will take place in the studio from 10am, NOT Sharrow Community Forum. That is all!

An art gallery for everyone

2008-10-09T12:25:00.005+01:00

This combination of an art gallery with public utilities such as bus shelters would undoubtedly widens our boundaries about the use of a space.

Arranged by FAT in 1993, they constructed an exhibition of artworks that occupy 200 bus shelters in London.

I personally believe that this juxtaposition would set a different ambiance of how bus shelters should look like. Yet the idea of how people could appreciate the artworks in a short period and busy street circumstances is a very valuable lesson for further study about engaging public realm and art.

Shelter with personalities

2008-10-09T11:33:00.005+01:00

In 2001, there was a project that engages London’s bus shelters. Commissioned by Richard Rogers Partnership with J. Pletts, this is an auxiliary project by Haque design+research.

The purpose of this project is to reconstruct the sensation of travelling itself. By using some responsive technologies, they brought these shelters to ‘life’ and could respond equally with the primary needs of the users (travelers).

For more details about this project please go to this site.

This is an interesting project that I think could be useful for us. Even in a halting space where everything is kind of unstable, we still need to configure about the needs of human whilst travel from one place to another. The user’s cultures and habits could influence the connections with the shelters and in the end would generate different conditions.

8/10 Meeting no. 3

2008-10-09T10:34:00.003+01:00

3:30pm in Studio

Present: Tilly/ Jen/ Tori/ Pol/ Kris/ Julie/ Avinash/ Hoi Sun/ Carolyn

Apologies: All six years (Johnny, Hayley and Helen)

Pre ‘Meeting with Carolyn’ Discussion:
Points Mentioned:

Funding is mentioned, applying for funding to larger councils is a in-depth process, at this stage still difficult to know which are appropriate. We should speak to Trish regarding this. Julie mentioned a fund called, ‘Small funds for small groups’ which might be appropriate for us in the short term, could cover expenses, prototypes etc.

Should consider that a week on Friday we meet the dancers, week beginning 13/ 10 seems to be a busy week for 5th years, mon to wed is research methods, thursday is studio introductions. Will have to be organised to be prepared for that, don’t want it to be a missed opportunity, this Fridays meeting with TO and SB should make it more clear what is expected.

Carolyn joins the meeting.

The group summarised the progress we had made since our last meeting with Carolyn on 1/10, an explanation of the route taken to the idea of ‘bus stops’ and the idea of ‘Sharrow as a Stage’. The bus stop images were then laid out for observation.

The following comments were made on the idea and way it can progress forward:

Carolyn began a discussion on the different types of bus stops in Sharrow, thought to be related to the age of it. Seemed to be three main types: Curved Roof (London Rd, Abbeydale Rd) Square (Landowne estate area) and Posts on the pavement (residential streets). Need to consider the relevance of this and the space available around them.

The different interventions could have a fixed typology to bring to Sharrow, being collective but also all being different, bringing in the analogy of the individual and the crowd.

Pragmatically, who owns the bus stops? The bus companies or the council? Is it possible to use them? Health and Safety. Need to find out and gain permission before carrying out interventions. Possibly we produce a strategy which will be implemented post live project, so pragmatics resolved then.

Also should be considered that we design/make our own bus stop. Is it moveable? Does it fold down? Does it morph into something else? Does it have multiple uses?

Need to consider how we might begin to record these observations and reactions to the bus stop.
Could possibly be a collection of ‘bus stop dances’ in the final week. It is suggested that the dance might evolve from the installations placed in the bus stops and the public movement which is generated from this.

Need to consider how the public might react and what sort of reaction we want; do we use a busy or empty bus stop? Who is the audience and where do they stand? Possibly the performance is for people waiting for a bus or people on a bus? Or is it a daily event that people turn up to see.

Previous bus stop interventions. FAT - thatched a roof. In Sheffield – bus stops made into green roofs.

The bus stop is a ‘social condenser’. It is unknown who will be there and who you will meet.

Should consider the way people use and move around a bus stop. How do people get on and off buses? Everybody slightly different, something for us to record which brings another dimension to the research, something the dancers may be able to respond to.

There is no funding from the school for live projects, in terms of funding a prototype Carolyn suggests we salvage, welcome to come to her building site to look for bits and bobs.

A brief discussion about what our overall goal is. Is it thought that there should definitely be a designed element to what we hand over at the end of six week and this should definitely be useable by TO and SB, although it is not expected to be designed down to the last detail. Carolyn suggested that it may well be a live project for next year once funding has been obtained.

Discussion of ‘Uprising/In our rooms’

General consensus that the dance was enjoyed by all, commented on the minimal use of props, just a black stage and a bag of sand and the use of lighting throughout the performance. From the discussion with the chorographer it is interesting to note that the end point of a dance is never known when he begins - more about the development of ideas. The dance should be appreciated individually, rather than imposing a narrative – links back to just being in the moment.

Discussion on this Friday’s meeting in Sharrrow:

After this week of much creativity, we need to rationalise the journey we have taken and how we believe we have worked as a team. In a project that is less clear cut it is good to be reflective. Need to understand what are role and relationship with the client is.

Carolyn confirmed that this Friday we shall lead the meeting, so need to have an agenda and understand what we need to get from the meeting. Someone will need to pitch the idea of bus stops to TO and SB and why the idea excites us.

We will also need to take a revised stakeholder map for discussion.

It is decided that we will mock up a bus stop in the community centre for us to work with and also to take all necessary props.

Carolyn leaves meeting.

Our next steps:

To make a recording of people getting on and off buses to take to the meeting on Friday, also source a projector if possible. Jen and Pol

To analyse bus routes and maps in Sharrow. Tori

To make a cohesive book of ideas revolving around the bus stop to give Trish and Simon on Friday. Tilly

Research into bus stops and who owns them. Julie

Organise the construction of a bus stop for use in Friday’s meeting. Av and Hoi Sun.

Stakeholder Map. Julie

Research into previous bus stop installations. Kris

A postcard of logo design, deadline Monday. ALL

A large scale calendar for studio use. Jen

Other items:

Tilly to write up minutes for this meeting, write agenda and chair on Friday
Pol to be minute taker on Friday
Av to give presentation on his research into the history of Sharrow at Monday’s meeting
Hayley possibly presents ‘The fall of Public Man’ at some point?
Kris and Hoi Sun are still not receiving emails from the group list. Until sorted please add separately to all group emails. Kris: Arp08kdp@sheffield.ac.uk and Hoi Sun: ara08hy@sheffield.ac.uk. (Johnny to sort?)
On Monday it is thought we ought to assign roles. Need for someone or two to be a ‘recorder’, a project book maker – Linked to identity and branding.

Next meeting: Friday 10am at Sharrow

Sharrow bus-stop-stage!

2008-10-08T14:48:00.005+01:00

Rafael Lozano-Hemmer

2008-10-08T13:38:00.006+01:00

Rafael Lozano-Hemmer a media artist, is best known for creating theatrical interactive installations in public spaces across Europe, Asia and America. ‘Relational Architecture’ a series of large scale interventions in public spaces used custom made technologies to transform urban space. Situated between architecture and the performing arts, his projects explore relationships between the site and the public, creating a range of social experiences. ‘Body Movies’ (above) worked by projecting the shadows of passes by on surrounding buildings. People would realise the shadow belonged to them and would begin to act differently. There are lots of good ideas along a similar theme on his website
http://www.lozano-hemmer.com/eproyecto.html

other projects:

Research 03/10 - 06/10

2008-10-08T12:39:00.003+01:00

Rebecca Horn

2008-10-08T12:21:00.001+01:00

Since the beginning of the 1970s, Rebecca Horn has been creating an oeuvre which constitutes an ever-growing flow of performances, films, sculptures, spatial installations, drawings and photographs. The essence of their imagery comes out of the tremendous precision of the physical and technical functionality she uses to stage her works each time within a particular space.
In the first performances, the body-extensions, she explores the equilibrium between body and space. In later works she replaces the human body with kinetic sculptures which take on their own life. Her new works define and cut through spaces with reflections of mirrors, light and music.
The objects used and specially made for her installations such as violins, suitcases, batons, ladders, pianos, feather fans, metronomes, small metal hammers, black water basins, spiral drawing machines and huge funnels together build the elements for kinetic sculptures that are liberated from their defined materiality and continuously transposed into ever-changing metaphors touching on mythical, historical, literary and spiritual imagery

Reimagining the ordinary

2008-10-08T11:50:00.015+01:00

A series of quick montage explorations to provoke responses into how we may alternatively consider an ordinary piece of our built environment - the bus stop. What if it became more than this, what if it became a fulcrum to the community - a place to meet and engage? The images that follow are an attempt to challenge our preconceptions of the bus stop and suggest ways in which we may reinterpret them in everyday life.

An Evening of Contemporary Culture

2008-10-08T08:57:00.005+01:00

Last night, in the name of research the group went to the Lyceum Theatre in Sheffield to immerse themselves in contemporary dance culture. The evening provided a valuable and creative insight into the world of movement art and for those of us who are unfamiliar with dance and would usually refrain from engaging in such activities - the night proved a pleasant and provocative surprise. Afterwards we attended a question and answer session with the choreographer and asked a few questions in relation to the Live Project.

It was interesting to learn that often there is no initial idea, no statement - but just a courageous 'start' from nowhere - from where the ideas and themes emerge. This has distinct parallels to the way Birch O'Shea work and although the thought of diving in without any prior planning may seem uncomfortable to most architecture students, it is perhaps the most valuable attitude we can take forward in the project. Also, purely in the name of research we deemed it necessary to analyse the work over a few cold pints in the pub afterwards....dance is tiring work you know.

A little about the show;

watch the trailer for the show here

"Rising star of the contemporary dance world, Hofesh Shechter presents his acclaimed works Uprising and In your rooms. Hotly tipped as dance’s next big thing – his work was recently seen by millions of viewers when he was commissioned to choreograph the opening dance sequence for E4’s hit TV series Skins.

In your rooms
In your rooms brims with gritty physicality and is at times provocative, political and deeply personal. Twelve dancers reveal their anguish, loneliness, love and pain through intricate, touching encounters in a society that is alien but shockingly familiar. The work features a hauntingly beautiful original score, created by Shechter in collaboration with Nell Catchpole (The Gogmagogs), performed live on stage by five musicians.

‘Probably the most important new dance work
to be created in Britain since the millennium’
The Observer 2007

Uprising
In Uprising seven men emerge from the shadows to bombard the stage with furious energy, bonding and sparring, making up and falling out. This highly charged work, set to a throbbing percussive score also composed by Shechter, leaves audiences buzzing."

Space changes--the uncomfortable chair

2008-10-07T13:36:00.003+01:00

This picture is taken from book "The Metapolis Dictionary of Advanced Architecture. City, Technology and Society in the Information Age", page 311.

Small example of the dialog between human and space and how they react together. The feeling of unfit, boring, or uncomfortable is a trigger. Bold emotions transferred into some movements that eventually act in response with spaces.

Some interesting facts about Sharrow

2008-10-07T09:50:00.000+01:00

I went to a lecture/workshop, "Made in Sheffield", run by Sheffield City Council last night (at St. Vincent's WMC) which was the 1st evening in the Urban Design Week series, where we examined the current conditions in Sheffield with a view to how Sheffield can move forward.
Of three specific areas of Sheffield discussed, Sharrow was one. Below are some interesting perspectives and facts about Sharrow:

In creating the new Sharrow School, it was all about creating a sustainable community, both economically, socially and environmentally. COHESION was a key theme.
In the past there was a move to empty certain areas of Local Authority Housing, but this decision has now been reversed, bringing more families back into the area.
There are a lot of over-crowded households, with 2 or 3 generations frequently living together.
While many of the residents are financially poor, they are culturally exceedingly rich.
Generally good interaction between the sub-communities within the broader Sharrow community making Sharrow, "... an exciting place to live for some of the community, some of the time."
Key organisations in the area: Sure start, Sheffield Community Forum and FURD (Football unites, Racism divides - a key player particularly among the young people in Sharrow dealing now with a wider scope of issues than just what the name implies)
Problem: area is intersected by busy roads which has led to a lot of road accidents in the area, particularly amongst the young and the elderly
Very diverse community - includes among others particular groups of Pakistani, Bengali and Somalian residents (different Mosques cater specifically to each group)
The Mosques are very powerful and active within the smaller communities, in some instances intervening to help solve clashes between youth groups. The new mosque was entirely community funded; a lot of individuals went door to door selling jewellery to raise funds.
While a lot of effort is put in at Primary level education to promote diversity and cohesion there is no common secondary school, so despite a positive foundation, problems often arise at higher level schooling as young people are dispersed, losing the community feel. There is also quite a gap in the provision of services/activities for older young people, the main centre being an adventure playground - more popular with younger teenagers.
There has been a seachange in the aspirations of the residents, and in particular there has recently been a liberation of the community's women. Girls are now, more frequently, going on to higher education, and women are continuing to work after having children. This is particularly evident within the somalian sector of the community.
There is a lack of green space within Sharrow. There is Mount Pleasant Park, which is due for redevlopment, but facilities are limited. There is, however, a playground, an adventure playground and there are some cricket nets (particularly popular with the Pakistani boys). Dividing these is an 'official' grafitti wall, which sees a wealth of high quality, frequently changing artwork.
Within the park are 22, 100m deep, bore holes which provide ground source heating in Sharrow School (Primary).
A Common sign - a pair of trainers tied together, hanging over telegraph wires. This is seemingly widely known as a signal that drug dealing is happening in the area. Drugs are quite a problem within the area and there are key areas which are known for their 'invisibility' for such exchanges, and needle pick-ups first thing 'the morning after' are a necessary daily occurence.
An interesting point about London Road: Lloyd's Pharmacy requires a security guard at the front door, as the drug addicts go for their daily medication; this is juxtaposed with the charity shop, 'Mind' on the opposite street corner.
There are many "disaffected young people and adults"

Additional points about Sharrow to draw to a close: there are seen to be three main barriers

There is lack of spaces for meaningful interaction
There is a view that other groups, outside of Sharrow, get special treatment, not them (so, a feeling of resentment towards others)
There is a mistrust of new groups coming into the area (... which may mean we have to be quite sensitive to how we approach our methods of intervension, and how we 'brand' ourselves within their community.)

Investigating approaches to 'Arch'

2008-10-07T09:41:00.000+01:00

POSTCARD responding to Initial client meeting
...summarising investigations/research into what our 'creation' might be:
a network connecting people and places, a backdrop to the action, a 3-dimensional series of boxes defining peformance space and encouraging interaction, a way of markating space, a built form that represents movement, a means to channel and focus the audience enabling them to view their surroundings and the dancers in a different way
...finding beauty in the detail of the human form...

Group Meeting #2

2008-10-07T09:10:00.000+01:00

9:30am in Studio

Present: Tilly/ Jen/ Tori/ Pol/ Kris/ Jonny/ Hayley/ Julie

Individual Perspectives (postcards, concepts and conversations)

- Each group member ran through their own pursuits since Friday’s meeting and discussed what their own interpretation of the project was or may become.

- The postcards which captured these themes were shown and commented on by the group, each person’s ideas are to be entered onto the blog by themselves in full, but a brief summary of each (and the discussions generated by them) is provided below for reference;

Tilly – Research into the futurist movement and further exploration of the idea of the umbrella as a representation of a transportable shelter/container and expression of personal space, but also as a device which heightens awareness of context and others. Notions of how we may classify certain activities as being valid in certain situations (sitting quietly in a bus shelter etc) and how the project may reverse or challenge these conventions. The idea of weather as being an influence on activity.

Tori – Observations on the impact of interruptions on tranquillity of a space. Presented the idea of a changing stage which becomes malleable as interaction occurs. Precedents of buildings which capture and suggest fluidity, movement and journey, particularly where these may also express the connections between people. Potential capabilities of architecture to generate and inspire movement.

Hayley – Visual tracings of movement, memory and change and how we may engage through our feelings, emotions and perceptions. Reflections on our personal circumstances of an open client, providing us with a high degree of creative freedom, making it vital that we ensure we control the projects direction in order to provide a tangible end result. The importance of developing a theoretical thread for the project or research question to structure and define our pursuits. Need to document meetings, possibly film to create a database and catalogue of ideas. The end presentation may embrace performance and creativity more so than conventional presentations. Necessity for maintaining a comprehensive timetable and also providing time for self reflection and individual analysis.

Julie – Identified abundance of 2dimensional media and suggested a more haptic, sensory led approach. Suggested the idea of introducing installations to affect people’s movements and challenge preconceptions of thresholds and boundaries. How we can explore textures and objects of the everyday and make them interesting, manipulating and reversing perceptions of texture, surface, scale or temperature. Notion of ‘defamiliarising the familiar’ to generate awareness of the mundane and allow audience to reconsider their relationship with themselves and their context. (Possibly with specific relevance to defamiliarising Sheffield). The use of controversy to provoke opinion and introduce frustration in our environments.

Kris – With reference to residue and the focus upon the empty room, how can we translate the ordinary into an object which directly challenges our interpretation of a space. Particular interest in the use of shadow and silhouette as a form of projection – becomes a real time depiction of the movement and establishes a dynamic relationship between audience, performer, shadow and canvas. The shadows becomes a visual by-product which may or may not reveal the full picture. Precedents of environments which respond to human interaction and allow user to shape their space.

Jen – Examination of personal responses and self awareness, spontaneity and the unpredictability of human nature. Association of spaces and their assigned comfort levels. Addressing how architecture may provide both voluntary and involuntary engagement and of the importance of subtleties of environment on influencing behaviour. (Berlin Holocaust Memorial cited as example of forced engagement at an uncomfortable level). Introduced precedent of the Street Piano, distinct relevance to Sharrow and provides vehicle to unite society and bind community. This presented the concept of an installation which may involve ‘removal’ of an installation rather than insertion of one.

Pól – Using the umbrella as a canvas for performance. Dance as a general expression of weightlessness, contrasted in some cultures by an affiliation with the ground and a deliberate heaviness. Extended thoughts on the idea of the silhouette and the ability of rain to provide instances of spontaneous shelter. Suggested idea of using the blog as a means of cataloguing and collecting raw ideas and as a ‘scribble wall’ for group members to jot thoughts down on.

Jonny – Extending on thoughts about confrontation with the negative (litter, graffiti etc), started to explore translations of concept into project specific terms. We usually shy away from the negative, what if we were to embrace it? The static becomes as relevant as the mobile, movement artists provided with restraints – dynamism is instead generated from what is usually the background. Small movements become exaggerated and celebrated. Notion of exploring disruption to rhythm of routine and of disproportionate obstacles.

Afternoon session

- We brainstormed the thoughts, themes and ideas that were generated by the mornings discussions and allocated each one under either an ‘impulse’, ‘method’, or ‘action’ category.

- The general prevailing theoretical thread that emerged was concerned with ‘reimagining the ordinary’. We talked about the potential for creating a performance where there were no performers, just ordinary people going about their normal business but connected through an installation (eg an umbrella we distribute).

- We wanted to challenge the use of a particular space, specifically one which has a profound relevance to the community, such as a bus stop. Explore the potential of such an existing urban feature to become a more playful fulcrum within the community.

- The idea developed for analysing a bus stop within Sharrow (time lapse recordings) and then reimagining how this place may become reinterpreted as a performance space. Not in the conventional sense of performance, but where everyday life is the focus.

- Intervention could be an extension to the bus stop, which is given its own distinct identity, these could populate numerous locations within the community and become a centre for interaction, discussion and collaboration, providing a fluid and more transient interpretation of the community forum.

- The result would be for us to establish a network of these hubs which are interconnected through transport movement and pedestrian flow. Each one may exhibit a stronger or lighter concentration of ideas and each could be analysed throughout the course of our involvement to see how things change.

- Could the bus stop be re-envisaged as something other than merely a place to wait?

Our next steps

- Produce (10x) montages of how we may reinterpret a Sharrow Bus Stop.

- Analyse existing use of bus stop, record and document behavioural patterns.

- Research Sharrow and community, funding and a/v equipment hire.

- Continue process of reflection and comment via the blog (including uploading postcards and addition of precedents)

Other Information

Dance performance – Uprising/ in your rooms Tuesday 7^th October 7.30pm at the Lyceum Theatre. £7.50 Get your money to Julie if you haven’t done so already.

Next Meeting - 9.30am Wednesday 8^th October (?)

Conronting the Negative

2008-10-07T08:36:00.000+01:00

My initial site explorations brought to my attention the negative values of place; litter, graffiti, vandalism and neglect. What if we were to reinterpret these values and make them a positive experience? In a similar sense, what if the same were to happen to our perceptions of dance? If the static became as relevant as the fluid - sometimes the stationary is as important as the mobile, it is only through the existence of that which is still that we really begin to appreciate that which moves.

the journey of meeting two...

2008-10-06T21:47:00.001+01:00

making the mundane explicit.

2008-10-06T19:57:00.000+01:00

'......instead of experiencing our world, we behold it from outside as spectators of projected images.....'

'....a negligence of the body and its senses within architectural design can build a growing experience of detatchment of the inner self with that of the outer world....'

Dan Graham

2008-10-06T19:15:00.000+01:00

WAYS IN WHICH ARCHITECTURAL FORM CAN BE USED TO AID IN THE RECOGNITION OF THE SELF AS BEING SHAPED BY EVERYDAY SURROUNDINGS

The work of Dan Graham looks at creating an increased social conscience in the spectator. This involves shifting the consciousness of self to that of self amongst others, as part of a whole and the engagement of defined publics on social issues.

The formal set up of Public Space/Two Audiences, 1976 (middle fig.) enables each audience to see the other's visual behaviour, turning the audience into the exhibit. The flux of the experience carries a reading of the self in a dynamic, not static, situation of both environment and other bodies.

The architectonic work of Rachel Whiteread

2008-10-06T18:50:00.000+01:00

'ASSERTATIONS OF POSITIVE FORM MADE FROM IMMATERIAL SPACES'

Whiteread uses her work as a way of solidifying her desire to see and know her world, picking the areas that are not noticed, such as the space enclosed in a shut wardrobe, or the details of a hinge and transforming the subject in a way that the rest of the world can translate. By changing the location or highlighting the materiality of an object or chosen space, the experience of the work is rerouted from the understanding of the formal object towards that of its relationship with surroundings and observers. This exploration aims to shake the self into a new awareness of the ordinary.

Most of the sculptures are veneered with human markings that could only have been pressed upon them by the hand of time itself. This brings the present into sharp relief, an understanding of this moment in relation to what has gone and what may come; memento mori. Work such as Untitled (Cast Iron Floor) 2001 looks to further revealing this passage of time, using bodily interaction of the viewer to wear out and morph the surface of the piece so that its history continues to unfold.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nvkNdlKVP2Y

2008-10-06T17:53:00.001+01:00

ANIMATED STRUCTURE, 'the building dances'

2008-10-06T17:43:00.000+01:00

PATTERN: The layering of dance

2008-10-06T17:24:00.000+01:00

Movement as a diagram. Marks adorne the surface memorising the dancers' movement, offering a repository of steps to evolve from : The threshold of past/present and future. Projection Canvas : A device to enhance the mood and exhileration of the performance through other media such as video or images. the Umbrella encapsulates the dancers personal space as well as offering a canvas to project onto.

CULTURES: Connection with the sky.......VERTICAL HIERARCHY OF AMBITION

2008-10-06T17:19:00.000+01:00

'The tradition with western ballet is all about making the body feel weightless essentially'

This is very different from African/aboriginal Dance which is all about stomping the ground and connections to the ground.

reinterpreting the 'daily urban performance'

2008-10-06T17:04:00.000+01:00

2008-10-06T15:49:00.001+01:00

Self awareness + engagement

2008-10-06T15:45:00.000+01:00

self awareness and others-

conscious/subconscious engagement-

interlinked tracks + paths-

orientation altering interpretation-

universal icons, subtleties + the obvious-

02.10.08 – Group Meeting Minutes

2008-10-06T15:41:00.000+01:00

Present: Tilly/ Jen/ Hoi Sun/ Tori/Julie/ Pol/ Kris/ Jonny/ Hayley/ Helen

Points discussed
- Sixth years ran through last years lives projects to the rest of the group.
- Last years blogs are available via http://05liveproject07.wordpress.com/ this will connect to all the live projects on the blogroll on the right of the screen

How we should run meetings
- It is necessary to keep clear routes of communication to the client and internally within the group.
- Everybody is to contribute to blog.
- Delegate one person at each meeting to transcribe and upload to the blog. If anyone has any ideas or responses feel free to add these in the comment boxes.
- Rotate who chairs the meetings.
- Make such we have a clear agenda for each meeting and produce actions lists.

Initial ideas
- We discussed ways in which we could express our initial ideas of the live project after meeting clients, Simon and Trish. The activities that we were involved in were personal to the individuals so we decided that we should all write a short diary of our feelings and reactions of the day in order to bring ideas together next Monday.
- Possible funding sources? Not clear yet we need to establish what direction we want to take the project. Establish the possible participants and groups who are interested in the project.

Our next steps
- Collect images, texts, websites, any information which is relevant to pin up in the ‘nerve centre’ for future reference.
- Next week maybe of making things. Put them out into the public to test ideas and challenge the public.
- Make sure we give ideas their own identity. Find ways of connecting ideas through choreography, movement, fluidity. Keep individuality.
- Maybe place an obstacle in the entrance of the arts tower and see peoples reactions. Looking at peoples movements for example getting off a curb.

Documenting work
- Keeping a personal diary of our experiences, postcards throughout the process, BLOGGING, photographing, sketching….. Observing and filming our activities and peoples reactions and responses.

The aim for next Monday is to collate all our individual ideas. Arrive at possible ideas of participation. Challenging space and observing how the public react. Making and testing ideas. Write our statement of intent for the project

Actions
- Produce postcards with an image/ photo/ quote/ sketch of initial ideas – Everyone for Monday
- Write down our own reflections about the start of the project and initial client meeting – Everyone for Monday
- Any key words / context ideas/ general information/ precedents – for the nerve centre - Everyone for Monday
- Get a group email address sorted and get a contact list of possible participant groups from Trish. Tell clients about the blog and how to log in (is that alright?) – Jonny
- Get blogging – get on the system if any problems talk to Jen or Jay
- Type up initial client meeting on the blog - Jen
- Any photos / information put on Arch stud

Other Information
Dance performance – Uprising/ in your rooms Tuesday 7th October 7.30pm at the Lyceum Theatre. £7.50 Get your money to Julie if you haven’t done so already.

Next Meeting - 9.30am Monday 6th October

visual traces of movement

2008-10-06T13:45:00.000+01:00

Recreating a journey through Sharrow...

This installation communicated the feelings, smells, sights and sounds that were experienced on a journey through Sharrow.

The footsteps were a record of our movement...we tied our feet together whilst moving around to trace each others shadows___Shadows and light are visual traces of movement___Being tied together by string was significant firstly because it was a measure of the distance and space between us and secondly, it restricted our movements and recreated the uncomfortable experience of being approached and followed in public.

Connections between people and spaces

2008-10-05T13:51:00.000+01:00

The framework of installation artist Ruairi Glynn's research is based on connections and possibilities between spatial design and participatory culture.

He uses responsive technology as a tool in most of his work. The intention is to explore and create some forms of dialog between the built environment and the people that inhabits them, giving feelings that they are ‘connected’ to each other.

This project is called ‘Reciprocal Space’. It’s a set of interactive spaces that connected to the inhabitants and contend them to respond mutually. The space will change and transform based on the dialog performed by the inhabitants.

Check out this site for other work of Ruairi Glynn, and this site for more work about interactive architecture.

Mass engagement

2008-10-04T16:19:00.000+01:00

Artist Luke Jerram's Sky Orchestra demonstrates the potential to force engagement with a large audience through sound - something to investigate. See also Jerram's website here for more work.

Brief v1

2008-10-04T09:50:00.000+01:00

Exploring the boundaries of the brief is fundamental to the project's success. So thought it might be interesting to have it on record where it all began, in order to compare how our own brief develops and changes....

"... working with artist Trish O'Shea, choreographer Simon Birch and dancers to formulate ideas and create designs for a transformable, changing space for performance that could incorporate film, sound, projection and include the presence of the audience in a variety of ways. You will work closely with the artists; observing, sharing ideas and making architectural responses to the moving figure. The artists will, in turn, respond to the work of the students and each will influence and affect the development of the work".

• developing a brief with the artists
• experimenting with use and form in the shape of 1:1 prototypes in collaboration with the artists and dancers
• developing and implementing strategies of creative engagement with members of the public
• exploring funding options for the longer-term implementation of the installation
• developing a strategy for the siting, use and operation of the installation

“Birch O’Shea envisage a close working relationship with the students… (forming a) proposal that can be submitted for funding at the end of the process… experience in interdisciplinary practice, creative community engagement, strategic planning… the evolution of a truly original artwork".

- from the MArch Handbook 08/09

So we have the live project brief (above), which is in turn defined and developed by the Birch O'Shea's brief – following our initial client meeting, we know that this is extremely open.
Next week we hope to begin pulling together the ideas we need to consider just how prescriptive our brief is, or alternatively, if that would even be appropriate.

First client meeting 01.10.08

2008-10-04T09:29:00.000+01:00

Taken us a while to catch up with the blog and how it is going to function; it's new to most of the group. So, a little late, here is some input from our initial client meeting on wednesday.

01.10.08 – Group Meeting Minutes

* 10:00-16:30 at Sharrow Community Forum, The Old School, South View Road, Sheffield S7
Present: Simon Birch/ Trish O’Shea/ Carolyn Butterworth
Tilly/ Jen/ Hoi Sun/ Tori/ Pól/ Avinash/ Kris/ Jonny/ Hayley/ Helen/ Julie

Points discussed
· Introduction by clients and live project group members
· Presentation by TO’S and SB of previous work (excerpts from Territory 1, Human Rites, Residue, Braim Wood), with introduction to approaches to subject matter
· Themes discussed in relation to SB and TO’S’ work (among others): Proportion, movement, confinement, spatial relationships, perspective, the body, illusion, scale, viewpoints, place, structure, architecture, self, past, present, and the future, the power of memory.
· Introduction by SB and TO’S to role of public engagement in relation to both their work and the brief
· SB talked about collaboration between choreographers and artists (Cunningham/Cage/Rauschenberg), and the potential benefits/drawbacks
· Q&A following morning session – a first chance for group members to explore interpretation of the brief with the client
· Task set for group by SB and TO’S: individually experience and record a range of spaces within Sharrow, with particular attention to themes discussed in the morning session (see attached notes from client for further information) (2 hours)
· Task in pairs (run by SB): breathing exercise to engage with the movements and awareness of self and others
· Group task set by clients: responding to our individual experiences in Sharrow, the group were asked to alter the hall’s arrangement to consider the impulses and movements of the users, as well as reactions we had observed during the exercise. Furniture, craft materials and found objects were used; the group was encouraged to work in a free manner, in whatever way it was felt was appropriate (45 mins)
· Following the ‘making’ exercise, group members individually explained their contribution to the installation, including relation to earlier observations in Sharrow. Discussion and interpretation by both group members and the client expanded on these ideas and offered an insight into personal responses to the brief

Key Outcomes
* There is no fixed end idea as to what the client expects from the group – they have no preconceptions about what will be produced
* The work undertaken during the live project will serve as a starting point and inspiration for a future Birch O’Shea project
* The location and duration of the final idea is not fixed – these factors should evolve from the group’s work, with the client’s guidance. Therefore the scheme may or may not be site specific
* Intervention and alteration by users would be suitable
* TO’S and SB discussed themes in relation to one of their own pieces of work. Whether the Arch project suggests or evokes a particular theme is something which the group can decide
* It was agreed that questions concerning public engagement would be discussed in the next workshop, as well as exploring the idea of themes

Actions
* Reflect on the day and begin to interpret what the scope of the brief could lead towards – Everyone (ongoing)
* Investigate precedent material which could broadly be of interest - art, dance, performance, public engagement – Everyone for Monday
* Get a group email/point of contact organised – Jonny
* Begin to consider points of contact in related organisations – TO’S/SB to email contact list through – (TO’S/SB)

Next Meeting - 10am Thursday 2nd October (group) 10-12pm
- Friday 10th October (w/client)

2008-10-02T17:01:00.000+01:00

http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=F3s5N0c00hU

U:\ManXP\Desktop\ballet_co - Dance Funding.htm

Drawing Restraint by Matthew Barney

2008-10-02T16:55:00.000+01:00

Matthew Barney is an American contemporary artist. His works would seems to be very complicated to understand as he makes use of different elements and symbols which are alient to most outsiders of contemporary art. Yet I find his earlier works could be an inspiration to our project.

Drawing Restraint is a series of 'experiments' for his art creation. In most of these 'experiments' (especially the earlier one), he is testing the relationship of his body and the space. He claims himself as a sculptor and views his body as a sculpture. So I view these 'experiments' as a moving sculpture (his body) inside a space in which he leaves marks (drawing). I think this could be one of the approach of our project.

Check out the website http://www.drawingrestraint.net/. Click 'PATH' aftering entering the site and select DR1 as a start.

DR7 - 9 is different 'experiments' but you can still take a look. As a remark, DR9 is the video he made with his partner, the singer Björk.

For his most best-known work The Cremaster Cycle, check out http://www.cremaster.net

2008-10-01T18:14:00.001+01:00

Welcome to the University of Sheffield "Arch" Live Project blog... More to come soon!