Studio Brief 1 - One Week Map

TASK: PRODUCE A TWO COLOUR, SCREEN PRINTED MAP

Be a PSYCHOGEOGRAPHER...
exploring places through emotions, senses and connections to the places.

The Day
-Set out to collect research and experiential drawings
-Investigated the sensory qualities of each location
-Documented our experiences through sound maps, experiential drawings and notes
-Collated our research and presented our findings

MY OBSERVATIONS
It was interesting being set a task in which we had to really observe the 'everyday'. Taking a simple walk around Leeds, observing subtle details and really taking note of our senses created an instant wealth of material from which to work on. Sound mapping served as a good tool for documenting the character of a location, and the experiences that informed it. These gestural marks seem to incidentally create patterns and marks that could make up a more formal and regimented pattern in response to the day. I felt that line value and line quality was a great way to document observations as the lines quickly capture the character of a zone and experience.

It was quite rainy so we tried to document inside spots. A particularly interesting location was the Leeds Uni students union as there was building work going on, alongside a farmers market so we were able to observe a wealth of activities. 

REFLECTIONS
At the end of the day I found that I had focused more on surfaces and sounds than on visual clues but as a collaborative task, my peers had collected valuable observational drawings. 

To produce a screen-print from this research will require some processing of the information. To develop my observations into a more linear account I will need to put my sound maps into chronological order. These may be effective as a sort of base to the map, acting as a sensory background to more representational drawings. 

Looking at the work of my peers, it seemed we had all been on an entirely different journey, and collected a wealth of different observations and ephemera. The group I was working with took a mainly sensory approach while others focused on collecting and observing objects that characterised their locations. It will be interesting to see how the different approaches are processed for a screen-print.