study task 4

We had a peer review of our initial concepts, we were put into groups and we would fill out a proposal form for someone else from just looking at their sketchbook. Here are the answers from two people looking at my work:

1. What research needs to be undertaken into the general and specific contexts of the research project?

Brief history of architecture (bauhaus, art deco) 

Where is this project specific to?

WW1 - demolished buildings, what impact did the destroyed architecture have on people (families, workers etc)

Architecture as art - as it can provoke an emotional response from people like art often does

Places/locations with a strong atmosphere - empty/derelict/busy/vibrant (slums, flats, churches, cathedrals, seven wonders of the world)

What places/ people are most strongly affected by their environment? (places where there is 24 hour sunlight)

Look at Malaysia (apparently the buildings there are incredible but soulless, why?)

Does mass production mean that our buildings in UK are less emotive?

2. What approaches could be taken and what processes, methods, materials and tools could be involved in the research project?

Historical/sociological/semiotic methodological approach?

Think about how to create an atmosphere/emotion, and whether to convey one specific atmosphere or a variety

Dramatic images? Architecture at night-time?

Document various buildings from periods of history and record how they make you feel - reflective practise, could juts have one sketchbook full of notes?

Does the gender of the architect make a difference to the emotion given off?

3. What preparation or investigations needs to be undertaken for the research project to take place?

Technical processes

Could research into emotive architects/spacial designers and their life to see if this influences their work/designs

4. What research needs to be undertaken regarding who the project is for?

Try to find out how people feel in certain buildings/places

Interiors or exteriors?

Could be fore an architecture magazine, but figure out methodology first and then go from there. 

I got some useful feedback about where I could take this. I need to go out to take photos and do observational drawings in some of the places suggested and find a way to communicate atmosphere while also gathering contextual research for the essay. I am going to do a revised proposal when I have done more research and have a better understanding of where to take this. 

developing ideas

After doing my locational drawings, we had a lecture on 'Cities and Film' which had some interesting points that I think I want to look into further. The lecture focused a lot on the city's relationship with the individual and the effect it has on people, almost looking at the city and architecture as a living thing, which I really like the idea of. 

There was a snippet from a documentary about shopping centres and how they have very bright lights, complicated layouts, loud music and lots of advertising purposely to confuse and frustrate people so they keep finding themselves in more shops and buy more out of stress, which I found really interesting - using architecture to manipulate people. 

I think looking at how people are effected by certain architecture or environmental spaces could be an interesting topic as it is something we all experience, and a lot of the time without realising it. 

I did a quick bit of research into this idea and found that there are 2 ways in which the built environment can regulate behaviour:

- architectures of control which physically prevent or direct a certain type of behaviour (gates, fencing, pathways, narrow streets)

- designs that regulate our behaviour through the psychological effects surrounding the built environment (libraries + galleries where everyone knows to act quiet and reserved)

I think I am more interested in the psychological effects of architecture. Some examples I found were:

- when building schools, windows are often placed high up to prevent students from being distracted by things happening outside

- the 'Panopticon', a round prison which was designed to have the watch tower high up in the middle with all the cells surrounding it so that the watchmen can see into every cell by just walking around the watch tower while the inmates can't see into the tower. It creates quite a 'God-like' system that puts the watchmen much more in control.

So to take this further I thought I could take photos and draw in places like the Trinity shopping centre, the market, churches, the oriental supermarket to be able to depict the different architecture but also find a way to communicate the atmosphere I feel when being inside these environments or what I can see form other people around me. 

drawing task

We were put into groups and sent to different locations to draw; my group was sent to Leeds art gallery. Our task was to draw different objects in the gallery - from the cafe and within the gallery, so then when we came back we could put all of our drawings together in a DaDa styled piece. 

I really enjoyed just sitting in the gallery and observing, as it is not something I often do. I was able to observe people and conversations as well as the art there, and I found that drawing on location made me a lot more experimental and loose with my drawing as it wasn't practical to draw for a long period of time. I also found I picked up more visual information from observed drawing than from a photo because I would instinctively pick out bits that interested me so the image becomes a lot more personal.

The finished collage of all of our observations:

From our drawings that were slightly mundane by themselves, came a very vibrant, lively piece as it contrasted everyones varied drawing styles. 

 There were lots of interesting elements to it that did turn out quite DaDa, as they were a collection of things that would not normally be put together, or two drawing styles that are thrown together come out with something quite strong. So it was a successful drawing task as it made us loosen up with our drawing and then be quite confident and experimental when putting it together. 

study task 3

The Chapman Brothers 'Sad Presentiments' 

After reading Walter Benjamin's essay 'the work of art in the age of mechanical reproduction', I feel that this image by the Chapman Brothers relates a lot to the point Benjamin makes. The Chapman Brothers bought the series of Goya's etchings - 'The Disasters of War', and painted over each one with clown faces or other similar imagery. The etchings were classed as treasured pieces as there aren't that many of his original about, so to paint over them was considered by a lot of people as vandalism. 

Benjamin talks about the 'aura' of artwork, that 'that which withers in the age of mechanical reproduction is the aura of the work of art', meaning that the fact that the artwork is an original makes it special, it gives the viewer a whole other experience for the viewer. Goya's piece is definitely artwork that contains this 'aura'; especially as it is an etching which is a traditional print process that is very time consuming, and therefore usually only produces a limited number of prints - so it is a piece that is deemed at 'high artwork'. The Chapman Brothers have taken it and, in their words, 'rectified' it; making it something much less prestigious, it makes it more accessible for people as it has taken something with very serious connotations and added dark humour to it. 

Also, the fact that they have then let out multiple prints of their reproduction of Goya's artwork takes the 'aura' away even more as 'the technique of reproduction detaches the reproduced object from the domain of tradition', if there are loads of reproductions of an art piece then the piece seems less special because everyone has access to it. Although, you could say that having many prints from the original doesn't take away from the uniqueness of the original painting because a print out doesn't compare with an original painting. 

Benjamin promotes the idea of moving into the digital age, allowing art to be something accessible to all by dismantling the 'aura' that comes with it - he wanted to get rid of the pre-conception we hold to art in galleries as something that is much better than us and kick start the 'shattering of tradition'. I think the Chapman Brothers are trying to achieve a similar thing, it was said that they 'managed to raise hackles of art historians by violating something much more sacred to the art world than a human body - another work of art'. 

However, the Chapman Brothers then exhibited all this work in prestigious galleries like the Saachi, which sort of defeats the point Benjamin was trying to make saying that galleries are what put artwork on platforms with their 'aura'. 

BENJAMIN, W (1936) 'The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction' [online] https://www.marxists.org/reference/subject/philosophy/works/ge/benjamin.htm [Accessed: 15th November]

Dorment, R (2003) 'Inspired Vandalism' The Telegraph [Accessed 15th November]

drawing on location

I liked the idea of contrasting old and new buildings, but also seeing architecture in a state of change and the instruments that implement those changes - so cranes and building sites. Although I am unsure of where to take this now so I think I need to do some contextual research to give this subject a bit more depth.