Urban discovery
Ask anyone the important monuments in London and it is either ‘Trafalgar square’ or ‘Buckingham palace’. However London is full of lots of odd details that we as Londoners are not aware of.
My idea is to produce some sort of documentation for the local Londoner who does not realise what they have at their doorstep. (E.g. has anyone heard of the camel corps?)
I will need to create an Accompaniment to an exciting new urban discovery
Aim
Travel through London and explore and document all the interesting odd details I came across.
Ask locals what they find interesting/important in their community
Research into the history of the areas I come across.
(While I understand I cannot travel the whole of London in 14 weeks I do aim to go as further as I can. I will travel through all the boroughs in London and find the odd details in each borough so that in case one cannot travel on a long journey across the capital, they an exciting discovery locally)
11 comments:
sounds interesting. i like the idea of documenting little areas that arent tourist attractions but little spots that make u appreciate london. a while ago there was a skateboard book published called 'spots' and it was a directory of architecture/skatespots compiled by a group of skateboarders.
You could also discuss the notion that whenever anything underground becomes known/ published in a guide, that it looses it's original aura/attraction.
Hey Ivy i really like the idea of the 'hidden gems' of london. people who live in this country really are oblivious to all the places there are to see etc.
I dont know if a guide would be the best formatt as there are hundreds of guides to london, and even though it would have less known places i dont think it would do the idea justice. The comment about 'underground' losing its appeal when it becomes well know is also interesting, people like things to be exclusive.
Rachel
Come to think of it, does anyone remember that lecture last year where the two designers said they were moving to china, because they were in terested in how chinese subcultures have the chance to develop because of teh lack of internet/communication there. so it's not immediately absorbed into the mainstream. i think , as i said above, that it's a problem for designers as designers are constantly creating/chasing trends and the turn over is so fast that it renders work old or tired so quickly...and also makes designers solely concentrate on the surface treatment as they know it will just be obsolete very soon...
Joanne
http://www.explorationstation.co.uk/ hey ivy this is similar to what your idea is focusing on
Rachel
I think you finally have a project with potential. From the outset I should ask you avoid thinking 'booklet', an important subtext to this project must be how do you get this new, undiscovered information to the right people by the right means? You also have to find a smart way to avoid becoming a researcher- although you will be dealing with a variety of catagories and audiences.
In short, you need to organise this potential chaos and do enough visualisation to demonstrate prototypes at the end of the project!
If you get hold of the current copy of 'Time Out' you will get an idea of original content on their theme of 'Banned...Forbidden London'.
When you have had time to absorb the content of this feedback- get back to me with your ideas on process and outcomes. What you can't do is work on collecting data and 'hope' that something comes from it, or panic and come up with a non-original product at the end.
GTS
YEY for IVY!! :)
There's some strange stuff in London; like an ancient boundry stone in the city that no one seems to know about, and the only way you can view it is from the sports shop that was built around it! I reckon you'll have fun with this project.
Mama C.
THANK YOU all for your contirbutions. I shall be updating my aims soon, but in the mean time if any of you can DO get hold of this week's 'Time Out' and have a read.
Thankx again
Ivy xx
WOW...! I have seen so many amazing things thanks to you Ivy Amoah. Truly, this blog was an inspiration. PLease keep posting new and exciting 'Urban Discovery' locations.
SM
WOW...! I have seen so many amazing things thanks to you Ivy Amoah. Truly, this blog was an inspiration. PLease keep posting new and exciting 'Urban Discovery' locations.
SM
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