Experiment no1

The first experiment was with the rubbish at the end of my street.

 This is how I found the rubbish. I was inspired by the stack of crates and the beauty of their colours against the white of the bath tub and the crimson of the wall so I decided to make more of a feature of them to attract the gaze of a passer by.

I originally arranged then into an arc and placed the smaller bits of rubbish behind some of the crates so they became like display cases.

However, as the wind was so strong the balancing of the arc so precarious, it kept blowing down and I realised I had to create a more sturdy solution. Also whilst I really like the arc shape which made the toilet seat which I placed folded up in the middle of the tube appear almost like some sort of urban thrown, I was worried it was too unsubtle as it was attracting a lot of attention rather than merging in with its surroundings. Therefore, I created this sculpture below which more easily resembles a heap of rubbish and the main hint of human intervention being the fan propellor placed exactly in the centre and so framed by, the pile of crates.

The resulting reactions I got ranged from people either ignoring it completely or questioning me about it. Those who did question me seemed to be either skeptical bordering on suspicious or genuinely intrigued, taking photos and creating discussion either with me or amongst themselves. However, the result over the following days was the most interesting as parts of the rubbish (which had been sitting there untouched for the last two weeks) and in particular the crates began to be taken by passers by. Therefore by rearranging the rubbish I was able to highlight its value.

In retrospect I am annoyed I didn't take better photos and document the process as well as people's reactions better as the rubbish has now gone. This can be something I improve for my future experiments.

Project Proposal Aims, Methods and Realisation

The city is often criticised and condemned for its ‘ugliness’ and perceived rejection of nature, whilst habitats created by other animals such as wasp nests and warrens are much more commonly seen as beautiful. Through my project I want to re-examine how we engage with the city. To do this I will begin by rearranging and manipulating the aspects of our streets, which are often viewed as eye-sores to create sculptures that improve the environment, either through aesthetics or function. They will be non-aggressive and subtle as I want to not only avoid shock but almost detection. Unlike in a gallery space where we are expected to give time to appreciate a work of art and give it our undivided attention, casual observers could easily mistake the sculptures as part of our haphazard street environment, unless they look closer and realise they have been arranged in a very precise manner, evident of human intervention. This could possibly then cause people to re-evaluate how we appreciate our surroundings and the city as a whole. I will document reactions through a series of photographs and films for each sculpture creating a discourse between the observers and myself. This will help me develop my project further as I evaluate the different effects of my interventions and their significance. As part of my research I will email questions to Lytle Shaw on his recent lecture considering the physical location of art and poetry within site and place (in particular relation to Robert Smithson). ‘Art & Social Structure’ by Robert W. Witkin and ‘The Artist as an Instigator of Changes in Social Cognition And Behaviour’ by Stephen Willats will be useful to research and I will also need to do a check of streets which I can use for my project.