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.
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