Tuesday 23 February 2010

Public Art Project

Site Visits (23.02.10)

Having been making visits back and forth from site for the past couple of weeks, taking and checking various measurements, I finally managed to get the stile installed on the morning of the site visits.


A few adjustments had to be made, such as carving away a few indents so that the main posts would fit around protruding parts where the lock and chain were but apart from that it fitted rather neatly over the top of the gate.


I attached a small wooden box over the 'horns' at the top of both gates to prevent anyone from injuring themselves but also to function as a little something to hold on to as you are climbing over.



It also seems to function rather well as a table to eat your fish and chips on!


Having managed to put to tighten the last bolt as people arrived I was very much aware that I should really have installed it the day before to allow myself time to go and see other people's work - I sincerely hope that people did not think that I was not interested in their work and I do feel annoyed that I didn't get to see some of the other one off pieces to discuss later in the crit.

Sunday 14 February 2010

Jennifer Grant

Do you want the truth or something beautiful?

Jennifer Grant, Stile, 2009
Mixed media

Was sorting out some paper work over the weekend and whilst I was flicking through Issue 6 of the Collective publication, what do you know... I found this work by Jennifer Grant which is must have remembered on some subconcious level as it is very similar to what I had in mind for the Kelvingrove Bandstand. Would like to know more about the piece and where it was done - the accompanying desciption doesn't really describe the work as such, it's more of a story.

Friday 12 February 2010

Playing the Corridor

Group show at 19 West Princess St. 12th February 2010

A friend asked if I wanted to do some sort of sound installation in their flat so I jumped at the oppurtunity as they didn't seem that boethered if I drilled a few holes in the ceiling.


The result was a piece of clothes line attached to the ceiling via a 90 degrees bracket and then pulled taught by turning a wheel inside of the box, attached to the floor by hinges. Inside the box I had attached a contact microphone which picked up the sound, when the line was plucked, which was then amplified through a loudspeaker. The box was on hinges with a handle to tilt back and forth, to increase the tension in the line so as to get some nice bendy sounds.


Here is a brief video where I demonstrate how to play the corridor

Tuesday 9 February 2010

Queen's Park Ampitheatre

I thought I might go down to Queen's Park to compare the two ampitheatres. The sizes seem roughly simlar however the one in Queen's Park is lacking a Bandstand as it got burnt down in 1996.





The other interesting thing to note however is that the lower end is completely open and the gate at the top is unlocked. I don't see why it isn't the same for the auditorium in Kelvingrove Park considering that the actual bandstand, the main concern, is completely boarded up and secure.

Reviewing site for installation of Stile

I thought that the right hand side gate would be a good site for the stile as it is just off a public footpath which cuts accross the park from the pedestrian bridge.






I thought it would be good to try my hand at a bit of photoshop to get an idea of what the stile might look like once installed.


Saturday 6 February 2010

Maquettes for Stile

Here are some different versions of a stile which I decided to try out to help me decide on their visual appeal as well as making it easier for me to picture how easy it might be to climb over them.

Model 1: Proportions - 9 (top), 7 (middle), 6 (Bottom)


Triangle (Isoceles M & B)


Model 2: Proportions - 9 (top), 9 (middle), 9 (Bottom)


Spiral


Model 3: Proportions - 9 (top), 7 (middle), 9 (Bottom)


Triangle (Isoceles T & B)


Model 4: Proportions - 9 (top), 7 (middle), 9 (Bottom)


Equilateral Triangle

Wednesday 3 February 2010

Paradox of Choice

Brilliant lecture which makes some very pertinent points about the overwhelming variety of choice we have in todays society.



Psychologist Barry Schwartz takes aim at a central tenet of western societies: freedom of choice. In Schwartz's estimation, choice has made us not freer but more paralyzed, not happier but more dissatisfied.