Does outlining an area on a map define a place? It defines what is topographically part of it and what is not, but is that enough?
What about the third dimension?
Are areas per definition two-dimensional (according to mathematics they are) or three-dimensional?
Is the immaterial context of a place also part of its definition?
Why do we call an empty urban place empty? It is never just empty space devoid of material.
What happens when part of a place is erased? Does the place no longer exist? Does it become two places (that what was and that what is)?
What is a place?
to Action
What is the place?
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Soundscape
The diagram below is a representation of the sounds in the place. I started listening to the place with my eyes closed. After doing that for a while, I tried to discern the different sounds that I could hear based on what I knew them or what I imagined them to come from. Those that I heared repeatedly or found most typical, are listed below.
But I experience sound as more than its origin. I also experience sound spatially and temporally. Therefore, to more accurately represent the sounds that define my experience of the place, I needed to add additional layers. So I sat down and closed my eyes again, listening specifically for the sounds that I listed earlier and trying to map them in time and space.
What I found interesting was that in my experience, once I picked up on a new sound, I lost track of the other. Where I first tried to follow and map each layer of sound individually, like a muscial score for an orchestra, I eventually took a different approach that was more in line with the phenomenology of my experience.
24 Minutes
To get to know the present of the place, I went to visit and experience it for myself. I believe this is in fact the only way to truly get to know a place. On each of the twelve spots marked on the map, I took in my surroundings for one minute. One minute may not seem as much, but it is enough to start to notice the things that you would usually take for granted.
A day later, I revisited these exact spots and tried to remember, again for one minute, my experiences from the previous day. I sketched the most characteristic things that I could remember.
Lightscape
It is an interesting phenomenon. When the sun goes down, instead of turning dark, the city lights up. Even more so than during the day. The map below represents the place at night, when it turns into an intruiging composition of shadows, still and moving, and of yellow street lights shimmering in the water.
Also during the day, the place is mostly a place of shadow, as the sunlight runs into surrounding trees and buildings on its way down.
The most defining thing about the place, to me, and the reason I got interested in it in the first place, is the fact that the bridge that was once there is now lost, at least physically. Through different artistic actions in and with the place, I set out to create something that would inspire people to experience the connection between the two sides of the water without the presence of a physical bridge.
Collaboration
To collaborate with a space, to me, means to do/give something (an action) in/to that space together with the space - meaning together with certain properties of that space. It can be either positive or negative, depending on how you look at it, but the relationship between what I do/give and what the space does/gives, should be a productive one. 1 + 1 = 3.
Somewhat ironically, the lost bridge has been replaced by a big trash container. I recognised this as a property of the space that I could perhaps collaborate with. Additionally, in my 24 minutes with the place, I noticed two ladders on both sides of the water. These create a certain visual connection between the two sides, although the connection is rather weak and easy to miss. Again though, I recognised an opportunity to collaborate with the place.
I came up with the idea to mark the presence of both ladders, and especially the existance of a relatonship between both sides, with balloons tied to the ladders. On the balloons that were tied to the ladder on the side of the water with the trash container, I wrote: 'TRASH HERE'. On the balloons that were tied to the ladder on the other side of the water, I wrote: 'TRASH THERE'. With these texts, I intended to highlight the connection between the two sides of the water through not only visual stimulation but also stimulation of the sense of bodily presence. In the end, I believe strong experiences with places come from physical presence in a place. The texts stimulate the sense of bodily presence, that was the idea at leasts, by reffering to the activity of throwing away trash in combination with drawing attention to the position of the observer's body in relation to this activity.
Exaggeration
The trash container that has replaced the lost bridge is very obvious due to it being marked with bright pink stickers on all sides. I decided to use bright pink balloons to exaggerate this property of the place and to exaggerate my action in the place. Even the pictures on this page are used as a means to exaggerate. As you may have noticed, this set of pictures is the exact same as the previous set, only this set is in full color.
Taking care
The balloons became part of the place. Therefore, to take care of the place, I took care of the balloons!
Disturbing
This boat was quite a disturbance in the connection that I tried to make through my balloons. Although I did not disturb the place myself, I did take the action of documenting it.
I invite you to think about that a little longer. Perhaps that does in fact make me the disturber. Would it be a disturbance if there was no one to label it as such? By making it into a photograph, I have made the disturbance more permanent than it actually is. In that sense, a video would have been a more accurate documentation, but perhaps less dramatic. You might consider my taking this picture as an exaggerated disturbance.
Different approach to documentation
I tried to come up with a way to document disturbance to the location in a way significantly different from a pictures or videos. I came up with the following: a notebook with the invitation for people to document themselves, with a random note, when they have disturbed the place. I placed this notebook on both sides of the water.
Conclusions
In the end, my balloons were tied to their ladders for a couple of weeks, after which they had all (been) popped. The notebooks had disappeared after only a couple of days.
A few people had left a note before that:
'No autumn colors, but a nice pink!' - Tina
'We don't feel this concerns us, not trash' - Marjolein + Ursula
'I don't understand you, but this is funny :)' - Anonymous
From these notes, as well as from the discussion sessions we had in class, it became obvious that the actions were too conceptual and therefore hard for people to access. Therefore, the notebook did not quite document what I had intended it to (none of the balloons were popped when I read these notes). It did however document the fact that people (women) were interacting with the work (and thus with the place) as well as their thoughts and emotions towards the work. Also rather valuable. And of course, the fact that it rained is also forever documented (left picture).
Starting point
As I was doing my action experiments, I started to fantasize about the idea of using sound. Sound, I think, is very well suited to create deep experiences and activate the sense of bodily presence. Sound, in contrast to visuals, is an omnipresent phenomenon. When you look at something in front of you, it is impossible to see what is behind you. With sound, however, you hear the interaction of different sounds all around you. This means that acting on the soundscape of the place could potentially stimulate people to not only interact with the work, but to interact with the work as part of the place.
In addition to wanting to work with sounds, in response to the conclusions from my action experiments, I wanted to create something less conceptual. Or perhaps not less conceptual, but more accessible. In other words, I didn't want to predefine what people should get from the work/place if they were to interact with it - I wanted to leave enough room for interpretation, but with a clear (conceptual) starting point.
Experimentation with sound
To create something more accessible and avoid unknowingly shutting too many doors, I had to set myself up for experimentation.
So I took sounds from various different videos on YouTube and imported them into an app (Go Button) where I could activate and layer the sounds individually and on demand.
By doing this, I could experiment with the balance between the individual sounds. More importantly, however, I could play with the positioning and volume of the sound in relation to the place.
Thank you for exploring!
Can you think of any places where you feel connected with the past? Is this valuable to you?
My sense of bodily presence
Eventually, as I was experimenting with my sound toolbox, I realized that the two ladders are not the only things that are present on both sides of the water, there is another pair. I had noticed one of them on one side of the water, but had missed its counterpart on the other side. Actually, I should put that differently: I had missed the connection between the two. But as I started experimenting with my sounds, I felt it. A strong sense of connectedness with the other side, and with history in general came over me when I listened to the sounds whilst touching the two large trees on both sides of the water. Perhaps due to their majestic, all seeing scale or perhaps due to an instinctive awareness of their long lifespans. In any case, they activated my sense of bodily presence there and then.
The ever under construction bridge of thought and memory
Combining all of my previous conclusions and experiences, I came up with 'the ever under construction bridge of thought and memory'.
Taking sound as a starting point, I composed two audio fragments with sounds that remind of the lost cow bridge, acompanied by a short narration. These can be listened to by scanning a QR-code tied to the two trees on both sides of the water. The audio fragment listened to on one side, communicates (part of) the story of the opposite side, thus bringing the two sides together.
But this is just one story. The physicality of the bridge may be lost, but as people continue to think, memorize and fantasize about the other side, the bridge will forever be built and rebuilt. This personal realisation is the main driver behind the final work.
Attempt 1
This was my first attempt at the final work. I had intended it to be the only attempt. However, when it was finished I did not get the satisfaction from it that I was hoping for. Although it is an auditory action, it has a visual element as well - and I was not content with the overall look of it.
On top of that, this attempt invites the observer to interact with the work by writing a note, ripping it off the notebook, and then attatching it to a tree with one of the paperclips that I attached to the pink ribbon (this last part is quite hard to do, especially with cold fingers). As I finished the work, I felt this was not intuitive enough.
While walking home, however, I suddenly felt inspired by the ivy growing up the trees in the area. A new idea started to form that would make the interactive element of the work much more intuitive, and simultaneously make the aesthetics of the work much more intruiging. This idea was to mimic the structure of the ivy by wrapping multiple iron wires, instead of one, around the trees I had been working with and spreading the individual sheets of paper in the notebooks along these wires.
The work is made to be experienced in the place. For the best on-screen experience, scan the QR-codes while playing the corresponding videos.
Attempt 2
After giving this thought a few days rest, I revisited the place. What followed was a process that I am quite happy with, because it was a big step compared to my first action 'experiments' with the balloons.
I had decided to only use the materials I already had. So I started to experiment with them and learn what could and what could not be done with them. The iron wire, for example, had a will of its own when I tried to wrap it around a tree. This could be somewhat controlled with enough anchor points to attach to. Attaching the wires to each other seemed to work, but did not sufficiently resemble the look I was aiming for. Finally I found a way to use the paperclips to anchor the wires in the ground. Much better.
The paper sheets are another example. With my previous attempt, I concluded that hanging the paper off the tree with single paperclips made the paper twirl too much (and sometimes let go) whenever the wind picked up. Now that all the individual sheets would be spread, it became even more important to find a solution better suited to the environmental conditions. I tried different things: double paperclips, running the wire directly through the paper, running the paperclips through the paper, glueing the paper onto the wire. Eventually I realised it was probably the easiest, strongest and with the nicest visual result, to just use duct tape on the back of the paper sheets.
One thing you might notice is that the work is no longer pink. The pink ribbon eventually got cut (quite literally) from the work because the whole purpose was to exaggerate the pink of the trash container. However, it was hardly noticible from even a few meters away. So it simply did not serve its purpose, nor any other purpose in my eyes. The end result, although quite complex in structure, is very easy to they eye with only metals and green paper.