This exploration of fixed sites, slides, multidimensional methods of investigation
{
//draft animation,
transcripts,
photography,
sketching,
diagrams,
mapping.
//
}
Documented
{
//the audience structure,
the structure of the slides,
the materials of the slides,
the steps of playing on the slides,
the floor plan of the slides,
the time spent playing on the slides,
what the slides are,
where the slides come from.
//
}
Developed investigative methods
{
//diagrams,
mapping,
transcripts.
//
}
The original slide itself was an exciting, slightly dangerous, child-hazardous recreational facility that did not require parental assistance.
The slide I observed fits these qualities, it is made primarily of a combination of two materials, wood and iron.
The essence of a diagram is that of a visual collection of complex information, systematic, unified, an information complex, a classification of information.
‘You have to observe very slowly, very mechanically output every detail, collect information, enumerate information’ (Species of spaces and other pieces : Georges Perec, 1997)
I was sitting there observing the slide, observing every child, I was observing it very woodenly and taking notes, the children who were playing the slide normally, the ones who were playing in a fancy way, the children,
people who preferred the children who played strangely, maybe this would be different, not usual, ‘meaningful’, interesting.
In the end, I chose a father & daughter pair who are usual (father and daughter’s pattern of getting along), but for the slide, they are not usual, and the not-usualness of the slide proves the properties of the slide’s excitement and danger.
Let the excitement and danger, transform into co-operation and warmth, I like this kind of unusualness, which is also different from the other unusualness, e.g.
{
//two children sliding down the pipe together,
children climbing up the pipe in reverse,
children throwing things into the pipe.
//
}
It may be that the unconscious, numbing recording, causes reflection and thought, I observe more, the information becomes larger, which initiates me to question both the usual and the not usual .
‘From bread to a toaster, the toaster is perhaps out of commission’ (The Toaster project, 2011), but during the process, I learned about bread and I learned about the toaster, the process is the most important part of this exploration, there may be no end to this part, it will go on and on, which may also be what ‘exploration’ means.
*visual reference of my
{
//digram，
mapping，
character
//
}
Bibiography
Georges Perec and Sturrock, J. (1997). Species of spaces and other pieces : Georges Perec. London: Penguin.
Thwaites, T. (2011c). The toaster project : or A heroic attempt to build a simple electric appliance from scratch. New York: Princeton Architectural Press.