Week 31

This week has been about data art & fabrication, pen plotters, fishing for maps, design research & walking from scores.

Returning to my cherished days of data art, I took time this week to generate personalised data-driven art & fabricate some data goodies like jewellery and bag tags.

In my free time, I am also getting back to plotting some of my recent generative artworks. I really enjoy the tactile and tangible dimension that pen plotters bring to the drawing and creative process especially their unique ability to capture the imperfections, variations in pressure, and textures of the drawing surface.

As part of a design research activity for my dissertaion, I went on a walk seeking out artefacts that could help guide my inquiry around what maps are and can potentially represent. During our session, I proceeded to classify the collected map artefacts according to their intended function and their ability to situate an audience in place, time and emotion.

Inching closer to a work in progress show around our dissertation projects, I have been exploring more methodologies for recording multi sensory information and techniques for counter-mapping.

I participated in a workshop facilitated by Alisa Oleva centered around urban choreographies and psychogeographical scores utilising soft parkour techniques and mapping tools. Focusing on embodied experiences, we engaged in tactile exploration and physical movement to uncover and pursue the surfaces, paths, imprints, traces, and desires we encounter within cities.

One of the scores I delved into took me back to the wonderful book An Attempt at Exhausting a Place in Paris by Georges Perec. I am excited to bring together these learnings and facilitate a series of workshops aimed at opening up ideas around what maps can represent, who has agency to create them and how cities and places get archived for the future.