Giles Lane « Marie on Manson

City as Material: Caught by the River

Today’s City as Material session involved another epic stroll through the City of London. Emerging from our above ground research from the past two weeks, we decided our main destination would the Thames Riverbank. Off we went…

First Staircase

Hunters in the Thames

The Explorers

Giles hopping up and over

The Ladder

Bones

Thames River Path

Pedestrian Subway

Thames River Path

Second Staircase

Teeth

Soon enough, it was time to head back from the water. But that isn’t to say there were still many more pictures to be had…

The Monument

Leadenhall Market

Lloyds Building

The Underwriter Pub

St. Helen's

Guildhall

St. Lawrence Jewry

It was a lovely excursion on a quintessential London weather day. The blustery mist inspired a chicken and vegetable soup craving, which I am satisfying now. While the soup heated, I cleaned off my treasures. I skipped snagging any bones (ew) but did manage to find some great broken ceramics and pretty pearly shells:

Thames Treasures

Gotta love free souvenirs!

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on October 6, 2009 at 2:35 pm Leave a Comment
Tags: City of London, Giles Lane, Guildhall, Leadenhall Market, St. Helen's, St. Lawrence Jewry, Thames River, Thames River Path, Thames Riverbank, The Monument

22-Sept: City as Material

Tuesday was another amazing session of City as Material!

We began the morning at Proboscis by watching Films of Charles and Ray Eams, Volume 4, the work of two American designers that combine the sensibility of the artist/architect with concern for everyday life, its functionality, and its beauty in simplicity. We then watched a much more experimental piece: Klipperty Klop by Andrew Kotting, a parody of land art that highlights mad, eccentric, British humor. The closing title pretty much said it all: “He was in one of those queer moods.” The two greatly contrasted each other, but were also complimentary in seeing how differently appreciation for the everyday can be expressed.

Bearing these in mind, we sat for a brainstorming session on how we are going to intervene into the everyday life of London for our project. The common point of interest that emerged was abandoned/lost space within the city. In the end, we divided initial research into two realms: above ground and under ground; our first step in the process is to discover spaces, such as underground tunnels and rivers, abandoned buildings, and hidden alleyways. Although the rest of the class seemed most intrigued by exploring above ground, I gravitated towards below. Comparing the underground structure of London to NYC has already captured my interest and is a topic I was planning to explore on my own; the fact that I can incorporate that investigation into my academics while here is amazing, and further proof that I am exactly where I should be doing exactly what I’m doing this semester.

It was time to mobilize, and Giles lead us on a new route from Farringdon Station north (a famous Italian enclave) through Holborn, Islington, and Finsbury with a stop for lunch at Exmouth Market — although I packed lunch, the others indulged in delicious ethnic cuisines that filled the street with an alluring aroma. We picnicked in a nearby park and reflected on the themes that emerged from our excursion: the varying topographies of the city and the functioning of reused and mixed-use city space. Hopefully the following photos will communicate the nature of this and why those themes were so relevant during the walk:

: Commissioners of Sewage

: Royal Mail Mount Pleasant Postal Sorting Office

: Ecmouth Market

: Exmouth Market

: Bone House and Graveyard

: Picnic Spot

: Pinic

: Three Corners Adventure Playground

: Three Corners Adventure Playground

: Clerks’ Well

: Clerks’ Well

: Clerks’ Well inscription

: Criminal Court

: St. Paul’s

: St. Paul’s

: Memorial

: Piccadilly Whip

: Piccadilly Whip

Upon returning to Proboscis, we set up a blog for the course that we will be using to document our research and our experiences! We haven’t implemented a design for the page yet, but stay tuned for a fabulous piece of online documentation.

Giles also put together another post-session route for us. I embarked on the first portion, past St. Paul’s and over the Millennium Bridge, but left the group once I got a call from Annie Black. That’s right, my freshman year roommate and Texan counterpart is in London for the semester as well! She is studying at University College London in Bloomsbury, and I immediately headed there to help her settle in. We scouted out her campus and walked down Oxford St. to Primark to get towels and hangers (nice job being out, Argos), and obviously stopped for her first London pub experience (in true student style, she went with Strongbow, I with London Pride). We headed back to her flat and I made sure to tuck her in with some Gilmore Girls–the only thing that made me leaving okay. I’m so glad she’s here…welcome, girl!

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on September 24, 2009 at 1:55 pm Leave a Comment
Tags: Annie, city space, excursion, Exmouth Market, Farringdon, film, Finsbury, Giles Lane, Holborn, Islington, Millennium Bridge, picnicking, Proboscis, St. Paul's, UCL

Academics (oh right) – Week A

The program alternates classes every other week. The internships are always Wednesday through Friday.

Week A

Monday, 9:45am – 12:45pm: The Network Metaphor and the New Renaissance – Don Foresta @ FIE

Our first class was a comforting one — very Vassar, very manageable, but very interesting. I was lucky to have done the reading on the plane since it wasn’t looming over my London head yet still fresh in my brain. Don is a fountain of knowledge, spewing phrases that streamline what I’ve been studying at Vassar into phrases I couldn’t help but furiously type into my Word Notebook document. I am greatly looking forward to drawing from past knowledge and applying new experiences to the material we cover.

Monday, 6 – 7pm: Internship Meeting – Frederik Lesage @ FIE

This meeting will occur every Monday night as a way to reflect on our internships and share London happenings we hear of and experience. For the first session we shared our expectations and goals, and decided to set up an email chain where we can all share relevant event info. Fred already sent us some, and I can’t wait to get out there!

Tuesday, 10am – ?: London: City as Material – Giles Lane @ Proboscis

The word class doesn’t even begin to give justice to Tuesday. We decided to officially refer to it as a session.

On the Tube we went for our first commute to Clerkenwell; Giles requested that we meet with him at the Proboscis office, a.k.a. the most awesome studio work space ever–full of creativity and the necessary tools, as well as a full kitchen and a circle of floor cushions where we sat and chatted about the course. After an hour and a half of conversation and a plan to head out on a walking excursion through the local area, it was quite clear that we were in for the greatest learning experience of our lives this semester.

Exciting excerpts from the syllabus:

“The focus for this class willl be in considering the role of the city as material for artistic experimentation and creation…In addition to contemporary practice the course will consider the rish histories of urban intervention by artists in London and elsewhere.”

“The class will be co-creative”

“Things we can do: Observation/guerilla ethnography; seedbombing/guerilla gardening; stencilling/drawing/sketching; street performance; urban play/games; urban sensing; temporary installation and contraptions; posters/postcards/eBooks/flyers”

Sections entitled “Some Films We Can Watch”; “Some Boks We Can Read/Refer To”; “Some Places We Might Visit”; “Tools We Can Use”; “Some Links.”

I can successfully that this course will help me fulfill my goal of absorbing and being absorbed into London. The prospect of participating in it artistically is invigorating, but I am most excited for seeing how the city affects me. Physically representing that seems to be my main goal at this juncture, and knowing I have the resources of Proboscis to utilize is unbelievable.

After returning from our walk with Giles through the surrounding (phenomenal) area, we returned to the studio for lunch (he was kind enough to prepare pasta and salad–not only delicious, but totally budget friendly!). He invited us to stick around and hang out, an invitation extended to every time we meet, but we decided to seize the sunshine and head out on another excursion. Giles stayed in the office but was kind enough to prepare a route for us on Google Maps. Complete with a stop for refreshments at his favorite pub and patisserie, the walk was the perfect end to a perfect day, a day already a perfect beginning to an amazing semester.

We even made it onto the Proboscis website! http://proboscis.org.uk/1369/city-as-material/