Assignment: Using Janet Cardiff’s sound walk “Her Long Black Hair” as inspiration you will explore a site through four perspectives: personal, public, historical, and fictional and utilize multiple forms of research to build a dynamic project.
My site was the Union SQuare metronome, I immediately picked this site from Atlas Obscura because I always pass union square and see the metronome, but I never really seen the digital clock and had no idea it was a clock! That is why this particular site is something I wanted to know more and research on.
I went to the site several times to observe the place, take notes, drawings, photographs, videos, and just be there to really understand the site. I observed people walking, ignoring the site being there, I did not see anyone interested in it or even look at the clock! I interviewed 3 people to get their perspectives on the place and some people even thought that it shows how many trees are being cut down.
To show the four perspectives, I focused on one thing for each one that stood out most
Historical- the fact that it has been embedded in the building for a long time, since 1999
Public- People do not see it as something useful to tell time
Personal- after finding how to read the time, I see it as an hourglass
Fictional- The digital numbers tell us how long it is until the end of the world
Sketches
I had several sketches but the final one I wanted to create was 4 abstract gouache paintings that would describe the 4 perspectives. I made squares for the background because it looks like the walls of the digital clock in an abstract way. I also put a clock arrow and added gold details to make it look like the Vortex at the center, giving people an idea that it is a clock. The media I used was gouache, iridescent paper, bristol board, foam board, PVC plastic, and a pushpin. I first made the painting, then attached it to the foam board, then added the gold details and attached the arrow using a pin. I picked all these colors because it has the same soft tone and it makes the picture unite as a whole.
PROCESS
– PVC plastic
FINAL
REFLECTION
Looking back at the process of making this project, I enjoyed the observational visit, looking at the site closely and figuring out the four perspectives. I learned a lot about the site, rather than just looking and browsing the internet. It was hard for me to focus on one thing for each perspective but that was because I wanted to make it easier for people to understand the site without having to visit it. I wanted to represent them with abstractly because I wanted the viewers to also guess what it means, just like people guessing how to read the metronome. I also made the pictures one toned color to make it a whole unity, and I made the pictures abstract so that it would not be easy to guess the meaning behind it, just as the site itself, hard to understand, which in this case this aspect reflects the place well. I experimented on different abstractions of the perspectives which was fun, I had a hard time pasting the bristol paper on the board because it would not stick, however eventually after layering lots of double tape, it finally sticked. I enjoyed the painting process and the brainstorming and observing process overall. What I would do in the future if I had more time is to develop more sets of abstractions for the perspectives, maybe find different media to show it, for example, collages, photoshop, and etc.
