Inventory:

To create my inventory I systematically made my way through the different rooms in my house and tried to create flat lays of the different materials and tools I came across. I found this really helpful in terms of changing the way I think about what qualifies as a tool or material and opened my thinking up to what else could be utilised around the house.

Thursday:

 Inventories

For week 6:

We would like you to write 300 words as part of this exercise to situate your ideas. This writing should be supported by maps/diagrams to contextualise your thinking around your project:

When thinking about how I might intervene/interfere within my chosen space (Orewa Beach) i think it would be interesting to explore the idea of combining a term that I derived from my observation and tease it out drawing on how we perceive the same word but in a different context not related to the beach. For example I noted that people often go to the beach to relax. This can look like a walk along the beach, sitting watching the water, or catching up with friends. But when I think of the word relax, separate from the beach, I think of a couch or a space that I can lay down, sit and be comfortably supported. 

In my observation of the space I found that people abide by unspoken social ‘rules’ such as accessing the beach where they are supposed to, picking up dog poop, respecting each other’s space etc. Another idea that i think could be interesting to explore, either through the reimagining of a term like relaxing or just on its own, is altering these social ‘rules’ causing people to rethink how they interact with the space. This could be something like tieing hazard tape on the stairway that leads to the beach. 

My intention for my intervention is to cause people to rethink or stop and ask why we use the beach the way we do and consider if there’s a better, more interesting, more fun, more comfortable way of utilising the space. When we ignore the social norms of beach use how do people react, interact with the change or new way of thinking. As open and versatile as the beach is there are still quite a lot of social constraints about how we should or should not use/interact with the space. 

Some questions to help with this:

• Did something come out of the documentation that might drive these proposals? 
• Any hunches, intuitions, gravitational pulls? 
• Has something emerged from the documentation of others, that might shift the direction of the project?
• Do you want to extend social activity that occurs, or introduce? 
• Are there connections between these ideas and the materials in your Inventory?

In addition, assemble some ‘like-minded’ projects/practices/practitioners/readings around your ‘hunches’:

Artist Research:

Christo and Jeanne Claude

Their use of multi media in their proposals make it very clear to read what they are proposing. Drawing on top of images make their ideas very present in the proposed environment. I also like how they take images of the site to provide context and include a site map in their proposals so its very clear what environment they will be implementing their installations in.

Allan Kaprow

Allan Kaprow has a very clear style in the way he presents his work. Using the same fonts, colour scheme and general aesthetic. You can easily identify that it’s him just by looking at the proposal which I quite like. He is very concise with his proposals. Only uses one main image to communicate the idea supported by a few short paragraphs that outline what his intention is. Each proposal is an invitation as part of his ‘happenings’ is the people that engage in the process. His proposals require the artist, the art and the audience to be fully realised.

Robert Smithson

Smithsons sketches don’t include much or any commentary to the drawing but you can still see what his intention is. There is obviously not enough information for his ideas to be realised off of these one off sketches but they accurately plant the initial concept. His proposals are very much imaginary and you see this in his work ‘Earth Map (White Limestone) of the Hypothetical Ice Cap of Gondwanaland Made Near Uxmal
Yucatan, April 1969, Hypothetical Continent (Icecap of Gondwanaland), Yucatan, Mexico1969′ key word being hypothetical.

What is a proposal:

Dictionary definition –

proposal

noun

1. 1.a plan or suggestion, especially a formal or written one, put forward for consideration by others

-A direct and clear written description of what will actually happen. Will this be easily graspable, given the information I have provided?

-A written outline of the relevant conceptual or contextual information. Why here/now/in this way/with this audience? The answer to this question should draw on how you as an individual designer have been
thinking about the site and its social relations.

Space: Orewa Beach

Potential interventions –

Lounging at the Beach

Lounge at the beach drawing on the theme of relaxing and combing two different interpretations of what relaxing looks like. People go to the beach to relax and unwind but it is usually by going for a walk or laying on a towel. The way people often relax at home is in the lounge on a couch watching tv or reading a book etc it would be interesting to see how combining the two affects the enjoyment of the space for participants and how passerby react to the ‘misuse’ of the space. It could be interesting to explore the effect the tide has also.

Fitness Class

Highlighting that the beach is an active space and provides a space where people can come togetherfor a time before dispersing over the coast again. Yoga could be a good activity as its clear what it is once you lay down the yoga mat.

Sleep Space

People don’t tend to hang around Orewa beach past sunset but as far as i’m aware there is no regulated curfew. To set up a sleep space would be going against the status quo inviting people to spend the night at the beach. I think this would challenge how ingrained unspoken rules/expectations are in the community and also provide a unique experience.

Sectioning off an access point to the beach

Orewa has a bank that you need to climb down to access the beach. There are a lot of stairways to allow easy access up and down these banks along the length of the beach. To tape one of these access points off with hazard tape would then cause people to redirect their path. They will have to stop an consider their intentions and eagerness to access the space.

Hopscotch

Implementing a hopscotch game at either the top or bottom of a stairway onto the beach to highlight that this is a place of fun. To help get people to loosen up and to leave the space more relaxed and feeling lighter mentally.