Film - Research for self-initiated project.

The images above, from left to right, describe the following:
a river bed
layers of strata below the surface,
a path through the trees,
inside a dark wood,
noticing detail, particular to a certain place,

natural phenomena, in this case, rooks flying to roost,
earthworks, the signs of a previous life still visible,
earthworks, uncovering the past on an archeological dig,
experiencing a place, being there,
and taking/bringing something to/from a place, how landscape changes with the smallest intervention.

This set of images, drawings, etchings, and photographs, was put together for Tonkin Liu Architects (www.tonkinliu.co.uk/) as part of a proposal they were putting together for Landmark Wales, a project commissioning new gateways into Wales. The team comprised of architects, engineer, surveyor, designer, artist, and mountaineer. We brainstormed to come up with ideas for new landmarks. The images above were part of my contribution, a folio of prints for public display, and a Powerpoint presentation, researching what it is that makes a landmark, what makes us remember a particular place. The project went through many transformations, resulting in a bridge that would be a viewing platform, where spectators could walk up steps inside the structure to see the landscape from different viewpoints, and would include a cyclepath and landscaped gardens.
The proposal has now been shortlisted and can be seen at (www.landmarkwales.org/), (enter Phase 1 proposals, then Tonkin Liu, then A550 at the Flintshire/Cheshire border), where it is open to the public to vote for the scheme they like the most.












I was asked to join this project because of work I have done previously on the theme of "Genius Loci" which means "A Sense of Place". This project directly relates to the work I am doing this semester. I am interested in how we relate to the landscape around us:

why we prefer the feel of certain places over others,
what makes us return to the same place over and over again,
what makes us remember it,
what makes us feel "at home",
why are we drawn to particular places,
how we create our own personal landscape.

For my self-initiated project, I am going to make an interactive film, using a greenhouse as a metaphor: for a viewing platform, a transparent hide within the garden, removed from the outside by a thin sheet of glass. From here the viewer will be able to watch and observe, affecting the atmosphere of the interior and what is seen through the windows by changing the tuning of the radio on the greenhouse bench. A change of sound will bring up new images, the windows will show activity on both sides of the glass.

For my MA project, I would like to evoke the feeling of a sense of place in an interactive film, shown as an installation and web-based piece, that lets the viewer choose their preferred landscape, and create its atmosphere, in the form of an interactive journey. To be discussed!