_______Usher & Collection______

• Film/take photos on your way to the collection and create documentation of results.

The video clip below is the end product after editing to capture the most interesting snapshots of my journey, I started by attempting to follow the route of a cat however this proved an impossible task as they are far more agile. I moved on to follow someone and this proved to be unnerving and a violation of personal privacy and space so I shifted to examining details of the surroundings. As you can see I found some graffiti on a local bridge the coded numbers were sourced to be from Frequency festival, a digital arts gathering that had recently been placed in the city. Which provoked the question of where the limitations surround the question what is art? My personal discovery has so far been that it is a matter of interpretation, whilst some may consider something as art others may not share the same viewpoint.

   I then came to the end of filming the route to the collection, I took the time to pause and watch the people in the city centre which I have edited into reverse to show an entirely new perspective on a supposed framing of an “everyday experience of the city.” (Lavery, 2005, p.229) The clip finishes by speeding the tempo to the finishing point which was the collection gallery, by documenting the journey I have been able to reflect upon what was seen and experienced and gain a different perspective of something so mundane and ordinary as the actions of the everyday. This analysis has helped in acknowledging content, pace and human behaviour which will aid with the objectives that will be created for our performance and how to engage and audience.

   This discovery provoked further thought into similar pieces of work such as ‘A misguide to Milton Keynes’ created by the company Wrights & Sites, the piece has a focus on the city and landscape however they attempt to bring a new perspective and they document the personal experiences gained through discovering a city in a diverse way. Wrights & Sites achieve this by blindfolding participants redirecting them to an entirely new situation outside of the city centre and then attempting to navigate there way and find the heart of the city. This piece is similar to the task that I have carried out as I was entering the city in a diverse way by filming my journey and fulfilling different instructions, I feel that the heart of the city within my personal journey was placed within the courtyard next to the river and the Waterside shopping centre where the pigeons gathered and where visitors of the city often stop to take pictures. This also fits in with the video as the majority of the piece is self-contained with a focus on the floor or feet up until arrival at this setting where complete focus is shifted up and out and attention is on the scenery, showing how aesthetics are vitally important as to where our personal focus is drawn.

    I have subsequently discovered that by changing the way that you view or approach the everyday new “insights and experiences” (Lavery, 2005, p.233) are made and I hope to bring this concept of experimenting and influencing the thought process within my research and future work.