Mapping

When revisiting Trafalgar Square, I became quite interested in this idea of visual territory and division of space according to the competitive nature of the lucrative visual real-estate in the middle of London.

These are generalizations, but ‘being seen’ seems to be a big draw for the people that pause there. Of course, Trafalgar Square happens to be at a crossroads for many people to get to work, so for a population, it does just exist as a place where people happen to walk through. However, for others, tourists mainly, it is a place to check off the bucket list for being in London, to go and look at the column and take a picture with the lions. People also go there for victories, protests, etc, but there always seems to be an intentionality of choosing that monumental spot about ‘claiming’ and taking up a space. Its purpose is to show off the victory and heroism of English history, but it also seems to be that on a personal level for the people who pass through.

Is this intended greatness contagious? The street performers, the statues, and the tourists are the three ingredients that make up its ecosystem. But the semi-permanence of the street performers who return to this place every day is what interested me.

Floating yodas, grimm reapers, dancing pikachus and bears, are all garish, arguably irritating blights to the square, but they are a part of the ecosystem as much as anything else. The performers can be divided into the skilled/persistent. There are musicians and artists who show their faces, and there are the masked, who are engaging because of their removed humanity. They all seem to carve out enclaves for themselves within this square of exposure.

I decided to start observing/mapping the patterns of these people at different times of the day according to what they did visually.

Perhaps I could take this idea of mapping and create ‘invisible’ boundaries with lasers, or slightly more visible ones with string to accentuate how different these performers are, and purposely set themselves apart from, their audience of tourists.