Two Thursdays ago Neveah and I had a paired tutorial with Kyung Hwa, and we discussed different elements of what we had collected from the Northern Line, and many different elements came to life. We noticed a couple of patterns in things that we observed.
Mirrors in the tube stations were really interesting to us, as were water and other reflective surfaces over ground, as they have this really odd effect on people. It is my understanding that they are something of a safety fixture in the tube which enables people to see who is behind them, but Kung Hwa also made note that they have a pacifying effect. Mirrors in Korea are put up in department stores by elevators in order to alleviate anxiety for people who are waiting to get on. Perhaps they ultimately have the same purpose in the tube and in public. Mirrors make people stop because they offer this reflection, which is perhaps unexpected in certain places.
Shadows as we followed different paths during different times of day became increasingly interesting by odd architectural spaces and the ways that they intersected with light.
Kung Hwa also brought up the idea of shadows as something beyond this physical phenomenon of light, but also as people that live in out of ‘direct observation’. Who are shadows? Who are the ghosts? Who is permanently in the space but always shifting vs. who is only in the space at certain times of day.
Street art and street performance became an avenue of interest out of this, particularly with regards to the street performers in Trafalgar Square above Charing Cross. The ephemeral nature of these hyper-seen and hyper unseen people became an interesting juxtaposition that we have since been following.
RCA Graduate Diploma 