This week I finished and handed in my documentation. I set up my “designed artifact” in studio on Wednesday. See below for the final artifact.
TYPED TEXT (300 Words shown above):
Mayoral Drive Traffic Light Crossing Outside AUT WG Building
The aim and purpose of my intervention was to observe the conscious and subconscious behavior of people when faced with intangible boundaries. Through my original observations and documentations of the site, I found an interest in the way people subconsciously conformed socially and physically to the boundaries and unspoken rules that form the space. My interest was in how strangers gathered and moved together and although not a written guide, they all moved and were guided across the space as one entity. I decided to explore this by inserting my own intangible boundaries into the space and observe the pedestrians’ interaction with them.
To explore and observe the subconscious and conscious actions, conformity and behavior of the public, I applied a chalk circle to the pavement at the edge of the crossing. My aim was to see if people would subconsciously and naturally conform to the circle as they waited for the flow of traffic to stop or whether they would notice it and be curious. Although this was what I was prepared to observe, my intervention had a very different impact on the pedestrians. I found that although my circle acted as a boundary, it had the opposite effect of what I had planned; people were standing around the edge of the circle, but not in it. This designed experiential artefact displays the predicted and actual outcomes of movement, positioning and actions in relation to the consistent and rooted physicality of the intervention. This artefact also explores the idea of conformity and subconscious/conscious decision making through its display, application to space and textural qualities.
While observing my intervention, I noticed some external factors that impacted and altered the results and outcomes of the movement, actions and behaviors of the pedestrians. I conducted my intervention and observations on Monday 14th September between 12:20pm and 1:00pm and although this is one of the peak times for foot traffic in the city, the fact that it was AUT mid-semester break and Auckland were at COVID-19 Level 2.5, there were very few people around the area. I also noticed how the lack of vehicular traffic meant larger groups of people weren’t gathering and waiting at the side of the road. This impacted how people positioned themselves at the crossing and how they acted and behaved. With the impact of a variety of factors, the purpose and results of my intervention were very different from what I had expected.
The reason why I decided to use masking tape as a means to attach my work to the wall was because I wanted to reiterate the idea of temporarily and applying my work to the surface rather than it becoming part of the surface. I had originally planned to create a rough edge to make it seem more temporal but decided on creating a frame to reiterate the context of a gallery space.
I am very happy with the final outcome of my documentation. Although it may at first appear simple and little work, I have carefully made each decision to articulate my concepts and ideas.
Spatial Design by Ciara 