This week we worked on preparing for our pitch. We started with some prompt questions to help us think about the key ideas of our project and what we want to articulate in our pitch. Below are the questions and my answers.
What is the focus of your project in relation to the cinematic spaces brief?
My project is based around the idea of fictional space and how film and television create illusions of spaces in relationship to each other and their extension past the frame of a camera. I am also interested in the idea of performance as a means of creating experience for an audience and how film has the ability to create an emotional experience for its viewers.
What do you know about your project, and how are you going to articulate that?
I know that conceptually my ideas are based around the illusion and disorientation of fictional space and the impact this and performance have on an audience. In terms of the site, I am interested in the movement of people, specifically pedestrians. Fort Lane acts as a negative space cut out from the surrounding city and it is used in such sense. I want to initiate and activate the site through a performative experiential installation design. My plan is to have a fluid moving curtain like structure suspended above the center of the lane acting as a beacon/focal point for a series of creative expression events over the period of a week. The suspended curtain will activate the site in the sense that it will alter and change the movement and social aspects of the site currently. I am going to articulate my concept with a well planned spoken piece and articulate my physical vision of the project through conceptual sketches and models.
What is your key relation to the site?
My key relation to the site is people. I am interested in people as a material and how social customs and expectations alter and are altered by a space. I am interested in the public aspect of the site and how Fort Lane’s purpose as a service lane or a shortcut can be question, challenged or instigated in a different means through the social aspects of the space.
What specific community is your design proposal in service of?
My proposal is aimed towards the community of creative minds in Auckland. The project will not only allow the audience to experience and consume creative expressions, it will allow them to take part and express their creativity themselves.
How did your cinematic device document the site? And how did you respond insightfully to those findings?
I had an array of cinematic devices but the most successful devices captured the site through illusion and the fictional display of the site. The findings allowed me to look at the power of film in relation to an audience experience and viewpoint and this influenced my further design choices and exploration.
What are the key threshold/scene transitions in your proposal? And how do these relate to cinematic scene transitions?
The key thresholds in terms of movement through the space is the point between viewing the installation from the outside while walking down the lane and being immersed within it as you travel through it. This relates to the experience of watching film or television in the sense that you view a film from the outside by hearing about it and reading about it but by watching the film you are immersing yourself in the emotional experience of it.
How does your proposed design activate the site as a public space?
To me the site is a negative space, a cut out of the surrounding streets and city. The movement through the space is linear and with the only purpose of travelling from one place to another. My design proposal disrupts and transfers/diverts this movement through changing the path of movement physically while also altering the social dynamics of the space.
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I then spent some time working on a draft pitch during class to get my ideas onto paper (below).
DRAFT PITCH
My design project is focused around fictional space and performative qualities through the exploration and alteration of movement, interaction and social customs of the Fort Lane space and its occupants.
Fort Lane acts as a negative space, a cut out (In between space) of the surrounding streets and vertical city and is used in said way with movement almost always linear. Pedestrians and vehicles weaving between one another with the aim of getting from one point to the other with the occasional Fort Lane service destination vehicle encroaching on pedestrian safe space. My design proposal aims to activate the site, altering and disrupting movement and altering social dynamics of interaction.
My design proposition is a large-scale experiential installation piece that is to be suspended in the center of Fort Lane. Relating to the ideas of performance, the installation is to be a large curtain structure that
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I found that making a plan for my slides before writing the pitch gave me more structure and made it easier to link my pitch to the images I’m going to be presenting. I made and order list for the slides and then reworked my pitch to align with it. As I wrote the pitch I reorganised the slides slightly to work better with the flow in the presentation (below).
DRAFT PITCH 2
Ideas/supporting concepts
Address/ review cinematic device images
Designer research reflection (idea of performance)
Designer research (materiality)
5 sketches
What the concept/proposal is
KEY WORDS
Performative
Movement
Experience/immerse
Invitation
Open freedom/breaks down constraints that stop creativity
My design project is focused around fictional space and performative qualities of materiality through the exploration and alteration of movement, interaction and social customs of the Fort Lane space and its occupants.
My interest in fictional space relates with the way an audience views cinematic spaces in relationship to each other when reality is often very different. This is the power of illusion and disorientation created by film. These were the ideas I explored in these studies of the site through my cinematic devices here.
My practice has always been very much focused around the social and sociological aspects of humans in relation to space and people as a material. This is why my project is focused on experiential design that is informed by performative qualities and that challenges and alters human movement and interaction with the space. This performative design by Diller Scofidio and Renfro gaged my interest in performance and expression in alternative form as a means of creating experience.
Ann Hamilton’s practice, specifically these two projects “the event of a thread” and “habitus,” explore the performative qualities of materiality in relation to human interaction, a defining point of my own project. My work also explores the relationship between space and people but also the impact space and design can have on the movement, behaviour, and interaction of people with each other much like the results created by Hamilton’s installations.
My design embodies the idea of performance through materiality and movement and investigates people or public as a catalyst or instigator of physical expressions of interaction and movement. The suspended curtain-like structure aims to activate Fort Lane and disrupt and alter the social movement of people through the space. The design will be the focal point of a series of creative expression events to be held over the period of a week in and around the installation. The aim of the installation and event schedule is to create a space and community that breaks down the intangible constraints that restrict creative flow to support the consumption and production of creative expression. The design proposal also aims to gage interest from the Auckland public in creative communities and encourage expression.
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I then organised my pitch before printing it to allow me to keep track of what to discuss on each slide and when to transition slides (below).
SLIDE 1
My design project is focused around fictional space and performative qualities of materiality through the exploration and alteration of movement, interaction and social customs of the Fort Lane space and its occupants.
SLIDE 2
My interest in fictional space relates with the way an audience views cinematic spaces in relationship to each other when reality is often very different. This is the power of illusion and disorientation created by film. These were the ideas I explored in these studies of the site through my cinematic devices here.
SLIDE 3
SLIDE 4
My practice has always been very much focused around the social and sociological aspects of humans in relation to space and people as a material. This is why my project is focused on experiential design that is informed by performative qualities and that challenges and alters human movement and interaction with the space. This performative design by Diller Scofidio and Renfro gaged my interest in performance and expression in alternative form as a means of creating experience.
SLIDE 5
Ann Hamilton’s practice, specifically these two projects “the event of a thread” and “habitus,” explore the performative qualities of materiality in relation to human interaction, a defining point of my own project. My work also explores the relationship between space and people but also the impact space and design can have on the movement, behaviour, and interaction of people with each other much like the results created by Hamilton’s installations.
SLIDE 6
My design embodies the idea of performance through materiality and movement and investigates people or public as a catalyst or instigator of physical expressions of interaction.
The suspended curtain-like structure aims to activate Fort Lane and disrupt and alter the social movement of people through the space. The design will be the focal point of a series of creative expression events to be held over the period of a week in and around the installation.
The aim of the installation and event schedule is to create a space and community that breaks down the intangible constraints that restrict creative flow to support the consumption and production of creative expression. The design proposal also aims to gage interest from the Auckland public in creative communities and encourage expression without personal judgment.
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I then put together my slides and practiced displaying it on the projector so I would know how it looked when presenting. Below is the final result.
I got some good feedback from my formative presentation, most of which were ideas I had already considered developing/looking further into. suggestions and feedback included starting work on perspectives, plans and sections of the design, further exploring the idea of transparency through materiality which is something I briefly looked at in my surface design exploration, and also exploring materiality on a 1:1 scale in test space. These are all steps I am keen to take and all this feedback will be taken on board.
Spatial Design by Ciara 