Final Project idea

In the end I decided to go with the ring road project. I had a more clear rough idea of what I wanted to do with this one. With the other I would have had to work with a choreographer and have rehearsals and so on. I would rather do something simpler but of high quality than try to do something complicated that wouldn't reach the full potential because of lack of time. So the first step was to go around the Ring Road and find the perfect space. As I mentioned in previous posts, first I would need to find the specific space and then plan the rest - the actual video to go with it. The trip around the ring road was surprisingly pleasing. We were following it without keeping to the pedestrian paths, but making our own way cutting trough car parks, jumping over fences and so on. Not the safest way, but it was very enjoyable. This process was best described by Guy Debord when describing psychogeography as "a whole toy box full of playful, inventive strategies for exploring cities...just about anything that takes pedestrians off their predictable paths and jolts them into a new awareness of the urban landscape". And this is exactly what we did, we ignored the paths that were dictates to us, and made our own. Found few interesting and potential spaces and photographed them.

I will use the location of the first picture. It is after all the first one that made me think about this project and first captured my attention few years back. What I like most about it is that it is a space that hasn't been specifically designed to have a meaning or a certain aesthetic, it is a space that was constructed as part of the ring road. In a sense it seem natural. It is man made, but not designed. It feels like a break from all the architecture and buildings that have specific designs and require us to analyze them for their aesthetic and design value. Coventry has a big variety of designs as it has been almost fully rebuilt after the Blitz, therefore most of the buildings are lest thank 80 years old. So having a space that doesn't enforce a certain aesthetic on the people who pass through it feels like a 'breath of fresh air'. Guy Bebord also described Psychogeorgraphy as "the study of the precise laws and specific effects of the geographical environment, consciously organized or not, on the emotions and behavior of individuals". This describes how I experience this certain space as an individual. What I aim to achieve through this project, is to share this experience with the public, and maybe make them think more about the spaces that are so easily taken for granted. The point of art is to first of all rationalize a thought and a feeling that a certain place brings to mind, then externalize it and share it with the public, in hope that they get it and if not adhere to it, at least think about it and appreciate such places more.