Reading up

From reading Augé's work on non-places it's interesting to see that most of his ideas are based on physical places, places that people end up on don't have the intention of going to e.g. using a corridor to get somewhere is a non-place you don't want to be in the corridor be you use to get to somewhere else. Non-places are transit ideas. This works with the idea that I have of the Internet because you can't actually go to the Internet but is can take you places: website, geo-tagging, Google Earth that kinda of idea is what I want to look into more.

Non- Places

Today we got our second brief which is about non- places:

"“...the word ‘non-place’ designates two complementary but distinct realities: spaces formed in relation to certain ends (transport, transit, commerce, leisure), and the relations that individuals have with these spaces.” (Augé 1995:94)

In 1995, French Anthropologist, Marc Augé, introduced the term ‘non-place’ in the seminal book ‘Non-Places: Introduction to an Anthropology of Supermodernity’. Augé coined the term "non-place" to describe spaces which are more abstract in character than ‘places’. ‘Non-places’ are spaces which people travel through.

“Since non-places are there to be passed through, they are measured in units of time.” (ibid. 104).

“The distinction between places and non-places derives from the opposition between place and space.” (Augé 1995:79)

You are asked to investigate the concept of ‘non-place’ from both a personal and a social perspective. What does ‘non-place’ mean to you? What real sites can you identify that have the qualities and characteristics of a ‘non-place’? How do people interact with ‘non-place’? What atmosphere, mood, and/or sensation does it convey or communicate? How can the Artist or Designer enhance, alter, impact particular ‘non-places’ and what might it contribute to their users’ experience?"

This is what the brief stated what a non-place is: however I feel that there can be more conceptual answers as to what a non-place, I don't think it needs to be a physical place but I'll have to do more research to confirm this.

Pencil Drawings

These are the pencil drawings that I did for my final piece. I drew 5 different ways of holding a pencil, behind your ear, between your teeth. Then cut them up to create my final piece which was to look like a pack of pencils.

The different colours were linked to different emotions: green = calm, red = angry, blue = worried. For this idea I went with traditional western ideas of colours. 

Then I cut all the drawings up in thin sections and displayed them in a way that they looked like a packet of pencils. 

Hit the ground running

So straight off the bat we've got a quick brief "pencils" to look at the essence of a pencil and what it means to us. To be honest I'm not thrilled with it because I feel like it's hard to fit the themes that I want to look at around the theme of pencils but it could be interesting.
For PDP we're looking at our futures and where we won't want to go after we finished this course, which is something that I've been struggling with since I left school. Hopefully however I'll find something that interests me and not spend the rest of my life living in my Mum's loft.
In contextual studies we are starting to think about or essay topic right away as well I think I know where I want to take my written work, but I'm not sure I want to continue with what I looked at last year or branch off slightly so it'll link with my studio work.
So at the end of the first week I've been left with a lot of questions, that hopefully I'll get answers for quickly!

Pencils, Pencils, Pencils!

To start back the year we have a quick 2 week brief about pencils, what is the essence of a pencil what do they represent or mean to us. Whilst I'm looking forward to starting something new I'm worried about the time constraints of this brief and I don't know what I'm going to create at this point. Although I'm hoping that this project will push me into bettering my time management skills.