Unit X

Blackpool Pleasure Beach History & Archive Visit.

As a starting point for Unit X, we visited Blackpool Pleasure Beach for a tour of the park and the archives which hold thousands of old performance costumes and pieces from the park, collected over the centuries.

When walking around the park which was closed too the public whilst listening too a brief history of the park by the tour guide I was inspired and interested by a number of things.

Being in the Pleasure Beach without people filling it with noise, screams and queues felt peculiar, and in some ways eerie. As the tour guide explained the history of the park and the developments they have made too keep people coming back, I realised that people are not only important in keeping it open, but also too the overall feeling and spirit of the place.

Also, the contrast between the construction and design of the rides, both old and new was really interesting, as seen in the photograph above- the old Art Deco "big dipper" has a different presence compared too the much newer bright blue ride in the distance.

Old photographs from the Pleasure Beach.

Having the chance too look around the archives that Blackpool pleasure beach holds, including thousands of old performance costumes and old fairground pieces such as carriages was an excellent opportunity. When looking through the archives there's definitely a feeling of nostalgia and memory which really interest me, from the old photographs and ride design plans too the huge feather head dresses, all of these things represent something that used too be and what was. 

Feedback Week: Task One.

During this feedback week, we have been set two tasks to complete whilst not in any workshops or tutorials which will enable us to move on from our origins unit and progress into our new unit: Sampling.

Task one:

The aim of the first task set was to develop different ways of communicating imformation and ideas by visiting a musuem or gallery and during the visit ,aswell as looking at and recording the information seen, notice, observe and find ways to record some of the less obvious aspects of going to a gallery or a museum.

Mapping and Measuring are two words given to us as starting points, the focus was on noticing everything about how you make your journey, move around the space in the museum or gallery and how your eyes move around a piece of work or an object.
In response to this task, I decided that before my trip, I would plan out the route I would be taking from my house to the Manchester City Art Gallery. I did this by going on google maps and getting the route highlighted on the map, i worked from these images and parts of the map to create drawings of my route focussing on line and marks on the map in large and small sections.

As well as this, whilst at the Art gallery, I did some observational drawing of my journey through the gallery and also of the work which I looked at in the exhibits making notes on what I thought about the pieces of work and mapping the layout of the exhibit.

Overall, I think that in terms of the successfulness of this task, I think that the initial mapping and route planning which I did before my journey have created much more interesting pieces which I could develop much further with more drawings and also in embroidery samples. Although I enjoyed taking notes and making the observational drawings within the gallery space itself I think that i should have spent more time drawing the path i took through the gallery rather than focussing on the different pieces I saw, as these drawings and notes are not as interesting in my opinion as the route drawings.

Origins.

‘Presence of mind’

is an ancient concept, and one originally developed by the followers of Buddha to help them suspend belief and remove any sense of prejudice from their mind when encountering a situation that was new or different. It is an ability also found in inuitive artists and designers- the ability to place what they have learned from previous experiences to one side, and to focus on present events without preconception and without prejudicing what they are seeing or thinking with views they might already hold to be true or correct.

This project, is a chance to open my eyes, sharpen my senses, hone my cognative and analytical skills and to dare to know. A chance to experiment, challenge the familiar and seperate myself from any habits or predjudices i may have picked up from previous projects before university.