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Observation
noun
1. The action or process of closely observing or monitoring something or someone.
2. The ability to notice things, especially significant details.
3. The act of taking the altitude of the sun or another celestial body to find a latitude or longitude.
4. A statement based on something one has seen, heard, or noticed.
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Going on the walk over and over again to listen, watch, sketch, note and smell makes you discover things that you normally don't see in a space. I wanted to capture what you might see or might not see, what is happening above or below you or right in front of your eyes. I have been noticing feelings of places and spaces as well as facts.
Looking at my map I can see many different actions and things happening or interfering with each other. The thing that stood out to me the most is how human structures and interventions interfere with the natural pattern of the earth. Trees, grass and the bottom of the ocean all have their own pattern and behaviour and interact with the earth and give and take from each other to thrive. Looking at things humans have built, buildings, putting signs in the ground and piping all interfere with the things happening underground, it doesn't add any value to the natural ecosystem, it takes away connections happening underground.
Looking at the trees at ground level, they themselves have a whole pattern and way of working including, plants, animals and water. There are many different types of bark but they have a way of working. There grown moss and fungi as well as the "pockets" in the bark can collect water which feeds the small animals living on the bark. The pattern of bark is well-designed by nature to benefit many different species. I see, squirrels and birds in the trees as well, it is a great place to live because it provides shelter and safety away from the reach of dangers on the ground.
Human actions are happening around trees as well, it is a great place to find shade or be protected from the rain. In the green area, there are no benches placed, all of them are by the small part close to where the trees are. Even though open space is great too because I know there are many actions going on there, especially around summertime. People love to bbq with friends and family. It is a great space to play some sport or work out. No vehicles are on this big land of grass which allows a free range of actions to happen, you can move more freely.
Another thing I noticed where they have construction work. Their actions move from underground to ground level to sky level. The masheens are digging down disturbing natural habitats to build something on the ground level that will let out CO2 in the air and destroy the ozone layer. Some construction is necessary to protect ourselves (humans) such as the sea wall project that is now happening in Portsmouth. To avoid flooding and the collapse of the old sea wall. But the change in nature is a natural thing, change is happening all the time. But humans are now making this change faster and now we have to live with the consequences.
An example of things that are changing is electricity, we have telephone wires that are now gradually being buried down underground. Electrical cars, wifi, and telephone network, they are all getting better and better, but when that happens we need to adjust or bury more things to make them work better. Looking at electrical cars it is a great invention to try to lower CO2 emission, but one problem that we look past is that creating a new electrical car takes a lot of resources and you have to own the car for many years for it to be worth buying it for the climate. Then when the battery doesn't work anymore, how do we recycle or repurpose it? Will we face a problem or waste materials from batteries in the future?
There are so many things to zoom in on and look at, but what interest me the most is the connections that are happening underground with trees and how it goes up into bark and the whole ecosystem of that. The trees have multiple functions and multiple connections, which I find very interesting. I also found something called slime mould (not on my walk) that could grow on bark, it is very interesting because it is described as an "amoebozoa". An amoebozoa is described as "technically not a plant, animal or fungi" (Stieg, 2019) but is very smart and can solve puzzles, learn and take decisions. From sitting on the beach with my domestic object, recording inside it to create beautiful patterns (picture 1 below) I was inspired to look at slime mould and how it behaves.
Looking into vase - Linnéa Jakobsson
Slime Mould - (Moskvitch, 2018)
Slime Mould on rotting bark (Gillespie, 2023)
My idea from this combination is to design something that is not for humans, it should be meant for animals and plants. Unintentionally there will be human interaction, but in what way is yet to discover. It will invite possibilities in many ways, somehow humans will always find ways to interact with anything. It will be interesting to see how something that is not made for humans will invite actions around it.
Something else I did with my section was to map the different things that I found important for my design. I will list the colours down below:
Nature
Animals
Humans
Man-made objects
Buildings
Construction
Technology
Vehicles
A map of the points where I stopped with my vase that inspired me to my site.
References:
Stieg, C. (2019, October 23). “The Blob”: This mysterious “smart” slime can solve puzzles and make decisions. CNBC. https://www.cnbc.com/2019/10/23/the-blob-slime-mold-physarum-polycephalum-characteristics.html
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