Project 3
Yet again this project was a tad bit difficult for me to fully realize as it was last year. There is something about the prompt that just befuddles my mind. After spending a great deal of time looking at all of the references from the syllabus for this class I couldn’t help but continuously going back to The Walking Project. There is something about it that just fascinates me. I decided that this project would be the inspiration for my own—but how would I make it different and how would I adapt it to my limitations?
I decided to use the similar tactic of tracking my location via a gps tracking device in my Blackberry. This allows for people to log into an account online and view my location and my movements. My first limitation with this idea arrived with the inability to find enough people to participate or even one person to run a sort of monitoring booth—but I worked with what I could get.
After I worked out the method in which I would conduct this project I had to think about what I was going to do exactly and for what reason. I kept thinking about the place that I am in: Tucson, Arizona. Most people who aren’t from around here seem to highly dislike this place. It is conceived as the bottom of the barrel and a generally undesirable place. I decided to show that Arizona is not such a bad place and that there are some people out there in the world who actually do enjoy living here.
However, is it possible that if someone directs us from a separate location we can see things in a new light? If our own judgments are removed from our will and if we are at the will of another individual could our minds be changed? Can we as humans let go of our preconceived notions about something? I chose to experiment with this idea with my mother, who has recently moved away to California after living here in Arizona for 19 years. She misses Arizona terribly and still hasn’t adjusted to her new location; although she was born and raised in California. This just shows you that not everyone hates Arizona or Tucson for that matter.
I instructed my mom to log in to an account so that she could monitor my moves via my Blackberry. I really gave her no specific instructions but rather I just told her to direct me around the area, telling me where to go and when to take a picture. I also told her that if she saw fit she could tell me to find something specific to take a picture of whether it be an object, a place, a color—pretty much anything she wanted. I told her to email me my instructions and I would follow along as she guided me through my path.
I let her guide me around for a good hour and a half—until I had almost no light left. It was an interesting feeling to wander around aimlessly. Usually when I go out on these types of walks I have a purpose in mind. However this time I was in someone else’s hands with their purpose in mind—in their mind anyway.
The following images are those that I took on my journey. I have included some of the maps being created by my paths as well. I discovered that it may be possible to let go of your own ideas and follow those of someone else. I think that this project was a great experiment with this whole idea but I would love to do something like it again with people I don’t know controlling me. I think that the bond I have with my mother may inhibit the outcome more than it would with strangers. Overall I think that this journey and this process opened my eyes to an unlimited source of mapping techniques. Moreover, I hope that people who view this realize that there is beauty in seemingly dull places, you just have to allow someone else show you how to look for it.
Leigh said,
June 5, 2009 at 11:15 am
Heather,
The idea of physically making a map with your body using the “desire lines” (in an abstract way) of you mother’s choosing is an interesting project. However, I think that the project would have been better for the very first assignment that we were given. Here was part of the assignment: I”This project should take its inspiration by artists using their bodies for interventions, public performance with or without spectacle to disrupt, transgress or socio-political ideologies or awaken the public; to bear witness or historitize through the Monument/Memorial component referenced in the PowerPoint presentation.” I can see how you used your body, but I feel you did this in a personal way and missed the “public performance… to disrupt…” part.
The maps of your walks combined with the pictures of the various scenes and destinations along the way is a good way to document the project. Maybe if there were a way to do this project with the people who hate Tucson, or show this project to the people who hate Tucson, that would be a way to fulfill the criteria of this project.
I respect the amount of time and effort that went into the project, and I’m very compelled by the idea of having someone else control your actions in order to get you to see something that you were blind to before.
thanks,
Leigh
lauraleecohen said,
June 5, 2009 at 4:54 pm
I think it is an interesting idea letting yourself be lead blindly around your city. It is a new way of exploring your streets without having the predetermined notion of where you were going. This way allows for you to truly explore your environment and be lead to places you might not of otherwise ventured. I don’t understand how this project or mapping helped people realize the benefits of Tucson. I understand your intentions, but don’t think it was completely conveyed in this project. You were lead around by your mother through communication of your blackberry to different sites and then proceeded to photograph these sites, but it does not communicate anything by ‘here I am to me.’ I think you challenged yourself in a new way and this project could have a lot of potential.
laura cohen
teresale12 said,
June 5, 2009 at 5:02 pm
This was interesting and probably a fun project to do, however it is not what the third project called for unfortunately. This is more similar to the first walk we did in week one about mapping our environment. You want to do something that brings attention to a cause or to yourself. It should be a piece using your body. Like in the INB readings and video. They used music to help the activists and to bring attention to the public. I’m sure there is a something you could have incorporated with this walk you did in Tucson.
-Teresa Le
felinocurioso said,
June 5, 2009 at 9:57 pm
i would have to agree with some of the other comments. this isn’t really fulfilling the requirements to the 3rd assignment. i see how you used your body in your environment but you did not really use your body for an intervention of any kind. you were suppose to awaken the public in some way or another, this was a more private project between you and your mother. although your photos are nice, i wish you would have followed the requirements because you could have combined your gps access with the public in some way and made it more interesting.
beatriz duran.
Lisa Beth Earle said,
June 6, 2009 at 12:26 am
I can see how you used your body for this assignment but you only used it to get around. You should have physically performed some action more than just walking. It was brave of you to let your mother direct you and I’m glad that you were able to incorporate her into your project. I love getting the chance to let my friends and family add to my art. I think you did follow the instructions of the assignment to a certain extent at least because I realize that you were trying to shed light on how Tucson is more than what most people think: a dirty ugly city. Some of your photos actually did their jobs and showed me part sof Tucson I haven’t seen or showed me parts I have seen but they look nicer than I remember. I like that you let someone else “show” you the beautiful places that you may have never noticed. I feel as though some people are being overly critical of your work because you did follow the guidelines but you just didn’t do it very strongly. It’s a very basic project and it falls short because of this. I simply feel as though you could have used your body in a much stronger way to create a more meaningful project or you could have changed what you wanted to create awareness for.
isy88 said,
June 6, 2009 at 1:01 pm
This could have been more successful if you made it a video or more of a way to make people know about this, and change their opinions somehow. I think you have a great start but you need to execute it in a better way in order to meet the intentions of the actual assignment because I see how you used your body, and how you wanted to prove something, but the performance does not really say much or impact people.
Isabel Almada
Ashlee Salamon said,
June 6, 2009 at 1:43 pm
I like the idea, but all these places are close to campus. Not really any areas that are through out tucson. New areas that your mom really likes. I understand that she was directing you, but I think maybe you should have told your mom to direct you to her favorite places. I think this is a good start, but maybe you should do another one explaining your idea and then have some one directing you. Also it would be interesting to see the juxtaposition of some ones direction who hates tucson.
ckmeiz said,
June 6, 2009 at 3:08 pm
I see how this project is a really cool experiment and would love to it myself, if I had such technology, but I don’t see any message or cause behind what you are doing. Yes, people definitely think we live in a trash hole, and generally they are right, except for around the university area of course. But even with this in mind, how is the act of having your mom direct you around streets and telling you to take pictures getting this message across to people. This is definitely something you could have done during one of the weekly walks and it would have been much more successful. Still, it was a very intriguing and interesting idea and I thought it was very well carried out and documented.
-Chris Meiser
cpcoughlin said,
June 6, 2009 at 3:27 pm
I can’t help but think that this project fits better into the first assignment given. I think that your ideas are sound but completely unrelated to performance, public performance and creating social awareness of something. I don’t really understand how the mapping and desire lines play into this. What were your thoughts about the project? It seems like you are very invested in this idea and your execution is lengthy and very informative. I want to have comment on it but I just don’t see its relevance at all to the project given.
sincitygirl said,
June 6, 2009 at 7:19 pm
I agree that I do not see any sort of connection to the realm of creating social awareness and performance. I think the images are okay but like others have said are reminiscent of the mapping exercises and project and do not demonstrate any kind of social awareness. I think the project should be re-thought. What is something you really care about? What is something that when you hear about it happening makes your really angry (racism, gang violence, body judgement, etc.)? There are so many things that can be deemed something to create social awareness about and I think you just need to figure out something that you would like to have other people know about.
Marisa Szewczyk
m3hammer said,
June 6, 2009 at 7:24 pm
I found your project to be interesting the way you were lead around the city you are very familiar with, only this time you were directed by your mother. Although your ideas and concepts are somehow related to this class they do not follow the guidelines of this assignment. Did you misunderstand the project? or because you have previously taken this class you wanted to put another spin on it? Its seems more as if your final project was sum of all of the previous assigments. With that being said your idea for the project was clever, using yuor body to create a map is somethign we do everyday whether we are aware of it or not. This time yuo just documented it.
lexiclayburn said,
June 7, 2009 at 12:46 am
I love the lack of control that you had in this project. The idea of not walking simply aimlessly but having someone aimless direct your walk I feel could be a very educational and fun experience. i feel like you really let go of control and allowed yourself to explore without any definite destination. I think also the extent in which you went to make this gps walk possible shows that you really took time to make it possible. I think that this could very much be incorporated more into the guidelines of the project maybe if you were blindfolded in someway it would come across in more a performance sort of fashion. By being blindfolded you could see how people react to something like that and see if people would be willing to help get you to your destination that way your interacting with the public and by getting people involved in the walk and it would present an opportunity to talk about your ideas with people. Just a thought. I do really enjoy the innovativeness about your project.
Samantha M. Sais said,
June 7, 2009 at 9:24 am
as everyone has already said, this pertains more to the first project. i agree with your last paragraph and what you learned- beauty in everything, etc but what about the opposite, that may not have been what you were looking for but how does the geography change from one area of town to another? one block to another? how do they compare and contrast?
Samantha M. Sais
kbedrick said,
June 7, 2009 at 10:39 am
is your mothers directions to you posted? was there any reason you chose to shoot those specific pictures? I think if you wanted to get the idea that tucson isn’t a dull or boring place you could have maybe researched fun places to go and taken pictures of those places, rather then a cactus… maybe made flyers about all the activities the city is putting on this month or something? I know this wasn’t your purpose for your project but I do feel like this would fulfill the requirements to better educate the public on an idea of yours
chriiiistian said,
June 7, 2009 at 2:59 pm
in order to incorporate more of a public awareness type thing, maybe you could have left signs at certain places along your path talking about what it is you like about tucson, what your mom likes about tucson, and let the viewer participate by telling what they like about tucson. it was a cool idea, but i think would have worked more with the first assignment.
Sama said,
June 16, 2009 at 9:41 pm
I love the bones/structure of this project, by the way. It totally reminds me of Emily Jacir’s project (in how she performs the wishes of others). Yours is a performance of another’s desires and though not political, you are still basically performing/acting as a mule for them. I think you needed someone other than your mother, because she isn’t going to push you to the limits (using your body in anyway that might be disruptive). Perhaps you could incorporate some directives about Tucson in a socio-political way…so there is some content to the “place” and your involvement with it. You should do another project like this, with more meat. I love the structure of it, you just got to push the contextual premise of it.