My Home

I've spent my whole life living under the same roof, and although the interior and exterior has changed slightly throughout the years it is my home. A place I feel secure and safe in my surroundings, with my family I share the space with.
My home is a place I enjoy being in, an escape from the outside world into my own world where I can relax in comfort. It is a place I have grown up in and have lots of memories from both the outside, in. This makes it a special dwelling for me to spend my time within. Although there are some empty rooms in my house, and unfurnished rooms it still to me is a space I look forward to entering and shutting the door behind me to relax with the ones close to me where everywhere I go theres a personal touch from my family to comfort me.
My room is a seperate area just for me, my own retreat thats personal to myself. Although I've spent 20 years/ all my life in this house, I've had various different bedrooms however I've alwats made it into my space. My newly decorated bedroom is a comfort zone for me, everything situated in my bedroom is what I have chosen for myself, striking wallpaper and bold black wardrobes reflects my interior interest and has created statemement pieces.
Not only is the interior of my home important to me but also the exterior garden creating a sense of place and freedom where I can also enjoy my time, weather permitting! Living behind a cricket field it brings a lot of activity during the summer months and then during the winter months I can view the snow on the moors from a window upstairs, all this together creates a beautiful surrounding to call home.

..and why not?...

Technology, Politics and Culture:

The link connects to a blog post listing earlier concepts and attitudes to advertising standards in the media c. 1950s/60s.  Warning, some of them quite shocking and not all related to the lecture today.  Representation of gender and identity being referred to here, but there are other examples from a range of contexts...

This is home to me, although this is more of the house/building that I grew up in. My home, a place of refuge/ a place where I can rest, is more the image below, which is the view outside of Number 4, and I think of home as the flavor of the air when I return to Plympton, the taste of Plympton water, the freedom to do whatever I want. The wood itself still has similar attributes to a home, a roof - "shelter" (the canopy of leaves, branches etc), walls - "defence" (the trunks, bushes, ivy etc), and windows and doors - "seeing" & "entrance" (areas of the wood which is less dense which you can gain entrance through and look out from).

Bedroom/Office/Lounge

Currently living out of a bedroom, every aspect of my life is compiled into one space. On one side of the room, my bed. The other side, everything else.

Theres an unused 4:3 LCD TV which is slightly obscured from view due to the build up of paint brushes, boxes, paper, mail - still to be sorted. These objects sit upon a vivarium for a lizard.

On the wall a clock which displays the incorrect time - must replace the batteries soon. The notice board to the left of the clock is full of ideas for photographs, blog posts and reminders - the usual lists reminding me to write ‘to do lists’ are also present.

Below a desk, a computer - which is home to more notes. Film scanner. More paper. Above the canvas boards on the floor is a red shelving unit. This holds CDs, DVDs, pens, change, cameras, electrical tape, undeveloped film shot decades ago.

Ideally I’d have a minimalistic room with neatly framed prints hung upon the wall. A distinct lack of notes stuck to things. The floor wouldn’t be used as a make-do storage device however, this space is functional, not an idealist one. Whilst this room does show an element of myself, my personality, it is not perhaps the one I’d choose to publicly display (but now have).

Michael

Home

Home for me is much like having a split personality, mainly due to the fact that I see myself as having two homes. There is my 6 bedroom student house which holds my temporary lifestyle where I socialise, drink and fend for myself as I venture through my uni life. Whereas 20 minutes away there is my childhood household where I have grown up feeling safe, well looked after and knowing I have a sheltered life to fall back on.

Yanko Tsvetkov: Mapping Stereotpyes

This links to the work of an illustrator/designer who maps the world in accordance with their stereotypical perceptions.  Nobody is really left out, so it shouldn't be too insulting, although the Americans come out quite badly in a few of these examples as 'perpetrators' or maybe this is also a further stereotype?  The image below is:

The World According to USA (Fearmonger Special XXL Edition)

I love my home

My house says a lot about me, there are cracks in the walls, it could do with a coat of paint and some repair. The inside looks a bit in need of TLC, but it reliably keeps the rain out and the foundations are good.

My home

Home is important part of life for me. Because I spend most of the time in my home and that's why I choosed my department "Spatial Design". I am living in a small but new flat. It has 2 bedrooms and a living room with open plan kitchen.
The living room was decoreted modest anf familiar. It has beige walls and lignt brown carpet, a green sofabed and a blue recliner sofa, a plasma tv. I don't want to live with too much furniture because, they restricts my living area. I always want to be free, easy to rich something, ready for any unusual things. I should see my all around. The seaters were located as to be able to see tv. It shows that tv is one of part of our life. I like to watch film and documentery and I like to hear a voice in my environment. I feel safer like that.
One of my its wall full of my families photos. I enjoy to see my daughter photos from birth to present. Thus, I don't forget all her ages. I like to spent time with my family.
I like to be busy and in rush. There are too much things to do in the life. Spending time with familiy, friends, travelling all around the word, having hobies like designing something new, playing an ensturment, reading magazine or book, surfing on the net, improving ideas for new jobs, cooking etc...
I think my home simple and comfortable. It is enough to live in comfy, tidy, warm and familiar.

space & identity

This is a very moving movie! It highlights space in memory, utopian visions, identity, escapism. Restlessness in a space. Wanting to get somewhere better. For what?

identity

a sculpture/statue called "the meeting place" by Paul Day is at St.Pancras station. Representing lots of notions, amongst which was the idea of british reserve, part of our identity, because of the delicate departing embrace..?

Google Book Links for Fine Art/Spatial Practices

Space Invaders:  Race, Gender, and Bodies Out of Place

Book overview:  Women and minorities are increasingly entering fields where white male power is firmly entrenched. The spaces they come to occupy are not empty or neutral, but are imbued with history and meaning. This groundbreaking book interrogates the pernicious, subtle but nonetheless widely held view that certain bodies are naturally entitled to certain spaces, while others are not. How are positions of authority racialized and gendered? How do people manage their femininity and/or blackness while in a predominantly white male context? How do spaces become naturalized or normalized, and what does it mean when they are disrupted? Engaging with a range of material from a variety of institutions, Space Invaders is a timely contribution to wide-reaching debates on race, gender and space. It is the first book to articulate the full complexity of diversity in organizations.

"A Profound Weakness"

"Some protestant churches are eleborate and contemporary such as crystal cathederal in Garden Grove, California. However, there is not always the money, or even the desire, to build buildings. This portable, blow up church is one alternative solution-though it does seem a bit impotent and gives a whole new meaning to accusations that church services are full of hot air."

(Quote from Christians & Kitsch chapter 13 Betty Spackman)

With this idea of compromising, of not creating this building but replacing it with an, essentially, bouncy castle it takes away the aesthetic of the tradional church building and loses any authenticity.

http://www.bestival.net/html/whatelse/theinflatablechurch

UK Rave Scene of the 1990s

The United Kingdom was well known for rave music like hardcore, jungle and drum&bass in the 90s. It is argued that some of the best producers/ record labels/ and DJs came from the UK.
The Millenium Complex in Plymouth (formerly known as The Warehouse) was one of the UK's biggest rave venues in the early 90s and people traveled from all over the country to come to these huge raves.
Delta Video Productions documented many parties and rave nights and some of which were right here in Plymouth. This video is documenting a club night called 'Pure Energy' and was shot in September 1993 at The Warehouse.
Those familiar with plymouth may find this very 'surreal' as i have ..
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cmplBTJuki8

POLITICS AND CONTROL IN SPACES

An example of political control and power in spaces.

Orgreave is a village in north Yorkshire.
It is usually a quiet picturesque village but in 1984, as a result of striking miners it was violated and taken control of by force. Police invaded the normally peaceful village when they forcefully dispersed the striking miners at the nearby coking plant.

The whole village became a battle ground when brutal riots occurred between police and picketing miners.

The politics of the time threatened the identity of the local enviroment, as well as importance of the place.

The village is now remembered for 'the battle of Orgreave'. The time when political issues controlled and ruled this piece of land.

To Support Theresa's inclusion the following is an excerpt from Jeremy Deller's and Mike Figgis's 'Battle of Orgreave' (2001) which illustrates the point:

In reponse to this highly 'politicised' space, artist Jeremy Deller produced a re-enactment which was directed by Mike Figgis in a film 'The Battle of Orgreave' which [in an ironic take on the staging or re-enactment of battles popular with history enthusiasts] simulates the conditions and events of that time and space, using original members of striking miners and police, many of whom have painful and haunting recollections of those events and still live in the area. A copy of Deller's Orgreave is in the LRC. There's also a Text if you click on the title of this blog entry (Response: Sally Hall)

Experience as a tourist

Ideas on representation. Whilst I`m personally not a lover of tacky theme parks prefer places with a sense of historical facts and interests, so I went to Scotland for one week. The beauty of the Scottish scenery was wonderful, the weather for November was great, made this part all worthwhile, but what got on my nerves was, the way that we were ushered around on set tours like animals being taken from a farm to the slaughters House. It was well organised, and you only had a certain amount of time at each destination before going to the next stop.You also had your fill of emit fodder ( tourist gifts) of Tartan and shortbread, you saw the same thing where ever you went.Surely there`s more to Scotland than this!.Finally glad to get back home for that Cornish Pasty.

Time-Space compression

As a follow on from the lecture today which included some talk about Berlin I wanted to highlight this, which I personally thought was a tad bit freaky. This is truly wiping out history.

This relatively innocent looking childs sandpit is where Hitler's dead body was found and subsequently burnt.

something interesting

something even more interesting here

look this is interesting

The Spaces between Buildings

In the book The Spaces between Buildings, Professor of geography Larry R. Ford analyses the role of Space. The book encompasses three photographic essays: Buildings and the Spaces around Them, Lawns, Trees, and Gardens in the City and Places for Driving, Strolling and Parking.

Ford focuses on particular aspects of Urban Spaces, highlighting the importance of the Spaces in between buildings, as well as the actual physical buildings themselves. For instance, Ford questions 'when does "space between buildings" become "open space containing buildings?"...

Well worth a look...

Ford, L. (2000) The Spaces between Buildings. London: The Johns Hopkins University Press.

Group Identity and Stereotypes

Pensioner – Pensioners have a very negative image. ‘Pensioner’ conjures up a group of white-haired elderly people, probably having lost many of their faculties, perhaps living in retirement homes – all sat in chairs around a room. Social events portrayed are usually things like bingo or lunch clubs. Many of the problems that pensioners face – poverty, isolation, ill-health are real and contribute to this image. If older people are active and leading interesting lives they are often treated in a very patronizing manner, particularly by the media. There are numerous older people living rewarding and constructive lives, but as a group they are generally considered apart and not on the same wavelength as the rest of the population.

Pensioner Space.
In America there are ‘retirement communities’ where the whole population is over 55. Although at first sight these look a bit like ‘the Trueman Show’, there are many benefits for people living in these communities. You have to be quite comfortably off to afford to live in such a place, but the facilities are excellent, there are sports activities and social activities of all kinds and they are set in large acreages, often in areas with a good climate such as Florida. Here pensioners do not have to face the many difficulties of the wider world that older people often fear– random crime, aggression, isolation. However it is very false to live with such a limited range of similar people in a small community.
http://www.thevillages.com/

Southerner. I was born in Brighton and consider myself a southerner and feel more at home in the south. The general image of southerners, particularly those from the south east is probably slightly stand-offish and well-off as opposed to friendly, down-to-earth northerners with ever open doors. These are both a false stereotypes, but reinforced by advertising and television programmes.
I lived in Norfolk for 25 years, a county notorious for being unwelcome to non-Norfolk people and having a ‘drawbridge’ mentality. Geography is often cited as the reason for the closedness of Norfolk society – Norfolk is not on the way to anywhere else, it is the end of the road. I had a good life there and did have some good friends who were Norfolk-born, but most of my friends were incomers whose husbands job’s had taken them to Norfolk and who were more open to outsiders. The Norfolk accent is very particular. Regional (and class) accents are another way a group of people can recognise each other and join together or exclude others.