Skyline Walking

 Skyline Walking is a recent project initiated by Alisa Oleva. As an open call for participants, Alisa asked for short videos of around one minute duration and recording a walk that features a scene looking directly upwards towards the sky, with buildings silhouetted against the night sky.

Alisa's plan was to combine the submitted videos from all over the world into an 'accumulative video archive'. As a creative provocation the open call provided the following paragraph:

‘I like to walk at night. I like to look up and trace the rooftops of the buildings with my eyes. As kids we are often told to look where we are going and mind one’s step. But what if we wander the streets looking up, walking the up-streets of the city architecture? We often have our phone in hands as we walk, why not use it to see the city from a different angle?’

On Thursday 29th April, I chose a location in Ho Chi Minh City that had conveniently spaced buildings with a noticeable architecture feature in the facade...and the rest I left to serendipity. During the minute's filming I walked around 30-40 feet avoiding cars and other pedestrians, orienting the camera as I walked, trying to use the nearby architecture to recreate the sense of 'being there'. 

After reviewing the video I realized that, perhaps due to the height of the buildings and the changing orientation of the camera, it seemed as though I was hardly walking at all. I was surprised by the feeling that the recorded walk was not the same walk as the one I experienced while filming. I found that as the experience was transformed into a digital recording, the experienced had also been transformed. 

The submitted videos are being broadcast from Thursday to Saturday, from 12:00-6:00pm during the run of the 'Midnight Sun' exhibition.

I am always interested in participating in projects initiated by other artists. It is refreshing to become immersed in an activity that has already been devised and orchestrated by someone else, with all its surprises and discoveries.

The videos are streamed via the broadcast section of the Black Tower website.

The broadcast page of Black Tower can be found here.

Further details about the Midnight Sun exhibition can be found here.

Learn more about Alisa's work here.

Please view the recorded walk via the broadcast page in order to see the work in the exhibition context. Once the exhibition has finished, the walk can be viewed below:

Shadow walk

Following the previous two posts regarding the changes in our observations of our immediate surroundings caused by the COVID-19 situation, I would like to present the current progress of another photographic project series.

This project grew out of noticing my own shadow as I made my way around my local area of Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam. It occurred to me that my shadow is constantly transforming its shape, form and nature as the day progressed. Sometimes it almost disappeared as though frightened or shy while at other times it grew larger, more well-defined and sometimes it became bolder, crept along the floor and up nearby walls, looking down upon me. 

I decided to document these changes and here I would like to present the first 12 states of my shadow recorded photographically. Eventually they will also form the subject of an e-book.

'Leaves' - A photographic Project

One effect of the recent COVID-19 crisis has been an emphasis on a much closer observation of our actions and of what is happening around us. Despite previously thinking that I was fairly good at noticing interesting and unusual occurrences happening around me, I have found that during the last few months I have been noticing small details so much more. 

My previous post detailed a project I started that documented plants and trees that had shattered their pots and planters in their effort to expand and grow. In this post I would like to present another of these projects, initiated by the same circumstances.

This project I have named, simply, 'Leaves'. During my local walks I had observed many such leaves lying on the ground and as I felt that they had an intrinsic beauty that was being ignored I took it upon myself to archive them. Once I have located a particularly interesting leaf I do not touch it, adjust it or edit the surrounding scene in any way. I only photograph the leaf if I am completely happy about the setting. If something seems to be spoiling the frame of the shot, I abandon the exercise rather than 'cleaning up' the arrangement before me. It has to be a totally natural shot otherwise I continue walking and looking.

As with the 'Breakout' project, I will continue to collect and archive the photographs long after this post and my aim is to present many of the photographs later in an e-book. Once these e-books have been compiled I will present them on my website and provide a note and link here in a subsequent blog post.

Here are the first 8 of the leaf photographs:

The 11th Online Performance Art Festival

On the 30th March 2019 I had an opportunity to participate in the 11th Online Performance Art Festival, the second time I have joined this event (the previous time being last December 2018).

The online festival concept was initiated by Sandra Bozic, and this 11th episode took place between 27th - 30th March 2019. My 'No holiday' performance was presented on the final day of the festival.

On this occasion I decided to conduct another episode in my ongoing performance series 'No holiday', this time enacting it in District 7 of Ho Chi Minh City - Vietnam, not far from where I had previously created a digital print entitled 'District 7 Strata'. I had also written about this print in the online Journal 'Living Maps Review' and the local publication 'Magazine d'Art De Saigon'.

The live-stream performance was broadcast between 10:00am - 10:30am UTC (5:00pm - 5:30pm Vietnam time).

Once again, the pre-performance arrangements and checks were conducted with Dragan Strunjas, and  once again his prompt and detailed communications removed any confusion and allowed me to focus on my performance.

The camera and live-stream was controlled by Nina Yiu Lai Lei, who walked with me unseen, apart from certain moments when her shadow can be seen. The audience are only able to join me on my walk due to Nina's work with the camera which serves to emphasise how important her work is to the project.

During the performance I walked from Crescent Mall, around the Crescent Lake, across the Anh Sao Bridge and into Half Moon Park. In the late afternoon, as the sun begins to set and lose some of its intensity combined with the refreshing breeze across the river and the lake, the environment is very pleasant. Many families come with their children and take full advantage of the park with its grass-covered, shallow, sloping hills, decorative lilly ponds and tree shade.

The walk in total lasted around 30 minutes and as usual with this performance series, the watching online audience are invited to join me in my unhurried, meditative walk, allowing the ambient sounds of people, the wind, birds calling, dogs barking and the wheels of my red suitcase gently trundling along on the varied surfaces.

Also as usual, the broadcast ended suddenly,  there is no arrival, no end point. The journey is everything. The emphasis is on the experience of the moment, focusing on every observation as if for the first time, and perhaps the last time - who knows? Nothing is taken for granted, nothing is assumed. The forward momentum is maintained, the journey continues...the destination, if there is one, can wait.

Saigon Citadel Walk - Planning

On the 23rd February each year a one day festival of Psychogeography is held across the UK and the world, entitled 'Terminalia'.

As the festival website states, it is 'a one day festival of walking, space, place and psychogeography' named after 'Terminalia...the festival of Terminus, Roman god of boundaries'. 

Many events are group walks and encourage participation but there are also 'private, solitary walks' that are also listed on the main festival website.

I decided to participate in the festival by planning a walk for the day of the festival and as I am currently living in Saigon - Ho Chi Minh City I found a way to link in to the history of the city. 

I had been reading about the history of the city and I was interested to learn that once there was a large citadel in what is now District 1, named the Citadel of Gia Định, or as it is in Vietnamese: Thành Gia Định.

It was originally constructed in 1790, a year after Nguyễn Ánh had captured the city. The citadel was designed and constructed according to the Vauban style. This original structure was destroyed following the rebellion of 1833 and a new, simpler citadel was then built. In 1859, as part of the French invasion this new structure was destroyed by the French. 

For my planning I decided to focus on the first structure as I felt that this was the most attractive design (although there is some argument that this was exactly as drawn on maps).

I found several maps that indicated the location of the citadel and worked out the footprint as it would have been in the 1800s. Around that footprint I could draw a line to follow that would effectively circumnavigate the location of the old citadel. As a guide I used faint lines appearing on the old map that corresponded with the current position of roads within District 1.

Map of District 1 showing location of the original citadel

Map of District 1 showing current street layout

The walk undertaken for the terminalia festival can be enjoyed here.

City View Bus Photographic Journey

An air-conditioned minibus runs from Phu My Hung in District 7 to the Lucky Plaza on Dong Khoi in District 1 and is my regular way to travel into the centre of Saigon.

I thought I would like to record the journey as the bus travels from District 7 to the Saigon river-front section of District 1 before arriving at the Lucky Plaza.

Phu My Hung to Dong Khoi: Bus route

After considering several ways to record the journey (I didn't wish to simply record the entire journey on video as I wanted to adopt a particular strategy to the exercise) I thought I would take a photograph at intervals throughout the trip. I decided upon 5 minute intervals between each photograph as in this way the decision of what to photograph would be taken out of my hands. I would simply use my watch as a guide and take a photograph of whatever was outside at that time. Additionally I would not attempt to select or direct the photograph, but would try to minimise any shakiness due to the movement of the bus or the unevenness of the road surface (though this was not always so successful).

When I boarded the minibus I noticed that most of the windows were covered with an anti-glare dotted screen but I found one window in the rear of the bus that had been left clear. I sat on the left-hand side, facing forward, directly above the wheel. Although this was the only clear window, it was also unfortunate as each time the bus ran over a speed-bump (there are several in the initial part of the  trip) the entire bus bounced and threw me up out of my seat. This was not very comfortable but at least I had the opportunity to take the photographs I needed.

As the driver closed the minibus door and prepared to leave, I took the first photograph (in a square format) and then more photographs every 5 minutes until the bus had reached its destination. In all I took 7 photographs:

Photo taken: 10:30am

Photo taken: 10:35am

Photo taken: 10:40am

Photo taken: 10:45am

Photo taken: 10:50am

Photo taken: 10:55am

Photo taken: 11:00am

Video compilation of the bus trip

Magazine d'Art De Saigon, Issue 4

I was very pleased to be included in the current issue of the Magazine d'Art De Saigon. In the issue I introduced myself and some of my personal history along with a brief summary of the recent digital print I made (District 7 Strata, 2018), which involved walking as part of the creative process.

A more in-depth account of the work was published in the 5th edition of the Living Maps Review.

It is great that I am able to use this forum to introduce my work and hope that it will be the start of a productive period for me here in Saigon, Vietnam where I have been living and working since May 2018.

The section focusing on my work can be read here:
or, below:

Hard copies of the issue can be ordered via Blurb here.

Ways to Wander: Walk No. 49 - Waylaid Walking

Score No. 49 - Waylaid Walking in the book 'Ways to Wander' by Clare Qualmann and Claire Hind, currently being interpreted by Dr. Blake Morris, is 'Waylaid Walking' by Dr. Charlie Fox.
Blake is re-enacting all 54 walks to be found in the book.

This score is inspired by the practice of Walter Benjamin. As the score states: "Quotations in my works are like robbers by the roadside who make an armed attack and relieve an idler of his convictions." (Walter Benjamin from One Way Street).

Benjamin wandered around the shopping arcades of Paris, allowing the environment, people, objects to trigger thoughts, feelings and responses. As I am currently residing in Saigon (Ho Chi Minh City), Vietnam, I chose Ben Thanh Market for my own personal dérive. The following images and thought fragments came out of that walk.

My walk aimed to coincide with the walks by Blake, Sandra Cowen and the Loiterer's Resistance Movement taking place in the UK.

For direction, the score advises: 'As you walk along alight on the poor objects that illuminate the use and embodied history of a place; arrested by the thoughts conjured out of that object, material or surface, record that idea or you thought-feeling as a fragment of words'.

Ben Thanh Market

1. Mid-afternoon, Ben Thanh Market is open and should be thriving though many units facing to the exterior remain unused. The shutters that provide a link between the exterior and interior of the market are padlocked creating a fixed though decorative wall, leaving the gates of the market as the only breaks in the facade.

2. The Terra-cotta decorative screens on the exterior of the market were perhaps ventilation screens to keep the market interior a little cooler. If so, the screens have now been blocked from the inside. Has the space behind the screens become occupied and do the new tenants wish to keep their goods more secure?

3. The market entrance was once marked by the combination of stepped arches and iron lattice work, both painted in an attractive, contrasting colours. Nowadays, this grand decorative solution has given way to gaudy, plastic banners stretched haphazardly across the portal. This is the way to attract today's customers.

4. Hidden away above the entrance is the secret office, the windows barred. Night and day the low-wattage light tube flickers but no movement within can be discerned. Is the market management meeting still in progress? or did it ever commence?

5. The market in full swing, the walls and arches that have witnessed many sights over the years slowly crumble through lack of maintenance. The sales staff cannot maintain their concentration as they daydream and think of other things.

6. As the morning transitions into lunchtime, the fresh food area becomes a hive of activity. Customers and market staff alike order cà phê, phở, and/or bánh mì. * 

The out-of-date cartoon plush toys will have to wait.

7. Over at the wet market section, there is a plentiful offering. Besides live crab, prawns and shellfish of every description, it is possible to buy fish either alive and struggling in the plastic bag or semi-dried and arranged in woven baskets. These milk-eyed fish lie still and do not stare back.

8. Very little is wasted and everything is presented without frills. As this is the final area to see, at the tail end of my visit (so to speak), I wonder if the market has shown me everything? I doubt it, I am sure there are many more tales to be told here...but that would be for another day.

*Vietnamese style coffee, soup noodles (usually with beef), sandwich made with crispy French style baguette.

Open-ended work

Following the completion of the digital print work 'District 7 Strata', 2018 there have emerged several new lines of investigation that have sprung from both the development phase and from the finished work.

'District 7 Strata', 2018

As the print is actually a map of the studied area in District 7, the first thing I did was to take a closer look at the layout of the streets, especially the road junctions / intersections. For each of the 34 junctions lying within the studied area, there is a corresponding colour that was collected on site and which eventually worked in conjunction with the shaded blocks surrounding it. The shaded blocks featured lines going in different directions according to a logic that was determined in previous work, vertical, horizontal and diagonal. 

I noticed that the most interesting zones, where colours interacted with shaded blocks in different ways, constituted larger blocks made up of 9 squares as measured on the background grid. Having noticed these interesting zones, the first thing I did was to highlight them and look at them in greater detail.

The first selection of interesting 'zones' prior to print completion

I selected 9 zones of particular interest. The number was important as each zone was itself made up of 9 squares of the background grid. The selected zones are indicated in the notebook page drawing above.

Once the digital print had been resolved and the edition (x30) printed out, I reselected the 9 zones on a test proof, as seen below. This test proof was made on a cheap colour printer and therefore displays mistake that were not carried on to the final version printed for me by an output company.

Selected zones marked on the proof sheet

Two forward directions became apparent to me and both directions entailed working on larger versions of each zone. I happened to have a pack of small samples of Saunders Waterford cotton papers that I had been carrying around for a while and now their time had come. 

For the first direction I began working on the zones by laying watercolour down onto the Saunders sample sheets, starting from the top-left. Below is a very early stage archive photograph of the initial progress showing the initial layers of colour.

Painted investigation showing initial stage of work

The second direction arose after considering the physical nature of the mapped area and how the topography of the area was comprised of buildings of different heights interlaced by the roads and pavements. As the shaded blocks had different directions of hatching I devised a formulae that would determine the height of each block from a datum level: vertical hatching was assigned a value of 1, diagonal hatching from top right to bottom left was assigned a value of 2, diagonal hatching from top left to bottom right was assigned a value of 3 and horizontal hatching was assigned a value of 4. I could now work my way through the 9 selected zones and build them up into a relief structure according to the assigned heights and colours. 

The work on the relief pieces and the painted pieces would progress in tandem to allow any cross-fertilisation of influences to take place as the work developed.

Initial planning for relief structures (framing may not be retained)

Constructing blocks with the assigned values, adding white undercoat

As these two projects develop, I will later post updates to show the progress along with the resolved pieces of work. This work will be carried out alongside a couple of writing projects I am also engaged with.

Visit to A. Farm in District 12

On Saturday 23 June I ventured out into the wilds of District 12 in search of a new venue called A.Farm.

The venue hosted an inaugural exhibition called 'All Animals are Equal' which featured work made by around 100 artists. I actually discovered that had I looked into the event a bit earlier I could have contributed a piece of work myself.

The work was varied and I was particularly impressed by the relaxed environment. People were there to share and view work, chat, eat and for some to perform. One or two faces were familiar from my visit to Salon Saigon a couple of weeks ago which suggested that the art scene here is quite intimate.

A live performance was taking place as people arrived, local food was being served and performers were preparing for later in the evening.

Unfortunately I couldn't stay too long but it was long enough to have a good look at the work, make a few acquaintances and see a different part of Saigon. Luckily the rain held off until I returned home.

New location, new print work

After leaving Hong Kong in need of a break from the hectic life I first visited Vietnam and thought I would enjoy a brief sojourn in Saigon.

Exploring the city, I discovered an interesting area south of the city centre, which is otherwise an open area currently undergoing major redevelopment. In contrast to the rest of the local District, the small area I chose to study is comprised of small, tree-lined streets with many restaurants, cafes and other shops. The main reason I was attracted to this area is that while looking at a map of the area, I noticed a similarity to the grid-based drawings and prints I had been working on recently. The thought of a landscape study or even 'portrait' of the area began to develop.

I composed a plan in which colours would be collected at the intersections of the streets and overlaid on to my previous grid structure. If any colours happened to fall on the spot already occupied by a lined box, I would allow myself to move the colour to an adjacent spot. The decision of where to move the colour would be determined by my own judgement, based on the existing composition.
The overall composition would therefore be a combination of aesthetic judgement and system-imposed structure.

Notebook pages below:

I used the 'City Palette' app (which I had used before) to collect a colour at each of the 34 intersections in the area and dropped them into the grid structure I had constructed in Adobe Illustrator. I decided to move from A4 to A3 for the printing in line with my decision to gradually increase the scale of the work.

'District 7 Strata', 2018

One of the road junctions for colour collection

Ways to Wander: Walk No. 19 - City Centre Walk

'City Centre' is the latest instalment of Dr. Blake Morris' long-term project, an interpretation and enactment of the book 'Ways to Wander' by Clare Qualmann and Clair Hind.

For this edition Blake received an incredible response to his call for participants, with almost 50 walkers replying from 15 countries on 6 continents.

On the planned date (12 May 2018) I had relocated to Ho Chi Minh City (Saigon) in Vietnam and so my participatory walk would be conducted here.

'City Centre' by Tom Hall is the 19th detailed walk in the book and entails walking away from a city centre, noticing changes in the environment, buildings, traffic, skyline and so on. At a certain point a decision will be made to turn around and head back in the opposite direction, looking for similar clues to the changes made as the centre of a city is approached.

I had arrived in the city the day before and decided to explore an area of the city to the south east, in District 7 of Saigon. I was interested in the changes to be seen in the urban landscape in this area as it is currently under redevelopment.
New developments are noticeable as islands separated by areas of wasteland. Some of these areas appear to have some beginnings of construction which have for some reason been abandoned. Areas around new developments are manicured while elsewhere there is evidence of fly-tipping.

The walk: From Vivo City to Happy Valley and back again.

Outward:

The start - Vivo City, air-conditioned shopping mall

Initial boulevard-type road system

National insignia greets the in-coming traffic

The Sky Garden development provides welcome shade

Wide road junction with alarming traffic behaviour 

Motorbike vendor, modest load compared to many!

About to cross the road, pedestrians do NOT have sole right of way!

Area of wasteland, Happy Valley development in the distance

Vertical road marker

Road marker set into the pavement

Happy Valley development, no obvious facilities

Return:

Walking back along Happy Valley

Areas of wasteland on all sides

Panorama of a wide road junction

Raw materials headed into the city centre

National insignia more visible on the return walk

Colour palette collected during the walk

Capturing street details

Traffic behaviour study