Le Parkour

This is a video of some russian guys free-running through gritty post industrial cityscape. Its the most amazing/beautiful reaction to and interaction with a lansdcape iv ever seen. It feels just like dog+z boys era skateboarding or detroit techno. Pure reaction to environment.
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=515642196227308929

Auf Wiedersehen

Picture from Langlands and Bell website www.langlandsandbell.com

thoughtless acts

http://www.thoughtlessacts.com

ARC 05. Theme: the CITY

Hey. if anyone has this at home its worth looking at. nice editiorial by katherine feo and some cool illustrations.
some of it is availible online at http://www.arcroyal.co.uk/go/index.html

the guys above had some pretty interesting things to say abouot intimacy in public. and they also wanted their photo taken.

Oh ja,

do you cycle back Marcus?

Does anyone have a spare 'thing' to sleep on?

A device to sleep on, that can be folded or rolled into a small package, that can isolate my body from a cold Berlin floor?

hennyvannistelrooy

yay berlin!

Sony commercial...nice.
You probably seen it but if not google for "sony bouncing balls"
Amazing what you can do with a bit of money..

Hey, I just bought a bike over ebay! I decided not to check up where it was located before the bidding of some reason. It is always nice with a small journey. This time the journey goes to Rowlands Gill, Newcastle. The man don't want to send it, which is fine with me.

In relation to our brief..

Jonathan found this website which could be interesting for some of us. www.myidea.org.uk

Bas, is that an arse?

Would you go in here?!

Click below.

Sorry I am late

Let see if i can get into this blogging thing....

Briefing

Nice Interventions

Check out the work of RCA graduate Matthias Megyeri at http://www.sweetdreamssecurity.com/
design museum article

Hardcore

"It occured to us that people dont seem to mind being f**cked over by Corporations, inspired by this situation we've been out 'servicing' Cars and Coca-Cola vending machines....
Whats the attraction you might ask? Well they ARE hard to resist, all big and red, hot on the outside but steely cold on the inside, and quiet with that little hummmmm that hints of good vibrations. Of course, they do just stand there and let you do all the work (typical)" Text and images from http://www.mydadsstripclub.com/more.htm

People Watching

Every Sunday, when no traffic is allowed to pass through one of the busiest shopping street in Tokyo, the deckchairs come out and the people kick back

Dinner with George

Have a romantic meal with George Clooney in Paris, Sydney, or in this case London at Madame Tussaud's

"It is not for me to ponder what is happening to the "shape of the city," even of the true city distracted and abstracted from the one I live in by the force of an element which is to my mind what air is supposed to be to life. Without regret, at this moment I see it change and even disappear. It slides, it burns, it sinks into the shudder of weeds along its barricades, into the dream of curtains in its bedrooms, where a man and woman indifferently continue making love"
from Nadja, Andre Breton

Anonymous strangers?

"For most of us, the city is the backdrop to our lives. Familiar and yet sometimes sinister, the streets are at ounce the site of social interaction and something darker, something more violent. But as cities grow they begin to resemble one another, becoming an ever expanding mass. What does this do to our sense of place, and our sense of ourselves? Do we connect to them in new ways? Do we live in an accumulated city, the collected memory of all the cities we have known? To live in the city, must we assume the position of the anonymous stranger?"
from Place, by tba.

Spaces in between

"Streets are the spaces left open between buildings... in great cities, spaces as well as places are designed and built, walking, witnessing, being in public are as much part of the purpose as is being inside to eat, sleep, make shoes or love or music. The word citizen has to do with cities, and the ideal city is organised around citizenship around participation in public life..."
from Wanderlust. A history of walking.

Pasting

Hey Michael, you can paste into the post if you click on the edit HTML button beside the compose button, to see what it will look like just click the preview button. I don't know why this is

Loitering

"Occupancy is so different from passing through. Anywhere can start to feel like home if you stop there. It's like if you stand in the street for too long, longer than usual, and not waiting for a bus or anything, you start to have such a different feeling, about what that space is. Normally you are walking on the way, it's such a transit zone, but when you stop , something else happens..."

Taken from Occasional Sights- a London guidebook of missed opportunities and things that aren't always there. by Anna Best

Hi platform 8 this will be brief as i am currently trying articulate my brief on intimacy in the city. So far I have come up with the idea of having 4 girls, two blondes one brunette and one red head... what do you think?

Group Intimacy

Thanks for the invite to join

Hi everybody & thanks for a great session yesterday! Could somebody please take a photograph of the wall in the seminar room and post it here (if the papers are still up, that is)?

And 1 comment:

The city is a different space and requires a different way of life. This requirement can be experienced as something negative even threatening as it uproots the more 'natural' ways of being. Or it can be seen as a chance to finally go beyond the 'natural' ways and expand human possibilities. Given the fact that the city is a reality (and we all like it to a certain degree) why not jump and try to increase the difference the city makes? - be 'futuristic'?

[and why can't I paste text into this editor?]

walking and looking

'you walk for days among trees and among stones. rarely does the eye light on a thing, and then only when it has recognised that thing as the sign of another thing: a print in the sand indicates the tiger's passage; a marsh announce a vein of water; the hibiscus flower, the end of winter. all the rest is silent and interchangeable; trees and stones are only what they are'
calvino: invisible cities

check this link

http://www.sleekmag.com/sitemap/is_07/bashi/4.html

Simone sneeks in the back door

hay there platform 8 hotties,
are you feeling intimate with me yet!?
I am now on your blog too (there was some inside dealing and underhand shaddy actions but i got out unscathed) and am just probably going to lurk. If you want me to come out from the background you will probably have to provoke me... but don't worry I've a short fuse

"You live in modern apartments
Well I've even got scared once or twice
Last time I walked down your street
There were tears in my eyes

Well now these streets we all know
They help us cry when we're alone late at night
Don't you love them too?
Is that where you got your eyes?

Your world---it is beautiful
I'll take the subway to your suburb sometimes
I'll seek out the things that must've been magic to you little girl mind

Now as a little girl you must've been magic
I still get jealous of your old boyfriends in the suburbs sometimes
And when I walk down your street
There'll probably be tears in my eyes"

Jonathan Richman & The Modern Lovers, Hospital

Research...

the Educators

"The aim of education is to help people learn how to understand, control and, ultimately, change their environment. But the education system in this, and other advanced industrial societies, is geared to precisely the opposite end: i.e. pupils are thaught that the world is extremely difficult to understand; that only a privileged few can reach such an understanding; that these few have the right to control the activities of all the rest; and that, far from trying to change their environment, the vast majority of people should try and fit happily with the situation as it is." ALBERT HUNT

in response to markus

platform8

Intimacy with a place.
Falling asleep in the nightbus on your way back home and wake up in a place full of pylons, brigdes and mega Tesco stores can be scary. Finding the way through the unfamiliar can seem as a hassle. Intimacy with the city takes a while. Maybe routines, sitting in a cafe, walking more than twice at certain street .

Graham Greene-Our Man in Havana

They can print statistics and count the populations in hundreds of thousands, but to each man a city consists of no more than a few streets, a few houses, a few people. Remove the few and a city exists no longer except as a pain in the memory, like the pain of an amputated leg no longer there.

park interactives

You probably know this but check it out
http://www.dunneandraby.co.uk/designing/park/park.html
I’m interested in designing tools to facilitate/acknowledge public intimacy, create a context or a catalyst for affection.
Not necessarily sexual intimacy but also that of companionship, moments of connection, through a shared event, memory. E.g., The whale in the Thames.

I see this taking place in a context of greater isolation of people, the reduction of interaction for efficiency, the automation of transactions, the dislocation of conversation to the internet and mobile networks (like this blog!).

Reconnaissance

Henny and Finn travelled to the heart of darkness, (central London) at 01.00 hrs last night on a mission to investigate and document the intimacies that are unique to the city at night.

Texture

Home Sweet Home

Content

Would people be happy to post up the video of our public/private project?
Hannes and Gabbi what do ou think about posting of the actual briefs? Thay are very interesting and visual in their own right but I understand if you want to keep them private. If anyone else has websites let me know the address and i'll put them up as links. right im going to the pub

Definition of Intimacy

Intimacy is complex in that its meaning varies from relationship to relationship, and within a given relationship over time. In some relationships, intimacy is entwined with sex and feelings of closeness may be connected or confused with sexual feelings. In other relationships, intimacy has more to do with shared moments than sexual interactions. In any case, intimacy is linked with feelings of closeness among partners in a relationship.
This is not a clear definition but even without a specific definition, it seems clear that intimacy and healthy relationships go hand in hand. Indeed, intimacy is a basic ingredient in any meaningful relationship: the basis of friendship and one of the foundations of love. It may take several forms.
The main ones are emotional intimacy and physical intimacy.Intimacy is complex in that its meaning varies from relationship to relationship, and within a given relationship over time. In some relationships, intimacy is entwined with sex and feelings of closeness may be connected or confused with sexual feelings. In other relationships, intimacy has more to do with shared moments than sexual interactions. In any case, intimacy is linked with feelings of closeness among partners in a relationship.
This is not a clear definition but even without a specific definition, it seems clear that intimacy and healthy relationships go hand in hand. Indeed, intimacy is a basic ingredient in any meaningful relationship: the basis of friendship and one of the foundations of love. It may take several forms.
The main ones are emotional intimacy and physical intimacy.

anyone tutoring an A-level student?

Hi,
I am an A-level student studying graphic products at school, I am currently designing a hand-held electronic media device that can play music, video and games.

I have visited the Design shows at RCA for the past two years and have been facinated by the range and quality of the products I have seen on my visits.

These visits inspired me to take up Product Design as one of my A-Level subjects.

As part of my course I have to be in contact with an expert/client who can offer me advice about how to design my product. So far I have been having problems with finding a client, mainly because I am not sure where to look and I am writing to ask if you can offer me any help or advice.

I would be more than happy working with a student who is interested in this area of design and who would be comfortable in pretending to be my client. Or if you could pass on any links or places to look I would be most grateful.

Please email back to my home address at mheeley@blueyonder.co.uk
your sincerely,
James Heeley

Blog this

Hey guys
Following a very interesting afternoon i thaught we should get started right away on this whole design career thing. so let rip and share your design fantasies
Finn