I’ve begun the making process of the book and realised a few things along the way. I’m really looking forward to getting a final product! This is what I’m hoping for:
– I would like it to be square(ish)
– Single printed sheets (rather than bound) the reason being that you can re-use it in multiple ways (unlike how the furniture was treated)
– Cardboard front and back tied up with string like a package
I got one step further to making my book of discarded furniture today. I have chosen the photo’s and I have bought the fairly eco 160gsm paper, it is FSC certified paper from a well-managed forest. Unfortunately it isn’t recycled and I was slightly confused by the difference between FSC and TCF (which has something, I think, with not bleaching paper with chlorine.) Paper is a total minefield but I am determined to learn more about it, even if I have to climb to the top of the below paper mountain!
Whilst I was in staples today I also found the EcoEasy range which is really great. I think they might have had some plastic wallets made out of biodegradable plastic, which is a great idea! I bought a notebook for White Rabbit Studio’s which is made from 80% bagasse. ‘This is the name for the plant fiber waste remaining after sugarcane is processed and crushed to make sugar.’
Finally, I will leave you with this image that Phil sent me from the website Sustainy. I love this visualisation of the amount of water in the world vs the size of the atmosphere, both in proportion to the earth. It boggled by mind to think of the atmosphere as a sphere.
I’m feeling excited again! I’m collaborating on a project with Katie where we’re going to find alternative uses for objects that have been discarded, have been left behind or made to feel redundant. We’re going to give them their purpose back and have fun in the process. We shall be meeting up soon to film our first object. I am thoroughly looking forward to it!
Katie sent me this photo of this summer chair sunbathing. I cannot believe someone would get rid of this beauty.
These two have been put out with the rubbish.
I want to make the book of discarded furniture by Christmas. I am hoping to print the photos on a domestic printer with recycled paper. Just trying to get my head round gsm’s. I’m thinking 160 gsm but if I’m honest, I’m not completely sure how thick that would make it. Shall go to a stationery shop on a research trip this week.
John Newling – The Clearing Part I
I went to see this exhibition last week in my lunch break. It was really good to get out of the office and experience something different. I went with Katie to find Bio City, the location of the first stage of John Newling’s work, The Clearing Part I. It was such an interesting space to have a nosey round, the exhibition itself being in a science lab. You see these huge buildings everywhere and you don’t often have the opportunity to have a good look inside.
I really enjoyed the work. The contrast of the view through the window of a wasteland highlighted the more unnatural hydroponic growing system inside the lab. In the middle of the room there were fans regulating the temperature of the beech trees. On the edge of the lab there were series of experiments in progress. John Newling has shredded historical documents about the space on the river Trent to make soil. He is using a compost barrel outside and turning it throughout the day, which produces balls of soil which he is then growing seeds in. I think this is my favourite element of the work. Aesthetically the balls of soil with the paper intertwined and the signs of early growth make me smile.
Note to self: I need to take my camera with me everywhere I go, like an everyday tourist. My mobile phone camera is not good enough quality. I loved the three suitcases in a pile. They looked like they had packed up and left home in search of an adventure.
On the road
Dinning out
Working out
This is an amazing website called ‘Information is Beautiful’ that Tez sent me the link to (Thanking you!). I think I have been looking for this website my entire life. These ‘visualizations’ are the work of David McCandless, a London-based author, writer and designer.
‘Moutains out of Molehills’ – If you click on the image you can see the graph detail and information about it.
On the website there is a link to the Guardian data blog which is quite interesting too.
It also made me think of Ellie Harrison who is an artist who was an avid collector of data. Now Ellie describes herself as a ‘Recovering data collector’ after documenting and recording information about her day-to-day for 5 years. I think it is incredible that it lasted so long as it must take some much out of you, you’d need to have a blooming good memory and dedication to the cause.
In my work I quite often create an action or situation for myself that is time consuming, laborious and draining. It definitely can feel like a labour of love. I watched paint dry (white paint no less, on a white wall) for what felt like a life time, I think it was in actual fact a few hours but I believe that to be one of the most difficult tasks given to myself. The most difficult one, which makes me appreciate the challenge of collecting all the data in Ellie Harrison’s work is when I wrote down everything I spent for 2 months. I wanted to do it for whole year, but it drove me doolally.
In my day job as an administrator there is a process whereby I still get to use floppy disks and it makes it all worth while. It makes me feel like I’m part of a different time. It’s exciting, something else most others don’t do. I have to reformat old ones (as we will never buy them new again) and then download information on to them. I do all this using the external disk drive as my computer is from a more modern time, just. There is talk about taking them away to ‘stream line’ the process. I will cry.
I like the fact that the majority of businesses have rejected them, but a historic process has kept them alive here. I like the thought of trying to glorify them, give them hope. They are not very reliable but they wear their failure on their sleeve, for they are called ‘floppy disks’. Who would seriously rely on anything with floppy in the title. I need to find a use for them, and fast.
When work is taking its toll, I can always look at my red plastic container filled to the brim with used floppy disks and smile. I think to myself ‘You are as useless as I feel’.
My lovely friends came to visit this weekend and it was wonderful to see them! Four of them live in Brixton, London and told me about the Brixton Pound. I was amazed! They are actually making money to keep it circulated in the local area. I find it hard enough to visualise the monetary system as it is, but when you add Brixton making it’s own currency, it blows my head off. There is quite a mixed opinion about it according to the BBC Website article. I’m totally unsure what I think as yet. I’ve got a bit of digesting to do. One thing is for sure, I really like the design. This is the official Brixton Pound website which tells you more about the reasoning behind it.
Adam tipped me off about the blue sofa (thanking you) and within a few days of each other I saw the others. I have decided that I would like to make a book of all of the furniture photos, maybe with a hand drawn map of their locations. I am going to try and find some recycled photo paper and maybe print my own. I thought it might be quite good if the photos were loose, maybe tied up with ribbon or string. Not sure why…I guess maybe so that they double as a collection as well as a book.
