I’ve just returned from the 5-day CitySwitch Architectural workshop in Newcastle organized by UTS lecturer Joanna Jakovich. The participants were asked to choose between four teams, each looking at architectural interventions of one kind or another. As well as team participation, I directed some energy into creating an online live map of the event, as an extension of my current research.
Renew Newcastle
This particular CitySwitch was conducted in collaboration with Renew Newcastle, which works to temporarily populate empty shopspace with galleries, teahouses, etc. to aid revitalization of the area. They work with a fascinating legal arrangement, non-threatening for property owners, which sets up a 30-day rolling “license to use”. The temporary occupier pays $20/week to cover insurance and minor upkeep. It is a framework that could possibly translate to spaces in Sydney. (more…)
The small (simulated) depth-of-focus and constant shifting focus helps with convincing the viewer it’s actually real, and it guides the eye across a catalog of gorgeous surfaces. As much as I am concerned with a shift of perception into pure site, when the camera rounds an object and focus slides languidly over it the experience is almost tactile. Perhaps it’s a synesthesial short-circuit?
I recently found Marc Owens’s work Avatar Machine. The work successfully reproduces the 3rd-person viewpoint used in some computer games, and feeds it back to the “player”, who sees their body as an avatar. For me, it’s a great stepping stone from the considerations of spatial engagement in games, and the projection of identity, to the politics and phenomenology of navigating through real space.
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