Professor Paul Gough talked to us about space, place and history. The discussion about memorials and cultural significance were thought provoking, particularly as the Anzac Day Centenary approaches. The following are my notes from the talk:

• When is the point that a space becomes a place. Connections to human memory.
• Layers of absences in spaces. They used to be many places throughout history.
• Many memorials are in in the place of loss, but must signify the loss.
• During ww1, the bodies could not be returned to Australia, which led to an uproar.
• Supposed to be a focal point for grief
• Becomes an index of memory; eg. The names of those lost are listed on the memorial
• Its an icon in the city. A part of the city.
• It’s a ritual, memorial ceremonies etc.
• Stages in the life cycle of a memorial:
• The creation of public memory
• Becomes institutionalised as part of the ritual calendar
• Successive generations of inhabitants accept and pick up on it.
• There’s the notion among young people that it will never happen again, they also pay their own respects for these events. Eg; young people going to Gallipoli.
• Tension between building memorials and icons, and building practical things after tragedies. Practical buildings.
• Memorialising peace rather than war?? People tend to think of peace as the absence of war. Peace is often represented through gardens and plants, its something you have to tend to, nurture and pay attention to. Celebration of peace is more about interaction.
• Dark tourism, people who seek out these places
• Maybe we should examine our own motives. Why do we go to these places? To vicariously experience it? What about the fixation on time? Why is a 100 year anniversary so important. Why do we keep remembering these things, picking at the wound? Maybe it is best to forget.
• Anxiety of erasure. Nobody wants to be forgotten.
• Politically charged memorials. Eg the police at the 911 memorial
• ‘the poetics of space’  book
• ‘texture of memory’ book
• Australia uses ANZAC as a form of national identity, mateship. New Zealand is part of Anzac too, but is more reflective and doesn’t promote it in the same way.

I was interested in Shelley Hornstein’s definition of existence and memory in this reading. The Eiffel tower exists as a real thing, but because of all of the postcards and memorabilia of it, it exists in many other forms also. Those other forms are physical entities, and thus the Eiffel tower exists in multiple forms. This brings up the issue of memory and experience. We all know what this building looks like, but how many of us have actually been to Paris? Most of us have memories of the tower and and idea of it based of one of the other entities it exists as, rather than experiencing the architecture as it is.

Architecture has an important place in cultural memory. Memorial sites and culturally important buildings are precious to entire communities, and when these places are destroyed, even if nobody was hurt or killed in the process, it can psychologically devastate. Those who have never visited the site can have this connection to it, and have a memory of the place without having spent any time there. Architecture is not merely a space to inhabit, it is as much a part of us and reflection of us as we are of it. The space and places we inhabit shape us.

Something to consider in relation to memory is the idea of memorial sites; places that are constructed in order to evoke a certain memory, of a separate event, time and/ or place. It is almost assimilated to the idea of postcards and memorabilia. It is about transporting someone to this time and place in their mind without actually being there.  Something the reading explains about effective memorial sites is that they focus on encouraging reflection in the present, rather than attempting to reconstruct the past. The memorial sites are about remembering, not trying to create the memory of a place that has gone. The problem with this, however, is that many victims want to forget and move on from the painful memories. This begs the question, why do we insist on remembering some things so much? Is it to learn from the pat, or to make sure those who experienced it aren’t forgotten as an act of thanks and repayment? Some may not appreciate the sentiment as much as others, some being those who the memorial is dedicated to.

I brainstormed some ideas for my individual media piece and wrote them down.

IMPRESSIONISTIC:

• ‘Ghost tour’
• POV of walking around the building. Hearing something coming from one of the rooms, opens the door. While the noises get louder with the door opening, nobody is there visually.
• Primarily and audio piece, no people are seen during the tour, but the sounds of history are heard. They change to represent times in history and what was happening in the space at that time.
• eg: courtroom sounds, people chatting, cases being heard. Entrance sounds, horses, people milling, footsteps.

• Additionally, this could be built on top of, by including visuals. Having the ghosts of the past actually there. Walking past ghost people, somewhat transparent. I don’t like this idea as much as just letting the sound tell the story though.

HISTORICAL:

• Documentary focusing on the architecture.
• Obscure angles and extreme close ups of elements of the architecture. Not highlighting the wide spaces, but the little unique elements, textures, decorations, etc.
• Conventional interview with architect, taking about the architecture and design.

SITE INTERVENTION:

• Photo collage creation.
• Interview with architect recounting the history of the space as a timeline.
• Photo collage is made and destroyed to reflect the timeline.
• Highlights the construction of space.
• Extreme close ups of different elements of the collage construction. Construction to be done within Building 20.
• Visually experimental. Close ups of the collage construction can appear quite abstract. Really about showing of the construction and the physical aspects of it.
• It is almost like the documentation of a performance, that is, the construction of the piece.

At this stage, my favourite idea is the photo collage. I am most excited by it and am continually thinking of ideas and angles and imagery I could use. However, I also really like the ghost tour idea. I feel it could be really effective and communicates the idea of ghosts and history well.

On Friday the 27th or March, the presentations for Brief 2 were given. My presentation wasn’t until Monday, however, due to running out of time on Friday. The topics covered were Mapping, Apps and Wayfinding. I feel the presentation on Wayfinding went well, as we all covered different aspects of it. I thought the coverage of topics relating to non visual wayfinding were particularly interesting. The first thing that comes to mind when thinking of wayfinding is signage, but there is more wayfinding than we realise for visually impaired people. I suggested the group cover it because there is more to wayfinding than just seeing and reading. One of my best friends is blind and was complaining recently how our train station doesn’t have the tactile floor things to illustrate where the platform ends. I realised, in a way, wayfinding for visually impaired or disabled people is probably more important than wayfinding for sighted people because its easier for sighted people to figure out where they are or to ask for directions/ landmarks.

The other presentations covered various ways that mapping and location technologies are used. Such as in mobile phones, where your location is always recorded. This can then be used for multi-player, augmented space based games. I was interested to try out the game where real territories are claimed on the app, and the way to play the game is by interacting with the spaces in the real world as your phone records your location. I thought that was an excellent example of how augmented space, mapping and media all comes together. The other presentation covered apps such as lost on campus, the RMIT app etc. How they are built, who uses them, what they are used for, etc. Apps have always interested me, not necessarily the programming aspect, but the creativity and possibilities about them. The fact that you carry them around everywhere and look at them everyday, anywhere is exciting. I would be interested in exploring apps further, perhaps not in a formal setting, but as a hobby.

Professor Martyn Hook spoke to us in class. The points I found most interesting were about the development of space in cities, particularly in regards to Melbourne. My notes from the talk are below:

• Genius loci – sense of place
• Space vs Place
• Space: has its own characteristics, the space also causes people to behave in a particular way. Eg a classroom is professional, quiet etc. has dimension, material, and intent
• These things are determined by ‘programming.’ To make a space into a place, it should be programmed. Place isn’t inherent to the space. Activities within the space, is what we understand as things that are inherent as the place. Place happens when the inhabitation and the program responds to the place. The activation of a space makes it a place.
• All that you can do in a space is determined by the space itself.
• Architecture is difficult to alter, technology isn’t as expensive and time consuming.

• Legibility- semiotics
• How do we communicate these things to people? Eg, you put a park bench there and someone can sit on it. But how do you communicate for people not to sleep on it.
• Look at the buildings as a part of the city, not as a part of the campus or of rmit.

• The city- 1:1000 things that are part of the city, roads, tram network etc. 1:1 things yu can touch, chairs etc
• The city was largely determined as the person who decided where to put the grid cbd saw where the indigenous Australians used the land and had their hub.
• The city is an unfinished project, it is never finished. Cities are designed, towns aren’t. in places where towns and cities merged it is interesting to see the boundaries of how the cities and towns have merged.
• In Australia, ~94% of people live in the cities. ‘city limits’ book about Melbourne and the Australian city
• Civic, civitas, democracy
• 100000 people in fed square Iraq war protest. Melbourne is the only Melbourne city that has that public space where people can gather in such an effective way.
• Laneway culture- myers place, began 1994. Began by loosening up the licenses for liquor service, as well as the requirement for public restrooms in various establishments.
• The rmit campus was mimicking the design and the feel of the city. Opened up, laneways etc. networks. Streets. Made with the same 1:1, miniature Melbourne.
• Once the 1:1000 is established, the network, to create the space, you need to work on 1:1, what is the floor going to be made of, what is the design going to be? Things that you touch become an immediate part of how the city operates, materials, flower boxes, designs etc.
• The behaviour that is inherent to the space of the city is then mimicked in the campus.

• Building 20
• Is a functional space, but is also heritage. It is beautiful to begin with but not entirely functional now.
• The story of building 20 and its history is still being added to. It is still being used.

On Monday 23rd of March we visited Melbourne Museum to get a better idea of Melbourne’s history and to observe how the museum represents place. There is a great effort put into representing place there, with not only drawings and wide birds-eye-view images of the location, but soundscapes to match the various sections. In the area with the carriage related to the gold rush and subsequent years, there were sounds of horses, carriages, people talking and the driver announcing where the transportation was headed; Bendigo. Furthermore, in the house set up, there were voices of people in each of the spaces, making it seem as though the space was being used by its inhabitants, allowing us to get a better idea of what it was like living in such a space. On top of that, the houses were fully furnished houses. I was able to walk around the house freely and immerse myself in the space. I spent a fair amount of time in there absorbing the atmosphere and aesthetic. It really felt real, and the recordings of voices further transported me to that place. The museum also explored Melbourne as a place today, and what is important and uniquely Melbourne culture, by having sections for football, music, fashion, brands, etc.

The Museum uses a mixture of text, photos, drawings, sound, artifacts, spaces, information tablets, cinemas, maps and interactive elements such as photo albums, radios and newspapers to represent Melbourne. It is also set up in a way that each section flows based on the era being explored. These eras are clearly explored in each section with a wall plate explaining the era, and why its was significant. These text plates present the information in an unbiased, unemotional manner, not excluding uncomfortable details or facts. Stories about the war, the depression and the stolen generations are given clear explanation. It explores stories about settlement, the gold rush, the economic boom, the introduction of electricity, modern Melbourne, as well as exploring some more personal stories such as Coles’ book shop. There is, however, no representation of indigenous history unrelated to white settlement and culture. The stolen generations and the indigenous people during the time of settlement is mentioned but not explored in the Melbourne section. There is a whole exhibition downstairs, however, which is dedicated to indigenous history and achievements. The space was completely different in its design from the Melbourne section. There are more organic materials and shapes in the area, with a wall being made up of wood and sticks. The area also feels more open, despite being darker lit than the Melbourne section, which gives it a sense of earlier, human based history rather than modern industrial history. The stories are also told from the perspective of an indigenous person, describing artifacts and history as ‘we’ rather than ‘they.’

On the 20th of March we visited the public records office. I was able to get the full tour because I got there on time, but from what everyone saw I think we all have a good idea of what can be found at the PRO. They had a huge selection of photos on microfilm and we got to have a look at some of them from RMIT. There were sketches of the campus and buildings from all decades. This could be useful for our project outcomes as I hope to do something largely visual (Building 20 seems more visual than audible as well.) There were also records from the court cases held at the magistrates court and the supreme court, though we are unable to have access to those less than 75 years old. This didn’t bother me in regards to our project as I was most interested in the early history anyway.

I should go back and have a look through some of these images and cases to brainstorm for my pitch, as I am still unsure of what direction I want to go in. While I was there at the PRO I had an idea for a more experimental documentary, and perhaps an art piece, but I need to refine my ideas more and have a proper brainstorm instead of allowing these ideas and images to swim around in my head. To get a better idea of what I want to produce visually, I should go back to the PRO.

In class we spent some time around our chosen buildings recording various sounds. In building 20, however, you could hear a pin drop.  It was very quiet and empty, so there wasn’t a lot of range of sounds. I mostly recorded footsteps clacking on the stairs, people typing in their offices, and the distant sounds of cars coming through the doors.

I guess the main point about the sound in this space is that it’s barely there. There is nothing that is unique to that space, but the silence occasionally broken by some computer keys or a distant sounding tram, accurately reflects the building. It is still, and silent.

For assignment 2, my group is looking into ‘wayfinding,’ which is the method of directing people and helping them find their way to a destination. My initial ideas about wayfinding is that it is not just about signs, because the signage around RMIT, for example is great. But there are still areas of RMIT which are difficult to navigate. Some ideas that came up in research were more contemporary, such as the use of lights and projections to direct people and define spaces, which I think would be useful in areas like building 8, 10 and 12, which are all joined together. It can be difficult to know exactly which building you are in.

I like the idea of interactive directories also. Directories that change depending on what is happening that day. Different events are outlined etc. Also it could have a system that tells you which classes and lectures are happening at the time and where.

Malpas talks about the importance of place to people. Noting not only that a place is a reflection of the people who are there, but the place is a part of those people as well. There is a connection between people and place. There is a beautiful example of in Aboriginal traditions, the child is a product of place, and the mother is simply the carrier for the child. Hence why indigenous communities have such strong roots to place in their culture, and why removal from the place is traumatising.

I was really taken by the idea that external and internal space are connected. That ones inner space and mind is reflected in how they construct their space, and the space and place one is in is brought into their psyche. This suggests a strong correlation between place and identity. And to discover your identity, you must look at the places you are in/ have been, and study the space you surround yourself with. Davidson argues that the mind  cannot exist without space, as the mind is ‘constituted through it’s interaction and involvement with the objects and events that surround it.

In this way, place is inherently connected to philosophy, if not, the center of it.