Urban Exploration

My project began looking at redundant technology and my original discovery of the map like details on the back of the circuit boards has become my inspiration for my next stage of work. I began taking my camera out and about with me followind these maps and recording my journey's. Using stills it would be hard to emphasise the journey I have taken so I used a video camera. I decided an ideal place to record my video would be Birmingham City, somewhere with a good mix of old and new, historical and modern buildings and places.

To begin I had to allocate some sort of scale to my maps other wise the journey wouldn't be accurate at all. I needed consistency. I determined a common start point then I followed the lines to discover where I would end up. I always began on a type of corner. What did the silver blobs on the chip mean, and what do the numbers represent? I ended up in lots of places, one memorable place was the shop I ended up in. My findings were never going to be 100% accurate but that was not the only aim. I have learnt the importance of direction and space and how we underestimate space. Also I have learned to be more spatially aware, of where I am and what's going on around me. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F4RQpuam74Q

I realised how as a nation we all cut corners to reach a destination or something we want, physically and mentally. My most interesting finding was everybody else's movement. My own movement was more static and actually robotic. I seen the city from a different prospective; I felt like electricity flowing through the circuits, I felt like energy. It was also interesting to see what was going on around me. After researching the old tower blocks I wanted to get inside one to feel the isolation for myself, to see the inside truth. I managed to get inside a small local block of flats to explore them. I followed my maps around the building and documented my findings. I used a GPS application on a mobile device as one way to record my where abouts. I also took a panoramic shot from the area I discovered. I found what I expected, althogh they were nicely furnished flats they were very isolated and disconnected from the earth.