Exercise: Location Study¶
New for 2025.
Our final project objective is an outdoor performance of kinetic textile artifacts. Pieces created for outdoor locations by their nature inhabit a location and will be read in that context. They may be site-specific or universal, but there will be a semantic, dynamic, and visual dialogue with the environment in the viewer’s eye.
The objective of this exercise is to work with a partner to investigate a single outdoor location of your choice. The outcome will be site photographs and sketches of a possible treatment.
Process¶
Please decide with your partner on a single exterior location on the main campus to consider.
Please choose a time of day for a study and arrange to meet on location with your partner.
Please spend at least twenty minutes on site observing the following:
who inhabits or traverses the space?
what are typical activities at the location?
how long do visitors spend in the vicinity?
where are the natural viewing sightlines?
how does both natural and artificial light illuminate the space?
what structural resources are available as possible anchor or mounting points?
what kinds of materials are present?
does the space have semantic associations?
does the location have a valence or emotional weight?
Please capture a concise set of photos illustrating the overall location and small details. Be sure to include shots from the perspective of potential viewers.
Please work together to brainstorm a site-specific kinetic textile artifact which could work within the space.
how does it move?
how does it interact or engage with viewers?
how is the motion powered?
Please write a concise (one-paragraph) statement of the idea.
Please prepare a few hand-drawn sketches illustrating the concept.
Deliverables¶
Each pair should please submit to the Shared Drive folder:
A concise set of photos
A one-paragraph statement
Several hand sketches