Research in temperature controlled rooms and a society meeting
Went to Tate archive yesterday to look at some Artist Placement Group’s (APG) documents. http://www.tate.org.uk/learning/artistsinfocus/apg/overview.htm These archives are odd places to visit, everyone seems to speak in hushed tones, but then the door from the archive into the reading room is incredibly noisy each time it bangs shut. I don’t think the staff hear it anymore. I been to quite a few archives and I am always excited before I go at the thought of what I might find, sleepy when I am there due to the subdued lighting, the constant temperature and the almost (!) silence, and then hopefully buzzing with thoughts a day or so later.
The archive took most of the day and then off to the Science Museum to have a quick look around (where I was thinking about what defines a designer and what an engineer). It was only a quick look as I went to the Newcome Society lecture – The History of Computing by Professor Martin Campbell-Kelly. http://www.newcomen.com/index.htm It ame to my attention through one of those evenings of ‘focused Internet research’ which quickly turns into a trawl through lots of ‘interesting stuff’ you would never have found before the days of the Internet. How exactly the Internet has altered the ideas of serendipity I don’t know. There were some good images and diagrams of early offices in the lecture which was what I wanted to know more about: Why did people document, through painting and etching and later photography the work place? More focused research, well browsing really, of the Science and Society Picture Library and found a rather nice example of office life as was – Office Life: Headquarters of Clarks Shoes http://www.scienceandsociety.co.uk/results.asp?image=10250376&wwwflag=3&imagepos=71
