People’s Square in Shanghai is not as I imagined it. I bunked off from the app workshop yesterday, as I was feeling that my month here was disappearing fast and I hadn’t really started any of my own research yet. In my proposal I suggested that I would like to recreate Watermark (www.claireweetman.co.uk/watermark.html) in a public place in Shanghai such as People’s Square. Having been there, and having had some time since writing the proposal to understand watermark better, I now know that it’s not the right place. I think that Watermark works well because everything fits together; the paving stones are already laid in the directions that people cross the square, there are only 2 basic trajectories that people take, and most importantly, people are mainly using the space for transit.
In the plaza I found in People’s Square yesterday (it was Sunday – that might be important) there was a surprising air of stillness. I eventually found the most open part of the square (most of it is meandering paths through green park) and found that most people in the square weren’t moving.
I was reading Writing on cities by Henri Lefebvre whilst I was in Istanbul back in September, and he writes about ‘Rhythmanalysis’ of cities, and the differences between Mediterranean and Oceanic cities – how they are affected by tides or not, and how this affects the pace of life in the city. Cities governed by the sun, or by a cycle of tides. It’s made me wonder more about how my work differs in different places – how the movement that I document is different, what affects it and how that manifests itself in my work.
My head is buzzing with conflicts, questions and possibilities for my work – which is a great outcome for a residency I think!
