Weekly learning objectives

Where we’re at…

Right at the beginning but saved.

Brief outline to clarify: the project will be a concept for an exhibition showing the different ways in which cycling is used, etc, etc.

I’m working towards an outcome where, instead of chapters in a book, the information will be used to create rooms that will tell the stories of the subjects found so far. Using sound, touch, smell and visual senses to maximise the experience of each story. Quick list, eg:

Kindermoort – traffic and crowd noise, heat, oppressive. Lifting to calm and clear.

Iraq – Rows of hijabs hang down to be in the faces of the visitors, the idea is to make the visit frustrating, in the way, uncomfortable. The hijabs will be printed with messages from womens’ protests and from those who write the rules to put the situation in context. Show what they’re standing up to. A light wall will display #’s to illustrate the huge amount of issues and support shown online.

Bikes Not Bombs – this could be featured twice, their local goals as well as their international work. Locally they work as a youth programme, internationally they ship refurbished bikes to help people living in less developed countries where the bikes mean people can work. Places have also adapted the bikes into Heath-Robinson machines for agriculture, examples of these will be good to show.

This will, I think, take more consideration to get right. The first two have a more obvious message.

Reflection

This week feels like the start of something at last. The concept for the different rooms has gone down well back at base, and so has the idea at the centre, the bit that ties it all together; change.

As I see it now, the Kindermoord and the Iran themes fit into the concept easier than the Bikes Not Bombs will; I think it’s because those two have an air of protest about them (which is always more fun to work on), whereas the Bikes Not Bombs story is now gentler somehow, it’s already answering the problem as well as highlighting it.

This means that there will be an obvious contrast between the environments, the Heath Robinson contraptions (Bikes Not Bombs South America) will bring fun to the setup as visitors can try them out for real – just have to work out a way to show their youth programme effectively, especially after the input I’ve had from them!

Next step: look and gather examples for what the rooms might look like.

One other thing; now that I have a concept to speak of I can look to fill the mentor slot/gap in the project, there didn’t seem any point in doing this before now. If I’d approached anyone asking for input on something so vague they couldn’t have responded, it’s as if I would have been asking for a concept rather than showing one. Now I can write up the concept and ask for input from there. Industry input to now has been from Andrew Diprose but that was way back in week eight for one of the earlier concepts, the documentary-style books about cycling club lifestyles.