Week 1

Today we began looking at the definitions of "Public" and "Community". Here are some definitions of the word "Public":

1 a : exposed to general view : open b : well-known, prominent c : perceptible, material 2 a : of, relating to, or affecting all the people or the whole area of a nation or state b : of or relating to a government c : of, relating to, or being in the service of the community or nation

Here are some definitions of the word "Community":

1 : a unified body of individuals: as a : state, commonwealth b : the people with common interests living in a particular area; broadly : the area itself c : an interacting population of various kinds of individuals (as species) in a common location

This exercise made me think about who the public are in terms of the UEL library and the university as a whole and the different communities within the UEL Library that I could consider working with for my project.

We then looked at some practitioners in the public realm who have created influential and successful public performances. I found that a few of these performances particularly interested me and inspired me with a few rough ideas for what my final performance could be like. I felt that the work of the Guerilla Gardeners and Sophie Calle was very inspiring. This is because both performances involved doing something nice for the community for no apparent reason. The Gardeners planted Sunflower seeds in downtrodden areas for the passers-by to enjoy. They then took pictures of them as they grew. Sophie Calle decorated a public phone box with flowers and beverages, and slogans such as "Enjoy". I found the idea of carrying out a performance with a nice gesture for someone else to be very interesting and I kept this in mind for my final performance.

Next we went in to the library and visited our favorite place there. We wrote a short paragraph about why this was our favorite place and what we liked about it. This exercise made me become more aware of certain spaces in the library that I previously did not notice and I began to consider how some of these place could be utilized and become more than just an open space. The black square in this image shows my favorite area of the UEL library. It’s on the 2nd floor and overlooks the center part of the library. I considered choosing the bridge next to it- another good viewpoint to overlook the library and see everything. However when i stood there I was in everybody else’s clear view. I was in sight. There is something interesting about being in a place where not everyone can see you. I almost feel as if when I am in this place i can remove myself from the busy environment below and take a step back to really look at things and observe.