Back to the matter in hand. After speaking to Steve about the show we kept listing the pieces I knew I would defiantly display. 1. The cups, 2. The pulley, 3. The pipes. When it dawned on me, what would I actually be doing with these pipes? I knew I wanted to explore the option, and I thought that it may be a great tool, but it was crazy for me to be thinking these things without having actually experimented with them. I was yet to make a piece that I was so certain I would be displaying. So I spent the best part of a morning cleaning out the pipes that Steve had found on an industrial estate; he likes to think of himself as a magpie, we see him more as a crazy man on the rob fuelled by his crazy artistic mind.
After my hands were red from cleaning and I was scarred for life after a spider crawled out of the pipe, I could finally start using them. During the cleaning process me and my friends had played around with the pipes, and I was shocked to see just how well they carried the sound. During a tutorial with Steve I pulled all of the pipes into the corridor and set about connecting the tubes, we could only find some barely sticky tape so I was worried it would let the sound escape. I started to tape the pipes together using art trestles to support the joints. I was amazed again at how extending the pipes didn't lessen its ability to carry the sound, there was something wonderful at just how quietly you could whisper and just how clearly the other person could hear you. This made me think maybe pipes should be used more often for those secret conversations.
After the day was spent playing with the pipes I knew that I wanted to use them, I now just have to decide
how I want to present them. With three alternative options this isn't going to be easy :
Option One : To create a D.I.Y inspired pipe travelling the length of the mez, created with different pipes, attached together with some form of rubber joint to allow movement, and hung to head height using some form of rope or chain. The raw form was inspired by the pipes raw charm, something so simple yet so effective.
Option Two : To create a sculpture out of the same pipe, using real plumbing joints to create angles, it would then become a 'web'. This would also be suspended mid air to create a strong look.
Option Three : To take two pipes and to cross them over, meaning that each end would have opposite ear and mouth piece's. These pipes would then be hidden and all you would see would be two holes in the wall. This brings the focus back on to the pure communication aspect. I could position these holes so that you could not see the other person on the other side of the room. Or I could place the holes higher up and make steps up to them, allowing each person to see each other from across the room. With the act of stepping up creating a private sense by the fact that you are the only people to be on this level.
I felt that these three alternatives each had something unique and would all make for good pieces. Option one and three focused more on the communication aspect. Option two made the piece not only a communication device but a sculpture also. As I was walking down the corridor I heard a whisper saying 'sculptureeeee' I turned around to see Gary. At this point as an artist/designer this idea was appealing to me perhaps more than the others. This was because when it comes to my work I can be a bit of a perfectionist, and if the physical outcome isn't perfect I will never be happy with that piece. I like my lines to be smooth, and my elements to be bold and this piece would allow me to satisfy my perfectionist side. However I worried that this was perhaps clouding my judgement and I expressed my concern over the fact the other two were more focused on the concept and perhaps the sculpture alternative was taking away from this and basing it on physical appearance, he replied saying 'yes but why cant it be about both?'.
Graphic Design is visual communication. We communicate through images and type. Thinking about the sculpture I knew that it would be visually strong, something good graphic design is, although I wondered would it be visually strong in the right way? Would the purely pleasing aesthetics distract your from the point, that this is a piece to be used, to be interacted with to aid communication?
Option two's DIY style would also look interesting, playing on its 'found object' charm. Although I worried just where it would be able to go. After all there will be 30 or so students displaying their work also, and the mez isn't the biggest of places. My tutors told me not to worry but I couldn't help but do so. By making a somewhat site pacific piece I had to think about the space. I was worried not only that I may get in the way of everyone elses work but also because the space may not compliment my work. In a clean white space this found object suspended would become a large focal point, but in a space filled with varied work would it just like a random mess in the middle of the room.
For this reason I am now warming towards option three. To begin I didn't like the fact that the pipes where hidden, I felt this took away from the charm, but I'm now realising with the pipes hidden the piece becomes very clean and simple, much like the concept. I want to make alternative interactive ways of communicating, which creates a more personal experience and conversation. Bring people face to face, making them go that extra mile to talk to each other (or in this case an extra few steps). It takes the focus away from the object (pipes) and brings it to the conversation and experience itself.
The use of pipes reminded me of the work we had previously seen in the Liverpool Biennial by Rosa Barba. She used large industrial pipes to capture the sound of the underground and transport it to the gallery.
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