I found the sitting space reading to be the most interesting because I can relate to it the most. When I was working 4 to 5 days a week I would try to go out of my work environment to get away from the chaos during my lunch breaks. When looking for a place to eat I would find myself going to central park where they have the open spaces to lounge and people watch. One time I could not find a place to sit in my normal spot, I was also by myself, and had to sit on slanted hill area. After a few minutes this creepy guy came and sat next to me then began to harass me. After that I always try to sit in places that are fairly populated unless I am with other people.

When going to lunch my coworkers and I also have certain areas we like to go. So, it is discussed before we venture out for our breaks. Most of the time if it is nice outside we try to avoid sitting in restaurants, again to avoid the chaos of all the tourists. When you work underground in an environment where it’s always a fire hazard it’s nice to get out and get some fresh air.

During the winter time a lot of us go to SONYS indoor plaza area. It is set up with a glass roof and walls, almost as if you were outside. They also put public art throughout the area. During the summer I don’t mind going there but I would rather be outside because the space seems very sterile to me.

The idea that woman can define a  better resting/sitting space then men is an interesting way to study a space. I have noticed that woman have more to say about where thy are going to be going then men do. Most of the time mean just want to relax and do whatever needs to be done. They don’t put much thought into their actions. When going to lunch with some of the guys, because there are majority men at my work location, I have to say they always pick the worst places to sit and I’m always the one who says something. Ex. “Hey guys instead of sitting in the sun, lets sit in the shade.”.

One of the articles seems to be outdated because it stats that Bryant Park isn’t a good location because of drug and violence problems. From what I see today it looks like they have changed Bryant Park from it’s description. There are no longer large fences surrounding the park and the stairs going up to the sitting area seem to be very inviting. They also have a nice sitting area. In the winter they set up an ice skating and there is a winter market. From what I have heard Union Square was about the same, people would go there to get high and sell drugs. It was not a safe area. Now when you walk through Union Square you want to stop and enjoy where you are. They have the same green chairs, also Jazz Bands from the New School perform in the park fairly often.

The fact that they have markets in both locations has made it more of a public environment. More people will be there, along with performers. It makes the space much more enjoyable and comfortable for people to relax.

For this upcoming project it for a public piece it seems as if we need to pick an open, inviting space, that will allow the viewers to feel comfortable enough to interact with the object. It should also be somewhat of a busy space, no one is going to approach an art piece in a dead location, that will make them a “target”

Cultural Probes

This is a good way to learn social behavior and gather information about target people and their activities. However, I think this kind of activity require some funds to support providing equipment and collecting data. It can still be cheap and easy to conduct like using notepaper but one has to consider the cost into their design. People respond positively to attractive kits. On the other hand, unconventional way might cause people does not know how to correspond it. So one have to be careful when choosing the appropriate and useful method to conduct cultural probes. Recording method can be different from writing to digital picture depends on the research. So far, I have found it has been useful in medical research to track long-term effect from patient.

Through this article, I was thinking of how to put this in food project. This is the mechanic of cultural probe.

Recently, I have read a report on newspaper that eating healthier in United States is expansive. Some families cannot even afford such expanses. Through the research, I hope can gather information of people’s eating habits to learn people’s eating habits. And most importantly, I want to know if this research changes their eating habits.

My plan at the moment is to use a food diary to learn my participants. I will ask the participant to record what foods were eaten and shopping grocery that occur and other daily eating habits. Also, participants have to document the meaning of the food they consume. I want to ask questions like what they think about healthy food, what they think about unhealthy food, definitions of sustainability, foods that people don’t like, favorite recipes, or frustrations to do with food. My plan to go on this project is using web platform. Three items need to put in record:

1. Diary plan on that day.
2. A picture of what they really eat.
3. What they think about what they consume?

Rough Schedule:
Week 1: Present and explain diary to household.
Week 2: Household complete the diary and response.
Week 3: Analyze the collected data.
Week4: Feed back to each household of this research report.

I have not thought through about how to use these data to help improving healthy diet. But I can put this data into a visualize form to see what will happened. Also, I think giving the result to participant will be reasonable but I really do not know how long it take to analyze or how many families will volunteer to go in the project. The whole plan is only on draft. I will think about it more.

“The Social Life of Urban Spaces” William Whyte 

While I see the topic, I was thinking: ”What’s going on here? Now I have to learn architect or landscape design, too?“ At first, I think it is too broad to think about open space because it will need collaboration with architect and space design suppose one consider environment into the design. Still, It does not need to be that complicated if focusing on people. It might be a simple event like drinking coffee in a park and listening the street performance. In fact, I am wondering if social life on the street corner is a consequence because “the space is there.”  It’s there, why not use it? So designer and artist can put their work and see the consequence of how people react. I want to learn more on the open space art. So I check out other reference.

In open space, artists have to put their ambitious thoughts behind the needs of the public. It does not usually goes in this way, but if not, people will find out the practical way as they think it should be. So, whether the works has been defined like a chair or sculpture might be important. More compromise will come when designing in open space. You have to know the local culture and how the work blends in the space whether in culture or social activities in order to create feeling of harmony unless it is intentional to create impact on the public. The article presents the examples to explain like the chair sitting height, amount of the chair, and movable chair. We start to think from the aspect of function, aesthetic value and human response.

This is a singing chair that you have to wind clockwork before sitting. The device is related to the meaning of resting and working. While you rest on the singing chair, it is actually working for you. I want to talk more on one of my favorite artist Dennis Oppenheim. This is his work.

Left: BUS HOME 2002  Steel, perforated steel, acrylic, concrete, paint, electric light  26′ x100′ x50′

Why I want to talk about him? I think sculpture is an important source of muse. Thorough the shape in a space, I can think of different connection without limits. I never really understand what concept does the artist want to argue. Perhaps letting viewer to imagine by himself or herself is the purpose of sculpture. Sometimes, even a installation from the store can create a different touch on the city.

a sculpture from a store in German.

Recently I found the motion Art in Union square subway. It’s not clean space and people just walk though it and keep going their destination. Whether it is intentional to be in this way I do not know.  I myself found it quite amazing but if the work was put in a museum. The feeling of this work will be interrelated in a totally different way. Nevertheless,  In a plaza, people normally gather around where musician and street performer. It can be tricky because how you decide to use the space you have is important. Some of the sidewalks in New York City does not provide proper place for the public. At Union square, there are a lot of interesting street performer. Most of them are musician. It does not matter how well they perform, people just gather there and see. I think there is a great difference between real human and installation art. One is actively respond to you the other is sitting there waiting for you to discover.

An invincible man. Paris.