Evaluation of Southwark Sound Sculptures

For the last 3 weeks we have been working on a site specific project for Southwark. The project aim for me as a product student was to create something exciting that improves peoples experience whilst in Southwark.

My outcome was a series of experimental models, the shape and materials used to make them informed by the look and feel of Southwark. In articular I was studying the shape of the arches and was very interested in what they had been used for. Many had been converted into Office buildings and as I walked around the site I discovered that the majority of people around Southwark did work in an office. I found that Southwark was lacking in personality it was just full of passers by and office workers. There was no fun or interesting things that made its character (except maybe the Gerwood space).

My sound sculptures were designed to be placed out side one of the many offices in Southwark in the smoking area outside. This picture I took sparked off the original idea. I thought it was funny how three people are completely separate, not socialising. I thought it would be a good opportunity for me to make this daily activity a lot more fun and surprising. The sounds emitted from the sculptures would be activated by the smoke from cigarettes.  

What I came up with was questionable as a product, because it wasn't something that would help people or that they could use. However it was activated by humans and it did answer the brief in terms of making Southwark a more exciting place. On the other hand I don't think that it quite worked because I hadn't fully thought through the sound that would be coming out of the sculptures. I researched the sounds existing around Southwark and recorded them. I planned to use some of these sounds and amplify them to create surprise however I don't think would have worked as well as if I'd taken a  sound from a different context and placed it in Southwark. I was battling with the idea of creating surprise or using sound to amplify the personality of southwark with sounds already heard there. Also by using a sound from another context I didn't want it to become to cliche by using for instance the sounds of the Caribbean or seagulls.

I did come up with a solution tot his problem by looking at text that appeared around Southwark. I though they would be good to use because they already created surprise when you walked around and sae them written, so to hear them would be even more peculiar. I thought they acted as little pieces of information about the personality of Southwark and therefore if I used them it would amplify the 'voice ' of Southwark. If i had used the text in my sculptures they would have been surprising coming from a sculpture that you hardly noticed was there. One of the things I considered whilst creating my sculptures is that the sound would be more affective if my actual sculptures blended in to the environment and were hidden.

Overall I think what did work in my project was my exploration of materials and shapes to capture a sense of the site. I think they blended in well with the smoking area yet were interesting to look at texturally. I think my design would be a nice starting point to brighten up Southwark in a original way. Although when considering the sound aspect I think I would need to do more research into how people use sound and in what contexts. If i did the project again I think I would think more about why I was using sound?, How do I create surprise- with the appearance or sound?, How it would affect people or change their views about Southwark?