Memories.
I found it quite difficult to think of what my city would be, but after a considerable amount of time I landed on memories. My city is a city created by peoples memories all coming together.
The name of my city is civitas memorias and the moto of is:
"Forged on memories"
I came to the idea of memories because memories are invisible technically- and I had a link to castle ruins. What memories does castle ruins hold? would they tell them if they could? or are they too gruesome? or are they all happy?
I am currently in the middle of watching a new Netflix show called Bridgerton (which was actually filmed in Bath!) and one of the major topics is marriage which is probably why the theme stuck in my head and is my story.
My story is on the happier side of the castle ruins' memories. A wedding- where the city rejoices and the mood is light. I didn't want to move to the darker side of that history as while being stuck in lockdown we could all use some happiness even if it is just in my invisible city! So all of my images will be joyous and light.
All of the images of the castle are taken by me on my last holiday- it is the ruins of Rhaglan Castle.
My ideas for this project:
Painting on the images- trying the capture the atmosphere with the paint.
Turn some of my dirty drawings into real images- using digital drawings. To show that they are memories not real as they are only drawings on images.
Mixing the past and the present. Photoshopping old images of people onto my castle ruins- maybe visualising the story. For this idea I was inspired by the artist FailunFailunMefailun who mixes the old and the new.
For each idea I will create a few different examples maybe 5 or 6, and choose the best three from each idea to represent my city- they will all be slightly different but still relate to my city and it's story. I will also display them on my wix almost like a book if it's possible- as if it is actually telling a story!
When looking for ideas for my city I used a website called Windowswap which basically lets you look out of people's windows from all over the world! I got sucked into this website for a while, it is quite addictive, but I did find some which helped me create the atmosphere and ideas of my city.
This video below is very adorable! I didn't just add this video due to the cats- I added this because of the noise in the background. There is a faint tune playing and I imagine that in my city- music playing consistently, creativing a happy and lively atmosphere.
This one caught my eye due to the mountain's behind the city. Scenery like this will be in my city, just not the modern buildings or train. This is because the idea my is almost medieval.
The nature sounds in this video is so relaxing! These sounds will definitely be in my city- just nature sounds, no cars or other "modern" sounds.
Where would I display my city?
The alternative gallery.
Yeah, it stumped me too.
We were given the task to find an "alternative gallery" for our outcomes for our invisible cities. Lets just say I slept on it! (not literally- I promise I didn't have a nap!) I thought about my city and what it consists of- a castle and nature basically. Which is appropriate as I am currently on campus which is kind of like a castle!
I went for a walk around and took images where I thought my work would catch peoples eye but also not...
Here were my favourites:
All images link to my city somehow- whether it is a strong link or not. The best place for my images to be displayed would be the exact castle the pictures are of- Rhaglan Castle- but sadly that isn't possible in the times of Covid.
Part two of this task was to create an example of the images being displayed there. I did this digitally for two reasons, I hadnt printed off the images yet and it had started to rain (typical).
Here were the outcomes:
This idea was to have the images printed off on old material and layed down on the grass for people to walk around the path to view these images.
This one is similar to the previous idea as they are both on clear display- I found these trees and I found them really interesting. The shapes of them remind me of royalty which does relate to my city. And although this idea and the other idea are aesthetically pleasing I feel like It doesn't portray what I want it to.
This is my last idea. I think if I was to display this project I would in this way. This is because the images would be hidden just on the sides of columns- which is appropriate as the city is invisible so why would it be on visible display?
The extract I wrote about the city would be on display too, in clear view, just to draw people's attention to this temple and explore it, like they would explore the city if it wasn't invisible. The images will be printed off like posters so they would be able to fit on the side of the columns.
I liked this mini exercise as it did get me thinking about my city and what/how I actually want to present it. It also expanded my thought process when thinking about displaying and spaces.
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