Week 2

Week 2

Class began today by having a group discussion about the reading from last week.

 We then went on  a walk around Stratford listening to a track (http://mappingyourmanor.com/locations.) of a woman named Lucy Harrison explaining how Stratford has changed over the years and this combined with the walk that we were doing turned into a feast for the imagination (when i could get my headphones working properly) being able to visualize her words and her imagined surroundings.

In this class we also exchanged maps that had a destination and a piece of music. [STAMINA/CHURCH]

Here are my directions for Soriya -

• Exit Stratford Station
• Go through the Stratford market and exit on opposite side
• Cross the road to the church
• Go inside the Church
• Press play

I chose the song 'Stamina' By the artist Tech n9ne, its basically 40 seconds of a rapper rapping over the sound of an ak-47 machine gun, i thought it: contrasting, absurd and ultimately, fitting.

Group performance: New and old Stratford 

We were put in groups this lesson (Me, Lanray, Ellis and Joshua) and we focused on the telling of how ssmall buisnesses in stratfor could not cope with the pressure that the new Stratford Westfields center has put on them and we decided to voice that in the form of a short scene where the shopkeeper (me) has some people arrive into the shop and he overhears them stating that they saw something similar and cheaper in the new Westfield center and then it goes into a monologue about how things have changed for the shopkeeper as he reveals some of Stratfords history.

 Debord, G. ‘Society of the Spectacle’, Eastbourne: Soul Bay Press, pp 113-119

 In  Guy Debord's 'Society of the Spectactle' he comments critically on how society is managed and how we change our surroundings to fit the ideals of society, ultimately leading towards Urbanism, this is seen as a threat to nature and human nature. this all leads up to the separation of people and the combined effects of capitalism and Urbanism together lead to a great amount of separation which is used to control people. he then goes on to state that some cases the countries city is like a power hub which spreads and effects everything around it constantly changing the environment.

 Hussey, A. ‘The Map is not the Territory’: The Unfinished Journey of the Situationist international’ in Whybrow, N. (Ed) (2010) Performance and the Contemporary City, Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan pp. 94-105

 In ''the map is not a territory'' Hussey starts off by analyzing the group of artists and other creative professionals that came out of europe around 1957 called 'Situationalists' who tried to tried to save art from the clutches of capitalist control and were largely objected to urbanisation, claiming that city life destroyed human nature. Debord's view was that a Derive’ was the most effective way a Situationist could discover, identify and experience the artistic quality of a city.

'Revisited place'

I chose to revisit Wandsworth shopping center as the last time i was there was years ago when i finished secondary school and i have lots of memories there.

I sat down on a bench inside the shopping center and decided to just relax and take in the surroundings and i was immediately drawn to the fact that there used to be two levels to the shopping center and now there was just one and all the shop had really high ceilings giving the impression of the ground floor of the Stratford Westfield center. Here are a few more changes i noticed:

• There is now a posh deli food court where 'shoezone' used to be
• The whole place looks shiny and new
• The market now catered to foreigners as it has a mini polish market inside
• the type of people shopping were more posh as the new upmarket shops had been installed