The Underground

 A collage of diagonal lines is mirrored through sharp steel shapes, converging towards a silhouette of a human figure. The female can be seen wearing a coat down to her knees, although it is unclear of her identity. She has long light coloured hair, tied into a pony tail. The coated figure is stood in front of a grid, tiles which are reminiscent of a swimming pool, however not under water. This semblance of water is repeated through advertisements which are reflected by the metal. Corrugated teeth form horizontal steps, which get closer towards the woman, interrupting the pattern of line. Twenty-five can be seen, before they are merged by light. This light stems from seven white holes, overhead and once again converging to the centre, but cut short by an arch, separating the ceiling from the moving ground. Disappearing into the reflection, the steps give a gradient affect, suggesting an ongoing illusion of foreverness, as if you will never reach the top. Combined with the isolation and cold metal, the escalator appears eerie, as though you are lost within the geometric lines and forms of the underground. 

Critical Writing Task brief

Let's get critical, critical, I want to get critical

Why be critical: Without being critical of our own work and others, it will just stand still, and you won't move forwards. 

What does it mean: Looking; teaching yourself to look. 

Your subjective encounter is your initial reaction to a work. You should challenge this as it could be more to do with how you're feeling than the work- are you hungry? Also should consider whether or not pre held ideas are helpful- you're not always right, A level's not always right.

Your objective encounter is how you pull apart your subjective response.

Toolkit:

• Critical tools- Aspect lectures on space, surface, time, fiction
• Help- Footnotes task, grey description task; what is actually there?
• Subject-Object grid, crit questions
• Be specific

Can words be art?

Grey Description -> Text works

"Images are more precise and richer than literature" p.10, Ways Of Seeing, John Berger

• Write what you see, what's there?
• Thinking about presenting the text without the photo- would it work? Should I include the image?
• The more detail the better
• Use a standard size and style font.
• Emotion?

From this I wrote a grey description, using this photo as the subject. 

"Throughout the carriage canary parrots, radiating from ten vertical poles, which allow anonymous primates to hang and balance, as the mobile flooring jolts and sways beneath them. To the left, behind one stanchion, reaching half the height of the car, an unidentified figure can be seen in a mustard coat. Thin black bugs connect longitudinal waves to an electrical device, linked via a thin black cable, tangled amongst a burnt sienna scarf. Knotted pink fingers grip the gadget close to an average frame. A corrugated plastic hexagon couples two sections together, dancing in time with the deck. At the highest point a honeycomb of metal guards a fluorescent tube, illuminating the foreground. Beyond this, cuboid light-emitting diodes brighten silhouettes. Reflecting against two visible surfaces, yellow and white combine to fuse cream, contrasting against a section of ultraviolet light within the corrugated sector. Incandescent words in the upper- centre read ‘The next Station...’, and although out of focus, this is repeated approximately six meters ahead. Above this the same text is flipped into the ceiling, mirrored, and illegible.

Vertical and horizontal lines cross, creating an ongoing grid, broken by bodies. Further ahead the coach seems to get busier, with thirteen visible, yet unknown individuals. Warmth from the chaos of the intertwined is juxtaposed by cold blue light, leaked by the emptiness of the forepart. However, this matches one, two, three blue notices, which nobody seems to be paying attention to. The signs are white, with cobalt blue rectangles and small black writing, that cannot be read unless up close. They are all obstructed by the shapes and forms of the carriage, blocking information, and hiding tidings. It is quiet, which is unusual, given the situation of thirteen strangers in a pod. Not one appears interested or to be engaged with anyone else. They are separate forms, brought together only by yellow poles. Three of them; one sat, head down, one holding a horizontal bar and staring ahead, and one engaged with a mobile, wear hats. They all wear black coats. In the centre, there is a child. They wear a venetian red coat with a faux fur stripe around the hood. They stand with their small arm laced around a post, which due to the lighting appears to extend past and into the ceiling. This same shade of red is repeated as the details of a polka dot bag, which is navy, and the mobile phone of a seated woman. Her eyes are focused on the screen, that is held up above a blurred newspaper, resting upon on her knee. The newspaper is the evening standard, blue capital text against dirty white paper. It features a face that’s reminiscent of an orange Sainsbury’s carrier bag."

• Text or sound? - Sound could be more engaging, people may be more willing to listen than read
• Could use a white/blank screen- what are they seeing? Removes context. Only words.
• Speakers or headphones?
• What tone of voice? Monotonous: even less context/emotional impact, less connected, more like a script? Enthusiastic? 

If speech- do I want the speaker to have seen the photo before recording, or should it be blind? Could try doing both myself, although other people would change the relationship, adding another layer to the work.