After my initial investigation exploring the physical site I had chosen, the area which I cycle through on my bike, I presented my ideas to my course mates in our tutorial. It was interesting discussing with them and hearing their thoughts. We elaborated on the idea of the headphones I use to listen to music being my ears, my bike being my feet, the film camera and my phone I use to take my photo being my eyes. I liked this idea of man being a machine. Although I’m not quite sure on how to progress this idea when relating it to my site. Nonetheless it was illuminating to think about the direction in which my investigation is going, and I think I want it to focus on the senses. The sensorial experience I have within this site captured through some medium.
4th October – To continue my investigation, I got my trusty bike and hit the road again. This time I wanted to focus on the senses and how I physically felt on my journey on the bike ride. As I was cycling, I felt the grooves from the different terrains my wheels were moving across. It was a stronger sensation feeling the ground beneath my wheels than it was feeling it beneath my feet. Every bump felt more intensely as my bike wobbled and bounced up and down. I took photos of the different textures I was coming across, gritty dirt roads, dried leaves on the grassy lawn, potholes, cracked paint and metal grates on the concrete road.
It was interesting focusing on only one perspective visually. Through solely looking down on the terrain below, I was observing details I would not have considered before. The growth of flora between the cracks of concrete roads, pieces of fruit crushed over the gravel and marks left by car tyres. During this process of photo-taking, I realised that I want to lead this investigation of my site on a visual basis.
The presence of the car tire marks made me aware of the marks left by the wheels of my bicycle. Smooth lines were left in the earth as I rode my bicycle through the mud, and then this mud was transferred onto the path. To me it almost felt like the bike was an extension of me as an artist, with the wheels being the brush and the mud being the paint. From this I wanted to further investigate whether I could use my bicycle to “paint”.
I conducted several experiments where I rode my bicycle across different terrains, including grassy fields, dirt roads, and pools of mud then moved it across pieces of paper.
The experiment with the grass and the dirt did not work well, but this was to be expected. The materials do not transfer well like a liquid paint-like substance would. In contrast, the mud adhered well to the paper, leaving a great streak with various levels of viscosity. This resulted in an interesting ink-like pattern. With this experiment, I simply moved the bike across the paper. I decided to then repeat it whilst cycling on the bike at a fast rate. This resulted in a different pattern due to the mud only slightly adhering during the short time in which it was exposed to the paper. It was quite cool to see the movement of the mud as it spreads from the innermost part of the wheel towards the outside.