Author Archive
Yesterday I was searching for artist who works embrace urban spaces. This is of course very different from a gallery space but somehow is connected with the idea of interaction and also what people are looking at when within a space they decide their movement and interaction.
I am mainly interested in sociological activity, and how we create our own identity within a space, both public and private. I came across with an artist called William H. Whyte who began to use direct observation to describe behavior in urban settings. With research assistants wielding still cameras, movie cameras, and notebooks, Whyte described the substance of urban public life in an objective and measurable way.
These observations developed into the “Street Life Project”, an ongoing study of pedestrian behavior and city dynamics, and eventually to Whyte’s book called City: Rediscovering the Center (1988). “City” presents Whyte’s conclusions about jaywalking, ‘schmoozing patterns,’ the actual use of urban plazas, appropriate sidewalk width, and other issues. This work remains valuable because it’s based on careful observation, and because it contradicts other conventional wisdom, for instance, the idea that pedestrian traffic and auto traffic should be separated.
Space Within 