Professor James Lovelock

I saw a pretty interesting and relevant documentary about this Lovelock professor who has made huge contributions to science and our understanding of the world by turning his back on the scientific institutions and working from his homemade laboratory in a devon country cottage.

One of his most noted and controversial contributions is the theory of Gaia which proposed the planet as a self-regulating entity with the capacity to keep itself healthy by controlling the chemical and physical environment. He has made many other huge contributions to human knowledge over his career... all from his little homemade lab in devon. He is definitely an eccentric chap, the kind of visionary that can channel his eccentricity and passion to make new discoveries and change beliefs... proving you don't have to be working for major scientific institutions to do so.

He really struck a chord with the idea of our own character in his own space being left to his own devices (although ours is based around a more obsessive belief in more speculative subject matter). Good stuff professor.

Collection at home

As we were having problems attaining the kind of key materials we need to build the structure of the machines out of I went back home to Somerset to try and hunt some down in breakers yards and farmers fields.

I have managed to get a big square, metal tank that will be perfect for the boot machine, an old oil drum potentially for the praxinoscope machine (although Andy has sourced an old boiler which sounds promising), an old TV ariel which looks good, a standing metal cupboard and lots of other bits that will be useful.

Bringing my car up with the stuff for two weeks so we can move everything in when we get the space.

VHS loops

So we spent a day on the VHS loop tests to try and discover how feasible it would be. They did not go too well, the problems we encountered were with the temperamental nature of the technology, if something isn't exactly right then they VHS players just eject eject eject. This was frustrating, very fiddlely and proved to be too much trouble for what its worth. As a result, we have decided to use long-play 8 hour VHS tapes for the duration of the installation instead which is not a bad compromise.

Machine mechanisms

We've been thinking about the designs for the mechanisms involved in operating the machines. For the boot machine we are going to be using an age old camshaft system applying the same principle effectively as what drives the pistons up and down in any engine (below).

As the two cams will rotate on the rod attached to the windscreen wiper motor, the hitters that strike the boot machine will be pivoted back before falling when the cam rotates past its peak (there will be a big drop to have a sudden release movement unlike with the piston example above which requires a smooth transition). These two cams can be adjusted so that the hitters strike the tank at different times and tempos (relative to the size, shape and positioning of the cams).

For the praxinoscope I have devised a plan to use the backend of a childs bike (crank, chain and wheel) which will be mounted on its side and driven at the crank by a windscreen wiper motor. This will in turn drive the back wheel, spinning the praxinoscope barrel mounted on top. This not only should look great within the installation but give us a smooth and reliable movement.

For both devises, 12v windscreen wiper motors will be used, the boot machine also requires a motor and spool to lower the microphone into the water from above.

Blueprints *updated*

With some further research I have discovered that there is a new Cyanotype chemical mix that you can buy called 'cyanotype sensitiser' available HERE which sounds promising.

More details on the old / new processes of Cyanotyping can be found HERE including useful tips on the kind of paper needed etc. 

I have also been reading about the possibilities of staining the prints in the production of the prints with green tea, bleach, coffee and urine amongst others which sounded interesting.

Weekly schedule

To help progress the project at this tender stage without a space to work within, we have started to devise weekly schedules to organise our workflow and up the intensity. We will hopefully be doing this everyweek from now on, atleast until we are building within the final location. This weeks scheduled tasks are as followed:

Schedule: 13 – 19 of March 2010

Sat 13.03

Wimbledon 09:00

Sun 14.03

Woolwich 11:00 + Compile PDF + Brick Lane

Mon 15.03

UNI 10:00 – 18:00 VHS loops  (Email Woolwich)

Tues 16.03

UNI 11:00 – 19:00 Exact machine designs + blueprints (Email Rich Simkins)

Wed 17.03

Wellcome Collection Library 12:00 – 20:00 Shoot plan / Narrative / Research *BRING APPLICATION FORM*

Thu 18.03

Andy at work, Day off 

Fri 19.03

UNI 12:00 – 18:00   Praxinoscope prototype / Tutorial 3:00 / Plan next week

The blueprints

I've been exploring the history and the process of blueprints as they are a vital material we need to attain, initially our thinking was we would try and find / buy some or produce our own designs on a different but appropriate material (this may still be a good option). However, the more I have been reading, the more appealing the idea of producing our own original blueprints in the authentic manner with which they were once created.

Blueprints were traditionally made using a cyanotype photographic process involving a reaction between two chemicals, potassium ferricyanide and ammonium ferric citrate. You soak paper / cloth etc in the solution then expose it to sunlight (UV) through a large format negative with the design on or expose it like a photogram and place the design onto the paper to block out areas of light to form an image. The chemicals expose to the light will turn a deep blue colour and the areas unexposed (the design) will remain white, the print is then rinsed to removed the water-soluble chemical traces and leave the non-water soluble chemicals.... and you should be left with a white print on blue colour paper!

Cyanotype Print ^

Authentic Blueprint ^

This is all really interesting to me and would pose an exciting challenge to us which could leave us with some highly authentic and fantastic objects. I don't know how feasible this plan is yet, the design has to be fully drawn up for each machine and i need to check the chemicals are easily available (in uni hopefully). Although this would take some time and some testing, it is a relatively simple age old photographic process and given the importance of the blueprints to the narrative and the emphasis placed upon them in the installation, the extra time and effort to produce them could be well worth it.

Woolwich location search

We've been down in Woolwich after contacting the town centre manager who told us to send him details of buildings we think are abandoned and would be suitable. We're putting together a comprehensive file of possible abandoned buildings we could use to build our installation into. We found loads of potential places that would be great it is now just a matter of hearing back from him.

I'll upload the .pdf we'll sent him here soon, it is going to look really great so hopefully our professional and enthusiastic approach could help us finally secure an abandoned space.

Recording VHS

Using one of the VHS cameras we bought at the bootfair that smells slightly of urine and that can only be described as grimey, we have finally managed to record some test footage onto tape. Initially when me and Andy were sorting through the cameras and assessing their use we didn't have a recordable tape to try out. I managed to get hold of one earlier tonight and me and Faysal tried it out:



The colours and distortion are really nice, it is recording sound (albeit quietly) and I think it could be really effective for what we need. The main draw back is that we can only shoot indoors with it because the batteries are dead and needs to be run off mains power but I think this will be the case with 80% of the VHS cameras left out there from what I can tell.

This feels like an exciting development anyway, we grew up with VHS and it definitely took me to a rather nostalgic place, it has such charm despite being such a sub-standard and degraded medium by todays standards.

Carbooty

We're deep into our collection period and this will continue for the majority of this project really. Every saturday morning we will be heading down to Wimbledon carboot which has proved itself to be the most reliable and consistant of all the carbooties.

We'll ofcourse carry on scavenging from skips / flytips / markets in addition but our main source of props and materials will be the carboot over the next few months.

Little action, big sound

We've been testing the underwater recordings for one of the machines using a microphone inside a condom to waterproof it. It sounded great with very little effort, the sound created (although it doesn't translate so well in the video below) is impressive and just what we were looking for; we are hoping that it will be even better with a greater water mass, larger speakers and a more forceful metal striking instrument.

This was a successful test.

A grand day out

In an effort to collect some interesting materials and start adding some intensity to the project we scoured a couple of miles of a really cold and miserable Thames river... the wrong side of the Dome. We found some interesting bits on the bank with the tide out and met an awesome old carpenter known only as 'Dad', we also attained some useful metal box tubing which we can use as legs on the machines from two old guys in a metal workshop.

We also found some nice abandoned buildings opposite this old derelict bridge jetty which we are planning to follow up. It was a hard, dirty day and we were totally unprepared, we clearly need to invest in some good, tough, waterproof gloves for the kind of dirty collecting we are undertaking at times and bring suitable, strong bags in which to carry heavy objects. Andy would have been the better prepared for the task if he had worn his wellies, alas he thought we were going to laugh at him... in the end we laughed at him for not bringing them.

A week written off

I have been really busy in the last week Gaffering on Doug & Co's major project film so the blog hasn't been updated in a little while but it was a really good experience. We have been working on collection mostly and some testing in the time since I last posted and will now work through the backlog of information in the next few posts!