Author: Elle Laforge

Reflecting on W1’s discussion;

• Perception is different to each individual, even in the most mundane, obvious things; this makes research intricate and inherently biased. 
  • Which led me to;
  • Why not use my bias to inform others of a different way of knowing? 

From the initial reading The Medium is the Massage by Marshall McLuhan: 

• “Have we become deaf, blind and unable to perceive our original ideas?”
• “We are so visually biased that we call our wisest men visionaries” 
  • What does it mean to “see” or “experience” a place ? 

In my investigation, I realised that the sounds and rhythm of Maida Vale are essential constituents in my understanding of the site. 

• MV exists as both a physical visual site, and a sonic one. 
• Commuters block sounds out but they choreograph how we move, wait or pass through.

References and Research for this project:

I initially purposely avoided researching the station, keeping my mind open to other ways of investigating. However, the below references strongly influenced my work.

Further Research this week:

• Further notetaking
• Attempted interviewing
• Videography
• Photography

I found, through my interviews that people did not really pay attention to the station and if they did it was solely the visual aspect of it.

Further inspiration:

I struggled to find a way in which to superpose my text with the sound and videos/ photos I had taken until I got inspiration from the sweaty betty store in KX I got the idea to explore sound waves and put them on top as such.  

As I was working on this project the song Video Killed The Radio Star by The Buggles was stuck in my head. Vision killed sound? 

However, after playing around with this idea in After Effects, it was abandoned as it seemed to highlight visuals, instead of bringing the attention of the viewer to the sonic identity of the station.

This distraction aspect was also for case for colour, hence the video became a B&W project.

That’s all for week 2.

Week 1: Choosing a site to explore and engaging with three methods of investigation

After years of living in East London, I finally moved West.

Striking stillness in the ever changing London, MV station sets itself apart. MV caught my eye the first time I went there, for the red tiles and old typeface reminded me of other stations like Covent Garden (or the old Aldwych station on Strand), which almost look out of character for the city we know today.

I wanted to capture what felt like a synergy of movement and stillness, so I started shooting it on my camera. Working and attending university means that I’m in central London 5 days a week, always leaving for the intended 9 o ’clock somewhere. Between 8:15 and 8:35, for three consecutive days, I took pictures of the same people, who were probably taking the same route as me but I had never really noticed.

Simultaneously, I started writing every time I walked to MV station, what I noticed. What it would tell me about the place but also its constituents, the people that make it and keep it the way it is. The little details which take so much space in our environment but go un-noticed.

MV despite its physical stillness felt like a never ending loop when I was there, where sounds dictated our commute. The beep of my card at the gates, the sounds of people’s heels tapping the ceramic tiles, my music in my headphones overlaid on the screeching of the train, it all felt like a buzzing place.

I am in fact incapable of taking the tube without my noise canceling headphones, for I find an accumulation of sounds deeply overwhelming. I was really surprised, when I took my headphones off and started to notice, that people (even without headphones) did not seem to pay attention to the sounds. This was deeply intriguing to me, as I could not separate Maida Vale’s visual identity, from its sonic one. I started recording MV and Bakerloo sounds.

I then superposed the music I would be listening to, on top of the tube sounds; showcasing the “sonic world of the commuter”.

It was also interesting to be in my own sonic bubble, paying attention. I took this initial video on my commute, which I thought looked like a dance of commuters.

That's all for week 1.