17th November, First Group Meeting

We met at the entrance to the studio 11 and began to discuss our ideas. Sharon recorded our conversation for reference. We read through the brief together and brought our own interpretations to the task. However we found that being in the studio rather than in the space we were trying to visualised proved difficult and we decided to go to the museum in order to see the space. I took photos as we went around for documentation which we thought we might be able to draw onto or even photoshop our ideas into the space to get a feel for what we wanted to achieve.

Health and Safety

I was particularly thinking about health and safety issues, as I personally know a Health and Safety officer who can help us to create a risk assessment form which will be useful for our portfolio.

i.e.

• Our idea was going to be partly in the main entrance to the museum, so I checked to see if there was enough space either side of our space to get out quickly in the event of an emergency.
• Our idea would include height and attracting people to the edge of the barrier, so I noted that there could be a risk of someone leaning too far over and possibly falling.

I will try to contact the Health and Safety officer in order to get his thoughts on our project.

Our Idea

I am happy with the project and the space we have chosen. We decided we wanted something interactive, where people of all ages would be encouraged to contribute to the piece. We have named this piece "Make your Mark", however this name might change as our idea develops further.

We first thought about inviting people to come and write or draw on a wall. I noted that this idea reminded me of several pieces in the British Art Show 7 which changes in every space. People in Plymouth would respond differently to people in London, for example. The piece would make a statement of culture in Plymouth and within the museum with little prompting. We had ideas to have a starting question, ie "Write/draw something that represents your thoughts of the museum" but we agreed that people would automatically respond to the museum through being in a museum space. Louiza noticed a transparent collection box which prompted an idea to put drawings through a slot where it would fall into a transparent box, eventually filling up with people's contributions. Then the idea came to having a massive chute that stood in the centre of the museum, in order to contribute, people must climb the stairs and go to the balcony where there would be four slots (at different heights to encourage participants from all ages), where people could place their contributions (on a piece of card) which would slide down the tubes into the see through collumn in the entrance hall.