Thursday, 20 May 2010



Thursday, 13 May 2010





















embodied points of view/transcendental vision
Against 'I think, therefore I am' stand 'I relate, therefore I am'
(Bird-David 1999)

YES.

Wednesday, 12 May 2010

Tuesday, 11 May 2010







Monday, 10 May 2010


H


M


H


M


H


M


H


M
Mapping from memory. Mark making and place marking.









Saturday, 8 May 2010

Everything, however finely spun, finally comes to the sun.
(Nothing can be hidden forever)

Friday, 7 May 2010





Dualism
Mind - Body split
'I think therefore I am'
floating head
abstract ideal


Tuesday, 4 May 2010




“Weavers, spinners, Penelope or someone like her, once seemed to me to be the first geometers, because their art or craft explores or exploits space by means of knots, proximities and continuities, without intervention from measurement, because their tactile manipulations anticipate topology. The mason or surveyor anticipates the geometers in a strictly metric sense, but she or he who weaves or spins precedes them in art, thought and no doubt in history. We had to dress ourselves before building, clothe ourselves in loose garments before constructing solid buildings.” (Serres 2008:83)

Monday, 26 April 2010

Sunday, 25 April 2010


View Canal Journey in a larger map

Friday, 23 April 2010




Wednesday, 21 April 2010











Place marking from memory. Paths and patterns of movement.


Beacon One


Campsite



Beacon Two

Monday, 19 April 2010


points of sense: deepening google maps:


View points of sense in the yorkshire dales in a larger map

Wednesday, 14 April 2010



Proposed scene: a boy and a girl sit somewhere nondescript (i.e. car park) wearing CocaColoa tshirts. They slurp from a large bottle of Chateau Eyquem and dribble it down their fronts and on each other.

Monday, 12 April 2010

‘The better an organism ‘knows’ something,
the less conscious it becomes of its knowledge’.
- Gregory Bateson


  • To be able to tie the devil to a pillow / Obstinacy overcomes everything.
  • To be a pillar-biter / To be a religious hypocrite.
  • To carry fire in one hand and water in the other / To be two-faced and to stir up trouble.
  • To bang one's head against a brick wall / To try to achieve the impossible.
  • One foot shod, the other bare / Balance is paramount.
  • The sow pulls the bung / Negligence will be rewarded with disaster.
  • To bell the cat / To be indiscreet about plans that should be secret.
  • To be armed to the teeth / To be heavily armed.
  • To be an iron-biter / To be boastful or indiscreet.
  • One shears sheep, the other shears pigs / One has all the advantages, the other none.
  • Shear them but do not skin them / Do not press your advantage too far.
  • The herring does not fry here / Things do not go according to plan.
  • To fry the whole herring for the sake of the roe / To do too much to achieve a little.
  • To get the lid on the head / To end up taking responsibility.
  • The herring hangs by its own gills / You must accept responsibility for your own actions.
  • There is more in it than an empty herring / There is more to it than meets the eye.
  • What can smoke do to iron? / There is no point in trying to change the unchangeable.
  • To find the dog in the pot / To arrive too late to prevent trouble.
  • To sit between two stools in the ashes / To be indecisive.
  • To be a hen feeler / To count one's chickens before they hatch.
  • The scissors hang out there / They are liable to cheat you there.
  • To always gnaw on a single bone / To continually talk about the same subject.
  • It depends on the fall of the cards / It is up to chance.
  • The world is turned upside down / Everything is the opposite of what it should be.
  • Leave at least one egg in the nest / Always have something in reserve.
  • To shit on the world / To despise everything.
  • To lead each other by the nose / To fool each other.
  • The die is cast / The decision is made.
  • Fools get the best cards / Luck can overcome intelligence.
  • To look through one's fingers / To be indulgent.
  • There hangs the knife / To issue a challenge.
  • There stand the wooden shoes / To wait in vain.
  • To stick out the broom / To have fun while the master is away.
  • To marry under the broomstick / To live together without marrying.
  • To have the roof tiled with tarts / To be very wealthy.
  • To have a hole in one's roof / To be unintelligent.
  • An old roof needs a lot of patching up / Old things need more maintenance.
  • The roof has lathes / There could be eavesdroppers (The walls have ears).
  • To have toothache behind the ears / To be a malingerer.
  • To be pissing against the moon / To waste one's time on a futile endeavour.
  • Here hangs the pot / It is the opposite of what it should be.
  • To shoot a second bolt to find the first / To repeat a foolish action.
  • To shave the fool without lather / To trick somebody.
  • Two fools under one hood / Stupidity loves company.
  • It grows out of the window / It cannot be concealed.
  • To play on the pillory / To attract attention to one's shameful acts.
  • Where the gate is open the pigs will run into the corn / Disaster ensues from carelessness.
  • Where the corn decreases the pig increases / If one person gains then another must lose.
  • To run like one's backside is on fire / To be in great distress.
  • He who eats fire, shits sparks / Do not be surprised at the outcome if you attempt a dangerous venture.
  • To hang one's cloak according to the wind / To adapt one's viewpoint to the current opinion.
  • To toss feathers in the wind / To work fruitlessly.
  • To gaze at the stork / To waste one's time.
  • To want to kill two flies with one stroke / To be efficient.
  • To fall from the ox onto the ass / To fall on hard times.
  • To kiss the ring of the door / To be insincere.
  • To wipe one's backside on the door / To treat something lightly.
  • To go around shouldering a burden / To imagine that things are worse than they are.
  • To fish behind the net / To miss an opportunity.
  • Big fish eat little fish.
  • To be unable to see the sun shine on the water / To be jealous of another's success.
  • It hangs like a privy over a ditch / It is obvious.
  • Anybody can see through an oak plank if there is a hole in it / There is no point in stating the obvious.
  • They both shit through the same hole / They are in agreement.
  • To throw one's money into the water / To waste one's money.
  • A wall with cracks will soon collapse / Anything poorly managed will soon fail.
  • To not care whose house is on fire as long as one can warm oneself at the blaze / To take every opportunity regardless of the consequences to others.
  • To drag the block / To be deceived by a lover or to work at a pointless task.
  • Fear makes the old woman trot / An unexpected event can reveal unknown qualities.
  • Horse droppings are not figs / Do not be fooled by appearances.
  • If the blind lead the blind both will fall in the ditch / There is no point in being guided by others who are equally ignorant.
  • The journey is not yet over when one can discern the church and steeple / Do not give up until the task is fully complete.
  • Everything, however finely spun, finally comes to the sun / Nothing can be hidden forever.
  • To keep one's eye on the sail / To stay alert, be wary.
  • To shit on the gallows / To be undeterred by any penalty.
  • Where the carcass is, there fly the crows / If the evidence points to something it is likely to be true.
  • It is easy to sail before the wind / If conditions are favourable it is not difficult to achieve one's goal.
  • Who knows why geese go barefoot? / There is a reason for everything, though it may not be obvious.
  • If I am not meant to be their keeper, I will let geese be geese / Do not interfere in matters that are not your concern.
  • To see bears dancing / To be starving.
  • Wild bears prefer each other's company / Peers get along better with each other than with outsiders.
  • To throw one's cowl over the fence / To discard something without knowing whether it will be required later.
  • It is ill to swim against the stream / It is difficult to oppose the general opinion.
  • The pitcher goes to the water until it finally breaks / Everything has its limitations.
  • The best straps are cut from somebody else's leather / Men cut the largest straps from other men's leather/It is easy to take from others work.
  • To hold an eel by the tail / To undertake a difficult task.
  • To fall through the basket / To have your deception uncovered.
  • To be suspended between heaven and earth / To be in an awkward situation.
  • To take the hen's egg and let the goose's egg go / To make a bad decision.
  • To yawn against the oven / To attempt more than one can manage.
  • To be barely able to reach from one loaf to another / To have difficulty living within budget.
  • A hoe without a handle / Something useless.
  • To look for the hatchet / To try to find an excuse.
  • Here he is with his lantern / To finally have an opportunity to show a talent.
  • A hatchet with a handle / Signifies "the whole thing".
  • He who has spilt his porridge cannot scrape it all up again / Once something is done it cannot be undone.
  • To put a spoke in someone's wheel / To put up an obstacle, to destroy someone's plans.
  • Love is on the side where the money bag hangs / Love can be bought.
  • To pull to get the longest end / To attempt to get the advantage.
  • To stand in one's own light / To be proud of oneself.
  • No one looks for others in the oven who has not been in there himself / To imagine wickedness in others is a sign of wickedness in oneself.
  • To have the world spinning on one's thumb / To have every advantage.
  • To tie a flaxen beard to the face of Christ / To hide deceit under a veneer of Christian piety.
  • To have to stoop to get on in the world / To succeed one must be devious.
  • To cast roses before swine To waste effort on the unworthy.
  • To fill the well after the calf has drowned / To take action only after a disaster.
  • To be as patient as a lamb / To be very patient.
  • She puts the blue cloak on her husband / She deceives him.
  • Watch out that a black dog does not come in between / When two women are together a barking dog is not needed to add to the trouble they will cause.
  • One winds on the distaff what the other spins / Both spread gossip.
  • To carry the day out in baskets / To waste one's time.
  • To hold a candle to the Devil / To flatter and make friends indiscriminately.
  • To confess to the Devil / To reveal secrets to one's enemy.
  • The pig is stabbed through the belly / A foregone conclusion or what is done can not be undone.
  • Two dogs over one bone seldom agree / To argue over a single point.
  • To be a skimming ladle / To be a parasite or sponger.
  • What is the good of a beautiful plate when there is nothing on it? / Beauty does not make up for substance.
  • The fox and the crane entertain each other / Two deceivers always keep their own advantage in mind.
  • To blow in the ear / To spread gossip.
  • To chalk up / To make sure to remember.
  • The meat on the spit must be basted / Certain things need constant attention.
  • There is no turning the spit with him / He is uncooperative.
  • To sit on hot coals / To be impatient.
  • To catch fish without a net / To profit from the work of others.

Tuesday, 6 April 2010

from Gell, A. 'How to read a map: Remarks on the practical knowledge of navigation'


Thursday, 1 April 2010

terra incognita - 'the geographical unknown, a realm that is filled primarily by the imagination'.
'despite the virtual complete mapping of the world's gross features by the date of his comments, geographers were still faced with "an immense patchwork of miniature terrae ingognitae." By drawing attention to the unknown Wright intended to exhort geographers to further explore the subjective spaces of reality'
- Paul C. Adams in 'Peripatetic Imagery and Peripatetic Sense of Place
per·i·pa·tet·ic
adj.1; Walking about or from place to place; traveling on foot. 2; Peripatetic Of or relating to the philosophy or teaching methods of Aristotle, who conducted discussions while walking about in the Lyceum of ancient Athens.
n.1; One who walks from place to place; an itinerant. 2; Peripatetic A follower of the philosophy of Aristotle; an Aristotelian.
Jones, O. (2000); '(Un)ethical geographies of human-non-human relations' in animal spaces, beastly places; C. Philo and C. Wilbert (eds.), NY: Routledge

'Human-non-human relations are inevitably embedded in the complex spatialities of the world. The myriad encounters which make up human-non-human relations shape and are shaped by theis spatiality in an incredibly rich (in ontological terms) series of 'spatial formations'... 'the irreducible ontology of 'non-representational theory' (Thrift 1999).

'The deeply complex pattern which is human-non-human relations [...] presents a 'starting-point' or 'ground' from where, or upon which it is extremely difficult to build or to impose abstracted, universalised prescriptive or descriptive accounts' (269)

Sunday, 28 March 2010





An ovoo (овоо, ''heap'') is a type of shamanistic cairn found in Mongolia, usually made from rocks or from wood. Ovoos are often found at the top of mountains and in high places, like mountain passes. They serve mainly as religious sites, used in worship of the mountains and the sky as well as in Buddhist ceremonies, but often are also landmarks. At especially prominent sites, ovoos can come in clusters, for example of 13 ovoos.

When travelling, it is custom to stop and circle an ovoo three times in clockwise direction, in order to have a safer journey. Usually, rocks are picked up from the ground and added to the pile. Also, one may leave offerings in the form of sweets, money, milk, or vodka. If one is in a hurry while traveling and does not have time to stop at an ovoo, honking of the horn while passing by the ovoo will suffice.

Ovoos are also used in mountain- and sky-worshipping ceremonies that typically take place at the end of summer. Worshippers place a tree branch or stick in the ovoo and tie a blue ''khadag'', a ceremonial silk scarf symbolic of the open sky and the sky spirit Tengger, or Tengri, to the branch. They then light a fire and make food offerings, followed by a ceremonial dance and prayers (worshippers sitting at the northwest side of the ovoo), and a feast with the food left over from the offering.

Friday, 26 March 2010

Monday, 22 March 2010

Strathern presents two images that correspond to what we have called ‘quantitative’ and ‘qualitative’ scales of comparison: respectively, the map and the tree (Holbraad &Pedersen, 2004: xvi–xvii)

Thursday, 18 March 2010

landscape as ‘representation’ Vs ‘taskscape’:

‘the intrinsic temporality of the taskscape […] lies in its rhythmic interrelations or patterns of resonance’ (Tim Ingold, The Perception of the Environment: essays on livelihood, dwelling and skill p154)

I like pete. singing in the woods m
singing as mapping - replacing/layering the visual with sound?
ethnomusicology: 'Essential song' by Lynn Whidden (an ethnography of Cree Indian hunting songs)


i suggest we camp sometime between the 10th and 17th April

Tuesday, 16 March 2010

Pete Seeger turns a mountain brook into a song without an end.



Like bottles of 'Chateau Eyquem', Seeger's banjo picking is made up of a localised history, 'a portable sample of the region' which embodies his perception of the natural world around him.

'' This song doesn't have any ending, it just keeps trickling on like a little mountain brook. Near my home in the Hudson Valley there is a brook like this, crystal clear. I can't say as much for the Hudson River. In a manner of speaking there are little clear streams of music like this all through our country, and probably throughout the world, and sometimes the larger streams get polluted, but these little streams are still there. Twenty-five years ago i was a teenager and i first heard music like this, and i started trying to learn some of it, and I'm still trying " P
ete Seeger.

Monday, 15 March 2010

Interview with Metahaven. 'On Design and Research'

'Research' could mean different things. It could mean research 'for' design and research 'by' design. If you are looking for a more effective way to have research inform your actions, then it is the investigation adjacent to designing. Research 'by' design means that the process itself is a type of research; if the way you work is committed to getting outcomes which appear different then the research needs not to just inform but also form to work.
...Research traditionally is not part of what designers have provided as solutions. What we have inherited from this situation is a discipline where just about anything has become a stylistic capsule, where you find that disagreements over typography, 'mentality', color, form etc., prevent any larger discourse from emerging. On a larger scale, the corporate end of the profession, involved in branding and identity, no longer offers new ideas but provides mainly 'hollow shells' as brand identities. The hollowness is becoming apparent especially that banks, financial institutions, and car brands collapse, or merge, and no one knows anymore which logo applies to which entity.
(Iaspis Forum on Design and Critical Practice - The Reader)


Radicals and Radicants, Nicolas Bourriaud.

...It is above all, our modes of representation that are called into question by globalization. More precisely, globalization is the locus of a complete and total shattering of the relations between representation and abstraction. For it is precisely at the level of the representation of the world that modernism is linked to the capitalist machine - on the plane of where our general image of the world is produced, and then the various images created by artists, which ma echo, confirm or invalidate that general image. As the propagating agent of an abstract virus (a "deteritorializing" one to use a Deleuzian term), globalization substitutes its logos, organization charts, formulas, and recodings for local singularities. Coca Cola is a logo without location; by contrast, every bottle of Chateau Eyquem contains a history based on a particular territory. That history, however, turns out to be mobile; it comes with the bottle, which is a portable sample of the region. The moment humans lose all living contact with representation is the abstract moment by which capitalism consolidates it's holdings.
(Radicals and Radicants - The Radicant by Bourriaud)
Three 'logos without location'.

(School / Mining Collective / Bank)

(Community Scheme / Punk Band / Seafood Restaurant)

(Trade Union / Highway Maintenance / Athletics Comity)