Colin Marx: Informal landmarkets in South Africa

This had the potential to be a really interesting lecture but failed miserably (sorry Colin). The legacy of apathied, townships and the failure of government has resulted in the invasion of land by the poorest segments of society on the peripheries of towns and cities.












Disputes as to the ownership of the land i.e developers vs shack dwellers formed the basis of the lecture. The informal land markets created by the shack dwellers is better suited for their needs but can not be encompassed by the capitalist concept of land ownership the as value of settlement is based on social requirement rather than monetry value.



The conclusions drawn from the lecture were thus:

• Informal landmarkets need to be recognised


• This type of settlement needs to be better located within the city


• More government intervention

The ill definied conclusions of the lecture were somehow supposed to result in the establishment of sustainable cities. Evidence of positive interventions in such circumstances were required to back up the presentation but sadly they were amiss. As is probably quite obvious I left the lecture dissatisfied with its contents.

Animation

This is my first attempt at putting a sketchup animation into a project. Bare in mind the quality has been reduced for the Internet

Oxford Castle

A lecture by Oxford Castle Ltd Director, Andrew Ryan

Oxford Castle was a prison in the heart of Oxford it has since been reintergrated into the city fabric. Andrew Ryan's lecture took us through the complicated nature of such a process

Inspiration

Ever since visiting the Moore exhibition at Kew and helping a friend with a fine art dissertation on the arte poverre I've felt inspired. Artists work that I enjoyed and forgotten about have come back to me, all of a sudden I feel creative again. Yey for focus week!

Anselm Kiefer - Book with Wings

Alberto Burri - Sacking and Red

Moore at Kew

Whilst studying sculpture at Sixth Form Henry Moore became a real inspiration to me from his drawing style right through to his sculpture and philosophies. So to see his works in the open at Kew Gardens was quite a treat.

The forms, scale, texture and colour of the work can not be truly experienced until you are stood next to it. Sculpture is about the three dimensional environment the ability not only to see a piece but to place your hand upon is what separates this subject from other branches of arts.

The space in which an object is placed also radically alters our perception of it. I feel that Moore's work sits much better in the landscape because of its earthly qualities so I would heartily recommend seeing this exhibition whilst its still on, if not Yorkshire Sculpture Park also houses an impressive Moore collection.

The Future Laboratory: In House Trend Briefing

A good interesting lecture, the company really seemed to have their finger on the pulse of current and future trends relying on instinct rather than statistical information to form their predictions.

At three and a half hours there was lots of information packed in so I've highlighted points of personal interest.

• As a society we are becoming more conservative with regards to our opinions on anti social behaviour and our understanding of the community.

If you were to apply Hooke's law to society that is to say that each action has an equal and opposite reaction then you could concieve that the current trends in responsiable living (e.g our intrest in organic food, carbon footprints etc) is a direct reaction to the hedonistic attitudes of the post 60's generations.

• Slowtopia

The fast paced on demand culture os being replaced by a slower more experiential culture, people are seeking less stressful more luxurious services more interested in the experience rather than the product. Current trends in travelling were highlighted as an example.

• Mennaissance

A paticularly interesting study of the new male as a demographic group. Men are reinventing themselves adapting to gender equality. As a man I must say that it was quite scary how well I found myself and others defined within the study.

• Synthethics

An interesting concept though I'm not sure what timescale was implied for the prediction of this paticular trend. There does seem an inevitable leap toward such a movement but I believe that the current 'responsible trends' are very strong and will last for some time.

Castle Howard

Over summer I visited Castle Howard, a fully functioning estate in the Vale of York.
The house has been in with the current family for over 300 years. (paticularly useful when you look at my current management project)

The estate gains income from

• Agricultural produce


• Tourism, gift shop, entrance fee etc


• Plants grown in the rose garden and woodland

The stables have been converted into workshops and the main house provides gallery space, my old foundation tutor had an exhibition there last year.

Kane Cunningham, Scarborough Regatta 2005