Wednesday 13 March 2013

Proxemics


 I first looked at body sculptures that could be worn or have the effect of being worn when they are static and cant be moved. I mostly worked with covering the face as it created anonymity of the person and gave them their own space. From having their own space they would then experience whether it had a positive or negative effect, if they felt claustrophobic and uncomfortable about others around them or (similar to when we all sat in our boxes) that it became comfortable having their own personal space that felt secluded and safe.











This then lead me onto proxemics and our own personal spaces. I made sketches similar to these but with a hole cut out for the person inside to see out of. This in turn allowed others to test the personal space of the participant and stand as close as they like with sole communication with their eyes which many people feel uncomfortable with eye contact. This also lead me onto making sketches of sculpture that could be worn as a way of keeping people at a certain distance that was comfortable or uncomfortable. Tomorrow I'm going to be making some prototypes of these and recording what i find.



This made me think about how we communicate and use our bodies to tell others about our social distances. Its within our culture in Britain to avoid human contact, someone sitting next to you on an empty train, standing too close when talking to someone and even shaking hands although its body contact there is still a fair distance between the two people. This is called haptics, non verbal communication involving touch for example when greeting someone. When someone is too close its also in our culture to be polite and move away or be quietly angry and annoyed by huffing or tutting in the hope they'll take the hint and move. Even in close situations like on a train or confined area everyone moves around awkwardly to get into a more closed off position that they feel slightly more comfortable in.

Tomorrow i want to make some body casts in closed and open positions wearing boiler suits which will change the body shape into a more unisex form that most people could fit into. From this i want to photograph and record other people trying to fit into the casts mimicking the body language. 







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