RBBC

Having a little lie down during Tunnel Vision Testing take 2! Is there even much to see up there?

We've been picking out details and doing drawings, in the hope that the other can locate the detail through the marks in the building. We've been mapping the routes and recording the times. Have you ever noticed this section of the Barbican Arts Centre before? Would you be able to locate it and take us to it? 

Details of paper bag head adventures soon!  

DUCKS 1st encounter. R: Look, there's ducks. Where did they come from? B: Oh yeah! R: I guess those are ducklings with their fluffy little feathers. B: Look at their wee feet! R: The little ones aren't so good at feeding. Mum is just watching away" ... 2nd encounter. B: Oh hello duck friends! R: Ducks! 

A wee bit of super-speedy success in a location spotting test. Chuffed.  "I feel I'm walking more purposefully. I think I recognise the setup. There's only one place I've seen bottles so I'm heading to that place."

Our trusty tunnel-vision viewer has been in the wars. But a wee patch up and he's as good as new and ready for another day.

The Barbican is a big space. Like a city you have never visited before. How easy is it to become familiar with such a space? Is it easier to familiarise yourself with a restricted zone? Tunnel vision within a larger space. How long does it take? What counts as 'being familiar'? We've made some tunnel vision goggles to try help us understand. A nice wee bit of DIY-ware modification via the trusty cereal box. Each guided blind to a spot and given 5 seconds to see. And then draw. How familiar did we get? How well did we remember? Is it just a memory test? How much of familiarity is intertwined with memory? Memories of what you see and smell and taste and hear. Memories that tell you how to get from here to there. Can you be familiar with the layout of a space but not with the decor? Do different people notice different things? What sort of a familiar are you? 

What does familiarity mean to you?

Wee lost thing with a tape deck meandering around a macbook central space.

Getting ready to begin the testing. I feel like it'd be apt if we had lab coats.

'In a sealed off space, where you lose your sense of direction, where youre thrown off balance, where the world is a whirl, the only thing you can do is concentrate your hearing, to become at ease again.'

'..While memories in synch with the archetypal concept of the venue induce the expansion of the subconscious, constructing an aesthetic of imagined memories in relation to the venue.'

We're part of the Hack the Barbican project. There's lots of really interesting and exciting projects happening in and around the building throughout August. Pop by. And if you see us, come see if you can help us become Famillionaires!