Project Superficial Entities - The Real vs.

The Virtual

Introduction to Superficial Entities and the chosen research area

This report is an evaluated account of a project in process and its projected outcomes.
This years Advanced Projects provides the opportunity to incorporate all theoretical and
practical knowledge gained in the previous two academic years and applied to a chosen
research area.

This project, Superficial Entities, is a joint practice-led venture by Ryan White and
Gabriele Staraite. What ignited both together and realised that this spatial project can be
embarked upon was not just because of their shared interest in spatial practice, but of
their shared realisation that they are both rigorous learners of theory, and in particular,
have the creative mind-set to lead towards an outcome that is of high technical standard.

On the basis of space, the research question Why are beautiful superficial entities
that exist on London commuter routes so overlooked? heavily questions the
current state of the relationship between the virtual and the real. It is a very common
conundrum that the real has begun to deteriorate into a desperate space where certain
elements of it becomes forgotten because of the rapidly growing of other spaces, in this
projects particular area of exploration the virtual.

The virtual is the biggest, most direct threat to the real itself. Its rapid developments in
certain aspects such as virtual reality and mass market technology has revolutionised
how humans interact with the real world. The projects main focus of the virtual and how
it neglects the real, aims to address the common use of smartphone technology by
humans on geographic journeys. This could be any instances from a commuter using
their phone excessively whilst sitting on a train, to a commuter walking from a
destination train terminus to their place of work. Ryans and Gabbys natural instincts
suggest, having personally observed the behaviours of fellow commuters, that a high
proportion of commuters suffer from excessive smartphone use. Thus, as they are glued
to their smartphones, they most likely ignore the tiny elements of the real.

It is also beauty in the most unexpected ways that are not being recognised which this
projects outcome hopes to raise awareness for. Here are examples - a broken umbrella
on the floor of an urban street after a stormy night, and, a colourful, rainbow-like
masterpiece on the edge of the curb after a stormy night.
A broken umbrella is just a broken umbrella, right? Not quite, it is more than just that.
Many people who commute to work or make a journey to the shops down would not take
particular notice of the object - like it doesnt exist. But the thing is, it does exist and
there is meaning to it. Just think of the journey that umbrella had to take to its end,
abandoned state - it must have taken a battering on that stormy night. That defenceless
person having real trouble with this simple object seriously had a bad time. The reason
this umbrella ending up where it was the day after could be because of one of two ways:
1. That defenceless person struggled so much that he/she decided to give it up, or, 2.
that simple object got battered so much that it escaped the hands of the person and was
taken by the wind that night. Either way, what many people do not necessarily realise,
but the curators of this project do - this story is quite amusing.

Secondly, a rainbow looking puddle on a roads kerb is also superficial and not
appreciated. What is this type of rainbow puddle? Well, according to the web article
What is a rainbow and how are they created?, this puddle is a puddle made of oil and
water from a car. So how does this phenomenon work? Well, the sunlight shines onto
the oil on top and the
water underneath. Figure 1 Broken umbrella (Broken umbrella Google images,
When the sun shines 2017)
on the two liquids and the two rays split and then cross. It looks like there is a rainbow in
the puddle. Since the two rays are always cancelling each other out, it looks like the
colours are changing. (What is a rainbow and how are they created?, 2012)
Figure 2 Rainbow puddle (Rainbow puddle Google Images, 2017)

So, why should people care about this? Well, the answer to that is that it is beautiful. Its
phenomenal how the power of nature integrated with a man-made product (artificial oil)
creates such an expressive masterpiece. In personal observations of these pieces, there
were at least ten of these on a road in a stretch of fifty metres after a stormy night near
the Greenwich Campus. This rainbow example carries the same question as the umbrella
and many other objects in the geographic terrain that sparks interest how is this beauty
neglected? The addressed question being asked in this project is not pointing out the key
issues and addressing them in a negative manner, but addressing the key issues in a
manner that is constructive and positive. It is not about how the relationship between the
virtual and the real are incompatible with each other, its more about how humans can
embrace the relationship in its current state.

Methodology used in this project

In order for this project to have an all-rounded, comprehensive approach, an expansive
area of research has been carried out in spatial theory to fully understand why these
objects are neglected. The research question will be the centre point of our projects
progression. It will be referred to throughout from the outset to the final output. Once the
topic had been finalised in the early stages, the project moved in the phase of
researching around that chosen topic. Much of the research stage involved looking at a
range of sources from many types of means. Means such as:

Primary research
Own observations
Recording both the curators thoughts and opinions of the chosen research area.

Interviews
Organised interviews with a diverse range of individuals that sheds light on the chosen
topic. It is also the opportunity to gather external thoughts of the projects projected
outcomes. The interviews that will be used in this project was a late addition to the
research stage. These are yet to be carried out or even approved, but the curators of this
project are confident that the ethics form will be approved in time by the ethics
committee.

Examples of questions being asked will include: Do you take interest in their
surroundings on the way to your workplace, place of education? Have you realised the
amount of superficial entities that exist? How often do you use your smartphone on your
route to your workplace/place of education? These will be captured in the form of
quantitative research, allowing the participant to fully answer with open answers to give
the curators a full insight into how these superficial objects are perceived.

Secondary research

Literature
Gathering quotes of the thoughts of other curators/authors in an exploration of the topic
area. This also sheds light on the topic and allows the research approach to be varied and
detailed. This type of research must be approached with an open mind. Despite the
author seeing sense in their research topic, some literature can come across biased and
untrue. This should be used in a primary role but in conjunction with other sources of
research. Types of literature include novels, research journals, magazine articles, plus
much more.

Internet sourced literature

The world wide web provides a very expansive platform to digest literature, personal
opinion and evidence of related practice. This is an effective and less time consuming
method of sourcing research. However, it has been widely said that not all information
shown is true, so it will be approached with extreme caution in the research phase of this
project. Much of this literature found online is in the form of web articles, blogging
forums, comments on social media and video material on sites such as YouTube and
Facebook.

Related practice
This type of secondary research is important to be able to source inspiration for this
projects projected outcomes. This is a practical representation of the explored topic in
question. All of this related practice will be gathered from Internet based sources and
print journals/novels as well as outputs showcased at galleries in London.

Overall research approach

The overall research approach will consist of all these methods, but the main primary
ones that will be used the most are interviews, observations and literature. These
methods have been chosen because this project intends to have an insightful, unbiased
and balanced research stage and outcome. This project will use both Internet based and
print based sources but will ensure that the research is authentic and useful to the
research area.

Literature review
This projects topic of research benefits from a vast range of literature that provides a
deep exploration of both realities. The key topic of exploration that has been deeply
explored is the emergence and the position of virtual space in the modern era.

Resisting The Virtual Life (The Culture and Politics of Information) by James Brook and
Iain A. Boal is an insightful book that certainly contributes to the exploration. The novel
gives the opportunity to enable wishful thinking into the occurring effect of smartphone
technology in todays modern society. The interesting quotation about its effect from
Howard Rheingold, enthusiast of cyberspace We do everything people do when people
get together, but we do it with words on computer screens, leaving our bodies behind
(Brook et al., 1995, preface ix) sheds an insightful, articulate personal view of human
behaviour in social situations. The virtual mentioned here seems to be portrayed as a
world humans escape to. In Visual Culture Reader by Nicholas Mirzoef, Nicholas reacts
to this quote by suggesting that this disappearing body supposedly enables infinite self-
recreation and/or disengagement and that it begs the question - Where am I really.
(Mirzoef, 2003, p.245) Are humans that escape to the virtual actually still living in the
moment that is occurring in the real? Its a fact that humans are physically still in the real
but their escapism into the virtual is one that they mentally visit.

Another touching topic from Resisting The Virtual Life touches upon the hysteria the
media and celebrities in-particular portray themselves. The rise of the virtual makes it
likely [that people] will begin to confuse the representations with original objects and
what they represent As digital images can be altered, how can the viewer be sure the
picture they are seeing isnt manipulated? (Brook et al., 1995, p.67) Take, for instance,
Justin Biebers Calvin Klein photoshoot. It is an exact instance that this occurs. The
virtual is used as a tool to transform a human being into someone they are physically
not. What we see below, compared to what we see in real life is totally different. This is
the virtuals perception that showcases this. (MTV, 2015)

Figure 3 Justin Bieber (MTV, 2015)

The exploration of geographical areas was also a necessary area of research that
required exploration as our main research question focuses on a specific geographical
area. Virtual Geographies (bodies, space and relations) by Mike Crang, Phil Crang and
Jon May was also an insightful read that touched upon urban landscapes. In the section
Streets and the privatisation of space, it touches deeply on the development of urban
space through the excessive constructions of large shopping malls and cultural spaces.
As said by Boddy in 1992, Pedestrian routes and their attached towers, shopping
centres, food fairs and cultural complexes provide a filtered version of the experience of
cities, a simulation of urbanity. (Crang et al., 1999, p.111) Boddy sees this filtered
version as a danger to fundamental activities, such activities like people walking along
streets that is still in use now. These mismatched developments of shopping malls are
truly revolutionary, manmade additions to the contemporary landscape we see now.

The Plastic Bag scene in American Beauty was another source of inspiration that
influences this project because it raises awareness for a superficial entity. Its powerful
representation of the plastic bag flowing in various directions portrays a sense of hope, a
sense of nothing should be feared. Many passers-by would not take one notice at the
object, but it represents in many occasions what the average human goes through
getting thrown around in different directions by many different forces, with many humans
feeling like they have no meaningful purpose in their lives. (QuestionUreReality, 2011)

The associated soundtrack, American Beauty by Thomas Newman, has an important

influence in the way the audience feels consuming this emotive scene. It is subtle and
touching throughout, a complete contrast to the object, but a work of art. The curators of
this project listens to this instrumental soundtrack when they are stressed, lonely, and
sad. It makes them realise that staring into the abyss makes you appreciate the overall
beauty of the world. (Newman, 1999)

The web article Im With Stupid: How The Internet Is Dumbing Down the Next
Generation is a short statistical oriented report that deeply looks at the effects of
technology on the children of today and how their start to life is much easier than
decades before. The author presents this report to spark a debate at just how dangerous
technology is to the younger generations. (Marshall, 2013) Gabrieles observation of a
story once told by a friend feeds in to this debate. Her friend once told how her Father
(who used to be in the military) used tablets and very advanced technology way before it
has been introduced to the mass markets. Many would say its because of how expensive
and sensitive the technology is as the reason for it to be released several years later
but some would say that this technology was held back, waiting for a frenzied moment in
politics where the technology would then be released to the world to ensure that it
distracts the citizens from the corruptions and scandals that happen in government. Both
Ryan and Gabriele have their own suspicions. Its very interesting how the very basic
home phone developed into a device which is capable of making calls, sending emails,
browsing the web basically a computer that fits in your pocket. To us, it is a very short
time in developing this such technology. There must have been a hidden reason to
develop these capabilities quickly? Many conspiracy theorists believed that the main
reason for this vast increase of technological means in such a short space of time was
because the human race was coming across far too intelligent for the world
establishments liking in the late 20th Century.

Survey of related practice

 Vast amounts of related practice are in existence that bases much of their foundation on
space. One favourite example that this project definitely benefits from is an application
that is available on the iOS and Android app stores called the drive app. This app was
created by a large movement of people that are spread throughout the globe. One of its
main pioneers is Eduardo Cachucho, an artist and architect based in Brussels and
Johannesburg. What the Drive app does is allow its users to explore an urban
environment in a unique and different way - It takes the ideals of the Situationists and
merges it with digital means in order to create a tool that would imply an exploration of
urban space in a random unplanned way as a game. The task cards that are dealt are
created with the intention of heightening the experience of the city for the user, by
calling them out to search for specific architectural, urban or social points of interest,
thus allowing users of the application to see their urban spaces in a diferent light.
(Miller, 2012)
This app is the single closest concept possible to this projects main output of an app-
based walkthrough. However, the app-based output in this project is a journey of
discovery in a limited geographical environment whereas this derive app is a journey of
discovery posed as a game in the geographical area of a whole city.

Another example of a related practice where the concept of The Drive is carried out is
on an amateur video called Tittle The Drive by YouTuber Jeremy Tittle. The entirety of
the video consists of the camera panning at the surrounding environment of the journey
the YouTuber would normally take. This is a clear example how much of the small
elements that are shown are not noticed in real life. (Tittle, 2016)

Figure 4 The Drive app (Miller, 2012)

Figure 5 The Deriv (Tittle, 2016)

This projects research has benefited from good examples of practice regarding the idea
of the flneur. One great example shown is flneur // a film about the city by YouTuber
meara. With the description describing this as a university project, it clearly
demonstrates the idea of the flaneur. They intelligently use the bench in the centre of the
shot as a metaphor for the concept of the flneur as defined in their description, noun
a man who saunters around observing society. (meara, 2015) It inspires curators to
think more out of the box when it comes to visualising their final outputs as the result of
their research.

We also took a visit to White Cube Bermondsey where there were outdoor projections of
animations by Christian Marclay in October. These animations are outputs originating
from the same research area we are exploring. It intelligently showcases objects that
have no significant value once they have been used (for instance, cigarette butts and
bottle caps) and presents an unusual animation of these objects being used backwards.
So, for example, a cigarette butt shaping back from its end state. The purpose of these
animations is to give these superficial entities a new lease of life, transformed in the
virtual, where it would not be possible in the real. These objects were collected from a
series of walks around London (which also feeds in to how similar Christians area of
research is to this projects research).
Description and evaluation of practice and outcomes so far,
against research question

From the outset, this research of spatial theory in geographical areas needed an output
that embraces the relationship between virtual and real space. Not only embraces, but
integrates the two spaces together to
show a pro-active alternative that Figure 6 Plastic lid (Cube, 2017)
helps people take notice of these
superficial entities. Supervisory
sessions with David allowed this
project to do just that and develop the
main output into an augmented
product. It allowed the project to
distinguish and seek a pro-active representation of commuter problems and the
ignorance of superficial objects.

The app-based output is the main output that showcases this relationship. It will be a
presented video walkthrough of an application in action and will consist of a series of
walks around the geographical area of Greenwich Park and Greenwich Maritime in a style
of a poetic, with its main feature being the virtual technology augmented reality. It will
be a navigational product that highlights in the surrounding environments where the
superficial entities are situated. The app picks up in live state, information about the
surroundings - providing alternatives to the usual routes that the local authorities (such
as the council) wants you to take to your destination.

Once each superficial entity is approached one by one, an animation occurs on screen
which brings the meaningless entity to life. Be it an ordinary weed on the sidewalk that
blossoms into a flower, or a litter bag coming to life. This project benefits from the
implementation of augmented reality because the technology provides a sense of the
virtual interacting with the real. Its final output will successfully show this relationship in
a progressive, alternate manner. The poetic style will be applied throughout the output
that will allow the output to grasp the audiences attention and flourish as an expressive
piece that raises awareness.

This main app-based output will be supplemented by a web-based product and a print-
based magazine. The web-based product will showcase a gallery with these animations
put into effect and superficial entities that have been discovered around the geographic
area of Greenwich. Imagery of alternative journeys will be displayed on this platform.
Photo-editing software Adobe Photoshop and video editing/animation software products
Adobe Premiere Pro and Adobe After effects will be used to create the powerful
representation of superficial entities in the chosen environment.

The print-based output will contain near identical content to the web-based output, but it
will show an even more powerful interpretation of these superficial entities in the
surrounding environments. It benefits from a much simpler presentation compared to the
app-based and web-based outputs, as it is intended to become a viable alternative to this
eras common means of everyday consumption. Adobe InDesign and Adobe Photoshop
will be heavily used in the construction of the magazine.

The imagery that has been taken for these outputs will be ensured to not be staged to
allow the awareness to be authentic in the edit process. This is to allow the content used
to be represented as if they were seen in the real life.

These three outputs (app-based, web-based

and print-based) will ultimately shape the
projects research outcomes. It will be a
summarised, all-rounded outcome that will
be achieved and worked towards in this
project.

To help these outputs evolve into a strong,

suitable concept, group critiques in the three
weeks of late January into early February
were carried out. This opportunity allowed
project curators to experiment and use their
creative mind sets and come up with a
concept that is in relation to their research
area, but with a twist; creating a concept
with other curators who might have differing
research questions but same related Figure 7 Group Crits (2017)
research area. Both curators of this project
participated in this along with Jana, Jack and Sage by producing a physical installation
that represents the concept of space and body. The umbrella object was used to identify
our research question and show the umbrella story example I spoke about earlier in this
report. Overall, it received great comments from David and Stephen as it was a close
representation of what all are research topics are all about.

Having reached a conclusion to this projects in-depth research against our research
question, we notice that this projects outcome is having a huge influence from the
flneur and the concept of the drive. It is felt that these are the clear alternatives to
ignoring superficial entities. Both of these are heavily revolved around the art of taking a
walk and being observant of the surrounding environments. The drive is more
influenced in the concept of our app-based output because this project wants to
showcase an alternative to the usual routines of the travelling public. The flneur on the
other hand has more of a broader influence of our research topic all together -
questioning the current state of observations by humans of the smallest things. The
exhibition of all these outputs will be ensured to showcase a physical object (similar to
the umbrella in the group critiques) as well as the three outputs to show a physical
representation to the audience of what type of object is ignored in todays modern
society.

Bibliography

Brook, J., Brook, J., and Boal, I. (1995) Resisting the virtual life: The culture and politics of
information. San Francisco: City Lights Books.

Crang, M., Crang, P., and May, J. (1999) Virtual Geographies (bodies, space and relations).
Psychology Press.

Cube, W. (2017) Christian Marclay Bermondsey outdoor projection 2016. Available at:
http://whitecube.com/exhibitions/christian_marclay_bermondsey_outdoor_projection_201
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Flickr Available at: https://farm4.staticflickr.com/3282/2453915505_97797be1c8_z.jpg?

zz=1 (Accessed: 11 February 2017).

Marshall, C. (2013) Im with stupid: How the Internet is Dumbing down the next
generation. State of Digital. Available at: http://www.stateofdigital.com/how-the-internet-
is-dumbing-down-the-next-generation/ (Accessed: 2 March 2017).

Flaneur // a film about the city. (2015) Directed by meara. YouTube. Available at:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uBuwR8WZpgE (Accessed: 21 February 2017).

Miller, L. (2012) What is Drive app. Drive app. Available at:

http://deriveapp.com/s/v2/about/ (Accessed: 18 February 2017).

Mirzoeff, N. (2003) The Visual Culture Reader. 2nd edn. London: Taylor & Francis.
MTV A PHOTO RETOUCHER WEIGHS IN ON THAT UNRETOUCHED JUSTIN BIEBER CALVIN
KLEIN AD. Available at:
http://mtv.mtvnimages.com/uri/mgid:file:http:shared:public.articles.mtv.com/wp-
content/uploads/2015/01/justin-bieber-calvin-klein-retouching-1-1420828240.jpg
(Accessed: 23 February 2017).

Newman, T. (1999) American Beauty.

AMERICAN BEAUTY ~ plastic bag scene [HD]. (2011) Directed by QuestionUreReality.
YouTube. Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qssvnjj5Moo (Accessed: 23
February 2017).
Tittle the derive. (2016) Directed by Jeremy Tittle. YouTube. Available at:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t0Oh4T6lmt0 (Accessed: 21 February 2017).

What is a rainbow and how are they created? Available at:

https://researchthetopic.wikispaces.com/What+is+a+rainbow+and+how+are+they+cre
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