Laboratory on Writing Day 2 : MA History and Critical Thinking

Day 2: An Attempt at Exhausting a Place in London Date: 11th February 2014 Time: 09:17 (AM) Location: London Euston Station The second you step in to London Euston you are faced with an overwhelming oversaturation of ‘stuff’; people, signs, shops, products, food, other means of transport, bags…

-Euston is a busy space, yet everyone is waiting. Stillness. People spaced evenly apart, all staring at the big black screen, orange lit text burning tired eyes. Heavy heads held up at an angle, scared to blink – have to be the first person to see when the platform is announced, got to make that train, what if its busy, how does anyone know who is waiting for what train - got to get a seat.

09:20 – Train leaving for Manchester Piccadilly. The platform, a single fluorescent digit flicks on to the gigantic screen. Not a second to waste, a brief moment of panic ensues amongst the staring crowd, bags are whisked off the floor, tickets clenched in sticky cold hands, a few dropped coats delaying the start of some…the chase is on.

There are some subtle rules of conduct here; people try not to show the level of adrenaline and panic they feel (its only a train), so they insist on walking, fast, but nobody runs, you can’t just run. Speed walking, elbows out, crossing in front of old ladies, stepping precariously over small children is considered much more appropriate. But the pain on peoples faces as they try so hard to show restraint is evident.

So the waiting crowd is quickly decimated.

There are people hanging around the entrances of the garishly coloured shops, luring people in with their transparent filaments, invisible wires and hooks catching into people’s eyes as they remember that they really ought to bring their mother something…or that they may have forgotten their toothpaste at home.

Faces in Boots debating whether the hotel will have mini shampoos or not... perplexed brows thinking ‘shall I buy one, just in case? I mean its not like it goes off...’ And for whatever event you are travelling to, there is a card in Paperchase to suit. So distressed about the funeral that you didn’t get anything to say ‘My condolences’? Or perhaps your best friend called shrieking with joy that she’s pregnant, and you have 15 minutes to spare and there’s a convenient amount of change for a cutesy ‘Congratulations’ card (preferably with some sort of small baby animal on it) in your pocket.

Or you could go and buy a nice bottle of wine, its acceptable first thing on a Saturday morning, after all the friend you’re going to stay with just texted, he did land that dream job and of course, you have to toast and have a tipple to that.

-M&S, the dispenser of ‘fancy’ supermarket sandwiches at stations all across the country. Euston station has the most stupid queue/doorway system; people obviously mostly visit the M&S in the station for a cheese and pickle sandwich on the fly and you have to go through the whole shop, weaving around amongst the different types of foodstuffs excuse yourself as you shove past the queue of people paying, and by that time you’ve realised that the train will probably leave without you. I guess this is not just any cheese and pickle sandwich mind you; this is yews milk, 3 month-aged Shropshire mature with a rocket garnish on a 6 grain slice of bread with a light smothering of

Hereford purple carrot chutney seasoned with cracked pepper, this isn’t just a sandwich, it’s an M&S sandwich.

Possibly the least populated part of Euston is the ticket area, there are 25 pillar-box-red self-ticket machines in working order. It’s a large space. The machines line the circumference, quietly. There are only about 4 people in here. Some just killing time, walking around the ‘undiscovered’ nooks of the station.

-Why do most business lounges use signage that is in some way reminiscent of cruise ships?

- There is always a group of children, sat on the floor cross-legged (its only acceptable to occupy the floor as seating en-mass in train stations and airports I feel – the non-places) eating chips and chicken nuggets, still wearing their rucksacks. Not the same children, just a pattern of groups 10-15 strong quiet and content; eating a ‘treat’ for their day out. They leave the floor reluctantly once a flustered teacher/carer has looked at the all-knowing sign for long enough to give the signal to go.

Sallow skin and darkened eyes wait in a daze at the mini Burger King counter. They didn’t go home last night…this morning is a continuation of the big night, they aren’t sure how they got to the station, its too early to start recalling last nights events- a cocktail of grease, carbs and caffeine is as eagerly awaited as their aching limbs can muster.

There is a small group of people, also waiting at the big sign, this time more scattered…they don’t have bags, or tickets…they don’t look flustered whilst juggling neon coloured travel pillows, magazines and their scattered personal belongings- they hold phones, or have hands in pockets. They pace slowly. These are the people waiting for the arrivals, and at train stations (unlike airports) they don’t tend to run arms-wide-open.

The ride on cleaning machine that looks like the love child of a quad and the rollers of a car wash blips past. Chinese tourists didn’t see it coming; they stand still in a stupor looking for the taxi sign.

They always have those 360, 4-wheeled suitcases. They wont fit those on the escalators.

The columns on the big sign are refreshed, the all move to the left by one. Another batch of waiting raised heads and squinting eyes drop to quickly dash towards platform 16, that one is the furthest one. The Birmingham New Street train platform is announced. Passengers, show no mercy.

-M. Audisio

Caitlin Daly Day 2: Stories at of a Museum There is a strange sort of isolation within this hall. Resonating with the voices of strangers the static bustle of the multitude reverberates off the unforgiving stone. We must hurry.

Where? I do not know. To stay is unforgivable. I am in the way. In the way of what, of whom? I am not sure. These people, this endless stream of people coming through that door, the one over there, or perhaps it are the one behind me. I do not know.

People in masks. Am I to be afraid? Do I ask? They scamper away their eyes straight ahead.

Hurry along; do not question. We shall not ask. You should not ask those questions, it is not nice. Not nice to question, or not nice to know. Are we afraid to know, or just to ask? Why do we not stop to question? Are we afraid of rejection? Do not question! Do not stare!

Waiting. I am here waiting for someone. Why have they not arrived yet? I will not look desperate and check my phone. I will simply just stand and wait. Patiently wait. I do not need to look around, I have done that before. Enough! Why wait any longer? There is no point to this. I wait for no one.

Around and around like a merry-go-round. Idle laps of people in a rainbow of styles circle the exhibit hall. The circular dance of the lunchtime waltz set to the rhythm of syncopated metallic drums. A chorus of cheery children infiltrates this sombre dance. Dissipating all too quickly as they skip around the corner out of sight.

In front of me is a quasi-rectangular space, composed by the round information counter, a statue of a very small Roman on a very small horse, and two perpendicular benches – one of which I am sitting on.

11:36. On my left a man tries to stuff his umbrella into its bag, which he then stuffs into a Sainsbury‘s plastic bag, which he then puts into his rucksack.

In front of the equestrian statue lies a small slip of paper. (How long will it stay there? Will somebody pick it up?)

12:06. I am going to get something to eat.

12:32. My seat is still (or again) unoccupied.

The small paper slip is still there. It seems to sit right in the centre of one of the floor tiles.

It is fifteen tiles away from me.

A group of students walks over it, but their steps do not touch it.

It is a bent piece of paper [POP] of about 3 by 3 cm (it is hard to tell from my position.)

It is pink (or maybe it is red on the one side and white on the other.)

A man who is talking on the phone is walking in circles or rather ellipses around it. He steps on it. And again. He disappears.

The POP has not been straightened by his step.

(What is it? A ticket maybe? What is the most common type of PsOP lying on the ground?)

Winston Hampel

Nothing happens around the POP. (It looks even smaller when it lies around all by itself – like a small island on the ocean.) The man with the phone returns.

He is still talking.

A group of students galumphes over the POP. It is stepped on about 3 or 4 times. (Not that often compared to the 30 pupils.)

The angle of the POP has slightly changed.

The man on the phone seems to finish his call.

He disappears behind me.

The POP and I sit on the same row of floor tiles. So do the POP and the statue of the Roman rider.

The man is coming back. He is on the phone again and walks straight towards the POP. He abruptly stops and returns.

A girl with a bag and a beanie determinedly heads towards the POP. She deviates two meters in front of it, and heads towards the eastern portico.

The view is blocked by the legs of the teacher of a class of pupils that is standing in front of me. …

The POP is still there as stagnant as ever.

(Would somebody have paid attention to it, if it would have been a banknote?)

The POP is still there.

Another horde of pupils is trampling over the POP. It is not even touched.

A sport shoe almost steps on the POP.

The tour leaves. The POP is unaltered.

13:43. A woman takes a picture of the statue.

(Is the POP unwittingly eternalised on it?)

A foot hovers over it for a second but then lowers right next to it.

The phone man is back.

He is still conversing.

He has a name tag.

(Does he work for the museum? Is the area around the POP his regular phone conversation spot?)

A girl with a bag and a beanie (a different one) inattentively kicks it. It moves about 30 cm.

The sun comes out.

Diffuse shadows appear. The POP is not illuminated.

Another girl approaches from the other direction and her shoes move it back to where it was before.

A man with the same name tag as the talkative guy walks by the POP (most probably the tag bears a different name).

Two boys wrestle next to it.

A group of students forms a circle over it.

They sit down – one of them right on it. The POP is gone. …

They get up. The POP flutters back to the ground.

A woman with a long coat and two shopping bags unawarely kicks it towards the entrance of the restrooms. It looks a bit bent.

A man in a snowboard jacket steps on it.

Nothing changes.

A rose rucksack with butterflies on it blocks my view. The bearer belongs to a tour that sets of around me.

The POP is still there.

The guy is still on the phone.

14:07. I am getting something to drink. …

14:16. I come back.

The POP is still there.

(My seat has been taken by pupils on blue uniforms.)

I look up from taking the above note and the piece of paper is gone. …

14:19.

…

The view is blocked again.

(Below my feet there is another slip of paper.)

…

…

11.2.2014 British Museum Inner Courtyard

A Day at the Races Maarten Lambrechts

Entrance hall of the British Museum 12 February 2014, between 11 am and 3 pm Area in between storage room and Canadian memorial poles (also elevator, postcards, tables of restaurant, souvenir shop) Approximately 35 visitors pass per minute

The following is a recording of events happening within the zone in between the museum restaurant’s storage room and Chief Luyaa’as’s memorial poles. The movement in between these two places is perpendicular to the general movement of the mass.

This causes people to pause, even for a very short time, and out of those pauses little narratives evolve.

The place of the entrance hall is therefore defined as much by scenes of interruption as it is by its constant flow.

Two boys interrupt the flow by fighting each other to get to the museum shop first.

A woman stops while talking on the phone (10 seconds), then starts walking again.

Two men look at the poles. They were actually waiting for a woman.

A boy pauses, struggling with a water bottle. A painful expression on his face. Moves away without having opened the bottle.

A group of school children sitting at the elevator gets up and leaves because their teacher asked them to.

The boy with the bottle re-appears, but without the bottle.

An old man takes pictures of the poles. His wife stands at a column.

A woman loses her handkerchief but no-one notices.

The old man has been taking pictures of the poles for over ten minutes. His wife looks a bit annoyed, still standing at the column. They leave after a good fifteen minutes.

Another man points at a map with his hat. Then helps his wife to put on her coat.

A waiter and cleaner have a brief chat.

The cleaner swipes the lost handkerchief away.

A tired old man passes by slowly.

A boy with a notebook studies the description plaques of the poles for 5 minutes. Then looks at the poles for three minutes. Walks away while still looking at the poles.

The boy with the notepad returns to the poles with a girl, pointing out different parts.

A couple is waiting for the elevator.

A woman struggles to carry six or more jackets.

Two large groups of children cross. No problems occur.

A waitress meets a waiter in the storage room. They have a little chat.

A woman pushing an empty wheelchair turns around, stops, turns back. She stands still now, looking for someone or something. She goes to another woman in a wheelchair, then returns back to the entrance while looking left and right.

A man looks at the poles. I recognize him from passing by earlier. He and his son look at a map, while their wives and a little girl sit at a table.

The little girl loses her ball while playing. A woman stops to pick it up.

The storage room opens. The waiter almost bumps into a girl.

A man looks at a woman looking at the poles. He walks around her and takes a picture of the poles. They both leave at the same time.

A girl is looking at postcards.

A man is looking out of the storage room for a while and then leaves.

The girl decides on a postcard, but then puts it back again.

Empty milk carriage going back to storage room.

The little girl’s ball almost rolls into the storage room. (Granddad saves the day.)

An old couple steps out of elevator, slowly.

Almost everyone slows down to look at the little girl playing with her bal.

A girl and boy are hugging each other while waiting for the elevator.

Four guys stand before the poles, each of them taking a picture.

A man is trying to take a picture of the poles. He struggles with his camera. Walks away.

Two waiters leave the storage room. They have put back on their regular clothes. End of shift at 3 pm.

Two women look at the postcards. A man is standing behind them, waiting.

A man sits on the ground, takes his son on his knee and shows him the poles.

A girl looks at the postcards.

Garbage is taken to the storage.

Another girl waits for the elevator, but walks away when the doors open.

The girl who’s looking at postcards has been standing there for nine minutes, but makes no choice after all and walks away.

The other girl returns and decides to take the elevator anyway.

!

Marzia Marzorati 11th February 2014 Design by words - Day 2 MA HCT Laboratory on Writing with Fabrizio Gallanti and Marina Lathouri

THE IDIOM OF THEIR CAMERAS

!

!

!

An Asian girl quickly passes through the central entrance. She wears a green fur-hooded coat. A bob cut frames her face. Her hair is raven-black. She does not stop, and she surely does not look around herself. She just keeps on rapidly walking, while taking multiple pictures with her brandnew reflex camera. She soon disappears around the left corner. Duration of her stay nearby the entryway: 9 seconds.

A daddy asks his blonde, young girl to pose. He kneels down, while his daughter forces herself to keep still. The actual framing does not reach more than 120 centimeters height. The kid smiles, while her chin strapped, colored hat blatantly stands out the monochromatic background. The snap finally crystallizes a happy child in front of an advertisement sign by Samsung.

A Japanese teenager. Her red shoes fractures an otherwise total black outfit. She levels her pointand-shoot camera to the roofing. Before recording, she inclines a stuffed dinosaur towards the lens. She laughs, then she presses the button. She looks at her flying fuddy-duddy from the Cretaceous cutting off Foster’s postmodern roof. She laughs again, while taking out a map of the museum.

A guy is taking a picture to a group of five girlfriends sitting on the right main stairs. They are all smiling, they are all surrounded by steps. The horizon is a stretch of white concrete.

Dozens of pupils. Average height: 140 centimeters. They run everywhere, visibly excited.

Unfailingly, they get a shot of every, possible angle of the building. The left corner of the hall, where their teachers has gathered them for lunch, is a triumph of flashes. A boy tips his Canon on

the right. Untimely, artistic velleity. The transparent, ethereal roof finally emerges as a lopsided, preposterous perimeter wall.

A window on the second floor fronts onto the entire great court. A handful of people looks out. A teenager girl is taking several selfie portraits with her mobile phone. Strangely, the framing remains always the same. As does her expression. Someone else, in the meantime, rapidly captures some random pics of the threshold. They all soon disappear.

A middle-aged couple. The man is wearing technical clothes, and a red fanny pack. The wife promptly asks him to take a picture of the quote by Tennyson written on the floor. ‘and let thy feet / millenniums hence / be set in midst of knowledge’. He grumbles, but he eventually obeys. Not without disconsolately looking up to the sky.

Two totems raise to the roofing. Behind them, a river of people who eats. An English, blond guy gets closer. He wears kaki plus fours. He pulls out a professional Nikon from his olive backpack.

He tries to capture both the totems in their entirety and the roofing. He keeps distancing himself,.

After a couple of minutes and uncountable attempts, he just gives up. No perfect shot here.

A French, young woman is face-timing a friend. She focuses on one of the sculpture on the lateral wing of the passageway. The actual frame does not last more than a second: she immediately twists her I-Phone one more time towards the roofing. She leaves the doorway without looking back.

‘A Day’

By Yanisa NIennattrakul TIME: 11:05 Position: at the entrance/exit (next to the left end of the column)

Grey sky appears behind Norman Foster‟s lattice design of the great courtyard.

In front, two western tourists take panorama picture of the great courtyard turning himself 180 degree. His friend is holding an umbrella walked semicircular clockwise away from the phone.

He checks. He takes again. This repeats 3 times. This time his friend stands at the same position.

A man takes a picture of a map sign so he doesn‟t have to pay for 2 pounds.

The same man moves out from the map sign and „Selfie‟ himself—at the center of open space full of people as background. Instead of symmetrical lattice

One couple holds a white phone Selfie of the courtyard assuming this angle take a view of the lattice above.

One-two-three he counts.

First activity is putting out camera-angle it finding angles and takes his final shot which can‟t depict any detail or compositions

Green jacket man slides his Iphone taking panorama 6 seconds off and spends couples of minutes on uploading, instragraming?

200 away taking without any views from my angle what‟s he taking?

Colourful coats- pink, white, green, blue keeps swapping their positions in angles and posting with his legs. Swopt again to get the best picture. I can‟t see the difference. After satisfy they walk pass.

New comer, alone, a shot, selfie, takes again, panorama.

Chinese man with a strong flash. Move position a bit. Check the photo. Walk back. Take the last shot before leaving.

Japanese student? Assuming by his peace sign fingers post. Take a last quick shot.

Another Flash. Step back, Step back, Step back to frame the symmetrical composition.

“Can you please take a photo for me?” Japanese tourists bend her body. Set the hair posting, Showing the map as a prop. Peace sign. Definitely Japanese.

Chinese arranging 180 degrees of his camera. Finding a nice perspective. He gives up and walks

Flash or lightening

One couple angle the camera to the curvature where I can remember I used to take it)

Panorama application in Iphone is popular.

Same spot at the entrance, when see the courtyard first time, unexpectedly put out the camera at the same time.

With brand Identity: Canon, Nikon, ipad with a pink case, Samsung Galaxy.

A man next to me is trying to find a perspective and away from my framework. He disappears from the column.

Machine‟s hanging on the neck

A scotch shirt man keep repeating his position, adjust camera, step back, adjust camera, step back.

Everyone looks up, even Alvaro.

Start to look into camera screen. The top of the lattice and curvature, similar to post card images selling in 5x10 grid rack in the souvenirs shop in the museum.

Kissing for wedding photographs. Young couples came with a professional photographers lay down on the floor look up. Did they have a first date here?

At 11:50 photographs moment stops. I stop.

Time 12:08 Position: Café (Lunch Break)

A man in front with black suit takes photo of a shot of great courtyard and sits still. Bored. Taking photos while he‟s sitting alone.

The girl at the top of the center is still there. Set up her hair. She still looks at her phone. Its 12:31. Indian guy set 45 degree to the courtyard. Step back. An old man looks at him. Everyone stops and begins to take the same position. Not as I expect, not the lattice of the ceiling, it‟s a totem column

The woman is still there.

I am distracted by flash light.

At the café counter, last minute photos of 3 girls whether she uses front or back camera.

I saw many red-red Coca-Cola cans, red bags, red sweaters, red mineral water caps.

I forgot to notice the woman. She already left.

His son came. The man in front takes picture of his half Asian son while eating a banana cake. He puts the camera on the table. A Canon camera.

Japanese in uniforms with same style duffle coats. Kids in uniform walked pass.

Everyone wears tourist uniform. Coat, Sweater, Scarf with a camera.

Kids noise. Conversation noise. Humming music from a newcomer man.

Itâ€&#x;s 12:59. A man takes a same spot of the woman playing his phone. Still playing? Uploading photos?

A girl is posting to his dad with a repetitive sign of British museum words, Enlightenment.

The man upstairs is still there. I think I will go up there.

TIME: 13:05 POSITION: Upstairs at the center of the courtyard.

Mission to follow the man to his position

Itâ€&#x;s 13:05. The man left. At the right one couple takes the angle of the stairs

The man downstairs looks up and turn camera to me.

Kids in uniform.

A woman in brown taking

A sitting man with the hood takes photo up from the floor to way out sign.

Kids in another uniform holding blue and black folders

Wonder if someone documents my position.

Woman with glasses take a photo of sculpture but walk pass another one.

People walk pass with their uniform

The woman with a neon shirt from the cafĂŠ, moves her hand, embracing the stair. Her red shirt husband step back. Swopt and step back.

Someone sleep at the column. Two Japanese boys take photo of them.

Marzia sit left side to me and starts to take herself a selfie

Moving towards the popular spot.

From here, the frame will appear as a black square void. A hole definitely for taking pictures.

The same neon women stand at the spot. She stands right next to me and asked me to move. They discuss about the perspective

Then she moves to my previous spot where I used to stand with the combination of icon, columns, and totem.

Sunshines from the cloud

Move out more than in

Design by Words: Laboratory on Writing with Fabrizio Gallanti and Marina Lathouri MA History and Critical Thinking February 2014 MarĂ­a JosĂŠ Orihuela Description II

11:10 THE FIRST GO AROUND  YELLOW DUCKIE o Egyptian o Roman o Gladiator o Samurai Every container filled, who buys these?

Mood: Exploring 11:15 AT THE TABLE BEHIND THE TOTEM STATUES  3 women eating; having a conversation  2 girls drinking a beverage; on their cellphones as the coffee gets cold and the diet coke warm  A lady 2 coffees down (one large, one espresso); sketching, I think the window  A couple eating; while on the phone  7 kids, alternating between eating chips, fiddling with a (D)SLR, sketching, pulling up their pants.

HARROGATE canned Coke Proper corn SPRING WATER Bottled orange juice STILL

The 3 women leave  An elderly couple with their grandchild/child I can’t see her face; drinking coffee/tea and sharing a cheesecake 3 visible spots to discard rubbish The girls have finished their drinks but not discarded their containers; they still have work on their phone. The one with the glasses may need to get her eyes checked.

The boys leave.

Ah! Daughter then.

The lady sketching has moved on to what I presume is the back of the Totem pole.

The couple is the least interesting target The family of 3 leaves, without putting away their rubbish.

A new group of 6 obstruct my view of the girls The lady sitting next to me is done sketching; she puts her charcoal pencil back in its tin box, uses a wet wipe to clean her hands and the table and leaves without throwing away her two used cups.

Ow! Cute tiny bady!!! Eating a cookie… trying to eat a cookie.

It’s a quiche, and a sibling on the way. Now the grandma caught me making faces, time to get a snack.

Oh God they are still playing on their phone.

Ah the girls have left! Spotted by 2 classmates; one that can’t open the sandwich package, one that is writing with one hand and eating with the other.

Nope! They were in the giftshop, I could trade my location now.

Mood: Need a change in location and subject

12:24 WALKING AROUND THE GIFT SHOP

ART TO WEAR Buy 2 get 1 free Half price when you spend over 10

MASTERPIECES BOOK

Mummy Tin with chocolate

Mood: Whimsical; lost interest in taking written note.

12:50 THE GRAND STAIRCASE  Move to the opposite end of the space……. Glass floor, not in this dress  The grand staircase; bored Too many people Too many characters here!

Look a bald guy        

4 up-lamps; 1 pendulum lamp 3 archways unequal size The ceiling; a framed grid 8, 12, 8 People with glasses IIII IIII IIII IIII II Hats III Caps IIII IIII II 2 security guards 7 wheel chairs not in use

Mood: Bored; keeping count

1:20

WALKING AROUND

INFORMATION 28 steps to room 35 70 steps to upper floor

1st landing 6 ppl sitting on the steps 3rd landing 8 ppl sitting on the steps

Security ask them to leave 42 steps to upper floor The walkway is glass again!

42 steps to upper floor 28 steps to room 35 70 steps to upper floor FAMILY GUIDEBOOKS

Mood: Basic notes only; distracted

Mood: Time to retire.

-

Devanshi Shah

“Black people don’t go to museums in London?”

observed by L Stamps

observed by L Stamps

observed by L Stamps

observed by L Stamps

“Black people don’t go to museums in London?”

“They’re all staring at me.”

-CVQ

RACIAL EXCLUSION

The groups of young school kids are quite racially mixed.

As groups get older, they become racially divided, and largely asian and white.

Non-asian, non-white individuals typically seem uncomfortable.

Teenage white females appear equally self-conscious.

observed by L Stamps

ÁLVARO VELASCO NOTES ON THE BRITISH MUSEUM HALL

Time: 12.00 Weather: Cloudy. Intermittent soft rain.

Time: 12.17 Weather: Cloudy. Intermittent soft rain.

The glass bridge where I am standing provides me with a kind of bird-eye view above the main hall of the museum. In front of me, the big cylinder of the reading room in the center of the room is crowned by an inscription of which I can read:

-To the right: the same poles now directing their sight to the place where I am standing.

“...ESTY QUEEN ELIZABETH II AD2000 THIS GREAT COURT CELEBR...”

-The clouds are moving, the Sun now can be perceived in my left-hand side, with the light intermittently shinning.

(it is funny that the main hall is crowned by the power of monarchy while people dressed in jeans vertiginously cross the place) -The grey clouds cover the possibility of seeing the path of the Sun. The glass ceiling covering the square has accumulated dust along the years, now it is hard to see the green cooper dome behind it.

-The room is full of signals. In front of me, advertisements of temporal exhibitions: “Germany divided. Baselitz and its generation.

6 February- 31 August 2014. FREE”. And on its right, two groups of signals: a man running through a door- FIRE EXIT; a man standing in front of a vertical arrow; and a man in wheelchair with an arrow by his side.

-Behind the signals, in the same floor, the restaurant is almost empty. Two waiters are standing at the door, waiting for people to come.

-To the right: not sculpture visible in the hall.

-To the left: the big totem poles preside the improvised dinning hall. Around 1850 AD. (People do not seem struck by the huge sculpture, just passing by.)

-The frieze now shows some missing words: “...ILLENIUM IS DEDICATED TO HER MAJ...”

-By my side, a small billboard announces “FREE TOURS”. A group of around fifteen look impatient. They look at me as if I were their guide. After one minute, an old lady arrives rushing. The tour starts.

Time: 12.32 Weather: The sky is open.

-More visibility to the hall from here.

-The coronation of the cylinder now is showing the beginning of the sentence: “AD2000 THIS GREAT COURT CELEBRATING NEW M...”

-In the surface of the cylinder, words in different sizes are engraved. Some I can read: The Weston Family Millennium Lonmission (?)age- Lottey Fund.

-Looking below I can see a lady standing on the Guide Books stand, nobody ask her.

Ă LVARO VELASCO NOTES ON THE BRITISH MUSEUM HALL

-In the opposite corner the info stand is full of people. Two young bearded men are directing the visitors to the different entrances of the rooms.

-Letters written on the floor:

and let (?) eet (somebody is standing over it)

millenniums hence

be set in midst of knowledge

Tennyson -A huge head of a pharaoh emerges amongst the visitors. (Four thousand years and now it is facing the souvenir shop as one more item)

Time: 13.11 Weather: The sky is covered with grey clouds.

-A couple pass by my side walking to the restaurant area. They ask for seats by they do not receive on. The restaurant is now full. The two girls at the door have changed. The former two now are attending table, with at least other six waitress. The tables of the dinning hall at the feet of the totems now are packed.

A long queue waits for the buffet.

-Looking again at the frieze the words are partially covered by moving shadows. But the contrast between light and shade shows that the Sun is shining brighter.

Time: 12.46 Weather: Partly clouded.

Time: 13.33 Weather: Still cloudy.

-The pharaoh is now standing by my side.

But now I can see his companion, a partially destroyed head of his wife made of the same granite stone.

In the main wall there are some marks of water leaks changing the colour of the stone of the cornice and part of the capitals. They look previous to the glass roof.

-The Sun is brighting but I am not able to see it I guess it is in my back because of the shadows on the floor.

-In my left, the windows are illuminated from the interior. The natural light is little by little extinguishing.

-In front of me, the souvenir shop sells thousands of articles: rosetta stone, jigsaw puzzles, tea cups with mesopotami hieroglyphics, phone cases, decorated umbrellas, 2014 calendars, mini replicas of sculptures... (the egyptian cat seems popular, the shelf is almost empty)

- A group of twelve people are engaged with the same two bearded youngsters attending the info stand.

-To my left I can see some orange fences facing the wall. The doors are under maintain.

ÁLVARO VELASCO NOTES ON THE BRITISH MUSEUM HALL

Time: 14.01 Weather: The sky is clear but the light is weak.

-The two young men have changed (lunch time?) and now, in the info stand, there is a girl standing alone.

-Two pending advertisements announce temporal exhibitions: -Beyond El Dorado: Power and Gold in Ancient Colombia.

17 October 2013 23 March 2014

-BP Exhibition: Vikings. Life and Legend.

6 March 22 June 2014 -A man with a trolley goes to the Guide Books stand, takes some leaflets and puts them on the trolley. He leaves through the same way he came.

Time: 14.30 Weather: Same as 30 minutes ago.

-A girl working for the shop is replacing Rosetta Stone cups. She moves to the curving wall of the cylinder and turns some lights on.

-Four or five members of the stuff pass running through the door I am standing by. They look on a rush. (Probably there is a conference) The general lighting of the room is located on the top of the cylinder, above the “royal” sentence. They are still off. The light is starting to be weak. (I can not see the Sun, but I guess it is pretty low.)

-14.48 Finally some lights on the top of the cylinder start to be on, one of every four. They look like the ones in stadiums. First they have a weak orange colour, that now is changing to white.

The Bristish Museum is the house of the things that have remained. However the hall accomodates movement, transition; is a threshold between the street and the works.

I want to look at the things that remain there.

Apart from the building, what endures in-there to the disturbing circulation of the visitors?

Look for different timing, to slower paces, that talk about a different course of the time.

CONSTRAINS: -Do not pay attention to the visitor.

-Look for different timings to the ones of the visitor and the building.

-Avoid things that look “interesting”.

-Remain ourside the action.

STRUCTURE: (follow the diagram) -Start 12.00.

-Turn around the hall clockwise.

-4 stops/cycle: One in the North

One in the East

One in the South

One in the West -2 cycles: Fast (15min)& Slow(30min)(see hours in the diagram)

Diagram of Process

ÁLVARO VELASCO NOTES ON THE BRITISH MUSEUM HALL

Cerys Wilson!

!

In The British Museum’s Great Hall, 11/2/14 ! !

12 pm - 2 pm! ! !

Number of people with hats: 116!

Number of people with beanie hats: 60!

Number of people with headphones: 23!

Number with hats and headphones: 7!

With headphones over hats: 2!

Number of people with headphones who are with people without headphones: 9!

Number of people with headphones over hats with people with headphones over hats: 2!

Number of couples who look alike: 4!

Number of sets of twins: 1!

Number of people who look like someone I know: 1!

Number of people I know: 0!

Number of people who look at me: 28!

Number who look at me and smile: 4!

Number of people with hats who look at me and smile: 0!

Number of people who talk to me: 1!

Number of people who ask me for money: 1!

Number of people with gift shop bags: 29!

Number of people with maps: 45!

Number with maps who look lost: 6!

Number of couples holding hands: 5!

Number of people waiting for someone else: 3!

Number of people with surgical masks: 5!

Number of people in five-inch heels: 2!

Number who trip: 1!

Number of people who walk by me twice and whom I recognise: 25!

Number of people whom I recognise by their hat: 3!

! !