Evaluative report unit 2 PPD London project

This group project was to be interactive, creative and at the same time cognitive. During the work on this project we were to explore London areas deeper, look at certain aspects in each one of them that will be useful in future practice. Bethnal Green is situated in east London, and as every other area of London has many different sides to it. At the first group meeting we have decided to divide the topics which needed to be researched between us. I was to research about Galleries. Bethnal Green area is famous for Vyner Street. Vyner Street is home for many small galleries such as Netty Horn gallery, Wilkinson, Kate Mc Garry, VINE space and others. This place is unique, especially on the opening nights of the exhibitions, when it almost seems that there are no walls between galleries and motion outside almost looks like a street party. Therefore it was obvious that a part of the game should be based around Vyner Street. To understand how to use Vyner Street as a source, firstly it was necessary to go down there to look around and find some interesting bits for the game. Beforehand I created the list of expeditions which were on to have a better idea of what might interest me. There was couple of thing that drew my attention. In Wilkinson there was an “Fish and Chips” by Shimabubuku, which I thought could be related to the theme, and which later on was used in a game. I also found out that VINE space puts up a project called “A one night stand with…” this evolves artist putting up I contemporary piece for a night, this I thought would be fascinating to use. However due to our time deadlines that wasn’t possible.
At that point it was decided that game itself should be made in a form of children’s book to highlight the fact of Childhood museum being located there, as well as a lot of well organized green spaces. The idea of children’s book initially came from Freeze fair where one of the group members had seen an interactive booklet for children, which should help them investigate and understand information they are exploring. For this project it was important to engage the other group with the task, to make them try and explore the area better. After initial ideas were set up, group produced layout for the book, and each member presented pages connected to the part of the area they researched.
We experienced certain problems while working on this project; however the outcome that we produced was satisfying. If I was to do this project again, I would have stayed with the idea of the book however would have made it broader and more complicated. I think our group missed out on creating a proper scavenger hunt; it might have been simply to easy. This project taught me a lot about communication with other members of the group, and a lot about Bethnal Green as an area of London.

Bibliography
1. Bethnal Green Museum of Childhood / Victoria and Albert Museum; written by Anthony Burton London : Victoria and Albert Museum, 1986

2. Lights out for the teritory Sinclair, Iain, 1943- / London : Granta, 1998

http://www.wilkinsongallery.com/

http://www.vinespace.net/

http://www.cell.org.uk/

http://www.stuartshavemodernart.com/

http://www.motinternational.org/tom_Ellis.html