RESEARCHES OF THE RESEARCH

To attack an open ended research question like this, spotting our interests over the city becomes the first task of all. Maps and compass are musts. Magnifying glasses even better. We would rather stick to the stance of an alien visiting the planet for the first time in our life, get baffled by the seemingly simple, to keep ourselves engaged and entertained.


Aside with a continueously mounting-up references and inspirations, we re-acqainted ourselves with spaces of collective activities with linkage to questions contemplated and practiced before. It is strongly intended that we immerse ourselves with senses collected from the sites in forms of vision, sounds, stories and memories, before taking any analytical perspetive to the materials and discerning any repeated patterns, which we believe, will be of no coincidence.

 

 

Field trip collages (click to zoom)

1. RV park along No.1 freeway, Malibu, CA

In this temporal neighborhood, all spaces are devided and marked on the ground, no physical walls specifying private zoons except for the RVs themselves. Some temporal 'home owners' still discern an area of pravicy, and rounded it up using portable plants (trees in pots) purchased from a nearby spot. As for the psychological boundary between the strangers, what become the moment we start to talk to the man fishing next to me, or the people waiting for the the food truck next to us? Are we unconsciously and continuously checking out how is our neighbor doing every time we getting out of our temperal house?

 

2, Sonic drive-in theater

Driving eastward to Arcadia and checking out the how is the old-time 'ozoner' doing these days. The owner bragged about how the theater survived as the last drive-in movie theater around Los Angeles and told us to come back again on weekends when people hopping over with families and friends.


 

3, Drive-in restaurant, a place on wheels, Los Angeles, CA

Again, a concept that flourished itself and found a lot of multiplication in the 1980s. Big wheels roll in and stop for service while smaller wheels (the rollerskates) do the transportation and serve as function food truck. The menu panels between two parking spots are big enough to barricade the view between the drivers. It is a collective happening, but seemingly for veihcles only.


 

4, Cell phone waiting area, LAX, Los Angeles

A place of no physical infrastructures but marked by the kind of service available to the car drivers in an eletro-magnetic sphere. To our surprise this place functions more than the purpose it is designed for but is used as a temporary stop for all kinds of reasons, usually smart and effective ideas of reclaiming personal privacy in a public space.


  

5, Disneyland Resort and the theme park, Anehaim, CA

It is a notion formed in 1950s that theme parks generate ardrenaline and happines and one needs to pay for a one-day experience in the specially designed streets, neighborhoods and buildings. To us the environment design is as interesting as occasional sad moments like losing one's cell phones and feeling sick after a spectacular ride in the Disneyland.

  

5, P.C.C Flea Market, Pasadena, CA

Flea market is a landscape of fluidity with limited life span. It is born at dawn and vanish at the dusk. Unexpectedly but excitingly, it also becomes an ideal scenario to observe people's relationship with their cars; hubcaps/engine covers were used as table tops, the side mirrors/door hinges were turned into hangers and hooks. Collective happenings indicate different roles among the people, as well as relationships of recursion, like the tourists of the tourists, the friends of the friends.