Alleyways as ‘other’ spaces
Land/Water and the Visual Arts research seminar
11 December 2013, Faculty of Arts and Humanities, Scott Building, University of Plymouth
Presentation by Dr Gursewak Aulakh, Stuart Moore, and Kayla Parker, to share initial outcomes of their new practice-based project which investigates Plymouth alleyways, using film as a medium to capture what they find within the locations, and as a means to map and understand these neglected urban areas.
Alleyways can be left over places, or scenes of transgression and conflict. Ope, the Plymouth word for alley, suggests an ‘opening out’ that allows us to expand our thinking beyond its narrow confines.
This collaboration between a landscape architect, a film-maker, and an artist asks the following questions: Are alleyways the spaces forgotten by planners and city makers? By ‘thinking through film’, can we find what has been lost? Perhaps the notion of an ‘escape’ could provide a metaphor for our exploration of the alleyway’s potential to exceed the restrictions of its physical boundaries?
Image: Dairy Lane, Stoke, Plymouth; dusk 22 November 2013