Caledonian Road’s exit from the canal, weaving through the north of central London, is a place I pass by almost daily, a seemingly unremarkable site amidst the urban flow — easy to overlook and just another path on the way home. This path has become the focus of my observations, evolving from a familiar pass-through to something far deeper, as what began as a casual site for exploration, where I sketched, collaged, photographed, and mapped, gradually evolved into a richer investigation of the transient yet anchored nature of this space — a passage where movement and stillness coexisted. This transition is closely tied to the themes of space and perception explored in Georges Perec’s Species of Spaces and Bruno Latour’s Visualisation and Cognition: Drawing Things Together.
Perec’s attention to the every day and the often overlooked resonates with my growing awareness of the dynamic nature of the site as he invites us to “observe the street, from time to time, with some concern for system perhaps,” noting that if we look long enough, what you observe is not the street but life (Perec, G, 1999, p. 50). Perec reflects on how sustained observation of a space — like a street — reveals more than just its physical aspects, bringing attention to the activities, movements, and life within it such as the pavements, cars, and people. This idea aligns with his broader theme of how mundane spaces come alive through observation, providing a shift in perception which was key to my project. At first, I saw the canal exit as a fixed point, a static site to document, but through repeated visits, I realised that the space was less about physicality and more about the patterns of sound and movement that defined it. The hum of wildlife, the rustling of leaves, the footsteps of passersby, and conversations revealed that the space functioned as a passageway.
Latour’s discussion around visualisation and cognition further illuminated the evolving nature of my project. In his paper, Latour argues that “inscriptions” (like maps or graphs) shape our understanding of the world, suggesting that cognition and representation are intertwined (Latour, B, 1986, p. 10) and connecting directly to my shift from static documentation (like photography) to more fluid, interpretive mediums like sound and video. By focusing on sound and translating it into visuals, I was, in Latour’s terms, “drawing things together” (Latour, B, 1986, p. 15), connecting my cognitive experience of the space with how I could represent it visually and clearly. The layers of sound became a way of visualising the social and natural rhythms of the canal exit, echoing Latour’s argument that the tools we use for observation deeply affect how we perceive and understand what we study.
Through a focus on the unnoticed and an emphasis on the relationship between cognition and representation, my project evolved from simply observing a space to uncovering the passage of time, sound, and human presence that truly defined it.
References
Perec, G, 1999. Species of Spaces and Other Pieces. London: Penguin Books. p. 50.
Latour, B, 1986. Visualisation and cognition: Drawing things together. Knowledge and Society Studies in the Sociology of Culture at Present, 6, pp.1-40.
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