C E S 2/3

So, after an exciting start, I had some issues gathering my thoughts in the studio. I had so many ideas about a subjective depiction of the fish market that I just ended up overwhelming myself. I received many helpful comments about my space and my objective drawing, so brainstorming was easy... the problem arose when I started to over think the next step of the assignment. I took a step back for a few days which was really helpful. Luckily, I was able to revisit the fish when I returned to the market with Regan's class on Thursday. I spent 4 hours drawing and observing, but in a very different way than I had the first time. Instead of trying to replicate the space in my drawings, I just drew. I ended up with really interesting drawing, which mixed my natural doodling with the contours and shapes that I saw in the market. These drawings are much more successful than my earlier sketches. Later that day, I experimented with photo copy transfers of my drawings and photos. I really enjoyed the result, and decided to use them in my subjective drawing. I am now concentrating on line quality as I draw and work with the transfers. Hopefully, it will work out to be something stimulating and representative of the space that I am so passionate about.

Here is the link to my photos...you can also view them by clicking on my name
http://www.flickr.com/photos/23421757@N03/

vassallo

BUONGIORNO. so firenze continues to be quite the entertaining hotspot. on sunday i will official have only 3 months left of this italian wonderland... which is insane, i feel like i moved in two minutes ago. but coronas, my glorious and wonderous spot is still as lovely as it was the first time i caught sight of it. i have changed my specific spot, however, to the GELATO CASE. oh yes, i think it will provide quite a challenge haha to try bringing everyone into an icecream case... but i am thoroughly focused on getting it right. i took some pictures today (after purchasing an overpriced cup of strawberry and rasberry gelato combined) of the case itself, trying to get a low vantage point as if to see what a little creature inside the case would be looking at. im going to try making this closeup with pastels and nice fancy paper i bought today for uno euro, well see how that goes.
and i have also been getting very obsessed with the various fonts around here. i really like taking pictures or sketching them on the spot, theyr so intriguing for some reason. i wanna fill up an entire sketchbook with just texts around florence... mayyybe i willl. that is all i have to say for now, hopefully next week i will dazzle everyone with new pictures from venice. wohoo for carnivale!
ciao ciao

Taryn Riley

I have no idea what just happened but i thought i posted and then apparently it didnt show up. laskdfj. ok. well. i'll summarize my ruined post. --> been exploring my space a lot... going to the market and trying to be very open to using different materials. ive been very interested in the ceilings in the marketplace which is strange because they are very architectural and linear. nothing similar to what i normally do. there is a sweet picture of some meat that a nice man let me take by going into his exclusive meat locker. fantastic. i'm having a fun time and i like the amount of freedom that we have with the subjective drawings based on how much research we've done with our objective research. sorry for the brevity of this, but i can barely remember what i wrote in my failed post. but i swear it was great.

t

Alexandra Nason week TWO! aka best blogger EVER. . .

so, at first after the first week of "research" on our spots, i was kind of upset about the courtyard i had chosen. obviously, that would happen to me because my hobby is second guessing myself, but to give myself a little more credit, i wasn't sure that i felt inspired by my courtyard space. for anyone who is confused about my "courtyard" space, it is the space right outside of the body and architecture studio on Via il Prato 64.

so, i was even a little jealous because erveyone else's spots seemed to take them into and around florence, where i would definitely like to explore more. also, my spot is lonely and cold, and focusing only on the corner area which i had been doing didnt seem to get me much farther than moss, wires, and tons of hair balls (as ive already discussed--they are AWESOME)

little did i know, some pipes, wires and hairy growths were all i needed for some inspiration.

during our second studio with julia, i spent alot of time exploring the rest of the courtyard. i was taken with everyone elses findings, and comforted by my growing self-assurance (maybe re-assurance) that the reason all of ours are cool is because they are different. i wanted to work with my spot, not be defeated by it. i would not be defeated. after we all visited each other's areas, saw the findings we had all gathered, pictures, writings, i had a second wind to go out and show my court yard who is boss.

So oo o o...i sat and sat for a good hour, hour and a half, after taking pictures of every corner of the courtyard: colors (red, blues, greens, oranges, purples!), trash, organic lines in stone, a bicycle, old posters, pipes, brooms (?), moss, debris, MORE hair...the possibilities were endless and forthcoming. i sat and just drew what i felt and saw, trying to absorb and apply some of Julia's and Regan's discussions on absorbing and communicating a space.

it was really amazing what i came up with just drawing lines- what i came up with was (is) very absract, and even mappish (without trying to be mappish, it's subliminal i think), and shows my interest in the pipes, cracks, and lines that are so dynamic, organic and intertwined. i realize there is a lot more to my courtyard in the sense that there is quite a combination of elements to be found/explored, and i am really glad i stuck with it through my initial doubt, even though julia was open to my potentially needing a change in space.

Sarah Q. ($@|2@#Q) 2.1

Because we get back from Venice on Sunday night, I'm being good and posting earlier rather than stressing to do it on Sunday night. Superb planning!

After having class the other day and mapping our associations with our place, I've thought about the Joshua Tree Pub in a few different ways. I am really interested in perception and thinking, so I was thinking about how I would show the bar in different ways, like how one sees things sober vs. drunk, or being with friends vs. alone, or seeing the pub as a living place with people in motion vs. static.

I am also very interested in textures. I am considering gathering/taking note of all the different types of textures in the bar and around it and then recreating them and then mapping where each of the textures are found within the bar. This is what I will probably do for my subjective view of the pub. Unless something else (equally cool) strikes me. We'll see!

vassallo

MY PICTURES HAVE ARRIVED... sorry flickr doesn't work on my computer so trying last night was worthless... but here they!!

professoressa Julia

I can't believe that we have been here for more than 2 weeks already--SLOW DOWN, TIME!!! Especially after losing time to the Monster Virus, the Flu. I remember our first week of class through a fog of congestion, low-grade fever, and an inability to focus clearly. Sorry to all if it was hard to follow my train of thought. When I finally felt truly well, nothing could dampen my spirit!

Some questions that came up in class (both Studio and Seminar) that get to the real essence of it all, and are thrilling: What is a space anyways?, How do you know that you are in a "Space?", Because of boundaries? How do you know when you have stumbled on a boundary? Is a space just a 3-dimensional point A to point B? Also fantastic questions about contemporary art & practice in Seminar: Are we always supposed to consider the context that we are in when we look at art? Are artists making things in light of this presumption? What gives value to On Kawara's date paintings? Can we trust him (or any artist) to tell us the "truth" about his/her process?

All this is one short week!

I am looking forward to seeing the "data" everyone collected on their individual spaces. The blog posts are wonderful, and engrossing to read. Bravi!

I need to shrink down the images from the "Mapping" into lecture, so I can get most of them up on Flickr. Sorry for the delay--if anyone has a burning need to see/refer to any images I showed, then let me know.

Julia

vidya

Allora. I am so far lost in the paradise that is Florence. Like many of us, I'm kind of hoping to find myself here, or at least somewhere close by. Of course, it could be that "myself" doesn't actually live in Florence and I'm here just to soak up whatever is here.

As for finding a place, I also struggled with trying to combine all these different spots that fascinate me and my senses. I liked Santissima Annunziata a great deal for many reasons (one being our Italian teacher's statement that it gets a little seedy at night, as evidenced by Laura's story), but I worried that it would be biting off more than I could chew. I mean, it's not just Santa, it's SantISSIMA. I've come up with the perfect loophole. There's a bar at the piazza run by two adorable little old ladies. Through its window, I can draw the piazza. I was there last week with a few friends and we just had a beer and ended up chatting for a long time with these women. I learned so much about the garbage strikes in Napoli and I felt so welcome there. Their openness to communicating with us and giving/taking from the conversation made me feel less like an intruder in this new city, and more like a member of its atmosphere.

I have no photos yet, as my digital camera got terminally ill and right now is in a coma. I'm thinking to just pull the plug on it and get a new one. But I shall return to this colorful bar soon, both at day and night, to soak up whatever is there.

In the mean time, I post a few photos from my sketchbook.

Emily Hishta, or should I say Curious George

I think I had already picked my spot before we were assigned to pick a space. After being in Florence for a little over a week, I finally became extremely curious about my immediate surroundings. My apartment--il giardino--sits back from the street behind two extremely high gates and is surrounded my a lawn, some beautiful gardens to which we don't have access, and a lot of junk. On this one particularly curious day, I wandered into the open door to the left of our front door. Completely and utterly full of junk...or should I say treasure. This abandoned room has become a storage closet for anything and everything no longer usable or wanted: old rusty bed frames, broken chairs, thousands of plain white tiles, pieces of stone, etc. I had the desire to begin rooting through the jumble and quickly discovered that it was a messy process. I will be returning shortly knowing that I will probably get a little dirty in order to more fully root around this pile.

This room has been designated a space in that it has become the spot for things which have no other place. The room is beginning to remind me of the Island of Misfit Toys, which explains why I have become interested in it; the Island always seemed to me like a place where you could find the perfect toy--exciting in its unique quality of imperfection.

If anyone went to the chocolate festival recently, the pile of chocolate wrenches, hammers, and other tools kind of looks like the interior of my space except that the chocolate pile is on public display/for sale. This "beauty of the antique/ruins" is so abundant here in Italy. People vacation here to see piles of rubble for the sole reason that they are somehow mesmerizing in their crumbling state. My space has the same appeal.

If the link at the top doesn't go to flickr, try the copy paste method with: http://www.flickr.com/photos/23219926@N02/
or search for emilyhishta...?

Amy Trummer 1.27

I picked my spot last Sunday when I was out wandering (with no intention of picking a space to study for school) with Hillary Smith. The only reason I knew where we had ended up was because Gustapanino (a delicious panini place as most of you know) was very nearby. I had been there for the Santo Spirito market the week before but it was completely unrecognizable a week later, with no kiosks and tables around with piles and stacks of antiques and other useless treasures ("all art is useless" (thanks Liz). Though there was no market last sunday, there were plenty of people around.(There might be some repetition from what Hillary has already written, but,) There were two musicians in hobo boho chic garb playing a variety of music, sung (surprisingly) in mostly english. I was drawing the jolly drunk man (who seems to live in this piazza) when i found myself singing along to Johnny Cash's "Ring of Fire." I was also surrounded by a very diverse group of people, from many countries. English, American, all kinds of skin colors, hippies, drunks, tourists (occassionally), and of course, the locals. Just about every other person owned a dog and i didnt see a single breed of dog that was the same as another. Kids were running around and people were chatting and gathering around the music. A man rode in on a bicycle in a three piece tweed suit with a newboy cap and a bottle of wine in his pocket. His guitar was slung in back of him and his daughter was riding in front on his lap. As he glided to a stop, the girls mother picked up the daughter and swung her up and down as dogs barked with glee. I felt like i was in a movie. The man took out his guitar and joined the other two musicians, his friends.
This scene was so different from the market the previous sunday and also from the last time i visited (when it was quiet, hardly a soul around). I am interested in the mapping of time and activity in the space. Depending on what day or week it is, the piazza will have a different feel or vibe going through it. The people change, the scenery changes. I want to figure out when and why and organize the data i can find.
As i took pictures i found an abundance of bicycles and became interested in the transportation of life in and out of the piazza. These are just the very beginnings of my ideas for my space.

kaityli

There are just so many places in Florence to choose from, and being as indecisive as I am, I had a difficult time choosing a place, and it's very likely that, between now and Wednesday, I'll have changed it multiple times.

Today Hillary and I walked along Viale Antonio Gramsci and arrived at Piazza d'Azeglio. This was the long way there, but it was nice walking along a road outside the city center. Life seemed quieter and slower.

Maybe it was because we got there in the dying hours of daylight, or maybe it was because it was pretty isolated, but Piazza d'Azeglio seemed a bit frightening despite the presence of playgrounds, children, and their parents. I'll definitely have to go back on a bright, sunny day and see how the atmosphere changes. I think being in or the near the center daily, a place always full of bustling Florentines, tourists, and students, influenced our perception of the piazza. I took a picture of Hillary looking frightened, which is a genuine reaction when we first arrived.

There was such a huge contrast in being there, and being in a more populated place like Piazza della Signoria. In the latter space, I blended in to an extent, but not in any way that I would want to blend it. Every time I'm there, I see hordes of Asian tourists. In the former, Hillary and I must have seemed out of place, but there wasn't that many people to notice our presence.

$@|2@#Q 1.27

ayo AYO, ch-check it one, two.

For my space, I wanted to choose something relative to the fact that we are in Italy and are constantly observing and experiencing a culture very different from our own. I decided on a small bar that is near the school, called The Joshua Tree Pub. We had gone there a few nights ago, and I loved the fact that it was a small, unknown bar, packed with Italian locals, and blasting great music (mostly Italian music that I’ve never heard). I LOVE THIS PLACE.

Upon revisiting it twice – once during the night, and the next time during the day – I gathered more information. During the night, I talked with the bartender, basically just introducing myself so that he wouldn’t be weirded out by me taking pictures and stuff. He was laughing a little, either because he thought it was stupid I was asking him if it would be alright to take pictures, or because he thought it was bizarre I was doing a project on this very small Italian bar that Americans don’t really come to.

Some major themes I was thinking about: WALLS (paint peeling away, DESTRUCTION, wear and tear, history of a place, TIME), the PEOPLE (locals, American tourists, personalities, people’s stories, what they think about Italy -- > LANGUAGE, change (day vs. night, TRANSFORMATION of a place), what people do in the bar (listen to the MUSIC, drinking, changing of states of being, alcohol ALTERING people, conversation, revelations), MAPPING (peoples average nights, where they go in the pub/city, change of soberness, who comes to the bar what nights, trends), the pub as a SPACE (part of the building – the space existed before the actual pub? people live upstairs...)

peacee

vassallo (again)

unfortunately, flickr does not like me or my computer. while i continue trying to post pictures, though, i will paint a verbal picture of my spot. corona's cafe is located on a side street off of the palazzo republica. it's really welcoming from the outside. giant glass windows and doors show the warm interior- which is mostly dark, reddish wood with glass cases for the food and drinks. the sign above the door is also very attractive, with "corona's cafe pasticheria" written in an intriguing gold font against a light teal background. inside, across from the main door, is the beverage bar. behind a beautiful marble counter are two men dressed in coordinating suites, ready to serve a variety of top shelf liquors, or just coffee and espresso. to the right of the bar is a narrow wall of mirrors. all of the relections of wood and colors are quite lovely. to the right of this wall are the pastries and paninis, and to the left of the bar is a cornacopia of gelato. the variety of colors and textures is something else that draws me to this space. best of all is the constant activity in corona's. i have been back to the cafe about five times and every time, there are tons of tourists as well as locals coming in and out, getting snacks, drinks, and gelato!

Jessica Wetterer

Contemplating my space, I realized I had already found mine the night I arrived in Florence. That night was the first time that I glimpsed the enclosed yard of my housing: the Garden Apartment. While I have wandered around the city for the past week and a half, nothing has captivated my interest quite as much as the enchanting secrets and mysteries of my own gated yard. The Garden Apartment yard is a celebration of ancient and discarded items- a treasure trove of objects eternally awaiting utility. Opening the barred iron gate to this overgrown kingdom reveals a gravel path lined by high reaching vegetation on one side and and obscure straw fence on the other. This path opens up into the garden yard- the most intriguing contents of which I have, yet so far, found to be an old baby swing (the strength of which has proved to support the weight of one college-aged girl), the image of Madonna and Child embedded above the entrance of the house, and a small shed (protected by a delapidated, moss covered wooden fence)... and those are only the most obvious subjects of the yard's infinite fascinations.

Though my space seems to be one in which activity is limited, it will be interesting to uncover the untold story of its life and mysteries

Laura Mart

When we were told to find a space in Florence to investigate, I wanted to find somewhere interesting, new, but off the beaten path. I cracked open my guidebook for the first time since I've been here. I found somewhere that sounded interesting - I was looking for something like a church, somewhere with a square, where there would be people. I have a thing for churches, which is sort of weird because I'm not religious at all. I love watching old ladies pray, and people come and ask the saints for help, light candles. I like hearing the echoes of people talking, confused but amplified by the accoustics of the space. I love listening to the eerie music of services, all the more than familiar after years of Catholic school and choir.
So I set out to find Sanctissima Annunziata. After walking a while (and being asked out on the street by aa 50-year-old Italian man named Luciano - I should have taken him up on his offer of pizza) I ended up at San Marco, which looked like a suitably impressive church, so I went in. They must be restoring it or something because the nave is punctuated with columns of scaffolding, and the ceiling is obscured by a platform of plywood and metal beams. The neoclassical beauty of the church and the harsh contemporary coldness of the scaffolding clashed in some strange tension. Some of the frescoes look incomplete: either halfway painted or halfway deteriorating.
But what I enjoyed the most was the chapel towards the left of the transept. There is a shrine to Mary with tons of sacred hearts dotting the back wall of the glass case, and beautiful frescoes above the altar, all very beautiful. But in a lighted glass case under the altar is the corpse of some saint. I think it's Saint Anthony. I know the chapel is to Saint Anthony. Maybe the corpse belonged to some bishop. Anyways, obviously someone important. Only important people get their bodies displayed in glass cases centuries after their deaths.
I went on to Sanctissima Annunziata, where I stayed for Vespers services. I was the only person under the age of 80 in the building. While it is beautiful, centuries-worth of dust and grime obscure the frescoes and besmirch the statues. The service was conducted facing the door, not the grand altar. I don't know what the point is of having a grand altar if you're not going to use it all the time. Maybe they only use it for important masses.
As I was leaving SS. Annuziata, two men approached me and inquired if I "would like some grass for ze smoke?" As I walked slightly petrified down the dark street ahead of me, I decided that maybe San Marco was a better choice for artistic inquiry.

alexnason photos- get exciteeed

Christy Nigh

Hrmmmmm, so my first impressions of Florence: Surprisingly similar to American cities, minus my normal capability to hold a conversation with almost any person on the street. This place seems busy and full of constant movement, and I find it strangely difficult to watch people here. Although that might have a lot to do with the large groups we have been tending to travel in recently.

I have been finding it difficult to find peace here, plenty of zoning space to think, but very few pockets of real peace. I found quite a lot of sun-filled peace on the meander between Sattignano and Fiesole. And I finally felt like drawing something. I haven't really felt like drawing all the things I have been seeing the last couple of weeks. All the amazing architecture and masterworks, can't quite seem to compare to sunlight grass and the twists of tree-limbs.

Despite what I just wrote the space I am choosing is not a country one, but a bridge, Ponte S. Trinita. For the people who don't know the names of the bridges, it is the one with the triangle points jutting out of the sides that make great seats in good weather. I chose this bridge primarily for those triangles and the vantage point they create. Each triangle is a space in and of itself. It provides both a view of the river and a view of passers by. It is also quite a convenient place to hide because it is entirely possible to be invisible to those walking over the bridge when on a triangle. I suppose it is a space that allows you to control how much you deal with your surroundings.

vassallo

CIAO EVERYONE. im working on uploading my pictures, but its extremely difficult. the spot i chose is called corona's cafe. its an adorable little cafe right next to the palazzo republica. it's somewhat fancy inside, everyone working there wears suits and hats. theyr friendly though, they let me take pictures of all of them. there is an delicious array of gelato, paninis, pastries, and beverages all over the place. and tons of mirrors that make it look old but highclass. i actually got yelled at the first time i went in for stealing (you acutally had to buy a drink to get them) a cracker. its ok though, i bought gelato. its a glorious spot i plan on spending an excessive amount of time in.

Hillary

I love Santo Spirito. When I went to find my space for this project, I set off in the direction of the center of the city. Then somehow without even realizing it, I ended up at Santo Spirito. I've been to the piazza and church multiple times since arriving here in Florence, and each time has been a distinctly different experience. My first experience there was when I went to the Sunday flea market the first Sunday we all got here. The piazza was filled with people, animals, food, leather, art, old dentists tools, dried flowers, knit blankets, vintage signs, pipes, gold chandeliers, and other doodads, sights, and smells. Other times I've gone there have been to eat a panino from Gustapanino, or just passing through.

Then last Sunday, Amy Trummer and I were wandering around the city, and after not having been able to go to the Boboli Gardens, we headed to the piazza to sit in the sun for a while. While we were sitting there, it was like a 1940's film. There were 2 people playing their instruments and singing bluegrass songs and doing harmonica solos. Then from a side street, a man in a three-piece gray suit with a matching hat (with a red rose in it) came riding in to the piazza on his bike. He had a bottle of wine in his pocket, his daughter riding on his lap, and a guitar on his back. He joined the musicians as his wife swung the little girl around in her arms. After greeting everyone, the group of musicians continued their singing with some Johnny Cash, Simon and Garfunkel and other fabulous songs. Dogs ran around the piazza, kids played in circles, people sang, and a little old drunk man danced happily around everyone.

When I returned there today, it was yet again a very different experience. The piazza was almost abandoned. There was a group of men talking near where I was sitting to draw, but otherwise, it was empty. (Oh someone came up to me and asked if I was there alone... then he told me to keep an eye out for "ragazzi drogati e sbronzi"). While I was drawing, I kept noticing objects and patterns, like a sort of evidence of what had been there. I've become kind of obsessed with the way a space can change character so quickly, what changes it, and what is left behind as "evidence" of this change or occurrence. I took pictures of waste, graffiti, tire tracks, animal droppings, unidentifiable "stuff," pipes, trash, confetti, spilled paint, anything that suggested a previous interaction with the space. I can't wait to go back to see what new things Santo Spirito has to show me.

Liz Walworth

I was walking around the other day trying to clear my head, and I found a little sitting area by the river that looked appealing. So I sat down and took a break.

Florence can be a little overwhelming at times. People always seem to be in a rush when I bump into them on the narrow sidewalks. When such a collision occurs, I say sorry, but am still often the victim of a mean look. And mean looks always seem to look meaner when you're away from home. I try to stay out of people's way, but there's so much going on in so many directions that it's truly amazing I haven't been hit by a bus. I hate to make myself sound so feeble, especially since I consider myself to be a pretty strong person. I suppose everyone reaches a point when they need to get away from it all, even if it's just for a few minutes.

That's what this little sitting area seems to be: a place where people go to take a break. The water drowns out most of the city noise, but you can still hold a conversation with friends. It's a great place to relax your mind, but there are a couple benches there if you need to give your legs a rest, too. I remember seeing a man sitting down, just staring blankly into space. I decided to stare out at the beautiful view, and most of the pictures I posted show what I was looking at. Sometimes you need a little separation from the city to truly appreciate it.

Then I decided that whatever space is, whether it's something that we create in our minds or something that exists on its own, space is something we need. I suppose space is the context we use to understand all the things that go on in the world, and as I've recently discovered, there's an awful lot going on in Florence. So sometimes I find myself in need of some space.

Andrea Noble (p.s.)

Okay, so I forgot to add this, but the train station is kind of tricky because it's huge. For the most part I sat on a bench and studied the things around me, but it was hard to not study the entire station because everything is so interesting on its own. I sat in the room with the trains and watched people rush to and fro. Hopefully I'm not spreading my resources too thin... I'm trying to get enough detail but I'm looking at a lot of things at once. I knew it would be tricky from the beginning but I was really interested in the station, so I did it anyway.

andrea noble

Ciao!
I chose the train station because I think that the most interesting thing about a space is the way in which people interact with it. The train station is not only beautiful, but it encompasses such a wide a variety of people-- different ages, nationalities, etc. I really enjoy studying all of the different people and the ways in which they dress. Furthermore, I love watching the pigeons fly around through the station, and I'm fascinated by the way in which the station is open to the outside. For me, train stations represent industrialization, so it's really interesting to me to see sun shining down through the open ceilings and doorways.

Carter Schwarberg 1/27

Well, I am a little obsessed with my space. The fish quarter of the San Lorenzo market is vibrant, full of color and noise, smells and sights that are rarely seen. I spent a few hours observing and just taking in everything. Texture, color, freezing cold. Blood stains the ice. The loud THWACK as huge knives break the usual chatter of customers and vendors. The fish squelch and squish as they are shoved and pushed aside to make room for others. Some seem as if they are still alive, ready to talk or to jump at you. Others are spliced and chopped, innards exposed for the whole world to see. There is a sense of vulnerability. They are all exposed, on display, specimens almost. I was especially attracted to the octopus and its coiling squishy tentacles. It lay with its underbelly facing upward... awkward almost... revealed and a bit uncomfortable, as if I was seeing too much, invading its privacy.
The human interaction is priceless. Everyone knows exactly what they want and how they want it. The people know exactly who to go to for each product. In one stand, three generations all worked together. Father teaching son teaching son. I intend to go again tomorrow to collect more. More of what? Fish scales, guts...there really isn't a lot of hard evidence that I can bring back into the studio, but we will see.

Kate Owens

I left my apartment early Saturday morning on the sole mission of finding my “space”. Before departing, I had marked upon my map the site “Israelo Cemetario” as a potential candidate. Considering I have the worst sense of direction of anyone I know, within 15 minutes I was genuinely lost. I decided to keep walking anyways and wait for another location to inspire me, rather than stop and check directions. Desperate for “the space”, I went on for another 30 minutes… but of course whenever you actually try to look for something it can never be found. At this point, I was ready to just give up and start focusing on how I was going to get myself home. But of course, as indecisive as I am, it took me another 10 minutes to pick the perfect place just to sit down and consult the map.

This place ended up being the “Pazalle Porte Romana”, which consisted of four streets merging into a center circle with a few benches around half of the perimeter. The benches rested against the backside of the Boboli Gardens and faced out to the circular roadway. The only real point of interest was a big pink building surrounded by palm trees with the words “Classic Hotel” and the occasional passerby. I quickly realized that this spot had potential as my space. I spent the next hour and a half writing and sketching as well as documenting every single person who passed by me (which included an Italian runner wearing the shortest shorts every and a maroon turtleneck sweater, a guy who looked like weird Al-Yankovich, and a mean old man who I smiled to and didn’t smile back).

During this time, there were three groups of people who chose to sit at one of the benches with me and coincidently all of them upon sitting immediately whipped out a tourist map. It was here that I realized the most interesting part of my space was that no one really aimed to come here. Those that stopped instead were simply drawn to its allure of being the ideal map-consulting stopping point.

alexandra nason 1-27

the one before this is mine...

Alison 1.27/08

For me, choosing a space was rather difficult, not because there wasn't anything that interested me, but rather that there were too many places and spaces that interested me... the idea of a space is so open-ended that I couldn't believe begin to image what or where I wanted to go. So to remedy this, I decided that i would simply wander and get lost and, fingers crossed, stumble upon a perfect space. However, while I saw many amazing and intriguing places in my wanderings, I was unable to choose one that I was willing to commit to. I am a firm believer in the idea that everything happens for a reason and when i try and force things to happen they don't, or at least not the way I wished they would, and therefore I decided to stop looking for a place and just enjoy walking around and in doing so, I stumbled upon my space. I chose one of the triangular ledges on the Ponte S. Trinita that looks towards the Ponte Vecchio. I was drawn to it because of its unique role in a very public place. The bridge is widely used to pedestrians, cyclists, and drivers, however the platformed ledge, provides a more private setting. I really like the place because it’s nondescript. When sitting on it, people don't think about the concrete that is tons of initials carved into it. It is used instead as a place to relax in the midst of the chaos of Florence life, while remaining in the midst of Florence life at the same time. The view provided also adds much to the space, of the Arno, and Florence. It’s a space that allows me to take a step back from Florence and instead of experiencing it through interactions, experiencing it through observations and reflections.

Taryn Riley

I'm not really sure if I'm doing this right. I'm not particularly computer savvy. Anyhow, the link is to some pictures of the space that I chose - which is a sitting area (for lack of a better descriptor) that juts out over the Arno. Everyday I walk by it on the way to Italian so I figured it would be a good place to chose because I always see a real variety of people sitting in it or looking over the edge. When I went into it to investigate further I found a lot of human waste as well as exciting graffiti and moss. I videotaped some people walking into the area (mostly to look over the edge at the manmade waterfall in the arno) but they usually noticed me and got freaked out and left. Which was amusing. I'm interested in what else I will find there when I return because as it is a place that humans use, I figure my findings with fluctuate daily.

My Spot!

when we walked through the courtyard before going to our first studio with julia, i thought to myself "wow, this is a pretty baller place"- there are so many little details that grabbed my eye--peeling paint, moss, garbage, in unsuspected places. the the courtyard seems empty at first blush, but there it is cozy, and actually has a lot of character, in my opinion.

i was actually stressed about using it as my spot because i didnt want to seem like a "cop out" or whatever in choosing such a conveniently located area. however, i was inspired by it, and realized that is the only qualification my spot needs for me to pursue it. so i pursued it, and what i found was Rediculous!

this little corner with the mossy old sink (i focused on this corner so i could go into greater depth rather than trying to take on the whole courtyard) is like its own little ecosystem. i found so many bizarre details--feathers, plants, moss---that allowed me to see this area in a different way. the sink is wet, and the plants inside are new and budding, but there are old pieces of garbage sunk into the dirt that i didn't even want to try and remove. the organic lines of chipped away brick and stone, together with the aging wood of the walls make the architecture of this spot seem so much more permanent and graceful than i had even bothered to notice. but one thing i found really crazy was that there was so much HAIR! i found like, three hairballs with dust in them, and was totally intrigued.

i feel like the magic of this little, humble corner depends on one's investigation of its dynamic intricacies that are easy to look over entirely from a distance.

John Witty

If you have spent any time talking to me, you will have noticed that I spend a lot of time talking about my friend Nicole. In Nicole's blog from last spring, she mentioned the San Miniato cemetery. Nicole and I have spent much time exploring cemeteries in a variety of places in the years that we have known each other. Thus it fits that I have chosen a cemetery for my space.

The body and architecture. Cemeteries are architectural spaces created to house bodies. Especially in Italy, where traditional cemeteries have the odd form of "apartment houses" - blocks of small concrete boxes, designed to conserve space in this densely populated country....

But the Cemitero degli Inglesi is different. To start, it is a traffic island of the dead. Venice has a real island of the dead, but here in Florence, a traffic island of the dead is enough to capture my imagination. The cemetery was founded by a community of Swiss immigrants in the 1800s. It went on to become a burial place for non catholic foreigners from across northern Europe. My host mom explained that often times all foreigners with light skin were lumped together under the label "inglesi."

Now the cemetery has the form of a great mound surrounded by busy boulevards. Covering the mound is a jumble of grey tombs with elaborate, sentimental 19th century sculptures. Perhaps everyone's favorite is the permanently kneeling widow who mourns over her husbands grave. She holds a marble wreath of flowers, and a small stairway has even been constructed to complete the vignette. The cemetery doesn't have that typical, odd "apartment house" design, but it is still very much a constructed architectural space, intended to house bodies.

My body interacts with this space as a result of my old attraction to cemeteries - something that I can't shake and always follow. I am among the many "inglese" who have interacted with Florence over the years, so it seems fitting that I should follow my old fascinations to a place that many from a group to which I belong have chosen as their final space of interaction with.

I wish that I had met the English nun with whom Allegra enjoyed talking, though the upswing is that I then had no one to tell me not to take photos, something that was irresistible in such an atmospheric setting.

Michelle Israel 1/27/08

I chose the bus stop near the train station as my space ("Pitti Immagine Bus Navetta"). I found it by following the sunlight on the Florence streets - I love natural lighting, especially the way the sun at that time of day created shadows against the stones. I thought it was interesting because there was no activity at the actual stop itself, but a lot of activity around the area. Additionally, I found myself attracted to the tranquility of the space, despite the fact that I usually hate bus stops because of the connection with waiting (and I am a somewhat impatient person). There is a hint of mystery to the space because there are two doors: one is locked, and the other has a sign that reads "No Turisti" (No Tourists). There is a stone wall that separates the mountains (which can be seen in the distance) from the busy city of Florence, which presents a theme of freedom versus entrapment. I look forward to exploring these ideas in such a tranquil, peaceful space.

Allegra 1/27/08

I chose the Cimitero degli Inglesi (English Cemetery) in the Piazzale Donatello for my location. There are many graves packed into this small cemetery that it is almost overwhelming. It was built in 1828 but now is in the center of a very busy interesection and the noise from the traffic disrupts the tranquility and sanctity of a cemetery. I am interested in finding ways to recatorgerize the graves as well as explore the relationship between the interior of the cemetery and its surroundings.

Photographs are not allowed inside the cemetery but I have linked a few images with views from the Piazzale Donatello.