The bulk of this project was spent researching historical data, accumulating visual material and grappling with the scale of theoretical discourse. Every concept appeared to link into one another, strung out in a chain of metaphysical propositions. Derrida’s post structuralist concepts of trace appear to link directly with hauntology’s key principles. Hauntology’s nostalgia for the future fits the misplaced optimism that spawned Croydon’s ill-fated development programme. This, in turn leads to the social critique inspired by the Suburban Press and the work of the Situationist International. The unitary urbanism espoused by the Situationists was a by-product of psychogeography that attempts to map the psychological effects of the city – which brought me back to Croydon.
‘We are bored in the city, we really have to strain still to discover mysteries in the sidewalk billboards, yet are discouraged from expressing this boredom by the city’s insistence that it is the most exciting place to be”. Ivan Chtcheglov 1953 (Plant 1992: 57)
Early concepts involved the design of a generative method of sequencing a series of glyphs depicting the visual language of Croydon. I had also experimented with the concept of converting these images into a functional typeface. The position of these characters on the keyboard would correspond to their perceived hierarchy. Upper case characters would comprise of high rise buildings, while those accessed by the ‘command’ and ‘control’ keys would consist of symbols of authority and direction.
The design imperative was to conceive of a visual project which could evoke those emotions inspired by the bleak rationalisation of Croydon’s concrete canyons. Earlier experiments involved the construction of a series of towering installations, designed to intimidate the viewer. On reflection, the scale of these concepts rendered them impractical.
From the outset I was determined to utilise concrete (or cement) as a medium to communicate the qualities of Croydon’s architectural malaise. It was also imperative to construct a vehicle which could act as a visual critique of the totalising dogma of town planning. The urban architectural model seemed to be the most obvious device to describe the urban landscape. The scale model is the ubiquitous tool of the urban planner, it gives these architects of control the distancing and empirical perspective of those who view the city from above – the god view. It was through this particular line of enquiry that I arrived at my choice of a final output device.
The construction of 43 cement maquettes representing each of the remaining office buildings (of + 1,000 sq. ft) constructed in Croydon between 1956 & 1972. Each marquette’s size is determined by the buildings recorded height and total floorspace. The overall scale of the model is based on the practical considerations of legibility. The rectangular formation of these signifiers is intended to emphasise the lumpish, brutal architecture of the period. The slab block is ‘the’ key component of the towns dreary image. The colour weight and dimension of the block is representational of the buildings physical occupancy of time and space. The fact that each of these blocks is essentially hollow is also significant. Theses building are all about space within space.
Each of these marquettes is laser engraved with a representational image of the appropriate building. These images are derived from earlier experiments which involved a psychogeographical mapping of the urban space. This architectural photography required compositional techniques in order to generate graphic representations which conformed to the spacial format of each block.
From early in its history, photography was adopted by architects as a means of idealising their buildings. As beautiful and heroic, as tokens of their ingenuity and mankind’s progress, etc. This debased tradition continues to thrive. At its core lies the imperative to show the building out of context, as a monument, separate from streetscape, from awkward neighbours, from untidiness. (Meades 2012)
The choice of engraving or etching is linked to the concept of memorial. The concrete office blocks of Croydon represent towering monuments to commerce. They are the dead zones, relics of a bygone age. In the majority of towns or villages with any discernible heritage, at the centre of the town is some sort of monument to the dead. This takes the form of either a church with a graveyard or a civic space (typically) with a war memorial where names of the fallen are graven in stone.
The commemoration services correspond fairly closely to religious phenomenon. They derive a particular efficacy from happening in a place where the intimacy between the living and the dead was once expressed in more everyday fashion: in many villages we still find the trace of a layout going back to medieval times, when the church, surrounded by the cemetery, lay at the very centre of the active social life. (Augé 1995:53)
In Croydon’s case it seems apt that these dead building, whose slab-like appearance is symbolic of the gravestone, should be found in the centre of town. The notion of a memorial concerns the construction of a tribute that completes this transformation of body to monument after death. This process allows the dead to exist beyond the grave and is linked to the concept of mourning. “The theory of ghosts is based on the theory of mourning.” (Ghost dance, 1983).
The 43 cement marquettes sit inside a compartmentalised box. This case represents the metropolitan zone in which the buildings are located. The box is divided into of 57 separate compartments. 13 empty compartments symbolise the buildings that were part of the original development phase, but have subsequently been re-developed. These spaces operate as a means of articulating the spacial dimensions of the demolished structures. In effect, these spaces function as the ghosts of the dead buildings.
The transparent lid which covers the case is detailed with icons which represent the visual language of contemporary Croydon. These glyphs are the result of earlier psychogeographical experimentation. They act as the lens of the present through which it is only possible to view the buildings that are synonymous of not only Croydon’s’ past, but also of its failed future. Perspex (as a practical substitute for glass), exists at a sort of zero level to matter. Its colourlessness, provides the eye with a means of entry. “Glass works exactly like atmosphere in that it allows nothing but the sign of its contents to emerge” (Baudrillard 1968:42) This process of Ideational metafunction allows a combination of elements relating to different eras to be viewed simultaneously as a single sign. This articulation of a time that is out of joint is key to hauntology.
The central compartment is allocated to a Suburban Press inspired newspaper. This document functions as a Situationist critique of Croydon. In this publication I have employed a number of graphic techniques intended to evoke a historical resonance.
Photographs have been manipulated in order to emulate the type of over-saturation reminiscent of 1960s’ postcard imagery. I have utilised a type of collage technique employed by Jamie Reid which typically involves the use of consumerist imagery juxtaposed with material that subverts its original meaning. A combination of torn paper clippings and period typefaces emulate the low-fi aesthetic of Suburban Press.
By employing imagery and visual techniques that hark to a time associated with the incarnation of ‘modern’ Croydon, my intention is to make a commentary on the disturbance to temporality that hauntology evokes.
Critical Reflection
The size and scale of the output device as well as the permanent nature of the materials are essential characteristics of its monumental nature. This choice of format is the strength and simultaneously the greatest weakness of the design. The mass and composition of the individual elements are essential components to its intended meaning. The monstrous scale of the planning catastrophe which befell Croydon requires a project of equally epic proportions. However, its physical nature also limits the way in which it can be experienced. Much like the environment it commemorates, you are required to be in its presence in order to experience its effect. Translating the interaction between the viewer and the physical object into a series of still images, fails to fulfil the true nature of the experience, just as a tourist map fails to adequately describe the city.
Psychogeography proposed a means of mapping the psychological effect engendered by the urban environment in order to promote a revolutionary form of unitary urbanism. However, the methodologies employed by Situationists to articulate their experiences were vague and hap-hazzard. Although this tactic ensured their work was difficult to assimilate into spectacular society, it did contain a defined political perspective that regulated its interpretation. The problem with dictating an emotional response to the city is the fact that users may have an alternative experience.
The intension of proposing a psychogeographic memorial is intended to convey the ambiance engendered by a spectre from the past haunting a contemporary urban environment. The title: Sir James Marshall Psychogeographic Memorial: The Hauntological Convergence of Private Enterprise, Urban Planning and Ghosts... in Croydon, is featured prominently in order to convey the main zones of discourse, without dictating its functionality. Although the work contains no clear instructions on how it should be used or understood, I am hopeful that its open nature allows the user to enter into some form of dialogue in order to achieve a level of understanding.
The image is a form with an open structure that offers points of reference for interaction by the receiver, that is for the independent formation of opinions. (Van Toorn 2006:63)
Because the object has no obvious function, I can only hope that anyone who experiences it is able draw their own conclusions about how it might operate. It is my belief that the graphic design techniques I have employed are underpinned by solid theoretical reasoning. The individual components function independently and each of them convey key hauntological characteristics. However, my intension is that the convergence of these signifiers combine to form a single coherent signified.
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