The Picnic: time-based drawing

Once the time-based photograph had been constructed the next stage was to create a 'time-based drawing' from it. This meant taking our photograph, extracting the information from it and the notating this information in a different and abstract way. Five different types of information had to be covered which could be extracted from the image and then notated. Examples of these were things like light/dark areas and fast/slow movements. The five covered in my drawing were light/dark areas, hard/soft areas, loud/quiet areas, fast/slow movements and the time based aspect; a numerical representation of the order in which the photos were taken. In order for us to get a better understanding of how to take the time-based photo and notate it a number of examples were given of ways in which information can be visualised. One leading example was that of Edward Tufte's work into visualising data.

Edward Tufte’s work revolves around the visualisation of data and information, but in a way that is more effective and efficient in portraying the information to the audience. This means using unconventional methods of communicating information i.e. not by using basic graphs and tallies, but by drawing stimulating and representative images to portray the same information, and by using as little notation as possible . This demonstrates an interesting and unique way of looking and dealing with information. Items of his work often include environmental elements although the basis is set on the modelling of data. By looking at works such as Tufte's this gave us inspiration into how to notate our images in a way that displays the information within it. The following is the final notation images that I produced during the project:

These notations also show the model section of the Picnic discussed later in The Picnic: time-based model. To find out more about the construction of these notations select the links to the posts below:

1. Further Developments
2. My Cast and More
3. Almost completed in 2D
4. Hard and soft is complete
5. Final Notations

The time-based drawing that I produced actually was quite successful. To begin with for this part of The Picnic I was finding it difficult to find interesting and unique ways in which to notate the environment. This was mainly because of the concept of abstracting elements of the environment that are not usually paid any attention such as light and sound. However the more time spent experimenting and looking for ideas, the easier I found it to make the necessary abstractions resulting in the final notations shown above.
Out of the notations that I produced I particularly like the grid used to display light and dark areas, and also the dots used to portray hard and soft materials. These are the better notations as they are better abstracted from what they related to. This makes them more interesting as their purpose is less obvious. They also add interesting shape and colour to the drawing as they are more wide spread characteristics that do not rely on the people in the photograph.
Overall the time-based drawing was a revealing and developmental task that was vitally important in learning to think more abstractly about the task at hand. Not only did it help in terms of future projects but also in terms of the ecological factor of the Picnic. By abstracting the photograph of the Picnic it highlighted elements of the environment which we interact with that we may not have previously noticed, therefore enhancing the human ecology aspect of the Picnic.