Here is my working thesis abstract, finally. It was good to finally get something on the page, although I have to admit it was difficult to wrench myself out of making mode and into writing/thinking mode.¹

Bound by time and space, the act of travel is a fleeting and transitory experience. However, our collective movements and our experience of place are rooted in a physical world of objects and imagery.

Globalization and ever-increasing channels for visual media are shifting the way that we experience places. According to World Bank assessments, tourism is the largest and most intensively developing world industry today. Within this climate, my inquiry stems from a desire to understand the way we view the world by examining the motivations and effects of our journeys for leisure.

From the way that we ’see’ sights to the way that we record our travels, visual culture mediates our experience of locality. Sociologist John Urry’s concept of the ‘tourist gaze’ refers to a culturally learned way of looking at a place. Based on the premise that culture influences perception, the ‘tourist gaze’ shapes what tourists expect to see when they visit a destination. Today our perceptions of travel are formed by the abundance of media around us, the images, photographs, souvenirs, ephemera and the tales of those who have gone before us. We see ads enticing us to go. We see photographs of the experience of being elsewhere. We are fueled by a desire to partake in an authentic experience. By participating in this collective ritual, we influence the nature of places by virtue of our presence. Experience transforms into myth, which then entices others to go see in our wake. The reality of place transforms as a result of, and in anticipation of visitors.

The ‘gaze’ is omnipresent in current scholarly research on tourism. However, the predominant mode of investigation into this visual and material world of travel is from a cultural-anthropological perspective. Researchers use culture and history to analyze the gaze, and the objects in question take on an abstract quality.

This thesis proposes an examination of the relationships between travel, objects and place from a visual perspective. Through analysis and design studies on the form, collection and distribution of the visual media of tourism, perhaps new insights can be drawn about the cultural and historical effects of our journeys.

There you have it. Comments and feedback are welcome.

1. I totally did that thing that I just criticized in my last post. Sight : Site, indeed. I may as well have named it Re:thinking My Thesis.. I apologize for the hypocrisy, but keep in mind that this is all subject to change. [↩]

Arrived in Venice an hour later than I anticipated. It was already dark, and I got totally lost. Which is what they say happens to everybody. But given this, the locals still feel no need to put in much signage, I think the idea being that if you can’t get around, you might just go home (which is quite possibly what they really want). In fact, there were very few locals to be found (they all skipped town to avoid the mess; can’t blame them). Finally found the hostel after much circumnavigation. The next day I hit up Piazza Sant Marco and the Rialto. Was blown away by the number of tourists that PAID to feed the pigeons. And the pigeons were crawling all over them. It was insanely disgusting and the whole place smelled like bird shit. I guess it’s all part of the ‘authentic’ experience of being in Venice. At one point, someone blew a bird whistle and all the pigeons flew up at once, circled around and landed again to continue doing their pigeon thing. It was terrifying, as they all flew right at you. Took several shots of people in front of the Basilica, then remembered that the Biennale was going. Walked down the waterfront to the Giardini and strolled around the show for hours. I was so blown away by Sophie Calle’s entry, ‘Take Care of Yourself.’ It was absolutely stunning in its depth and execution, and it moved me in a way that a project has not in some time. I ended up spending one and a half hours in the French Pavilion, meandering my way through her work. Amazing that the Biennale was going on, and the majority of the tourists in Venice were probably none the wiser.

All in all, a great experience. No visible evidence that it is sinking.

After the police station, Ilya and I went and got a drink at the Museo di Jamon. Imagine a room with a bar in the center, with walls entirely covered in different varieties of hams. Amazing. And of course with every drink, you get to sample their wares.

We pretty much continued drinking for the rest of the evening and into the early morning, which definitely eased my thoughts and kept me from dwelling on the day’s events. The next day, I finally made it to the Reina Sofia, and it was astounding to see how close I was to getting there when I was attacked (literally half a block). Also went to the Museo Del Prado. But I found that my thoughts were not focused on the art. I so wish I had kicked the guy. I remember learning once that if attacked from behind, one should kick out at the aggressor’s knees. Instead, I did nothing. And it’s bothered me ever since. I think I’ve always maintained an image of myself as being pretty tough, but in the heat of the moment I totally froze up. I’m sure if you asked Doug or my parents, they would argue that this was the right thing to do, that it’s just a camera. Which it was. But still. Principle. It’s fucked.

New shit came to light on Friday morning in the Spanish court. Ilya and I packed our bags from Valencia and made our way to court. We ended up waiting around in a hallway for almost two hours. Mamen and Pilar showed up, as did the doctor, as did the group of young people that had been watching the van get ransacked. I was totally confused. As it turns out, the doctor had ridden his motorcycle past the van, and must have noticed the young people changing and assumed they were responsible for the attack. In actuality, the van was full of a professional rollerblade team from several countries. The guys the police dragged off was their British friend (and driver), Adrian. So the team had been unable to shoot the footage they needed from Madrid to produce a video, and instead had been waiting around while Adrian spent two nights in jail. But the doctor was adament that this guy was my aggressor, whereas Mamen and Pilar and their friend had been the only ones to see the guy up close. All of a sudden, a verbal argument broke out in the hallway, the doctor wanting desperately to believe he was right, and the women telling him he had fucked everything up by inducing a witchhunt for the wrong guy and letting the real criminal get away.

Ultimately, after we were all subjected to a line-up (again, straight out of the movies) where five guys stood behind one-way glass, Adrian was set free, and the real aggressor is still at large (and will most likely remain as such). The doctor disappeared (probably with tail between his legs). Strange how he (and to an extent, myself) wanted so badly to believe that this was the guy who had wronged me. I felt myself pulled into that mentality, being unsure about what the attacker looked like (since he came at me from behind), but wanting to believe that this might be him. It’s awful, really. Poor Adrian. If I were a professional writer, it would behoove me to spin this into a short story or screenplay of some sort and to try and recoup my losses. But I’m not. And I guess this is why I have insurance. But the Bilbao photos will remain the lost sessions of this project..

Went north to Leeds on the 19th of July for the Things that Move conference. The conference was quite good. A lot of ideas were thrown around about tourism that I have not fully processed. Need to go through my notebook again to take it all in. The experience was much like being in summer camp, where there were academic activities set up for us during the day, and then social stuff set up during the rest of the time to help break the ice between 140 individuals who don’t know one another very well. By the end of the five days, I felt a comraderie with a slew of people who I had never met prior to this event.

Among the ideas I was particularly fascinated by: there was a lot of talk of binary relationships between themes and ideas. For example, in tourism study there is much talk about the ‘authentic’ and the tourist’s quest for the real experience. However, authenticity cannot exist without kitsch, and is even solidified by the presence of the other. Self:other is another one of these ideas (the way the tourist thinks about him/her self in relationship to the local). Amazing to what degree semiotics comes to play in examining tourism. So many parallels to the way that we think about Graphic Design. And yet I still had a hard time justifying to people why specifically I was at this conference. I need to find better ways of explaining what it is that I do, as nobody seems to get it. Or at least they don’t immediately make the leap from Graphic Designer as Photoshop Wizard to Graphic Designer as both a creator and analyst of visual culture. I really wish now that I had submitted a paper. Would have been fascinating to explore some form of artifact through typography or to have traced the genesis of a particular type of ephemera. Alas, next time.. On the whole though, the conference was very relaxed, which put me at ease. I think I had expected to feel inferior or completely removed from the goings on, but people were incredibly warm and open to talking about their research and ideas. It was a very generous atmosphere.

They took us on a field trip to Saltaire, a UNESCO heritage site. It’s a planned community from the late 18th century that was built around a textiles mill and church. Lots of great handpainted signage. Crazy to see the way that the community has evolved around this built infrastructure. The streets are now lined with chic boutiques and shops that have inhabited the old stone buildings. Residences have pipes coming out of their walls to deal with sewage and drainage, things that did not exist at the time they were originally built.

Leeds itself is known for its beautiful arcades. Unfortunately I did not get to stroll around as much as I thought I would, but I managed to see a few all the same. There was an unexpected lack of access to internet, so unfortunately I wasn’t able to do all the work and updates I had intended to at night. Instead, I went out to the pubs and got to know my colleagues at the conference. That’s worth a lot too.

British food started to take its toll on me. I love fried foods as much as the next person, but damn. The only vegetables we really ate were bits of lettuce intended as garnish around the fried fish sticks, french fried potatoes, chicken wings, cornish pasties.

On the upside, those that I gave postcards and business cards to were really excited about the project. I have a feeling that at least some of them will participate, which makes me happy. More on the conference to come, as soon as I can go over my notes and digest everything..

I flew into London on July 12th. As usual, I almost missed my flight. I think I’m turning into my parents. Yikes.

Spent my first night in a free hotel room (courtesy of British Airways), but stayed up much later than I should have cutting out all my postcards. During the day I chilled out and got my bearings with Leslie and Hoon. We went up to Hampstead Heath and to an exhibit at the Camden Arts Centre. So many museums, so little time. If you happen to be in London, you really should check out the Antony Gormley exhibit at the Southbank Center. It is truly amazing. Hoon and I also went to see Alice Twemlow and Jonathan Barnbrook speak about his work at the Design Museum. I actually was not familiar with any of his work outside of his typefaces. It seems like he has been grappling with many of the issues that Katherine and I have been dealing with in our Manifesto¹. And as of yet he has not come up with a definitive answer. Neither have we. But I think we are on the right track.

Several hours and several beers later, I was invited to visit his studio the next day. I love seeing how designers work and organize their space. I think I have both Alice Twemlow and James Goggin to thank for this obsession. One thing I have definitely noticed about Graphic Designers is that we are all natural collectors. This observation makes me feel much better about my own practices.²

Once I had adjusted to the time difference and gotten my bearings, I started hitting up the major tourist destinations in London. The best place to research what these are? Cheesy souvenir vendors.³ I have become fascinated with the ways in which the creators of souvenirs (more on this to come..) represent the idea of a place. Specifically, the way that many magnets, postcards, keychains, tote bags, t-shirts, mugs, spoons and ball caps often condense the major icons of any destination into one space, as if making it easier to consume all at once.

Places I went? The London Eye, Big Ben, the Tower of London (and its corresponding bridge), Buckingham Palace, a red telephone booth, the Globe Theatre and the Tate Modern. The one big thing I noticed? There are very few American tourists here right now. And justifiably so. The exchange rate in the UK is out of hand. So the only Americans around are either the foolish ones,⁴ or the really affluent ones who don’t care that their pocket books are being emptied at twice the rate they would be at home.⁵ It took me a while to work up the courage to approach strangers and ask them to participate in my projects. Oddly enough, it was the Americans that usually turned me away before I could finish my sentence. Maybe we’re all sort of sensitive about the fact that nobody on the world stage likes us very much right now.

Other than that, people were fairly receptive. I have no idea if any of my postcards are rolling in yet, but I really hope that people are doing it. Nobody really seemed to mind having their picture taken either. Especially since it was a great opportunity for them to have me take a picture of them on their camera in return. I became like a bit of a hawk, staking out a prime spot on the Thames and waiting for them to come to me. I realized later that this was not the best approach, as it made me feel uncomfortable to be preying on them in that way. Also, it made for a rather static collection of photos. Wandering up and down the river produced better results.

London was a fabulous place. Thanks to Jana and Gran, I had a comfortable place to return to every night. And thanks to James and Alice, I was able to meet up with a few designers who are practising in the city. It is so refreshing to meet people who genuinely want to help you in your own field. In architecture, this was rare.⁶

1. How can Graphic Design directly influence positive social change? Katherine and I embarked on a six week study of how various designers have approached the subject. We researched. We gathered. We wrote. It’s an on-going dilemma, and one which Katherine is bravely tackling as part of her thesis investigation [↩]
2. Among the things I started collecting this summer: photos of ice cream trucks, instances of Windsor (the typeface). London was a particularly good place to find these things. Who knew that so many Piccadilly Whip trucks could be in business simultaneously? [↩]
3. Who, consequently, don´t like it when you photograph their wares, as they wouldn’t want you to be able to duplicate their one-of-a-kind goods and set up shop next door, of course [↩]
4. Ahem.. [↩]
5. And this is precisely why Marks & Spencer became my favorite eating establishment in London. Nothing beats a Ploughmans sandwich, black pepper crisps and tap water by the Thames. [↩]
6. Another side note: Zaha Hadid also has a show up at the Design Museum. Meh. [↩]