"On the train I had a kind of revelation about the title for the St. Giles research project. I was reflecting upon our talk with Daphne Plessner, in particular the discussion about the problems and benefits of using keywords and tags to define an object, theory, or ideology. It dawned upon me that part of the identification issues of St. Giles result from this lack of clarity and definition of boundaries, community, participation and ownership - both online and in the physical world. It just so happens that we also discussed in a separate meeting the role of the graffiti artist as territorial signifier, through the use of tagging, which coincidently is the same word used in the virtual environment to document and identify information. So using this somewhat fluid interpretation of rationality I created a seemingly and justifiably flimsy connection from which to create the title: Tagging the Enclave"
As part of the method for exploring potential locations for the project, folklore expert Chris Roberts, was invited to discuss the history, myths and geographics ofdifferent parts of London. After an introduction into a wide spectrum of sites including, Spitalfields, Clerkenwell, St.Giles, and Vauxhall to name but a few, the group voted upon St.Giles. The choice of this location resulted from the general lack of knowledge or publicity of the area.
By selecting a location that did not have a clear identity, geographic allocation, or purpose, meant that the results from observations would be far more beneficial to the community of this particular space. From the talk by Chris, key themes of St.Giles emerged to be of particular interest:
- The area was once used as a reclusive meeting place for active communists.
- Historically the area has always been financially deprived and subsequently housed the social outcasts and sick.
- The area still has a high density of occultism in its midst.
Together these themes create an air of secrecy about the place that attracts individuals wanting to conceal their identity and purpose, as well as those of whom are not deemed to be associational. Much of this attitude is bound to history, and in the modern context, the area suffers through its continued lack of a strong identity. The neighbouring environments of Covent Garden, Soho, and Leicester Square are world renown to be aspirational, entertainment and social centres, however, this inspires the question of why such a prime location in the heart of London has remained covert for so long?
Whether this is due to its past reputation as a place of death, sickness and subversive nature, or whether the remaining organisations want to keep it out of the limelight, are questions to be explored. An interesting factor to be explored is the lack of St.Giles’ boundaries, and the fact that they are no longer very well defined on modern maps. Visually St.Giles can be condensed to a series of streets that run between the meeting point of two main roads,Charing Cross Road, and Tottenham Court Road, creating a kind of enclave amongst the more ‘tourist’ defined areas.
Also, St.Giles is just entering a period of regeneration projects with an all new ‘Central St.Giles’ building establishing anew identity and branding to the area. How the area is affected/influenced by regeneration, and what this has means to the ‘character’ being lost, incorporated,or enriched.
“The key themes that have inspired me about the St.Giles area are that initially we did not perceive the area to have an identity, instead being a kind of non-place due to being overshadowed by its much more publicised and reknown neighbours.
However from visiting St.Giles, it’s clear that these statement were incorrect. In fact, the area suffers from conflicting ideals inherited from a mixed past. Through navigating around what is actually a quite undefined space, I found an area that I considered to be the center of St.Giles, The Church of St.Giles In The Fields, and bordering Phoenix Park. These historical and green enclave is surrounded by an encroaching procession of buildings that now dwarf the central church in terms of scale, and in regard to the new Central St.Giles - complex, vibrancy.”
RESEARCH
The first visit to St. Giles was intended to be an initial exploration of the area. As such, minimal preliminary investigation was conducted as to the sites heritage, use, or modern context. Rather, it was important to view the site from a blank preconception slate, as ideas and thoughts about the area should be generated from first hand findings. The only information resource was defined as the location of the nearest tube station, and a brief map of how to get to the Church of St.Giles in the Fields, which was considered to be the central point of the area.
After navigating to this place, all further navigation would be made intuitively based upon the physical characteristics of the architecture, and instinctive flow between spaces. A camera was taken to document some of the distinctive physical qualities of the space, as well as record characteristics and features that were deemed to be distinctive in generating emotive qualities of the space. In addition to photography, notes were taken as to the route navigated so as to provide a reference upon return as to the location of the captured images, as well as providing a route that could be compared with maps to examine the boundaries formed from St.Giles with those meant to define it.
This method will also provide information about the emotive context and feeling of transitioning between spaces that may reflect or contrast with the geographic interpretation.
Things to observe in the space included, typographic and signage elements: how they were constructed, by whom they were constructed, and permanence. As the spaceis considered to be primarily transitional in terms of inhabitation, transit and commerce, the construction of signage should support this notion, in that it should be:
- Constructed in a method suitable for short term use,
- materials will degrade quickly,
- cheap production for high turnover.
- Be concise, and eye catching to target a passing audience.
- More than likely standardised to promote dominant local identity.
Use a predominant form of signage to either enable direction whether navigational, behavioural, or informational.Other important factors include social elements, the visible demographics of people, their nature of appearance, and their methods of engagement with the space. Are they in fact passing through, or there for a purpose? Also, architectural materiality is important. The fabric of the buildings, whether they were built for permanence, and how the materials from different times interact with one another.
Upon completion of the preliminary visit, online research was conducted to firstly identify the official boundaries of the area, and secondly provide a contextual background to the visible presence of objects, people and buildings witnessed from the first visit. A second visit was also made to St. Giles using the illustrative results of visit 1 as a guide for further documentation. In particular, the territorial extent of individual graffiti artists was of interest, as well as cataloguing the extended use of hand made signage.
FINDINGS
"The most inspirational find was in fact an object in the St.Giles area. Behind the church is a small park space with a playground attached to one side. Within the playground is a toy that encourages children to rotate lettered blocks to spell out words. On some of the blocks were spaces that enabled children to add white spaces to construct words. Not all the children were happy with this though. Some children had written on the blocks to construct words that had not been considered and therefore not possible to communicate. I really enjoyed the free thinking and appropriation of such an artefact, giving the ability to children to be creative and expressive, yet so restricting at the same time. This notion is reflected throughout the space, as within close proximity is a sign prohibiting drinking, and another warning against climbing. Yet, it was only a hundred metres away I found a sign on a bench stating, ‘smoking only’. The first sign I had seen in the area or the majority of places in the UK that actually had a positive connotation associated to it."
The findings of the St.Giles space resulted with an evident need to for the community to be enabled with a means of social engagement and promotion that would not only benifit the native inhabitants and workers in creating and expressing a united identity. By doing so, it would be possible to improve an external audience understanding of the area therefore generating more awareness, interest and retaining heritage whilst encouraging new forms of engagement. It is clear from the extensive use of hand crafted signage that the local community has the desire and ability to self promote and encourage social engagement.
However,much of the signage is directed towards a transient audience, thereby failing to address the native and regular users of the space. By doing so, a void of information for these users has been created and the dominant form of visible signage is negatively constructed. In order to address this balance, the introduction of a method for positive signage would be beneficial.
Already on Denmark Street is a wall appropriated by musicians looking for band members and equipment. This method uses leaflets, and paper notes for communication, but a similar digital system could be adopted to follow this creative approach. For example, to promote local festivals and events.
However, one of the key successes about the wall is its potential to be a place-making element by being a physical point that people must go to in order to retrieve the information. The collective information creates a place that has meaning, so to remove this physicality from any future systems would be to remove the essence of the place. As such, the system should retain a strong physical presence in the area and be accessed from this location only. This does not mean that the information can not be accessed on-line, rather the only upload point should be in this location.
