The colour of consumption

The colour of WHSmith, crammed with pinks and greens and pale blues, special offers on sharpies and competition prize offers to see one direction. JD Sports tiers of shocking pink and electric blue trainers. Nearby the rather more spaced out, new two storey glass fronted Top Shop has a cooler selection: gold, grey the occassional red amidst the aqua glass container.

How are all these choices made? Who decided what makes cheap and cheerful, what says austerity, shall we be lured in by a tasteful exterior to an aladdins cave of multi sensory visual noise inside Churchill Square? 

the colour of north street

If you take the words and the branding out of the hight street is it less demanding? Might this be the same for people who speak another language or cannot read? Are we so familiar with the brands we can tell what they are just by the colour combinations?

words on north street

High streets bombard us with information. A combination of stimuli: verbal, colour, branding. Naturally, we can filter out as much as we choose. But perhaps this take some effort. Is it any accident that travel agents choose to be located in especially hectic city centre streets? Offering us an escape route?

the colour of whs

Shop windows. Take the words and the brands out and there is often a predominance of red. The colour of attraction, danger, alert? But also bargains, sales. The reds provoke an intuitive response to attract our attention. These environments have a powerful impact. How does colour work on our subconscious? Abstract artists at the beginning of the last century became preoccupied with the colour shape and arrangement of visual images in the belief that: " Colour is a means of exerting direct influence on our soul" Kandinsky,1912

lull

When the noise becomes unbearable, stand back for a moment and listen. The shape of these wall mounted cups creates a sound similar to the experience of listening to the sea in shells. 

reverse cctv

Why not use the ever present and increasingly affordable technology of cctv for beneficial effects? Live streaming of rural locations as a temporary installation in empty shops, could provide us with a chance to contemplate nature. A less demanding view that could have restorative effects and enable us to enjoy the city centre more.?

manzini sustainable everyday

After all this thinking about overstimulation in commercial city centres,  I started reading Ezio Manzini who captures the issues of the inherent stress in consumerism:

" Well-being has two dimensions: the material and the non-material. Anyone who buys food and prepares dinner has the material satisfaction of filling his or her stomach and the non-material stisfaction of having cooked a particular dissh or enjoyed good company. Non-material satisfaction, however, requires deliberate attention for use and enjoyment. Having too many things makes time for non-material pleasure shrink; an overabundance of options can easily diminish full satisfaction; whoever wants to optimise his overall satisfaction must limit his quantitive aspirations. " Manzini, E and Jegou, F 'Sustainable Everyday: Scenarios of Urban Life' (2003)

change your view

Based on the idea that contemplating natural environments has a restorative effect, I am proposing to create installations that could be used in empty city centre shops using imagery or cctv footage of natural environments.  I had a positive response from Matt Easteal of Brighton and Hove Council Environmental Improvement Team,  who explained the purpose of the large scale images they have been positioning on disused buildings. They are intended to combat vandalism and graffiti. Passers by agree that they enjoy looking at them: an alternative to the hoardings but not an advertisment.