Monday 18 February 2008

The Model City

Retro futuristic postcard flyers for The Model City.

A little film about a big city. A monster film about a miniature city.

The Model City is an experimental short film project about the City of Liverpool, past present and future.

It is an unusual investigation into the design and scale of our urban environment, exploring the architectural scale models that have attempted to shape our vision of what the city could be. This playful film will reveal a vision of a city so big that the people look like insects. Or is this a city so small that even insects begin to dwarf the architecture? This is Liverpool seen from both a micro and macro perspective at once.

These models are a playground of ideas for the city planners and architects. The film will allow us to think about what happens once these models are forgotten… dust gathers, time moves on, but the people and the buildings stay the same. There may be new inhabitants too…

Ants make their journey through Clayton Square. Giant stick insects perch on the Albert Dock. A centipede strolls down Lord street whilst a huge spider explores the new Liverpool One project development.

This is an absurd look at how architecture and scale affects the freedom to explore those spaces typically defined as 'private' or off-limits; the narrow paths of public access, accessible perhaps only to the wealthy and how private ownership is balanced against public freedom.

Produced by Luden AV in Partnership with the BBC Big Screen, The Model City is a unique site-specific film project. The final film will be screened in the heart of the City Centre on the BBC Big Screen where viewers will be encouraged to think about the scale of the city, both onscreen and immediately around them.







Retro futuristic postcard flyers for The Model City.

Shoot 01 - Liverpool (One Eighth)




Shooting architect Matthew Halsall's model of the missing corner section of the Liverpool One development. The buildings on the green surface are social housing. The crickets behaved very well and explored the city in earnest.

Liverpool Models - Clayton Square






The original model for the Clayton Square shopping centre, opened in 1986 by Princess Ann. Of all the models this is my favourite. Completely of its time, and already falling into disrepair. The dust hangs heavy in these parts.

Liverpool Models - Liverpool One






The Liverpool One development. Formally the 'Paradise Project'. The model is situated on Lord St.

Liverpool Models - the Albert Dock






The Observatory in Liverpool hosts two models of planned developments on the Dock road, including the new Liverpool Arena.

Jennifer and Kevin McCoy - Miniature Movie Sets

Video artists Jennifer and Kevin McCoy create a live video installation in which the drama unfolds before us on a mechanical scale model rigged with cameras.
Jennifer and Kevin McCoy's Website

Olivo Barbieri - The Model World






Italian photographer Olivo Barbieri manages to make the Big look Small. These are not images of scale models, but of real environments.

Slinkachu's Little People





Small scenes of great drama from London based photographer Slinkachu...
Slinkachu's Little People Blog

Teenage Stories - Julia Fullerton-Batten





Photographer Julia Fullerton-Batten uses scales model of urban environments to give a sense of oddness and alienation for the young models who roam them.
Julia Fullerton-Batten's Website

Sunday 17 February 2008

The Cricket Test





I bought a dozen crickets to explore the models. I keep them in a tank in the office and feed them orange.

Small People. Giant Insects






Experimenting with scale.

Saturday 16 February 2008

Early Sketches






I went through my old sketch books for traces of the seed of the idea. I dug back over 4 years and found examples of buildings and architecture, and also insects and nature in the city.