Through the Lens: A Catalyst for Self-Expression Through the Lens: A Catalyst for Self-Expression Updates Updates: - Changed Punk to Northern Soul. Beyond the obvious. Less known about. - Exploring the subculture. Characteristics. - Difficulties with combining the research with the concept: lenses. Developing a tool for self-expression. - Becomes rigid, difficult for the user to be productive with it. - More of a book about a subculture, less about the self-expression of the tool - How can I use the knowledge I have to develop it into something workable and more fluid? - I have thought about potentially putting a song on each page to create a sort of playlist that can accompany the visual pieces. For demonstration purposes I have added these songs to the bottom right hand corner of the pages of my deck. Through the Lens: A Catalyst for Self-Expression A Brief History Northern Soul emerged in the 1960s from the British Mod scene. American blues, soul and motown records were imported from America and played in underground clubs across the North. Arguably, the scene started in Manchester at The Twisted Wheel, with the Blackpool Mecca, The Golden Torch in Stoke-On-Trent and the infamous Wigan Casino forming shortly after. People would travel many miles to see DJs perform at these dancehalls that had the most rare and obscure records. The DJs themsleves were in competition. They would travel to America in search of the next best record that nobody else had, so that people would choose to come to their nights, rather than other DJs. The audience was largely white and working class. Working in industrial towns and cities, people lived for the weekend - it became a way of life. The mundain 9-5 live allowed the scene to blossom as people would let lose on the weekend. Northern Soul saw the birth of the all-nighter. Alcohol was not served at most of the dancehalls and so drug fuelled nights would last typically until 8am. In some cases, the amphetamines would be stolen in bulk from local pharmacies which would then be sold outside the venue. The scene saw its demise in the late 70s/early 80s, as commercial record labels started to copy the Northern Soul beats, taking the scene from the underground venues of the North to mainstream pop culture. Most notably, Soft Cell covered Gloria Jones’ ‘Tainted Love’ in 1981, incorporating snyth sounds and electro-pop into the song which would become number 1. https://vimeo.com/93628980 Listen: Turnin’ My Heartbeat Up - The M.V.Ps Through the Lens: A Catalyst for Self-Expression The Soul Keepers of The Soul Flame. The Twisted Wheel (1963) was the birthplace of Northern Soul and quickly established the drug scene which led to the closer of the venue by the police in 1971. Black American funk became popular in 1970 and so English DJs would travel to America to find older records that had a much faster beat which fit the tempo for the drug fuelled nights. Wigan Casino is the most infamous of the Northern Soul venues. Eventually, it had over 100,000 members and was voted the best discotheque in the world. Situated close the motorway and train station, it was easily accessible and people would often make the pilgrimage here. The nights often ran from 12:30am-10am, playing faster stompers a100bpm. The Mecca played a different style of music - often much smoother with a more seventies feel to the beats. Due to this change in tempo, a different dance style was formed - much more shuffling was involvedThe events here were not all-nights, running exclusively between 8pm and 2am. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qhsoBArk2ZM Listen: You’re Gonna Make Me Love You - Sandi Sheldon Through the Lens: A Catalyst for Self-Expression Patches - Identity - Location - Application Northern Soul Patches are a significant characteristic of the subculture. The patches are collected from soul nights that individuals attend at various locations. Frequently, the patches will have the name of the venue e.g. ‘wigan casino’ or the place in which the night took place in. The clenched, rasied fist is a classic design that became assoicated with Nothern Soul, originally used to symobolise the 1960’s Black Power movement. Another classic feature of these patches is a night owl which symbolises attendance of an all-nighter. Frequently, these patches were sewn on to clothing or bags as a way to show off their dedication to the dance scene. Adidas holldalls were a common accesory for a member of the subculture. Taken to all-nighters, these bags would contain a spare change as clothes (as the dancing and consumption of amphetamines would cause a lot of sweating), talcam powder (to keep the dancefloor smooth, and speed. Secondary to it’s primary purpose, these bags would be used as pillows or seats, as people would often travel long hours through the day and night to reach the venues. Listen: Nowhere To Run - Martha Reeves and The Vandelles Through the Lens: A Catalyst for Self-Expression Lenses - Patches - Illustrations Listen: Out On The Floor - Dobie Gray Through the Lens: A Catalyst for Self-Expression Dancing - Types of Clothes - Moves Dance is a very important part of the subculture, consisting of shuffling with spins, kicks, drops and twists. As the DJs were in competition with each other to find the rarest records, so were the dancers - trying to pull off the most audacious spins and drops. The dancing is much harder than it looks, following a 4-4 beat it’s quick and requires a lot of concerntration. The dancing had an influence over the fashion - vests were common to keep cool, accompanied with wide-leg trousers so not to constrict the legs, and flat soled shoes to glide across the floor. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A-0IkD5L1NY Listen: Do I Love You (Indeed I Do) - Frank Wilson Through the Lens: A Catalyst for Self-Expression Lenses - Dancing Steps I’d like to create a lens for the dance steps to Northern Soul similar to what is shown above. Simple, black and white drawings that are easy to follow. Almost in the style of an Ikea flat-pack instruction manual. I also like the posters shown on the right - these aren’t relevant to Northern Soul but I could adapt them, using the silhouette style and simplicity of the illustrations. Listen: I Really Love You - The Tomangoes Through the Lens: A Catalyst for Self-Expression Dean Chalkley - Poems alongside provocative images The poem type writing by Aimee Keeble is thought provoking and I became emotionally invested in what I was reading. I think the combination of this with images of Northern Soul nights/dancers could be interesting. I’m not gifted in the art of poetry and so some issues would arise here, however, I could collate some interesting anecdotes from members of the Northern Soul movement that could accompany images from an archive. Listen: Time Will Pass You By - Tobi Legend Through the Lens: A Catalyst for Self-Expression Lenses - Selection of provocative northern soul images This collection of images really capture the spirit of Northern Soul and I think they would be perfect for the type of work I am trying to produce. The images are very dark and so would not work particularly well as ‘lenses’, however, soul nights were often in dark dancehalls and so these images are typical of ones taken at these events. I’d like to find some pieces of writing, similar to that of Aimee Keeble, to accompany these images. Listen: Time - Edwin Starr Through the Lens: A Catalyst for Self-Expression Lenses - Posters and Flyers The colloective typography and images on the posters is really interesting and could be used on some lenses. Its particulaly interesting that some of them feature hand-drawn or stencilled images and words. This might work well for my concept. Listen: The Night - Frankie Valli and The Four Seasons.