1

COUNTER-ARCHIVE

GOAL: The goal of this counter-archival method is to give the history back to Gilman’s multi-generational community through visual access to photographic records. I felt as a designer, the best way to showcase this history, to address the archival turn, and to provide an immediate access to the Gilman community was through the development of oversized contact sheets.

PROCESS: Adapting counter-archival theory to this project and the historical legacy of 924 Gilman focused on sharing never before seen film negatives from the Murray Bowles Photographic Archive. This method began with the retrieval of historical documentation of the site of 924 Gilman from the archive database. I flagged records that included both historically significant as well as historically underrepresented performers within the inventory. I then made cursory inspections of the film negatives, searching for imagery that could model the key qualities and characteristics of Gilman: multi-cultural, radically autonomous, inter-generational, and experimental. Selections were then vetted through informal discussions with current and past Gilman members with a vested interest I preserving the legacy of the space and culture.

2

COUNTER MAP

GOAL: Within this project, a base map model is designed for use as a participatory social design tool that is activated by the personalized data of community contributors. By subverting the data agenda of traditional urban maps, participants use their subjective experiences to map a form of place-based identity and simultaneously view the greater relations of the urban arena.

ABOUT: Counter- mapping is defined as a process of creative mapping that situates subjective data from bottom-up and informal constituencies, to contest the conventions, bias, and power dynamics of institutional forms of cartography. This social design prototype deploys counter-mapping to address issues of community resilience considering gentrification and shifting urban morphologies. Within these dynamics, cultural and heritage sites that mis-align with redevelopment agendas are often at great risk of displacement. Their place-based identities fall under historical, spatial, and ideological threat.

3

Cultural Probe

GOAL: This cultural probe packet leads contributors through exploratory questions; asking them to reflect on their lived experience, to challenge the conventions of the district, and speculate Gilman’s future. The probe provides the contributor with an overview of the research project and begins with quantitative survey questions. However, as participants work through the packet, the questions become more speculative and conceptual, requiring the contributor to integrate their beliefs and aspirations for the continued resilience of Gilman.

PROCESS: A cultural probe can be defined as a method of engaging subjects of study indirectly by supplying them a kit of questions and tasks designed to evoke intimate insights and diverse perspectives. As a series of tasks and questions, the cultural probe encourages critical written feedback. Through user-centered research, presentations to Gilman’s current board of directors, and two rounds of beta testing response acquired from the board members, I finalized the design and launched 60 handmade copies. As independent exercises, probes were deployed through targeted deliveries to key stakeholders no longer located in Northern California. Additional copies were available onsite at 924 Gilman. In this way, participants could make meaningful contributions without the presence of a researcher.