FIELD GUIDE TO ZUMA BEACH

Zuma Beach in Malibu is not often thought of as a system. I wanted to explore this location to see what interactions take place and reveal an unseen system of the beach. I began with observing and questioning the lifeguards, thinking that they held an authoritative role over the system of the beach and its visitors. As one may suspect, the role of the seasons and the tide had a far greater influence. Rather than representing this with a diagram or chart, I chose the form that posed the audience as fresh observers of this unique environment. This lead to the idea of a field guide to the beach.

ASSIGNMENT: Choose a location to observe and explore. Seek to find the unique and uncovered areas of interaction. Document this system of interactions in a poetic form.

MAKING: I spent four full days at the beach and one morning interviewing the lifeguards. Using a camera, I sought to capture unique aspects and observations of the beach, hoping to uncover hidden insights. I noticed that the beach seemed to be divided into sections, with younger people nearer to the water and seniors further away. The activities of beachgoers also changed depending on where they were located. On my next visit, I used a form to record my observations in a tabular format. The lifeguards shared with me the tendencies of beach goers and how they correspond with the seasonal weather patterns. Juxtaposing this data with the my observations revealed an obvious system of interactions. I chose to represent this system and the objects within it as if I were a naturalist observing and naming them for the first time.

MEANING: There is a system in action in every object and space. Uncovering the unseen interactions of these systems can lead to unique insights about a particular location or object. Visualizing these systems in a poetic form allows for a different form of communication than statistical data and can instill different meaning.