Field Study's Man in E11 on the A10, and the a10, and the sounds of war in a brown field Utopia.
I was studying a north London field on the day UK Members of Parliament debated and voted in the House of Commons on a motion for action in Iraq. I studied some architectural elements for access to buildings and used my smart device to visually and virtually record an encounter with a stairwell in Enfield. I wanted to enter the feature but I did not get beyond a superficial view (and collection) of the image before I had to move on and get on with what I was supposed to be doing. My furtive field studying, consisting of other similarly brief encounters, might be considered to be a process of creating a foundation for a Utopian dwelling. It occurred to me that my dwelling, in my mind, might never get beyond an ad hoc aggregation or assemblage of collected entrances and exits. My fantasies about a non-place were a form of personal diversion from the grim concerns of the day.
I couldn't avoid the ghosts of explosions past, being in Enfield and that area's very close association with armaments and the military - the Enfield military zone - a unit in the military industrial complex. I crossed over the A10 and looked north east over brown and green field sites towards Chingford. I thought I heard the ghosts of exploding ordnance, spectral thuds and booms, whistles piercing the sound barrier; banshees of all aerodynamic shapes and sizes launching from the vaults of 19th century dreams come true. My mind is bent by the discovery that Richard Jordan Gatling, the inventor of the gatling gun, was also an inventor of a seed drill and, according to Wikipedia, the seed drill was a device on which his gun was based. If you have clicked on the link you might agree about the brutality of the logic of the gun enabling the reduction in size of large armies more prone to disease than battlefield combat.
A different place, a different 'a10' replayed in my mind. I was thinking back to North Lincolnshire in the early to mid 1980s, when I lived close to Donna Nook, a beach which served (and still does) as an aerial bombing/target range for 'a10 tank-busters' or 'warthogs'. At that time the 'a10's were a part in the rehearsal for or of the Cold War. I recall them arriving with a roar from the south and their huge bases in East Anglia - and then performing a range of aerial manoeuvres from which emanated some deceptively gentle sounds, occasionally punctuated by larger thudding booms which brought the 'theatre' much closer to home. We could go down to the beach and watch the target practice from the 'safe distance' of the nearby sand dunes. The targets were large steel frames from which hung tank sized sheets of brown sacking. There was a strange disconnection in the sequence of events as the targets, flapping brown fields, billowed, ripped and writhed well before the arrival of the sound of Gatling's high velocity seed drill. The performance remains as a sort of dull pneumatic hallucination - a strange seeding of a mind more preoccupied, at that time, with the grand finale.
Back to September 2014. I turned south and headed down the Lee towpath and, while cycling along, I tried to mentally splice together sections from Iain Sinclair's, 'London Orbital' - and Edward Glaeser's, 'Triumph of the City'. I had Sinclair's exploration of the brown fields of Enfield - in particular the 'military zone' of Enfield Island Village to fuse with Glaeser's reference to a 'flat world phenomenon', clean water and the flow of intellectual capital, the lost treatises of Yaqub al Kindi, and, the Dell Theory of Conflict Prevention. I imagined this thinking might help locate the site for the Utopian dwelling; an attempt at a dwelling which can transform sites of military preoccupation.
When I got home I heard the news that the House of Commons had voted overwhelmingly in favour of action in (? - over, on, at, into - ?) Iraq (in support of Iraq) The summaries of the motions are here. I listened to and agreed with Ben Griffin's eloquent protest against the proposed military action. I was astonished by the result of the parliamentary vote - just 43 who voted no. I wondered if 'my' MP, John Cryer, had voted 'no'. He had voted against war in Iraq before.
I received an automated response to my email asking him about his vote.
I found a list of 'no' voters here. I don't see his name on the list so I assume, for the moment, he voted in favour.
I don't know if the 'a10' is or will be operational in Iraq but it is one of the weapons I imagine will be deployed (by the US) and that I can claim to have some experience of. It does not seem to me to be something, despite it's inventive origins, that will solve any problems - except, maybe, if the targets are to be spared the sound of their oblivion.
I couldn't avoid the ghosts of explosions past, being in Enfield and that area's very close association with armaments and the military - the Enfield military zone - a unit in the military industrial complex. I crossed over the A10 and looked north east over brown and green field sites towards Chingford. I thought I heard the ghosts of exploding ordnance, spectral thuds and booms, whistles piercing the sound barrier; banshees of all aerodynamic shapes and sizes launching from the vaults of 19th century dreams come true. My mind is bent by the discovery that Richard Jordan Gatling, the inventor of the gatling gun, was also an inventor of a seed drill and, according to Wikipedia, the seed drill was a device on which his gun was based. If you have clicked on the link you might agree about the brutality of the logic of the gun enabling the reduction in size of large armies more prone to disease than battlefield combat.
A different place, a different 'a10' replayed in my mind. I was thinking back to North Lincolnshire in the early to mid 1980s, when I lived close to Donna Nook, a beach which served (and still does) as an aerial bombing/target range for 'a10 tank-busters' or 'warthogs'. At that time the 'a10's were a part in the rehearsal for or of the Cold War. I recall them arriving with a roar from the south and their huge bases in East Anglia - and then performing a range of aerial manoeuvres from which emanated some deceptively gentle sounds, occasionally punctuated by larger thudding booms which brought the 'theatre' much closer to home. We could go down to the beach and watch the target practice from the 'safe distance' of the nearby sand dunes. The targets were large steel frames from which hung tank sized sheets of brown sacking. There was a strange disconnection in the sequence of events as the targets, flapping brown fields, billowed, ripped and writhed well before the arrival of the sound of Gatling's high velocity seed drill. The performance remains as a sort of dull pneumatic hallucination - a strange seeding of a mind more preoccupied, at that time, with the grand finale.
Back to September 2014. I turned south and headed down the Lee towpath and, while cycling along, I tried to mentally splice together sections from Iain Sinclair's, 'London Orbital' - and Edward Glaeser's, 'Triumph of the City'. I had Sinclair's exploration of the brown fields of Enfield - in particular the 'military zone' of Enfield Island Village to fuse with Glaeser's reference to a 'flat world phenomenon', clean water and the flow of intellectual capital, the lost treatises of Yaqub al Kindi, and, the Dell Theory of Conflict Prevention. I imagined this thinking might help locate the site for the Utopian dwelling; an attempt at a dwelling which can transform sites of military preoccupation.
When I got home I heard the news that the House of Commons had voted overwhelmingly in favour of action in (? - over, on, at, into - ?) Iraq (in support of Iraq) The summaries of the motions are here. I listened to and agreed with Ben Griffin's eloquent protest against the proposed military action. I was astonished by the result of the parliamentary vote - just 43 who voted no. I wondered if 'my' MP, John Cryer, had voted 'no'. He had voted against war in Iraq before.
I received an automated response to my email asking him about his vote.
Thank you for your email.
I receive hundreds of emails, letters and telephone calls every day (emails are give the same level of priority as written correspondence and phone calls), as well as also meeting local residents at my advice surgeries and on the doorstep.
I try to respond to all queries and problems as quickly as possible. However, during busy times I am unable to respond to enquiries as quickly as I would usually like to. I hope to respond to your email as soon as I can.
Parliamentary protocol states that Members of Parliament can only take up issues on behalf of their own constituents. Please ensure you have included in your email, your name, full postal address, a contact telephone number and any relevant reference numbers.
Yours sincerely,
John Cryer MP
Leyton & Wanstead
I found a list of 'no' voters here. I don't see his name on the list so I assume, for the moment, he voted in favour.
I don't know if the 'a10' is or will be operational in Iraq but it is one of the weapons I imagine will be deployed (by the US) and that I can claim to have some experience of. It does not seem to me to be something, despite it's inventive origins, that will solve any problems - except, maybe, if the targets are to be spared the sound of their oblivion.
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