For this exercise I have to emulate the work of George Perec and his 1975 work An Attempt at Exhausting a Place in Paris, in which he wrote down everything he could see from a certain viewpoint.

I sat for an hour in the market square in Cambridge and wrote down what I saw as it happened. Most of what I recorded was the comings and goings of people, with little attempt to describe the physical environment.

Market Square – Saturday 18th July 2020

A man in a hid-vis jacket pushing a large refuse bin.

Two women, one in a cycle helmet holding up an extinction rebellion banner.

A group of extinction rebellion supporters on bikes, some with flags.

A man in a trilby, blue jumper and orange shorts.

I hear bike bells as the extinction rebellion protestors move off, slowly.

A socially distanced couple in front of me sitting on the kerb.

A man in a blue t-shirt and pink shorts eating a burger.

A bearded man in a tight t-shirt, white socks and flip flops.

A lady dressed in black with matching black face mask.

A man on a mobility scooter, wearing a hat, buying something to eat.

A woman in a red dress and Converse.

A woman typing on her phone.

A little boy standing at the kerb and staring, his parents calling, whilst he ignores them.

A lady in a green dress buying a coffee.

A young boy with a very bad haircut and a Ralph Lauren sweatshirt. I wonder if his haircut was a reaction to not having it cut during lockdown?

A grandmother pushing a pram with a red hood.

Another council worker in a hi-vis top.

Pigeons swooping down.

People wearing face masks, people not wearing face masks.

A man in black with a rucksack eating a banana.

A lady with large headphones riding a bike with a flat tyre.

A little girl pushing her monkey in a pram.

Flower stall.

Closed shops.

More pigeons.

A busker looking at his phone.

An Alsatian puppy lunging at the pigeons.

A pug and a whippet.

The Smoking Cow – gourment burgers and hot dogs.

A couple, the man carrying a large John Lewis bag.

A stooped old woman wearing a mask.

A lull in people passing by.

A couple looking at the map of the city centre.

The rather nasty smell of burgers.

A tall man wearing a Holland football shirt. He didn’t sound Dutch.

A black couple, thankfully they were not stopped for spurious reasons.

A man rocking back and forth with his little baby.

No queue at the stall selling coffee and cake.

A lady in a blue t-shirt and jeans pulling a barrow.

A lady in a shocking pink hoodie looking at her phone.

A man carrying his cycle helmet and a very large hot dog. Possibly he got it from The Smoking Cow?

A woman with stack heels and long hair buying a coffee cake.

A woman in an emerald green dress, her partner in a slight darker green t-shirt. I’m not sure if they are complimenting each other or clashing.

A man with a dog, which is lying on the pavement looking tired.

A woman in a flowery purple dress pulling a shopping trolley.

An orange jucing machine.

The black and white dog that was lying down has got up, it only has three legs.

Slushy machines which whir round and round.

Cups of orange juice stacked on a market stall.

A man in a flat cap and a baby strapped to his front.

A woman with cropped hair, with a wheelie case and notice board or folding table, looking at her phone. Perhaps she’s another activist.

An overweight woman in black leggings and a salmony, beige top. I don’t think that colour works for anybody.

The busker and singer are playing Redemption Song.

The lady with the case is unfolding her table. I’m slightly jealous, it’s better than any wallpapering table I’ve ever had.

She’s been joined by a man wearing a mask, with a cut off denim jacket covered with fabric badges.

A fellow activits joins them, spilling crumbs all over the table. The lady’s not happy. They’re protesting against capitalism I think.

Another lull.

The protestors/activists are putting out their leaflets one of which is In Defence of Marxism.

A couple of City Guides wearing Panama hats pass by.

A slightly indulgent, aren’t they all, guitar solo?

A crowd at the coffee stall as the clouds darken.

A lady with a crutch walking uncomfortably.

A dog sat hopefully by a couple eating.

Another solo!

A Malaysian flag, or possibly Indonesian. I’ll check when I get home. It was Malaysian.

A tiny Dachshund. A bit bigger than a sausage, about the size of a salami.

The badged protestor is wearing double denim. What would Marx have made of that?

The wind has dropped, it feel warmer.

The hopeful dog is still waiting, but looks a bit less hopeful.

One of the anti-capitalism protestors is swaying to the buskers’ song.

Yet another solo!

A Polish man challenges the anti-capitalism protestors. He says ‘you’re young, socialism is bullshit.’ He’s quite aggressive.

A street photographer I’ve seen a few times before.

A lady carefully carrying a bunch of flowers.

Another small dog, this one white, wearing a blue coat and with large pointed ears.

Two pillar boxes.

A bit more Bob Marley, Three Little Birds.

Re-arranging the cups of orange juice on the market stall and pouring away the melted ice-water.

A man with a chocolate ice-cream, carrying a small child, engaging with an anti-capitalism protestor.

A wedding party? Men in suits, their trousers too short. It’s probably fashionable, but when you have stopped growing your socks shouldn’t be showing.

The wind picking up again.

A man in a pink polo shirt with an artificial leg.

A queue for The Smoking Cow.

Great St.Mary’s bell chiming 1.30pm.

The second part of the exercise asks how I would transform this work into a photographic version.

The challenge to convert this into a photographic work is how to record the information in two formats at the same time. What I realised as I was writing is that I was not looking at what was going on and so could not photograph it. My solution to this problem would be to photograph what I was seeing whilst at the same time recording my thoughts about the scene using my phone.

The work lends itself to being shot in colour as I used colour quite a lot when describing people and in black and white this would be meaningless.

I think I would present the work as a video of the still images. I’m not sure if it would be accompanied with the recorded text being read out, sub-titled or both. This is something that I would like to return to and try once I have completed the final assignment and the work for assessment, as I’ve not tried to present work in this fashion before.