November 2011 Archives
Just trying to think of different ways of "embedding" in relation to objects, spaces, the collective...
Also working on some wall sections paired with photoshop views to test some options for what the collection is, what gets embedded, how it gets embedded, the depth of these insertions, etc. Different scales within one wall could be interesting as well (is my room the embedded wall? Don't want to overstep into Winnie's territory though)
Embedded surface (though perhaps not technically embedding here):
Embedded for display:
Embedding within an object (here, furniture):
Embedding to conceal:
In preparation for the TS tutorials on Friday, I thought it might be a good idea to prepare a table of contents as a starting point.
I realise my topic of "connections" might still change as the project develops, but this at least provides a way to start the conversation.
And should my TS continue to be about connections at different scales/materials, this will likely become my bible:
Since the question of sampling was the main topic of conversation last tutorial, let's start simple: core sampling of a building/city.
I began by trying to take a more literal version of core sampling, realised as a drawing it wasn't very interesting and instead began to compress information of the facade and interiors into the sample.
I haven't quite figured out all the implications of doing this, but I like that it starts to both sample and simultaneously transform (though perhaps these versions are still too superficial). Also I think the first example is the most effective so far, perhaps because the Gherkin is all about a skin over a form.
Swiss Re:
London City Hall (Foster heavy referencing a coincidence)
Offices near Lloyds(?)
WIP like WHOA.
"...It is through the traces of the formative intervention that the fragment occupies our senses and stimulates our constructive imagination."
The room is simultaneously the vehicle for deconstruction and creation. Through unmaking and re-making, it makes new. Working at any scale the room collects and absorbs, then fragments, compresses, reconfigures, inverts, explodes, and ultimately transforms. The room embodies a way of thinking which is, at its core, a process. Produce, deconstruct, recreate.
The Universe:
A product of the room, an assembly of recreations, the Universe is the result of the process of transformation. Like a scene of deja vu, the universe is made of the familiar fragments we all know, but in its new iteration changes our perspective of the object, the room, the city.
Alternate - Universe paragraph thought (HA!):
If the brain instinctively fills in the gaps of the fragment, the universe is the result of the room's fragmentation AND the imagination. Only with both can the recreation be "complete."
I need a tutorial.
As I mentioned in the previous post, the key to this process may not be inversion, compression, or even reconfiguration but simply transformation. I suppose in a way, everyone is transforming - that's what the Recon is, but I imagine the way in which I transform x, y, and z will change...
That being said, maybe metamorphosis is a good way to start thinking of this transformation, which led me to Escher.
First looking at clearly defined iterations:
A more literal look at Metamorphosis:
And finally a glimpse of metamorphosis as it can related to architecture/space...
This last one (below) isn't Escher, but has something I can't quite put my finger on - there's the implication of space, perhaps an existing space transformed...not quite sure what it means yet.
The tricky thing with Escher is taking it beyond the visual and made it a spatial device. Escher could certainly have a role in my "room" though.
I doubt this is what was meant by the "thick" drawing to be developed with Alex, but it's a start - if nothing else, good practice with the tablet (Antoine, your storyboard looks way better!)
Not so much telling a story, but attempting to simplify and distil what it is I actually did in the Recon and also figure out what is really meant by Merz as a verb. I suppose in the simplest sense, to Merz is to transform.
For Schwitters, he collected the refuse of the city (trash, ticket stubs, random artefacts), threw it all into a room and (through collage) created Merzbau. I, on the other hand, collected bits of Merzbau, threw it into the magic cube device and (through inversion/reconfiguration) created ReMerz.
So the questions now become:
1. What am I sampling from?
2. What is my device? (Collage, inversion, compression, reconfiguration, explosion, etc)
3. What scale am I working with?
I think the sampling question is the key at this point and is what will help me define my "universe" - the sketch below outlines the possibility of sampling at different scales...
per the group tutorial on Friday, to move forward I need to evaluate what each iteration within the model is doing. There were 3 main stories:
1. Merzbau as we know it: by beginning with the interior of Merzbau on the exterior of the cube, we begin to understand the Merzbau as an object - the relief of each space already recontextualised by it's 2.5D (ie: neither a 2D flat image nor a true representation of the original 3D space).
2. The objects within: by isolating the objects absorbed into the Merzbau we see two things - a. the inversion of the space, taking an interior which was made into an object and inverting that yet again to show the inside of the interior (make sense?) and b. a different exploration of collage, the collage of Schwitters' context through his collection and the artefacts/personas he chooses to include
3. Exploded Merzbau: gives us a better understanding not just of the layers and how they relate to the objects within, but also a deconstruction of process - Merz as a verb.
Will now be working on the collage of the collage: recollaging the ReMerzed Merz. More later (hopefully)...
A few images from the Recon of ReMerzed Merz (thanks to Manijeh for being photographer!)
Was very fortunate to have jurors who were both animated and patient with the slightly precarious and definitely unfinished ReMerzed Merz! Now I find myself with too many ideas/directions to take (which is a good problem to have). I think broadly the different directions I can take are as follows:
1. Evolution of Merz: from Barbara, finding some kind of datum for the chaos of Merz/collection and taking that to the edge whether it be through changes in scale, form, etc.
2. Merz as a verb: from Goswin and others, taking on the process of the Merzbau, ie: the almost manic collecting/collage and making that contemporary. The question then becomes, what is today's Merz? And where are the traces of the original Merz after so many iterations.
3. Merzbau as image/artefact vs. actual space: from Brett, examining our understanding of Merzbau through moments which have been flattened into an image/photo and the translation of that into a space, be it a room, a compressed view, etc.
4. Context of time: from Brett, with a constantly evolving space, which we only understand from one particular time through photos, remember the additive process of the Merzbau: can it be argued then that within the confines of a typical room/house, the context of the insular Merzbau is time itself?
5. the Collection itself: similar to Merz as a verb, in the bizarre collection of Schwitters, how can I develop the bizarre collection of Shae? What are the constraints? What makes it into the collection and what significance does it carry?
In terms of what I want to move forward with, I'm still debating: I think I can nix no. 3 because although it is a super interesting topic, I think it's been done and I think there are other aspects of Merzbau which are more unique to the project. In a way, I imagine nos. 1, 2, & 5 could be combined somehow as a way of making the Merzbau contemporary. And no. 4 I find super interesting, but I don't know yet how it translates to a project.
The biggest critique, I think, was my separation from the Merzbau - in a way, I merely created a new way of seeing Merzbau, which the critics seemed to agree is a good first step, but not enough.
As for technical studies, I am considering the issue of connections in different forms - in the collage of Merzbau (one can't help but wonder how those tenuous pieces of ply all stayed together) and even in the movement of ReMerzed Merz. It could be interesting to tackle connectors via type/material/scale etc. and perhaps then design my own connector(s) to suit my proposal. Eh, eh? We'll see how that flies tomorrow...
1. Evolution of Merz: from Barbara, finding some kind of datum for the chaos of Merz/collection and taking that to the edge whether it be through changes in scale, form, etc.
2. Merz as a verb: from Goswin and others, taking on the process of the Merzbau, ie: the almost manic collecting/collage and making that contemporary. The question then becomes, what is today's Merz? And where are the traces of the original Merz after so many iterations.
3. Merzbau as image/artefact vs. actual space: from Brett, examining our understanding of Merzbau through moments which have been flattened into an image/photo and the translation of that into a space, be it a room, a compressed view, etc.
4. Context of time: from Brett, with a constantly evolving space, which we only understand from one particular time through photos, remember the additive process of the Merzbau: can it be argued then that within the confines of a typical room/house, the context of the insular Merzbau is time itself?
5. the Collection itself: similar to Merz as a verb, in the bizarre collection of Schwitters, how can I develop the bizarre collection of Shae? What are the constraints? What makes it into the collection and what significance does it carry?
In terms of what I want to move forward with, I'm still debating: I think I can nix no. 3 because although it is a super interesting topic, I think it's been done and I think there are other aspects of Merzbau which are more unique to the project. In a way, I imagine nos. 1, 2, & 5 could be combined somehow as a way of making the Merzbau contemporary. And no. 4 I find super interesting, but I don't know yet how it translates to a project.
The biggest critique, I think, was my separation from the Merzbau - in a way, I merely created a new way of seeing Merzbau, which the critics seemed to agree is a good first step, but not enough.
As for technical studies, I am considering the issue of connections in different forms - in the collage of Merzbau (one can't help but wonder how those tenuous pieces of ply all stayed together) and even in the movement of ReMerzed Merz. It could be interesting to tackle connectors via type/material/scale etc. and perhaps then design my own connector(s) to suit my proposal. Eh, eh? We'll see how that flies tomorrow...
A progress view of the ReMerzed Merz coming together very slowly (I do have more than this done, though!). Not sure if it'll be functional or not for the jury, but will keep trying...
While it doesn't have all the pieces, it won't be all white in the end, and it's not attached to anything yet, I feel better now that at least a portion of the model exists in the physical world.
This is a shallow collage, also known as Merz No. 6.
Also, several days ago, Elena received a penguin (as in Peale's museum) from the Powers that Be in her Kinder Egg. Well I, too, have received a message from the Kinder Gods regarding my immediate future...
Thanks Kinder Gods...real subtle.
