        Mojher, Dylan : Assignmentsassignment 08.29OBSERVATION DESCRIPTION SPECULATION Indoor Installation Description ~ The indoor installation is made primarily of separate vertical wood pieces, with supplementary bolts and metal crosspieces. The curved planks are attached in sequence using nuts and bolts and laterally by metal rods piercing through each plank in the sequence. Variations in the flowing shape from each wood strip to the next indicate the pieces may have been cut by hand based on traced guides. ~ The shape of the installation travels downward before flowing out and over the floor of the building and continuing downward, and flowing outward once again, the whole time with the right side curving outward earlier than the left side. The structure has a thin profile, its height much greater than the lateral distance it traverses on its path downward. The wood is light in appearance, with the spaces between giving it an airy, yet strong appearance. ~ The installation provides a barrier to both light and sound, the effectiveness of which increases or decreases depending on the angle relative to the viewer, while also retaining reflecting properties. The wood’s fairly smooth yet dusty surface maintains a consistent room temperature, although the metal retains a smooth and cool feel. Indoor Installation Speculation ~ Issues motivating the design of the installation and research questions investigated with this installation could include the effects of a flowing wooden structure on the environment within a building of hard concrete lines, and reaction to a large and nontraditional shape presented in a vertical space. ~ The design process employed seems to be a simple one, where the space utilized for the installation was considered, a basic motif of vertical repetition, negative space, and flowing movement was employed along with improvisation in the variations of horizontal compression and decompression between the planks near the bottom. ~ The cascading nature of the installation brings to mind the shape of a waterfall, while the spaces between planks can represent protection, seclusion, or imprisonment to the viewer. The recurved segments near the termination of the structure at both top and bottom elicit images (and possibly the functionality) of benches designed for human use. Personally, I would name this installation “Waterfall” or “Cascade”, due to the strong allusion to falling water I find in the shape. I can imagine the structure providing and easy pathway used by various plants and vines as a pathway as they grow up towards the sun, perhaps in the unlikely event of the building’s sudden disuse and abandonment, or perhaps acting as an amusing slide for multitudes of small and very lightweight creatures riding down simultaneously and returning to the top to go again. Outdoor Installation Description ~ The installation consists primarily of a series of hard plastic segments, joined with metal bolts and fasteners. The connections are made at regular intervals along the structure and also where the structure draws support from the ground and adjacent building. Scratches and scrapes in the plastic illustrate its vulnerability to the environment and perhaps also indicate construction by hand. ~ The overall shape of the structure is open, allowing air and light to proceed relatively freely through the space the installation occupies. The structure begins with its layers compressed and stacked horizontally on the ground on one side, and expands as it proceeds sideways around a column, twisting sideways and expanding until it reaches a horizontal beam, where it arches upward and terminates as a wide and openly structured piece, The piece is significantly longer than the individual layers. The folds of the expanded piece resemble netting made of one segmented piece of flexible and sliced material being pulled gradually apart. ~ Describe Phenomenological qualities: In bright light, the piece is both reflective and transparent; it could perhaps serve as a shade from the sun during the right time of day. The layered structure serves to dampen and quiet the space between the installation and nearby atrium doors, while reducing the reflection of sound off the building when the listener is positioned slightly farther outward from both. The clear plastic is less affected by sun and shade when compared to the metal components, and retains a temperature approximately the same as the surrounding air. Buildup from the outdoor environment is apparent on the otherwise clear plastic; mold and other miniscule debris leaves the surface smooth, yet chalky. Outdoor Installation Speculation ~ Issues motivating this installation may be the effects of the intrusion of an organic and transparent form on a dark and solid concrete setting. Research questions being explored in the installation are likely related to the altered mood and emotion given to the entrance of the atrium by the presence of the structure. ~ The design process employed to produce the installation appears to have been reliant on a structure that supplied rigidity in a visually flowing structure using thin and only reasonably strong materials. The multiple folds and layers the expanded portion consist of are quite necessary for the structures durability and simultaneous flexible appearance. ~ Given the organic, winding and expanding form reaching from the ground up to the sky, I think an appropriate name for the installation would be “Caterpillar”. The folding appearance of the structure and its close physical relationship and reliance on the building provoke images of the structure expanding to move around the grounds at night, climbing nearby walls and rooftops before contracting into its compressed form again to hide. Link to this Page
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