Hana shokr hts

THE LINE THAT CAN’T BE TAMED Hana Shokr

History and Theory Studies Third Year Term 2 Nerma Cridge

Introducing corporality into conceptual space, the line is no longer in the mind only a mark on any kind of background.

The line becomes conceptually and corporeally mobile, between the eye and the touch, visual and material, un-built and built. There, in between these binaries, the line acquires its own corporeality; it starts to move, it becomes both volatile and unpredictable…

Ivana Wingham1 FIGURE 1

Song Machine 19 is one of Athanasios Argianas’s 2 many manipulations of material and language (Figure 1).

This one in particular consists of four steel armatures of different sizes and orientations, supporting a stretch of brass tape that drapes across them, with words etched along. This piece sits in the context of several artists’ endeavors responding to the subject of the line, with a broad array of media articulating their approaches. The line is inherently a part in both the processes and outcomes of art and architecture, generating both two and threedimensional products. The drawing can in no way exist without the line, and is merely a projection of how we choose to utilize it. The term drawing, should not be limited to the conventional two-dimensional composition of lines, running and intersecting to form a larger composition, but a broader understanding of how one communicates what exists within the mind outwards to be read and perceived by another mind. This open-ended definition of a drawing will allow our reading of Song Machine 19 to be unconstrained, as a concise pre-conception of what a drawing is, instinctively defines the line.

Song Machine 19 is a conversation between two lines; the brass tape and the steel armature. At first glance, we read the steel armature as a frame to the brass line. This reading does not take into consideration the human’s response to the artwork, it is a pure understanding of how two lines interact. The steel armature is a line that commences on the ground, its canvas. It draws a footprint on the gallery floor, and often projects upwards, releasing itself from this horizontal travel.

Wingham’s understanding of how lines in a drawing undergo a transformation during their architectural materialization is applicable to the steel line, “being catapulted from a page into space the line multiplies, extends and occupies existing territories and further adds to these its own spatial consequences…”3 The result of the steel line’s projection into space is the interaction of two planes;

1

Wingham, Ivana. “Mediating Lines.” Mobility of the Line. Ed. Ivana Wingham. Basel: Birkhauser, 2013. 106 – 117. Print.

2

Greek & British artist residing in London, with an interdisciplinary practice incorporating text, painting, sculpture etc.

3

Wingham, Ivana. “Mediating Lines.” Mobility of the Line. Ed. Ivana Wingham. Basel: Birkhauser, 2013. 106 – 117. Print.

the horizontal speaks to the vertical. This conversation allows for the formation of an enclosure, a base for the brass line to travel across. The steel frame delimits the travel of the brass line, reminiscent of the way a wall presents a boundary for the occurrences adjacent to it. The line is a “choreographic notation.”4 This choreography only exists through a conversation. The individual line holds minimal spatial qualities on a canvas, however the conversation initiated once another line has been introduced to the composition allows for endless possibilities of how such a union can be projected into another dimension. The line no longer answers only to itself, but now holds further responsibilities in a larger geometry. Only then, once these geometries have been generated, can we begin to imagine the material, dimension, orientation and other qualities that manifest themselves on these lines. Andrew Benjamin mentions that within the domain of architectural drawing, “the differing geometries that drawings enact cannot be separated automatically from their content. That content is bound up with questions of program and function on the one hand and the relation between the drawn line and its material enactment on the other.”5 The lines are rendered irreversibly intertwined with the architecture. Similarly, the brass and steel lines form an overall ‘geometry’, or an architectural notion, that they cannot be released from.

Within the context of the exhibition, the “line is treated as a physical, autonomous entity, without any obligations to represent the outside world.”6 Song Machine 19 is entirely coherent with this statement. Although the brass and steel lines can be re-interpreted as walls, boundaries, planes, they are ultimately nothing more but lines. The line’s life does not extend beyond its current canvas, the gallery ground. The drawing is not to be read by a contractor or an architect, in attempt to translate it further. As fellow exhibitor Fred Sandback reminds the audience, “my lines aren’t distillations or refinements of anything. They are simple facts, issues of my activity that don’t represent anything beyond themselves.” Due to this liberty that the brass and steel lines possess, they are drawn at a 1:1 scale, they do not need to be transferred from the current canvas to another on which the human body can relate. Ultimately, Song Machine 19 is a drawing that does not need to be scaled. As Lewitt memorably states, “…a drawing of a person is not a real person, but a drawing of line is a real line”7 The brass tape, a line of length x, is exactly that, and nothing more.

4

Malinowski, Antoni. “Ambiguous Lines.” Mobility of the Line. Ed. Ivana Wingham. Basel: Birkhauser, 2013. 140 – 157. Print.

5

Hardie, George. “Toeing the Line.” Mobility of the Line. Ed. Ivana Wingham. Basel: Birkhauser, 2013. 197 - 203. Print.

6

Mary Doyle and Kate Macfarlane. Line, exhibition catalogue, London: Lisson Gallery, 2016. Pg. 5.

7

LeWitt, Sol quoted in Mary Doyle and Kate Macfarlane. Line, exhibition catalogue, London: Lisson Gallery, 2016. Pg. 5.

FIGURE 2

Norwegian

architecture

firm

Vardehaugen

Arkitekter uses tape to draw the full-scale floor plan of their proposals on a concrete ground (Figure 2). This allows clients and visitors to experience the dimensions and configurations of the design at a scale that is directly understood by the human body. The line that was once limited to a paper, was an embodiment of all qualities that a real wall must contain; material composition, length, height, thickness, colour etc. The floor plan is contained to one plane, the horizontal, thus limiting the conversation between the lines, and eliminating any chance of exploring the aspect of ‘height’. Nonetheless, this drawing exempts the line of the duty to embody two of these qualities, length and thickness. The lines on the ground do not function in an equivalent way to those in Song Machine 19, as their lives extend beyond the current canvas, and are a representation of what will be built, however have been liberated of the same duties. The line on the floor is a wall, and cannot host an alternative interpretation. An intermediary step that exists between the drawing and our experience of it in real space – in this case, scaling it appropriately - is disregarded.

FIGURE 3

Architectural lines are drawn with the natural fear of knowing that they may actually develop into a building. They are premeditations of the following stages, still mannered and constrained to the page, however the lines will most likely need to materialize into a tangible architecture. Those concerned in the materialization process will read the drawing, and the lines will serve as instructions. The architectural line is describing, it tells a story that could alternatively be articulated through words; the wall will begin at point x, end at point y. The wall is 30cm thick, with three constituent layers.

It will experience some curvature halfway through, to then

continue towards point z. The architect’s duties conclude at the architectural drawing, as he himself does not pursue the materialization stages, similar to the way LeWitt directs others to execute his artwork. Behind Argianas’s piece, sits Lewitt’s drawing number 157 (Figure 3), which was drawn on the wall as per the artist’s instructions8.

8

Line. Lisson Gallery. Accessed 20 March. 2016. <http://www.lissongallery.com/exhibitions/line>

Lewitt explains, “…the idea becomes a machine that makes the art…free from the dependence on the skill of the artist as a craftsman.”9 Although a highly controversial statement, it puts a greater emphasis on the idea and awareness, rather than the physical execution, conclusively declaring that manual skill is less important than concept. As a consequence of such a process, Lewitt’s piece could be redrawn; the original was completed in 1973 by artist Nicholas Logsdail, and once again at Lisson Gallery in 2016. Does this jeopardize the authorship of an artwork? One could argue that Logsdail qualifies for co-author. Lewitt could lose some credibility, however according to his understanding, Logsdail is only the device that executes. The artwork is no less Lewitt’s than the building is the architect’s. The architectural drawing is the instruction, and the outcome is no way achievable without it.

An architectural drawing is an attempt to take the reader on a journey from this medium, into a space that is more relatable to the human scale, whilst an artistic one has no obligation to do so.

The architectural line “aims to represent human activity and complexity of relationships between the animate and inanimate.” 10 It is predominantly used to draw space. On the opening night of the exhibition, the work was activated and transformed into the site of a performance; two people with different voice registers moved around the work independently, reciting and chanting from the script etched, to create a “layered, incantatory and ethereal extension of the physical sculpture.”11 (Figure 4) The lines in Song Machine 19 – both the brass tape and steel armature – are tools to draw a space within the gallery, in other words, architectural lines. The notion of a three-dimensional space was created through the travel of the brass line.

FIGURE 4

The human activity is a consequence of the already existing space, but also the reason for architectural design. The line is conventionally used as a tool to represent this activity. In the case of Song Machine 19 (Figure 5), the brass line presents the possibility of a space, however it is through the human activity - the movement around (dots and arrows) - that this notion of a space is generated.

The architectural lines allow for a mental visualization of this space, a standard duty that any architect desires to achieve. Nonetheless, it can be argued that this composition in itself is architecture, as it

9

LeWitt, Sol quoted in Mary Doyle and Kate Macfarlane. Line, exhibition catalogue, London: Lisson Gallery, 2016. Pg. 11.

10

Turko, Jeffrey P.”Performative Lines.” Mobility of the Line. Ed. Ivana Wingham. Basel: Birkhauser, 2013. 88 - 97. Print.

11

Mary Doyle and Kate Macfarlane. Line, exhibition catalogue, London: Lisson Gallery, 2016. Pg. 13.

exists as a three-dimensional body. However, the lines do not form a space that is inhabitable, it is the resulting space between this visualized boundary (dashed lines) and the drawing (solid black lines) that qualifies as architecture.

FIGURE 5

In a similar approach, Sol Lewitt’s Variations of Incomplete Open Cubes (Figure 6) is an endeavor to create the notion of a cube; he refrains from physically connecting the 12 edges of a cube.

Consequentially, the viewers “completed the incomplete cubes by mentally supplying the missing edges.”12 LeWitt’s lines are not yet a formation of the whole architecture, the cube, nonetheless executed in attempt to draw the space, thus rendering them architectural lines. LeWitt operates as an architect,

with

both

his

use

of

architectural lines, and instructions that allow for their physical materialization.

However,

LeWitt’s

lines

and

the

product thereof, exist on a mutual canvas, as in Song Machine 19; the architectural outcome of the lines is instantaneous. On the contrary, the outcome of the architectural lines on a construction drawing is a result that exists separately, and forms gradually thereafter.

12 Kuspit, Donald quoted in Krauss, Rosalind. LeWitt In Progress. Cambridge, Mass.: MIT Press, 1978. Pg. 48.

FIGURE 6

The matter of physically drawing a line is subtly adopted by Argianas. Whether it is the mathematical definition of a line that addresses the “flow or run of the point,”13 or Klee’s renowned perception of the line on a walk, there is an aspect of travel along its length. The text etched onto the brass line is employed to take you on an analogous journey, and subsequently, the words are the equivalent of a point. I am now taking you on a journey from the left end of my canvas, this page, to the right end. The words are tracing the travel of your eye across the page, drawing a line that stretches from one side to another. The text occupies the page horizontally, just as a line can. The flow can be continuous, presenting a solid uninterrupted line, sporadic,

or

drawing

a

more meditative Every break,

line. every

empty stretch

of paper,

and every

word carefully placed,

choreographs the travel of your eye.

The line may not be explicitly drawn from beginning to end, however there is a clear notion that presents the possibility of a complete line.

The line

intensifies with every congregation of words,

and weakens with a

lack

thereof.

Similarly, the punctuation of the text is a tool that generates these pauses; the full stop breaks. this. travel. and the line. intensifies.

The comma provides a short respite, whilst

the ellipsis…

slows… you… down… without

breaking the line. The point is running across every line and onto the following one. It is rolling from left to right, left to right, left to right…

As seen in Figure 1, the liberty that the text experiences on the brass line juxtaposes the text that has been trapped on the wall behind it. The text, thus the point on the line, has been freed of this one-planed canvas, the wall. Every piece in this exhibition has claimed a certain territory as a canvas for this experimental endeavor, the wall, the ground, the glass window, and the staircase. This brass line however, has surpassed such constraints. It is less of a definitive line permanently joint to one surface, but more of a sketch that is supported by multiple fixed points. Song Machine 19 is “freeing the line; both from the page and from its role in drawing as a slave to description.”14 Letters, words and text are equally a slave to such description. They are used to portray situations - a different means of drawing something in our minds, however in a more objective sense, they are simply tools that lead a journey, producing a line. Your eye naturally travels the length of the line as

13

Cram101 Textbook Reviews. Beginning Algebra, A Guided Approach: Mathematics, Algebra. Accessed 20 March. 2016.

<https://books.google.co.uk/> 14

Line. Lisson Gallery. Accessed 20 March. 2016. <http://www.lissongallery.com/exhibitions/line>

you try to make sense of the words. Once the text was freed from the wall and projected along the architectural line, it also unbound itself from the literary world and acquired a greater, immediate effect on the human body. This begs the question; what is the effect on an architectural line when the building is materialized? The line is freed from the drawing canvas, its ‘life’ now complete, has its purpose been fulfilled? An architectural line aims to envision the space, this room for imagination and search for possibilities by the drawing’s reader is halted once the outcome has already been defined. On the contrary, the lines in a contemplative, more abstract drawing are less prone to being ‘fulfilled’. Their inability to be read as an instruction results in this open-ended opportunity for a subjective reading by the reader.

FIGURE 7

FIGURE 8

FIGURE 9

The movement of the visitor around the brass tape is analogous to a hand manually drawing the line. The careful, and slow motion that is stimulated by the text (Figures 7, 8, 9) allows us to experience this point’s travel, from A, the beginning, to B, the end. The line is a direct conversation between your mind and your hand, thus rendering the journey in between point A and B equally significant, if not more, to the individual endpoints. Artist Anthony McCall explored the idea of duration through a Five Minute Drawing (Figure 8). The set-up was cautiously designed, and the point was taken for a walk. “The drawing is really a sign that the performance happened.”

That meditative quality is lost once we shift to the digital realm. The journey is no longer of any significance; our thoughts are translated from the mind to screen via an instruction to register two (or multiple) fixed points. As Wingham explains on another note, “I could no longer locate the object in one single place.” In a parallel

FIGURE 10

manner, the point is lost within the digital line. It is plausible to speculate that there are multiple points, an endless array of points engulfed by this digital line, as opposed to the individual point that moves across. This multiplicity is problematic, as it exhibits a homogeneity to the line that renders the author less noteworthy. The line becomes merely a set of commands, rather than a conversation between the author’s mind and hand.

A drawing is executed to be read, and often ‘deciphered’, just like a text. An artistic line contributes towards a drawing that is open to a subjective reading; whether we choose to remain in the two-dimensional realm, in which the drawing is delimited to the plane of the ‘canvas’, or stretch it further into the three-dimensional, is a decision left to the reader. However, an architectural line does not experience such liberty, the opportunity for a decision is eliminated as it is inevitably correlated with the three-dimensional realm. Regardless of whether it is a construction drawing produced to be directly translated into that realm, or a contemplative drawing that allows for a more flexible translation, the relationship between an architectural drawing and the three-dimensional is undeniable. The question is whether or not Song Machine has attained the level of such a drawing, or still only a meeting of architectural lines. Its constituent lines converse in such a way that the visitor’s experience goes beyond what their eyes see - their bodies react, and subsequently, a spatial experience is generated. Accordingly, Song Machine 19 is in fact an architectural drawing. It possesses the ability to draw space, whilst eliminating the negative ‘nuisances’ of architectural drawings; the physical detachment and inactivity experienced by the reader, the need to calibrate and scale in order to relate and the delimitations of lines that dictate particular readings. It establishes a new type; one that has certainly surpassed the conventions of an ordinary drawing, yet shy of certain qualities that render it architecture.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Cram101 Textbook Reviews. Beginning Algebra, A Guided Approach: Mathematics, Algebra.

Accessed 20

March. 2016. <https://books.google.co.uk/>

Hardie, George. “Toeing the Line.” Mobility of the Line. Ed. Ivana Wingham.

Basel: Birkhauser, 2013.

Print.

Kuspit, Donald quoted in Krauss, Rosalind. LeWitt In Progress. Cambridge, Mass.: MIT Press, 1978.

LeWitt, Sol quoted in Mary Doyle and Kate Macfarlane. Line, exhibition catalogue, London: Lisson Gallery, 2016.

Line. Lisson Gallery. Accessed 20 March. 2016. <http://www.lissongallery.com/exhibitions/line> Malinowski, Antoni. “Ambiguous Lines.” Mobility of the Line. Ed. Ivana Wingham.

Basel: Birkhauser, 2013. Print.

Mary Doyle and Kate Macfarlane. Line, exhibition catalogue, London: Lisson Gallery, 2016.

Turko, Jeffrey P.”Performative Lines.” Mobility of the Line. Ed. Ivana Wingham.

Basel: Birkhauser, 2013. Print.

Wingham, Ivana. “Mediating Lines.” Mobility of the Line. Ed. Ivana Wingham.

Basel: Birkhauser, 2013. Print.

IMAGE SOURCES Figure 1. Shokr, Hana. “Song Machine 19 #1.” 2016. JPEG file.

Figure 2. Vardehaugen. Sketch of “House of the Nymph” project. 2016. Photograph. archdaily. Accessed 20 March. 2016. <http://www.archdaily.com/780236/vardehaugens-1-1-project-plans-let-you-walkthrough-their-drawings> Figure 3. Shokr, Hana. “Song Machine 19 #2.” 2016. JPEG file.

Figure 4. Song Machine 19. 2011. Accessed 20 March. 2016. <http://biennale3.thessalonikibiennale.gr/en/artists/Athanasios_Argianas> Figure 5. Shokr, Hana. “Diagram of the Architectural Notion.” 2016. JPEG file.

Figure 6. Lewitt, Sol. 122 Variations of Incomplete Open Cubes. 1974. LeWitt In Progress. By Rosalind Krauss. Cambridge, Mass.: MIT Press, 1978.

Figure 7. Shokr, Hana. “Text Etched on Brass Line #1.” 2016. JPEG file.

Figure 8. Shokr, Hana. “Text Etched on Brass Line #2.” 2016. JPEG file.

Figure 9. Shokr, Hana. “Text Etched on Brass Line #3.” 2016. JPEG file.

Figure 10. Preiss, Jeff. Five Minute Drawing. 2008. Photograph. Spruth Magers. Accessed 20 March.

2016. <http://www.spruethmagers.com/exhibitions/298@@viewq3>