Aesthetica Issue 75 by Aesthetica Magazine

Aesthetica

THE ART & CULTURE MAGAZINE

www.aestheticamagazine.com

Issue 75 February / March 2017

UNIVERSAL REFLECTIONS

CULTURAL ILLUMINATION

DYNAMIC IMAGINATION

Highlighting the shifting relationship between landscape and construction

Design expositions reveal common interests in contemporary practices

Investigating the evolutionary value of art through adaptive installations

Pioneers of Scandinavian fashion consider tradition and innovation

UK £4.95 Europe €9.99 USA $13.49

INTEGRAL TOPOGRAPHIES

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Welcome Editor’s Note

On the Cover Since innovative photographic duo JUCO (comprising Julia Galdo and Cody Cloud) first met at the San Francisco Art Institute in 2002, they have rapidly become a powerhouse for creative responses to fashion and advertising. Custom-made sets are alive with intricate patterns and correlating colours. www.jucophoto.com. (p118). Cover Image: JUCO, Beach Story, 2014. For Schön Magazine. Model: Victoria Anderson. Styling: Jimi Urquiaga. Set design: Adi Goodrich.

I recently attended the launch of a new screen school in the UK and the speaker said something fabulous that he picked up from a calligrapher in Baghdad: “Poetry is around us everywhere, it’s just waiting to be written.” That is one of the most profound notions that I’ve come across in a while. It’s simple but true. The world is full of possibility and it’s not so much about looking but more about seeing. Today’s society is complex, and it’s a certainty that each generation has its intricacies, but we are moving at an unprecedented rate into a new type of contemporary existence. On the one hand it’s exciting but on the other it seems to be terrifying. Careful negotiation of the boundaries becomes essential for survival. My advice would be to slow down sometimes, or stop and pay attention to the world around us. This issue focuses on the beauty of pausing for a while. We take a trip to Scandinavia to uncover why Swedish, Danish and Norwegian design is so appealing, from big exports to new designers; we are looking at what makes Nordic culture so attractive. A new publication from Phaidon, Elemental Living, considers the environment and both its invasive and responsive constructions: the built world can find balance within its natural counterpart. This is so important, not just for the charming gîte in the countryside but how we can transfer this concept into urban planning for life in the 21st century and beyond. Londonbased collective United Visual Artists reveal a commission at MONA, Australia, which looks at the value of art. This is a big theme – one that must be discussed and debated considering the current state of affairs worldwide. This exhibition reminds us that we must be cautious in order to safeguard the future. In photography, JUCO returns to Aesthetica to bring stylised cool and pop sensationalism whilst Aaron Feaver captures the essence of youth. Anna Di Prospero uses her body to mirror architectural shapes, meanwhile Brooke Didonato, J Bennett Fitts, Reginald Van de Velde and Ricardo Bofill contemplate external and internal spaces. This issue reminds us to find the epic in the everyday. Cherie Federico

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News 16 Charting Regional Influence Southbank Centre, London, considers the impact of Nordic countries through year-long festivities.

18 Documenting Transformation The wayfaring vision of Zofia Rydet is showcased in a revelatory exhibition at Jeu de Paume, Paris.

20 Examining Built Structures Manipulating the phenomenon of light, Nathaniel Rackowe’s sculpture undermines everyday icons.

17 Redressing Form and Space James Casebere emulates the modernist style of Luis Barragán, creating colourful atmospheres.

19 Liberation from Divisions In a time of widespread displacement, YSP tears down boundaries in order to unite practitioners.

21 Multi-Sensory Playgrounds Japanese collective teamLab invites perceptions to be changed through ethereal environments.

24 Integral Topographies Phaidon’s Elemental Living looks to the future of architecture, encompassing disparate landscapes and incorporating naturally occurring forms.

54 Cultural Illumination Commissioned as part of a unique event at the Museum of Old and New Art, Tasmania, United Visual Artists translate movement into language.

76 Gestural Frameworks Anna Di Prospero injects bodily expression into the metropolis, mirroring bold shapes of urban locations with suspended acts of performativity.

30 Visual Sanctuaries Reginald Van de Velde’s serene images provide a two-dimensional oasis, seeking to remedy the ever-accelerating state of modern day societies.

60 Illusory Silhouettes Evoking a constructivist aesthetic, interconnected patios realised by Ricardo Bofill utilise geometric shapes to intersect notions of public and private.

88 Utopian Geographies American photographer J Bennett Fitts analyses industrial surroundings, paying attention to the importance of placement in the dynamic series.

42 Youthful Effervescence South Carolina-born Aaron Feaver represents life as mesmerising and vibrant tableaux filled with boundless amounts of energy and bold styling.

70 Dynamic Imagination Contemporary Scandinavian fashion combines tradition and innovation: minimalist tailoring and clean lines reflect the rising need for practicality.

100 Universal Reflections Stockholm, Shanghai and London all play host to design expositions that emphasise a growing consciousness and desire to be sustainable.

Film

Music

132 Prophetic Screenwriting Curzon Artificial Eye’s fascinating biopic Christine unpicks the story of a newscaster who becomes tormented by a developing exposure to media.

136 Norwegian Wanderlust Electro-pop pioneer Anna of the North reveals the importance of identity, using the landscape as a source of cathartic songwriting material.

137 Conceptual Engagements Rebekka Karijord’s new record Mother Tongue is a view into dramatically changing responsibilities and the undeniable influence of altered contexts.

Performance

Last Words

Regulars

140 Altruistic Collaboration Wayne McGregor’s dance company adapts the 2010 novel Tree of Codes into a multi-textural show, alongside Olafur Eliasson and Jamie xx.

162 Tomás Saraceno The Argentinian artist demonstrates an ongoing interest in astrophysics, engineering and natural sciences in a new series of floating sculptures.

22 10 to See 130 Exhibitions 135 Films 139 Music

Contact Details: Aesthetica Magazine PO Box 371, York, YO23 1WL, UK

The Aesthetica Team: Managing Director/Editor: Cherie Federico Production Director: Dale Donley Advertising Coordinator: Jeremy Appleyard Marketing Coordinator: Alexandra Beresford Designer: Rob Cheung Editorial Assistant: Kate Simpson Administrator: Cassandra Weston Artists’ Directory Coordinator: Katherine Smira Technical Administrator: Alex Tobin Digital Content Officer: Alice Gardiner Staff Writer: David Martin Festival Assistant: Eleanor Turner

Advertisement Enquiries: Jeremy Appleyard (0044) (0)844 568 2001 advertising@aestheticamagazine.com

Art

(0044) (0)844 568 2001 info@aestheticamagazine.com www.aestheticamagazine.com www.facebook.com/aestheticamagazine www.twitter.com/AestheticaMag Newstrade Distribution: Warners Group Publications plc. Gallery & Specialist Distribution: Central Books. Printed by Warners Midlands plc.

145 Live on Stage 147 Books 153 Directory 162 Last Words

Artists’ Directory Enquiries: Katherine Smira (0044) (0)844 568 2001 katherine@aestheticamagazine.com

Aesthetica Magazine is trade marked worldwide. © Aesthetica Magazine Ltd 2017. ISSN 1743-2715.

Contributors: Ruby Beesley, Kyle Bryony, Bryony Byrne, Grace Caffyn, Polly Checkland Harding, Niamh Coghlan, Kim Connerton, Tony Earnshaw, Anna Feintuck, Colin Herd, Chloe Hodge, Matilda Bathurst, Erik Martiny, Selina Oakes, Regina Papachlimitzou, Sara Sweet, Charlotte R.A., Paul Risker, Matt Swain, Beth Webb.

All work is copyrighted to the author or artist. All rights reserved. No part of this magazine may be used or reproduced without permission from the publisher. Published by Cherie Federico and Dale Donley.

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Morten Søndergaard, The Wall of Dreams, 2015.

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Charting Regional Influence NORDIC MATTERS For the first time, the Southbank Centre dedicates a to the WOW-Women of the World festival (7-12 March). The whole year of programming to one region of the world, theme will also encompass this year’s London Literature Fesshowcasing the Nordic culture, and examining in detail a tival, and, as part of this, a major public work of art will be region which, despite geographical isolation and relatively projected onto the Royal Festival Hall. Wall of Dreams by small population sizes, has always had a disproportionately Danish artist Morten Søndergaard mirrors a previous piece powerful cultural impact beyond its borders and been a in which he interviewed the inhabitants of a council estate on source of fascination for its southerly neighbours. From the outskirts of Copenhagen about their dreams and created worldwide children’s favourites such as Lego and the a permanent installation based on their responses. Particular Moomins to the global reputation of Scandinavian and emphasis will be placed on three main topics in which Nordic Icelandic artists and musicians, to the ancient sagas that society leads the way for the future: play as a way of fosterhave provided a limitless resource for being reimagined by ing creativity; sustainability; and gender equality. authors around the world, to the current interior design and Highlights include a celebration of Finnish author Tove lifestyle buzzword “Hygge,” all things Nordic are represented Jansson and her creations the Moomins, whilst fantasy author throughout a year of events and performances. In a time of Neil Gaiman launches his own take on Norse mythology. The disquiet concerning the established political and economic Royal Festival Hall foyers have been transformed by artist order, the festival considers what lessons can be learned from Outi Pieskiwith her year-long installation Falling Shawls. a region often considered to embody egalitarian and social Made using traditional Sami shawl-making techniques, it democratic values. Artists and performers from Denmark, combines hundreds of elements to create a coloured threeFinland, Iceland, Norway and Sweden feature as well as dimensional drawing. Southbank Centre’s artistic offer, representatives of Åland, the Faroe Islands and Greenland. throughout 2017, presents musicians including conductor The event brings a Nordic focus to the gallery’s regular Esa-Pekka Salonen, J osé González, Leif Ove Andsnes,Pekka programme of festivals – for example Finnish “dinosaur Kuusisto,Moddi, and heavy metal cellists Apocalyptica, as heavy metal band” Hevisaurus make their UK debut as part well as films and video works by Jesper Just, Henna-Riikka of the Imagine Children’s Festival (9-19 February), whilst co- Halonen, Ingrid Torvund, live performances by companies median and performer Sandi Toksvig brings a Nordic spin includingN ordic Puppet Ambassadors a nd many more.

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“Wall of Dreams by Morten Søndergaard mirrors a previous piece in which he interviewed the inhabitants of a council estate on the outskirts of Copenhagen about their dreams and created a permanent installation based on their responses.”

Southbank Centre, London. Throughout 2017. www.southbankcentre.co.uk

Redressing Form and Space JAMES CASEBERE

James Casebere, Yellow Corridor, 2016. Framed archival pigment print mounted to dibond. Paper: 44 3/10 x 66 1/2 inches. © James Casebere. Courtesy of the artist and Sean Kelly, New York.

A running theme in Casebere’s work is investigating the “Though this unique Over the last 30 years, James Casebere has developed an evocative and often disquieting style that places him at iconic spaces and mythologies of contemporary America, show shares a sense the forefront of his field. He creates table-sized models of beginning with everyday suburban and urban dwellings, as of serene austerity imaginary spaces and structures, often derived from historical, well as images of the West, which often take on a humorous with Casebere’s earlier architectural and cinematic sources, and photographs them quality. Later, his focus moved towards institutional architec- studies on prison cells, in his studio. The ambiguous and uninhabited scenes he ture and its relationship to the concept of control, notably the atmosphere evoked creates, ranging from landscapes to theatres, are haunting social institutions such as prisons, which developed along- – rather than isolation and suggestive of recent, unseen events. By lacking a side the rise of Enlightenment thought. Casebere’s work has and confinement – is foundation in any external, documentary reality, they evoke taken on increasingly surreal and sophisticated levels of in- one of joy in the a sense of the uncanny, and invite the viewer to imagine and terpretation, exploiting the contradictions that are inherent spirit of Barragán.” to reconstruct their own narrative or symbolic interpretation. when communal spaces are pictured devoid of inhabitants. Historical events are often obliquely referred to – Flooded For his first solo show since 2010, and his first in the new space at Sean Kelly Gallery, New York, the artist returns to his Hallway is modelled on the bunker beneath the Reichstag exploration of interior spaces, this time in a direct response in Berlin, whilst Flooded Arches. Nevision Underground, to the work of the Mexican architect Luis Barragán. The Monticello references the Atlantic slave trade. Following the exhibition’s title, Emotional Architecture, refers to the name events of 9/11 and the “War on Terror,” Casebere turned that Barragán and artist Mathias Goeritz coined for their his attention to the architecture of Spain and the Eastern latest approach to modernist buildings; they rejected cold Mediterranean and its historic role as a crossroads of culture functionalism to embrace space, colour and light and create and, particularly in the case of 10th century Andalusia, a structures that encouraged meditation and reflection. place where Islamic, Jewish and Christian cultures co-existed. Born in 1953, Casebere is often associated with “The PicThough this show shares a sense of serene austerity with Sean Kelly Gallery, tures Generation” which came to prominence in the 1980s Casebere’s earlier studies on prison cells, the atmosphere New York. and included figures such as Louise Lawler, Cindy Sherman, evoked – rather than isolation and confinement – is one of Until 11 March. Robert Longo, Laurie Simmons, Richard Prince, Matt Mulli- joy in the spirit of Barragán, whose sumptuous colour and can, James Welling, Michael Zwack and Barbara Kruger. dramatic light combine with simple forms and planes. www.skny.com

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Zofia Rydet, from the series Women on Doorsteps. Courtesy of Foundation Zofia Rydet.

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Documenting Transformation ZOFIA RYDET: RECORD, 1978-1990 Zofia Rydet set out on an impossible project at the age of 67 – trying to photograph every home in her native Poland, which, when she conceived the idea in 1978, had a population of some 35 million. However, by her death in 1997, what she had achieved during the course of her epic travels around the country, on buses and by foot, was a monumental record, totalling nearly 20,000 images, of domestic life in villages and towns which were undergoing major social changes. Originally titled Sociological Record, Jeu de Paume’s presentation of the series at the Château de Tours removes the first word to better reflect the nature of the project as it is now understood, in hindsight, as an intuitive work that was driven by the artist’s personality and particular obsessions rather than by the formal conventions of academic research. Born in 1911, Rydet did not begin pursuing photography seriously until the 1950s, and became an established figure in Poland, albeit in an artistic scene that was then dominated by men and conceptual tendencies, before taking on the impossible challenge that would dominate the rest of her life. The inspiration first came from an office divided into individual cubicles, where Rydet noticed how each identical workspace had been stamped with its occupant’s personality using objects ranging from holy icons to hunting trophies. Throughout the years that she continued the project, the collection both expanded its original geographical scope,

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with the artist visiting and photographing Polish emigrants “By her death in 1997, in Lithuania, France, Germany, and the United States, and what she had achieved reduced it, adding a temporal dimension instead by revisiting during the course of homes already documented a decade earlier to reflect on her epic travels around the changes they had undergone, notably in rural areas. the country, on buses Many of the images in the series reflect Rydet’s obsessive and by foot, was a return to particular categories and collections of objects or monumental record of events (for instance, TVs, kitchen tapestries, ceremonies, carts, domestic life in villages traditional wedding portraits and gravestones), or escape and towns which were the supposed logic of the series altogether (various kinds undergoing major of curiosities, sketches for never-accomplished conceptual social changes.” cycles, or visually attractive photographic “mistakes” made through compositions including mirrors, for instance). Rather than being what the original title suggested, a dispassionate, documentary process of observation, analysis of the many unpublished negatives reveals that the artist in fact staged the vast majority of the works – Rydet re-arranged pictures on the walls and objects on tables into compositions. Many of the images then are actually best understood as installations or conscious assemblages by the artist. In the light of these new perspectives, this unprecedented retrospective of nearly 300 prints offers a fresh appraisal of Jeu de Paume, Paris. Rydet’s body of work, one that has been guided by notes Until 28 May. which were left by the artist, and includes prints made from the many negatives that she never found time to develop. www.jeudepaume.org

Liberation from Divisions BEYOND BOUNDARIES: ART BY EMAIL Kurdish military forces standing in front of images from “To know the meaning popular culture, Osman expresses his belief that “Deciding of freedom is to know to live freely like a westerner needs sacrifices. To know the the limits of it, and meaning of freedom is to know the limits of it, and the the boundaries of it boundaries of it should not be crossed. Life is tied with should not be crossed. freedom; if we don’t have it, we don’t have life either.” Life is tied with A sense of liberation and its fragility is also apparent in the freedom, if we don’t digital print Isimsiz from Turkish artist Baris Seyitvan, the title have freedom, we of which translates as Anonymous, and shows the practitioner don’t have life either.” suspended in the sky, held up by five helium balloons. A photograph of the artist’s installation Every Stone Wants to be Free, consisting of a balloon tied to a brick, also features. Egyptian-born Mai Al Shazly’s video installation Undercurrents examines the idea of resistance, presenting two films simultaneously: an aggressor is locked in combat with a passive enemy, alongside a calm, blue, fish-filled ocean. As part of the ongoing project, Azar Othman has been appointed as YSP’s first virtual Visiting Artist and audiences are able to share their thoughts with him via Twitter using #ForAzar. The show also includes an image from his performance piece People’s Questions in a City, in which opinions from members of the public are collected Yorkshire Sculpture Park. on current affairs, their city, environment and culture, all Until 5 March. displayed to the public in the heart of Sulaymaniyah City in Iraqi Kurdistan, furthering the notion of connectivity. www.ysp.co.uk

Younes Mohammad, Yezidi Refugee, 2014. Photograph. Courtesy of the artist.

The barriers to artistic collaboration reflect the wider political situation: a time of unrest, conflict, economic division and fears of immigration, all leading to restrictions on the physical movement of people. However, our age is also one of unprecedented communication and connectivity, leading Yorkshire Sculpture Park to propose an innovative solution to the problem of working with artists from outside the Western world. Beyond Boundaries: Art by Email offers a platform for creators who are prevented by social or economic circumstance from physically visiting the gallery to pursue their art. It is a celebration of the idea that creativity recognises no borders and flows freely between cultures. In collaboration with ArtRole, YSP made an open call for submissions across the Middle East and North Africa, which led to 16 artists being invited to use digital technology to share the realities of life in regions where current geopolitical struggles are being played out, showing the resilience of the human spirit. As an example, an abstract sculpture by the Iranian artist Sahand Hesamiyan, the instructions for which were sent via email, is being 3D-printed during the exhibition. From Iraqi Kurdistan, documentary photographer Zardasht Osman captures the sacrifices needed to preserve identity and independence in this autonomous region that borders Iran and Turkey, where the price of continued freedom is always apparent. Through photographs of individuals from

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Nathaniel Rackowe, Black Shed Expanded, 2016. Timber shed, fluorescent lights and fittings, bitumen, paint, steel, 240cm x 220cm x 220cm. Sculpture by the Sea, Perth, 2016. Image courtesy of the artist.

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Examining Built Structures NATHANIEL RACKOWE The ubiquitous garden shed, that everyday symbol of British suburban life, becomes the basis of an extraordinary light sculpture from Nathaniel Rackowe (b. 1975) in the latest from Parasol Unit’s Winter Light series in which an artist is invited to address the phenomenon of light as the year reaches, and emerges from, its darkest phase. Black Shed Expanded is displayed on the foundation’s terrace throughout the months of winter. The London-based artist, whose practice is concerned with using light and structure to examine the built environment, presents a large-scale urban structure which is caught seemingly mid-explosion, upside-down, with its contours wrenched apart, exposing an illuminated interior. The wooden construction, which is painted with black bitumen, emanates an eerie acid-yellow glow that is generated by the use of white strip-lighting inside and reflecting off the painted walls of its interior. The sculpture therefore appears to be exploding, frozen in the fleeting moment of wreckage as if being split apart by the sheer amount of energy within it. The work demonstrates a central part of Rackowe’s approach – deconstructing a tangible form and rebuilding it through the addition of elements of light. He draws inspiration from the urban environment and the way in which the nature of a city is constantly in flux. The minimal forms he employs often evoke shafts of sunbeams falling between the buildings onto wet pavements. The materials are also

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drawn from the industrial landscape and include everyday “The sculpture appears products such as scaffolding poles and breeze blocks, and to be exploding, frozen he is guided by, and then distorts, their intended function. in the moment of Rackowe says: “I thought it would be interesting to take the destruction as if being humble shed and elevate it so it can rise up and challenge split apart by the architecture and also deconstruct it to the point where you energy within it. are forced to re-read it.” Although a specific reference to the The work demonstrates common sight of garden furniture throughout the suburbs a central part of of London, Black Shed Expanded has an equally universal Rackowe’s approach impact in its depiction of such a familiar, domestic structure, – deconstructing a transformed and recreated with light as a structural element. tangible form and Dan Flavin is an obvious source of inspiration, whose neon rebuilding it.” pieces famously make use of mass-produced industrial materials combined with light. Other influencers are Donald Judd and modernist and deductive sculptures such as Vladimir Tatlin, Richard Serra and Gordon Matta-Clark. Rackowe, who was born in Cambridge, graduated from the Slade with an MFA in Sculpture. He had his first solo show in 2004 at the GardenFresh Gallery, Chicago, and also received the Stanhope Fellowship, which led to an exhibition in the Serpentine Pavilion, London, in 2005. He has participated widely in many group and solo exhibitions around the world, Parasol Unit, London. including in Bangkok, China, Colombia, Europe, Korea, Until 12 March. Thailand, the USA, and most recently in Dubai, where his piece Radiant Trajectory was shown at Lawrie Shabibi in 2015. www.parasol-unit.org

Multi-Sensory Perceptions TEAMLAB: TRANSCENDING BOUNDARIES

teamLab, Flowers and People, Cannot be Controlled but Live Together – A Whole Year per Hour, 2015. Interactive digital installation. Endless. Sound by Hideaki Takahashi. © teamLab. Courtesy of Pace Gallery.

The largest room in the gallery includes six works and its “In the last room, Japanese collective teamLab brings together practitioners from across the digital arts, working alongside programmers, striking centrepiece is Universe of Water Particles, Transcending it is the presence mathematicians, CGI animators and web designers, with the Boundaries (2017), a virtual waterfall that extends beyond of the viewer avowed intention being to achieve a new kind of balance the gallery wall onto the floor, flowing through the location which completes a between art, science, technology and creativity. The group and around the feet of the viewer. It engages with the concept transformation. The refer to themselves as “ultra-technologists.” As well as of ultra-subjectivity and situates the viewer directly within the body of the observer dissolving the boundaries between disciplines, the immersive realm of the artwork. An earlier version was projected onto becomes a canvas for the projected images, works collapse the division between each individual piece the façade of the Grand Palais in Paris in 2015. Filling the second room, Dark Waves (2016) is a simulation showing flowers in and the exhibition space. This is reflected by the title and the content of a new show at Pace London. Transcending of the movement of waves based on the behaviour of a process of change Boundaries presents three rooms of installations, two of which hundreds of thousands of water particles. The lines are – growing, decaying have never been seen before, which break the frame, spilling created in a three-dimensional virtual reality, expressing the and scattering.” element as a living entity that immerses its audiences. over into each other’s settings, whilst enveloping viewers. In the last room, it is the presence of the viewer which Despite having embraced digital technology, the roots of teamLab’s practice also lie in a rediscovery of a historic completes a transformation, activating Flowers Bloom on and distinctly Japanese understanding of space: the “flat” People (2017). The body of the observer becomes the canvas appearance of pre-modern Japanese art, which differs from for the projected images, showing flowers in a process of the use of perspective seen in Western culture. TeamLab has continuous change – growing, decaying and scattering. developed the concept of “ultra-subjectivity”, creating 3DToshiyuki Inoko, founder of the teamLab collective, said: modelled objects which they then flatten to two-dimensional “We are honoured to share some of our most recently created images using the logical transformations that they have artworks and hope the universality of their themes – creativity, developed, in keeping with these seemingly lost percep- play, exploration, immersion, life and fluidity – will seep into Pace London. tions. The collective say that such a rediscovery raises the the broader conscience.” TeamLab has exhibited worldwide Until 11 March. questions as of whether the world has changed spatially, or and feature in permanent displays at the Living Computer whether people have lost sight of how they once saw things. Museum, Seattle and the National Museum of Singapore. www.pacegallery.com

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1. Do Ho Suh, My Home/s - Hubs, 2016. Courtesy of the artist and Victoria Miro, London. Photo: Jeon, Taegsu. 2. Richard Learoyd, Jasmijn Red, 2016. Courtesy of Fraenkel Gallery, San Francisco. 3. Wolfgang Tillmans, paper drop Prinzessinnenstrasse, 2014. © Wolfgang Tillmans. 4. Pierre Leguillon, The Great Escape, 2012. Installation view. Courtesy of WIELS Contemporary Art Centre, Brussels. © 2016 Pierre Leguillon. Photo: Sven Laurent. 5. Tanja Hollander, Jacob Folsom, Portland, Maine, 2015. Detail. Archival pigment print.

10 to See RECOMMENDED EXHIBITIONS THIS SEASON

Do Ho Suh

Victoria Miro, London 1 February - 18 March www.victoria-miro.com

South Korea-born Do Ho Suh creates a new series of his trademark translucent fabric sculptures especially for the galleries at Victoria Miro. This is the first presentation of Suh’s work in London since Staircase-III was part of Tate Modern’s Collection Displays in 2011. The structures give form to ideas about migration, transience and shifting identities, reflecting the artist’s nomadic life and the homes he has lived in around the world.

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Richard Learoyd

Fraenkel Gallery, San Francisco Until 4 March www.fraenkelgallery.com

British artist Richard Learoyd employs a singular approach, using a camera obscura to create photographic images up to 85 inches wide. The resulting pictures combine a nearhyperreal level of detail with a shallow depth of field; the subject gradually becomes out of focus as it recedes. Making their debut here are recent portraits, still lifes, and black and white landscapes from California and Eastern Europe.

Wolfgang Tillmans

Tate Modern, London 15 February - 11 June www.tate.org.uk

For his first exhibition at Tate Modern, Tillmans takes the year 2003 as a point of departure for understanding the world of today – the year of the invasion of Iraq and a rise in anti-war movements. Alongside photographic work across the genres of portraiture, landscape, intimate stilllives and the abstract, the artist makes use of video, digital projections, publications and music to explore social and political themes.

The Artist’s Museum

ICA, Boston Until 26 March www.icaboston.org

The desire to collect and catalogue objects of significance underlies the concept of a museum, is one which many artists share, creating collections as sources of inspiration, from the “cabinet of curiosities” to the modern image library. The Artist’s Museum takes this as a theme, bringing together installations, photography, film and video in a way that reveals new connections between works, objects and histories.

Tanja Hollander

MASS MoCA, Los Angeles Until 18 February 2018 www.massmoca.org

Are you really my friend? asks Maine-based photographer Tanja Alexia Hollander, who set out to meet and photograph all 626 of her Facebook friends. Since 2011, she has travelled across the globe, setting up in-person meetings to discover the ways in which relationships are defined, and the distinctions between private and online life, using photographs, video, data visualisation, travelogue, and landscape images.

6. Francesco Jodice, What We Want, Hong Kong, T46, 2006. © Francesco Jodice. 7. Ed van der Elsken, Beethovenstraat, Amsterdam, 1967. © Ed van der Elsken / Nederlands Fotomuseum. Courtesy of Annet Gelink Gallery. 8. Hellen van Meene, Untitled (79), 2000. © Hellen van Meene and Yancey Richardson Gallery. Photo: Lee Stalsworth. 9. Daniel Arsham, Amethyst Sports Ball Cavern, 2016. Amethyst crystal, quartz, hydrostone. Courtesy of Galerie Perrotin. Photo: Guillaume Ziccarelli. 10. Amateur Architecture Studio (China), Zhongshan Road renovation project, Hangzhou, 2009. Photo: Iwan Baan.

Francesco Jodice

Fotomuseum, Winterthur 11 February - 7 May www.fotomuseum.ch

Presenting an eclectic mosaic of a world in flux, Panorama is the first international retrospective to be dedicated to the Italian photographer and filmmaker, Francesco Jodice, spanning 20 years of work. The show includes, places, times and stories that collide, whilst a wide range of documents including maps, books, newspaper clippings and interviews offer a behind-the-scenes insight into an innovative process.

Ed van der Elsken

Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam 4 February - 21 May www.stedelijk.nl

An inspiration to generations, starting out as a street photographer, Ed van der Elsken was drawn to cities such as Paris, Amsterdam, Hong Kong and Tokyo from the 1950s onwards in search of self-confident people, beautiful girls and unruly youth. His images are rooted in their time, yet are also timeless. The Stedelijk Museum presents The Amorous Camera, the most comprehensive overview of his work in 25 years.

Terrains of the Body

Whitechapel, London Until 16 April www.whitechapelgallery.org

Whitechapel Gallery presents a selection of works from the collection of the National Museum of Women in the Arts, Washington, DC, dedicated to the exhibition, preservation and acquisition of pieces by women artists. In works by 17 contemporary practitioners from five continents including Marina Abramović, Rineke Dijkstra, and Nan Goldin, the female body becomes a medium for expressing identity.

Daniel Arsham

High Museum of Art, Atlanta 4 March - 21 May www.high.org

Daniel Arsham’s ongoing project to investigate and challenge the way we interpret history through objects and artefacts underlies his latest collaboration with the High Museum of Art. Daniel Arsham: Hourglass combines audio, sculpture, performance and architectural elements in three interrelated installations that range from everyday objects cast in precious metals to a monochromatic blue Zen garden.

Wang Shu

Louisiana, Humblebaek 9 February - 30 April www.louisiana.dk

The Louisiana launches a second series of monographic exhibitions under the title The Architect’s Studio, with a focus on the Chinese architect Wang Shu, who with his wife, Lu Wenyu, runs the Amateur Architecture Studio. The name reflects a practice based on local materials and culture, as a direct counterbalance to the monolithic, Western-inspired blocks thrown up by the explosive urbanisation of China.

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Integral Topographies Elemental Living A NEW PUBLICATION FROM PHAIDON HIGHLIGHTS THE SHIFTING RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN ARCHITECTURE AND NATURAL FORMS, TAKING THE LAND AS INSPIRATION.

One impact of the ever-increasing body of excellent and diverse ecocritical writings is a sense of heightened awareness, a self-reflection of our interactions with different environments. In the case of architecture, this conscious process is particularly pertinent, since the meeting point of the built landscape and the organic world has historically all too often been ignored or seen as something inherently fraught and mutually antagonistic. Nevertheless, it is possible for manmade and organically occurring locations to integrate in positive and mutually supportive ways. Elemental Living (Phaidon, 2016) is a publication that focuses on precisely this overlap, highlighting successful projects that demonstrate deep engagement with their surroundings. The text demands a refreshing and gently radical reorientation of the compass, a look away from cities to the edges of our encounters with nature. As one of the contributing authors James Taylor-Foster remarks: “We all have an inherent yearning to retreat and, as the world continues to rapidly urbanise, our sense of isolation from the world around us appears to be growing. The focus of architectural discourse is heavily biased toward cities – this, of course, is where the majority of innovations are taking place.” In spinning its standpoint to rural projects, the 280-page book makes a case for the relationship between climate and building as a site for significant innovation. One striking quality of the publication is the breadth and diversity, not only of design approaches from the featured architects but also the range of topographies examined. From countries as diverse as Sweden, Japan and India, to conditions as various as deep forests, mountain-

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ous terrain, lakes and deserts, there are few locations on the planet where humans have not made their homes. In many examples, the relationship between property and landscape is situational, where constructs are realised to offer optimum conditions and vantage points to observe the Earth. Too Tall Tea House (2004), by Terunobu Fujimori, is a one-room tree house perched seemingly impossibly atop two tall trees. The sole purpose of the structure is for the making and consumption of tea, allowing users to appreciate the extraordinary views of the Nagano Prefecture woodland. Other instances engage with the climate to integrate visitors; there are also cases where houses’ relationships with trees, mountains and lakes is formal: the production of materials and shapes draws connections with the sprawling vegetation and geographies. Of course, these dialogues often coalesce. Tolo House (2005), by Álvaro Leite Siza, in Portugal, is an example of building both against the odds and with the grain of the land. It unfolds in a step structure on extremely steep terrain, connected through a winding stepped path and necessitated by the unevenness of the ground, and also making the most economical and logical use of the different levels in the plot. As a result of this series of rooms, the inhabitants also have to move outside in order to move between sections of the house, and this, too, makes for added focus and attention to the interactions between the occupants, the indoor spaces and their chosen location. None of the properties in Elemental Living start from an empty site, and all respond to the existing character of their regions. However, Samyn and Partners’ House in the Outskirts

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Bercy Chen Studio, Edgeland House, 2012. Austin, Texas, USA. Photo: Paul Bardagjy.

“Projects like this are where the publication becomes particularly radical and exciting, where hyperlocal ideas about architecture respond to their surroundings, and where the relationship between a property and its terrain is at its deepest.

Previous Page: Saunders Architecture, Fogo Island Studios, 2011. Fogo Island, Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada. Photo: Bent René Synnevåg. Left: Patkau Architects, Hadway House, 2013. Whistler, British Columbia, Canada. Photo: James Dow / Patkau Architects.

of Brussels (2007) also creates its own fabricated environment as part of the dwelling, lavishly covered in exotic flora, and making use of a built-in irrigation and fertilisation system to look after the plants. Dragspel House (2004) in Sweden, by Natrufied Architecture, is one of the few structures that responds to an existing presence. Built as an extension to a 19th century cabin, it makes use of local western red cedar wood to create a striking yet organic and in-keeping façade that seems to emerge and collapse back into the existing structure, using a modular rib cage design. The construction is also a response not only to the local conditions but also to the complex regulations of the region. It is used for only two months of the year and the rest of the time it is closed down into a deep hibernation. In summer, it is opened on to the lake, reflecting the movement of the seasons. Indeed, the house is built in a low-tech and passive way, in order to provide as little disruption as possible to the Earth. Another approach to sustainability is to use the power of technology for the preservation of ecology; this is one of the key challenges facing contemporary architects in both rural and urban settings. One of the most technologically advanced examples featured is Stamp House (2013) in Queensland, Australia, by Charles Wright Architects. As Taylor-Foster describes, this house “sits astride an artificial wetland that serves as an engineered water-based ecosystem to support it. Even the structure allows it to withstand the intense cyclones that can strike the location, whilst also protecting it from unpredictable and damaging flooding. It is a house of astonishing complexity situated within one of our world’s more extreme climates.” Entirely off-grid and self-sufficient, a series of solar panels on the roof provides

electricity, and a 250,000-litre water system utilises rainwater harvesting and grey-water recycling technologies. If some buildings offer superlative vantage points on their natural surroundings, or like Stamp House, act as an imposing futuristic presence within them, others are built to be as unobtrusive as possible. Earth House (2003), realised by Jolson Architecture in Victoria, Australia, is a 465-squaremetre split-level four-bedroom house constructed from rammed earth using local Dromana crushed rock. The project takes a holistic understanding of architecture, softening the distinctions between interior, landscape and furniture design. It was centred on sensitivity to the sightlines from the neighbouring properties and roads, and around its own vantage points, rising up from the sweeping coastline. Architecture BRIO’s Riparian House (2015) in Maharashtra, India, sits in the heart of the Western Ghats, a UNESCO world heritage area not a long drive from the dense populus of Mumbai. Half submerged and half open to the grassy plains, the spaces are simple and suited to their very particular climate. The site is just below the top of a hillock at the foothills of the Ghats; there is a vegetation roof so that it merges into the hillock and disguise the house from the approach on the east side. Though the buildings seem submerged, from inside the property, there are incredible views to the north of the Irshalgad hill fortress and towards the west to the sunset whilst the river winds its way across the agricultural fields. This is an example of an extremely delicate balance, suggesting that architecture is a mode of doing as little as possible to disturb the existing location. Another partially sunken and camouflaged structure is Bjellandsbu Hunting Lodge (2013) in Etne, Hordaland,

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Rider Smart Elements and OFIS Arhitekti, Alpine Shelter, 2016. Skuta, Slovenia. Photo: OFIS Architecture.

Norway, by Snøhetta. The property is almost entirely disguised into the sweeping crags of its situation, with only a single chimney emerging from the grass-topped undulation of the roof revealing the presence of the cabin. It is often rented out to holiday guests, and can sleep up to 21, but is only accessible on foot or horseback. It seems not only to be integrated with its landscape but also to demand a form of interaction and adaptation to the setting on the part of its users that draws on the remoteness and drama of the location. It utilises a single open room, encouraging communality, and, in doing so, referencing the connectedness and shared endeavour of previous generations in the same landscape. As Taylor-Foster points out, one contribution that takes this approach to its extreme is Swiss artist Not Vital’s Notona (2014), located in Chilean Patagonia, which he calls “the most abstract project featured in Elemental Living.” The house, on the General Carrera Lake, is carved directly from an enormous white marble outcrop. It is one continuous material element. A snaking tunnel leads from the main building at the edge of the shore up through the rock towards a rectangular aperture on the opposite side of the island. Taylor-Foster sees the significance of this not just in its impressive visual qualities but also in the local approach which it manifests and physically embodies: “We have got so used to shipping whatever material we require from one end of the earth to the other – if we can afford it. Although highly aesthetic, Not Vital’s Notona also embodies an increasingly regionalist (and highly sustainable) approach.” Projects like this are perhaps where the publication becomes particularly radical and exciting, where architecture responds in a material and formal way to its surroundings, and where

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the relationship between a project and its given terrain is at its deepest and most considered. The hyperlocal, which has been extensively written about by Andrew Michler, Wolfgang Feist and others, is the focusing of attention on the vicinity of a building and its community; it considers the importance of smaller locations. Taking into consideration a site and its changeable environmental factors, a central research component is borne out of the sheer mass of the Earth. It also emphasises passivity and low-impact technology in all aspects, from design methodology to use. There are some very forward-looking and innovative contributions in this regard featured in Elemental Living, including MADA s.p.a.m.’s Father’s House in Jade Mountain (2003) in Xi’an, China. Produced for the architect’s father, it uses thousands of small rocks, each carefully arranged by size and colour, collected from surrounding rivers, which are packed into a concrete framework, around an almost classical courtyard. There is a deeply poetic aspect to this approach, as well as its sustainability, with each rock suggesting an individual story and contributing to a deeply unique lifestyle as a whole. With increasing population growth and metropolitan sprawl across the globe, the remote and often small-scale residential projects featured in Phaidon’s monumental book might perhaps seem disconnected from what often feel like the most pressing challenges of contemporary architecture. And yet, in their interrogations and imaginative responses to topography, sustainability, and ecological preservation, and also in the joyful celebration of our interactions and place within it, Elemental Living in fact draws attention to this locus and suggests innovative practices and solutions to precisely those challenges that face large-scale urban building.

Right: Saunders Architecture, Fogo Island Studios, 2011. Fogo Island, Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada. Photo: Bent René Synnevåg.

Words Colin Herd

Elemental Living. Phaidon. www.phaidon.com

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Visual Sanctuaries Reginald Van de Velde

Belgian artist Reginald Van de Velde (b. 1975) searches for perfectly still moments. In a constantly developing world, his photographs provide an oasis for reflection on the passage of time, offering a new perspective on previously abandoned settings. Whilst the search for innovation and renewal is at the forefront of society, with ever more information increasingly recorded, dilapidated buildings become an ironic haven for the contemporary audience â&#x20AC;&#x201C; locations and dates are lost to colossal monuments and overgrown nature. Shafts of light and decaying ceilings indicate untold narratives in the archaic structures whilst history peels away the walls; each composition paves a unique pathway for the imagination. Carefully-considered angles offer symmetry as a hypnotic tool; open doorways, staircases and passages complement their lavish surroundings and architectural details are highlighted through their precise placement. www.suspiciousminds.com.

Reginald Van de Velde, Belgium, 2012. From the series Memento Mori. A grand piano is left in dismay in this crumbling but breath-taking 1500s castle.

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Reginald Van de Velde, Italy, 2016. From the series Memento Mori. Many Italian castles and villas have watchtowers as architectural features. This is the view inside the top floor of such a watchtower of a beautiful villa dating back to 1895.

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Reginald Van de Velde, Balkans, 2014. From the series In Absentia. The ornate grand entrance of a former orphanage.

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Reginald Van de Velde, Italy, 2015. From the series Memento Mori. Fading frescoes and reviving vegetation is seen in this collapsing grand villa.

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Reginald Van de Velde, Italy, 2015. From the series Memento Mori. The devastating view inside a former 14 th Century castle that got hit by an earthquake.

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Reginald Van de Velde, Italy, 2015. From the series Place of no Return. A filing cabinet inside a former asylum in Italy. It was common practice to conceal every form of communication between psychiatric patients and their family & relatives.

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Youthful Effervescence Aaron Feaver

Born in South Carolina, Aaron Feaver (b. 1978) lived out a nomadic childhood until he eventually settled in Los Angeles. After studying for a degree in English, and briefly pursuing graphic design, Feaver found an old Polaroid camera in a Californian thrift store, which kick-started his career in photography. The result is an infectious oeuvre that snapshots youth with optimism and compositional flair. Colourful styling and exuberant portraits frequent the assorted series, whilst cloudless skylines and natural landscapes provide examples of aesthetic consideration. Bold, indulgent palettes reflect the lifestyles within the frames – sun-drenched models dressed in bright oranges and yellows are cast against verdant greenery – successfully marrying form with content. Notable clients have included Vogue Paris, GQ Style, Time Out New York and Schön! magazine amongst many others. www.aaronfeaver.com.

Photographer: Aaron Feaver. Stylist: Chloe Chippendale. Hair & makeup: Jenna Kristina Model: Eddie Mitsou. Novella Royale campaign, 2015.

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Photographer: Aaron Feaver. Stylist: Lwany Smith. Hair & makeup: Marygene Rose. Model: Ellie Leith. Self Control â&#x20AC;&#x2030;magazine, 2015.

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Photographer: Aaron Feaver. Stylist: Lwany Smith. Hair & makeup: Marygene Rose. Model: Ellie Leith. Self Control â&#x20AC;&#x2030;magazine, 2015.

Left / Right: Photographer: Aaron Feaver. Stylist: Kelley Ash. Model: Alice Cornish. Year: 2016.

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Photographer: Aaron Feaver. Stylist: Krissie Torgerson. Model: Chaun Loose. The Gift â&#x20AC;&#x2030;magazine, 2014.

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Photographer: Aaron Feaver. Stylist: Krissie Torgerson. Model: Chaun Loose. The Gift â&#x20AC;&#x2030;magazine, 2014.

Left / Right: Photographer: Aaron Feaver. Stylist: Chloe Chippendale. Model: Cora Keegan. Stoned Immaculate campaign, 2014.

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Photographer: Aaron Feaver. Stylist: Kelley Ash. Model: Gigi. Year: 2015.

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Photographer: Aaron Feaver. Stylist: Donna Lisa. Model: Emily. Year: 2015.

Cultural Illumination On the Origin of Art IN THE HIDDEN DEPTHS OF AUSTRALIA’S MOST EXTRAORDINARY MUSEUM, LONDONBASED GROUP UNITED VISUAL ARTISTS UNCOVER THE LINEAGE OF CREATIVE EXPRESSION.

Described by its owner, Tasmanian mathematician, collec- attracts us to faces, patterns and habitats – and contempotor and millionaire, David Walsh (b. 1961), as a “subversive rary design plays with this sense for maximum impact. Similarly, New Zealand-based Literature Professor Boyd (b. adult Disneyland”, The Museum of Old and New Art (MONA) is the continent’s largest private institution, housing one of 1952) argues that expression is inherently “a cognitive play the most controversial compendiums in the world. Designed with pattern” and to uncover its origins, you must first underas a subterranean series of steel and stone rooms, visitors stand the signalling systems that many plants and animals descend 17 metres underground rather than climbing up- use. For example, flowering vegetation – although seemwards to reach works displayed on a conceptual pedestal, ingly unconscious – has evolved to best please creatures immediately highlighting the owner’s pragmatic perspective. whose attention it must attract to reproduce. This recognition Contemporary pieces are interspersed with a personal hoard of cause and effect is mirrored in humans, whose existence, of antiquities (for example, Greg Taylor’s casts of intimate Boyd explains, has been defined by an ability to read patfemale body parts are displayed alongside a 1,500-year- terns in weather and the behaviour of surrounding beings. old Egyptian sarcophagus), and visitors are directed not by These skills are tested and furthered by art, which satisfies signage but by a handheld iPad. They also discover a 63- our inherent desire to intelligently decode what we perceive. Meanwhile, the third curator, American evolutionary psyseat cinema, eight designer accommodation pavilions, Moo Brewery, and Moorilla winery, which hosts tastings each day. chologist Geoffrey F. Miller (b. 1965), agrees that one might Walsh clearly questions the abstract value that we impart enjoy the exposure to paintings, sculptures or photographs onto artwork, and his newest series furthers this enquiry. as they stimulate our pleasure responses, but asks why we Introducing itself contentiously, with “We Need Art, But For feel the need to make in the first place: “why bother?” Miller What? One Man’s Mission to Piss Off Academics,” this project follows Darwin’s explanation that early human society used sees four exhibitions, curated by bio-cultural scientist- expression as a mechanism for attracting mates, creating philosophers, Steven Pinker, Brian Boyd, Geoffrey Miller and works to indicate good genes – as seen in the symmetrical Acheulean hand axes made half a million years ago. Mark Changizi, on the reasons behind the need to create. However, theoretical neurobiologist Mark Changizi (b. 1969) Pinker (b. 1954), a Canadian-born American cognitive scientist, psychologist, linguist and author, states: “We make be- has a different view. For the author of the “Perceive the cause we can”; his contribution traces back to early ancestors Present” hypothesis, humans don’t have an instinct for the when ownership of excess goods became rooted in the desire arts, but they have been developed by our civilisation to to obtain an elitist status. For the 62-year-old theorist, art is reflect natural fluctuations and rhythms so that we can use linked to our evolved aesthetic sense – the same sense that “evolutionarily ancient brain mechanisms for a new purpose.”

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United Visual Artists, Message from the Unseen World, 2016. Paddington Central, London. Photo: James Medcraft.

“I personally believe that at a very early age humans developed an innate disposition for creativity and that expression is something that we wanted to do for no reason other than for the sake of doing it.”

Previous Page: United Visual Artists, Fragment, 2013. Dubai. Left: United Visual Artists, Canopy, 2010. Toronto.

Music, for example, responds to the sounds of people moving, Changizi selected UVA, who manipulate light, gesture and which triggers an emotional reaction. We then communicate sound to awaken human instinct, often mimicking natural back through movement, or even dancing. In this diametric phenomena in order to question how our senses develop. This fourth and final curator highlights one particular prorelationship lies Changizi’s conclusion: that the origins of art lie in our need to engage with the most powerful natural ject as the deciding factor for selecting the innovative group: Echo (2006), at Tate Modern’s Turbine Hall, which Clark desource of human despair and happiness: other people. In the archetypal style of MONA, the majority of works scribes as: “A performance piece in which the human form included remain hidden to non-visitors – no presence online, was represented through a 3-D data cloud, rendered directly no previews – however, the roster includes eminent names behind the dancers.” Clark comments: “This had a very beausuch as Jeff Koons, Bridget Riley, Hiroshi Sugimoto, Cindy tiful aesthetic but also maintains a scientific nature, as if the Sherman, Yayoi Kusama and even Pierre-Auguste Renoir. dancers were being studied by a technological system.” One of the key attributes of theoretical neurobiology Joining this illustrious group are London-based United Visual Artists (UVA), founded in 2003 by Matt Clark and live is its need to test hypotheses. Clark asserts: “Changizi was performance practitioner Chris Bird, whose background is interested in working with us to imagine an installation that in biology. Their best known works in London include the illustrated his theories regarding the evolution of music interactive Momentum presented at Barbican’s Curve Gallery from the actions generated by human beings for everyday in 2014 and their intervention in Sou Fujimoto’s 2013 survival.” Engaging with the German Bauhaus choreographer Summer Pavilion at London’s Serpentine Gallery, which Oskar Schlemmer, UVA were inspired by his statement that transformed a cloud of metal frames into an electrical storm. “we are intensely aware of man as a machine and body as UVA’s response to Fujimoto’s work was not an isolated a mechanism.” With this, they developed 440Hz (2016), a case; they regularly collaborate with a diversity of multi- fully immersive structure that transforms human movement disciplinary practitioners – ranging from the oldest national into different notes composed of light and sound. Simplicity, ballet company in the world, the Paris Opera Ballet, to it seems, can only be achieved through highly complex British trip-hop group Massive Attack, and within their own technical processes – and indeed the group’s expertise team including computer scientists, interaction designers enabled Changizi to explore ideas physically, something and architects. However, On The Origin of Art was the first which would not have been possible, as Clark asserts, “without time that the group entered into a project with a theoretical acquiring a huge amount of knowledge and technical skill.” As a performative work which really only exists once it is neurobiologist. The field, in its most basic terms, combines neuroscience and psychology with electrical engineering activated, the piece includes a tracking system that turns and mathematics to uncover how the nervous system every tiny change – from a finger wagging to large, sweeping processes information. It is no surprise, then, that curator exertions – into a data set. Once these figures of hundreds

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Theo Civitello, Theo-Graphics / United Visual Artists, 440hz, 2016. MONA, Hobart.

(if not thousands) of fluctuations had been acquired, UVA began to design the framework in which to amplify the moments. Clark explains: “We didn’t want to just create a mirror, and so instead we made a cylindrical sculpture that represented a musical stave – the five lines that each indicate a different pitch.” Within this space, physical exertions are translated into a medium that an individual can see, hear and feel: the system not only understands gestures but how fast they occur – interpreting whether the action is aggressive or passive – and composes its piece accordingly. This, says Clark, “enables a physical and emotional response, which is the main reason for the technology we adopt.” A pitch-black tunnel, brightened by the viewer, 440Hz makes use of UVA’s primary medium: light, an easily programmable, easily manipulated medium. With regard to the show, the material is defined as something we are predisposed to recognise, follow and desire – its intensity affects our feelings of happiness and safety, encouraging the expression of emotion without literalism. An expansive oeuvre, extending past this particular commission, aims to impact the viewer subjectively – but each experience is likely to change, depending not only on altered interactions but states of mind. Past works reflect this notion, such as Fragment (2013), which during the day reflects the heat of the desert sun and after sunset refracts artificial white beams into a Dubai interior, or Canopy (2010), which replicates walking through a forest in a vast geometric installation of mirrored and leaf-like forms. UVA acknowledge that each work is “a prototype” for the next – their knowledge is accumulating. Of course, when developing the ideas of other specialists, Clark is aware of the danger of behaving illustratively,

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especially when incorporating complicated science – rather than perhaps dance or architecture – into a visual journey. This is, perhaps, the benefit of the experiential over the static: with works such as 440Hz, UVA are able to use physicality to ask the audience where in their limbs they detect music, and therefore ask how they want to manoeuvre themselves. Evidently, between Changizi’s assertion that music derives from the percussive shapes of the body and UVA’s intention to “amplify the participants’ awareness of themselves in surrounding environments,” the two sides found an equilibrium. However, as Clark continues to clarify, their opinions on the derivatives of art are not necessarily in complete alignment. Whilst Changizi does not believe that we have an inherent instinct, and that visual forms such as alphabet letters have been developed, unconsciously, to mimic the contour combinations of our natural habitats, Clark disagrees. He notes: “Whilst Mark’s ideas on how our actions for survival may have informed our cultural or creative output are very convincing, I personally believe that at a very early age humans developed an innate disposition for creativity and that expression is something that we wanted to do for no reason other than for the sake of doing it.” Thus 440Hz challenges both hypotheses: does the visitor enter, see that they have activated the installation and with it begin to move, or do they enter the performative work and instinctively begin to spin, jump and dance? Of course, this will be different for each visitor and even every visit, and this is the crux of why it is near impossible to define “the origin of art”: for some it appears innate, for others it is less so, and rather than accept another’s decided lineage, developing an opinion is a far more valuable and revelatory experience.

Right: United Visual Artists, Serpentine Pavilion Intervention, 2013. Serpentine Gallery, London. Courtesy of My Beautiful City / Serpentine Galleries.

Words Chloe Hodge

On the Origin of Art. MONA. Until 17 April. mona.net.au

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Illusory Silhouettes Ricardo Bofill

Spanish architect Ricardo Bofill (b. 1939) launched an international urban design firm in 1963, which to date has completed over 1,000 projects in 40 countries. Given its wealth of activity, from public infrastructure to interior product design, the Barcelonabased practice has credits belonging to Dior, Rochas and Cartier as well as for Parisian social housing and Tokyo skyscrapers. In 1973 Bofill headed the design for La Muralla Roja (The Red Wall) in Calpe, Alicante, which pays homage to the Arab Mediterranean, in particular to the adobe towers of North Africa. Evoking a constructivist aesthetic, interconnected patios pay attention to colour as a misleading element. Intense hues of reds and blues contrast with the interplay of sunlight whilst blocks of labyrinthine staircases create a stimulating experience where space is subjective at each unique viewpoint. The result is an alluring geometric playground. www.ricardobofill.com.