The Perfect Place is (not) Out There Somewhere

T H E P E R F E C T P L A C E I S (N O T) OUT THERE SOMEWHERE PORTFOLIO ELLIE BRENT

MAISD 18016077

CONTENTS

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INITIAL RESEARCH

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02 SITE

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SHADOW TESTING

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CONCEPT DEVELOPMENT

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MATERIAL TESTING

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INSTALLATION DESIGN

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COLLABORATIVE PROJECTS

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INITIAL RESEARCH

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Figure 1

Figure 4

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SEQUENCE 1 Figure 2

Figure 3

Manuel Esclusa’s work, taken from the magazine EXIT (figure 3), is an image, whose negative was altered by the process of germination. The final photograph takes the background image, a garden, and damages it to create a magical fantasy: a slightly disorientating artwork. The new image inspired me, as it takes normality and alters it, so the viewer cannot fully understand. This reflects the idea that people with mental illness are not always understood and, although people sympathise, they struggle to empathise.

One can also view the foreground as a sort of parasite taking over the serenity of the garden to create a new reality. This is further emphasised by the quote below the image, describing it as a ‘harmonic place of light, shadows and colours in which to plant illusions… ideas… bury a secret’ (Navares, 2018)). The quotation alludes to the fact that each person’s mind reacts differently to the same environment.

The other extract, from ‘Art and Design’(figure 4), questions whether the search for the ‘Ideal Place’, is healthy or whether perfection is something unachievable. One reason that I selected this image is that it showed that the pressure to be flawless has been around forever, and its potential dangers. It also shows that, as much as we want to change the world and create something that is perfect, ‘we are still suffering from wars, religious conflicts, class struggles…’ (Peters, 1995). Although depressing it emphasises that perfection, although strived, for is almost impossible to achieve.

Philip Peters also suggests that a perfect world is ‘a world almost beyond space and time.’ He creates an image of something fantastical, similar to Manuel’s photograph, a world where you can recognise aspects of the image but part of it is unknown. He proposes that as humans we are too focussed on searching for perfection and hoping that it is somewhere, that as a result we ignore the present, or do not appreciate it. He suggests that the ‘ideal place is here and now…’ (Peters, 1995).

The message of the extract, which has the same date as my birth month. We should not strive for perfection, and should be content with what we have, while also exploring potential dimensions and techniques which may add to our experiences, as the work of Esclusa shows.

‘In many installations made by the American artist James Turrell (b. 1943) since the late 1960s, viewers walk through a disorientating pitch- black corridor that extinguishes all residual daylight before finally emerging into a larger, darker space infused with deep colour.

The colour becomes stronger (and even changes hue) as the cones and rods of our eyes adjust to the drop in the light, a process that may take up to forty minutes. For a long time therefore we cannot identify the boundaries of the room we are in, nor see our own bodies, nor even differentiate external colours and shapes from those that seem to derive from inside our eyes.’

Bishop, C. (2014). Installation art. London: Tate Publ, p.84. ‘…watching the sun go down over the rooftops. You could see lots of aerials and satellite dishes, and sometimes, right over in the distance, a glistening line that was the sea… The recovery rooms were small but they’re well-designed and comfortable. Everything - the walls, the floor- has been done in gleaming white tiles, which the centre keeps so lean when you first go in it’s almost like entering a hall of mirrors. Of course, you don’t exactly see yourself reflected back loads of times, but you almost think you do . When you lift an arm, or when someone sits up in bed, you can feel this pale, shadowy movement all around you in the tiles.’

Ishiguro, K. (2006). Never let me go. London: Faber, p.17.

SEQUENCE 2

SEQUENCE 1+2 These initial research projects led me to focus my year on the idea of escapism and the detrimental impact that this can have on our lives and our mental health.

They inspired me to look at ways to counteract our escapist urges.

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SITE

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MY SITE At the beginning of the year I chose a site which has since informed my project throughout the year. It consists of 3 flights of stairs with 2 landings leading down from the South Bank to the National Theatre car park. Part of what attracted me to these stairs was that I had never noticed them before on my multiple walks on the South Bank.

From my observations, it is clear that these stairs are barely used, and so become an unused/ ‘lost’ space. They provide a little solitude and sanctuary from the busyness of the South Bank, but in an unwelcoming form. When you first enter the area, it feels eerie and uncomfortable, but then can become comforting because of its seclusion.

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SEQUENCE 3: VIDEO During this sequence I explored the idea that each visitor has their own unique journey though the site. I wanted to look at ways in which to illustrate this, so attempted to overlap scenes, and placed videos next to each other, to be viewed simultaneously.

*FAILED MOVIE TRIAL

I also used this sequence to begin looking more deeply into how people viewed and felt towards a space (in this case specifically my site) and whether their initial emotional reaction to it altered with time and changing perspectives.

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SITE OBSERVATIONS From spending time at the site, I noticed that people walked past it without paying much attention to it, reinforcing the reason why I chose this as my site: it is mostly forgotten.

The few interactions that the public had with my site were to go up to the National Theatre terrace, rather than go down into it. I tracked people’s movements and tried visually to display this (as shown on the following page); I also created some layered drawings which split the movement of people into parts; one being the people moving away from my position and the other walking towards me (as shown on the opposite page).

I also noticed that while there was no physical interaction with my site, the shadows of the people walking past seemed to discover the site and appeared to walk up and down the stairs.

This seemed to happen in a ‘different world’ as the people around were unaware of it. This is shown by a series of layered Photoshops shown on the following pages.

KEY Number of people: 1

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Movement of people analysis:

Direction of movement

From LHS (down steps to National Theatre)

Direction of video view: Saturday 12 pm:

From LHS

From RHS

Through Circle sculpture towards South Bank Centre

Through Circle sculpture towards Tate Modern

River bank side of pavement Interaction with stairs - either going up to National Theatre Terrace, or coming down from there

12 Saturday 3 pm: KEY Number of people: 1

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Direction of movement 3 From LHS (down steps to National Theatre)

From LHS

From RHS

Through Circle sculpture towards South Bank Centre Through Circle sculpture towards Tate Modern

River bank side of pavement

Interaction with stairs - either going up to National Theatre Terrace, or coming down from there

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MOVEMENT OF PUBLIC DIAGRAM

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SHADOW MOVEMENT DIAGRAM

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SHADOW MOVEMENT DIAGRAM

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THE SITE BECOMES ANOTHER WORLD These are trials which aimed to show the shadows opening the site up and creating another world. I wanted to play on people’s ideal places and images of escape, such as being by the sea. I wanted to create surreal images which tricked the viewer’s eye.

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S E Q U E N C E 4: M O D E L S These are initial models that I made during unit 1. They illustrate the light and shadows within my site. The steps are a void and represent the idea of escapism. The mirrored card reflects back at the viewer to illustrate the fact that, even in this fantasy world, the normal world is always present and cannot be avoided.

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SITE RESEARCH On a subsequent visit, I returned to the site with a clearer understanding of what I was searching for. I began to notice the marks that had been left on the site and understood how my attitude to the site had changed since my first visit.

I reflected on how members of the public experienced the site and whether their experience was similar to mine. From spending time at the site I observed that people usually rushed through it, appearing to exist in a space that is not for them.

They, like me, initially felt uncomfortable. The site is only for transitioning between the car park and ground level.

This site visit also allowed me to further study the shadows there. As people walk past, their shadows interact for a small amount of time. This only happens roughly between the hours of 12 and 3. Further down the site, where the natural light fades, and the only source is artificial, the shadows become non-existent.

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SITE DRAWING For the interim review I decided to look deeper into the site. I used it to look at the differing levels and their relationship to each other. I layered multiple versions of the drawing over each other, each a little bit off centre to create a disorientating image. These were used to look again at how outlines of an image can alter the viewer’s perspective of the site.

Being only a first experiment, the shadows in the site were not included.

This is therefore not truly reflective of the aspects I have explored throughout my work. Nonetheless, this drawing allowed me to start to explore the site in further detail and begin to look at the interaction of natural and artificial light within the site.

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1:1 D R A W I N G These images are photos of drawings which I did to explore further the relationship between my site and the shadows. I drew images of shadows in a photograph (on page 22). Then using a 1:1 scale I zoomed in on aspects of the drawn shadows.

This was to explore and highlight differences in textures and densities depending on the material on to which the shadows were directed.

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EXPLODED SITE AXONOMETRIC

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SHADOW SECTION The Photoshop shows both the relationship of the shadows at my site to each other and their relationship to the materials used at the site. The image also illustrates the layers of the site and how, the further down you go, the darker it becomes.

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SHADOW TESTING

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SHADOW MODELS These images, and those on the next few pages, are a series of models inspired by my sculptures at the Southbank Exhibition and the artist Hiroko Matsushita .

They were lit by natural light, so that I could contrast them with photos where the models were artificially lit. The shadows in these photographs are very subtle, mainly being within the models themselves, cast onto the surrounding surface.

I also created a model with hessian, as a contrast to the wire mesh.

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SHADOW MODELS These are a series of screenshots taken from a video I made (which can be viewed using the QR code). I chose to light the model with two light sources; one that was moving and the other stationary. The intention was to create a disorientating image as the shadow images are more complex and less predictable than when the object is lit by a single light source.

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SHADOWS AS AN OUTLINE: DRAWINGS

*FAILED DRAWINGS

After the Unit 1 submission, I took inspiration from the contrasting opinions of shadows in both ‘In Praise of Shadows’ and ‘Shadows: Unlocking Their Secrets from Plato to Our Time.’ These books spoke about shadows as ‘...an incomplete representation, a silhouette representing only an outline...’ (Casati, 2007) but also as the reason that we see depth: ‘...to be banished from its corners, the alcove would in that instant revert to a mere void.’ (Tanizaki, Harper J and Seidensticker, 2001). I experimented with taking the outlines of the shadows in the photos on the previous pages and turning them into drawings and thread models to see whether these could give the illusion of the original shadows. Although not successful, they showed that it is nearly impossible to create depth with just lines: that was even the case when layering a couple of the models in front of each other.

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*FAILED MODELS

SHADOWS AS AN OUTLINE: MODELS

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CONCEPT DEVELOPMENT

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My concept, explored throughout this chapter, fuses the abstract ideas I investigated in my research (explained in my Critical Research Paper, in particular how to deal with the mental health consequences of the pursuit of perfection and escapism) with the physical characteristics of my site.

I explored ways of illustrating how the imperfections of my unloved and ignored site - the stained concrete, its use as only a transitioning space, its shadow spaces - could nonetheless become a source of interest and sanctuary, rather than an object of escape.

I played with the idea of re-imagining the site as a safe haven, as an entry point into another, healing world (personalised for each viewer), that entry point being the wall on which the stains are primarily found and where the shadows stop. Viewed in this way, the stains represent a way of accessing the deposited thoughts of previous visitors, while also signalling the exit from, and entry to, the ‘other, healing, world’.

Re-imagined in this way, my site becomes a visual and physical metaphor for the mental journey an individual must undertake if they are to become reconciled to the imperfections that surround them rather than continue along a self-destructive course of escape in pursuit of a (non-existent) perfection.

I played with developing a concept for my installation that embodied these ideas.

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OPTICAL ILLUSION DRAWINGS In these drawings I experimented with how lines can create the illusion of a moving and ethereal image.

I wished to do so because - for the purpose of my concept - I wanted to explore how stains and other marks on the walls might become visual metaphors for an imaginary world in which they are the gateways to a depositary of thoughts left behind by visitors to the site.

*FAILED DRAWINGS

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DIARY ENTRIES To add further narrative to my concept, I wrote a couple of fictional diary entries.

These were used to highlight the history of the site, by illustrating the history of the shadows and the stories told to them. They allowed me to explore further the experiences, not this time of the visitor, but of the shadows and to reflect on how they coped with the burden of these deposited thoughts. It also enabled me to consider more deeply for the purposes of my concept whether the marks or stains left behind should in fact be the stories themselves or act as entry points or portholes into a world where these stories are kept.

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WHERE SHADOWS END After defining my concept and looking further at where and when my site opens up, I wanted to look at the movement of shadows to define this space. This was to explore the idea that people walk through the site and when they reach the area where the site opens up they enter through the wall into their own tailored world.

To define the space in which this happens I wanted to find where the shadows stop on the site, and so use that as the area where the entry point is. The diagrams showing this are on this page and the next.

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WHERE SHADOWS END I also used the diagram to look at the placement of the felt, as this is being used as a boundary and shield for the world.

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P L A N W I T H F E L T 1/50 I then began to look at the placement of the felt within my site. As illustrated in the image on the previous page the felt is placed at the point where the shadows end and then wraps around the wall until it covers the majority of the stains. This is placed here to cover the entrance and exit to the ‘other world’.

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SITE ILLUSTRATION SHOWING FELT ON THE SITE I have illustrated the felt as white to show the contrast of its soft texture with the harshness of the concrete. I have used the same device on the next page.

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SITE ILLUSTRATION SHOWING FELT ON THE SITE

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STAIN DIAGRAM After solidifying my concept even more, I became interested in the stains on my site and the idea that once the visitor has ‘left’ their other world they leave a stain behind on the wall, as a metaphor for leaving behind some of their problems.

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I L L U S T R A T I V E D R A W I N G T O S H O W ‘T H E O T H E R W O R L D’ J U S T I N S I D E T H E W A L L This is an initial illustration in preparation for my installation. I was trying to introduce natural imagery into the drawings as nature has been known to help improve mental health problems.

I wanted to create an image that was initially disconcerting, but one that became easier to understand the longer it was viewed. Here the viewer can start to pick out tree shapes and the space becomes less eerie the longer the image is looked at.

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MATERIAL TESTING

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PLASTER CAST MODEL OF SITE AND MATERIAL TESTS These images are photos taken of a plaster cast model which I made. I wanted to explore the relationship between the stairs at ground, lower ground and basement levels I also chose to look at the relationship between plaster, trace and latex. This was the beginning of exploring how - for my final piece - I might physically represent the concept of stains on the walls ‘opening up’ to reveal the histories behind them.

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PLASTER AND MATERIAL TEST

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PLASTER AND MATERIAL TEST

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FELT TESTS While experimenting with trace and latex, I began to look at other materials which can provide more of a comforting texture, and materials that at points can be transparent. This led me to experiment with felt.

The design of the felts displayed in these photos are based on the shapes of the shadows and stains in my site. I chose to play with felt as it has the potential to have pockets of thinner material (depending on how many layers of wool are laid down initially) which can let the light shine through and interact with the material behind it.

The larger of the two images is of felt with knitting wool added to create depth and texture to the fabric rather than simply contrasting the two colours. Felt lends itself to creating more whimsical fabrics as the lines between the colours are not straight and there is the potential for layering. This is something that I attempted to play with in this fabric. I was experimenting with how to illustrate a fantastical world in which ‘stains’ on the walls can become ‘gateways’ into the thought worlds of past visitors to the site as light and shadows interact with them.

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FELT AND OTHER MATERIALS After looking at layering latex and felt, I wanted to look at ways in which the felt can interact with the sun and ‘come alive’ when the light hits it, just as my site does. Initially I included copper metal, with the intention that this would give a subtle glint. This was relatively hard to do as the fibres struggled to connect over the wire so that it was barely attached to the backing felt. I was also not happy with the overall composition of the felt. The mottled effect of the darker layers also meant that there was insufficient contrast with the lighter felt and so does not properly reflect the difference between light and shadow.

I also began to think about the felt differently. If the felt is the object which people walk through to reach my space, maybe areas of thin, translucent felt could be used to allow light into the space beyond.

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NEEDLE FELTING TESTS I realised that if my felt hanging was to be structurally sound I needed to attach it to fabric so I decided to test out needle felting. These experiments are felted onto muslin.

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LATEX AND TRACE TESTS Having begun by experimenting with trace and latex separately, I decided to combine the two to look at the effects that can be created. I wanted to focus on whether and how applying latex affected the visibility of the underlying structure.

I consider that the curved edge experiment was a little more successful as the result is more subtle. It requires shadows and light to bring the shape made into life - just as it is the interaction of shadows and light that brings dynamism to my site.

*FAILED MATERIAL TESTING

I used two different techniques. In one I applied the latex to the whole of the tracing paper. I then removed parts of it to create holes - as if they were gateways. In the other I decided to paint the latex roughly on in the shape of one of the stains in my site, and then peel up the edges to give the ‘stain’ more of a 3D quality.

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While initially experimenting with latex, I began to test it on materials other than plaster and tracing paper. I wanted to try to link latex - suggesting entrances to other worlds - with objects that we regard as barriers (walls/floors). These experiments, however, were unsuccessful as the latex did not have a prominent impact on the surface and instead faded into the background.

*FAILED MATERIAL TESTING

LATEX ON WALL EXPERIMENTS

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LATEX ON WALL EXPERIMENTS I decided also to try the latex on my site to see if these experiments were more successful, combining this with photos of my felt within my site.

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FURTHER EXPERIMENTS WITH LATEX AND FELT

I also wanted to look a the impact of colour on latex, and how it would look when multiple coloured layers are built up. The image on the opposite page is a photograph of the latex and colour mix on a plaster background, before the layers have been peeled away. The texture of it encourages people to touch and interact with it which is why I chose to include this material in my installation.

*FAILED MATERIAL TESTING

Having initially used latex as a covering for other surfaces, I wanted to experiment with latex as a surface in its own right and layered it over felt. I had initially envisioned my installation being an interactive piece in which the visitors would slowly break through the layer of latex to reach the comforting felt background. Unfortunately the latex did not distort the felt enough to create a big difference visually. This led me to consider substituting felt for the outer layer through which the visitor would enter the space beyond. Once through the felt barrier, the visitor would then be able to interact with the latex leaving their own marks in the space.

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After choosing to needle felt my final felt hanging I wanted to see if it would be possible to incorporate the latex aspect of my final installation into the felt or whether I would have to have these polarising materials on either side of the viewer. These experiments were not successful as the latex was lost when felted over.

*FAILED MATERIAL TESTING

L A T E X O N F A B R I C, N E E D L E F E L T I N G O N LATEX COVERED FABRIC

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FELT AND THREAD I wanted to explore how I would illustrate the stains within my site. I chose to create holes within the felt and link this together with threads to create shadows.

The idea for my final piece is to render the ‘stains’ partly visible from outside the installation, glimpsed at through partially-threaded holes in the felt.

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LATEX ON WOOD EXPERIMENTS Having decided that I was going to give the viewer an experience that involved touching polarising materials at the same time, I wanted to practise placing the latex on wood. I also wanted to look at how I would display my illustration drawings - whether I would frame them and then latex over the frame, or latex straight over the drawings. Overall I concluded that both ideas limit the latex and do not create the desired effect so the pictures will be hung unframed in front of the latex instead.

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INSTALLATION DESIGN

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P L A N A T 1/25

FELT

LATEX

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INSTALLATION DESIGN PLAN When choosing a space for the exhibition I wanted to create a route that wrapped around the end of a wall echoing the placement of the felt on my site as illustrated on pages 62-69. This route would detail two different journeys through the ‘other world’ depicted in 6 A3 drawings hung against the latex with the felt creating a thin claustrophobic corridor.

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S E C T I O N A T 1/25

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STRUCTURE WITH LATEX PAINTED ON

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STAIN DIAGRAM WITH FELT After looking at where the shadows end and at the stains on my site, I decided to place my exhibition felt around the end of a wall, taking into account and reflecting the position of the stains at my site. This diagram shows the placement of the felt in relation to the site.

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FELT FOR INSTALLATION Image of my final felt piece as hung in my installation.

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ILLUSTRATION DRAWINGS I wanted to create images that would invoke a fantasy world, but would allow the viewer to interpret it as they wish. Each set of images starts at the narrow entrance through the wall which is why the images start thin and widen the further along the series you go. As with the practice drawing on page 72, I chose to draw images which depict scenes inspired by nature. They are purposely left unfinished so that the viewer can “complete” their own personal journey through the installation, with the intention that everyone’s experience will be unique (replicating the fantasy journey though the wall and into the ‘other world’ beyond).

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COLLABORATIVE PROJECTS

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TATE LIVE A couple of photos of the work that I produced in conjunction with the Tate Live project in collaboration with BBC 6 music.

I took sketches that I had done which examined the movement of people in crowds and inverted them. This became the sequence that was projected onto Tate Britain.

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SOUTHBANK EXHIBITION For the Southbank Exhibtion in collaboration with FeildenCleggBradley, I made a series of wire mesh models to create shadows. I wanted there to be a difference in the intensity of the shadows for each model. In two cases, the shadows were more prominent than the mesh sculptures themselves, while in the third, the model was predominant.

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S E M I N A R P R O J E C T: V I S U A L The concept behind this mini project was to create a space that would be viewed in person and via a screen and to detail the differences that would occur therefore seeing the positives and negatives of each medium.

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24 HOUR INTERIM DESIGN SHOW For our 24 hour project we chose to illustrate the word contradict. As a group we realised within our own projects that we all were exploring contradictions. In my project it is the contradiction between light and dark, soft and hard, comfortable and uncomfortable.

This led us to research the word and we came to the conclusion that life is a contradiction and that we as humans are contradictory: we condemn stealing but then we stream and torrent movies and music off the internet, we want a private life but post all of it on social media.

When focusing on these issues we noticed that every contradiction weaved its way into another and this created a web which was ever growing. That also led us to reflect that if we do not embrace contradiction and explore other viewpoints, we stagnate. As a result we wanted to create a create a single woven structure, but consisting of individually and separately woven sections, so that the techniques, materials and styles of each section differed. The underlying intention was that the majority of materials themselves would be contradictory: from man-made to natural, scraps of fabric to fabric being made into scraps.

ELEANOR BRENT MAISD 18016077