BLUR / theory into practice

BLUR

Yuehua Wang

160412897 ARC3015 Theroy into Practice Space of Fictions

* the title is paying respect to Diller + Scofidio’s EXPO project the Blur (2002)

LIST OF FIGURES Figure 1 | Zooming in, own drawing Figure 2 | Site overlook, own drawing Figure 3 | Untitled, own drawing Figure 4 | Overexposed, Diller + Scofidio, 1994. Source: https://dsrny.com/project/ brasserie Figure 5, 6 | Rear Window, Alfred Hitchcock, 1954.Source: https://www.youtube.com/ watch?v=6kCcZCMYw38 Figure 7 | Rings of audiences, own drawing Figure 8 | other thoughts on visual connection and spatial qualities, own drawing Figure 9, 10 | experiment design - types of panels, own drawings Figure 11 | experiment journal, own design - types of panels Figure 12 | Brasserie, Diller + Scofidio , 2000 Figure 13 | Moving Target, Diller + Scofidio , 1996 Figure 14 | A Delay in Glass, Diller + Scofidio , 1988 Figure 15 | transparency + reflection, own photo Figure 16 | types-of-reflection, source: Figure 17, 18 | Slipcover, Les Levine, 1966

>>

>>

Figure 1 | Zooming in, own drawing

“ DRAMA OFTEN OBSCURES REAL ISSUES ” - Jenny Holzer

Figure 2 | Site overlook, own drawing

The Vision >> The brief of my proposal is to

The experimental theatre that I pro-

design an experimental theatre

posed will be closely engaging with

in Walworth road, across from

the local community and embed-

East Street market, Elephant and

ded with the diverse identities and

Castle |fig 1|, which was known for

individualities of local people. The

its theatrical heritage and multi-

aim is not only to create a theatre

cultural community. The area is

that was accessible to the broader

now to be on the second verge of

public and ethnic group, but also

gentrification. Instead of regarding

showcasing individuality and allow

the histories as a past, I proposed to

people to engage with the theatre

stimulate the cultural interaction,

production, as an audience, also as

which continuously contributed to

‘performers’. Thus the experience

the local culture at the back of time,

will be immersive, interactive and

in the performing form.

maintaining the transparent relationships between each other.

... the framing tool, From this point of view, I imagined Elephant and castle as a broader stage, where every solid wall or barrier became transparent, revealing different stories’ of the area on the ‘show’ at the same time |fig 1|. In my point of view, to see what we are familiar to as a scenario, one has to observe things beyond the ordinary ways, in the other perspective. In this case, architecture became a framing tool that could possibly visually convert a familiar place into a theatrical scene to our perception. For example, tinted glass, window frames, or reflective building facade, would all provides the perspective that put the ordinary living into a fantasy.

Figure 3 | show on, own drawing

In a talking in 2017 1, Elizabeth Diller, the co-founder of Diller Scofidio + Renfro (DS+R) criticised those ‘productive nihilism’ of familiar everyday conventions, that, “Conventions are so obvious that we are blinded by their familiarity.” The New York studio DS+R is a cross-discipline architectural practice that is known of their cross-media works in all scales.2 While exploring architecture, theatre, and installation through media and technology, the architect also experimented the relations between the tool and ideas.

“

...does the tool create the possibility

for a new thought or does the thought

require the invention of a new tool that inadvertently creates a new thought?”3

- Ricardo Scofidio

1.Diller and Scofidio, “Blur: Swiss EXPO 2002 Diller + Scofidio, Ear Studio, MIT Media Lab”, Assemblage, 2000, 25 <https://doi.org/10.2307/3171285>.

2. p21, Guido Incerti, Daria Ricchi and Deane Simpson, Diller + Scofidio (+ Renfro): The Ciliary Function (Milano: Skira, 2007).

3. Ibid. 2.

Diller Scofidio’s 1994 project ‘overexposed’ |fig 4| has conveyed the similar idea of observing daily experiences as a theatrical scene.

In this project, working people in offices became actors and actress, without awareness. At the meantime, people who are looking at this project unawarely see becoming the audience. The change of role was seen as changing in perspectives.

Alfred Hitchcock’s film ‘Rear window’ (1954) played this concept in the cinema. Audiences in the cinema actually became ‘secondary audience’ when they were looking at the main character |fig 5| observing into his neighbour’s room |fig 6|. The main character became

the primary audience. The film deliberately made a double layer of ‘audience’ and scenes where two ‘stages’ took place.

From above: Figure 4 | Overexposed, Diller + Scofidio, 1994.

Figure 5, 6 | Rear Window, Alfred Hitchcock, 1954.

Figure 7 | Rings of audiences, own drawing

Similarly, I developed my concep-

performance by the means of visual

tual drawing of ‘rings of audiences’

connection and physical interaction

|fig 7|

with this concept. In this

through conversation or learning.

drawing, each ring layered up

The definition of performance

while being seen as the performing

doesn’t limit to what happens on

stage by the next layer of audience.

the main stage, but also is consist-

The core of the ring is the central

ed by everything that happened

stage of the experimental theatre

in building, even outside of the

and the first ring being audiences

space. In another word, the whole

in the ‘theatre space’, secondary

building became the ‘stage’ and

ring being visitors looking into the

everyone in the building not only as

theatre, third ring belonging to a

an audience but also play a role as

broader public. The conventional

a performer. The concept highlight

definition of audience and stage is

visual relations and perspectives

then blurred by these layers, where

between these layer of spaces, just

connections were made not only

as what Diller Scofidio and Hitch-

spatially, but also visually |fig 8|.

cock presented in their works; it’s

Performers, crews, audiences, or

also very imported to associate the

visitors, all could be seen as part of

concept into a practical level.

... T

Figure 8 | other thoughts on visual connection and spatial qualities, own drawing

The Medium, Ricardo Scofidio described their studio as a laboratory, where they “conceive an experiment, enact it, learn from its results and then destroy it”. After the great recession in the 80s, unlike the emergence of “paper architect”4, who exhibit their work on printed pieces in the gallery, Diller + Scofidio urged to test their ideas “in real operational spaces, with real bodies, and real material”. 4

to blur and redefine the boundary between two spaces in material aspect. Furthermore, is there a potential that the boundary itself becomes an ‘in-between space’, rather than a phyla barrier? I use media projection in the last part of the experiment because it provided an artificial yet potentially virtual consciousness, information, and ‘space’.

It’s notable that this experiment only examined on the perception of visual relations and connections between spaces. To my understanding, material is a medium5 |definition | of spaces, and vice versa.

With the same principle, I did a serie of material experiments on vacuum formed plastics to explore different range of visual relations though material |fig 9-11|.

Plastics is a rather new material in architecture. However, the flexible operation and formation of this new material embedded my design from a conceptual level into material and practical aspect. The aim of the experiment is to discuss how

“

4. Ibid. 2 5. “Medium - Wiktionary”, En.Wiktionary.Org, 2018 <https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/medium#Noun> [Accessed 18 April 2018].

medium (plural media or mediums)

(plural media or mediums) The chemistry of the surrounding environment, e.g. solid, liquid, gas, vacuum, or a specific substance such as a solvent. (plural media or mediums) The materials or empty space through which signals, waves or forces pass. (plural media or mediums) A format for communicating or presenting information.

Figure 9, 10 | experiment design - types of panels, own drawings

吀夀倀䔀

䈀

䄀

䐀

䌀

䌀甀爀瘀愀琀甀爀攀

䴀漀甀氀搀

匀栀愀搀攀⼀ 猀栀愀搀漀眀

䰀愀礀攀爀

㘀 ─

㐀 ─

㌀ ─

㄀㠀─

㄀㔀─

㈀ ─

㌀㔀─

㘀㔀ⴀ㜀 ─

㘀 ─

㐀 ─

㌀ ─

㄀㠀─

吀爀愀渀猀瀀愀爀攀渀挀礀⼀ 吀爀愀渀猀氀甀挀攀渀挀礀

嘀椀猀甀愀氀 挀氀愀爀椀琀礀

倀爀漀樀攀挀琀椀漀渀 挀氀愀爀椀琀礀

Figure 11 | experiment journal, own design - types of panels

... The space of seeing and being seen,6 Diller + Scofidio did a related project showing their attitude towards material and media. They took a bold move in the Brasserie (2000)

The engagement and communication of movement and vision were also seen in Diller Scofidio’s early theatre work “Moving Target

, using recording device and screens to interact activities inside and outside of the space. Activities, body movements, and visual perceptions were connected by a series of screens and devices, which are intangible yet visible. The media devices created artificial scenes

(1996) ”|fig 13| and “A Delay in

that was ‘virtual’ and extended the reality to another space that was happening at the same time.

mentioned at the beginning of this essay, that changed the perception of spaces and perspectives.

|fig 12|

“Glass: a slow liquid, continually molten, a reversible vantage and vanishing point”

Glass(1988)”|fig 14| , that engage the sight with movement, pre-recorded actions, and material - glass mirror.

Rather than a surface, the rotating glass performs as a media that rotates, reflects and being projected.

It’s becoming the ‘scenery tool’, as

6. p39, Guido Incerti, Daria Ricchi and Deane Simpson, Diller + Scofidio (+ Renfro): The Ciliary Function (Milano: Skira, 2007).

7. Elizabeth Diller and Ricardo Scofidio, “A Delay In Glass”, Assemblage, 1988, 62 <https://doi. org/10.2307/3171045>.

The moment of coincidence between image and glass is the section cut, where all the dimensions are true and undisturbed by perspective. 7

“

The mirror is a surface hing, rotating plan into elevation and elevation into plan.

From above: Figure 12 | Brasserie, Diller + Scofidio , 2000 Figure 13 | Moving Target, Diller + Scofidio , 1996 Figure 14 | A Delay in Glass, Diller + Scofidio , 1988

吀爀愀渀猀瀀愀爀攀渀挀礀

Figure 15 | transparency + reflection, own photo Figure 16 | types-of-reflection, source:

... the blur, and The notion of glass is conventionally related to the concept of ‘visual connection’ and transparency. Material like glass, such as transparent plastic, usually has dual performance of visual effect - transparency and reflectiveness, that layer up together. The reflectiveness confuses our dimensions perception while transparency being honest to show thing through . The former changes with the form of the surface, while the later changes by different material |fig 15|

finishes|fig 16|. These qualities were tested in my experiment. Vision is distorted and filtered in different curvatures of surfaces. The boundary between spaces was artificially redefined by the sensory change through material.

In the theatre case, traditional theatres usually are described as a ‘black box’. The wall defined the ‘in’ and ‘out’ theatre space, which created an isolated box that is

spatially and sensorily exclusive.

However, the material exploration allows a possibility to break down the boundary and make the whole space interactive. One would be able to see what’s inside of the almost ‘transparent’ space in an abstractly filtered way, yet not being seen as an visual obstruction from the inside. The plastic wall plays a role as a device that changes the conventional perspective of how we observe; it converts what we see as a familiarity into a ‘scene’, just as the ‘Rear Window’ and ‘Overexposed’. The intervention of projection media adds another layer to the concept.

In Diller Scofidio’s projects, the media performs as a virtual space that interacts with body; They perform the role beyond their ordinary definition that we usually acknowledged. My design shares this concept, in which projection and media become the sensory

\\The ‘the in-between space’ and layer up spaces beyond the auditorium. In the meantime, material not only is a matter of vision connection, it also performs as media, that filtering, modifying, and reflecting the spaces around. The space is layered, filtered, yet transparent. One could immerse himself into this space and experience the space as a theatrical scene; a space everyone finds a position being audience and performer; a place of seeing and being seen. Just as Judd writes, “Anything spaced in a rectangle and on a plane suggests something in and on something else, something in its surround, which suggests an object or figure in its space.” 8

8. Whitney Morgin Moon, “The Architectural Happening: Diller And Scofidio, 1979-89”, UCLA Electronic Theses And Dissertations, 2016.

Figure 17, 18 | Slipcover, Les Levine, 1966

e boundary Mark Wigley wrote,“Architectural agitators must be disloyal to their disciplinary norms. Architecture can only shake us when it takes the risk of not being called architecture. ...The challenge to architects is to challenge architecture, to shake us, and keep shaking.” 9 I devoted to blur the black-box boundary in my design and to create a space that everyone could express themselves and explore.

Visual connection is a key identity in my work. Projection and material experiment is a way to examine the concept at a practical level. As the artist Les Levine said in his in-

boundary as the most critical point in the theatre design. However, what I want to address in my work is that architecture is never the real boundary. We obviously don’t have to make every space transparent to diminish the boundary.

To me, architecture is always a part of social practice, the boundary exists not just because of a physical wall. It’s also critical to think it in a broader perspective. The gentrification verge is a homogenising process that eliminating diversity, creating a more segregated space with invisible boundaries; and I do prospect my design would create a place without these boundaries.

terview for Slipcover (1966) |fig 17|, “visual and audio feedback is the most important aspect… visuals are the most direct way of how we perceive a space and it’s not always come with a price. Beside visual sensory, there are a lot of factors that architecture is engaging with.

This project focuses on the visual 8. Ibid. 2.

Bibliography: Bell, Michael, and Craig Buckley, Permanent Change: Plastics In Architecture And Engineering C. Phillips, Patricia, "A Parallax Practice: A Conversation With Elizabeth Diller And Ricardo Scofidio", Art Journal, 63 (2004), 62 <https://doi. org/10.2307/4134491> Diller, and Scofidio, "Blur: Swiss EXPO 2002 Diller + Scofidio, Ear Studio, MIT Media Lab", Assemblage, 2000, 25 <https://doi.org/10.2307/3171285> Diller, Elizabeth, and Ricardo Scofidio, "A Delay In Glass", Assemblage, 1988, 62 <https://doi.org/10.2307/3171045> Diller, Elizabeth, "A New Museum Wing ... In A Giant Bubble", Ted.Com, 2012 <https://www.ted.com/talks/liz_diller_a_giant_bubble_for_debate> [Accessed 18 April 2018] Diller, Elizabeth, "The Blur Building And Other Tech-Empowered Architecture", Ted.Com, 2007 <https://www.ted.com/talks/liz_diller_plays_with_architecture> [Accessed 18 April 2018] "FrĂŠdĂŠric Flamand: Combining Dance And Architecture", Iconeye.Com, 2012 <https://www.iconeye.com/architecture/features/item/9737-frederic-flamand-combining-dance-and-architecture> [Accessed 18 April 2018] Incerti, Guido, Daria Ricchi, and Deane Simpson, Diller + Scofidio (+ Renfro): The Ciliary Function (Milano: Skira, 2007) Moon, Whitney Morgin, "The Architectural Happening: Diller And Scofidio, 197989", UCLA Electronic Theses And Dissertations, 2016 Pierce, Christopher, "Three's A Crowd: Drawing, Building And Photography In The Recent Work Of Diller Scofidio + Renfro", Architectural Research Quarterly, 12 (2008), 233 <https://doi.org/10.1017/s1359135508001164>