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Off the Wall3/10/05 Paul Grace and Debbie
Besford PG the proposal signals
an idea that space isn't neutral. Walter Benjamin
core ideas environment is a given, extension on our own nature a symptom
of part social forms and power relationships. Photos align themselves
with the spaces in which they appear. Playtime, 1968. Jacques Tati director and main character.
M Hulot has an appointment in Paris, but he gets lost in a maze if modern architecture and bewildering gadgetry. He ends up roaming around the city with a group of tourists. Plot is a vehicle for
social comments. 1960s architecture
models on masters Angular architecture,
people walking in lines and angles, uniforms, hard edge to everything. Uniformity of the
architecture - the opening building could be an airport of a hospital Individuals showing
anxieties - American 'at home wherever I am,' Architecture determines
the way people behave Tragic undercurrent:
spontaneous behaviour banned from the environment People are co-erced by
the space Space establishes a
psychological .. Beaudillard on the
Pompidou centre, materials the arch style, the high culture all deter the
behaviour of the old market place it replaced. Waiting room with
photos - didn't look at photos, preoccupied with the furniture. Photos looking
down authoritively, men in suits, not to be looked at. Establish a power
relationship, to impress, to inform rather than entertain, reinforces
power/authority.\ Men in suits have red
handerkechiefs Man gets lost in the
maze of the building Photos are an extension
on the space, performing the same fascination as the building, reinforcing
authority, power, established hierarchy Lines of perfect
symmetry in the building
Modern call centres
predicated in the typing pool Grids and suppresses behaviour
Andra
Gerszkey photos of Tokyo stock exchange - huge spaces gridded Space open an towering
photos suggest the visitor is begin observed Specimen butterfly in
the space The man subverts all
this by just being human, natural behaviour contrasts with the robotic jestures
of the other characters coping with modernity Nowadays this
surveillance is real Foucault writes about
surveillance in society
Prison - penopticon
circular prison all cells visible device for optimum surveillance. person doing
the surveillance couldn't be seen so the prisoner never knew if he was being
watched, so the viewing gaze is internalised, assume they are being watched all
the time. we internalise an imaginary order watching us all the time. If we aren't watching
you, God is The architectural environment
and the photos which support that have a huge impact on our behaviour in society Geometry has massive
effects on us Places the viewer in a
situation of subjection - arch and photos combine Is it possible to photo
without placing the viewer in a position
of subjection? Dismi piece green sheet The Child absorbs
information does the environment produce a certain way of thinking? the social
codes are enshrined in our architecture Physical structures
affect mental structures (so what about mixed
architectural environments?) Wendy Ewell (MTH) People whose
photographic work disrupts this alignment between geometry and the env Helen Chadwick uses
photos in her artwork
ego geometricum sum
I am geometry spaces tents, pyramids
come across in life prams covers surfaces with
photographic emulsion struggle between the
body and the geometrical form Peter Halley
American painter
addresses issues Large scale abstract
paintings Social criticism
implicit work triggered by
Foucault (surveillance, punishment) all paintings are or cells Individualisation,
restriction, isolated from the world Cells connected by
conduits cf real life 1980s/90s Later work is more
complex as he addresses modern communication like the web Sometimes the conduits
take over from the cells Gordon Matta Clarke
Architect trained Takes over abandoned or
derelict buildings, works with a chain saw and pneumatic drills to cut away at
the existing architecture in a symbolic
act, aware of how the architectural environment in the manifestation of a confining force
A tunnel, drilled
through a tenement block next to the Pompidou centre so that the new could be
seen though the old Debbie Besford own work done a while
ago who is the audience?
what happens when the work is passed to a third party eg a magazine? Children with polio is
Dares Salam spent a month not
taking images, only in the last week, in order to avoid the sensational work went on tour - the
building and environment affected the reception of the work N&N new life
project photos in the home and
hospital midwives' hands quotes on perspex
interspersed between the images, also on the back of postcards. DB had to work on trust
with the women, they needed to know how the images were being used. Wellcome institute The meaning changes once the photo leaves the control of the author and is used by a third party URLs (All accessed and working 20/11/05) French
Culture.org Cultural Services of the French Embassy |
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(C) Helen Williams 2005 |
