• • • • Guy Keulemans • • • • Design Research

superunfoldedbox.

2009-11-14T04:47:00.000-08:00

These graphics are diagrams that guide the creation of a model superbox. Functional elements, like fold and cut lines are presented, however they are disguised by irrational elements. The density of patterning and color creates a tension between the rational and irrational. Unlike conventional schematic diagrams, this tension produces abstraction, an emanating energy. Not unlike a mandala, but for secular society; the process of balancing the tension and and 'folding up' the superbox mentally is the discovery of a structural truth. Metaphorically, an investigation into nature that may be at the heart of an atheist quest for transcendance through rationalism.

The schematic sheets are designed double-sided, with an 'authentic' superbox on one side and a text block on the other. The box can be folded up both ways, with either the text trapped inside or presented on the outside surface.

above, from this drawing.

above, from this maquette. (notice the 'watermelons' - they are modelled from foam.)

above, from this prototype.

zoomed details:

Hyperbox

2009-10-22T06:22:00.000-07:00

Earlier in the year I made a post about the Austrian/Italian designer Ettore Sottsass, and his influence on my own work. Part of the post dealt with the Superboxes, marvelous and provocative "product-sculptures" he produced in the mid-60's. They were a reaction to what he had seen and experienced earlier in India and the United States, a contrasting relationship with objects that was deep, spiritual and monogamous, on one hand, in the case of India, and fetishistic and consumerist in the case of the States.

The Superboxes bear influences from both continents. Large, and bulky, they are positioned in the middle of the rooms and dominant everything in it, something Sottsass learnt from his study of Indian objects. On the other hand, they are directly influenced from the American pop artists; their stripes and and bright colors reminiscent of Donald Judd or Jasper Johns. impressive and totemic, they operate on a kind of metaphysical wavelength, that seeks to disrupt perceptions of everyday life with a transcendental vibration.

They way we read them is not the same as conventional furniture, and in fact, drawer knobs are only occasionally visible, and the objects are not photographed with doors or drawers open. Yet they are obviously products - and sometimes they are photographed in domestic settings with pillows, hi-fi equipment and, bizarrely, melons. On closer inspection we can see the melons and pillows are made out of foam, and these Superboxes are maquettes. Nevertheless, their depiction as products is central to their message; a provocative statement on understanding objects for their spiritual qualities as opposed to only functional or aesthetic concerns.

In December this year, Lisette Smits will curate a special Superbox exhibition at the Marres Art Centre in Maastrcht, Original and re-produced Superboxes will be exhibited, with a satellite exhibition featuring contributions from four other artists and designers, including myself. My contribution is still being developed, but in the meantime I am experimenting.

The photographs that open and close this post are of a box I made recently, and which I patterned in a monstrous collage of object hyperlinking tags. In the 1960's, Sottsass set himself the task of criticising the consumption of industrial objects, an issue which he saw, as an industrial designer, very clearly. It cannot be denied that we still consume products easily, like we consume food and air, but we now also consume information. A blanket of virtual information overlays our experience of reality. Augmented reality, the connection of real world objects to hyper-real constructs made of digital information, once conjectured, has become real. In Japan, supermarket products carrying mobile phone readable 'QR-code' link to virtual information, as do movie and concert posters. Its beginning to happen in Europe too.... The proposal is enrichment - a way to manage the array of products in our lives with contextual information, but are we, in essence, only increasing the volume of information to process?

In these images, the model uses a mobile phone to reads a code embedded in the patterns on a furniture box. The patterns are made from a collage of QR, Datamatrix, Blotcode and others. The codes link to this post.

subjective interpretation + meta narratives

2009-09-22T02:03:00.000-07:00

In my last post I wrote about the Object Without A Story by Andrea Bandoni and Joana Meroz - a glass vase critiquing the use of stories as devices through which we understand objects. Their conclusion is that interpretation of objects should not be "monopolized" by on official story but that the object should be open enough to for the viewer to make their own meaning. This was a thesis project for Bandoni and Meroz at the Design Academy Eindhoven - by way of convergence by own thesis at the Design Academy came to a similar conclusion, but in different way.

Objects for Atheists, (object | thesis), is an attempt to give an answer to the question: Can atheism, as a social paradigm and philosophical viewpoint, be used to generate aesthetics in the same way that social systems from the past, such as the religious examples of Catholicism and Protestantism, have been used to define aesthetics?

After a field study of atheist groups online, the short answer is: not really. The online community of atheists, that has been realised by the development of the internet in the last decade or so, is far too eclectic and heterogeneous for discrete aesthetic moves to be made. This is in contrast to say, Protestantism, which possess a precise idealogy (for arguments sake lets say simplicity) which can easily manifest into aesthetic choices. And that is what the Protestants did - the Shaker's removed all decoration from their elegant and simple wooden furniture, and the European Protestants inspired the major stylistic change of the 20th century, Modernism.

However, the long answer to the question above is Yes - the atheism movement can inspire aesthetic choices, by way of reflective modeling; capturing the essence of the community by conceptual expression. My decision was to represent the diverse and culturally expanding community by the provocation of subjective interpretation. If every viewer can produce their own personal meaning for an object, it can relieve them the acceptance of an external interpretation. The analogy here is to the submission of religious doctrine, seen by atheists as a an externally controlling, top-down, societal force. So just as atheists choose their own life beliefs, so to can they choose the meanings for objects in their lives - the ability to think freely and subjectively being a highly valued quality. In this sense, an atheist aesthetic is far from being Modern, and while closer to post-Modern, in that complexity, detail and historical sources are important tools, the aesthetic should not just be a re-configuration of historical aspects, but a striving for a physically realised and pluralistic ambiguity that truly captures the subjective imagination.

So the conclusions of the project "Object for Atheists" gel with the conclusions of "The Object Without a Story", but the paths for reaching that conclusion was very different. What does this indicate?

The next object I produced after the bookshelf/chest of drawer for Objects for Atheists, was the SMASH REPAIR series. Originally conceived by Martijn Dijkhuizen and myself as a process for exploring structural limitations, it very quickly became much more. This began when Arne Hendricks from Platform 21 called me to ask if I could re-produce it for the gallery's Repair theme. Repair is central to the process of SMASH REPAIR, and it is part of the name, but there is an illogic to it also. Why repair something that isn't naturally broken? The answer, apart from the argument for discovering structural information, is that it frees repair from the stigma of its relationship to old things. Repair as a concept is a wonderful process for form generation - and once we see it applied to the formation of new objects we can envision the transformation of old objects by repair with greater vitality and conviction.

But SMASH REPAIR, does not end quite there. It is purposely and energetically an ambiguous object - and its possible interpretations fragment and break away from it rapidly, as I realised near its completion. I generated 7 story possibilities for the writer Freek Lomme during an email conversation, and I'm sure more are possible. The difference between Bandoni and Meroz' work is that their stories were generated systematically as an expos of the design-copy writing system - the metaphors of visibility, reflection and transparency in their work is therefore paramount. The collection of stories generated by SMASH REPAIR are altogether different, cobbled together and haphazrdly screwed onto a frame that is continuously morphing. So like the processes of smashing and repair involved in its physical construction, the conceptual form uses a continuing process of de-construction and re-construction.... for a new story to make sense, it must be applied over the broken remnants of the previous.

The 7 stories of SMASH REPAIR can be downloaded as a PDF.

"The Object Without A Story" by Bandoni and Meroz

2009-09-13T07:08:00.000-07:00

The Object Without A Story is a set of four interconnecting glass vases, designed by Andrea Bandoni and Joana Meroz. The object is special in that it is born from research suggesting that the stereotypical text accompanying conceptual design objects is entirely systematic. The designers discovered sentence patterns and word clusters that were repetitiously used in the marketing of design objects. From a re-production Bauhaus lamp to Marcel Wanders newest sofa, specific words and phrase types are re-cycled over and over. Rather than simply assuming this indicates a stagnation in the artistry of copy writing, although it probably still does, Bandoni and Meoz present evidence that the stories tended to fall into four categories or archetypes.

"Are we looking at a world with subtitles?"

The implication is that production of these stories is in fact mechanistic, and that they are intuitively used by designers, PR people, writers, critics, curators etc. because they are sub-consciously assumed to work. Bandoni and Meroz then extrapolate the mechanism into a formula which can generate multiple and arbitrary stories. Their vase is therefore presented as not as having a single story, but four; generated by this formula and corresponding to the archetypes they uncovered.

"We found that 100% of designers believe the story interferes in the perception of the object."

The vase presents four layers of visibility: four stories manifest as four layers of glass. One is on the outside, and one on the inside, and 2 in between. All are seen. The metaphor of transparency is paramount, and we can sense the transparency of the stories as conceptual devices. The materiality is precise; the use of glass reflects the highly controlled formation of an idea which is both poetic and brittle; that a story can express truth. The four stories presented here bite into one another, leaking away their opacity and exposing the structure of the whole.

"The story can be used as a walking stick"

Bandoni and Meroz makes a position that the vase devalues all stories, however, at its heart, there is a powerful meta-narrative at play. The title "The object without a story" is a msinomer; the object has many, and far more than the original four. There is a story written in the blog posts: and also written in the research paper. There is the story of how Bandoni and Meroz used statistic analysis to dissect the stories used to sell and market conceptual design. There is a story also in the workshop Meroz conducted in Poland, mixing up designers, authors, stories and objects into random combination, and there is story in the production of the vase itself - part of that story is the apparent strangeness of having the mould made in a Czech glass factory, but the glass blowing in a Dutch one. The four mechanically generated stories are also important - while seemingly arbitrary they are designed to stimulate subjective interpretation.

"Stories don’t reveal the truth about an object but we are still obsessed with them."

The final story is the one that forms when jumbling the visual information one gets from looking at the vase, with the textual information one gets from reading about the vase. Much in the same way the glass of the each vase is is structurally separate, but visually interrelated, the stories of the vase are discrete narrative entities making up a meta-narrative which can be subconsciously constructed and intuitively felt. The real story is that all objects have different narratives depending on the personal way you tilt your head to look at it. It forms when we open our mouths to speak at a gallery or when look up from our magazine at the cafe: we are obsessed with stories because they represent creation, and we are constantly and sub-consciously making them in our minds. But the nice thing about story creation is also its problem; we are rarely aware we are doing it - the formation is intuitive. And in the mire of laziness, we re-produce rather than produce. Intuition can be like the leak of light to a blind man who otherwwise must think with his fingers, but we don't always interpret this glimmer as creatively as we should. When it comes to thinking about the objects with which we fill our lives, mostly we are just groping around in the dark.

This is what Bandoni and Meroz present; mechanistically produced stories are value less. Subsequently, they make the position that the viewer should form their own story about the vase. Once we do, we realise we have circumvented the conventional process of understanding design, which itself becomes the story. The meta-story is now awake, and made tactile and concrete via the synthesis of construction and material into a set of, really nice, blown glass vases.

All quotes from "Narrative Objects/From Vormgever to Woordgever" by Andrea Bandoni and Joana Meroz.

THE OBJECT WITHOUT A STORY is now available at THE FROZEN FOUNTAIN
Opening: Saturday 19 September, 17:00 > 19:30, Prinsengracht 645 - Amsterdam

Visual Politics and Active Imagination

2009-09-10T07:41:00.000-07:00

Recently I have been engaged in an interesting email dialogue with curator and writor Freek Lomme about my and Martijn's SMASH REPAIR project. Its inspired me to reflect upon my own intentions for the work, and as a designer in general - especially when prompted by Lomme to define my visual politics.

My visual politics are to promote subjective personal interpretation. Every object I make has more than one interpretation and I purposely attempt to activate imagination in the viewer by producing ambiguous design. This is my reaction to the over use of conceptual stories for the marketing of design and art objects. It also my technique for maintaining interest in my own work and warding off the boredom of familiarity. At worst, a reflection of my mind's inability to focus on a single idea. But this is what I think life in the 21st century has become; moments, feelings, ideas and encounters, branched and connected nebulously without barrier or frame.

I believe that every object should have not one single story, but many and multiple, offered by the artist, or imagined by the viewer. It is intuitively natural for me to share my thinking and working processes, but also interesting to create a hyper or meta-awareness of the marketing processes at work in the conceptual design field. To offer many stories is to debase the value of each. The only valuable story becomes the subjective. To keep the story of the object open and flexible is a mark of respect to the viewer, critic or curator.

The only true story is transitory, which is the ephemeral construct we make in our imaginations when we sense an object.

Confrontation with interpretative choice is capable of producing a special effect. This is the dynamical sublime, first defined by Jean Francois Lyotard. It begins with an assault or provocation on our senses that makes the mind recoil. The provocation is perhaps monstrous, illogical or absurd, but after the initial shock the mind has the ability to recover via the use of its thinking power, our imagination. We intellectually process these assaults, imagine their reason for existence, subdue their effect, and subjugate the monster. At once we are affected by profound feelings of beauty and hyper-awareness; the dynamical sublime. It is, metaphorically, a near-death encounter avoided by ninja move, that leaves one shaken yet stirred by empathy for the fragility of life. Aware of human inadequacies, yet braced by strengthening of self-confidence. For we are proud of the little survival mechanisms which help us to cope with complexity.

One of my inspirations is Junya Ishigami, who uses a method to produce ambiguity in this way. Starting from a strong conceptual point he develops his work along as cascading series of fragmenting lines until the work is perceived as a network, or cloud of ideas. Ishigami refers to this ambiguity in the Japanese as aimai, or "unclear". Normally used in the derogatory sense, it is claimed back and uplifted as a critically advantageous method of presentation. The best example of this in Ishigami's work is, in my opinion, is the aluminium balooon he presented at the Museum of Contemporary Art Tokyo. Giant, rectilinear yet irregular, clad in vibrating metal and helium filled, the sculpture occupied a mass amount of space, yet moved with a contrasting smooth fluidity. Like slo-mo beach ball at a dance party, it rose and descended before being sent skywards again by the gentle touch of fingers. The video on youtube, despite being low resolution, is the best to get a sense of its size and movement.

This expression of ambiguity has cultural roots in the Japanese tea ceremony and is especially represented in the warped and cracked ceramics of the wabi-sabi style - a movement composed on designers and design studios all attempting to out run other designers with the production of intriguing and novel ceramic techniques. The mystery of these techniques, perfect for reflective dialogue during the tea ceremony, were also products of self-interest; they differentiated one designer or studio from another and were secretively guarded.

~images courtesy of the Freer+Sackler Galleries~

These examples are interpreted here entirely subjectively - I am using them as support for the correct understanding of my own design, the third SMASH REPAIR table. My interpretation of these examples is a subjective interpretation, a quality I consider highly desirable in an object. These objects lend themselves to such interpretations, and I hope, so does SMASH REPAIR. However, there is one fundamental difference. SMASH REPAIR was born from and developed during my studies at the Design Academy, and from within the broader context of "Dutch Design" in general, which prizes the clear and concise reading of objects. From conceptual genesis to functional reading, its considered best if an object has a single, strong and unambiguous narrative.

Given that my proposal for SMASH REPAIR is to do the opposite, its natural to assume that it must also be criticism. In order to both critique the marketing of conceptual design and to survive its earnest machinations, I cannot provide a single concrete narrative. But, practically, I can provide several stories to use as critical diving platforms - from which one can jump into personal mysteries or ascend into the meta-narrative of object as story as idea as thought as commodity. Next, I will post the first of these stories, paired with new images, and also discuss how it relates to the project "The Object Without A Story" by my colleagues and former fellow students Joana Meroz and Andrea Bandoni.

Master's research has wrapped!

2009-07-22T07:52:00.000-07:00

I have now graduated from the Man + Humanity Masters program at the Design Academy Eindhoven. :)

Above is a teaser image of the ladenkast I produced, during the finals exhibition. I'll upload proper images suitable for publication in September. My thesis can be downloaded here:

Thesis + Appendices, as a zip file.
Thesis only, PDF.
Appendices only, PDF.

EDIT: If the links above are not working, please email me and I will send it to you personally :)

Thesis - 4th draft

2009-05-22T13:38:00.000-07:00

At the following link is a PDF of my nearly finished thesis. Missing is the third appendix and the odd reference or figure number.

link expired

Below, a recent sketch and a 1:10 model, photographed by the rapid prototypers as proof of production, winging its way to the Netherlands, hopefully before mid-terms on Tuesday.

Models for Chest of Drawers

2009-03-09T05:36:00.000-07:00

Chest of drawers, cabinets and bookshelves are suitable design opportunities for a topic dealing with atheism. The atheist worldview is very much concentrated on the accumulation of information and knowledge in order to ascertain the truth. The categorization inherent in the drawer/filing/shelving system is an analogy for this. And in this sense too, cabinets and drawers relate to the medieval "wunder cabinets", or Cabinets of Curiosities, that predate modern museums and which were important to the development of both scientific reasoning and secularism in the Enlightenment period in Europe.

With these designs, I am attempting to embed qualities that appeal to rationalists, such as the mathematically proportioned drawers, as well as those with an atheist perception of life as framed by the a vacuum of life before birth and after life. This last quality is manifested by the deep and reflective black, and highlighted internal color for the drawers.

Additionally, I am trying to create a sense of subtle conflict in the design - as a metaphor for secular/religious conflict perhaps, but especially in a contrast of the rational and the irrational, as a path to a sense of the sublime, as defined by Jean Francois Lyotard:

Lyotard defined sublime as pleasurable anxiety and spoke about the “dynamical sublime”, when our minds recoil at an object we feel is immensely more powerful than ourselves, something that could crush us with its weight, force or energy. This unique aesthetic occurs when we realise that while our bodies may be dwarfed by such power, our reason need not be; we can control our fear by reasoned contemplation. The sublime is both pleasurable and painful.

This is most evident in the sloping backs - that rationally indicate the reducing drawer sizes, but irrationally create a void behind the object - inhibiting the object from being placed up against a wall, and suggesting a placement inside the room, creating a greater and more dominant presence.

Ettore Sottsass: Rational | Irrational

2009-03-06T02:23:00.000-08:00

Recently I have been reading a lot about Sottsass, some on the net, but mostly from the book Etorre Sottsass: A Critical Biography, an illustrated biography written by his third wife Barbara Radice. Generally I have found it very useful, especially when considered in the framework of my thesis topic of designing objects for atheists. This is because atheists tend to be very rational, and so embrace functionality instead of conceptual or metaphorical allusions in objects. Yet, for an object to reflect an intangible worldview and speak to the heart intuitively, it must contain some aspect of irrationality, to elevate it above conscious understanding and into the realm of the emotional. This contrast, one could say even a duel, between rational and irrational concerns is very present in Sottsass work, and produces much of its emotional impact.

The book opens with a description of Sottsas' urge to travel around the world intensively, running from place to place with fervour and a mad desire to photograph everything. At one point he took 1873 photographs in 12 days in South America. He is described as travelling to consume life, but yet he is also disgusted and appalled at the consumption of others. His travels to the United States in 1956 revealed American consummerism to him and led him develop objects that were "tools to slow down the consumpton of existence" as if he was designing to self-medicate his own manic personality. I think its clear also, reading between the lines of the introduction, that he had self-esteem issues, which he sought to surmount by constant and passionate ambition.

Sottsass wanted to get ride of rationalism, which he said, "did not cover by any means the necessities of existence". One of his reactions to rationalism was break it apart and reform it. Radice says that with the very rational Bauhaus, he took its elements and performed a "transplant operation". He re-arranged the ratios, distances and weights that he saw in the Bauhuas style into an "irony of dis-proportion" seen in much of his ceramics and furniture, but at other times into a playful hyper-rationalism, seen in his ground-breaking work for Ollivetti. These are streamlined, strict yet soft machines; as if he had thrown all the elements of modernism into the air to see the kind of chaos in which they would land, but they had reformed by chance into a perfectly formulated solution. Radice writes that this is because, for all his love of irrationality, Sottsass was aware of the intimate effect objects can have. Sottsass remarks:

"When I began designing machines I also began to think that these objects.... ...can touch the nerves, the blood, the muscles, the eyes and the moods of people. Since then I have never designed a product in the same way as I would design a sculpture, and I have been utterly obsessed with the idea that… …I was setting off a chain reaction of which I understood very little. "

Yet, this does not extend to all his designs, such as in his "super-boxes"; giant wardrobes that are more provocation than product. Covered in custom laminates that pre-date Memphis by 15 years, these shocking objects were derived from Sottsass' exposure to American pop art, and its appears a very direct influence from the minimalist Donald Judd, but also his early work on super-computer chasis design for Olivetti. But, Radice writes, their ultimate effect was to consume and dominate the the room in which they were placed as if "dropped into the cosmos"; an effect Sottsass learnt from his experiences in India. Etore said many years later "They were such crazy things they were hard to imagine".

(The first image of an electronic printer for Ollivetti, whose form feeds into Sottsass' later super-boxes. This last image is of a scultpure by Donald Judd - note the almost identical sketch from Sottsass notebook next to the sketch of the superbox in the photo above.)

Sottsass' Memphis period is famed for its rule-breaking and perceived irrationality. But it seems that the rule-brekaing is highly conscious and therefore very rational. Sottsass agrees:
"I'm always offended when they say that I play when I do memphis work; actually I 'm very serious, I'm never more serious than when I do memphis work. it's when I design machines for olivetti that I play."

To conclude, Sottsass had two distinct phases to his process. Sottsass was open about finding his inspiration in the realms of the irrational, and I believe the first part of his process was to explore irrational ideas agressively and intuitively. He remarks:

"...we draw our product-language stimuli not so much from institutionalized culture, not from technology, not from some sort of institutionalized certainty, but from spheres where everything starts afresh again, is uncertain, contradictory, without firm outlines."

And you can see that in the formation of his Memphis products. Yet their is a second phase of his process, the management of irrationality. Once he had a slippery hold on an certain idea, he would mold it with care and sensitivity to rationalism. This made it communicable to others, and can be seen in the gentle curves of contact surfaces, or the logical placement of knobs on his cabinets. I don’t think it worked all the time; personally when I look at a lot of his work I can only point to a small percentange of I actually like (although you can argue that virtually all are at least interesting). Sottsass’ impact today comes from that fact that when we remember the output of an artist, as with many things, as with life, we tend to remember only the very best.

Quotes and information from
"Etorre Sottsass: A Critical Biography" by Barbara Radice,
Design Boom article “Memphis Remembers”:
http://www.designboom.com/eng/funclub/memphisremember.html
and
"Memphis, Research, Experiences, Results, Failures and Successes of New Design" by Barbara Radice

EDIT:
I just discovered this wonderful little story on Artnet, about a young woman's journey to Milan to interview Sottsass when he was 89. It's perfect little vignettes include this gem:

"Over a meal at a nearby restaurant, I started bombarding him with questions about architecture, even though it wasn't really architecture I wanted to talk to him about. Sottsass seemed tired. He said his basic idea was this:

a room should have a few objects in it, and those objects should be so intense they vibrate.

I started to cry. Objects vibrated. I knew that, but I thought they did it only because I was lonely and I needed them to.

I tried to hide my sniffling but I could see that Sottsass knew, and that he felt exasperated and sorry for me and curious about the shape of my breasts all at once. And I smiled ruefully because I knew what a pain-in-the-ass stalker/journalist I must be being. And he smiled back and said, "Here is a story," as if those words would solve everything. "
The Curious Mr Sottsass by Amy Fusselman

Graphic Studies / Expessions in Furniture

2009-02-26T03:25:00.000-08:00

Last weekend I designed some graphics to illustrate my topic. These graphics abstractly deal with the atheist conception of death and its inverse, life.
Atheists do not beleive in god, and the majority also do not believe in the afterlife. Death is seen as the ultimate cessation of consciousness. This frames life as a temporality, its vibrant complexity open for exploration, but framed by the nothingness of death on all sides.

Translating this into furniture objects requires a decontruction down into simpler archetypal forms, lest the execution be seen as overly decorative. This deconstruction involves a formation of the concept into functional components; the elementary units of everyday objects. Subtleties like a hidden colour along the edge of a shelf, or a cascading proportions of drawers, must suggest the possibilities of an entire universe of life.

Objects for Atheist - Sketches round 1

2009-02-21T09:58:00.000-08:00

Here are some ideas for designing metaphorical or symbolic objects for atheists and naturalists. I did this by developing an atheist persona, a personality construct, based on my research of the atheist community. These ideas are somewhat jokey, and I am quite sure a final solution will involve a more sophisticated approach, but I think it is still useful to explore the stranger possibilities for object and furniture design.

What is the symbology of science?

2009-02-11T09:48:00.000-08:00

At this stage in my research I am looking for a way to express the atheist world view in objects. One method I have considered is to apply, either directly or indirectly, some of the aesthetics used in graphic depictions of science. This is not to say that atheism is the same as science, it's not at all, however, one thing held in common by many atheists is a high regards for science, and according to intellectuals like Richard Dawkins and Daniel Dennet, a good understanding of science will encourage and strengthen a belief in atheism.

The image above is a large collage of the "evolutionary tree" system of graphics. Its begins on the far left with Darwin's first diagrammatic sketch of his theory of evolution, taken from his personal notebook. Next to it is the first printed version, a rather dry diagram from the "Origin of Species". The rest of the collage is filled with the many subsequent and diverse forms the evolutionary tree system can be, although it is interesting to note that many follow Darwin's original sketch very closely in aesthetics. Other forms attempt to make it clearer with the use of color, overlay of historical bands, or depictions of the animals involved. It culminates with the common contemporary use of circular trees, radiating outwards, which allow maximum space for the animals on the periphery, our contemporary lifeforms. Many of these forms, and especially the tree motif, can be compared to other scientific depictions, such as those for neural nets, rivers, data structures etc. The final images on the bottom right are illustrations of evolutionary trees interpreted very literally as real trees; the big one by Ernst Haeckel is particularly beautiful.

The depictions of structures such as atoms and molecules scream "science" out loud; the incredible sub-microscopic discoveries of the latter 20th century are responsible for that. Spectography is likewise full of scientific "aesthetic". Interestingly, for all the depictions of molecules and the like on Wikipedia, the articles on Quantum Theory are curiously devoid of explanatory graphics. Is it to complex for even scientific illustrators to understand?

Fossils, and the illustrations of fossils, really put one's mind into the atmosphere of the 19th century, when the first major discoveries where made about evolution and our animal ancestry.

Finally I made this collection of photos and portraits of famous scientists and naturalists. Nothing critical can be analysed from this, but I find them interesting, especially the ID tag of Richard Feynman from when he was working on the atomic bomb and Los Alamos (middle row, second from the right).

Thesis Summary - Mid Terms - Semester 2

2009-02-10T01:42:00.000-08:00

Introduction
Throughout history, the ability of objects to survive has had little to do with function or aesthetics, but everything to do with cultural significance. The existence of objects is sustained by their importance to the cultures in which they are born and later pass through. In this regards, there are two main types of culturally significant objects. Those that have a cultural significance based on their relationship to power structures, usually royal or aristocratic in nature, and those that have significance based on a relationship to religion. This thesis will critique the latter relationship and how this relationship has changed or will change in a society growing increasingly secular and non-religious. Specifically this phenomena will be explored by the ways in which deeper meanings can be invested into objects through the study of the atheistic worldview.

Chapter 1
The styles and forms of furniture and objects from the past reflect the worldview of the society in which they were designed. If this reflection is significant enough, the designed object can have the capacity to move beyond the time and place of it’s original gestation and continue it’s existence through proceeding cultures. For example, the Folding X-Type Stool was originally designed for ancient Egyptian royalty, but the form has progressed by being translated throughout history into religious contexts and finally into the secular context of today. (Lucie-Smith).

We see this progression in other examples of object design; even secular design from the 19th and 20th century is derived from an early religious forms. Kaare Klint, the forefather of Danish modernism was strongly influenced by the religiously inspired economic forms of Shaker furniture (Lanks), and German modernism was born from earlier Protestant designers reacting to the excesses of Catholicism (Betts).

A collection of Shaker furniture:

Shaker inspired Kaare Klint chair:

Chapter 2
Given that these perpetual forms arise from an intimate reflection of the world in which they were created, an understanding of contemporary society must be achieved to produce culturally relevant objects today. The modern world is increasingly being defined by secularism, the separation of religious activities from daily life, and atheism is increasing (Dale). Is there is a form of design deriving significance wholly from contemporary secular sources? In many ways, modernism tried to do this, via the application of rationality in design, as rationality is a fundamental aspect of the secular worldview. However, it is proposed that a study of the worldview of atheists, a contemporary social movement, may produce more culturally significant objects, and subsequently sustain their form.

Chapter 3
The world view of atheists is more complex than just rationality and includes a strong belief in science, democracy, secularism, a curiousness about the mechanisms of nature, and feelings of wonder about the transient quality of life (Dawkins). In addition, it is felt by many leading atheists that the atheist perception of life, society, morality and especially death are very important issues for the future of atheists and society in general. How can these qualities be invested into objects? The design of objects culturally significant to atheists have the potential to become long lasting forms, but a secondary objective is to express the atheist world view in an object and thereby improve the understanding of atheism by other cultural groups.

Methodologies
A review of design history literature and visual research is ongoing in order to summarize the effects religion has had on the history of furniture and object design prior to the 20th century. Additionally 20th century design is being studied so as to see the effect of secularism on design and to discover any prior attempts to invest the atheist worldview into design.

An expert, archaeologist or design historian, could be consulted to answer finer questions raised by the literature review.

Atheist literature, interview and documentary television have been studied to understand the atheist culture, worldview and needs. Additionally, an online dialogue with two atheist groups is ongoing, conducted through 2 online forums, private messaging and email. Visual research is also ongoing in an attempt to analyse the symbology and graphic devices used to depict science, logic and atheism. Proposed designs are submitted online for feedback from atheist groups.

Thesis Conclusions:
There is legitimacy in the formal manifestation of an atheist worldview into an object, based on the precedent of previous objects representing their historical worldview. However, there is seemingly little precedent for methods in which to do it. Partly this is because atheists, until recently, have not identified themselves as a group nor formed recognisable communities. This is changing as a result of the internet and also activities, such as from the scientist Richard Dawkins, who push for a bolder representation of atheism in society.

Image of Dawkins wearing the Scarlet A, a symbol of atheism:

As a result, a clearer understanding of the atheist worldview can now be discovered. One unexpected discovery is that they are very individualistic and some dislike the actual idea that they share a worldview. However, their shared respect for rationality, logic, science and the processes of nature is clear, and in fact their individualism is another commonality.

Design Conclusions:
The online dialogue has inspired a number of solution which are in the sketch and modeling stages. These solutions include applications of scientific symbology, hyper-rationality, and metaphorical form. It is hoped that feedback of these designs from the online atheist community will inform future iterations.

Bibilography
(in addition to previous bibliography published here)

Books
Betts, P 2004, The Authority of Everyday Objects: A Cultural History of West German Industrial Design, pages 66-68, University of California Press,

Radice, B 1993, Ettore Sottsass :A Critical Biography, Thames & Hudson, Limited, London.

Risatti, H 2007, A Theory of Craft: Function and Aesthetic Expression, The University of North Carolina Press, US.

Web articles
COTTER, H 1996, Shakers, a Modernist and a Lasting Utopian Spirit, Accessed January 2009, Source: http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9F05E2DD153FF931A3575BC0A960958260

Dale, D 2009, WHO WE ARE: Generational warfare, published in The Sun-Herald, Acessed February 2009, Source:
http://blogs.sunherald.com.au/whoweare/archives/2009/02/who_we_are_the_17.html

Lanks, B 2007 The Second (and Third) Coming:A new exhibition traces the Shakers’ distinctive influence on midcentury and contemporary furniture, Accessed: February 2009, Source: http://www.metropolismag.com/story/20070620/the-second-and-third-coming

Packham R 1998, Atheist Spirituality, Acessed: January 2009, Source:
http://packham.n4m.org/atheist2.htm

Seliger, J 2007, The Spiritual Atheist - Finding Spirituality Without Worship, Acessed: January 2009, Source: http://www.buzzle.com/articles/the-spiritual-atheist-finding-spirituality-without-worship.html

Television and Film
The Enemies of Reason, 2007, Dawkins, R (Writer, Presenter), Produced by Alan Clements, Distributed by Channel 4, UK.

The Four Horsemen: a discussion with Richard Dawkins, Daniel Dennet, Sam Harris and Christopher Hitchens, 2007, Timonen, J (Producer), convened by The Richard Dawkins Foundation for Reason and Science, Source: Youtube:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MuyUz2XLp1E

The Genius of Charles Darwin, 2008, Dawkins, R (Writer, Presenter) Directed by Russell Barnes, Dan Hillman, IWC Media, Channel 4, RDF International, UK.

The Root of All Evil?, 2006, Produced by Alan Clements, Written by Richard Dawkins, Starring Richard Dawkins, Distributed by Channel 4, UK.

Lectures
Dawkins, R 2005 TED Lecture: The universe is queerer than we can suppose, Long Beach, U.S Source:

Dawkins, R 2002, TED Lecture: An atheist's call to arms, Long Beach, U.S
Source: http://www.ted.com/index.php/talks/richard_dawkins_on_militant_atheism.html

Online Forums
The Brights Movement, accessed 2009, from: http://www.the-brights.net/

Atheist Forums, accessed 2009, from: http://www.atheistforums.com/

Atheistic Forums, accessed 2009, from http://debate.atheist.net/

Variable Flooring Tiles - a system

2009-01-26T09:11:00.000-08:00

These images show a diagrams for a 2-dimensional architectural tiling system. The system works with 2 tiles, a larger triangle edged primary tile, and a smaller triangle shaped filler tile. By changing the arrangement of the larger tile one can produce a very large number of tiling patterns, with the filler tile used to complete the arrangement and produce a tessellation.

The design was initially inspired by my research into the notion of sacred objects, and the emphasis on mathematics and geometry in Islamic culture, as an expression of God. What i wanted to do was expand upon this idea but use a modular system which from a simple base of 2 tiles can produce variable and complex patterns, in an attempt to give user flexibility, but also to express something about the dynamic relationship of simplicity and complexity in nature. For example, the base unit structure of DNA is surprisingly simple; four units of nucleotides only are used to code the structures of all living things; an amazingly complex array of life.

The large graphic above has 4 rotationally repeating tiling patterns, as shown enlarged, however an much larger number can be produced, and 6 more patterns as shown below, including 3 that re not rotational, but linear in arrangement, and 3 which are rotational but which also modulate the filler tile pattern.

Drawing of Topic

2008-12-08T13:43:00.000-08:00

Abstract and Question revision 1st trimester finals

2008-12-08T11:40:00.000-08:00

Question
How can a manipulation of scale be used to create long-lasting objects with sublime effects?

Abstract
In the past, large architectural structures were possessed with a spiritual power representative of their iconic and rare status. Similarly, very small historical objects such as jewellery and miniature books held a special place of importance due to the time, care and techniques needed to produce them. However, the contemporary era is one where the special context of these objects has been lost and similarly the processes required to produce them are ubiquitous. The sense of sacredness and focal purpose of large structures has been reduced by the democratization of construction. And in turn, the trend for miniaturization in electronics has produced an array of tiny yet profane and meaningless products. In spite of this, many objects from the past still exist today and possess values that ensure their continuation. If their original meaning has been lost, the nature of their existence is often perplexing enough to ensure their continued survival. In context of today's society that has lost much of its traditional relationship to the spiritual, this research attempts to produce home objects and architectural fittings that use a manipulation of scale to achieve a sublime or spiritual effect.

Literature Review

2008-12-08T10:21:00.000-08:00

My research thus far has drawn upon a fairly broad range of sources, and so this literature review will likewise cover a wide area. But first, let me introduce a triangle; a three pointed analogical construct that maps the boundary of my topic.

The first point is Scale. The basis of my research, it is also the frame or method; most of my investigation starts with a search of use and application of scale within design and society. It is a tool by which I can analyse, and subsequently, apply.

The second point is the notion of the Long-lasting Object; a subject I also address as the Survivability of Objects. This is a somewhat personal viewpoint I have formed about the value and righteousness of objects. It is a reaction to built-in obsolescence, and excessive consumption; in a world moving faster and faster it is the guiding principle that tries to do the opposite.

The third point is a blurry dot that expresses the nature of Wonder, the Sublime, and the Sacred; and by definition, their opposite; the Profane. For me, this is the purpose, or goal, a desire to make objects that achieve a positive and wondrous response in the people in which they interact.

These 3 points create a triangle whose interior landscape will be partially mapped by this literature review.

Scale
My early research looked at scaling in design, both as used conceptually by practitioners such as Front design (also Studio Job, Claes Oldenburg, Jeff Koons and many others), and as a technical process , such as when applied to systems that must be scaled up and down as part of their function e.g typefaces, architectural models, toys and dollhouses. I attempted to establish that society's recent ability to encode objects as digital information somewhat removes the the traditional obstacles to scaling i.e specific types of digital information can be scaled up or down without loss of data integrity. However, just because information in objects is present, does not mean it can be comprehended immediately; it depends on perceptual scale, and I illustrated this idea with photography of zoanthid corals in Okinawa. It can also be seen in the artwork of Tara Donovan, whose majestic sculptures at distance hide the secret of their tiny and ordinary elemental unit. Likewise, it is used as a technical quality in many printing and display systems i.e the blurring in our eyes of CMYK rosettes to produce full color images

Scale can also be discussed on an technological level. French theorist Paul Virilio, discusses Scale in the context of the information society, notably regarding locality; Virilio believes we have created a "pollution of distances". This relates to our loss of of the human scale in technology; the ability to access distant places immediately via telecommunication technologies in-substantiates the very value of their distance.

The perception of scale in an object is often based on an expected formal language; buildings are large and monolithic, jewellery is small and intricate. To paraphrase Rem Koolhaas, all architecture is monument. In stories for children, we often see this manipulated for effect. In Lewis Carol's Alice in Wonderland, Alice shrinks down to the a size where she can perceive a mushroom as a item of furniture for a caterpillar. In Goldilocks and the Three Bears, the qualities of the larger items are exaggerated to become monstrous (the giant and cold chair) and the qualities of smaller items are likewise exaggerated to become precious and fragile (the tiny chair Goldilocks breaks.) The respect required by objects of different scales is something that must be learnt by children, as evidenced by the numerous references in S,M,L,XL of scale models being destroyed by childrens, and architects playing as children. Therefore, it is a behaviour programmed into adults, mostly unconsciously. When we tear down old buildings in order to resurrect the new, as seen in Singapore since the 1950's (Koolhaas) are we not merely playing as children impatient with their building blocks?

The Survivability of Objects
The notion of destroying things in order to reproduce connects the idea of the long-lasting object. The human tendency is to discard and remake commensurate with our abilities to re-make, hence the attraction of the tabula rasa, the blank slate, to modernists (Koolhaas). In fact, it forms the basis of popular production and recycling ethics (McDonough and Braungart). Yet despite these tendencies, some objects still manage to last for centuries, even millenia. Why?
Starting with those objects of extreme age from the archaeological record, I discovered that many objects whose value is regarded highest are those with ambiguous or unclear origins; it is the potential for what they may mean that creates their worth. For example, the Venus of Willendorf is identified as both a possible fertility totem, or a self-portrait of a pregnant women (Witcombe). Or the Scottish Carved Stone Balls; metal working tools, or religious artifacts?(Soloman). The Voynich Manuscript, an enigmatic encyclopedia written in un-decipherable code, or flamboyant hoax? (Landini). The modern day Codex Seraphinius, a mysterious text produced by a designer unwilling to ever discuss it, likewise attracts a equally modern cult of followers who obsess about it on the internet boards (Taylor). From these examples I deduce that it can be an objects ability to perplex that sustains its existence. Such a factor may have very little to do with aesthetics, although perplexing aesthetics, such as those of the Willendorf statue, add to the sensation of mystery. They are anomalous objects. A modern proponent of this idea is the architect Junya Ishigami, who uses scale manipulation as a core concept in his desgn, but strives to weaken the concept as the design develops, in order to produce a more ambiguous final feeling; expressed as a concept in Japanese as aimai (Nuijsink).

From the history of furniture design, it can be seen that of examples from pre-history to a just prior to the Renaissance, the forms and shapes are mostly highly divergent (Smith). However, almost all are examples from religious or royal context. From this we can see that aesthetics appear less important than context or cultural significance. When aesthetic repeat and solidify into an archetype, such as the folding x-type stools for pre-history which evolved into modern forms, it could be argued that the popularity is began by functional and aesthetic qualities, but sustained by the value of its traditional origins (Lohmann) e.g. the Barcelona ottoman is not just an expression of clean and fluid modernism, but rather an embodiment of furniture design history stretching back thousands of years into the past. This is an example of an object's design surviving, but no the necessarily object itself. Yet, this is the basis for design tradition. An extreme example is the ancient Greek klismos chairs, hardly known to the world until they were rediscovered as depictions on pottery from the ruins of Pompeii, and then rebuilt for contemporary use (Smith). A unique example is the Ise Jingu in Japan; rebuilt every 20 years since the 7th century; possessing a facade of the contemporary skinned over the impossibly old.

The Sublime, Sacred and Profane
And finally we come to the third point of the triangle, the intent, a description of the effect I want to achieve. My investigation of this theme began with Susan Stewert's book, On Longing, which examines the aesthetics of the miniature and the giant. While the monolithic giant is often considered to be a sacred expression of man’s creative ability (or god(s), via the conduit of man), the giant can also have profane aspects; common urban mega structures such as highways, prisons or ghettos (Koolhaas), or in myth as giants that unintentionally or not destroy the relatively delicate and small things around them (Gulliver's Travel, The Nasca Giants). Likewise, the miniature can be expressed in terms of the sacred (jewellery, atoms and quarks) but also the profane (bacteria, virii). An finally, as discussed by Stewert, miniature writing is a sacred act of devotion to God, except as when a symptom of mental-illness induced psychosis (such as the example of R.Crumb's brother.)

The description of the sacred and profane expresses much about notions of value and respect, but can be weighed down by religious overtone. However, the word sublime, although having origins in Christian ideology, has been divorced from this origin and is now used solely in terms of aesthetics. Often the word is used in relation to the complexity of nature. As such complexity can be programmed into design of objects and even cities to create natural tapestries of meaning, what Metabolist theory labels group form (Koolhaas). Jean Francois Lyotard describes the Sublime as the precipice before our reasoning fails; aesthetics that draw us close to knowing everything and nothing concurrently. Perplexing. As such it is able to express some of the feelings which the terms sacred and profane cannot express about aesthetics, and is a word highly suitable to a discussion of anomalous objects which perplex.

Web references:
De Jong, Gilbert "Nasca" accessed from http://www.world-mysteries.com/mpl_1_2.htm#top

Lohmann, Birgit The Illustrated History of Folding Chairs, compiled by, (a thesis publication, july 1988, revised in june 2003) © designboom, accessed from http://www.designboom.com/eng/education/foldingchair.html

Virilio, Paul The Art of the Motor, tranlated by Julie Rose, The Art of the Motor (Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 1995), pp. 133-156.
http://www.stanford.edu/dept/HPS/Virilio/Virilio_ArtoftheMotor2.html

Donovan, Tara Text from her exhibition at the Hammer Gallery, UCLA, accessed from http://hammer.ucla.edu/exhibitions/46/

Witcombe, Christopher, L.C.E Women in Prehistory, the Venus of Willendorf, accessed from http://witcombe.sbc.edu/willendorf/willendorfwoman.html

"Soloman" contribution on Scottish Carved Balls, accessed from http://historyhuntersinternational.org/index.php?topic=3950.0

Landini, Gabriel Evidence of linguistic structure in the Voynich manuscript using spectral analysis, Cryptologia, Oct 2001, accessed from http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qa3926/is_200110/ai_n8973053/pg_1

Taylor, Justin The Codex Serphinianus, accessed from http://www.believermag.com/issues/200705/?read=article_taylor

Huhn, Thomas Jean-Francois Lyotard, Lessens on the Analytic of the Sublime, accessed from http://www.pum.umontreal.ca/revues/surfaces/vol4/huhn.html

Anthony David Lyotard on the Kantian Sublime, accessed from http://www.bu.edu/wcp/Papers/Cont/ContDavi.htm

Books
Stewert, Susan, A. On Longing: Narratives of the Miniature, the Gigantic, the Souvenir, the Collection, Duke University Press, 2003.

Koolhaas, Rem & Mau, Bruce S,M,L,XL, 010 Publishers, The Netherlands, 1995

Carroll, Lewis Alice in Wonderland, Project Gutenberg, electronic version released 2008.

Braungart, Michael & McDonough, William Cradle to Cradle: Remaking the Way We Make Things, North Point Press, 2001

Swift, Jonathan Gulliver's Travels, Project Gutenberg electronic version released 1997

Lucie-Smith, Edward Furniture, A Concise History, 1979 & 1993, Thames and Hudson Ltd, London.

Cozzi , Ponte, Sasone, Griffe & Sciola Furniture, from Rococo to Art Deco, 2000, Taschen GmbH, Hohnezoolenring, Koln

Periodicals
Nuijsink, Cathelijne 'Changing the Scale Changes the Atmosphere', Interview with Junya Ishigami, Mark Magazine issue #14, The Netherlands.

Film
"Crumb" directed by Terry Zwigoff, 1995, USA.

People Research Report

2008-12-08T08:00:00.000-08:00

Introduction
My people research has taken two forms. The first is a four part survey (found here)I sent out into the wild via Facebook. The survey dealt with the perception of scale and aesthetics in chair models, long-lasting and sacred objects and the supplementary data in 4 sections (sections 1 and 3 being related). Out of an estimated 250-500 people who received the survey, I received 47 responses over a two week period. A report of the results are here.

The second part of my research involves communication with design historians and archaeologist, and for this I compiled a list of questions embedded in a text (found here). The text was a contextual narrative with examples of objects from pre-history, and design history up until a few hundred years ago, with related modern examples where they exist. It was difficult for me at first to embrace the study of objects from the archaeological record because their aesthetics are often difficult to understand, however, much analysis goes into their sociological function as well as material construction and this is good information to absorb. The text and narrative was broken up into 6 sections or qualities that I feel are important to the ability of objects to survive; materials and construction, ubiquity, context, aesthetics, function and cultural significance. I have sent the text off to several academics, however am still awaiting a response. Because the text is fairly involved, and now is a busy time of year for academics especially in the southern hemisphere, this unfortunately may not happen until after the xmas break period. And so the remainder of this report will detail the results from the survey.

Survey Results
In the first question of the survey, subjects were asked to rank 5 chairs shown at equal size. The chairs are formally related to one another via the use of a scale manipulation that corresponds with a "growth" concept, though this was not evident at first. To the participant, what is clear is that the chairs are related somewhat (mainly by color and some common aesthetic features), but differ drastically in terms of thinness and thickness, lightness and weight.

Chair D was designed first and served as a template for the other chairs; it can be considered to possess the original genetic code passed onto its older and younger siblings. It was also voted the most popular in the survey. Just behind Chair D were chair C and E, "one step away" relations, followed by least favorites Chair A and B, who possess the most extreme stretch of the genetic code towards "thinness". This result could be interpreted to suggest that this system of scaling a structural system thinner and thicker weakens aesthetic appeal, or that the original chair D makes more visual sense, in that its structure was designed rationally rather than inherited from a sibling. Another possibility is that my own initial aesthetic judgment as a designer was stronger and more able to connect with an audience in the first design than subsequent generative design of the other chairs. In regards to the lowest ranked, it appeared from the responses that the participants were responding to its thinness; in that humans are basically a little concerned about sitting on something that looks too light. However, lightness and thinness was also the reason for some participants to rate it highly. Actually, the concern for structure is reflected in most responses; many described the appeal of chair D as "robust", "strong", "bold" etc; more at least than those who used words for chair A or B, such as "light" "elegant" "mobile". However, in the reasons for not liking chair A, apprehensive expressions such as "death-trap" (!) were common.

The next part of the survey diverged away from the chairs (necessarily, as I will show later) with freeform questions about old, personal and sacred objects. The responses were very varied, but with some clear trends. In response to the question, "how old is the oldest thing you own" the majority of responses were over one hundred years older, with some even older, up to 1500 years, but comparatively few younger than 100 years. This suggests to me that despite the contemporary problem of planned obsolescence and our inurement to it, we still have a place in our lives for very old objects. A positive result! The range of objects was fairly evenly divided between larger items (such as furniture, carpets and musical instruments, and smaller objects (such as jewellery, photographs and antique coins). Against my expectation that fragile objects would be well represented in the range of old objects, sturdy objects were far more common. This is more logical, but I was surprised because I had assumed that fragile objects do not necessarily have shorter life spans because of the care taken in their protection.

The answers to questions continued to become more and more personal and subjective, however I find these subjective responses very inspirational; a response from one subject described an old chest of drawers belonging to her grandmother - although this would be reason enough for its value to most participants, her responses admitted that the real reason she liked it was the use of the now rare New Zealand rimu wood.

In responses to the questions about sacred and objects, I was relieved to discover that many responses were not about religious artifacts, rather books, jewellery, photographs and antiques. This corresponds to my existing definition of sacred as not something necessarily religious but rather something that can elevate your spirit and well-being. The range of answers to personally valuable items was even broader, and began to incorporate technological devices (especially laptops and cars), tools and collections. Conclusion: there is no sharp definition of what constitutes a sacred object, each object must posses a personal relationship with the owner, and only blurry nexus of factors can be defined for sure: a combination of age, personal history and family connection. Qualities such as religious meaning, valuable materials or specific function are often present but not always. Aesthetics were not often considered in the responses of the participants, however this could easily be because of not being emphasized or alluded to in the questions.

The third part of the survey was a progression from the first part, but with the chairs displayed in context together as a family. The results change dramatically; Chair E becomes the front runner with a large lead, popular with 45% of those surveyed, followed by Chair A, at 28%. Why do the chairs at the extreme ends of the genetic deformation receive the highest ranking? In the case of the the smallest chair, its cuteness; an overwhelming number of responses mentioned this quality. In the case of Chair A, anthropomorphism created a new opinion; what was seen as skinny and fragile became protective and caring. This surely a result of the composition however, if the same chair was seen to the side and not hovering above the others, I believe this response would not have happened. What really surprised me however, was the degree to which the participants understood my design process; responses referred to the "genetic code", the growth of children and and even the awkward phases of adolescence, all conepts running through my mind when I was creating the chairs. I surely see this as a result of the anthropomorphism of the family metaphor. It is a metaphor that can be easily understood and appreciated by many people; a universal value.

The idea of discovering universal values from a survey leads us to the last section; personal data. I asked for age, sex and ethnic/cultural background because I believe that these qualities that are interesting when attempting to discover universal values, although in hindsight I think I was being overly cautious in asking for personal information and should have asked for education and career data as well, among other things. The results were weighted to people of european background but not excessively so. When I analyse these results, I must also remind myself that the majority of participants are Facebook users, and therefore belong to a specific social group (technologically savvy?) and are also rather young, as reflected in the age results.

Conclusion:
Application of a scale manipulation or generative system for furniture could be successful, but only if it includes an anthropomorphic quality. Furniture can be far more accessible if it relates to human qualities. Therefore the design needs to communicate its context. As for old and sacred objects, I realize that good choice of material and sturdy construction are fundamental, but less obvious is which other qualities should be applied. I believe this will come down to more intuitive design decisions, although I do want to create something that can have a very real and personal relationship to its owner, even if this is not outwardly evident at first glance or use i.e an object that manifests a beautiful quality, but as it ages rather than at first sight.

Objects and Survivability - Questions

2008-12-04T23:56:00.000-08:00

As part of my people research, I have written up a narrative spliced with questions that I am sending to experts in the field of design history.

Introduction:
What is the survivability of objects? I am using this term survivability because it implies a life force extant to those objects of which we know. My main concern is the investigation of those objects that continue to exist in a useful way for centuries or more. Archetypes fit this profile, such as the chair, but which chairs specifically survive better than others? I am trying to connect examples of of objects from different eras and discover qualities that have helped them become long-lasting. I propose that qualities such as materials, construction, aesthetics, and unbiquity play a role in keeping an object functional, but sometimes the ability of an object to survive is through some external factor, and these interest me also. One example is preservation, either accidental, (such as the case of the Pompeii ruins, preserved in volcanic ash, that influenced neo-classisicm when they were discovered) or purposeful (such as the many examples of tomb furniture).

Preservation also occur when the design is transmitted in another form other than the object itself (such as the Ancient Greek klismos chairs that only survived as images on pottery, later to be re-made in the 18th century.)

Finally, cultural significance needs to be addressed when discussing the survivability of objects. It may be that in a world where everything can only last for a finite period and must be remade or reproduced to continue existing, all other considerations are secondary to the matter of cultural significance.

Materials:
I guess its obvious that with examples from pre-history and the archaeological record the qualities that can be assessed are fewer and mainly deal with construction and material, e.g stoneware and ceramic can survive thousands of years (example, the crude stone furniture from the neolithic settlement Skara Brae) whereas wood cannot. (in Skara Brae it is assumed that drift wood was also used for furniture and boats etc, but how do we know for sure?)

Whereas in furniture from more recent periods, say from the Renaissance to the 19th century, aesthetics and cultural significance must play a larger role than mere material robustness in helping furniture survive..... or do they? Perhaps with wooden furniture, wood being a more age susceptible material compared to ceramics, for example, strong construction plays a very larger role in survivability as a compensation for a weaker material. (I have noticed that my grandmothers old chair that dates form the Georgian period seems very solidly constructed, even though we are forbidden to sit on it).

And while it appears that furniture from the middle ages up to the Tudor period in England is made from heavy duty oak, is it not possible that this is a reflection of the ability of their design to survive i.e, is much of the antique furniture that goes up for auction around the world merely representative of the more robust furniture of its period? Or instead, is it that restoration plays an important part and the pattern of its application is based on factors related to aesthetics and cultural significance? In other words, can a fragile chair have as much chance as surviving the centuries as a robust chair, if the fragile chair has greater charm and better attracts instances of repair and restoration? (One example is the Jenson chest of drawers in Kensington palace, restored with non-original turned legs.)

Ubiquity:
Another factor that comes into play, is ubiquity. Popularity leads to high levels of production in turn helping the style or design survive, even if the majority of each example perish. On the other hand, some highly unique items (such as the Phaistos Disc) have survived despite being (seemingly) one of a kind objects. How does the uniqueness of an object affect its value and preservation?

I think this especially interesting in cases where the object is not intrinsically valuable from its materials, (unlike say, ancient Roman jewellery) but from other less tangible factors. Sometimes this value is mysterious, and if it remains so then the mystery around the object itself becomes an important quality (Voynich Manuscript).

Esoteric objects can also be ubiquitous and mysterious (such as the Scottish carved stone balls from the neolothic period). Can the case of these last examples be linked to contemporary design that also seeks to perplex (Codex Seraphinius)?

Context:
Concerning preservation; a fair number of archaeological finds have been in royal tombs, preserved underground and by the prohibition of trepass. Does this therefore mean that the archaeological records convey royal and upper class design disproportionately to those from the common classes? Is this always true? Even nowadays its fair to assume that qualties such as expense and the wealth of the owner must help to protect an object from factors affecting the common classes (less permanent residency, wealth fluctuation, lack of storage space etc. What is the complete range of these sociological factors? Off topic, but how much can it be said then that the history of design is the history of the possessions of the wealthy or ruling classes? (In Edward Lucie Smith's book Furniture, A Concise History, almost all of the still existing furniture illustrated is from royal or church contexts.)

Function:
How can function improve or impair the the survival of an object? I guess the real issue here is whether an object has a basic archetypal function and therefore resilience to changing uses (most common furniture?), or has the ability to adapt to changing uses. I don't have any examples of the latter yet, and maybe examples are few? In the medievil period when kings and landowners would were partly nomadic and moved from castle to castle, furniture consisted of those that were light and mobile, and those that were immensely heavy or built into interiors and could be safely left in place (example of the latter can be seen in some suriving castles.) (One interesting example is the heavy turned wood chair in Hereford Cathedral, which is assumed to have been part of a matching interior which has since been destroyed. The furniture survives but the interior it was attached to for protection, did not.)

Aesthetics:
It cannot be doubted that aesthetic choices and refinement play a part in acceptance and continuation of an object in the short term, but how exactly in the long term? Could it be, considering the cycles of fashion, that all the other factors above themselves set the aesthetic climate, contributing to the popularity of certain aesthetics and even causing the re-birth of older styles? This is probably a chicken or the egg type situation, but it may indicate that because aesthetics change frequently over time, aesthetics have little influence on the survival of an object except where it influences other more practical factors such as material or construction choices. On the other hand, it could be said that the aesthetics of an object are important in the long term because it can place them in relationship to a "grand narrative" or tradition of object design within a culture that in turn achieves a continual popularity (one example of this may be the sella curulis x-type folding stools of ancient Rome, which has precedent in earlier Egyptian and Greek forms, and which developed into post-Roman versions such as the 7th century Dagobert chair, and then into many contemporary forms.)

Cultural Significance:
This last example leads us to the subject of cultural significance. Can it be argued that while initially the function and beauty nature of the ancient x-type folding stool led to popularity, its continual development throughout history owes more to its historical essence? Is it that the popularity of the Barcelona ottoman lies not so much in its graceful curves but in its reference to the archetypal folding stool? So that its reflects not just the aesthetics of modernism but the whole of western design history; a tangible link between ancient and modern forms?

The desire to preserve the past in the object of the present is seen in the extreme example of the Ise Jingu shrine in Japan; every 20 years since the 7th century the shrine and its contents are rebuilt identically. For a few months during the ritual, known as Shikinen Sengu, two shrines stand, twinned and identical in appearance, until the old is demolished. The same is true for more than 1000 holy objects and garments that populate the shrine. The design of the shrine and these objects therefore remains unchanged for 1300 years.

In the western sphere, there are many examples of architecture older, but they fall into ruin at one stage or another, though the materials of rock and stone prevent complete destruction. However, in the west the ruin has a nostalgic value.

Is it that this perception of ruin is intrinsic because of the associated values of age and history? (Comparatively, the Ise Jingu remains ageless in appearance). Can these associated values be exploited in smaller objects which normally have much shorter life spans? If so, how can this quality of being historical via ruin be communicated without structural dysfunction?

Landscaping the Sacred, Discovering the Cute

2008-11-27T14:06:00.000-08:00

MINIATURE LANDSCAPES
It is now well on the way to the end of the trimester, and I now have designs and models to assess. Some of these I won't discuss here, and instead show at finals, but its interesting to look ideas and experiments have worked and have not worked.

To start with, I produced a design that attempted to rescale the monolithic. The Egyptian pyramids, the ultimate monolith, is possessed of a sacred nature. But my own experiment in tiling tetrahedrons at minute scale created a landscape of the profane, a grip tread less attractive than diamond plate. Is it the change in scale or the repetition or both that produces this (unwanted) effect? Is simple geometry monolithic at large scale but banal at small scale (witness the dice)?

Or is it that the miniature require complexity to become sacred? When I introduced a fractal style recursion, a growth of smaller and smaller tetras from their skin, the forms became more interesting but still lack any sense of being subliminal, simply because, I believe, the basic element remains unchanged.

On the other hand I recently discovered the beautiful and tiny forms that can be produced by the actions of magnets on ferrofluid, which is an oil filled with iron particles and thus magnetically reactive. In some ways these landscapes resemble the tetrahedral patterns I modeled in Rhino a few weeks before, but are far more sensory. Is this because they are actual rather than virtual? Is the transformation from an ordinary liquid to a strange geometry, and the movement involved, that makes it so absorbing of attention? Or is the the subtle complexities and randomness of the structural repetition? I ask myself again: does the miniature require complexity to become sacred?

RELATIONAL CHAIRS

In the case of my family of chairs, it is perhaps the opposite. At the smallest scale we witness an inability to contain detail due to the thickness of material. At the same time, the thickness of the material becomes structural and defines the aesthetic form. At the other end of the scale, with the larger, thinner chairs, this structure becomes merely decorative and its structural purpose is obsolete like a vestigial organ. These characteristics when seen together in all the chairs have the ability to communicate information about their context and family relations. And this is not just conjecture; to test this idea I produced an online survey and sent it via Facebook. The first page of the survey included a picture of the individual chairs at an equal scale i.e all the same size or 1:1. A few pages later the chairs were shown again, this time in relation to one another. Both times, users were asked to rank the chairs and comment on what they did or did not like about them.

The survey can be accessed at this address:
http://www.surveygizmo.com/s/85951/furniture-and-objects-survey

Out of the 30 or so answers I have received back so far, a large number of users understand that the relationship between the chairs is more than just aesthetics decisions of weight and form, but an expression of a genetic code.... but only after they had seen them in context together. Then the majority of users change their opinion and rank the chairs differently; Chair E, the fat little baby, disliked when shown at 1:1, becomes popular when shown dwarfed by his relations. His immaturity as a chair is assessed alongside his potential as a chair.

When discussing this smallest chair, I can say that the material which binds all the chairs together is best expressed at its smallest scale because its lack of ability to function as a sheet material makes its presence overt. As an individual, it is anomalous. Just as a baby is representative of the full grown adult it shall become, packaged in the same material of skin, blood and bone, but at distorted scale. A giant baby may be monstrous, but at its naturally tiny scale, a quality manifests itself: cuteness.

A Definiton of Sacred

2008-11-26T07:40:00.000-08:00

Notes from my meeting with Erna Beumers on the 17/11/08.

During my meeting with Erna she drew attention to my continual use of the words sacred and profane in my abstract and research analysis. The simple reason is that this is because intuitively I feel they are the words that best express the kind of design I want to produce. Design that is uplifting and worthy of pause for contemplation. Design that can be sublime, in its original meaning.

But, sentiment aside, what is the nature of sacredness? What and where are sacred things and places and what are their purpose?

My feeling is that I want to define sacredness apart from religious definition. Of course sacredness is intrinsic to religious practices; the placement of the crucifix about the bed, or the the Buddhist habit of placing a shrine to ancestors somewhere in the house. But can this be compared to the sacredness of a a bookshelf, should the books on it be cared for properly and treasured for what they represent. Is the secular sacred truly sacred?

The example of Minoan artifacts is an interesting example; due to a lack of surviving sources archeologists are unsure about the status of ceramics and pottery discovered. Some are found in sacred caves and assumed to be use in religious services, however others are found without geographic context. Yet these are still perceived as being sacred, and at the least are treated this way in the present day; their sacredness is manifest by their extreme age and beauty.

In the case of the Phaistos Disc (above), an object of beauty and curiousness, we may be dealing with something as banal as a market sign or a board game, but its language has yet to be deciphered, so we may never know. In this cloud of uncertainty, the Phaistos Disc is perceived by default as having a spiritual power. Sacredness as defined by age, beauty and mystery.

Mystery also plays a part in the contemporary value of the Voynich manuscript (below), and the Codex Seraphinianus (above), although centuries separate their origins. The two books are encyclopedic in nature but are written in code and detail plants and exotic human activities. The case of the Codex is easier to fathom, produced in the 1970's by an Italian designer who is still alive, although unwilling to discuss this work. It is reasonably assumed that the Codex is written in purposely random script, and therefore not actually written. The beauty and strangeness of the illustrations that beg for explanation are what keep most readers intrigued. Still, sporadic attempts are made to decipher the text too, in part because the page numbering was recently "decrypted" and discovered to be a form of base 20 numbering.

However, the Voynich Manuscript (also here)was produced in the 15th century in a script that has repeatedly withheld interpretation by some of the world's best cryptographers, while passing statistical tests that show the book is written in some kind of language.

At their most profane, the Voynich manuscript may be a (highly) elaborate hoax, the Codex Seraphinianus, an adolescent preoccupation. The Phaistos disc, more or less consequential than some archaeologists desire. But the point is that sheer amount of critical analysis that has gone towards decoding these books places them into another category altogether, that of the anomalous object. This is a category for those objects that intrigue, mystify and overwhelm us with their individuality. The force us to feel the fragility of our own comprehension and move us towards the sublime. They are objects that can be defined as "secular sacred". This is the domain of crypto-archaeology.

Another topic to investigate, should there be time...
The Sacred Represented by the Void:
The Calvinistic practice of stripping churches of ornament, and the Shinto sand-gardens which define space by the absence of objects.

Large to Small: an application of an urban design theory

2008-11-21T07:22:00.000-08:00

Fumihiko Maki Metabolist system of urban design breaks down the structure into 3 areas.
compositional form - individual elements that mold and adapt to the next level of megastructure:

megastructure - a larger network of forms that give unify compositional form and create shape and pattern:

and group form, a system of megastructure linkages that create dynamic and flexible urban tapestry, or in this case, tiling:

Architcture, Scale, Destruction, Creation and the Threat of the Blank Slate.

2008-11-18T15:11:00.000-08:00

Some thoughts after reading Rem Koolhaas' S,M,L,XL

In the margins of Rem Koolhaas's book S,M,L,XL, is a kind of dictionary, a collection of quotes from, I assume, various sources headlined under a single word in bold capitals. For example:

"SCALE: .... working with scale puts you in a an almost god-like position.... you can hold a piece of turf in your hand, or a house, and you can plant it somewhere, or you can crush it, smash it. " p. 1114

Working with scale models can be seen as a metaphor for our constructive and destructive nature. Elsewhere in S,M,L,XL, Koolhaas discusses the daughter of a client who has commissioned a house from him. The house takes so long to build that the daughter grows up and Koolhaas wonders, "...how would she inhabit the house that she had destroyed - accidently - as a model, when she was seven." (p. 135)

This duality of creation and destruction is evidenced in the urban planning of Singapore, a UN approved plan to construct "New Towns" around the island, connected by a central ring road. The dictatorial government took on the challenge to bring Singapore into the 20th century with enthusiasm and boldly made a tabula rasa, a blank slate, on which to build, destroying jungle and shanty towns alike in order to produce hundreds of identical housing blocks.

Pragmatism was the rule and while much can be said about the lack of humanity expressed by the design aesthetics, the building program is successful and people became better off terms of general well-being. I lived in Singapore fr 6 years as a teenager, and remember well the take off and landings from Changi Airport; the island, tiny from the sky, laid out like a circuit board, the repetition of housing blocks like rows of soldered microchips.

Better techniques for urban planning can be seen in the context of Japan and the Metabolist movement . Koolhaas discusses Fumihiko Maki system of breaking down the tapestry of the city into 3 areas; compositional form, megastructure, and group form. Compositional form is the domain everyday architecture and while it can be beautiful and inspiring, it can also be ugly and banal. Either way, it is subjugated to megastructure in Maki's context - being the large frame and the domain of urban planning. Grid systems, roads and highways, and other large structures. But there is also group form, which is a macro form arising from the interaction of compositional form and megastructure over larger areas and expressed through the application of linkages; built in linkages to connect and harmonise discrete architecture, and larger open linkages to to connect expanding urban areas together. (p 1045 and p. 1049)

The difficulties with the Singaporean plan of the New Towns, is that the compositional forms, the (non)individual apartment blocks, are designed by the pen of those who also designed the highways and other megastructures. Lacking variation they are unable to link in any meaningful way to produce a dynamic or flexible group form. This is probably a consequence of three factors; autocratic planning, fast delivery, and the erasure of history that accompanies the creation of the tabula rasa in the programs beginning.

In fact, the program and Singapore itself becomes defined by its origins and the abilities of the her government to create this blank state and rebuild again at will. It is expressed again and again overs the decades; it is manifested legally by a law enabling the government to appropriate property without consent of the owner, and in practice is a method to give momentum to financial and economic factors. Is it also reaction against the the fear of an endlessly encroaching jungle? Koolhaas argues it is. But in fact, the onslaught of development is itself akin to the relentless fecundity of the jungle. Despite meager protests to the destruction of wilderness and traditional villages it continues, and creates an insecure feeling of permanence:

"The curse of the tabula rasa is that, once it is applied, it proves not only the previous occupancies expendable, but also each future occupancy provisional too, ultimately temporary. This makes the claim to finality - the illusion on which even the most mediocre architecture is based - impossible. It makes Architecture impossible." p. 1075

The threat of the blank slate is placed all our products, architecture and all creation nowadays and promotes the construction of temporary design. This is the legacy of modernism and of complete and total design. It is the context from which cradle to cradle is derived, and the playing field for the design of the vast majority of consumer products. After the 20th century and the creation of the bulldozer, and its equivalent for product design, the landfill, it is taken for granted that function inevitably decays and can only be restored through re-designing and re-making from from scratch again.

Goldilocks and the Three Bears: Transgression of the Miniature

2008-11-13T05:25:00.000-08:00

The story of goldilocks and the three bears is an interesting tale dealing with notions of scale and privacy. Goldilocks, usually depicted as a pretty young blonde girl, the perfect representation of innocence, discovers an empty house one morning in the woods. Inside she discovers 3 differently sized bowls of porridge (eating the smallest), 3 differently sized chairs (sitting in, and breaking, the smallest) and 3 differently sized beds; tired from her porridge eating and chair breaking activities, she falls asleep in the smallest bed, finding it "not to hard" and "not too soft". Unbeknownst to her, the house belongs to a family of bears; Papa, Mama, and Baby Bear, who were out for a morning walk while waiting for their freshly cooked breakfast of porridge to cool down. Upon returning to their home they discover the food eaten, their furniture damanged and the angelic little Goldilocks asleep in Baby Bear's bed. They promptly wake her up, and according to the original version of the tale, eat her.

The story deals with several themes, foremost being the respect of privacy. But the story uses several other themes in its narrative before arriving at its final message, namely the representation of scale, access and preciousness of the miniature. Each of the bowls, chairs and beds are described in relation to one and other, often in detail, yet it is always the smallest of the three that Goldlilocks chooses. This is because the larger objects represent the monstrous - the larger bowls of porridge are too hot and burn her tongue, the larger chairs are too high and too empty to be confortable, and the larger beds alternately too hard or too soft. The fact that she consumes all three smallest items, by eating, breaking and defiling, depicts the vileness of her crime; she trangresses in turn the represenation of the miniature as the precious, the fragile and the sacred.

And at the end we have a hero inversion, the angelicly portrayed Goldilocks exposed and is eaten for her transgressions. The poor victimised family of bears show their teeth and attack as animals. Beware young children, respect the privacy of others and appearances can be deceptive.

Abstract revision.....

2008-11-03T02:32:00.000-08:00

In the past, large architectural structures were possessed with a spiritual power representative of their iconic and rare status. Similarly, very small historical objects such as jewellery and miniature books held a special place of importance due to the time, care and techniques needed to produce them. However, the contemporary era is one where the special context of these objects has been lost and similarly the processes required to produce them are ubiquitous. The sense of sacredness and focal purpose of large structures has been reduced by the democratization of construction. And in turn, the trend for miniaturization in electronics has produced an array of tiny yet profane and meaningless products. In spite of this, many objects from the past still exist today and possess values that ensure their continuation, and these objects will be studied for characteristics which relate to the human scale. In contrast, the contemporary situation is one where our relationship to human scale has been changed by living in an information society. Far distances can now be accessed immediately via technology, and much of our time is spent in a digital world where human scale is an abstract quality, and this effects the value we place on real world objects.

This research attempts to understand the sense of scale, defined as an objects size in relationship to our human senses, inherent in sacred and profane objects. A focus will be on products that mediate the human scale in a tangible sense, for example, furniture that reminds us of human height, width or weight. Objects that address optical and perceptual scale or distance shall also be explored, in order to show that that human scale is not just centred on the body but extends outwards to include many human senses. Finally, these topics will be analysed in the context of a specific method of sustainability, being the design and production of meaningful and long-lasting objects.

New Investigations: Antiques and Antiquities, Anomalous Objects, Human Scale in the Technological Society

2008-11-02T11:35:00.000-08:00

Before I rewrite my abstract in response to feedback from Bas Raijmakers and the other M+H mentors, I want to quickly outline some new directions of research I discovered in the build up to the mid-terms.

Antiques and Antiquities:
One of the comments made at mid-terms is the use of the phrase "long-lasting" in my abstract. Indeed, in my introduction to my verbal presentation, I mentioned my disappointment with modern consumerism and the obsolescent design it engenders in the manufacturing industry. One of the problems (or benefits depending on your perspective) in the currently vogue "Cradle to Cradle" mentality is that as long as materials are recycled correctly, endless re-making of products is considered sustainable and in fact desirable to promote industrial economy and technological change. For all the advantages of the system Braungart and McDonough have detailed, I don't subscribe to that viewpoint, even if (solar) energy was freely available without cost. Rather, I see the way forward is to produce timelessly functional and resilient products that survive for far longer than the time spans envisioned by contemporary manufacturers. The purpose is to not only reduce the energy required for redesign and remaking, but also to create a communication channel to the future; a strengthening of design tradition. In the same way we are informed by the antiquities of the past, we must inform the generations after us in order to give stability to the cultural zeitgeist.

And so I imagine my investigation into the characteristics that help antiques survive over centuries will cover both practical considerations such as production and functional qualities, as well as less tangible aspects such as cultural significance, rarity, collectability, preciousness and future utility.

Images above are of a three legged sugar bowl by silversmith G.L. Connell, dated 1937. Below, an illustration of the Elkington and Co. showrooms, from the 19th century.

Deformations of the natural proportions of figures in historical sculptures and objects:
Many artifacts, if not most, from history use non-standard proportions for human figures, such as seen in this fascinating Aztec obsidian vase.

The Venus figures of pre-historical Europe are interesting, because having little historical context for archeologist to investigate, the reasoning behind the form is impenetrable.

One theory is that the form of these figures, such as the Venus of Willendorf above, represents a pregnant women's own body from her own perspective, that is, looking down at her own body. So her breasts are massive and her toes tiny or non-existent in the distance. In a time before mirrors and unable to see her own face, her head is morphed into the form of a plant or vegetable, a representation of the woman's own burgeoning fecundity.

The Nasca Lines, and other curiosities of the region:
The Nasca Lines, geoglyphs dug into sand and rock in a plateau of the Andes, are an example of the sacred and gigantic. While researchers cannot agree on their meaning, religious purpose is assumed.

Some of the most famous Nasca geoglyphs:

- The Spider, approximately 46m long,
- The Monkey, 55m long,
- The Guanay (guano bird), 280m long,
- The Lizzard 180m,
- The Hummingbird, 50m long,
- The Killer Whale, 65m long or
- The Pelican - the largest of them all - at 285m long.

And the mystery of the Nasca extends outwards to some other weird stuff relating to scale; nearby, giant deformed skulls were dug up by archeologists in the 1830s. Its believed these skulls were "designed" by binding the heads of infants, and that they were considered beautiful. In addition, the eventual inhabitants of this area, the Inca, who conquered the Nasca around 600AD, had a their own "profane giant" myth. According to Royal Commentaries of the Incas the legends refer to a coming of giants from across the ocean. At first they were peaceful and concerned with engineering their own survival in the new lands, but eventually grew restless and began terrorizing their smaller neighbours, the Inca. Womanless, and finding the Inca women too small for their purposes, they engaged in sodomy, openly, in plain sight of the Inca and their gods, until they were eventually struck down by the these gods for their profanity, freeing the Inca from tyranny.

Alice in Wonderland Syndrome:
This syndrome is described by Wikipedia a neurological symptom causing object to appear larger than they are in relation to one's own body (macrophasia) or smaller (microphasia). Its usually a symptom of migraine headaches, or a few kinds of more serious viral diseases. And of course, psychdelic drugs.

On a broader note, the Alice in Wonderland stories are ripe subject matter for discussing scale; at a surface reading I see it as Lewis Carrol's exploration of a "god complex" - that is, Alice's shrinking negates her divine status as a giant, and given its context as a childrens book, this divinity is related to child-parent relationships, and therefore the miniature becomes a metaphor for childhood.

The scale of perceptual distance changing in the modern era:
Some of my scale research so far has involved distances of perception, or the scale of perceptual distance. Mostly in terms of optical effects, but a deeper understanding of this concept can be seen in the writing of French theorist Paul Virilio. In his book Open Sky, he discusses it in the context of the information society, much in the same way that John Thackara laments our loss of intimacy with locality in the age of information networks; Virilio believes we have created a "pollution of distances". This relates to our loss of of the human scale in technology; the ability to access distant places immediately in-substantiates the very value of their distance. The human point of view derived from the our physical relationship to the natural world is now changing rapidly and he asks, do we need a grey ecology to match our green ecology? From my point of view the question is, how can objects mediate this loss of human scale in a technological society?

Midtems presentation model and graphic, photos

2008-11-02T01:31:00.000-07:00

In addition to the graphics I presented for my research question and abstract (in the previous post), for the midterms I also presented an intuitive response to my research topic in the form of a model and a graphic.

The graphic, on the right above, was a silhouette image of "Natalie", a fictional character also known as "the Miniature Killer" - a poor girl who murdered her sister at a young age by pushing her out of a tree house.

"...When Natalie looked down from the treehouse at chloe lying dead, the scene looked to her like a model, like a doll’s house. It was the first of her murders, and the only one she did not recreate in miniature."

The graphic was produced using CMYK patterns that blur or mix when we view the image from enough distance - so the colors above appears as a slightly patterned greyish shade of soft red, purple and yellow pastels. But when you move closer to the graphic...

...we see that the patterns is actually produced from smaller silhouettes printed in in bright shades of 100% cyan, magenta and yellow. This is actually a references to classic CMYK rosette printing (halftoning); the optical effect is actually produced by the limitation of our vision in discerning discrete colors which mix in our eyes and brain to produce a greater range of shades and colors. My concern here was to create a metaphor for the differences a range of perceptual scales can produce.

Likewise, the model intends to confuse by combining visual devices we attribute to different scales. The use of nails in architectural practice has been used to represent people at 1:100 scale....

This perspective is re-enforced by the temple aspect of the design; from the lower viewing port we can look up to see Natalie as a giant statue, from the same angle as the nails.

But from the higher viewing port we look down to see her as a little doll, trapped inside a confusing dollshouse. At this scale we can see her for what she is, a doll of a little girl, at 1:6 scale.

...whereas in other viewpoints the model can be seen at 1:1. At this scale everything is blunt; the model is simply made from wood and paint and the nails are just nails...

...or stretch our imaginations towards the scale of 1:500, and see the model as a towering monolith.

midterms - question, abstract and reseach graphics.

2008-11-02T01:22:00.000-07:00

A PDF of my midterm graphic detailing my research question, abstract and research plan can be downloaded here.

Mid-Terms Submission

2008-10-24T02:10:00.000-07:00

Abstract:
In the past, large architectural structures were possessed with a spiritual power representative of their iconic and rare status. Similarly, very small historical objects such as jewellery and miniature books held a special place of importance due to the time, care and techniques needed to produce them. However, the contemporary era is one where the special context of these objects has been lost and similarly the processes required to produce them are ubiquitous. The sense of sacredness and focal purpose of large structures has been reduced by the democratization of construction. And in turn, the trend for miniaturization in electronics has produced an array of tiny yet profane and meaningless products. This research attempts to understand the sense of scale, defined as an objects size in relationship to our human senses, inherent in sacred and profane objects. A focus on the creation of everyday functional products with a medium size, such as furniture, is envisioned, in applications that attempt to improve the value of objects in their human context.

Research Question:
How can an understanding and subsequent manipulation or application of scale be harnessed to create meaningful and long lasting objects?

Bibliography and Inspirations:
On Longing, by Susan Stewart
S, M, L, XL, by Rem Koolhaus/AMO
Various academic articles on scale and proportion, here and here.
Tara Donovan, American artist (see previous post)
The underwater world and the changes it makes to the perception of scale, (see previous post).
Miniature books and architecture of antiquity: pyramids, statues, castles and temples, (see previous post)

The architecture of Rem Koolhaas and OMA

Etore Sottsass and other Memphis designers

Artists and designers who use alteration of scale in their work, such as Jamie Hayon, Studio Job, Jeff Koons and Claes Oldenburg.

Appropriations of one scale into another...

Daguerre's Diorama

People Research Plan:
Scientific Methodology:
"Interactions with Scale Models" experiment. This experiments seeks to compare human interactions with the same object but in different sizes. It proposed to produce scale models of an object or environment in many different sizes and to encourage subjects to use or play with each sizes in turn. With the use of a video camera and post-activity interviews it is hoped to either gain some understanding of how size affects behaviour and perceptions, or to discover some kind of conceptual design inspiration. My initial idea of what to produce for this experiment is some kind of simplified doll's house or diorama, possibly containing only one room, and something I could build at common scale ratios such as 1:6 (playscale used by modern toy companies) 1:10, 1:24 etc as well as some very small scale such as 1:144 (doll'shouse for a doll's house scale.) On the other end I can imagine that I could blow up parts of the room or objects from the room, such as a cup or plate, very large, to beyond human scale, 2:1, 5:1, and larger.

Intuitive Methodology:
An interview with Job Smeets and/or Nynke Tynagel of Studio Job, whose recent work has involved alterations of scale.
Interviews with people of extreme tallness or shortness, such as a person with dwarfism, although talking to anyone with on the far ends of human height scale would be interesting. The purpose of this is to see how they interact with the majority of everyday objects being more or less out of scale with their own body. Children could be used for this study also, but as they grow their perceptions are only transitory. However I do plan to read the existing research on children and their sense of scale, and how it relates to toy and child furniture design.

Other Research, General.
Scale in different cultures: for example, craft objects in Africa that are enlarged for the tourist market. Scale in mathematics and geometrical transformations in different dimensions and spaces. Scale ratios used by toy makers and hobbyists: what are the percepual benefits and disadvantages of different scales in this limited context?

Illustration of Topic:
An overview mind map.

Scale: the Sacred and the Profane

2008-10-13T10:29:00.000-07:00

THE SACRED MONOLITH

In antiquity, the gigantic has been associated with the sacred. Religious monuments are large in proportion to the technics of the religious culture..... building churches, pyramids and giant Buddhas were the domain of the religious elite, designed to cow the masses with their fantastic scale.

Time to can also be used as an expression of the sacred giant; the karmic wheels of Hinduism roll around every 4,320,000 years (the Maha Yuga)..... a daunting time in which to consider a series of re-incarnations from gnat to dog to man. In many religions the God is expressed within the concept of the indivisible Infinite, the ultimate Gigantic . (and yet infinity can also be used to express the miniature, via the notion of infinitely small or the infinite fraction.)

THE PROFANE GIANT

Susan Stewart in "On Longing" describes the travels of Gulliver in Lilliput as becoming defined only by his body: "eating, drinking, defecating, sleeping and using his muscles are the sum of his social existence within the miniature world." In this interpretation, even his death is considered with concerns for practicality instead of spirituality; the Lilliputans wonder, what shall become of his enormous mass? How shall it be managed? It is poor farmers that have to deal with his fecal waste and enormous hunger..... in Lilliput he is akin to a drunk playing with a doll's house.

So too are gigantic structures becoming more profane. The democratization of building technology and the ubiquity of reinforced concrete has produced Mexico City, enormous prisons in America, and Disney World in France (Arizona Lewis Prison is above, via Google Earth). This is because man has mastered the building of the enormous. Construction is now in the realm of the profane. What was once a sacred task undertaken by the Church, Emperors and Kings is now handled by a multitude of financiers all around the world. Apartments in the tallest buildings of the world can be bought and sold as commodities.... Pyramids that were once perceived as the dwelling houses of the gods are now dwarfed by skyscrapers that house businessmen, and which indeed can be destroyed by a terrorists with simple means. How can these structures be pillars of the holy?

THE SACRED MINIATURE

Just before and after the invention of the printing press, the European society was fixated on the miniature book. In the pre-printing days, monks and scribes would compete to produce the longest text in the smallest book. Bibles were the most popular subject, followed by calendars and almanacs. The modern day equivalent of the digital organiser? They had their antecedents in ancient stone tablets, as well as the micrographic pictures and decoration of Jewish and Arabic cultures, which prohibit God being expressed in anything other than writing.

The nature of God as reflected in design has become more focused on the minute. We have turned our attention to the tiny to re-invent the nature of godhead. .... atoms, quarks.... the origin of the universe are said to be told in the minute building blocks of the universe. The most extravangant theories of the universe have come full circle back to religion, as seen in the "theophysics" of Frank J Tiplers' and David Deutsch.

(Frank J. Tiplers Omega Point theory is based on commonly understood laws of physics, but wildly proposes that the universe must enter a necessary and fundamental crunch point at the end of its life whereby the computational power of the universe will enable infinite simulations of all existing realities.... bringing back the dead and everyone and everything now living. Tipler sees this as the expression of the God-head, or Heaven.

Perhaps the new sacred artifacts are the particle collidors being built around the world to study dark matter and other phenomena?

(The recent news about the Large Hadron Collidor on the border of France and Switzerland had a ominous religious tone.... In response to news that the collidor would be turned on for the first time, possibly creating miniature black holes, the world news was plagued with headlines such "Are we all going to die next Wednesday?" (Daily Mail) and "Collider Triggers End of the World Fears" (Time) , culminating in a doomsday inspired suicide from a young girl in India. )

THE PROFANE MICROSCOPIC

And lastly, the miniature is fertile ground for sweeping and deadly profanity. The bubonic plague, which wiped out half of Europe in the 17th century, is spread by bacteria in fleas on rats, a nice expression of regressing miniaturization. It is our fear of germs the fueled the hygiene explosion in the west and even the word dirt itself has its duel meaning of "soil", an aggregation of small earth particles, and "unclean".

In art does the act of miniaturization signal profanity? Miniature writing may be the result of religious dedication, but only when it is readable; micrographia is the progression to continually smaller and smaller writing, until so cramped and tiny as to be unreadable. It is a symptom of Parkinson's disease and other mental illness. R. Crumb's elder brother, who R. Crumb admits could write and draw with far greater skill than he at an equal age while young, began and never finished a sequential masterpiece which began with intricately looped drawings made with concentric circles....

.... and degenerated into scratch like markings for text, as he spiraled into mental illness. (Crumb, the movie by Terry Zwigoff, and Crumb Family Comics).

Tara Donovan

2008-10-02T01:57:00.000-07:00

This artist applies the kind of perceptual scale I talked about in this post, very beautifully. Her art is site specific and adapted to the the locations she exhibits, building up her work in the days beforehand. In explanation of the bio-mimicry seen in her work she explains,
"My work might appear ‘organic’ or ‘alive’ specifically because my process mimics, in the most elementary sense, basic systems of growth found in nature."
She negotiates herself into a kind of non-conscious method of working, a semi-generative approach.

Mind Maps Workshop with Bas

2008-10-01T05:41:00.001-07:00

A recent mind maps workshop was a succesful way for me to expand concepts and vision for my thesis topics.

For Futurology and Design, I envisioned a scenario in which their are two actions resulting from the study of the future. One is to use the knowledge to speed up society - predicting changing market demands and the need for new tools and gadgets. I believe this is the commonly understood use of futurology, and goes hand in hand with current economic models and the promotion of technological recycling. Speeding things up. On the other hand there is a big movement in design to slow things down, and futurology conceivably could be used to create long lasting products that withstand changing demands.... if more products are like this, and we ultimately need new products less frequently, wouldn't the economy slow down? Sociological change itself would slow down, negating the need for futurology itself. The snake eats its own tail. For me this is a more interesting approach to using futurology in design.

Also important in the notion that the study of the future has historical antecedants; reading tea leaves, I-ching, and astrology et al. One can argue that these lack the scientific basis of modern future studies, but science itself is driving the need for futurology itself. What are the similarities and differences between futurology and these ancient understandings of the future?

Futurology must also be affected by culture. It is the drive for technological change, but technology is a manifest of culture and so cultural differences must in turn shape futurology. How do the Japanese perceive the future differently from Europeans?

For the topic of Scale, the mind map session was a nice confluence of ideas. First up was the idea that transformation of scale modify the form external to its quality ofscale. Shrinking highlights fineness, enlarging highlights grain. This is not true with scale independant digital technology (e.g vector software) but is always with representation of the object - on screen, or in manufacturing. Even rapid-prototyping machines must operate at a tolerance (currently around 0.25 to 0.05mm for common machines).

But is the quality of scale in an object theoretically infinite? Science is continually proposing and sometimes discovering smaller and smaller particles in nature. The building blocks of the universe, but usable will they be? Does the rabbit hole go down forever? I am reminded of a anecdote about some American researchers in the 1950's. They engineered a tiny little drill bit, and assuming they had created they world smallest, sent it over to some Japanese engineers to show off. The Japs returned it with a hole drilled through its shank. I can imagine the way this drill bit must have been prepared and wrapped for postage. Smallness paradoxically a way to increase value in sometimes. Despite the reduction in material, small things convey technological prowess through the quality of fineness, and an aspect of fragility the is inverse to their size. Miniature dolls, stamps and micrographia.

I will now begin to read "On Longing" by Susan Stewart, subtitled, "Narratives of the Miniature, the Gigantic, the Souvenir, the Collection."

One more insight: if visual perception is mediated by the distance between the viewer and the object, what are the scale of perception in other senses? How can touch, smell or hearing be affected by scale? Can a musical note have a grain only audible at a certain volume? What s smell? I guess the perception of grain is based on the volume of sensory input i.e the more you can see or sense the better you can perceive its detail. This is true for senses sensitive to changing levels of input... sight, hearing, smell, taste even. But what about touch? It a sense that is at once immediate and rigid to input.... you either touch it or you don't. The area touched can be increased for more input....

...and "time" can be put into play to get a increasing sense of texture... we do these when we run our hands over the carpet. But sensing grain via touch is often used for adding the sense of grain percieved by vision. And for this there is little variation we can feel in the "volume" of touch. We either touch, or we don't.

What do the super rich collect?

2008-09-29T16:13:00.000-07:00

An article about the excesses of the super rich, and their spending and collecting habits.

Among frivolous purchases such as heated marble driveways and the collection of private airplanes, the super rich crave unqiue experiences and exclusivity. They want not just what no one else can have, they want what no one else can even conceive. Damien Hirst, personal shoppers and mega-yachts are discussed, as in an interesting travel agency going by the name of "earth" that organises exotic luxery holidays for a private clientele, invitation only.

And this is collecting, but also scale, and branding. Connect the dots.

The Rosetta Disk

2008-09-25T05:33:00.000-07:00

Some more information about the Rosetta Disk - I was just reading here about how 5 prototypes have been produced, each containing the book of Genesis translated into more than 1500 world languages. Produced by the company Norsam, these translations are micro-etched on a a single surface at the back needing a x750 optical microscope to read clearly. This etching is so fine that to the naked eye it only appears as a diffraction rainbow, such as you see on a CD-Rom. The article doesn't say, but I assume the etching was done by laser. What the article does say is the prototypes were produced by a nickel cast of a silicon mold - which I find unbelievable that a silicon mold could hold such detail.....

The choice of the book of Genesis seems strange, considering its ethnocentric bias, until you consider that it is the most widely translated text in the world, and was chosen for practicality. Although its does hold a sort of metaphorical meaning for this project. Lets just hope tour future descendants don't take it literally, awed as they may be by our facilities in linguistics and silicon molding.....

The top surface of the dics si worth discussing; it shows a brief written introduction to the disc in the worlds main 8 languages, twisting together in rapidlly decreasing spiral. A fairly nice expression of the disc's content. This top surface has been blackened for contrast, unlike the pure nickel micro-etched back.

For me this project has great resonance becuase of my previous undergraduate design, the Trinumeric Dice, inspired by the same source (the Rosetta Stone, below) and conceived for the same reasons. I produced it before the Rosetta Disc was prototyped, but after its documented conception, not that I had heard of it at the time, but you can't always be first out of the gates.

Thesis Topic Proposal: Design and Futurology

2008-09-24T15:28:00.000-07:00

"The goal of forecasting is not to predict the future but to tell you what you need to know to take meaningful action in the present." - Paul Saffo

FUTUROLOGY

+ what questions can we ask about the future and what predictions can we make?

+ how can this inform predictive design?

+ how can this inform non-predictive design, contemporary design, which still includes the perceptions of the future in its conception.

+ how can our fears and dreams for the future be addressed in object design.

+ given the rise of futurology studies and their increasing importance in technological industries, to what extent can a study of futurology help conceptual object designers working in the present. The idea is not to come up with wacky future products, but sensible contemporary objects that stand the test of time and the changing demands of future society. Although I should add that humour is important.

+ How will demand push practices - marketing, branding, advertising, etc change in the future and to what extent will affects product design,

+ How will demand pull - classic consumer demand, change in the future and ditto. Are consumers becoming more aware of product choice through the internet, or does just create a confusing and uncoordinated tapestry of information for the user..... perhaps creating the rise of meta-critics....(push demand)

+ to what extent can designers invest probabilities into their work..... how much can a forecast of 80% something or other becoming likely be invested into the object while still addressing the remaining 20% - - can futurology be a while in-building an insurance policy into the design of an object?

This could be a study about about the discipline of futurology within a theoretical framework: that of design. But, this is not a study of the future of design, though that is one logical path I could take. Importantly, for me it is not an investigation into possible future aesthetics to inform m own work, but a theoretical and conceptual base upon which to express my own aesthetic. A fine distinction I should break down more later.

Artifacts that position themselves as insurance against unknown futures:

Clock of the Long Now (10,000 year clock)

The Friars Astrological Clock, from the Clock Museum in Vienna.

The Rosetta Disk, part of the Rosetta Project nickel alloy disk with 1000 languages micro-inscribed. Inspired by the Rosetta Stone, as was my own design from 2003; "Trinumeric Dice", below, featured numbers in 3 languages: indo-arabic, mayan, and binary.

The Long Bet Project

World's slowest, longest concert: a long running music composition by John Cage in Halberstat Germany (Sankt-Burchardi-Church). There is a note change on November 2008

Jens Olsen's World Clock or Verdensur

Thesis Topics: a list of ideas

2008-09-24T15:22:00.000-07:00

Conceptual Design and Futurology, to be discussed here.

The Psychology of Collecting, as introduced via slideshow on the first day of school.

Design and Scale, as posted.

Digital Locality, ..in a world where creators connect online and cultures form across geographic borders, how can we assess locality of culture? How does digital freedom of movement affect our relationship to physical geographical movement and what are the consequences for society and the environment?

Temporary Definitions of Design: 1

2008-09-24T15:16:00.000-07:00

September 2008

Design is about achieving beautiful and useful synthesis. Nothing is created from out of thin air, it is a product of all that came before it - the combination of influences, skills, knowledge and art into a new formulation that serves a humanitarian purpose well is the highest ideal to which design can aspire.

after reading Enzo Mari, though not a quote or paraphase.

Thesis Topic Proposal : Design and Scale

2008-09-24T09:44:00.000-07:00

All object designers must at some point consider scale.

Scale is important both internally within an object and externally to its location and surrounding architecture.

Scale often exists in measurements and parameters that are based in old systems or technology, such as measurements such as the yard (distance of an old English King's arm). Even newer and logically astute measurements systems force a rigidity onto design due to the acceptability of "round" numbers. What furniture designer works in fractions of a millimetre? This can be called the "grain" of a measurement systems.

In a purely digital environment, and increasingly in computer controlled manufacturing, these kinds of limitations are redundant.... models can be scaled, shrunk and enlarged at will. But to what extend do the internal proportions of an object need to adapt to fit the external environment or function? Font designers have known this for sometime, that serifs need to be thickened to improve readability at small sizes, and refined for large sizes. But can such techniques be applied to objects?

What extent to designers consider variations and perceptions of scale in nature as inspiration?

How can the perception of detail changing over distance be exploited for dramatic effect?

Images:
Dolls House Cup (Design by Scale) by Frontdesign
Garamond in different sizes by Adobe
Tropical zoanthid coral, Okinawa, seen from 5 different distances, photography by Guy Keulemans.