Frederick Kiesler and Marcel Duchamp
Kiesler (1890-1965) was an architect, artist and theatre designer. He believed that 'art had the ability to balance' (or modulate) 'the technological, natural and human environments.' That 'art' (or architecture) 'could point out current imbalances and suggest solutions' to these imbalances. He was intrigued by the window and used its qualities in his design of sets, architecture and storefront windows.
 |
| Kielser's Triptych from: http://www.kiesler.org/cms/index.php?lang=3&idcat=42 |
'The storefront window is a silent loudspeaker.'
Kiesler saw 'reflective glass as a catalyst for a relationship between viewer and object.' That this 'borderless space' could 'dissolve the barrier and artificial duality of vision, reality, image and environment.' The properties of reflective glass give 'an illusion of a three dimensional world on a two dimensional plane' and implicate the viewer directly into the scene behind the glass. Glass, as both 'a surface and a space' is an enclosure that divides and links at the same time. This 'gateway' relies on the presence of the viewer.
Marcel Duchamp shared similar beliefs on the properties of glass as he worked with the material in many of his pieces. The Large Glass, a large painting / sculpture, is built onto glass and is often photographed with the space behind the work showing through. Duchamp thought in analogues. Projecting the third dimension onto a two dimensional surface was likened to a four dimensional object being projected onto a three dimensional object.
 |
| Bride Stripped bare by her Bachelors, Even or The Large Glass, 1915-23 from: http://www.dpcdsb.org/IONAS/Courses/Visual+Arts+Gr+12.htm |
The content of The Large Glass deals with four dimensional geometries, mechanomorphic beings and sexual and translational overtones.
In a similar vein, I propose (very early, very rough proposition) two similar machines, to be mounted on opposite sides of a window pane. Using temperature as a generator of electricity, one machine will produce vibrations, the other will translate those vibrations to sound. This configuration implicates the viewer, speaks to the collapse of space (via temperature) onto a two dimensional pane and also uses the thickness of this two dimensional plane as a transmitting medium. Because these machines use temperature difference as a generating force, it also calls to imbalances in the environment.
All text in quotations is from
http://www.heyotwell.com/work/arthistory/thesis/chapter4.html
'
No comments:
Post a Comment