The ocular defined as perceived by the eye, and the Zwischenraum being the interstice of the in-between, is being defined with a sense of Freud’s uncanniness and Foucault’s heterotopian principles. The journey which started in the streets of Soho, London, culminated at the stretch of Berwick Street, Walkers’ Court and Rupert Street. The whole taboo associated with loitering around sex shops making your intentions unclear or questioned causes people to move away from the location of Walkers’ Court as fast as possible. The turning point at the early stages was the identification of the overlapping of activities/environments which were contrasting and generating a sense of the unhomely. These during later studies could be compared to that of an orange peel. At the early stages of this report, a purpose that arose was to control the movement of people in this stretch, and giving them a homely feel during the journey.
Parallel to this observation and study, painting of George Melly by Maggi Hambling as a project within a project proved to be a door opener into various other interpretations and ideas. The life of George Melly as a ‘Surrealist Flâneur’ and Maggi Hambling’s painting technique using vibrant colours and sharp brush strokes were meticulously observed. This led to the theory that a mask was drawn up by the artist, to depict the lifestyle and character of Melly.
Similarly a thought arose of the possibility of a mask on Walkers’ Court and the existence of the space between the mask and the object behind it – the interstitial or Zwischenraum was born. In order to make the Zwischenraum visible to the naked eye, several experiments were done. Comparing the interstitial to the missing links between the disjoint scenes of a movie trailer, breaking up the street stretch into components using broken mirror reflections etc. These exercises were done to clarify the ‘ocular’ aspect of the project.
From the works of Gordon Matta-Clark and Doris Salcedo, new definitions for the ocular interstice were arrived at. For the visualisation of the same, it became imperative to first locate the crack or crevice in the city itself, namely, Walkers’ Court and the need for the materials to be sourced from the street itself.
The architectural proposition of the project was further developed into an installation using the site of Walkers’ Court as the base or the crevice, and materials sourced from the site as the building blocks, to fill the void of the space itself. While the works of Matta-Clark and Doris Salcedo paved way for the methods to be used, there were certain theories that needed to be employed to fully experience the ocular Zwischenraum.
The type of heterotopia that the project attempts to create is similar to the heterotopia of time, but with a slight twist. Taking into account the space used to fill, and the fact that the constituent materials make it ephemeral, it forms more of a heterotopia of space. Since Freud defines the uncanny as becoming de familiarised and de realised, the aspect is evident only when it is transplanted into a new unfamiliar turf. The material library here would still create a nostalgic effect, for the simple reason it is reminiscent of the origin.
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