This is my final project proposal. It is more like essey so you can find that my inspirations comes from different sources.
I am still upgrading when I find new ways of developing my ideas including inspirations which I find in cinema (matte painting+special effects),architecture, museums…
Last few months were demanding for me especially that I developed absolutly new project proposal compering to comercially orientated one you can read in my first blog.
For starting I decided to develop idea of unfinished spaces into my powerbook titanium which I want recreate as unfinished object.
So probably on a final show you can also see my powerbook covered by real wood. It can be part of my final show presenting process of creating living bridges from sketches, photographs, retouching and 3D objects creation.
Working title: Unfinished spaces
Aims
Unfinished spaces is a working title for a series of compositions where the main research questions will be: What we could change around us?
How computers change the real world?
How we can visualize objects/urban links of the near future?
I would like to explore mainly the impact which computers have on new ways of seeing objects.
The project will be composed using 2 main creative methods:
recreation – composing, multiplying objects in a new contexts,
creation – creating new objects in 3D programs.
I am interested in the idea of seeing a picture of the future today and how our imagination and computer can help us in the visualization of ideas. (da Vinci – created the idea of plane long before it was possible to make it technically.)
World around us is permanently changing. Right now I am in London, a city that is a mixture of not only different styles in time but cultures as well.
The city of London has one thing which always was here – the Thames River.
The Roman town Londinium was created near the river because of ease of transport. The river was not only an advantage but also a barrier. Romans were the first to create a wooden bridge across the Thames River that was subsequently rebuilt uncountable times. This Old London Bridge was the only one to exist in London until 1739.
The London Bridge is for me the symbol of an unfinished object, the full story of which has never been written. From at least the 11th century till the 18th century it was not only used as a transport road but also as a market place and the home of many people. The idea of a living bridge seems for me very interesting especially that it was abandoned for a while but not forgotten.
I am interested in developing creatively existing city landscapes (buildings, roads, cars, parks etc.) especially those where gravity is questioned. This idea can include such objects like e.g. the electromagnetic train which moves upon earth’s surface, simply floating above the ground. By using electromagnetic energy we could create new reality, for example we could shape the water flowing out of fountains to obtain curves and other forms seeming up to now impossible, born in wonderlands.
But still I wouldn’t like my work to be too technical, too far from real objects; I prefer when the viewers have the feeling of floating between past, present and future when they look at my works.
The series of works will help to see the impact of time over objects, especially that the changes are sometimes so slow that we even don’t notice them.
Objectives
Showing the tension between 3 D (future) and reality (past and present).
In my work I would like to focus on the idea of recreation of city landscapes.
The computer with software is helping me right now to visualize ideas, dreams. Up to now I have been working only with Photoshop, which is a tool to visualize ideas based on existing objects.
With Virtual reality programs (like 3d studio max, Maya etc) we can create a picture of objects existing only in our imagination.
One of successful projects already realised with the help of CAD (Computer Aided Design) – a 3D program adopted for architects and constructors needs – was a very complicated and huge project of covering the British Museum with a glass roof where none of thousands of glass triangles is the same as another. Without computer it would be impossible to design the shape and size of each glass element is such a way.
The realisation of the created object/artwork has not been finished yet. Sometimes ideas like Yona Friedman proposal for a bridge for Paris were not realised right away but inspired many other architects, and one of them built a similar construction 20 years later (building across the railway air rights). In this case some of the ideas of Friedman were realised without using computer in simpler versions. But right now we can visualise even the most complicated forms, which existed before only on sketch or in the imagination of the artist.
In 1996 in London took place a limited competition of 7 leading architects/visionaries for creating a living bridge near South Bank (close to London Eye, then not yet existing). None of the projects were yet realised.
In one of my works I would like to create a bridge which would be combining several functions – garden, skate park, restaurants, shops, apartments and many other uses. I think that right now it is good time to come back to the idea of a living bridge because London really needs a strong vivid connecting point between its two riverbanks.
Rationale
In my work I want to focus on pictures – digital high resolution photographs of London city and my picture library (from different countries), especially when I want to show the stages of development and changes of the CITY.
In my project I would like to show the past, present and future of mostly city landscapes.
London has been for many centuries the center for distribution of goods. London docks were developing and extending till beginning of the 20th century. In the 19th century there were kept the most relevant new basin works to meet the expectations and need of the industrial society. In the middle of the 20th century docks were mostly unused and waiting for rebirth.
Canary Wharf was one of the main distribution centers. For the whole 19th century it was a vivid place where you could feel tastes and scents from around the world. But once colonies started to get independence from Great Britain the docklands slowed down and in the seventies they were mostly abandoned. It is hard to imagine how the Isle of Dogs looked like in London in the past. This place has had a period of so extensive construction and renovation works that to imagine how it looked just 20 years ago we have to go to some other dockland areas which still await to be modernised.
Huge improvements sometimes are launched by a cataclysm – flood, fire, war.
This was the case of London rebuilt after the 1666 fire, which destroyed most of the city (about 75% of buildings were burned). It was the ideal time for such a visionary as Wren who designed the New St Paul Cathedral (among almost 50 other churches) after the old gothic one was destroyed.
Flooding and icing were especially dangerous for bridge constructions. If a bridge wasn’t destroyed by an unexpected event it would be difficult to find an excuse for important changes.
Right now I think is even harder to make changes in places like city centers.
The second world war was much less destructive for London city landscape comparing to the 1666 fire but also cleared some spaces where new ideas developed. When the Festival of Arts was held in 1951 it gave strong impulse and green light for changes and modern architecture.
Now we can have of course mixed feelings about what was created but it was a real revolution after the very long reign of Victorian and post-Victorian architecture.
Outcomes
First of all, a final show that will be presenting my vision of changes around us.
Some of my ideas are more surreal but still have some connections with real life.
Here are a few examples of works which I would like to develop and show at the final show.
In one of my works I would like to use a liner ship (about 200 meters long – as the one reaching Tower Bridge – Crystal Symphony). I would like to put it across the river on probably four stands inside which will be also moving stairs to access the platform/museum/restaurant etc. from different directions. (Looking a little bit like the moving City of Ron Harren’69 / Archigram)
The liners are created as independent “cities” so inside you can find everything to enjoy living in the city – theaters, cinemas, shops, swimming pools, and gardens on the top desk.
This would be a smaller copy of Titanic or another museum ship. But maybe it will be constructed from the beginning as new building using lighter materials.
But maybe it will be only a photocomposition with the help of 3D visualisation.
While making the sketches artists shouldn’t always think about utility. Maybe some of those ideas will be used in future, maybe they will inspire later on. It was like that in case of Archigram architecture group, which created in the sixties, still inspires new generations of architects and artists.
In my past work I found many inspirations from surreal painting, especially once from Magritte, Chirico, Delvoux, Man Ray and others. The idea of using a free mind, unconscious of limitations of our daily lifes opens our way of thinking and creating interesting objects. Maybe some of them will be without academic explanations.
Giorgio de Chirico metaphysical period seems especially inspiring for me while most stories are told in cityscapes and the past (old classical buildings) and the present (train) are crossing by.
Man Ray once looking at racing bicycles saw like in reflection glasses in shapes from bicycle tires. This inspired me to recreate the London Eye into a bicycle of old kind (with one smaller wheel) where the adjustable/routable sit will be above the wheels creating an ideal platform for seeing London. The transport inside the wheel will be through high-speed elevator giving speed access to the desk which could be also a restaurant (like in Brussels’s Atomium).
When looking at objects we sometimes can see a new meaning.
When visiting Victoria and Albert museum I found really interesting Bass Viol instrument from 1700. On the end of the hand of the instrument there is a detailed shapes face. It reminds me the old ship faces so I decided to find a new use for this object – a ship that will float on sea. I want to use other parts of this instrument to create the deck and ship body. But I don’t have to do too many changes. It is just enough to look at this object from different perspective.
Final works will be shown as series of artworks which will visualise my ideas.
I will decide how I will hang my works when I will have ready the final pieces.
Many of my artworks will have reference to the Thames river so probably it would help me to find connecting points between them.
Final work must have the high-end finishing quality so the viewer has the feeling of seeing the real world (past, future, present).
In some cases I would like to show the idea of an object without too much concern on details. I can achieve this by using my experience in photography and photocomposing – strong back light, fog etc.
When finishing this project, I plan to be able to demonstrate:
an ability to research in an appropriate way according to the context and cultural background of my subject
practical skills in computer programming, especially in combining 3D with 2D (photographic + retouched)
practical way of managing project
Media
Hardware: Apple Macintosh G4 + G5
Software: Photoshop, 3 D Studio Max and Cinema 4D
Methodologies
For this project before starting to create the final pieces will be helpful to see models of living bridges exhibition if possible.
In this way I can see how ideas were transformed from sketches to models (real 3 D models).
I also would like to contact with architects involved in the Living Bridges competition to see their way of creating objects, especially processes involved in developing of ideas.
I would like to cooperate while creating my 3D models with a professional 3D visualiser working for an architect group in Warsaw, Poland. ( I can upgrade my knowledge about 3D programs in the meantime).
Risk assessment
No specific risk assessment.
I will just install my works on walls. They will be (as I know right now) printed and framed without glass so I will just ensure that they are well attached to wall surface.
Timetable
2007
January – February :
researching, contacting with architects involved in the Living Bridge competition and with Archigram architects and visionaries.
Developing my technical skills in 3D studio max.
March:
starting to take pictures needed as background
choosing the sketches which I would like to realise
April- May:
building 3 D objects and photocomposing + retouching with photographs
June:
preparing about 8-10 final artworks which will be presented as series.
Bibliography
Lev Manovich „The Language of New Media” (Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 2001)
Peter Lunenfeld „The digital dialectic” (Massachusetts Institute of Technology,1999)
Bob Cotton & Richard Olivier „Understanding hypermedia – from multimedia to virtual reality” (Phaidon Press Ltd, 1993)
John Vince „Introduction to Virtual Reality” (Springer- Verlag , 2004)
Cynthia Goodman „Digital visions” (Harry N.Abrams, 1987)
Marc Giambruno „ 3D graphics and animation” (New Riders Publishing, 1997)
Jerry Uelsmann „Photosynthesis” (University Press of Florida, 1993)
Michael Robinson „ Surrealism” (Flame Tree Publishing, 2005)
Ulrich Conrads & Hand G.Sperlich „Fantastic Architecture” (The Architectural Press, London, 1963)
Christophe Canto & Odile Faliu „ The history of the future” (Flammarion, 1993)
Marianne Butler „ London architecture” (Metro Publications, 2006)
Peter Murray & Mary Anne Stevens „Living bridges – the inhabited bridge, past, present and future” (Prestel – Verlag, 1996)
Simon Sadle „Archigram – architecture without architecture” (Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 2005)
Dennis Crompton „Concerning Archigram” (Archigram Archives, 1998)
