Monday, December 15, 2008

Architectural montage art

A while back I posted an image of what I assume was an art installation beside a freeway on the way to the coast. It is a picture of a hotel that makes you double-take when you realise that it is undersized, too small to actually be a functioning hotel.

A friend mentioned that the image reminded him of the work of Belgian photographer Filip Dujardin.

The website Design Boom shows work he calls architectural montage art. They explain that...
"using photographs of a verity of building typologies, Dujardin laces them together to create non-existent, often impossible buildings. The building montages begin with a model in cardboard or computer model and then Dujardin seeks out suitable buildings. The results look like architecture gone wild, bizarre buildings from the past or futuristic creations by contemporary architects."

I really like these montages. I like the questions they raise about the external aesthetics of man made structures. But they also make you consider the manipulation of internal spaces. I wonder what it would be like to wander inside those buildings. Claustrophobic, confusing? Maybe exciting and intriguing? Possibly even comforting. I imagine it depends on the outside environment and whether it is something you want to escape from or escape to.

When I create vessels I am as aware of the space around the form as I am of the form itself. A vessel is, by definition, an object created for the purpose of containing something, so of course it's internal space is important. But I feel it's more than that. It's as if the materiality of an object gives the space around it meaning.

I have avoided closed forms for quite some time now. (The olive container was a challenge!) Not because I don't like making lids but because I feel intimidated by the presence of enclosed space.

I'm not quite sure what to make of this but it is definitely an area I want to explore soon.

1 comment:

Wen said...

It's interesting isn't it, that you and I can see space from a completely different perspective....or do we?
Perhaps you enjoy the tension that is created between the outside and the inside and I enjoy the tension between the inside and the outside!
And you're absolutely right, it does deserve further exploration.