REFERENCE: Immersing Body & Mind

The TV documentary 'What makes a masterpiece?' (2012) courtesy of Channel 4, features James Turrell's immersive installations as a play between science and art, powering between experience and aesthetics.

 

"His work is often described as explorations in light and space. The artist calls his work 'adventures in perception' and I can't help thinking this is a take on the brave new world of neuro-aesthetics, which studies the impact of art on the brain. By flooding the senses with otherworldly flushes of light, Turrell is creating something of a new reality, born of a fusion of the two disciplines of art and science. In Turrell's case, beauty isn't so much in the eye of the beholder but the brain." -Matthew Cain

With new technology and developing art practices that now frequently combine the two, it is becoming difficult in defining what exactly affects us when we encounter art. Whether there is some key element that engages the viewer's attention, or whether it is the joy of surprise and the new. James Turrell's installations don't only overload the senses with his extreme colour and light, but they seem to transport the viewer to a psychological state, an alternate reality of escape.

REVIEW: [1:1 Architects Build Small Spaces] @ V&A, London

For an exhibition, nineteen architects were invited to submit a concept design for buildings informed by ideas of retreat and refuge, these were all designed in mind to be small in scale.

"the power that architecture has to silence all external noise, to focus attention on ones very own existence, away from everyday life and in the present moment, and to initiate a private dialogue with the space around us."

Ark (2010) by Rintala Eggertsson

Ark (2010) Rintala Eggertsson

In-Between Architecture (2010) by Studio Mumbai

Woodshed (2010) by Rural Studio

"Pallasmaa has expressed his concern that architecture has lost its connection with the body, that is has lost its potential for tactility and sensuous curiosity," and "Steven Holl indicated that in a world cluttered with a chaos of visual information we have developed a numbness in relation to the space around us, becoming increasingly passive in the way we read, interpret and consume our architecture."

"...the idea is to leave domestic surroundings and your everyday thoughts behind and enter a space that puts you into a state of wonder. Its a retreat, but unlike introverted contemplation, these spaces force you to interact with your surroundings. When entering, reality gradually transforms; things are not necessarily as they appear. The idea is to create a dreamlike atmosphere, where the borders between reality and illusion are blurred."

"we hope the visitor will experience a balanced joy -using body and mind to travel to unknown spaces."

Everything these architects have been discussing has a direct parallel in my work. I want people to be able to engage with spaces with a new sense of wonder and curiosity, to let their body and minds interact and immerse fully in the space around them and to forget the rest of reality.