Contexualising my work (and all that jazz...)

I was discussing my blankness/silence idea with a few other MA students today, someone suggested I should visit Berlin for research...(I wish!). Apparently there's a room in the Jewish Museum there, which is completely empty, it's concrete and about 20 metres high. There's a hole in the ceiling so that the smallest ray of light cascades through. He said that when you enter the room, you feel as if you can't/shouldn't speak...it's strange what the architecture of a room and the use of it's space can do. Although totally the point I guess, i imagine it would be quite a poignant thing to experience. Just looking at images of it online I get a sense of sadness. From what I can gather, (well from a quick search on the internet, not bad for 10 minutes!), it's called the Room of Exile. It sounds incredibly eerie and the name itself suggests some kind of impending doom! It only has one door and one ladder mid-wall extending to the ceiling. This portion of the museum seems to be using architecture to convey feelings of absolute isolation and despair. I know from this description that it would terrify me, given my irrational fear of silence and nothingess! Here's a quote I found about it: "The room was cold and dark with only a sliver of light cascading down from the ceiling"

Here are some images of it...as you can see it's quite intimidating/forboding! These images really fill me with uneasiness.







Luckily it's not all been doom and gloom...I've also been reading these past few days, (mainly because I have reached a bit of a dead end with my practical work, although this is beside the point!) I found a particularly helpful essay by Maria Fusco entitled; The World Tomorrow - The Future of Books

It's opening quote, fits in entirely with my art;

"Books are not made for furniture, but there is nothing else that so beautifully furnishes a house"
Henry Ward Beecher

In this article I found a collaborative piece of design called Juxtaposed: Religion by Mike and Maaike who are part of the online design company blankblank (what a coincidence eh!? BLANK! hehe!)

This company is based on collaborative relationships involving designers, vendors and clients. "Beyond the artful interplay between materials, color, objects and spaces, we are constantly striving to enrich the relationships we foster"

Mike and Maaike's piece brings together religious texts and presents them on the same level, in theory yet also aesthetically. A very interesting yet ingenious bit of design work there I think! The subheading for the piece also adds to it's overall message of bringing different people and religions together as one;

5.084.000.000 people; 5360 pages; 3700 years; 243 countries; 7 books; 1 shelf







This piece is simple, bold and does what it sets out to, as well as being functional. it gives the client the possibility of possessing something which works not only as a stylish, flawless design piece which would work as a talking point in their home but also as a work of art. It combines both art and design with functionality. I absolutely love it. I have been toying with the idea of a shelf made of books. However my design idea is to have them so they look as if they are suspended in the air against the wall. The spines will be level only at the top, so as other books can be placed on top - like a bookshelf obviously! I will try and upload some rough sketches of it soon...once I find my damn camera!

Anyway after seeing Mike and Maaike's work, I have found new enthusiasm for developing this piece and I especially want to think about which books I might choose to use. Perhaps I could play around with humour, much like the work of Jim Rosenau. Who is Jim Rosenau I hear you say? Well, way back in December, I came across his work and mentioned him in one of my blog entries. Here's an image of one of his book shelves (each one is designed with humour in mind but he also makes custom orders on request). His website.



I love the use of humour in his work. Without the whisk and the carefully chosen titles I think his idea would still work incredibly well. But it just adds another dimension, it's playful and combines an art object with a functional domestic use. I will definitely keep this formula in mind when approaching my own work. After all, I try to keep it playful and lighthearted anyway! I'm pleased this post has gone from uneasiness and gloom to playful and lighthearted! I think I'll focus on this side of the coin for now!