Lily Drolsum :

A passageway of traces. Traces of shadows and conversations.

“They walk - an elementary form of this experience of the city; they are walkers, Wandersmänner, whose bodies follow the thicks and thins of an urban “text” they write without being able to read it.”  - Michel de Certeau

Exploring the spatial relationship between our body and its reflections

“In the mirror, I see myself there where I am not, in an unreal, virtual space that opens up behind the surface; I am over there, there where I am not, a sort of shadow that gives my own visibility to myself, that enables me to see myself there where I am absent: such is the utopia of the mirror.”  - Michel Foucault

A study on liminal spaces. An unedited photo; superimposed spaces of places.

“The mirror (the in-between) functions as a heterotopia…: it makes this place that I occupy at the moment when I look at myself in the glass at once absolutely real, connected with all the space that surrounds it, and absolutely unreal, since in order to be perceived it has to pas through this virtual point which is over there.”  - Michel Foucault

light / body / surface ; a confirmation of corporeal occurrence, an extension of our materiality and spatial participancy.

“Like the casual view, the body must be considered active in the production and transformation of the city. But bodies and cities are not casually linked. Every cause must be logically distinct from its effect. The body, however, is not distinct from the city for they are mutually defining, like body and the city.”  - Elizabeth Grosz

Experimenting with the shadow as our body’s extension in layers of time.

“I am not in space and time, nor do I conceive space and time; I belong to them, my body combines with them and includes them.”  - Merleau Ponty

The effect our bodies have to transform or alter the visual appearance of a surface is a spatial event - confined by our corporeal performance. The locus of our Spatial // Corporeality is extended through the practice of engagement and interaction.

This project has developed through researching the spatial practice of the human body and studying the significance of our corporeal traces and impact on our surrounding built environment. The focal point has been to study projections, such as shadows and reflections, and the way we practice space through these extensions of our body.

- Diagram under development during design research

THE INSTALLATION PIECE

An idea was developed about an installation that would act as a live and interactive corporeal event. The focus was to be on the performer and the spatial event created by their bodies being involved in the piece. In this way the concept of an actor-network becomes more visible and attention is given to each element of the experience. The final concept remains as previously studied; one that explores the spatial relationships between our body and the built environment as a spatial corporeal event confined by the elements participating in the spatial actor-network.

The final installation consists of two facing canvas screens , two panes of one-way mirrored glass, two projectors, a computer and a video camera. The technology used in the piece is fairly complex and very detailed, yet the piece itself is simple and easily understood in its completeness. It is the viewer’s presence and engagement with the piece that is of the only importance and it is therefore not necessary to understand the technical details of equipment in order to experience the event within the installation to its fullest.

- Plan diagram showing the concept of a bodily extension through projection in the final installation

Whenever a person is positioned within the installation they will face on one side a screen with their shadow and a digital render of their performance. On the opposite side are the two panes of one-way mirrored glass, both slightly angled. The glass allows us to see our reflection; another of our corporeal extensions. They can be experienced individually or together, depending on where the viewer/performer stands determines whether their body is extended as a singular or multiple trajectory using one or both of the glass mirrors.

- Sketch of final installation set up

The composition is open and free from floor fixtures and obstacles to suggest to the viewer to be involved in the installation. A projector acts as a light source to cast a shadow of the performer onto the first screen. Behind is a camera and a computer that records and edits the image of the shadow, which is sent to the projector. The new image in front of the participant displays an outline of the shadow recorded which is consequently viewed as enlarged because of the projector’s position. The new image sends out lines from our centre point to the boundaries of the screen. As soon as there is an interaction with a performer the computer reacts by displaying the lines in a broad trajectory. The more movement there is in front of the screen, the more lines will appear. The lines on the screen will eventually start to react to its own image and become chaotic, although, when the performer moves out of the image the lines will gradually disappear.

Behind the one-way mirrored glass is a second screen showing a projection of the animation Domestic Corporeality. It displays the animation as a simplified and edited recording of a domestic occurrence. The outlined drawing of the space is minimalistic and the focus is given to the person and the activity taking place. At the same time there is an attempt to enhance the present elements within the performer’s actor-network, firstly by illustrating the light sources of the space and their projecting volume of light affecting the person, but also by extruding lines from the physical body onto the surface which would be affected by their projection. The animation is a visual interpretation of an extended corporeality, displaying the volumes and traces of a spatial event. The animation is a representation of what is happening with the participant on the other side of the screen and reflects a similar corporeal phenomena.

- Fragment of still-frame animation

PERFORMATIVE EVENT

Spatial // Corporeality is expressed through the notion of an inclusive environment of body, time and space (open and materialized), where the spatial aspects of ones own body is explored and evaluated. The viewer of the piece has the opportunity to experience the inclusion of their body and the various effects they have on the surrounding surfaces. One has the shadow on one side, a reflection on the other, and a related representation on the next. In this way the composition of the work allows a multitude of corporeal projections and extensions, leaving our body as a playful yet vital element of the performative event.

Another feature the piece brings to the performer is the differentiating layers of time. The interaction that takes place with the first screen and the recording is live and instant. It is unique to the performer and it leaves no traces of its temporality. The next layer is the mirrored glass, where we are presented with the opportunity of observing all layers simultaneously. This also suggests that the spatial aspects of our corporeality become the most extensive within this layer. Our projections are viewed in the reflections in front of us, in the shadow that is behind us, as well as the image of ourselves superimposed on to the animation behind the glass.

The following layer is the animated screen which displays a previously occurred event with a relocation of site. The recording has made the enactment a permanent yet it is disabled from the present, and can only be observed as a trace of the past. Furthermore, it can also be interpreted as a visualization and representation of the current event that is carried out by the viewer/performer.

Lastly, the most significant element in the installation is the performer themselves, with the ability of perceiving, experiencing and engaging with the piece, the concept of the piece comes forward through their interaction. When the performer is positioned between the screens they have the opportunity to view the layers separately or as overlapping interfaces of a combined experience. They are given the authority to control the event, as without them there is none.

- Images from the installation at the exhibition opening night

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This project was submitted as my major project for my MA in ‘Spatial Practices; Art, Architecture & Performance’ and exhibited at UCA Canterbury in September ‘09

We design and we build our habitats according to our needs within the structure of the human body anatomy and ergonomics. The users of our cities and our homes become the most significant interior of our built environment. The human body creates spaces by the performance of leaving traces of corporeal interiority.

images from trace-research:

This project identifies the interior-loci as trace.space, consisting of visual representations and a potential design application. The design is an interactive wall structure that traces the kinetic performance of our bodies whilst we pass through space, allowing us to engage with and understand the significance of our personal corporeal interior.

images from model of design proposal:

‘Their story begins on ground level, with footsteps. They are myriad, but do not compose a series. They cannot be counted because each unit has a qualitative character: a style of tactile apprehension and kinesthetic appropriation. Their swarming mass is an innumerable collection of singularities. Their intertwined paths give their shape to spaces. They weave places together. In that respect, pedestrian movement form one of these “real systems whose existence in fact makes up the city”. They are not localized; it is rather they that spatialize.‘

- Michel de Certeau

final images of trace.space:

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This project was submitted as my major project for my BA in ‘Interior Architecture & Design’ as a response to the brief ‘interior-loci’.

The project was also part of the Free Range student exhibition in London 2009.