the space of the exhibition

the projection

photographs of the projection

close up photograph of the projection

The microvoids book

The second layer.

I come up with the idea of using close-up photographs in an effort to micro-investigate my surrounding environment and manage to work with the notion of void simplified. Details hide a weird dynamic; complexity is translated in two dimensions and then becomes more digestible to the eye. In close ups local identities of the place are lost and what remains is the object photographed itself, in effect there is no surrounding to influence our vision. Moreover, in close ups we recognize objects of our everyday life (unperceived details), forms rather than objects; we do not get but the essence and in that way we can easier locate ourselves.

“By close-ups of the things around us, by focusing on hidden details of familiar objects, by exploring commonplace milieus under the ingenious guidance of the camera, the film, on the one hand, extends our comprehension of the necessities which rule our lives; on the other hand, it manages to assure us of an immense and unexpected field of action […] With the close-up, space expands; with slow motion, movement is extended [...] An unconsciously penetrated space is substituted for a space consciously explored by man [...] The camera introduces us to unconscious optics as does psychoanalysis to unconscious impulses”.
Roemer van Toorn, (1997). Architecture Against Architecture, Radical Criticism Within Supermodernity, Retrieved from URL http://www.ctheory.net/articles.aspx?id=94, Viewed 20/12/2006

The urban voids book

The first layer.
“To look at what you wouldn’t look at, to hear what you wouldn’t listen to, to be attentive to the banal, to the ordinary, to the infra-ordinary. To deny the ideal hierarchy of the crucial and the incidental, because there is no incidental, only dominant cultures that exile us from ourselves and others, a loss of meaning which is for us not only a siesta of consciousness but also a decline in existence” Virilio Paul, (1980), The Aesthetics of Disappearance

It traces the first layer of the notion of void. I consider it a straight forward presentation of my research. With this selection of photographs I tried to capture social, cultural and spatial details of the city and present a tapestry of void.

The photo-books

microVOIDS and urbanVOIDS

The books may be viewed both as a narrative and as an experience; both as space of reflection and emergence. As Actar Architectura (Guayabero Oscar et al, 2003) placed it ‘the objects around us can be effective elements of information, communication, reflection and criticism”. They try to bring together both the idea of void and use its physicality [form] as a mode of navigation. Through the books void is translated while simultaneously it inscribes itself in the physicality of the book. Specifically, it adopts the outer visible characteristics of the book itself and via versa; in that way it becomes both the earth and the mother -reflects and generates (Βασίλης Κάλφας,, 2000). Through their design I tried to present not only the qualities of void but also qualities of the process of making; the autonomous process of creation. The readers will find out what these books are about as they go along. Finding out is part of the process. Reading becomes an experience.

Their content was based on the findings of my research. The use of images and short text had as initial goal to bring the viewer in frond of ‘familiar’ contents. The avoidance of abstract images and extensive text was intentional as I did not want to infuse the work with abstract ideas and notions, neither to attribute to them a clinical feel but rather I chose to place it between familiar and digestible ideas and spaces. I tried to keep the content as simple as possible.

Ideally the books would have no order to them and the reader would have to discover his own. Accordingly to void which has no pre-designed order in the spatial terrain, new spaces inside the book emerge through the missing parts of the pages that intersect each other; new images are created. Just as void is a fluxionary space–in the state of creation- similarly the books emerge both spatially [physically] and mentally [new notions and functions of void are instigated through reading]. The experience of reading goes beyond the rhetoric to visually explore the potential, to trace the creation mode, to define and create new communication experiences.

I used the holes both as a metaphor and as a physical element of the book because just as urban voids can be the place of self expression and of variable possibilities likewise holes work as a sign that will guide the eye for personal understandings and findings. “We do not need always to spell out the point of the message; […] we can leave openings which can be completed in a variety of ways, allowing a freer rein to ‘extra-coding’ through which the receiver combines different elements to produce tentative or novel meanings”. (Morgan John, Welton Peter, 1986). An initial structure of the ‘void patterns’ was essential though, as there should be an inner code. The holes trace my routes in the city from where I took the photographs. I chose three areas of London for the action: Camberwell (SE5), St. Johns Wood (NW8), and Tower Hill (EC3). I chose these three areas as I wanted to map the physicality of voids of completely different places regarding the use of the place, its everyday dynamics, its structure and architecture.
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1. Guayabero Oscar, Lorente David, Mus Pons Roseta, Santacana Amadeu, (2003). Crossed lines, New Territories of Design. Barcelona: Editions de l’Any del Disseny (FAD) and ACTAR
2. Morgan John, Welton Peter, (1986). See what I mean: an introduction to Visual Communication, London, Edward Arnold.
3. Βασίλης Κάλφας, (εισαγωγή, μετάφραση, σχόλια), (εκδ. 2000). Πλάτων Τιμαίος. Αθήνα: εκδόσεις Πόλις.

the void line

I used the metaphor of line in order to visually communicate void as a linking element which depicts the route in the city. I used photographs of both categories (microvoids, urban voids) as the walk in the city focus also in variety and calls for variable understandings. [Initially I tried to create two different routes but soon I realised that the final line was ‘boring’ graphically, I thought that this would reflect also to the quality of the route; we need both micro and macro in our everyday life. As soon as I started using photographs from both groups the line obtained interest].

The line both literal [the physical line] and figurative: a path which leads into and away from the city, a destination –on the state of creation- between destinations, but also an almost invisible and fragile strain; acquires our attention also affords further weaving and challenges new routes. There is neither beginning nor end; hence the line itself can be understood as a node, as the territory and route of personal reflections.

The key words [list]

in a continuous state-of-formation

the left over/ residual land

organic/ vital

non places

emergence

the in between

MARGINS

creative reflections/ self expression

open systems

potentiality

NO USE

urban gap/ empty space

URBAN VOIDS

MICRO VOIDS