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.