Thursday Posting: Artist's for Panel Review

For the panel review I am meeting with Page Bond, Julie Sanders, and Robert Hobbs.  Page Bond is the owner of Page Bond Gallery. The history of the gallery is found on the website, stating:  

"The Page Bond Gallery, first established in 1999 as the New Gallery in Nantucket, Massachusetts, relocated to Richmond, Virginia in 2001.  Featuring contemporary art in a wide variety of media and disciplines including painting, printmaking, photography, sculpture, and ceramics, the gallery acts as a showcase for the work of emerging as well as established artists with local, national, and international reputations. "

The second person I am meeting with is Julie Sanders from the Martin Agency, who is the senior art producer.  The Martin Agency is is a renowned advertising firm, ranking #3 in the U.S, and represents companies such as Geico, Hanes, Walmart, and Seiko, to name a few. 

The third person I will be meeting with is Robert Hobbs, a professor at VCU who holds the Rhoda Thalhimer Endowed Chair.  His website states:

Recognized as both an academic and a museum curator, Hobbs specializes in both late modern and post-modern art. His work joins social history with literary criticism, aesthetics, and feminist and postcolonial theory. He has published widely and has curated dozens of exhibitions, many of which have been shown at important institutions in the U.S. and abroad. His specific research areas span the twentieth- and twentieth-first centuries, and his publications include monographs on Milton Avery, Alice Aycock, Edward Hopper, Lee Krasner, Mark Lombardi, Robert Smithson, and Kara Walker. In addition to working on mainstream modern and post-modern artists, his published research includes in-depth studies of regional, self-taught, and Native American artists as well as investigations of contemporary and traditional craft media. Hobbs is a member of the Editorial Board of the Grove Encyclopedia of American Art, published by Oxford University Press. I am looking forward to getting feedback from these people, and I think their diverse backgrounds will give me a wide variety of advice and criticism.

Thursday Posting: Building Architectural Models

Scale

"True architectural model making is mainly confined to 3 areas. Planning models, test and development models, sales models and occasionally exhibition models."

-Model Makers Resource

"Architectural Model Making." Model Makers Resource.

http://themodelmakersresource.co.uk/articles/article020.html

While the article talks about the three different forms of model making, the fully finished model is the one I'm interested in.  This model shows color and building details, along with "landscaping, window finishes, parking spaces, underground car parks, street lights, and all the street furniture we come to expect in our busy environments."  According to the article, this model is usually used not so much for planning but for scale development, and as exhibition center pieces.  This type of model is built out of a variety of materials, and the bases are typically wooden, while the actual buildings are laser cut from styrene.  Details such as balconies and landscapes can also be built from varying materials.  The article states: "Plants, trees, bushes and grass effects are created from many different materials depending on the scale and type of vegetation. Most items tend to be off the shelf, pre-made trees bushes and flowers."

Reading this article was interesting to look at scale-models from the maker's perspective.  The reason I have been doing this research is to more fully understand scale models, since some of my images are beginning to look like miniature versions of buildings.  Understanding the process that goes into making these models helps me in viewing my own images in these terms. So far, I have come to conclude that every little detail must be planned, and nothing left to chance.  This seems to reflect the attitude I take when creating my work.  

Thursday Posting: Architectural Models

Miniature

“Scale Models are a basic mechanism used to understand, explore and conceptualize architecture.”

            -Albert C. Smith

Smith, Albert.  Architectural Model as Machine. http://books.google.com/books?id=2-9uqRbXk9IC&pg=PA112&lpg=PA112&dq=perfection,+architectural+model&source=bl&ots=JKsvgk5bIn&sig=peKEvoUT03e15NUia00MQHbctlM&hl=en&ei=zwDUScSzONLVlQeL5JnVDA&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=5#PPP6,M1

 

In his book Smith discusses the importance of architectural models and miniatures in general as an important part of the design process.  Smith’s book breaks down the architectural model into 5 parts: Define/Divine/Design, The changing mechanism of the scale model, Scale model as machine, Machine as scale model machine, Pandora and the modern scale model machine.  In his chapter about the model machine, Smith states: The model machine extends humanity’s modest ability to measure the perceived chaos of the unknown.  However, as Louis Kahn’s example reveals, without the perceived proportions offered by a trusted analogy to mediate, humans may find only a frightening loss of control over their understanding of the world.”

Reading excerpts from Smith’s book was very informative, as I have recently begin to look at my work as being miniature models of communities.  Smith’s essays on the functionality of models in the architectural design process gave me helpful information that will help me in developing a stronger thesis for my series. 

Thursday Posting: Defense Architecture: Bunkers

Fortifications

“Approximately 1,500 bunkers were built during World War II along the French shores to forestall an Allied landing—“the Atlantic Wall.” Decommissioned after the Allied invasion of Normandy, this elaborate defense system now lies abandoned.”

-Rosecrans Baldwin

Virilio, Paul.  Bunker Archeology.  “The Frightening Beauty of Bunkers.”  Princeton Architectural Press, 1975.

In this article Virilio discusses his youth and how you grew to find bunkers appealing, and even comforting.Virilio states:“I see it clearly now as a case of intuition and also as a convergence between the reality of the structure and the fact of its implantation alongside the ocean: a convergence between my awareness of spatial phenomena.”  After Virilio’s first encounter with a bunker, he began to hunt for them, driven by a purely archeological purposes.  Upon viewing different bunkers, he found himself asking the questions: “why would these extraordinary constructions, compared to the seaside villas, not be perceived or even recognized? Why this analogy between the funeral archetype and military architecture? Why this insane situation looking out over the ocean?”  Virilio points out that in previous eras, fortifications and bunkers were oriented towards a specific passageway, valley or port.  The bunkers from the WWII era are placed “at the summit of dunes, cliffs, and across beaches.”  The essay then goes on to describe the delight and intrigue Virilio had in finding bunkers.  He states: “My activities often led me into teeming ports, and what most surprised and intrigued me there was finding once again in the middle of courtyards and gardens my concrete shelters; their blind, low mass and rounded profile were out of tune with the urban environment. These objects had been left behind, and were colorless; their gray cement relief was silent witness to a warlike climate.”

This article interested me in its topic of abandonment, which is a major theme in my current series.  While Virilio only discusses the abandonment of bunkers, he does a good job analyzing them against their surroundings, and brings up important points about their placement and original use.  

Thursday Posting: Fall out shelters

Paranoia/preparedness

“Trust Me!  You can survive a nuclear or dirty bomb attack.  It will not be the end of the world.  But, you must be prepared!”

            -undergroundbombshelter,com

Civil Defense: The Family Fallout Shelter.  Nebraskastudies.org. 

http://www.nebraskastudies.org/0900/frameset_reset.html?http://www.nebraskastudies.or g/0900/stories/0901_0132.html

This article explores the logistics of family fallout shelters, and the various ways one can go about building one.  It also explains the history of bomb shelters, and the reasoning and events that for many made a fall out shelter a necessity.  Fall out shelters were very popular in the 50s and 60s during the height of the cold war.  According to the article, “A fallout shelter built in the corner of a basement was the least expensive type, and it supposedly offered "substantial protection." In many plans, concrete blocks provided the walls. An open doorway and vents near the floor provided ventilation. The shelter's entrance was constructed with a sharp turn to reduce radiation intensity.”  This was one plan for fall out shelter.  Other plans consisted of constructing a separate fall out shelter several feet underground.  Just by placing the shelter four or five feet underground significantly reduces the level of gamma radiation that would reach the family.  According to the article, “one plan suggested that the roof of the shelter can be used as an attractive patio.”  The article also explains the protocol for what to do if such a nuclear disaster were to strike.  Families were recommended to stay in their fall out shelters for at least two weeks after the nuclear blast.

Reading this article was interesting to understand the psychology and mindset that occupied people living through the cold war.  Certainly there are people today that still have bomb shelters, as the threat of nuclear war is ever present.  I was especially intrigued by the camouflaging of the shelters as a patio or another kind of functional object, and I think this could bring an interesting aspect to my work.  

Security Testing of Corporate Buildings

Sheltered

“In recent years, corporate building owners have become increasingly blast conscious. They are now aware that specialized materials, such as safety glass films, can help mitigate damage caused by attack or natural disaster.”

-Carol Borow, President of CHB Industries

Larkin, Jay.  “The Science of Safety.” Security Magazine.  1 July 2004. 

http://www.securitymagazine.com/Articles/Feature_Article/395086fa164d8010VgnVCM100000f932a8c0____

 

Larkin is a contributing writer for Security Magazine.  His article explores different tests and experiments that corporate buildings are undergoing to determine how secure their buildings are in the face of natural or man-made disaster.  One of the first things Larkin points out is that the catalyst for this testing was not 9/11, as many would think, but was the 1995 bombing of the Alfred P. Murrah Building in Oklahoma City.  Larkin goes rather in-depth discussing the security enhancing safety films that are placed on windows to reduce deadly shrapnel that occurs when windows explode.  He also discusses the various blast-assessment tests are done to find out the building’s customized risk-reduction solution.  The part of the article that I found most interesting was when Larkin discussed perimeter security, which “is typically deployed to protect structures from external attacks, such as car bombs, or short-range strikes like the recent attack on the Sheraton Baghdad.”  Larkin then goes on to say that traditional blockades like the Jersey barriers and steel pylons are no longer popular because of the negative aesthetic value they  produced, and their negative impact on employee productivity.  Apparently employees did not like being aware of the risk they faced on a daily basis just by coming in to work.  So, as Larkin explains, buildings are improving and updating perimeter security by installing “more natural exterior barriers” that don’t alarm employees.  According to Larkin, “Many commercial complexes have positioned large concrete planters along the border of the building and some have even placed hefty rocks in front of high risk areas. These techniques provide the same basic function as would a Jersey barrier, but do so more discretely, without disrupting the delicate balance between security and comfort levels.” 

Reading this article was helpful to give me a better understanding of how corporate buildings evaluate their security.  While new information was presented, the majority of the article reaffirmed what I already knew about the ever-tightening security of the corporate world.

 

 

Thursday Posting: Fortress-Style Houses

Impenetrable

“Architects and builders say the house of the next decade will reflect end-of-the-century anxieties about privacy and security.”

-June Fletcher, “Home Front,” Wall Street Journal

Lewis, Roger. “The Neo-Fortress Home: Can the Concept Be Defended?”  The Washington

            Post.  5 September 1998, Saturday, Final ed.. 

In Lewis’s article he discusses a recent article in the Wall Street Journal by June Fletcher, who is reporting on current architectural trends, and what’s in and out when it comes to homes.  Fletcher’s article delves into the new wave of architecture that is to come (was to come, since the article was written over 10 years ago), citing an increase in anxiety about security as the propeller for the Neo-Fortress Movement.  Lewis scoffs at the idea that Fletcher would claim specific architectural elements such as “Greek columns” as being outdated, stating that fortress-style houses are only something millionaires could afford.  To clarify, a Neo-Fortress style house is defined by having “towers and turrets; walled yards; locked gates; and tall, narrow windows.”  Lewis has many issues with the Neo-Fortress house, but one of his main problems with the idea is that it is not always practical, nor affordable.  He states: “these design elements and strategies for shaping a house should be employed when they fit the circumstances and context pertaining to the house, its location and site, its occupants and its occupants' budget.”  However, Lewis has an even greater concern than that: he believes that the Neo-Fortress houses show how Americans are increasingly more concerned with segregation and isolation, and that his preoccupation extends to the creation of more gated communities, as well as gated homes.

This article helped solidify my belief that current architecture’s main priority is now security.  While style will always have some importance in the design of buildings, architects are now focusing mainly on terror-proofing, resulting in more fortress-style buildings, both in the corporate and residential worlds.  While this article doesn’t particularly fit into my idea of an abandoned utopia, I think I can get something out of the message that it delivers.  As society progresses, our interest in protection and security increases exponentially, resulting in buildings and homes that seemingly are more cut off from society and the real world, and more interested in living in their own individual bubble. 

 

Thursday Posting: Corporate Architecture

Productivity

"Silicon Valley's landscape of leased, glass curtain-wall or tilt-up concrete slab construction R&D 'parks' constitutes the extreme example [of corporate architecture]. In that archetypal IT-driven landscape, the buildings are differentiated only by their corporate signage.”

-       Peter MacKeith, Associate Dean of Architecture at Washington University in St. Louis.

Otten, Liam.  “Contemporary corporate architecture’s impact on communities examined.”  Washington University in St. Louis News & Information.  5 Oct. 2005.  Accessed 18 Feb. 2009. http://news-info.wustl.edu/tips/page/normal/5893.html

In his article Otten discusses the impact that corporate institutions, as well as churches, universities, and government buildings have had on the urban environment, since they stand for pillars that embody the values and culture of their societies.  Otten stresses the fact that now more than ever, corporations are deciding to locate on the outskirts of town, “distancing themselves from the means of production” while also contributing to urban sprawl.  According to Peter MacKeith, who Otten quotes, “The contemporary city of corporate architecture is constructed of standardized elements, homogeneous in their glass-enclosures, planned for maximum flexibility and insured for limited time periods.”  MacKeith also mentions that within these corporate headquarters, cafés, gyms, banks and day care centers are now provided for the employees, so that “daily contact with the external life of the city is no longer necessary.”  Otten then goes on to discuss the effectiveness of open-planned working environments, and whether or not they increase productivity or contribute to high employee turnover.  MacKetih notes that at Silicon Valley, the average length of employment is just eight months.  The rest of the article then goes on to mention sustainable development within the corporate world, and the key challenges that face architects today.  According to MacKeith, architects need to design buildings that create “a means of living and working, grounded in an ethical sensibility and in the natural world.”

The most interesting part of this article to me was when MacKeith mentioned that more corporate buildings are expanding to include cafés, gyms, banks, and daycare centers for their employees, all with the notion of increasing productivity.  Because of this the employees have less reasons to leave the building, and therefore less interaction with the real world.  It almost seems to me that corporations are creating their own tightly knit, private utopias.  While there is certainly nothing utopic about work, the fact that one building that serves various functions necessary to daily life, and the fact that it is exclusive to only employees speaks to the outermost ideas of a utopia.  

 

Thursday Posting: Terror-proof buildings

Repellent

“Attempting to design a terror-proof building is the epitome of arrogance, a sense of hubris that deliberately ignores the boundaries of the human mind. We do this at our own peril by underestimating our enemies,” says Raymond T. Mellon, partner at a NY construction law firm.

Geoghegan, Tom and Casciani, Dominic.  “How to terror-proof shopping centres and other buildings.  BBC News.  15 Nov. 2007.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/magazine/7095884.stm

In this article Geoghegan and Casciani discuss the UK’s desire to terror proof public buildings after the attacks on Glasgow airport and car bombings in the West End of London.  The article is divided by categories of buildings.  The authors go into depth about plans of terror-proofing airports, sporting venues, railway stations, shopping centers and nightclubs, and of course key political buildings.  Although these different buildings all require unique protection, the concepts behind protecting them from terrorists remain the same.  After learning that terrorists were planning on poisoning beer and burgers at football games, the Arsenal Football Club’s Emirates Stadium in north London designed their new building with security as their top priority.  Geoghegan and Casciani state in the article: “Emirates' strength, say officials, is that it has limited access to vehicles. The stadium's apron is ringed with subtle obstacles that would prevent a car bomb from getting near. Concrete planters and benches are deliberately placed to prevent a car weaving through them to reach the stadium itself.  Giant cannons, part of the club's insignia, can stop a moving vehicle. The architects placed the club's name in dramatic giant lettering at a critical access point. Those letters are not just there for aesthetic effect - they could stop a seven-tonne lorry.” 

After reading about the security of all the different types of buildings, there are definitely similar concepts used to strengthen security.  Using barriers to reduce car access close to the buildings, using non-fragmenting materials to reduce shrapnel in the case of an explosion, and having security screening outside of the building to have a better opportunity of identifying a security risk without compromising the security of the buildings.  Not everyone is so sure about the idea of terror-proofing buildings.  According to the article, “Austin Williams of the National Building Specification believes it is contributing to the "death of architecture" because aesthetics are being sacrificed for the sake of precaution. Public buildings, he says, are becoming "fear of public" buildings.”

This article was very interesting to me in light of recently studying different types of architecture.  While I was aware that post 9/11 buildings are being designed to withstand terrorist attacks, I didn’t realize the scale on which this is being done.  Its not just skyscrapers that are being terror-proofed, its everything from shopping malls and grocery stores to airports and stadiums.  The subtle placement of planters and benches as a way of strengthening security really intrigues me, and I think I can incorporate this theory into my images. 

Thursday Posting: Function

Role

“The Function of Buildings looks at the way in which the design of a building is informed by its function and the demands of climate.”

            -- RIBA architecture.com

Harper, Jennifer.  “In America, form no longer follows function; survey finds trend in architecture.”  The Washington Times.  29 November 2005, A09. 

In Jennifer Harper’s article she discusses how at one point in time form actually followed function in America’s public buildings, which revealed a building’s purpose and enhanced a sense of community.  However, according to Harper and research done by Ohio State University, that time is long gone.  Harper quotes Jack Nasar, an urban planner who directed the research done at Ohio State University.  According to Nasar, “if form follows function, then you should be able to look at a building and have a good idea of what goes on inside.”  Nasar believes that when citizens cannot “read” a building, “cities descend into impersonal, confusing places.”  If form were to follow function, Nasar states that “it should make life in the city more pleasurable and comfortable, and help people figure out where they are.”

This article interested me because in my work I am concentrating a lot on different types of buildings and architecture, and removing certain elements of the buildings that thereby disguises their primary function.  However, reading this article brought up an interesting fact that most of American architecture at the time is not designed around its specific function, giving most of the buildings we see an anonymous quality, with or without removing certain elements.  

Thursday Posting: Removing Context

Elimination

“By removing any indication of function or use, the structures are reduced to relationships between color, shape and form.”

-Yossi Milo Gallery

Reid, Graham.  “Adrift in a Surreal World.”  New Zealand Herald.  23 Feb. 2005.

Graham Reid was the senior music writer for the New Zealand Herald for 20 years.  He now hosts his own music and travel website.  In his article he discusses the removal of context by photographer Loretta Lux.  Lux is well known for her portraits that she takes of children, which she superimposes onto made-up, fantastical looking backgrounds, letting the viewer contextualize the photographs as they see fit.  Reid explains Lux’s process, stating: “Lux's subjects, usually the children of friends, are dressed and sometimes given odd but symbolic props - a fish, a loaf of bread - then photographed under even, shadowless light. The results are faces and skin which have pale complexions and the visual resonance of porcelain. Then the work begins. Using Adobe PhotoShop software technology, Lux sometimes slightly manipulates the scale of the heads, hands or torso, and places the child's image into a plain backdrop which she may have painted herself.”  Reid’s article discusses the impact that the removal of information has on Lux’s series of photos.  By completing removing the children from their original background, she is eliminating the elements of scale as well as context.

I was first drawn to the work of Loretta Lux because I felt that her process of creating imagery was on the same lines as mine.  Although her work deals with completely different issues than mine, we are both making photographs by removing context and taking the image out of its original setting and into a new one.  This recontextualization is an important concept in my work, and it is interesting to see how different artists are using it. 

Disney World’s Utilidors

Segregated

“Walt Disney wanted to keep the boring business of running a theme park separate from the magical show guests come to see. The tunnel is why you never see a pirate sauntering through Tomorrowland.”

-Grayson Kamm, First Coast News

 Grayson, Kamm.  “Hidden Places: Beneath Walt Disney World.”  First Coast News.  2007.  Accessed 18 Nov. 2008 < http://www.firstcoastnews.com/news/florida/news-article.aspx?ref=rss&storyid=81978>. 

Kamm’s article is a rather ‘enchanted’ look at the business side of running Disney World.  Since Walt Disney created a sort of constructed utopia, there are many aspects of this theme park that must be constantly controlled and monitored.  Below the park is a mile-and-a-half long tunnel containing offices and hallways.  Kamm states “Walt called the tunnel the "Utilidor" -- short for "utility corridor". His Imagineers packed it with pipes and tubes that, for example, suck out trash from drop-off points around the park to a collecting station far away from the fun.”  Kamm also states that at Disney World, no one ever uses the word ‘employee.’  “Everyone -- from a character to a custodian -- is a "cast member" playing a role.”  And since there are no ‘employees’ there are also no uniforms.  Everyone wears costumes specially designed at Disney, which are then “manufactured all over the world.”  And it’s not just the cast members that need costumes.  Kamm mentions that “Every day, a special team inspects the clothes on the parks' audio-animatronic figures -- ones like the founding fathers at the Hall of Presidents in the Magic Kingdom. A crew works overnight repairing any holes or rips they find.”

Reading this article about the business side of Disney World was fascinating, because it really demonstrated how vulnerable an utopian environment is, and all the variables that must be constantly monitored, as to not ruin it.  I noticed that this article mentioned the special or gratuitous titles that are given to the workers at Disney World, which is similar to a blog I did earlier about the Houyhnhnms, where vocabulary also played an important part in the balance of their utopia.  While Walt Disney’s theme park functions on an utopian level, it also shows that factors such as overflowing trash and torn costumes would ruin his created environment in an instant. 

http://www.vacationdaysmagazine.com/blog/uploaded_images/wdw_corridor-703259.jpg

Vacancy and Landscape

Unihabited

In everyday language, land or a building described as "empty" or "vacant" means there are no structures or people visible, or the building is currently unoccupied, or that neither have apparent productive use.

-Carla I. Corbin, Landscape Journal

Corbin, C.  “Vacancy and the Landscape: Cultural Context and Design Response.”  Landscape Journal 22.1 (2003): 12-24. 12 Nov. 2008. 

http://lj.uwpress.org/cgi/content/abstract/22/1/12

Carla Corbin is an associate professor of landscape architecture at Ball State University, Indiana.  In her article she discusses what constitutes a ‘vacant’ landscape, and the implications it has culturally.  Corbin states: The declaration of vacancy or emptiness erases important dimensions of a site: natural processes and characteristics above or below the scale of conventional perception, cultural history or meanings that may not have physical presence, and systems that are not recognized as having immediate functional purpose.  Corbin examines vacancy and landscape in terms of culture, discussing how certain areas are perceived, valued, and described.  She also explains different theories behind vacant areas, and how designers and architects should approach these sites, pointing out specific problems that come with vacant landscapes. 

As I continue working with very controlled urban landscapes, the idea of vacancy and abandonment are very strong elements in my work.  Reading this article by Corbin was enlightening because I was able to read an expert’s view on theories regarding vacancy and landscape.  I thought it was rather interesting when Corbin described vacancy as “an open landscape that lacks scenic appeal or distinguishing features,” because even though my images are ‘vacant’ in a sense, I would like to think that they contain enough information and color to give them appeal.  Reading this article helped me to better define my concept.

Image:

http://www.corkingallery.com/files/Chad%20Gerth%20-%20Division%20&%20Latrobe%20lo.jpg

Prefabricated Builidings

Manufactured

“Prefabricated architecture may well be an idea whose time has come. If architectural authorities are to be believed, we may soon be buying flat-pack houses, IKEA-style. Already in Japan the Toyota House has become a reality, with robot production lines capable of producing several hundred houses a week.”

-Margot Osborne The Advertiser (Australia)

Adney, Ken "History of Pre-fab Housing." History of Pre-fab Housing. 7 Oct. 2008. EzineArticles.com. 5 Nov 2008 <http://ezinearticles.com/?History-of-Pre-fab-Housing&id=1562954>.

Ken Adney is a writer for EzineArticles online.  In his essay he discusses MoMA’s recent exhibition Home Delivery: Fabricating the Modern Dwellling that explores the history surrounding the beginnings of prefabrication.  Adney cites several factors in the development of prefab buildings: Thomas Edison’s single pour concrete system, Wachsmann and Gropius’ General Panel System, and Australian designer H. Manning who designed “Portable Colonial Cottage for Emigrants” in 1830, employing the use of easy to ship flat panels.  Of course prefabrication would not be where it is today without the Ford Motor Company demonstrating in 1919 “how assembly-line manufacturing could produce a ‘ready-made home’” (Adney).  However, Adney points out among these the most successful “were the mail-order kit homes sold by Sears, Roebuck and Company. Between 1908 and 1940, Sears shipped more than 70,000 mail order homes which included all the materials (including shingles, flooring and paint) to build a home. There were 447 different styles and they cost between $650 and $2500 ($14,000 to $53,000 in today's dollars). Good thing it came with instructions, because it weighed 25 tons and had 30,000 parts.”  After noting the history that brought us to where we are today, Adney then discusses the 5 full size homes that are on display as part of the MoMA exhibit. “There is a micro-compact home of just 76 square feet, a 5 story townhouse wrapped in cellophane, a "shotgun house" intended for disaster relief areas, one built from 570 square foot components that let the home grow as the owner's family grows and a computer designed house built of plywood and steel that lets the architect and owner choose their design simultaneously.”  Adney ends his article by stating: “A home for everyone may yet be a dream, but imagination, innovation and technology are making it more possible.”

Reading this article helped me understand the background of pre-fab buildings.  I had heard about the Sears houses and knew that many people ordered pre-fab structures because of the low prices, but I didn’t realize that prefabricated homes are still being developed today.  Reading about the new prefabricated homes that are being designed with modern issues in mind (such as green design and disaster-relief) was definitely interesting.  When I take photos of buildings I usually look for older areas, because I figured if I were to find any pre-fab buildings they would be from older generations.  After reading this article, I now know that this isn’t the case. 

Image:

http://www.momahomedelivery.org/

Compound Communities

Combined

“The compound house has long provided the accommodation required by low-income households in West African cities.”

-   Jørgen Eskemose Andersen

Andersen, Jorgen, Andreasen, Jorgen, and Tipple, Graham.  “The demise of compound houses – consequences for the low income population of Kumasi, Ghana.” RICS Research vol. 6 num. 8 Mar. 2006: 5-35.  28 October, 2008. 

Andersen and Andreasen are associate professors at the Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts, as well as architects and town planners.  Graham Tipple is a Reader in Housing Policy and Development and an Associate Director of the Global Urban Research Unit in the School of Architecture at the University of Newcastle in Tyne, UK.  In this collaborative research paper, the authors discuss the key role compound housing has provided in low-income cities in West Africa.  The essay analyses the advantages and disadvantages of compound housing.  “Issues of privacy, image and communal life are usually cited by occupants dissatisfied with life in compound houses” state the authors in regards to complaints about compound living.  They then go on to state that: “However, they [compound housing] represent good value for money, cost little to build, suit traditional inheritance patterns, allow independent life at low cost, and allow sharing of services with a finite and known group.  Compound housing is also compact and suited to hot climates. It is noted that multi-habitation occurs in houses of other designs but the courtyard is replaced by access corridors, with some loss of amenity.”  The rest of the essay examines different compounds in different parts of West Africa, and brings up the fact that instead of new compounds being built, the cities are seeing “affluent villa-style” developments.  The three authors then conclude that there is a definite need to develop “new forms of housing with the advantages of compound housing but which fit into new perceptions of what is acceptable urban life to the growing cohort of young family households.”

 

Reading about compound housing was interesting and beneficial.  While I am not looking to photograph compound neighborhoods, I am looking for pre-fabricated buildings, or buildings that were designed with minimal cost in mind.  After reading this essay, it was made quite clear that saving money and using cheap material/minimal space is one of the allures for architects and city planners when designing compound communities.  Keeping this in mind, I will continue to look for buildings to photograph in more run-down, or impoverished places, since they will generally reflect the economic standings of the area.  

Minimalist Photography

Nominal

“Basically, what you really want to do is try to engage the viewer's body relation to his thinking and walking and looking, without being overly heavy-handed about it.”

-- Richard Serra

McFarlane, Robert.  “Stripping down to the bare minimum.”  Sydney Morning Herald (Australia) 10 May 2000, late ed.: pg. 14. 

Robert McFarlane is a documentary photographer, specializing in social issues and documenting performance within film and theatre.  He is also a writer for the Sydney Morning Herald, B + W magazine as well as a few others. In his article McFarlane critiques several shows in the Sydney area, many of which claim to be minimalist.  One show that seems particularly interesting is titled Minimal and is curated by Alasdair Foster.  The show conists of works by nine photographers, and Foster draws comparisons between music and photography, stating “minimalism has inflected (sic) .. avant-garde film scores and popular music, [whereas] photography has been obsessed with detail and ... the medium of evidence".  As McFarlane critiques various artists from various galleries, questioning whether or not their work is really minimalist.  McFarlane eventually comes to the conclusion after dissecting the artist’s work that “Photography pure and simple, epic and contrived, fills out what is an unusually dense month of exhibitions in Sydney.”

Reading this article was interesting to me, because I was able to see into the eyes of an experienced photo critic, and understand from his point of view what constitutes minimal photography, and if the minimalist style is always justified in its use.  While my work is certainly not classified as minimalist photography, I am hoping that if executed correctly, it will have a minimalist feel, perhaps in the attention to detail. 

Image:

http://www.kultureflash.net/archive/68/images/sugimoto3.jpg 

Improbable Utopia

Unattainable

“Utopia, imaginary and ideal country in Utopia (1516) by Sir Thomas More, from Greek ou not, no + topos place

Date: 1597

1: an imaginary and indefinitely remote place

2: often capitalized: a place of ideal perfection especially in laws, government, and social

conditions.

3: an impractical scheme for social improvement.”

            -Merriam-Webster

Wilson, David.  “The Dream of Utopia Begets Monsters.”  The Globe and Mail 17 November 2007 Saturday ed.: D3. 

David Wilson is a professor of history and Celtic studies and University of Toronto.  In this article he discusses the book Black Mass: Apocalyptic Religion and the Death of Utopia by John Gray.  Gray’s book discusses the role of faith and religion as influencing what one would consider to be an ‘utopia.’  Wilson states that in Gray’s book, “he also contends that disparate forms of utopianism are rooted in apocalyptic forms of Christianity.  Secular utopias, Gray argues, are ‘vehicles for religious myths’.”  Wilson goes on to state that when it comes to dissecting the idea of utopia, both he and Gray are on the same page.  Wilson believes that: ‘the attainment of a peaceful and harmonious world breaks down on the contradictory nature of human needs, the incompatibility of human values and the flaws of human nature. And the quest for utopia produces nightmares; wherever and whenever a state has attempted to create an ideal society and a new type of human being, the result has been mass death - which is justified as weighing lightly in the scale when balanced against the establishment of Heaven on Earth.”  Gray’s book goes on to discuss the faults of utopia, the failed use of it by religious sects, and even President George W. Bush’s utopian fantasy of “ridding the world of evil” and the “war on terror.”  

Reading the article was interesting because I was able to see just how far the idea of utopia reaches.  It was also helpful to understand the history of utopia, how it got started and who actually tried to put it into effect.  The article also reinforces my belief that utopia is completely unattainable and for good reason: it usually involves loss of personal rights or dictatorship.  I continue to be drawn to the idea of creating visually manipulated and controlled environments that verge on eerie.  Understanding the background and attempted practices of this concept will be useful as I look for more areas to photograph.    

Image:

http://www.walkbook.net/satis/ADMIN/IMAGES/URUN/U49.jpg

Ghost Towns

Abandoned

“It  must be remembered that most ghost towns are not the result of a single factor but the product of a combination of factors.”

-       John W. Morris, author of Ghost Towns of Oklahoma

Moon, Peter.  “Abandoned bases ooze pollutants garbage: Radar stations deserted in 1965 still pollute Canada’s North.  The Globe and Mail 19 Mar. 1997, final ed.: A1.

Peter moon is a writer for Canada’s newspaper, The Globe and Mail.  In his article, he discusses abandoned former military radar stations in northern canada, some of which are located in Polar Bear Provincial Park.  Describing one of the abandoned stations, Moon states “A collection of more than 20 deteriorating buildings, rusting fuel-storage tanks and tilting communications towers, the station at Winisk on Hudson Bay looks like a ghost town. But a ghost town that is dangerous.  Asbestos is exposed and blows around. Windows and doors are broken or missing and the building walls have gaping holes through which animals, including polar bears, regularly wander.”  This site has been abandoned for over 30 years.  It has yet to be cleaned up, because the military refuses to take responsibility for the hazardous sites, and the government doesn’t have enough funds to clean it up on their own.  “The radar stations, part of what was called the Mid-Canada Line, were built by the Royal Canadian Air Force in the 1950s and abandoned in 1965. The federal and provincial governments know that the abandoned sites contain hazards to humans and wildlife, but nothing is done while they bicker about who should pay for it to be cleaned up.”   Moon’s article is an infuriating look at some of the causes for Canada’s ghost towns, and their lack of responsibility to do anything about the dangers it poses. 

After doing a little research on ghost towns, I found this article rather interesting, because Winisk isn’t your typical American ghost town that is experiencing a new surge of people due to tourism.  It isn’t a cute, folksy ghost town abandoned after the end of a gold rush.  It’s toxic, and dangerous-- a testimony to the dangers of polluting.  It also fits into my imagery, as I am trying to create unsettling, vulnerable spaces.