Deconstructing Reality | Gordon Matta-Clark

dpr-barcelona

Conical Intersect 2. From “Conical Intersect” París, France [1975]

“A simple cut or series of cuts acts as a powerful drawing device able to redefine spatial situations and structural components”.
-Gordon Matta-Clark

The work of Gordon Matta-Clark has been deeply documented in several museums and architecture centres, the way his work changed the meaning and scope of sculpture through architectural interventions has been an undeniable influence in architects and students. He worked mostly with ephemeral interventions on buildings through cuts and extractions on floors, walls and other structures, somehow showing the possibilities of descontructing reality by transforming our consciousness and the way we perceive our world.

When thinking about the power of representation as means of architectural thinking, the way that Matta-Clark transformed real buildings into scale models 1:1 by cutting its abandoned structures is at least, provocative, because he was reverting the process of our lineal way of…

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Facade Mashup

citymovement

The mashup is a term that is often refered to music or video where a file combines and modifies existing works to create a new  work that emulates the original work. The mashup is slightly different than collage because it is a blending of two or more files where collage intergrates contradicting or incongruent forms by keeping the edge of the two elements apparent. I have always been interested in that ‘edge’ – the point where these two divergent forms meet.  However, because of technological advances, blurring or erasing the edge is the goal with many photographers and artists, who try to seamlessly collage their images.  With the removal of the ‘edge’ I feel that something is lost and the image usually appears contrived. By keeping the ‘edge’ there is the perception of spontaneity in collage – the improvisation of forms connecting together but keeping the juxtaposition of both edges apparent. The…

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Boys Town Redux – Antipode supplement to Society and Space virtual theme issue

Progressive Geographies

Our colleagues at Antipode have put together a supplement to the ‘Boys Town Redux’ virtual theme issue Mary Thomas assembled for the Society and Space open site. A good number of papers – Rosalyn Deutsche, David Harvey, Gerry Pratt, Doreen Massey, Gillian Rose, Linda McDowell, Iris Marion Young, Cindi Katz and many others – from both journals are now open access for a limited time. The Society and Spacepapers will be available until 7 May 2012; the Antipodeones until 23 June 2012.

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Disability Art, Visibility and the City

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During May 2011 (ending May 15^th) I visited the exhibition titled ‘Trazos Singulares [Singular Strokes],’ which was on display in Madrid’s Nuevos Ministerios metro station.

The exhibition comprised some sixty works produced by thirty artists with developmental disabilities [see above slideshow-my photos], and significantly, the work of artistic production was itself performed in situ between the 5^th and the 8^th of April. This simple decision has an understated significance given the history of the public (in)visibility of disability that has been written about so lucidly, for example, by Licia Carlson in her book The Faces of Intellectual Disability.

Also of interest is that the artists produced images of Madrid’s urban environment and transport systems (subway). An easy criticism would be that since the event was sponsored by Metro Madrid, it was a showy form of outreach/advertising, but I think that the event transcends that critique in some respects.

In my view this event raises questions of access to the city (Lefebvre’s question: who has the “right to the city”). This exhibit necessarily highlights how disability, urbanism and the interplay between the creative imagination and the built environment are all connected.