Mid-Term: Architectural Art

Architecture as art is a concept that I can fairly easily comprehend.  Think, for example, of Frank Lloyd Wright, and creations of his such as Falling Water.

His integration of nature and architecture truly requires an artistic eye, and you would be hard pressed to find someone who could not identify the artistic nature in his work.  At the same time, there is also a sort of art to the e

ndless copycat office buildings, and identical concrete apartments covering urban cities and suburbia now.  While they are more functional in use, they are representations of what our world has become, and can evoke strong feelings in those who do not see them every day.  Not all art is beautiful.

However, art as architecture was a much more difficult idea for me to grasp.  It was not really until I saw examples of such pieces that I understood how architecture involves space, and art creations can either occupy or create spaces.  The concept of space was very important to my initial understand of the art as architecture idea.

The first example I encountered through my multimedia class was by Leo Villareal, a media artist, and the creation was his light installation featured at the National Gallery of Art.  A description of the project does not really do it justice, but I will

 try.  The project is called Multiverse and it is in the tunnel between the east and west buildings of the National Gallery of Art in Washington, DC.  It features over 40,000 LED lights which turn on and off as programmed by a complicated series of algorithms.  The lights create patterns and shapes and stepping into the tunnel is truly entering a surreal world.  This work was a good introduction to the idea that art is architecture because it actually utilizes the architecture of the building.  The tunnel was originall

y just functional to allow passage from building to building, but as an art project was built into the structure of the tunnel, it became an experience to walk through the tunnel and view this artwork.  The piece could not exist without the tunnel, and the tunnel would be nothing more than a walkway were it not for the art, but together they create something magnificent.  Once I realized this, I also realized that the shape and construct of the tunnel is actually a part of the piece.  Though I do not know whether the gallery had commissioned Villareal before or after the tunnel was built, I do know that the artist takes ad

vantage of the space to shape his art.

Another work I saw at the National Gallery of Art, called Roof, by Andy Goldsworthy, was a group of nine slate huts which were actually built to look as if they were outside and protruding into the building.  Goldsworthy was experimenting with the dome shape that is so reminiscent of Washington DC architecture.  This piece would fall into the category of sculpture, but there is no denying the resemblance of the huts to an igloo type shape that one could live in.  THough they are art and not functional for living, they are very architectural to the extent that they resemble a form of home.  This is an example of architectural art outside of the multimedia realm.

The next architectural work I encountered was Vibeke Sorenson's work.  I viewed a few pieces both in class and at her presentation.  They combine animation and sound, and a key thing to realize when viewing her work is that music does not have to necessarily be created though sound.  Some of her pieces can be viewed with the sound on, and then when re-watched with the sound off, you can still see the music and rhythm through the graphic animation.  Architecturally speaking, however, Sorenson's animation actually creates space and shapes.  Though it is only 2-D, the animation she uses evokes a sense of 3-D and creates a new space and place.  In fact, she actually acknowledges this fact in one of her works, Voyage, where she takes the image she has created, and spins it horizontally so the audience sees that it is just 2-D.  This is one thing I like about multimedia, there there is no limit to what you can do, because an act such as this would not have been possible in the physical world.  Additionally, the increased potential for motion in art is undeniably an advance.  In Sorenson's 1976 work, Temple, she uses images of lights to create a rotating structure that turns in time to the electronic music she has created.  While it is presented on a flat screen, it appears structural and therefore she has created a new structure and space for it.

If architecture is a mixture of visual, aural, and spatial components, then Sorenson's work would definitely qualify.  While the visual and aural aspects can be easily understood by a description of her work, the spatial aspect can probably only be understood by viewing her work.  In description, an animation on a flat screen cannot possible have a spatial element.  However, when you see how Vibeke Sorenson uses the animation to create new spaces, shapes, and structures, you can understand how she created additional space in this world and how her art is very architectural.  I like her creation of the term liquid architecture.  To me, this means that her form of architecture has the power to create space, and then make it go away if she chooses.  Though she is able to use multimedia to create new space, should she change the shape, her original space goes away.  It is liquid and constantly changing.