Comments Box

I've had to clear some of the comments off the walls of the Comments Box to make room for new ones.  Here is some of what visitors had contributed:

The world will end when...

The bees die!

Everything has no purpose.

We least expect it.

When a new beginning starts.

Principles of a new belief system...

We must love people and use things, not love things and use people.

Every day is full of possibilites.

Believe in yourself first.

Thoughts at the Preview

We all have a need to believe in something; that much was evident when talking to people at the exhibition yesterday. Is this simply how our brains are programmed? Human beings (generally) tend to prefer social order over chaos or conflict, so it makes sense to have a collective belief system, but what to believe in? And how far should we compromise logic to stay in a group?


I wasn't the only one at the show to admit that I missed some of the security and comforting rituals of the organised religion of childhood. Then it was soothing to know that there was someone in charge; learn the rules, stick to them and everything would be alright. Hey, even death could be neatly taken care of if you behaved yourself. But where do you go as an adult when logic prevails and that desire for answers remains? I believe one can make good ethical and moral choices without being part of an organised religion or group, but I am intrigued to know if it's possible to find a system where intellect and spirituality can co-exist? Anyone?



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Richard Grayson

Our new exhibition is a collection of work by the artist Richard Grayson.

Richard Grayson’s work is energised by the kind of cultural collisions that make contemporary life exciting. Inspired by the correlation of apparently unconnected cultural artifacts and phenomena, Grayson investigates the importance of language and narrative in how we comprehend the world. Through the use of playful or decorative forms, Grayson is able to engage his audience with complex and difficult ideas. We are encouraged to participate in a critical and perhaps subversive view of humanity that encompasses astrology, religion, politics, the global economy and extra-terrestrial life. As a retrospective of his work fromthe past five years, the exhibition brings together prints, drawings and films by Grayson for the first time.

Throughout the season you can contribute to this blog online or live in the gallery.

The exhibition continues until 14 March 2010.

A hard bright day in Bexhill on the first Saturday of the New Year brought out plenty of visitors and I was joined by 8 students studying for an MA in building conservation plus a few others for the Walk and Talk. It was great to have a lively group of people who had lots of ideas and opinions about Mind into Matter.

We started with Tony Fretton’s British Embassy in Warsaw and the group felt that the use of materials and the articulation of planes and mass were clearly not designed to invite people in. We decided it looked like a glass fortress. The group gazed in wonder at the child like drawings and tried to work out how the fleeting and flimsy lines equated with walls and floors and acres of explosion calming layered glass (up to 30-40cm thick). The engineers amongst the group raised their eyebrows at a familiar problem and one that they had much experience of.

We then looked at the difference between the CAD drawing generated from the initial sketches and compared them with the highly detailed hand drawn plans, elevations and views of The Reform Club built approx. 165 years earlier. The architect in the group explained how abstract the delicate watercolour floor plans looked from a distance and there was a general consensus that the hand drawn lines and the time x skill element made these drawing more appealing. Someone did point out that some CAD drawings are very beautiful too.

As we walked around we explored the tussle between a harking back to medieval forms and structures and the desire of engineers and architects to explore new materials and technologies – not always with happy results. Feelings were mixed about The Oxford Museum and St. Mary in Wellingborough. The debate about the latter, in relation to conservation issues, was enlightening – one of the group worked as a conservationist in churches and felt that the upkeep and the preservation of some aspects of the Comper church would be very difficult – often because the original materials were not always appropriate or good quality.

The pervading sense of space and light in the De La Warr Pavilion, the things that I love about the building, proved to be quite contentious aspects of the host of this exhibition. Some of the group felt that the entrance was unwelcoming because there was so much space and that it was unclear what went on in the building.

The Sons of Pioneers exhibition upstairs brought up questions about functionality, materials and how it would be impossible to build most of these structures – even though that is not the intention of the artist.

The same group came along to the Thinking Aloud session and we continued to talk about buildings, particularly the Jerwood due to be built in Hastings and how a contemporary building might fit into a sensitive heritage type location. We ended the session by discussing the course they were on, their backgrounds (town planning, engineering, building conservation, architecture) and what they studied and exploring the relationship between art and architecture.

De La Warr was a very quiet damp place this Sunday and there were only a few takers for the Walk and Talk tour, which became more of a conversation about the exhibits and other buildings that people liked or admired.

There was mixed response to the selection of buildings and to the buildings themselves. One woman liked the Oxford Museum and said she felt the combination of gothic shapes, the cathedral like scale and the use of glass and iron were pleasing, but someone else said it looked like something from a nightmare. Someone else liked the scale and sense of calm radiating from a photograph of one of the rooms at Webb’s Clouds House. The early drawings for the British Embassy provided a starting point for a discussion about the job of a draughtsman and one of the tour said he had been a draughtsman and described how his job had been to interpret such sketchy drawings into comprehensive and usable technical drawings, a job now done on a computer. The economy of form and the relationship to the site of the Royal Mail Mechanised Letter Office was admired and we talked about the difference between seeing such a building in isolation and then in relation to nearby houses and what it might be like to open the curtains and see such a building on a daily basis.

The Economist Plaza model provided a focus for talk about the mix of old and new architectural styles and there were lots of questions about the Smithson’s style and their ideas about communal living, their ideas about streets in the sky and in particular the Robin Hood Estate in London. One question was ‘Why is mass housing so ugly ?’ not an easy one to answer …. we talked about post-war housing problems and the influence of the austere style of modernist of architects like Mies van der Rohe who said ‘I don’t want to be interesting, I want to be good’ ….which made me think that maybe a building could be interesting without being good but a good building would intrinsically be an interesting one.

The exhibition opened the way to discuss buildings in general and some that weren’t in the exhibition. The Gerkin or Swiss RE building was much admired by one of the tour, he said he loved the way it looked from different places and how the light made it look different every time he came across it. We also had a conversation about a TV programme about the construction of The Bahrain World Trade Centre with attached wind turbines and how tricky it was to put the turbines in place because of the high winds. The addition of wind turbines seems an obvious solution to problem of creating clean and efficient forms of energy. Fosters Lloyds building was also a favourite with all the services on the outside creating a deconstructed and futuristic feel.

There was a notable lifting of the spirits when we went up to look at the Matthew Houlding
pieces. Many people find these architecturally inspired sculptures imaginative and enjoyable, often projecting their idea about futuristic living on to them. I did come across man who was both confused and slightly annoyed by the fact the structures had no stairs or proper doors and that there was no sense of scale – he hadn’t realised that they were not in fact architectural models but an artist’s response to a particular sense of time and space. There were also some young children who were enchanted by Houlding’s pieces and we had a brief chat about doll’s houses and what kind of furniture they might put in these houses …they opted for decidedly old style furniture !

The Bahrain World Trade Centre www.worldarchitecturenews.com/index.php?fuseaction=wanappln.projectview&upload_id=935

Lloyds building http://www.thelondontraveler.com/2008/05/modern-icon-the-lloyds-building/

Swiss RE www.eikongraphia.com/.../wp-content/SwissRe.jpg

BUILDING FOR THE FUTURE?

I was joined for Thinking Aloud by a mixed group of people which included several architects who had come very specifically to see Mind Into Matter. There were lots of questions about the criteria for selecting the 8 "exemplary buildings" and some debate about the choices of Clouds House, The Royal Mail Sorting Office and The British Embassy, but no alternatives were offered. It would be interesting to hear from any of those present if, having given it some more thought, they might now have their own "wish list" of buildings to be included.

As my interest in architecture has grown over the past few weeks, I've picked up on some projects which have recently been in the news - Masdar, the eco-city in the Abu Dhabi desert, which Sir Norman Foster is currently involved in developing; The Darwin Centre (mentioned in my earlier blog), the Bird's Nest Stadium and "Bubble Building" built for the Beijing Olympics, and just this week, the "Digital Cloud", a huge futuristic steel mesh tower topped by a "cloud" of transluscent bubbles proposed as a tourist attraction for the London 2012 Olympic park.
Are these amazing buildings evolving as a result of new materials, design and building techniques? Is this the way that architecture is going to develop for the 21st century? What did the architects in the group think of these buildings with a big "Wow" factor?

The Digital Cloud proposed for the London 2012 Olympic Park

It was suggested that architects have a responsibility to design buildings for people - not for the "Wow" factor  - a point which was much considered in Alan Powers' selection. And yes, of course, funcionality is key to a successful building - we all know buildings which are a pleasure to be in, and those which are not, but equally, we acknowledge the inspirational effect which amazing buildings can have. But how will architecture develop now that architects are not limited by the need to use brick or stone or timber? Instead, will new designs be limited by environmental issues and the need for careful use of resources, or will these problems lead to new, inspiring and imaginative design solutions.

There were some strong opinions about the influence of Computer Aided Design (CAD) and the design possibilities offered which can not be achieved through traditional drawing methods. There were also strong feelings about the "loss" of drawing skills and the trend towards extravagant design "just because we can". One of the architects explained about the intuitive qualities of drawing and the importance of transforming first thoughts into lines on paper during the earliest parts of the design process, a point which I can appreciate as an artist. I know from experience how very quickly the act of drawing raises questions and highlights problems concerning structure and form. It would be interesting though to hear the other side of these arguments from architects who have been brought up with CAD as an essential tool.

Links:
Masdar - http://www.fosterandpartners.com/Projects/1515/Default.aspx
Bird's Nest Stadium - http://www.architectsjournal.co.uk/beijing-birds-nest-stadium-wins-coveted-lubetkin-prize/5205134.article

Bubble Building - http://www.inhabitat.com/2007/02/27/bubble-building-national-swim-center-in-beijing/
The Digital Cloud - http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/8350770.stm

WALK AND TALK

Gale force winds and torrential rain didn't keep visitors away from the galleries yesterday, and perhaps even encouraged them to stay longer than they might otherwise have done. It was interesting to meet a mixed group of people who had all come to the De La Warr Pavilion with different agendas on Saturday. Some had come to look at the sea being whipped up by the storm, others were there for a day of culture and entertainment - lunch, architecture, Heritage Orchestra and Beardyman.

During our walk through the exhibition we thought about ways in which we explore spaces using all our senses, touching the cold smooth surfaces of the marble used in Tony Fretton's British Embassy and the De La Warr's brass bannisters, imagining the smell of old wood on the staircase at Clouds House, the breeze blowing around the square of the Economist Plaza, the sound of footsteps echoing through the vaulted spaces of St Marys, Wellingborough. I remember how blind friends have told me of their strategies for getting to know their way around buildings by counting their paces between rooms, by listening to changes in the sound of their footsteps or feeling variations in texture under foot and hand.