alter / altar
In alter / altar, four modular tiles are selected and placed atop a table to form an assemblage; together they are an ode to the mundane, the unseen, to personal language, and to shared experiences. The composition uses cast glass and aluminum, as well as soft materials (fabric, fur, string, and bubble wrap,) placed either on the steel table or in waiting on a shelf. As there are a variety to choose from, the tiles serve as a cohesive visual poem, echoing one another, as separate pieces connected to a larger world of familiarity. Drawing inspiration from designer Andrea Zittel, the table questions ideas regarding function, purpose, and specificity.
[video runtime: 8:01]
beginning questions and considerations:
does an object hold a feeling? must an object serve a purpose?
by placing things, am i storing them? what is display, and what is storage? what is significant, and what is simply there?
I believe that the object is a vessel for experience. I belive that an altar and storage can be one--that beauty and function are equally necessary.
influences and precedent:
1) Andrea Zittel is an artist and designer whose work has largely influenced my project. She creates individualized built spaces which question ideas around experience, participation, literalness, and function. Two tables, Dishless Dining Table (fig 1) and Designated Dining Table (fig 2), prompted me to think of purpose within the specific form of a table. Her work additionally served as material inspiration for my project.
2) Christopher Alexander’s 15 Principles of Nature (fig 3) have been a guiding theory across my work. a few which are predominant in this work include centers, roughness, echoes, inner calm, and not-separateness. His theories prompt me to think about the interactions within space and the affective quality of objects.
In alter / altar, things go in, things go out, they rest, are removed.
Here is a table.
For my thesis, I have created a steel table with interchangeable tiles which explore ideas as just mentioned. Specifically, I will describe function, personal language, and poetics, as the three major themes.
First, function:
I considered function as it relates to the tiles as a synthesis of my experiences and memories. I thought of gatherings: casual, formal, kitchen tables, potluck meals, meeting friends at a bar, sitting outside on the couch. what needs are present?
Perhaps: A candle holder, for light. A tray, for trinkets. Something soft, for something delicate. A rock collection finds a home, bespoke.
Through designated design, they become sculptural, special.
Reflection, looking inwards. candlelight for mourning, for remembrance.
A spiral to trace, a steady motion moving in and out, the motion of a breath.
Touching, another form of grounding. soft fur, gentle and enveloping.
Raised bumps for a finger to climb and maneuver.
Beyond architects and designers, I am deeply inspired by the built environment, and seek to find it’s colors and ugliness and happenings in my work. cracks in pavement, sidewalks, electrical boxes, hardware, cinder blocks, fences and abandoned junk…Function and non-function; abstracted function; the lack of function—the aesthetic.
Second, personal language
Beyond the emotional and designed intentions behind this project, I will always be subject to materiality and the visual. I am always developing my personal language, and this project saw a continuation of the themes I have been drawn to recently, reworked.
Metal as a medium has become a central force in my work. I love silver, highly polished pieces. I think of my jewelry collection, of ornament, of the machined. In contrast, the steel table is left dark and raw, made with blued plate and rusted rod.
Over last block I learned how to cast aluminum and glass, and soon knew it would become a central part of thesis. Polished aluminum carries a refined yet rough surface depending on the level of finishing. It carries a quality of being alive, looking softer than it is. As a new process, the casting pieces
In casting, I work in positive and negative. They create each other, fundamentally connected. Even in the other mediums I work in, from darkroom to print making, the positive and negative is an essential process and way of thinking.
Literally, it is in black and white.
A neutral color palate naturally appeared due to my choice in materials.
White fabric and black thread. Here, we move into the unseen.
knotted, tied, sewn, binded. organic and unruly. soft objects contradict the hard. they are the body, the mortal to spiritual.
Echoes.
Tiles converse with one another, a tableaux. they are whole independently, and still strengthened as a group.
Finally, Poetics
As the table acts as a place to create or view a sort of visual poetry, there exists an in between, the affective state.
Arrangement and selection force a dialogue as the transformation from a viewer to an interactor occurs. The external result is caused by internal intention, realized or not. While not created with the purpose of being a spiritual object, the act of transformation hopefully evokes a sense of authorship, wonder, and familiarity within the interactor.
[full video can be found here]