Sanctuary

Rosebay willow herb is a ruin-loving plant, the weed of decayed modernity. [...] It is known too as fireweed; the plant is a marker of disruption and decay, and grows on charred ground after forest fires have destroyed all other vegetation. So attuned is it to such sites that if it does not appear in the wake of a fire it is sometimes sown as to start the process of organic regeneration - it is a plant of hope as much as ruination. At the seminary, it seems to stand sentinel in rows about the buildings, as if gaily awaiting some ritual or celebration by which the complex might be brought back to life.

Dillon, 2011

I thought I would start with the beautiful words of Brian Dillon from his new fiction, Sanctuary. I finished reading the book on the train back from the NVA's book launch of To Have and To Hold at the Edinburgh International Book Festival. Both books take inspiration from, what many would argue is Gillespie, Kidd & Coia's greatest achievement, St. Peter's Seminary, in Cardross. What differentiates the books is Dillon's is one of fiction, as with the quote, only referring to the "the seminary", but without a doubt, St. Peter's is source of the fantastically rich and descriptions language of a ruined seminary on the outskirts of a large city (i.e. Glasgow).

The story, although a little close to home, describes the girlfriend of an artist/ filmmaker/ general eclectic sort on a search for her lover who has disappeared amongst the ruins of "the seminary". For the record, my work focuses on St. Bride's, and I'm single, so it is definitely not biographical. Joking, and general story aside, Dillon paints an overwhelming description of the artists fascination with the seminary. For me, this work of fiction is, in relation to the descriptions of the seminary, a work of non-fiction, and punctuates this "fascination" certain demographics have with architecture from the Modern Movement. Another quote from Dillon succinctly explains the draw such structures have:-

He found his way inside the main block because this was the space, in the countless photographs taken by previous visitors and architecture enthusiasts, that had first convinced him there was something to be explored, some story or image that was not yet exhausted by the bare facts of the seminary's history and the aesthetic banality of its present ruination. The place, he told her, was too good to be true: it was a modern cliché on a monumental scale, and in its very obvious romanticism there must be some remainder, a quality that was still invisible to those who had been there before him.

Where I diverge from our missing protagonist, is this quality he seeks that has not been found by those who have visited before. I feel my practice, began in a very similar fashion, finding out about St. Peter's through photographs on websites such as the Hidden Glasgow Forums, but as my practice developed and focus turned towards the non-ruined St. Bride's, I began to question my own perceptions of these structures. Drawing on a wide range of sources, beyond simply site visits, perhaps removed some of the romance from the research, and introduced a pragmatism to my practice which prevented me from getting easily swept away.

The New RC Pavilion, is a physical manifestation of my own rationalisation of the forms which constitute the very particular branch of Gillespie, Kidd & Coia's Modernism. There is romance within the sculpture, floating above your head, with a handling of materials that is contradictory to the dogmas of the Modern Movement. I'm detached yet completely involved with the subject matter, with the empty space below the pavilion a platform for the open-ended discussion that has taken place throughout my Masters.

I'm content in the knowledge that it may say everything or nothing about our relationship with these icons of a nostalgia that is both complete fiction and non-fiction.

Nothing exists anymore but everything is like before, more true than natural, disengaged of every fragilities and imperfections that time put in stone and plaster.

Augé

TMOR

Things are drawing to a close, and in a period of rapid change in my work, I have neglected my blog. The Master's Show is two weeks out, and I'm almost complete one work, The New RC Pavilion, and contemplating the fate of what I've come to refer to as the "3D work". Instead of a blow by blow account of what I have been up to, I'll try and inject the thought processes as they've developed with the work.

The New RC Pavilion

The centrepiece and the physical manifestation of my Masters work, which I frame under the dramatic title of The Monument of Ruin, or TMOR (due to my enjoyment of industrial sounding abbreviations).

From the early stages of my Masters I identified that the work with St. Bride's, went beyond the digital, and a 3D model (projected or otherwise). The modelling afforded me, similar to undergraduate, an intimate understanding of the structure, but the "mythology" surrounding Gillespie, Kidd & Coia, had to be articulated in a physical object. The notion of a "pavilion", a Modernist Soap Box from which to deal with issues of the context, and ironies of the Movement as it is perceived today. Miles Glendining in his book, Architecture's Evil Empire - the triumph and tragedy of global modernism, succinctly gives reason for the prominence of Gillespie, Kidd & Coia's work in an age of what he refers to as "New Modernism":-

In places that were short of 'heroic' old modern egos, reputations could be posthumously manufactured. In Scotland, for example, where the 1950s and '60s had been dominated by the worth establishment of Sir Basil Spence and Sir Robert Matthew, New Modernist propagandists in the 1990s and 2000s constructed a myth of heroic genius around a local firm of postwar church designers, Gillespie, Kidd & Coia...

My opinion of Gillespie, Kidd & Coia has come full circle, initially displaying frustration towards the lack of dogma behind their work, then accepting it as part of the visual vocabulary of the Modern Movement, and again, feeling a slight aversion towards what I refer to as The Mac (Mackintosh School of Architecture) triumphalist touting of the firm. These are honest words from someone who has based his Masters on the firm, but I've now come to a point where I accept the "myth" of Gillespie, Kidd & Coia as part of their present day cultural value. Although no doubt Miles would disagree, there is a romance behind places like St. Peter's Seminary, and artists are drawn towards these visual queues that are, sometimes, loaded with fictitious ideologies.

Gillespie, Kidd & Coia, for me, represent a "high-art Modernism" as their brutish and striking buildings are endowed with histories that go to the core of our relationship with the Modern Movement. Similar to Sir Basil Spence's Queen Elizabeth Square, a poster boy for the Modernist high-rise in Scotland, with its demolition in 1993, it became a monument to this shift in opinion towards anti-Modernist rhetoric. So one could argue, that St. Peter's, like Queen Elizabeth Square, has become, as Miles suggests (with regards to GK&C's churches), a poster boy for a romanticised "Heroic Modernism" in Scotland.

The NVA are essentially attempting to re-asscribe cultural value to St. Peter's, and this notion, along with other dichotomous narratives which play out in GK&C's practice, are given centre stage on The New RC Pavilion.

I think I'm going to stop for the moment, as I've chewed through some momentous thought. I'll attempt to update later this week, going into a little more detail about plans for the Masters Show.

A Crisis of Faith

Perhaps not as melodramatic as it sounds, but my work is aggressively asserting itself as something I did not envisage when I began the Masters.

Let me explain, when I last updated my train of thought was coherently converging on ideas of the Modern Object as Monument - without purpose, an icon, a contradiction. These ideas manifested themselves in a "pavilion" like overhang, which free floats in space. The design was extracted from the altar overhang in St. Bride's, and the intention was/ perhaps still is to projection map the 3D model on to the physical model - using, for example, simulated light via the projection in an attempt to "make good" the poor quality of light in the real church.

So, I dutifully began discussing and measuring possible spaces, along with building a physical model to test out projection mapping. One of the possible spaces is shown below, called the IED Crit Space, it's a self contained room which would allow me to create the atmosphere, and ambience of St. Bride's, drawing all attention to my centrepiece altar/ pavilion overhang.

I've been drawn to this overhang form since I first visited the building back in October last year. It commands a presence over the space, and, without all the opulence and grandeur of a typical Catholic Church, defines itself as a new form of ornament. These details, are in my opinion, Gillespie, Kidd & Coia's real triumph. Of course there is the bombast of the overall structure, but the sculptural use of brick and concrete quite literally redefines the dialogues and narratives which normally take place in a church.

Alas, I'm having a crisis of faith, not in my resolve, but in the final form of what I've come to refer to as my pavilion. I made a cardboard model, less than one third the size of the planned final pavillion and it there's something dissatisfying about the form. I feel like there's "too much" mass/ form/ weight. Whilst I was building the model, I enjoyed the way the curves of the arches worked out with the main mass (see here). So this sent me on a slippery slope which has led to this crisis of faith, which does feel right, but would result in me having to let go of all, if not most of what I've done before, including using the 3D model of St. Bride's.

So from making the model, to summarise, here are some of the conclusions I've come to:

• I need height.
• I need light, be it projected or day light.

This post is a little all over the place, as I'm in the process of drafting a pro-forma for the Masters Show, and have to give an indication of what space I need. At first I needed an isolated room which would allow me to hang a heavy object from the ceiling; and was dark-ish. With thw prospect of extruding simply the curves from my overhang and hanging them, weight is reduced, and this opens the possibilities of spaces with much higher ceilings up. However these spaces carry the disadvantage of being share with the Master Show, and will most likely be day lit, so projecting may be out of the question.

The work is developing rapidly, and I intend to reign my thoughts in more frequently with a blog post.

The Monument of Ruin

My ideas are taking on momentum, albeit in my head, and I'm now in a place of conflict with my studio based work and written work. If I had finished my written work two weeks ago, I perhaps wouldn't have gotten to a point (two weeks before hand-in) where I want to vastly adjust the structure of the paper to include this new thought.

It is perhaps not as bad as I suggest, as the thoughts have really been triggered by the reading I've been doing on the Modern Movement as heritage, and how we deal with the paradox of a built environment which conflicts with present day mindsets. Since the early 2oth Century (arguably earlier in some respects) we have transferred from a very utilitarian manner of thinking to the individualism that has come to represent post-modernism. I feel a confidence in my own resolve to confront these notions head on in my own work, and really open up a dialogue with a present day audiences as to the history and current state of Modern Movement heritage.

By chance, in a lecture by Dr. Peter Hill on the topic of SuperFiction in art practice, highlighted new works by Nathan Coley opening at ACCA at the end of the month. The exhibition contains (amongst other things) "a civic plaza, defined by a series of cast concrete platforms in situ, inspired by designs of Oscar Niemeyer for Brazil's iconic capital city, Brasilia." and a performance piece by Cate Blanchett where the actress takes on the role of an architect discussing works created by her fictitious practice. This set off the notion in my head of the fictions often perpetuated by architects that places their buildings/ masterplans centre space in a utopian vision of reality. As is well documented, and what I belief Nathan is playing on in this work, is the stark contrast that often exists between "The Vision" and the reality. Indeed, I have been writing around the temporality of Modern Movement architecture, and the loss of Vision as time passes, function becomes obsolete, and only Monument is left (one could argue a contradiction in itself).

I am already in advanced talks with my sketchbook and head about a sculptural centrepiece which draws out the notions of identification of place through form (for example, in the case of a church, a crucifix can denote you're in the place of worship). The ecclesiastical work of Gillespie, Kidd & Coia still employed some of the more traditional typologies of church design, but instead of ornate marble columns they used concrete, or facing bring. The honesty of materials still denotes you are in a place of worship, due to the sculptural manner in which the materials are employed and the clever use of light. Take, for example, St. Bride's, there's a wonderful sombreness to the interior that contrasts with the bombast of the exterior. I want to capture this, and use it to begin a conversation about the Movement.

My work also seems to be gravitating away from St. Bride's as a focus. It's become more generally about ecclesiastical architecture of the Modern Movement. Taking these forms out of their context and in to a gallery space translates beautifully, as the gallery space can be as sombre as a church, and is almost devoid of function until an artist installs. From this, I want to bring in the idea of my centrepiece, being like a alter come pavilion (a nod of the head to GK&C as they designed the Roman Catholic Pavilion for the 1938 Empire Exhibition), where the viewer congregates around the structure, as if at mass.

The structure would take its form from an altar like base, simply three or so steps leading up to a pool of water. This pool denotes the decay and fragility of the Movement in the present day, and juxtaposes itself against the rigid forms of the structure (water features also played a role in some of GK&C work - notably St. Peter's Seminary). Suspended freely above the stepped based is the overhang of the altar from St. Bride's. I've chosen this form, as the repeating arches are a theme which can be seen across GK&C's work, and imply the form of an altar and pavilion. In terms of lighting, I intend to projection map the 3D aspects of St. Bride's employed in the structure to create the "quality of light" indicative of their work. This aspect of the idea is not fully resolved, as I want to perhaps involve some level of decay in the lighting, which again, gives subtle reminder to the notion that this object, in the context of the gallery, has no function, and is Monument and Ruin.

Again, in the very early stages of thinking, I would like to bring in some speakers during my Master's show to present from the altar. This references the dialogue I want to create with my work, but at this point in time, rather than create a fiction, as Nathan Coley intends to do with Cate Blanchett, the speakers would be openly discussing the concepts of the Modern Movement as Monument and Ruin, heritage, etc.

I'm bombarding Blogger with these ideas, as I need to put them down, so it may come across as an incoherent mess. Hopefully I will begin to post more frequently, avoiding these mega-posts.

Clarity of Thought

I always find it difficult when writing an academic piece to focus my thought, and my "mini-dissertation" (as I like to call it), is no different. At 4500 words, the word count is not (at this point), of major concern. The difficulty I have, is being concise, and linear. I have a tendency to "jump" around, and as such, some of the writing is reading convoluted. This blog post will, hopefully, clear my thought, as I tend to blog "key" pieces of information.

Gillespie, Kidd & Coia

The research is extensive, but the writing is proving difficult. I had an excellent meeting with a member of staff from RCAHMS who provided invaluable insight in to a lot of the background politics of the firm. Understanding the internal dynamics of Gillespie, Kidd & Coia gives understanding to their lasting legacy as such a predominant Modernist architecture firm with a relatively small portfolio of work.

One aspect of this legacy I had not previously considered was the firms very close ties with the Mackintosh School of Architecture (or 'the Mac'), through Jack Coia, Izi Metzstein and Andy MacMillan all (at one point of another) being former alumni and staff. Watters (1997) succinctly explains the relationship in the RCAHMS publication Cardross Seminary - Gillespie, Kidd & Coia and the Architecture of Postwar Catholicism:

"Academic interest in the work of the practice developed further in the early 1990s - a trend which Metzstein and MacMillan, both by then based at the Mackintish School, were well placed to nurture. Here the previous decade's transformation of Gillespie, Kidd & Coia and its key personnel from an active practice into university-basded academic dynasty began to encourage cross-fertilisation between the teaching of present-day architecture and the pursuit of heritage."

This in part almost creates the Myth that is Gillespie, Kidd & Coia, as I've previously stated, one touted by the Mackintosh School of Architecture. I am in no way suggesting the work of GK&C is actually less significant to the dialogue of postwar ecclesiastical architecture in Scotland, however I do feel their work deserves more scrutiny beyond the aforementioned rhetoric and triumphalism. Striking the balance, as an artist, is what I intend to do, and although something I would not normally do within such a short space of words, I want to quote the above RCAHMS publication, as it's refreshing honest account of GK&C work gives weight to my idea of "scrutiny":

Father Foley recalled one occasion in the early 1970s when Jack Coia showed a group of 'wide-eyed architectural students around the building while we mopped up the rain water from the floor'. (Watters, 1997)

This perfectly illustrates the dichotomy of the Modernist Catholic Church (and to a wider extent Modernism in general). A movement which trumpeted functionalism as one of its key aspirations, falling short on this goal. To be fair to GK&C their work is often regarded as a more individualistic (Rodger, 2007) strand of Modernism, and arguably form played as crucial a role in their work as function.

The Concept of Modern Heritage

Again, another area which I've decided to examine more closely, is the idea of Modernism as heritage. I like to band this word around a lot in reference to my own work, but I have not really stopped to consider what it actually means within the context of the Modern Movement. Although my time is limited, I intended to expand on the notion of heritage and my contribution to this as an artist.

I'm going to stop now, as this has helped, but I feel I need to start reading again.

I have neglected the blog of late, but over Easter I hope to do some consolidation posts cover off the key events in March.

Owen Hatherley and The Free Herrington

Yesterday, in an unplanned act of support for staff on strike at the University of Dundee I travelled to Glasgow, to attend a talk at the Free Hetherington being given by author/ journalist/ blogger extraordinaire Owen Hatherley. An interesting day that began with a bus trip passing through Cumbernauld (more below), which I will now summerise in this long overdue non-Placement related entry.

Cumbernauld Hit!

So, rather excitingly, my day began with the extended stop Megabus from Dundee to Glasgow - via Perth, Dunblane, Stirling, and Cumbernauld.

First off, a quick word about The Raploch in Stirling, an area of social and economic deprivation going through a massive regeneration programme. I know little of The Raploch, beyond a generalisation of its reputation as a "bad" area. Previously when passing through Stirling (a good two to three years ago), not much appeared to be going on in terms of architectural regeneration, with the only notable addition being a token Sainsbury's supermarket towards the edge of some baron fields. Now, there has been amass of construction in the form of community facilities and housing. It all looks very clean and fresh, and their website proclaims "... there has been extensive consultation and engagement with residents, local businesses and the Community Planning Partnership." Then you see mentions of the private sector, like George Wimpey, being involved in some of the property construction, and this instantly gets my back-up. I don't know enough about The Raploch to pass judgement, but there's something untenable about a so-caled community-driven regeneration involving the private sector (who tend not to do things out of the goodness of their heart). Still, I hope it works, and in 30 years time we can reflect on the success of the project. More details can be found on their website, linked below:-

http://www.raploch.com/Home.aspx

Now, on to the main event of my journey, passing through Cumbernauld. I'm not going to harp on about the brute that is the town centre (as I only passed underneath) but more a comment on the car-centric nature of the town. As a place that is often lambasted for its architectural design, Cumbernauld seems to work. The separation of pedestrians from traffic is still a reality, aside from the odd traffic light forced upon the town by Tesco, but you gracefully move from once side of the town to another with barely a sole in sight. I documented this with a short video taken on my iPhone and strung together quickly in Final Cut, displayed below:-

Cumbernauld Hit! from James Bell on Vimeo.

Towards the end of the second clip (on the right hand side) you will notice a strange yellow wing-like sculpture attached to the slope on the side of the road. There's also a blue version as you enter Cumbernauld from the east (which I didn't capture). To say the least, I'm not a fan. The "movement" of the sculpture as you drive is nice, but I don't like the attempt being made to soften the brutishness of the road. Tarting up the roadside does not negate or, in my opinion, should not distract from the fact we are travelling on man-made forms, which force their way through the natural landscape. Perhaps that is why I like modernism, and the town planning of the time, in that it did not concern itself with the beautification of the structures. There's an honesty about Cumbernauld that is lost with such sculptures, and, incidentally, I find the interplay between the overpasses and roads far more sculptural than this artistic slap.

Cumbernauld should engage with its heritage, not attempt to hide it.

The Free Hetherington

Now, after that self-indulgant tangent, I best discuss my visit to the Free Hetherington. In short the, former Hetherington Research Club was a postgraduate social club that closed last year following the beginning of cuts. The building, now illegally occupied by students, is at the forefront of the fight against cuts proposed by the University of Glasgow. I have never experienced student activism on such an extreme level, so the whole visit was fascinating.

It's an odd environment, and one which elicits a number of fleeting emotions. When I entered I was greeted, shown around the space, and told to make myself at home. Downstairs, the bar has a very relaxed cafe feel, there's music and active discussions taking place. I sat down, made some notes, and waited for Owen Hatherley to arrive (I was a little early). What put me on edge was when a fire alarm went off there was a sudden call to arms, with people bounding up and down stairs, shouting "No one in or out!". A hasty response, but understandable when you learn of an incident involving members of the GUU Board of Management (linked below):-

http://www.glasgowguardian.co.uk/news/guu-management-in-naked-hrc-intrusion/

There's something refreshing about the tangible student activism taking place at 13 University Gardens. All too often students become passive, and far too easily accept the status quo. I don't want to get in to my personal opinion on the resolve of the Free Herrington, but I'm happy to say I support this attention grabbing action and hope that Glasgow University open a dialogue with the occupiers.

Owen Hatherely

Now, it may not seem like it, but I actually went to the Free Herrington to see Owen Hatherely give a talk. Hatherely's impassioned commentary on the modernist movement in Britain has been of great influence to me, and enjoy his emotive writing style. So, on to the talk. There was a modernist tie-in but the talk, entitled "The Occupation of Space", was almost a verbatim recital of the below Guardian article, discussing the privatisation of student housing:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2010/dec/22/quill-private-student-housing

Once the talk was over, the discussion was far more engaging, ranging from New Labour planning law to the contentious GHA housing stock transfer. Insights? Many. Unfortunately though, the relevance to my studio practice was little. That said, it was certainly not a wasted journey, instead an interesting academic sidetrack.

Placement Day 2, 3 & 4: Visualising the Social Architecture of DCA

First off, a bit of plugging:-

http://www.dca.org.uk/whats-on/projects/visualising-the-social-architecture-of-dca.html

I'm now almost a month in to my day-a-week placement with SerenA, based in the VRC. It has been, challenging, to say the least. My understanding of space syntax is a little further forward, despite the complexities surrounding the theory. I find myself struggling more and more to describe space syntax beyond a rudimentary understanding of the term itself for fear of misrepresenting the theories behind it. This makes it even more difficult to apply it to my own data collection, as, I'm not sure what information I'm looking for use with space syntax. So, I'm taking a step back and attempting to develop my own methodologies for data collection, that may or may not be similar to those used in space syntax theory.

I've got to continually remind my self of the main focus, which is to "map" the social interactions within the VRC and by extension the DCA. Even this is more complex than it may sound. The ambiguity of the term "social interactions", needs refining, for example, giving certain importance to different types interaction, from the banal "Hello, how are you?" to a conversation that influences your work.

Speaking of conversations that influence my work. I have begun to speak with those who work/ study in the VRC day-to-day, and this further highlights the complex relationship "users" have internally with the space, and beyond this, the, as yet, undefined (in my opinion), relationship between the VRC and DCA. People create a minefield of various factors which effect space use, and by extension, social interaction. So, how do I move forward?

Keep it simple. During March I plan to run a few studies intended to collect data I wish to use. One thing, I can't get out of my head right now, is hide-and-seek, discussed by Hillier and Hanson (1984) which brings together the arrangement of space and the individual. In describing hide-and-seek, they explain: "the head predominates over the physical structure of the environment, which it uses actively and creatively."

There's something in this that I want to use, something I don't fully understand. I think, on a basic level, I like the notion of random exploration of space for the purpose of hiding. What would a map of hiding places in the VRC look like? Would it correlate with areas under-utilised? I'm not sure, but it's an idea I intend to refine.

Other studies I am considering for the VRC, and perhaps the DCA, are (but not limited to):-

• Diary maps - capturing social interactions.
• Observation of movement within space - in person, and via CCTV.
• Get a game of hide-and-seek.

I'm almost deliberately out of my depth with the project, and that's what makes it so challenging and interesting. Once I've formulated a more rigid programme of surveys I will update.

Wall of Light

It's difficult to visualise through this very flat "render" of St. Bride's interior, but those magnificent holes in the wall are light funnels. When there's roof on the building, and the model is lit in Maya, I'm hoping for some interesting effects on the interior.

My main module this semester is aptly named Advanced Production, so I'm taking the opportunity to prioritise getting the SketchUp model of St. Bride's finished and in to Maya. From there I can begin projection tests as early as March (provided there are only a few more headaches with modelling the building).

Modelling is a tedious yet enjoyable process, and one I associate with the core of my practice. It provides an exciting opportunity to "sculpt" in 3D, as, in stark contrast to my previous work, St. Bride's is a lot more ornamental and unique in it's design features. Individual artefacts such as the overhang above the alter give the building its brutish character and strong geometric forms - an important factor in modernism.

The process I follow in creating the model can almost be described as neurotic, with an extreme attention to detail. For example (shown below), the "wall of light" was modelled using the original flat plans, then translated to the main model using a scale ratio calculated from measuring the dimensions on the original. Not everything can be mathematically measured, scaled and placed however, which is where a little artistic licence comes in. This building is not the St. Bride's which currently stands in East Kilbride. It is an ideological interpretation from both the architects original plans, drawings, models and an artists obsession with post-war modernism in Scotland. I'm creating a building that will never exist in the physical, much like the modernist movement looked to a future that would never exist in the physical.

St. Bride's Modernist Dilema

The jury is still out on this buildings contribution to the ideologies of modernism, but I'm considering moving the conversation towards one between the Catholic Church and its new found style. There's a lovely connection between the imposing nature of the structure and the worship of God which takes within its walls. The juxtaposition between form following function and form actually enhancing function gives the building a greater relevance within the narratives of modernism.

The Social Logic of Space

I'm making progress with my work on placement. Once again I've attempted to understand space syntax through reading Bill Hillier's and Julienne Hanson's, The Social Logic of Space. I'm barely making it through the introduction, but as previously mentioned, my intention is not to become a knowledge on space syntax, but simply the underlying themes and questions space syntax attempts to answer. At the risk of mis-representing, I think it's best to wrap up with a little text analysis:-

"... it is so difficult to talk about buildings in terms of what they are socially, that it is eventually easier to talk about appearances and styles and to try to manufacture a socially relevant discourse out of these surface properties."
(Hillier, B. and Hanson, J., 1984)

It is so difficult to talk about modernism socially beyond its ideologies. The movement attempted to place the social relevance of a space at the forefront, but yet in many respects, this appears to have failed. This is why I want to understand modernist spaces on a much more social level, and where I think space syntax, and my placement with SerenA will allow this to develop.

Placement Day 1: Understanding syntax

On Thursday (10/02/10) I began my head first dive into my placement at the VRC, and to help collate my research I'm going to start updating my blog with a summary each week of all the exciting things I've discovered while on placement.

Space Syntax

I tried to ease myself in to the world of Space Syntax, with the paper: The City as One Thing by Bill Hillier and Laura Vaughan. I'm understanding some of the basics, like, as the paper more eloquently puts it: "Space syntax began from the observation that space is the common ground of the physical and social cities." Things took a downward turn when the paper began discussing formula in relation to axial space. My A in Higher Mathematics could not even save me, so I've had to re-evaluate my use of space syntax in understanding the social architecture of the DCA.

I'm an artist, which may sound like an academic copout, but my work intends to explore space syntax visually. Of course, I need data sets to inform my practice, and intend to develop my own hybrid data collection methodology, which is tailored to my limited understanding of space syntax.

Visualising the Social Architecture of the DCA

I intend to begin, with the VRC, and attempt to 'map' the social interactions of this space which will hopefully provide a template methodology that can be rolled out to the DCA as a whole. So how am I going to start? Well, with the basics. I want to capture peoples movements through the space, and map this movement onto a plan of the building. Then I need to capture places where people interact. More on this when I figure out how I'm going to do this, on Thursday.

I'm also going to try and get in contact with the architect, Richard Murphy, who designed the DCA, as "social" was definitely at the heart of his design.

The Dreaded New Years Blog Entry

So, I've put off long enough, it's time for my gargantuan post-Christmas Break/ New Year blog update. As you would imagine, a lot has happened in the (almost) month I've been back at university. I have been working, just not blogging, and as a result getting into a self-destructive cycle of daily accumulating more blog-worthy information but still putting off actually blogging it. The ironic thing is, I do find blogging useful, as it charts my thought process during Masters, but like that coffee (or tea in my case) you were meant to have with that old friend, you can so easily put it off - "I know we were supposed to meet up but...": "I have a hand-in due"; "I've got to go to the moon"; etc. There's no excuse, so here we are, updating my blog, which is a step towards actually meeting up for that cup of tea.

Ok, so now we're back on track, I will try and give as brief a possible overview I've undertaken since the last post, and where my practice is going.

St. Bride's and Magnificent Modernism

The modelling of St. Bride's coming along nicely, albeit slower than I would like. I'm spending time trying to capture the sculptural details which were (in my opinion) of critical importance to Gillespie, Kidd & Coia's visual language they developed for what I like to call The New Catholic Church. I'm moving towards projection tests of the model by the end of the month, which give me a feel for how I want to take the concept of Virtual Modernism forward. The delay has primarily been caused by a new focus of work I intend to undertake this semester, in short, the understanding of the modern social interactions present day users have with modernist structures.

Space Syntax

One thing my previous work lacked, was the social impact of modernist buildings on those who used them (who I will rather cleverly refer to as "users"). This was in part due to my regard of the social issues surrounding modernism giving birth to the stigmatism that often surrounds the movement, but it also was not knowing how to address the sticky goo that is human interaction with space. Space syntax may provide the answer to my woes. Understanding how a space is currently used, will allow me to compare and contrast the architects vision against the reality. Obviously the modernist utopia did not come to fruition, but there are still tangible ideas within modernist spaces that are often overlooked when the movement is shrugged off as a "failure".

I'm still in my very early days of research into space syntax, but I have been afforded the opportunity of a placement on the SerenA Project, based in the VRC, at Dundee Contemporary Arts. In effect I intend to use the DCA as test-bed for the theories of space syntax, and attempt to visual the outcomes in a conceptual manner. Like with St. Bride's, I intend to create a work that enters into a conversation with the viewer. In the case of the DCA, the viewer of any outcome may also be the user of the space, and as such the connection between the work and viewer becomes more profound.

Space syntax is a very well research area, and I'm not attempting to bring new theory, but instead, at the very least, enhance the visualisation possibilities of current space syntax visualisation. I would like to marry the ideas formulated from my concept of Virtual Modernism, and perhaps use more immersive installation based work to present space syntax data.

I'm equally fortunate (through involvement with SerenA) to have the opportunity to interact with Space Group, University College London (a leading voice in space syntax theory), who will no doubt will have a profound impact on my own artistic practice.

Now, I'm back on the blogging band wagon I intend more frequent updates with a greater focus on specifics. Right now, this is a general overview of where I am, and where I am going. No doubt over the coming weeks I will back-reference anything I've missed, and expand on anything I've not made clear.