Endless House - Frederick Kiesler 1953- 9 →

One of the most direct personification of adopting chiaroscuro in filmmaking would be Ingmar Bergman, often informed his photography with realism.

Wild Strawberries – 1957

Composition and light arrangment of the artifact - at anatomy museum (proveglia)

Currently working on a set of models dealing with the creation of the renaissantce light. I am particualr inspired by renaissantce painting techniqe -

Chiaroscuro (lightdark in Italian) is one of the three techniques originated during the Renaissance period on colored paper at the 16^th Century. The characteristic of the art is the strong contrast between light and dark, often this painting technique is used to illuminate three dimensional objects such as the human body.  The composition of light, shadow and the shadow casted by the object achieve a sense of volume, depth which later lead to the study of perspective.

The chiaroscuro is broadly applied in modeling self portrait, woodcut and engraving compositional technique by creating the illuminating glow as the focal point; moreover it influenced the development of 20^th century photography and cinematography. Chiarosuuro is later evolved into the indication of extreme low-key light to create distinct area of light and darkness in films.

One of the most direct personification of adopting chiaroscuro in filmmaking would be Ingmar Bergman, often informed his photography with realism.

The aim is to use the site condition to recrete this unique light condition to light the artifacts. The basic priciples invovled strong contrast lighting, creation of shadow. Architecturally I am also reading about the Endless house, by Frederick Kiesler.

Currently developing the structural aspect of my design. The aim is to produce a lightweight structure for the inner skin (dermis). Over the weekend, I have reviewed the use of concrete, bamboo and timber as major construction material, and I have decided to do a series of structural test with Ash wood as well as bamboo.

Inspired by Japanese architecture Shigeru ban, the structure principles of my design are based on a simple grid shell, which would be mould into an ideal curve on site.

The photos above shows a series of 1:200 prototypes I have done over the weekend.  At the moment I am working on a series of 1:50 model.

Structure and Construction method research

 

Geotextile construction – the new landscape of Poveglia located at the courtyard between the hospital and church.

 

Currently looking at fabricated system that would allow me to create a seamless surface, for the geo-textile to strength across from the ground to the roof.

The laser cut model is the first prototype for the geo-textile – this system is inspired by FOA, the South East coastal park – Barcelona, Spain – the concrete conveyor belt tilling system.

Lastest drawing, two sections, one cut away perspective  and the master plan. Currently I working on the plan for two galleries (coppler plates and structural galleries).

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Bird Mask - Plague doctor

A broadside on doctors in Italy and their protective clothing against the plague; with an engraving after an Italian broadside showing a figure dressed with along coat, gloves, mask and hat, holding in the right hand a stick with a winged hourglass, in the left background the same figure and children running away, in the R background a view of an Italian city.

► A wide-brimmed black hat worn close to the head. At the time, a wide-brimmed black hat would have identified a person as a doctor, much the same as how a hat may identify chefs, soldiers and workers nowadays. The wide-brimmed hat might have also been used as partial shielding from infection.

► A primitive gas mask in the shape of a bird’s beak. A common belief at the time was that the plague was spread by birds. It was thought that by dressing in a bird-like mask, the wearer could draw the plague away from the patient and onto the garment the plague doctor wore. The mask also included red glass eyepieces, which were thought to make the wearer impervious to evil. The beak of the mask was often filled with strongly aromatic herbs and spices to overpower the miasmas or “bad air” which was also thought to carry the plague. At the very least, it may have served a dual purpose, also dulling the smell of unburied corpses, sputum, and ruptured bouboules in plague victims.

► A long black overcoat. The overcoat worn by the plague doctor was tucked in behind the beak mask at the neckline to minimize skin exposure. It extended to the feet, and was often coated head to toe in suet or wax. A coating of suet may have been used with the thought that the plague could be drawn away from the flesh of the infected victim and either trapped by the suet, or repelled by the wax. The coating of wax likely served as protection against respiratory droplet contamination eventhough it was not known at the time if coughing carried the plague. It is likely that the overcoat was waxed to simply prevent sputum or other bodily fluids from clinging to it.

► A wooden cane. The cane was used to both direct family members to move the patient and other individuals nearby, and possibly to examine the patient with directly. Its precise purpose with relation to the plague victim isn’t known.

► Leather breeches. Similar to waders worn by fishermen, leather breeches were worn beneath the cloak to protect the legs and groin from infection. Since the plague often tended to manifest itself first in the lymph nodes, particular attention was paid to protecting the armpits, neck, and groin.

The plague doctors’ clothing also had a secondary use: to intentionally frighten and warn onlookers. The bedside manner common to doctors of today did not exist at the time; part of the appearance of the plague doctor’s clothing was meant to frighten onlookers, and to communicate that something very, very wrong was nearby, and that they too might become infected. It is unknown how often or widespread plague doctors were, or how effective they were in treatment of the disease. It’s likely that while offering some protection to the wearer, they may have actually contributed more to the spreading of the disease than its treatment, by unknowingly serving as vectors for infected fleas to move from host to host.

Parallel Works

Parallel Works

A film :Ghost Adventures Poveglia island/ Memento                  

A book :The Eye of Skin

A character

A process: Dissecting, suturing, peeling, cuting, crafting, folding - drawing/model  
An event: The Skin - Wellcome Collection, Skin Graph - Kinetica Art Fair 2011

An aesthetic language: Dissect / Suture/ Double skin/ Organs / The cut

A cultural theory: Tension between Religion, Moral and Science in Italy

An historical period: The missing plates at the 16th Century - The anatomy museum at the 19th Century - Now

A design method: Translation between Body - Cut - Space

A theory on the future : Cyborg

A theory on the present: Body Implants / Cloning

A theory on the past:  Casting (Wax, Plaster)

A primary material: Geotextile, The earth

A secondary material: Timber, Aluminium, water

A building system: On-site fabrication

A environmental position: Deep surface water filter

Wellcome Collection - SKIN →

[ City of culture of Galcia ] Peter Eisenman