interior portraits ii: sonneveld

S O N N E V E L D

INTERIOR PORTRAITSVOL II : SONNEVELD HOUSE

Nathalia Martinez Saavedra

December 2014Rotterdam, The Netherlands

Para Nano y Elena“El tiempo es el mejor autor; siempre encuentra un final perfecto”.

IMPRINT

© 2014 Interior Portraits Vol. II: SonneveldAll rights reserved

No part of this book may be reproduced in any form without pririor permision of the author.Nathalia Martinez Saavedran.martinez.saavedra@gmail.com

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

Many thanks to PZI and MIARD for awarding me this grant. This research would not have been possible without the valuable support of Reneé Turner, Alex Suarez and Füsun Türetken who encouraged me to continue the development of this project.

Special thanks to Hetty Berens and Het Nieuwe Instituut for their interest and constant support during my short residence in the Huis Sonneveld.

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ABSTRACT

Interior Portraits is based on the different readings that image making can generate in domestic spaces. The principles of photography as light, reflection, time and ex-posure were used to contribute to the visual analysis of the hidden and immaterial

qualities of interiors, therefore altering the perception of space.For the Sonneveld House, the project develops further the concept of Time, that

through long exposures and sequencing act as part of an extended narrative. Capturing the traces of temporary inhabitants, and producing a Camera Obscura to generate a two-way portal between inside and outside, led to the construction of a larger collection. This collection aims at overlapping multiple scenarios to visualize

time passing and memories trapped in this iconic modernist house.

SONNEVELD HOUSE

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INTRODUCTION

Interior Portraits is an emergent research field based in the different readings that image making, particularly photography can generate to an interior space. Understanding multiple layers of events and visualizing hidden atmospheres contained in space are the general motivation for this growing project. I use the principles of photography as light, reflection, time and exposure in order to contribute to a wider visual exploration of the material and immaterial qualities of interiors.

Based on the experiments and reflections developed in the first phase of Interior Portraits: Nolenstraat, I continued to explore the different layers of information and atmospheres contained in the domestic interior that are normally not visible to the eyes. Through visual research, I once more try to unveil diverse scenarios that simultaneously exist by deeply studying and documenting the same interior space during a period of three months. With the use of diverse photo camer-as and fundamental image-making techniques, this collection will continue to grow, offering new ways for perceiving and experiencing interiors to reveal and provoke new ways of representing and understanding spaces.

In my practice as an architect working with photography, I base my research on exploring the structures of built spaces and the different understandings of place that could be achieved through its representations. Not only do the photograph-ic works function as still images, but they act as part of an extended narrative through juxtapositions and sequencing.

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The use of these image-making tools for the exploration of Modern Architecture Icons as the Sonneveld House, aim at triggering an alteration of the architect’s initial design intentions by using visual (non physical) interventions. The second phase of this research continues to explore these hidden elements through some of the photographic techniques already mentioned, but this time taking the visual analysis to this 1930’s preserved interior space. In the particular case of the Sonneveld house, the aim is to contribute to its already extended archive by using several photographic methods to analyze the interior through the con-cepts of time, space and memory. I believe that by using these methods I can generate new readings of this interior and discover different layers and hidden narratives probably overlooked in the past.

My interest in Modern architecture in relation to image representation lies in dif-ferent aspects. I am fascinated by the idea of Modernist Icons being extensively analyzed and represented in many different ways. The Sonneveld House in Rotterdam is one of the supreme achievements of Nieuwe Bouwen, the Dutch branch of the International School of Modernism. The architects Brinkman and Van der Vlugt built the house in 1933 for Albertus Sonneveld and his family. Their goal as designers was to create a Modern living environment where light, air and space became the main elements. Today the restored Sonneveld House that was once a carefully designed home is now a place “standing still in time”; even though it looks like a domestic space, it is barely used as one. All of the rooms are yet to be used, but only by temporary visitors that follow a path as distant observers. Moreover, as Modern architecture widely explored the relation between interior and exterior, I approached the Camera Obscura technique in order to stress this relation by visually merging both spaces into one. When producing a Camera Obscura, the external space leaks into the interior, the window is no longer a peephole, but becomes a two-way portal between inside and outside; literally transforming the house into a camera that can docu-ment its own context. The intersection of the 1930’s preserved interiors against the 2014’s contemporary surroundings produces a juxtaposition of two parallel places that talk about different times.This collection aims at overlapping diverse scenarios and producing multiple readings of this iconic modernist house to visualize time passing while altering the perception of space.

TIME, SPACE & MEMORY

“Time, like mind, is not knowable as such. We know time only indirectly by what happens in it: by observing change and permanence; by marking the succession of events among stable settings; and by noting the contrast of varying rates of change.”

G. Kubler, The Shape of Time (1978)

Mrs. Sonneveld Desk: Silver gelatin print (2014)

Mr. Sonneveld’s Study: Silver gelatin print (2014)

Living room: Silver gelatin print (2014)

Living room’s window: Silver gelatin print (2014)

Piano: Silver gelatin print (2014)

Dinning from Living room: Silver gelatin print (2014)

Dinning room: Silver gelatin print (2014)

Service bedroom: Silver gelatin print (2014)

Kitchen table: Silver gelatin print (2014)

Studio I: Silver gelatin print (2014)

Studio II: Silver gelatin print (2014)

Stairscase corridor: Silver gelatin print (2014)

Bathroom: Silver gelatin print (2014)

Telephone: Silver gelatin print (2014)

Master bedroom: Silver gelatin print (2014)

COLOR FILTER

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COLOR FILTER

The house has its own implicit color filters invisible to our eye and hidden from normal photographs. While attempting to create the dif-ferent photographic filters, the house became a helpful tool for the creation of various color lenses. With the multi-colored curtains, a new interior was formed. These hanging pieces of fabric that are normally opened to provide as much natural light as possible, were in this case closed off to add a new layer of information. The light filtered by the curtains, dyes the interior with colors that were before unperceived. Colored light blends with the interior’s col-ored walls and furniture to create new tones, therefore revealing new perceptions of space.

Polaroid Series: On color and light

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Living room Orange: Natural Color Filter (2014)

Dinning room Blue: Natural Color Filter (2014)

IMMATERIAL TRACES

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HOUSE MUSEUMMapping Traces

“A trace is ephemeral, a locus of ambivalence suspended in the unsta-ble space between construction and dispersal, presence and absence. A trace is very little, almost nothing. But it is also an index of life.” G. Orozco - Cosmic Matter and Other Leftovers

Long exposure photographs capture the impression of time passing into one frame by registering the traces of movement.The subjects or objects in movement are not captured in full form.; what is captured is their traces in the space. That is to say that though the image of the subject is not visible, it doesn’t mean that the subject in not present.In the Sonneveld House, even though the built space has remained physically unaltered, what has changed through time is the way the space is occupied.The Sonneveld House was restored in 2001 exactly as it was first con-ceived. The interior spaces once carefully designed as a home, is now a place frozen in time that, although looks like a domestic space, is not used as one. All of the rooms are still utilized, but only by temporary inhabitants that follow a laid-out path. Several boundaries and lim-itations are encountered to control the access of the visitor to certain spaces. Mapping out the new paths of the visitors reveal a new floor plan of domestic usage based on a real space but temporary occupancy. When documenting with long exposure techniques, the camera captures the movements of the visitors. Throughout longer periods of time, these traces disappear as images thus remaining only as a ghostly presence imprinted on the photograph.

Floorplan: Ground Floor

Floorplan: First Floor

Floorplan: Second Floor

CAMERA OBSCURA

Fireplace: Camera Obscura (2014)

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THE HOUSE AS THE CAMERAInterior Photograms

“Any room can become a camera”. Abelardo Morell

The projection of the up-side down exterior in full color and the live motion on the interior’s walls creates a dramatic effect that transforms the way the room is perceived and lived. When producing a Camera Obscura, the external space leaks into the interior, the window is no longer a peephole, but becomes a two-way portal between inside and outside; literally transforming the house into a camera that can document its own context. In the Sonneveld house, the intersection of the 1930’s preserved interiors against the 2014’s contemporary surroundings produces a juxtaposition of two parallel places that talk about different times.

The effect of the Camera Obscura not only generates a connection be-tween interior and exterior, but also allows to inverse the process of taking a picture. Normally, taking a picture is about bringing a camera into a space and documenting it. In the case of producing a photogram, the space is transformed into a camera by using its window as the lens and the walls as the photosensitive surface that documents the exte-rior from the inside. The final photograms are unique copies that cannot be reproduced. An upside down, blurry and negative version of the exterior is captured as an actual image but without the use of an apparatus. The interior has actually been transformed into the camera.

Desk: Camera Obscura (2014)

Library: Camera Obscura (2014)

Still from video: The house as the Camera View from the Livingroom

Still from video: The house as the CameraView from the Dinningroom

Photogram: The Sonneveld house as the CameraSilver Gelatin Print (2014)

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THE VASEWitness of Time

“Objects are not inert and mute but they tell stories and describe trajectories” (Marks, 2000). Laura Marks, in her book Skin of the Film, explains the importance of the tight relationship between object and memory. She further ana-lyzes the anthropomorphic qualities of thing by referring to Walter Benjamin’s idea of Aura. “Aura is the quality in an object that makes our relationship to it like a relationship with another human being. It seems to look back at us (Marks, 2000)”. In the Sonneveld House, the vase lying next to the window in the living room, can be seen as a paradigmatic physical expression of this relation. It captures the traces of the evolving exterior and simultaneously bares witness to the static interior domesticity.

Image of original Vase: Mrs. Sonneveld DeskSilver Gelatin Print (2014)

LIVE PERFORMANCESilver Gelatine Photogram imprinted on Glass Vase

The unfixed image of the Sonneveld House’s souroundings burns in contact with light. The photogram disappears before the spectator’s eyes, turning the object into a temporary memory receptor and becoming a witness of time.

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LIST OF ORIGINAL IMAGES

-Cover. Martinez, N. (2014) Fireplace: Camera Obscura [Photograph] In possession of: The author: Rotterdam-Page 10. Martinez, N. (2014) Through the curtains: Silver Gelatine Print [Photograph] In possession of: The author: Rotterdam-Page 17. Martinez, N. (2014) Mrs. Sonneveld Desk: Silver Gelatine Print [Photograph] In possession of: The author: Rotterdam-Page 18. Martinez, N. (2014) Mr. Sonneveld’s Study: Silver Gelatine Print [Photograph] In possession of: The author: Rotterdam-Page 19. Martinez, N. (2014) Living room: Silver Gelatine Print [Photograph] In possession of: The author: Rotterdam-Page 20. Martinez, N. (2014) Living room’s window: Silver Gelatine Print [Photograph] In possession of: The author: Rotterdam-Page 21. Martinez, N. (2014) Piano: Silver Gelatine Print [Photograph] In possession of: The author: Rotterdam-Page 23. Martinez, N. (2014) Office: Silver Gelatine Print [Photograph] In possession of: The author: Rotterdam-Page 24. Martinez, N. (2014) Dinning from Living room: Silver Gelatine Print [Photograph] In possession of: The author: Rotterdam-Page 25. Martinez, N. (2014) Dinning room: Silver Gelatine Print [Photograph] In posses-sion of: The author: Rotterdam-Page 26. Martinez, N. (2014) Service bedroom: Silver Gelatine Print [Photograph] In pos-session of: The author: Rotterdam-Page 27. Martinez, N. (2014) Kitchen table: Silver Gelatine Print [Photograph] In posses-sion of: The author: Rotterdam-Page 28. Martinez, N. (2014) Studio I: Silver Gelatine Print [Photograph] In possession of: The author: Rotterdam-Page 29. Martinez, N. (2014) Studio II: Silver Gelatine Print [Photograph] In possession of: The author: Rotterdam-Page 30. Martinez, N. (2014) Stairscase corridor: Silver Gelatine Print [Photograph] In possession of: The author: Rotterdam-Page 31. Martinez, N. (2014) Bathroom: Silver Gelatine Print [Photograph] In possession of: The author: Rotterdam-Page 32. Martinez, N. (2014) Telephone: Silver Gelatine Print [Photograph] In possession of: The author: Rotterdam-Page 33. Martinez, N. (2014) Master Bedroom: Silver Gelatine Print [Photograph] In pos-session of: The author: Rotterdam-Page 37. Martinez, N. (2014) On color and light: Polaroid Series[Photograph] In posses-sion of: The author: Rotterdam-Page 39. Martinez, N. (2014) Dinning table: Natural Color Filter [Photograph] In posses-sion of: The author: Rotterdam

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-Page 40. Martinez, N. (2014) Living room Orange: Natural Color Filter [Photograph] In possession of: The author: Rotterdam-Page 41. Martinez, N. (2014) Dinning room Blue: Natural Color Filter [Photograph] In possession of: The author: Rotterdam-Page 45. Brinkman and Van Der Vlugt (1931) Based on the Original Sonneveld House Floorplans - Mapping traces: Ground Floor [Drawing] In possession of: The author: Rot-terdam-Page 46. Brinkman and Van Der Vlugt (1931) Based on the Original Sonneveld House Floorplans - Mapping traces: First Floor [Drawing] In possession of: The author: Rotterdam-Page 47. Brinkman and Van Der Vlugt (1931) Based on the Original Sonneveld House Floorplans - Mapping traces: Second Floor [Drawing] In possession of: The author: Rot-terdam-Page 49. Martinez, N. (2014) Dinning traces: Long Exposure [Photograph] In possession of: The author: Rotterdam-Page 51. Martinez, N. (2014) Study traces: Long Exposure [Photograph] In possession of: The author: Rotterdam-Page 53. Martinez, N. (2014) Livingroom traces: Long Exposure [Photograph] In posses-sion of: The author: Rotterdam-Page 56. Martinez, N. (2014) Fireplace: Camera Obscura [Photograph] In possession of: The author: Rotterdam-Page 59. Martinez, N. (2014) Leather curtain I: Camera Obscura [Photograph] In posses-sion of: The author: Rotterdam-Page 60. Martinez, N. (2014) Desk: Camera Obscura [Photograph] In possession of: The author: Rotterdam-Page 61. Martinez, N. (2014) Library: Camera Obscura [Photograph] In possession of: The author: Rotterdam-Page 63. Martinez, N. (2014) Leather curtain II: Camera Obscura [Photograph] In posses-sion of: The author: Rotterdam-Page 63. Martinez, N. (2014) Leather curtain II: Camera Obscura [Photograph] In posses-sion of: The author: Rotterdam-Page 65. Martinez, N. (2014) Still from video: The house as the Camera - View from the Livingroom [Video Still] In possession of: The author: Rotterdam-Page 67. Martinez, N. (2014) Still from video: The house as the Camera - View from the Dinning room [Video Still] In possession of: The author: Rotterdam-Page 69. Martinez, N. (2014) Photogram: The Sonneveld house as the CameraSilver Gelatin Print [Photogram] In possession of: The author: Rotterdam-Page 71. Martinez, N. (2014) Image of original Vase: Mrs. Sonneveld Desk - Silver Gelatin Print [Photograph] In possession of: The author: Rotterdam-Page 73. Martinez, N. (2014) Silver Gelatine Photogram imprinted on Glass Vase [Photo-gram] In possession of: The author: Rotterdam

IMPRINT

© 2014 Interior Portraits Vol. II: SonneveldAll rights reserved

Nathalia Martinez Saavedra n.martinez.saavedra@gmail.com