mixed movements - performance-based drawing

8/12/2019 Mixed Movements - Performance-based Drawing

1/6

1

Mixed Movements- performance-based drawing

Helle Brabrand

Body and the making of architecture- su m m a r y o f a im s : Mixed Movementsis a research project engaged inperformance-based architectural drawing. The projectworks with dynamic drawing, relating architectonicimplementation to body and movements. My intentionwith the actual work is to present the drawing material asinteractive space-time tablets.

Architectonic implementation is a question ofrelations between the human body and a body of

architecture. These relations are activated by ourdifferent approaches to drawing materials. A drawing

may explore architectonic problems at other levels thanthose related to building. This exploration is a specialchallenge and competence implicit in the type ofarchitectonic research we call artistic development work.The project Mixed Movements generates drawingmaterial not primarily as representation orcommunication but as performance-based media,making the body being-in-the-media felt and appear as

operational forces.

M i x ed M o v e m e n t s as interactive space-time tablets- su m m a r y o f m e t h o d an di m p l e m e n t a t i o n :

Space-time tablet is a concept you may think of as akind of computer game or installation, presenting aseries of projected interactive drawings and relatedarchitectonic questions. The tablets present differenttectonic motives related to different forces of movement.The player meets a drawing tablet as an articulatedpulsating architectonic statement and, from here on, willbe able to walk into the drawing, transforming anddeforming its material.

Acting with a dynamic drawing, the player uses herown body movement. The body movements are

simultaneously transmitted into different parameters ofthe drawing material and also gives rise to discussscales and levels of implementation. The concept ofscale is understood here as a matter of different levels ofmeaning and presentation, as well as possible coursesof acting rather than a matter of size or drawingconventions.

Frames from different drawing-fields of a space-timetablet are presented as figure 1-3.

Transformation, deformation and singularity - su m m a r y o f t h e o r y an d m e t h o d : In questioning conception of architecture, the notion oftransformation and deformation seems especiallysuitable as two different categories of composing.

Transformation is the domain of diagram or thinkingwith architecture. A diagram is an arrangement ofmaterial and flow-through forces, which may transformthe material. Diagrams transform a material from oneform to another. The moves of the transformationproduce new places or singularities in a transformationseries. The diagram operates by making something

appear and what emerges is the Figureswitchingbetween force and form and between transformation anddeformation.

Deformation subordinates movement to force andalso abstraction to Figure. Deformation disturbs or twiststhe Figure, directly related to the different sense organsof the body. Sensation, Figure, is already anaccumulated sensation related to rhythm a rhythmrunning through a drawing as it runs through a piece ofmusic. Figure-rhythm relations are the vectors ofsensation they are what make a sensation pass fromone level to another. In the coupling of sensation, rhythmis already liberated; it confronts and unites the diverse

levels of different sensations: it is now resonance.

Keywordsmixed movements, space-time tablets, interactive drawing, transforming and deforming, diagram as thinking witharchitecture, resonance model, the body being-in-the-media,


2/6

2

Body and the making of architecture- a i m s :

H ow t o c h a l l e n g e a r c h i t e ct u r e b y t h e c a p a ci t y o f t h e b o d y t o a f f e c t a n d b e a f f e c t e d b y m o v e m e n t ? Mixed Movementsis a research project engaged inperformance-based architectural drawing. The workinscribes itself in a tradition that conceives the history ofbody and architecture as interwoven. Sanford Kwintercharacterizes such shifting relations. He points from theideal body of the renaissance, regulated by geometricfigures we know from Vitruvius, to the presentunderstanding, where this ideal body gives way to plasticmovements of a surfer.iKwinter describes the surfer notjust as a first mover but as a body effort that, in themiddle of currents and waves, finds emerging features,singularities and unfoldings she can interact with and

melt into through fluent techniques.

The drawing being challenged by this contemporarybody is the starting point for my project. Architectonicbecoming is a question of relations between the humanbody and a body of architecture with the relations beingactivated by our different approaches to drawingmaterials. A drawing may explore architectonic problemsat other levels than those directly related to building. Thiskind of exploration is a special challenge andcompetence implicit in architectonic research as artisticdevelopment work.Mixed Movements generates drawingnot primarily as representation or communication but asa performance-based media, making the body being-in-

the-media felt and appear as operational forces.

Mixed Movements starts in the middle of the current andconsiders the ordinary walking body as an event oftempo, rhythm and affect. Body movements are videorecorded, and the rhythm of both steps and mode ofmoving are reconstructed into a series of notations andinto figures and rhythms of the drawing.

In that way, the work is initiated by a focused sensingof the architect with the sensed being transferred into thedrawing. The drawing relates to hidden forces; it pointsout and incorporates the forces and makes them standout as modes of operation as well as expressions.

Art is able to anchor perceptions and feelings in amaterial. Thus, art is able to articulate perception andfeelings as independent blocks of sensations. To senseis to meet and exchange: the sensing is connected to thesensed and is thereby changed i.e., sensualbecoming is to become other, to come into beingthrough an encounter with forces inscribed intosurroundings, events and materials.

Architectonic becoming exchanges the body of thedrawing with the body of man. Space-time motives of thedrawings break through as differences or possible

worlds, meeting the sensible human body. From thebeginning, the way of tying forces and motives inmaterial and media is oriented towards indefinite life thuschallenging everyday repetitions. From the start,aesthetics and ethics are closely related endeavours,incorporated in the transforming and deforming ofdrawing.

Deleuze talks about the role of art as being able toappeal to the world we live in here and now.iiCharacteristics of everyday life are repetition and returnof the same. Art, therefore, must incorporate these

repetitions in order to expose their limits and therebyextract what is different and virtual. The task of a work ofart is to open passages from the actual to the virtual thusinterrupting repetition and converting copies intosimulations and a play of forces. Art extracts a little timein a pure state from the everyday repetitions and therebyopens the capacity of the body to be affected by change.

Converting copies to simulations is an already well-known bodily capacity. Deleuze talks about the everydaybody and the ceremonial body, the ordinary movementand the aberrant movement. He argues that these polesrather generate a passage than a difference from theone to the other: the non-perceptible passage fromattitude or position to gesture or kinaesthetic twist. To

twist body images is arts mode of operation. Theimages of the body are different to all other images - Iknow them from without through perception but also fromwithin by feelings. These feelings of body/world forcesare the material of art. Arts challenge is to catch andpresent these forces, not to reproduce or to find shapes -not to render the visible, but to render visible.

Mixed Movements opens a composition plane,questioning the passage from ordinary to aberrantmovement, from normal to grotesque body:

How to catch the current of everyday life and twist itinto dissimilar rhythms, challenging ordinary sensor-motor experience?

How to exploit transgressing power, to measurerhythmic intensity, and to effect and activate the body aspart of the drawing process? That is, how to incorporateintuitively created rhythmical changes into the slow workof assembling and breaking up motives, scales,materials and techniques?

And how to unfold these poly-rhythmic andpolyphonic drawings so that the compounded other-bodyof the material may resonate with the acting of thehuman body?


3/6

3

M i x ed M o v e m e n t s as interactive space-time tablets m e t h o d a n d

i m p l e m e n t a t i o n :H ow t o k i n a e s t h e t i c a l l y in t e r a c t w i t h d i f f e r e n t s c al e s a n d l e v e l s o f i m p l em e n t a t i o n ?

Space-time tablets is a format you may think of as akind of computer game. The interactive space-timetablets present projections of tectonic material activatedby operational forces; they do not mime possibly builtspaces. Nevertheless, the idea with the tablets is toprovoke the whole body and thereby exploit kinaestheticknow-how.

The space-time tablets present different tectonic motivesrelated to different movement forces. As a player, youwalk into a tablet and meet a rather advanced drawingmaterial: a pulsating architectonic statement that

consists of parallel levels of articulation. From here on,you can interact with the material using different kinds ofmoves. Acting in/with a dynamic drawing, you use yourown body movement related to features in the drawingmaterial. For example working with Wii- or Microsoftinteractive consoles, your handling of the material givesrise to sensual interactions as well as to discussions ofscale and level of implementation. The concept of scale Iaddress is a matter of different levels of meaning andpresentation, and also of possible courses of acting,rather than matters of size and drawing conventions.

The project will present four space-time tablets, eachopening up with a specific relation between tectonic

motives and movement forces. And each organized as aseries of different drawing-fields or modes of operation.The project is work-in-progress and the figures

selected are from a storyboard. Only one of the tectonicmotives is active in figure 1-3 below, dealing with a kindof woven fabric- or composite of surfaces- or membranesand lines- or rib/frames, related to a forward-backwardrhythm.

The first drawing-field is set up as an animated map orcontext. The map presents a tectonic and morphologictopology you may scale ambiguously, creating variablecondensations and sites for possible new inserts. Theplayer may move parameters of the map componentsforward and backward, affecting rhythm and form of theindividual characters, and thereby change theirinterrelations.

The diagram force of the drawing-field is this backand forth displacement of the components transforminglocal situations. The accompanying moves by the playersoftly deform the situations, twisted also by fine suture-or cutting lines and lines of associative-words. Figure 1 isa frame selected from this first drawing-field.

The second drawing-field uses frames from the animatedmap as a context for new space-time experiments. Theplayer may choose a single frame from the 3Dmap thathereby is changed into a 2Dmaterial. This 2Dmap-framenow acts as a template for intrusion of new componentsconstructed as local inserts or fragments. The fragmentsshow up as surfaces negotiating with the map-territory like fronts or entries suggesting something not yetdefined.

These new components activate a new diagram,which I call a passage-diagram that organizes differentpassage-motives as different types of pathways into the

field. Figure 2 is a frame selected from this drawing-field.A third drawing-field described below will relate to theseries-passage situated in the right lower corner offigure 2, and composed of the same fragment seen fromdifferent angles.

The third drawing-field chooses a passage-motive, i.e.,the series-passage-motive, and now functions as adrawing laboratory experimenting with space-time figuresrelated to the motive. The field now works withprovisional 3Dfragments, constructed as supple surfacesand contours you may break up, negotiatingheterogeneous characters, different thresholds andtimes. The passage is searched creating a resonance

model or kind of transparency between more times andplaces, using multi-exposures along with selection andrejection of component parameters. This multi-views aswell as techniques inverts the figure, inversion beingone of the operations you may use to question anddisturb a composition. By that the setup of passagesoperates as a probing into what I call kinaesthetic twist,seeking to articulate the passage as a figure thatresonates between different space-time positions andbetween transformation- and deformation forces.

The passage-diagram, then, indicates a type ofpathway, but also points at hybrid, resonating techniquesused to explore the drawing-field. Sensor-motor patternsrelated to conventional use of drawing-techniques suchas section, elevation and perspective are questioned,provoking the involved space-time-figures. Also theexchange between 3D- and 2Dconstructions negotiatesthe drawing-field in a more open way, twisted as it is intochanging orientations and depth of light and texture.2Dflight lines cut up, demarcate, gather and outlinepotential new contours and profiles, questioning thewhole drawing-series. The passage-diagram, thus,makes the player move her point of view - in contrast tothe diagram of the first drawing-field, where the player is


4/6

4

supposed to move the components. Figure 3.1-3.4 is

series of frames selected from this third drawing-field.

Transformation, deformation and singularity - t h e o r y a n d m e t h o d :H ow t o m a k e h e t e r o g e n e o u s m a t e r i a l s a n d f o r c e s r e so n a t e i n a r c h i t e ct o n i c c r e a t io n ?

Questioning conception of architecture, the notion oftransformation and deformation seems especiallysuitable, as different categories ofconstructing/composing.

Transformation is the domain of diagram. A diagramworks through the control of force-relations; it is anarrangement of material and flow-through forces thatmay transform the material. Transformation forces relate

to the material but are at the same time different from it:they work like a flow of energy passing through, not asan inner source. Rules-of-change of a transformationrelate to material, not to substance: to function, not toshape. Dependent on motive, the diagram as a body-plan or a drawing machine may transform and actualizea material as widely different concepts: folded and curledin some sequences, it appears as lion; squeezed anddragged in other sequences, it shows up as zebra.iii

Diagrams produce and formalise: compose, limit,stratify, territorize and map the relations in abstractmachines.ivThe recurrent moves of the transformationproduce difference create possible new places orsingularities in the transformation series. The diagram

controls but also opens up for a resistance control andresistance function as inside and outside of forcerelations. A diagram operates with a call for an outerpoint of resistance, asking what kind of outsides may beconfronted to make the diagram productive. Diagramsand singularities make thoughts move, challenged byrelated force-flows that never cease to shake theabstract machine and provoke the yet-not-thought. Thediagram actualises and exposes the drawing process asthinking with architecture how can architecture beworking? What kind of conflicting elements may bethrown into the implementation as new participators?

The setup of a diagram transforms the material from oneform to another. The diagram operates by makingsomething appear, and what emerges is the Figure. TheFigure is a condition made visible by switching betweenforce and form, between transformation and deformation.The Figure emerges at once and is also graduallyconstructed as a series. The Figure works by making theincorporated space-time motives and forces of thematerial break through as sensuous operational form.

Deformation subordinates movement to forces and alsothe abstract to the Figure. When deformation disturbs or

wrings the Figure, it is directly related to the differentsense organs of the body. Every sensation, and everyFigure, is already an accumulated sensation related torhythm a rhythm running through a drawing as it runsthrough a piece of music.

In his book about Francis Bacon, Deleuze refers todeformation and transformation as two very differentcategories.vHe also points out two directions of gettingaround figuration, i.e., either by abstract form or by the

Figure. The concept of Figure here designates thesensible form related to a sensation the Figure actsimmediately upon the nerve system, which is of the flesh,whereas abstract forms are addressed to the head, andact through the intermediary of the brain, which is closerto the bone.

Bacon is cited for recurrently talking about sensationas an act of passing from one order to another, fromone level to another, from one area to another heunderstands these passages as acts of makingsensation the master of deformation. Bacon criticisesboth figurative and abstract painting as passing throughthe brain and not acting directly upon the nerve system,failing to reach sensation, and failing to liberate the

Figure because they remain on the same level. Thesepainting modes implement transformation of form, butcannot attain deformations of bodies.

Bacon is, therefore, concerned about deformationand not transformation. Transformation of forms may beabstract or dynamical, but deformation is always bodilyand static. Deformation is obtained by affecting form atrest at the same time as the whole material starts to stir:cloth curls like burning paper. Everything is now relatedto forces: everything is force. Force constitutesdeformation as an act of painting, neither working astransformation of form nor as decomposition of elements.And Bacons deformations are rarely forced orconstrained; they are not tortures despite theirappearance. On the contrary, they are the most naturalpostures of the body when reorganized by simple forceexerted upon it: the desire to sleep, to vomit, to turn over,to remain seated as long as possible.

So, paint the sensation! It is essential rhythm,although dependent on the Figure. Figure-rhythmrelations appear as the vibration that flows through thebody - it is a vector of sensation making it pass from onelevel to another. In the coupling of sensation, rhythm isalready liberated; it confronts and unites the diverse levelof different sensations: it is now resonance.


5/6

5

Figure is connected to outbreaks of the singular. Thesingular is characterized by coming from without; itstands out as other - as an intensity that may changethe view upon the material, which a diagrammatic movehas set into action. I shall briefly point out some types ofemerging singularities and different intensities or rhythmsrelated to architectonic implementation and the makingof the space-time tablets. Once more in a dialogue withDeleuze, the types may be summarized as follows: force,resistance or wild singularities and accompanying,expanding or contracting rhythms.vi

Force singularities stand out as special characters ina series, produced by a diagrammatic transformation.The singularity emerges from the transformation as

special frames or sequences chosen by the search of anaccompanying move. Force singularities come up assuggestive, thought-provoking differences, creatingunfamiliar impulses and conceptions. Initiated bydifferent diagrammatic series, this kind of singularity isused throughout the whole implementation.

Resistance singularities expand or contract a field,

assembling and breaking up chosen characters.Arranged in open drawing-fields, resistance singularitiesmay arise as new oppositions, confronting the charactersof the field - textual experiments may also be part ofthese strategies. Parallel to this, the expanding andcontracting of a drawing material are set up asresonance models. A resonance model couples differentcharacters and techniques and modulates or deformscomponents and parameters of the field. The resonancemodel twists conventional categories of scales andrepresentations, with the player ambiguously bothmoving her view upon and being into the drawing. Inthe drawing, she resonates with more localities anddepths, with more tempi and levels of meaning.

Wild singularities are non-distinctive forces that staynon-integrated, open to other worlds in the material, forinstance, as virtual exchanges between micro- andmacro-cosmos. Wild singularities are sought out as flightlines that mutate: break up and assemble, seize andstretch out different domains in and outside the drawing.

ConclusionExchanges of space and time, as well as exchanges ofobject-oriented and performative unfolding, are basicfeatures of architectonic implementation. Architecture iscreated through working forces - tectonic action worksthrough animation. My project Mixed Movements

transfers tempi and affects of the outer world intofigures and rhythms of the drawing-field. Theseincorporated space-time motives of the drawing breakthrough as differences and possible worlds meeting thesensible human body. From the beginning, the way oftying forces and motives in material and media isoriented towards indefinite life thus challenging everydayrepetitions. From the start, aesthetics and ethics areclosely related endeavours, incorporated in thetransformation and deformation of the architecturaldrawing.

Mixed Movementsaddresses the world of architecture asan artistic development work. The project presents thespace-time-tablets as an interactive installation, as wellas discusses the work-field in a context of education.

Common to both agendas is the explorative drawing,engaged with multisensory capacities of the body.Creating and teaching architecture you may challengethe drawing as presentation opposing re-presentation.Investigating space-time you may generate modes ofoperations that sensualise colliding questions andprovisional hypothesis making the drawingperformative.

iKwinter S.Architectures of Time. Toward a Theory of the Event in Modernist Culture. London, MIT Press, 2002

ii

Deleuze G. Cinema 2, the Time-image.London, Athlone Press, 1989

iiiOxvig, Rivad, Thau Red. Diagram. Kbenhavn, Kunstakademiets Arkitektskole, 2007

ivDeleuze G & Guattari F. Hvad er filosofi. Kbenhavn, Gyldendal, 1996

vDeleuze G, Francis Bacon, The Logic of Sensation, London, Continuum, 2003


6/6

6

Figure 1.1

Figure 2.1

Figur e 3.1, 3.2

Figure 3.3, 3.4

mixed movements - performance-based drawing

Documents