090804_Echinoids_(re)configured

NEW YORK | Bridge Gallery | Echinoids (re)configured


How many people do actualy believe in "failures"?

I do! - while giving talks/lectures I am often arguying about it - "operative failures" - in philosophy, empiricism is a theory of knowledge which asserts that knowledge arises from experience - one of many ways to gain experience is through test and trials - and within the recent jump in scale of the digital craft and the "Do it yourself" paradigm - experience requires failures...

Experiencing failure within prototypes - yes! - and despite often being displayed within art gallery THEVERYMANY's "constructs" are partly installation partly prototypes - though not so much prototypes to see if the systems is actually going to fail? - but rather when? - can failures be expected? - even better anticipated up to embodied within the geometrical system tested potential response?


"the lion sat" - a localized part of Echinoids v1.0 slowly saddled - it didn't break but suffered from "fatigue" - unexpected failure? - blind future? - I would argue for curated ones...

Temporary installation are related to time - but also budget - aggregate systems and their inherent qualities are highly depending on numbers - unfortunately numbers are often the exact opposit vector to time/budget - then if no budget the system requires carefull compositionnal search methods to maintain a scale large enough to be experienced by its viewer as architectural artefact - homogeneity could be one way to go - unfortunately spreading the elements all accross the construct while maintaining structural integrity often requires down sizing...


"until where can one go too far?"

Echinoids system is based on "calculated risk" - calculated risk is different from denying risk or maximising efforts to avoid falires - here the aggregate is designed through variation of desnties - balancing strengh and weakness - fully closed macro-systems as stable larger parts and low density members at transitional areas - a curated aggregate system allowing within its own geometric nature possible partial re-configuration - "explosion" as safe away exit strategy - allowing second lifes for a piece: from construct to environment...


That (re)configuration is only the first one possible - and therefore to be followed along the summer for eventual other ones...

090524_THEVERYMANY @ SELFRIDGES

Proposal for an installation:
SELFRIDGES - CORNER STORE FRONT LONDON October 2008
The scheme was part of a design call under the theme of "Explosion"...




ON ANALOGIES:
THEVERYMANY very much acknowledge the fact that - even though it focuses exclusively its research and practice on what it self-defines as “explicit and encoded” techniques of design (also described by Marc Fornes as “text based morphologies”) – any design process - whenever based on a top down “idea” or theme - requires first a process of translation back into the design paradigm which is very much based on selective reading, subjective interpretations and analogies…


EXPLOSION (ie Wikipedia.org)
An explosion is a sudden increase in volume and release of energy in an extreme manner, usually with the generation of high temperatures and the release of gases. An explosion creates a shock wave.
DUST EXPLOSION (ie Wikipedia.org)
A dust explosion is the explosive combustion of a dust suspended in air in an enclosed location, which results in harmful effects of overpressure, thermal radiation, and ensuing projectiles.
DEFLAGRATION (ie Wikipedia.org)
Deflagration (Lat: de + flagrare, "to burn down") is a technical term describing subsonic combustion that usually propagates through thermal conductivity (hot burning material heats the next layer of cold material and ignites it). Most "fire" found in daily life, from flames to explosions, is technically deflagration.
DETONATION (ie Wikipedia.org)
Detonation is a process of combustion in which a supersonic shock wave is propagated through a fluid due to an energy release in a reaction zone. It is the more powerful of the two general classes of combustion, the other one being deflagration. In a detonation, the shock compresses the material thus increasing the temperature to the point of ignition. The ignited material burns behind the shock and releases energy that supports the shock propagation. This self-sustained detonation wave is different from a deflagration, which propagates at a subsonic rate (i.e., slower than the sound speed in the material itself). Because detonations generate high pressures, they are usually much more destructive than deflagrations.
SHOCK WAVE (ie Wikipedia.org)
A shock wave (also called shock front or simply "shock") is a type of propagating disturbance. Like an ordinary wave, it carries energy and can propagate through a medium (solid, liquid or gas) or in some cases in the absence of a material medium, through a field such as the electromagnetic field. Shock waves are characterized by an abrupt, nearly discontinuous change in the characteristics of the medium.
When a shock wave passes through matter, the total energy is preserved but the energy which can be extracted as work decreases and entropy increases. This, for example, creates additional drag force on aircraft with shocks.




TRIGGERS:
While that design proposal isn't about “reproducing”, "simulating" or even "mimicking" the esthetic of an explosion – the project is proposing a very articulated geometrical assembly based on specific and curated themes extracted within the field of explosion…

- Projectiles – the project is investigating the concept of numerous “parts” able to produce a non linear assembly – all the parts owns to a precise initial catalogue and can be reconfigured in a similar manner then projectiles can be re-assembled (in theory) into their original parent morphology…
- Increase of volume – the project is looking at ways to create volume from planar components all CNC cut from sheet based materials…
- Propagation through medium – while there is a very limited amount of initial geometrical primitives – the project investigates construction sequence through color differentiation across the entire construct…
- Enclosed location – well…

To be continued...


CREDITS:
Proposal for: SELFRIDGES London October 2008
Design: THEVERYMANY
Team: Marc Fornes, Skylar Tibbits
Scripting: Marc Fornes

080906_THEVERYMANY_Log

THEVERYMANY LOG - FALL 2008:
(will be completed on the side column as confirmation & precision arrive):

- 2008.FALL: M.F. is co-teaching a design studio at GSAPP - Columbia University / New York, US (invitation: Francois Roche / R&Sie(n))
www.ncertainties2.wordpress.com (one more webLog!!)

- 2008.FALL: M.F. is co-teaching this year cross-over studio 08/09 at die Angewandte - Universität für Angewandte Kunst Wien, Institut für Architektur / Vienna, AU (invitation: Francois Roche / R&Sie(n))
http://www.dieangewandte.at/architecture/
www.ncertainties3.wordpress.com (and a last one!!!)

- 2008.09.18: M.F. lectures at the Rhino reseller meeting 2008 in Barcelona / Spain (invitation: Carlos Perez / McNeel)

- 2008.09.20: M.F. lectures at C.STEM 2008, Arte Generativa, Sistemi Elettronici e Software-art / Torino, Italy (invitation: Fabio Franchino)
http://www.cstem.it/artists_i.php

- 2008.09.22-23: M.F runs a two days Rhinoscript workshop for McNeel Europe in Paris (invitation: Carlos Perez / McNeel)
http://blog.rhino3d.com/2008/07/rhinoscript-workshop-in-paris-september.html
http://www.eu.rhino3d.com/e-news/rhinoscript_france0708.htm

- 2008.10.08-09-10: M.F. lectures at the "EleganTech" conference in Mexico City, Mexico (invitation: Gabriel Esquivel) - CANCEL!!!

- 2008.10.24-25: M.F. is the curator for the European section of the Architecture Beijing Biennale (present for the opening - October 24th) / Beijing, CHINA (invitation: Neil Leach)

http://www.abbeijing-emarch.com/

Back from summer vacation after a long road trip crossing the US:
8500miles (13700 km) through 22 states, stopped in 21 cities, many national parks (Arches, Zion, Death Valley, Mojave, Grand Canyon,...), and much more "rencontres" and memories...

- (NY) > NEW YORK
- (PENNSYLVANIA)
- (OHIO) > Cincinnati
- (INDIANA) > Indianapolis
- (ILLINOIS)
- (MISSOURI)
- (KANSAS) > Kansas City
- (COLORADO) > Denver
- (UTAH) > Moab - Page - Hurricane
- (NEVADA) > LAS VEGAS
- (CALIFORNIA) > Mammoth Lake - SAN FRANCISCO - Santa Barbara - Palm Springs - Needles
- (ARIZONA) > Flagstaff
- (NEW MEXICO) > Albuquerque
- (TEXAS) > Amarillo - Dallas - Houston
- (LOUISIANA) > NEW ORLEANS
- (MISSISSIPPI)
- (ALABAMA)
- (TENNESSEE) > Nashville
- (VIRGINIA)
- (MARYLAND)
- (NEW JERSEY)
- (NY) > NEW YORK

for the record - fuel prices going from 3,24 (Houston, Texas) to 5.79 (Death Valley, California) per gallon...