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...

090717_at_BRIDGE GALLERY (NYC)

Echinoids | THEVERYMANY | Bridge Gallery | 2009 | nyc


"-oid" is derived from the Latin suffix -oides taken from Greek and meaning "having the likeness of". Thus it is a suffix much used in the sciences and mathematics to indicate a "similarity, not necessarily exact, to something else".
Thus Rhomboid means "like a rhombus". Because -oid denotes similarity, not necessarily exact, but can also denote exactness, in chemistry the suffix refers to a very large class of related compounds, natural and/or synthetic. Examples include steroid (of which sterols are just one smaller group) and alkaloid. (ie wikipedia)


From many parts...
Long. 13.5ft - Larg. 5ft - Height 7.5ft
530 modules
25 Sheets (4*8") Walnut veneer (800 Sft) + olive oil
1600 of Elastic bras straps (Brown, Black, Navy Blue)
4500 screws

To logistic of parts...
Lacing time: 1/2h/module - 40 modules/day!

"RUSTIC COMPUTATION"...


THEVERYMANY | Marc Fornes, Skylar Tibbits, Mat Staudt