I began by looking at Richard Serra’s installation at the MoMA called “Sequence” which is a torqued steel sculpture in which the viewer is meant to walk through and experience. It is made of 2” thick steel walls spiraling together to create swaying and swelling corridors towering about 13’ high above you. As Serra describes it, “At both ends you have the choice of entering through one of two openings. One will lead you to the containment of interior space, the other will direct you into a seemingly endless path between two leaning walls.” Then I watched and analyzed the movie, “Rear Window” by Alfred Hitchcock. Hitchcock carefully constructs the film so that you see it through Jeffries eyes as he is constrained to a wheelchair and becomes consumed with looking out the rear window of his apartment. He begins voyeuristically watching his neighbors and becomes more concerned with their relationships and their pitfalls rather than his own. As Stella the Nurse says, “We’ve become a race of Peeping Toms. What people oughta do is get outside their own house and look in for a change.” Both Richard Serra’s piece and Hitchcock’s film portray the struggle with memory and what is reality verse illusion. Serra’s piece twists and turns, towers above you, leans over you and then opens to the sky. The curvilinear walls disorient you. “You cannot recollect or reconstruct a definite memory of the curvilinear path that connects one spiral to the other, nor of the interior spaces of the two spirals. You cannot map the pieces after you’ve walked it,” says Serra. Hitchcock plays with these ideas through the main character Jeffries who is trying to piece together what he has seen to determine if what he believes happened is actually true. He is trying to distinguish between what he has actually seen, what has stuck in his memory, and what he might be imagining from what he saw at a distance or while dozing off in his chair. Not only is Jeffries looking through his rear window into others’ windows, his eyes are a window between what is actually seen and what is perceived in his head. His camera’s telephoto lens also becomes a way to get closer to the other characters and see more details, more of reality. I took these ideas from these precedent studies in creating my film. My site was the back roof through a window in my apartment. I chose this site because of the many views out of my window, into my window from the roof and the field of surrounding windows. I found different qualities of movement in and around a frame. Looking out of a window you see the movement of people, cars and trees within the frame of the window. Stepping outside onto the roof, the people and things move around the frame of the roof. I began to notice the different qualities of the window and the reflections and refractions of light on the window and through the window to reflect on the floor. The idea of a light window verses a dark window as a metaphor for the mind; being closed or open minded; being inspired or enlightened as apposed to “in the dark”, clueless or out of ideas. Denise Levertov wrote:
“Among a hundred windows shining dully in the vast side of greater-than-palace number such-and-such one burns these several years, each night as if the room within were aflame.”
He compares the window to a flame signifying life as flame that lies within each window. A window of internal flame may be a glimpse of a person’s passion that lies within them.
1.Headquarters for the International Arts Movement -IAM is an organization focused on integrating Faith, Art and Culture -The program would include studio spaces for artists, lecture halls, exhibit space, library, classrooms, performance hall -The "window" is an important factor on many levels: i.Light from a window: A.Faith: God is light a.He is a guiding light, as long as you have faith in Him you will not walk in darkness b.In gothic cathedrals, stained glass windows represent the eternal light of God in how they appear to always be illuminated B.Art: the internal flame of the artist; inspiration; A piece of art may be a light in expressing an idea or opinion C.Library needs light from window D.The exhibits, performances, lectures shining light onto the comunity ii.Reflection from Window: A.The community and what is going on in the world reflect in art and art is reflected in community B.IAM focuses on faith reflecting in art reflecting on culture iii.Window as a frame or view: A.piece of art as a window into an artist's mind B.An exhibit may be arranged according to light from a window C.Stage is a window
2.Glass blowing studio
3.Performance center and art gallery -performance hall with stage and seating -gallery space for exhibitions -classrooms for dance rehersals -classrooms for music practices -classrooms for art workshops or studios -public space
4.Museum and school -classrooms -Museum space -studio spaces for fine arts: painting, sculpture, ceramics, drawing, jewelry and metal, photography, video, digital arts, ect. -Studio spaces for performing arts: theater, dance, music -Space for collaborative projects
5.Community outreach through the arts -space for artists to collaborate -space for administration and meetings -space for community to come and participate in art classes and projects -the people who work here would develop methods to reach people in need through the arts, brighten the community
3 comments:
Metaphor: Window is a Flame
Installation: Richard Serra: "Sequence"
Film: "Rear Window" Alfred hitchcock
I began by looking at Richard Serra’s installation at the MoMA called “Sequence” which is a torqued steel sculpture in which the viewer is meant to walk through and experience. It is made of 2” thick steel walls spiraling together to create swaying and swelling corridors towering about 13’ high above you. As Serra describes it, “At both ends you have the choice of entering through one of two openings. One will lead you to the containment of interior space, the other will direct you into a seemingly endless path between two leaning walls.”
Then I watched and analyzed the movie, “Rear Window” by Alfred Hitchcock. Hitchcock carefully constructs the film so that you see it through Jeffries eyes as he is constrained to a wheelchair and becomes consumed with looking out the rear window of his apartment. He begins voyeuristically watching his neighbors and becomes more concerned with their relationships and their pitfalls rather than his own. As Stella the Nurse says, “We’ve become a race of Peeping Toms. What people oughta do is get outside their own house and look in for a change.”
Both Richard Serra’s piece and Hitchcock’s film portray the struggle with memory and what is reality verse illusion. Serra’s piece twists and turns, towers above you, leans over you and then opens to the sky. The curvilinear walls disorient you. “You cannot recollect or reconstruct a definite memory of the curvilinear path that connects one spiral to the other, nor of the interior spaces of the two spirals. You cannot map the pieces after you’ve walked it,” says Serra. Hitchcock plays with these ideas through the main character Jeffries who is trying to piece together what he has seen to determine if what he believes happened is actually true. He is trying to distinguish between what he has actually seen, what has stuck in his memory, and what he might be imagining from what he saw at a distance or while dozing off in his chair. Not only is Jeffries looking through his rear window into others’ windows, his eyes are a window between what is actually seen and what is perceived in his head. His camera’s telephoto lens also becomes a way to get closer to the other characters and see more details, more of reality.
I took these ideas from these precedent studies in creating my film. My site was the back roof through a window in my apartment. I chose this site because of the many views out of my window, into my window from the roof and the field of surrounding windows. I found different qualities of movement in and around a frame. Looking out of a window you see the movement of people, cars and trees within the frame of the window. Stepping outside onto the roof, the people and things move around the frame of the roof. I began to notice the different qualities of the window and the reflections and refractions of light on the window and through the window to reflect on the floor. The idea of a light window verses a dark window as a metaphor for the mind; being closed or open minded; being inspired or enlightened as apposed to “in the dark”, clueless or out of ideas. Denise Levertov wrote:
“Among a hundred windows shining
dully in the vast side
of greater-than-palace number such-and-such
one burns
these several years, each night
as if the room within were aflame.”
He compares the window to a flame signifying life as flame that lies within each window. A window of internal flame may be a glimpse of a person’s passion that lies within them.
Program Proposals:
1.Headquarters for the International Arts Movement
-IAM is an organization focused on integrating Faith, Art and Culture
-The program would include studio spaces for artists, lecture halls, exhibit space, library, classrooms, performance hall
-The "window" is an important factor on many levels:
i.Light from a window:
A.Faith: God is light
a.He is a guiding light, as long as you have faith in Him you will not walk in darkness
b.In gothic cathedrals, stained glass windows represent the eternal light of God in how they appear to always be illuminated
B.Art: the internal flame of the artist; inspiration; A piece of art may be a light in expressing an idea or opinion
C.Library needs light from window
D.The exhibits, performances, lectures shining light onto the comunity
ii.Reflection from Window:
A.The community and what is going on in the world reflect in art and art is reflected in community
B.IAM focuses on faith reflecting in art reflecting on culture
iii.Window as a frame or view:
A.piece of art as a window into an artist's mind
B.An exhibit may be arranged according to light from a window
C.Stage is a window
2.Glass blowing studio
3.Performance center and art gallery
-performance hall with stage and seating
-gallery space for exhibitions
-classrooms for dance rehersals
-classrooms for music practices
-classrooms for art workshops or studios
-public space
4.Museum and school
-classrooms
-Museum space
-studio spaces for fine arts: painting, sculpture, ceramics, drawing, jewelry and metal, photography, video, digital arts, ect.
-Studio spaces for performing arts: theater, dance, music
-Space for collaborative projects
5.Community outreach through the arts
-space for artists to collaborate
-space for administration and meetings
-space for community to come and participate in art classes and projects
-the people who work here would develop methods to reach people in need through the arts, brighten the community
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