Wednesday, 23 March 2011

The Surreal Experience.


Having been inspired by Tom Dixon’s innovative, ‘surprising and obscure’ restaurant and ‘entertainment experience’ for the Circus, I decided to draw on the idea of surrealism because I am interested in exploring the use of dreamlike and nonsensical imagery and ideas in order to create a space that feels as if it is just an illusion.

“Surrealist works feature the element of surprise, unexpected juxtapositions and non sequitur
via. The Persistence of Memory (1931) by Salvador Dali

Surrealism is about deceiving the viewer, and presenting a visual description of a space that is so artificial and incomprehensible that the viewer cannot believe what they are seeing. This is something I plan on considering when designing in order to combine my two ideas of creating a dramatic and enigmatic space for people to be in.

Whilst Surrealism is heavily connected to the world of art and literature, I decided to research its effects on architecture in the hope that I will be inspired by some existing buildings.

via. The Surrealist Movement and its Influence on Modern Architecture by David Poole
‘The architectural forms of Gaudi, Le Corbusier (with his Chapel at Ronchamp) and Frank Gehry all…take cues from a variety of organic forms found in nature. It’s likely these architects were responding to works by artists like Dali, De Chirico, Ernst, as well as many others in the surrealist movement.’
   

“Indeed, the Surrealist movement included no architects, with the exception of Frederick Kiesler... Kiesler’s exploration of egg-shaped, womb-like constructions such as his Endless House, certainly resonates with Surrealist preoccupations with intra-uterine spaces…”     via. Fantasy Space: Surrealism and Architecture


 via



Having looked into the work of Frederick Kiesler I feel that I have been inspired to incorporate the notion of creating a a free-flowing space into my own work, because my site currently consists of three separate tunnels and I would like to achieve a space that flows from one room to the other:  “…his house was to be "endless like the human body—there is no beginning and no end.”

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