The purpose of this project was to create a surface under the theme "Surfacing the future". The result is a hanging wall piece inspired by the microscopic aspects of nature.
The concept "microscopic exuberance" explores how nature´s richness is not limited to what we can see with our eyes, but goes beyond them, to find amazing shapes and popping volumes. Each piece is hand made, therefore is unique, and when placed together they create a whole, just as every cell makes part of a bigger organism in nature. Making a call to the destruction of our environment. Each piece is made in acrylic, to represent how humans in the future will need to use synthetic materials to recreate their memories related to nature if we don´t take care of it.
Final piece, material experimentation,moodboard and journal.
PROCESS
1. CONCEPTUALIZATION
Different moodboards were created in order to choose an inspiration point and create concepts that guided the project.
Moodboard 1: "Me, myself and I"
Concept: Microscopic Greatness
Nature has been a source of inspiration to the humankind through history and it was not an exception for me. I find the inspiration in nature not only in its beauty but also in its wisdom. Its colors, textures, shapes and smells create different atmospheres that are capable of transforming out moods and states of mind. Its beauty attracts and seduces us, but only when we are able to look beyond that beauty and study structures, processes and mechanisms with the aid of scientific instruments, is when we are able to understand its perfection and power. Then it is the moment to make a stop and find answers to many questions and problems we face everyday by blending nature´s power with technology to reinterpret the world that surrounds us.
Moodboard 2: "Surfacing the future"
Concept: Sensory Nostalgia
Everyday we are more technology dependant and care less about enjoying the natural world around us. Ambition and power guide the human beings to destroy natural resources and distance them from observing, touching listening and smelling nature. This is why the surfaces of the future will be a call to remember the nature that once surrounded us but all that we have left is a vague memory. They will appreciate nature in different magnifications and will make us remember the textures of flowers like Anne Kyyro in her work "Tulip", or the depth of the cliffs and mountains like Kathy Mitchell in her work "Cleft". Through different materials and techniques different elements of nature will be represented so we can go to the deepest corner of our memories and remember the last time we walked barefoot on the grass, stared at the ocean waves our touched tree bark. Evertime we see this surfaces, nostalgia will invade our hearts and take us back to a past full of biodiversity we were´t able to preserve.
Moodboard 3: Referents
Concept: Whispering Walls
Walls take care of us and separate us. They are surfaces that define our space and limits, they can confine us in an area and force us to find hidden messages in them, or open up new worlds as we follow their content. Walls are able to modify our perception of space, and this is why I locate the surfaces of the future in this space. Corners are important spaces that can be inhabited on their own, or can grow from there to invade more area, as shown on Lisa Kerner´s work inspired by jellyfish, or Crystal Wagner´s artwork that ends up invading a whole room. Everything depends on the material characteristics found on each piece that allow the piece to live and move in walls so they can be doors that take us to new places by following different narratives.
Moodboard 4: Project Idea
Concept: Microscopic Exuberance
2. JOURNAL AND FIRST MATERIAL APPROACHES
I started exploring different materials that could help me transmit and develop the concepts built previously. Experimentations with glass, felt, textiles and plastics took place as its seen on the journal documentation, in order to chose the right media.
3. TAKING THE MATERIAL TO THE LIMIT
After some exploration, I chose to work with acrylic pebbles and take this material as far as I could to transmit my idea through colouring, melting, stretching and giving shape to my pieces. Their translucency and the results of melting and stretching them connected to many of the textures and sensations I wanted to transmit. With this material I had the chance to show microscopic textures in a bigger scale and make a contrast between the natural and the synthetic world.
As a result I had 25 material samples that helped me understand the material and how to work with it regarding temperature, colouring, shaping. I was also able to see the limits of this material, its weight, fragility and flexibility.
Material samples in different shapes, sizes and colors, each with its technical description.
This process involved colouring the acrylic pebbles, heating them up, stretching , giving shape to the piece and cooling it down.
Color testing was done, in order to define an specific color saturation that responded to the initial moodboards.
Some material samples.
4. PRODUCTION
After the experimentation, a color palette, a texture range and a piece size were chosen in order to produce the final 30 pieces that were assembled in a hanging wall piece.
Each piece is hand made, therefore unique, just as every creation of nature. Their vibrant colors appeal to the vast and deep color palette we find on earth and water, their irregular textures and the way they light plays with them replicate the view of nature under a microscope.
Final pieces. Average size per piece 25x 30 cms.
