The idea of
feminizing space is the idea of seeking a more balanced equal world. This piece is my first major attempt to study
the "how" of feminizing, to see my ideas work on a physical and
visual level. I was lucky enough to gain
access to one of the MFA thesis galleries at Claremont Graduate University
(where I'm attending) during the off season (summer). Its a big rectangle: 37.5 feet long by 25 ft
wide by 16 feet high. The space is
gorgeous with blank white walls, white ceiling and white track lighting, and a
used but wax cement floor. The problem
is the shape, which is a box.
The rectangle,
the cube, the box, the square are all the shapes we are exposed to with
architecture. There are reasons for this
such as maximization of space, efficiency in building, ease of
located/manufacturing building materials to name a few. These are all concerns whenever building
anything, but somehow they have won in the minds of designers and architects
and those with approval stamps and gold start stickers. My argument is that they are a masculine
concern and there are a lot of social implications of a created environment
that are neglected and ignored or even disbelieved because it can be
detrimental to the male ego. To say that
a room would have influence over you is to say you are week. To say that a social concern is your concern
is to say that you are weak. I don't
exactly agree with gender roles or column A is female and column B is male, but
when they are thrust upon society to a point that you are raised with a sense
of these roles and standards through generations, they do mold your conversations
and ideas. Rectangular rooms are
everywhere. Most architecture created in
the last 50 years gets innovative only when seeking to offer variation to the rectangle,
and are hard pressed to throw it out completely. We are surrounded by rooms, buildings, shed,
bus stations, offices, telephone booths, bathroom stalls, etc. that conform to
this shape.
Feminization of Space, Wax Paper is me
trying to examine the question of what kind of power does an environment's
shape hold? What happens when we leave
those shapes behind. Does changing
material help? This installation started
with a solution of weaving material together as a quick and easy way to replace
the straight walls an d corners with a rounded wall. The material needed to be white so it blended
in with the existing walls. The goal was
to change the shape of the room to something more organic and rounded, less symmetrical,
and to a softer material. The lighting
was such that you could not see the actual walls of the room, just my
alteration. I chose basket weaving as
the method to create this piece firstly because of its form building ability,
and that it could use lightweight material and still work. Secondly it does bring other feminine aspects
to the room being a domestic/craft construction method. Something on a roll seemed not only practical
for the act of construction, but also would act like a fat string in
weaving. Wax paper wound up being the
medium of choice, as it was very cheap and translucent white, so that it would
still allow light to fill the space and the color would blend in with the wall
so it would help create the feeling that it was part of the room or part of the
wall.
Though I agree
with the comments I received about the appearance of the outside (that the
outside is just as interesting to see as the inside), the work is meant to be
viewed from the interior only. You walk
into a room that possesses all these qualities that are lacking in the
traditional box format. The
"walls" themselves glow because of the nature of wax and having to
place lights outside the piece because of lack of track inside the piece. The weaving added a (albeit unexpected) sense
of movement which is not typical to architecture or rooms. Weaving also brought about the association of
fabric to the viewers which in turn reads as cozy and warm. Socially I think the shape created provided
more options for someone occupying the space:
I spent an afternoon in the space to try to pick up on nuances that I
might have missed in making the piece, where I was mostly experiencing the
outside. the curves of the walls allow
you to tuck yourself under the wall a little if you were so inclined. The space did not feel overwhelmingly vast,
empty and boring as the room normally feels.
Though the size of the room was shrunk in the creation of the piece, it
still feels big because I left the top open exposing the ceiling. As the AC kicked in the wax paper gently and
delicately moved and covered the industrial hum of the ducts with a light
crinkly sound.
I think I will definitely
be examining this concept again, with this specific method of altering the
shape of the predominantly masculine architecture. With perhaps a grant I'd like to use fabric
and weave more carefully to create a larger piece in a space where you can
experience the inside and outside of it.
Something like a mall or office atrium, where the second floor would
have a view of the exterior and the first floor could experience the inside.
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