An Explosive Second - Expanding Spatiality by adamstaceyu21

AN EXPLOSIVE SECOND EXPANDING SPATIALITY By Adam Stacey

AN EXPLOSIVE SECOND EXPANDING SPATIALITY

ADAM STACEY

University of Greenwich London, United Kingdom

Thesis Supervisor - Simon Withers

With thanks to Leonore, Matt & Simon. For your support and patience, thank you.

CONTENTS Abstract

The conclusion

Introduction

References

0. Literary protagonists

Image references

1. A first-person viewpoint & the bodily experiences of time-space

Bibliography

introduction

1.1 the wall by william sansom 1.2 Scala regia by gian lorenzo bernini 1.3 kurt schwitters and the cathedral of exotic misery conclusion

2. a third person viewpoint & the spatial implications of the witness introduction

2.1 apollo and daphne by gian lorenzo bernini 2.2 the lives of things by jose saramago 2.3 one week by buster keaton conclusion

3. historical time and the effect on individual time introduction william sansom graham sutherland kurt schwitters conclusion

ABSTRACT The thesis will begin with the examination of literary works by such authors as, William Sansom and Jose Saramago. Authors who focused their works on the experience and observation of explosive moments. Moments that exploded from a single second, expanding spatially from the minute timeframe. Their literary works were traversing altering scales of a physical forms displacement, expanding spatially as the moment unfolds. The research of the spatially expansive literary works will be investigated symbiotically with reference to theorists, scholars and philosophers, namely: Mikhail Bakhtin, Michel de Certeau and Henri Lefebvre. The simultaneous research will extrapolate the literary devices used to create a rich spatiotemporal narrative and thus a vast spatial-architectural landscape. From the critique of spatially expansive literary works, the research project will develop a glossary of literary definitions. Definitions gleaned from primary, secondary and supporting research of literature and the supporting theories. The glossary will create a greater understanding, and awareness of the devices and definitions used to depict explosive spatial moments.

As the research project develops, a discussion will formalise, speculating the architectural opportunities of spatiotemporal events and the intrinsic relationship between time, space and their many scales within chosen case studies. The research project aims to understand the spatial opportunities found when times malleability is explored and realised within spatial events. Thus, informing a greater understanding of the spatiotemporal opportunities unfolded within instantaneous spatial occurrences. The research projects intentions will be to analyse with constant reference to literary and architectural theories, theories based on the relationship between time and space found in both novels, architectural and artistic settings.

From the assemblage of a literary glossary, the research project will begin a series of critical analyses exploring the techniques and methodologies used to create intensely spatial moments found during a form’s displacement and subsequent temporal alteration. The critical analysis will focus on specific art forms such as literature, sculpture, photography and cinematography. This analysis will create a dialogue between the works of specific protagonists found within the spatiotemporal mediums. The principle exploration of this research project wishes to extrapolate spatial commonalities and opportunities found in the bodies of work with reference to relevant theories and theorists. The research project aims to find a series of spatiotemporal mechanisms that unfold within moments, moments where one’s perception of time and space are momentarily altered. Once found, the investigations will speculate upon the potential opportunities found within time-based spatial experiences, memories and moments. A speculation on the opportunities to glean an architectural understanding born out of a dimension often not considered within architectural practice, time and its multiple scales. 1

INTRODUCTION Time is elastic. It can be warped, pulled and strained, altering our perception of its duration. Times elastic nature allows it to return to supposed normality; once external strains are released. Time takes multiple scales; the scales are constantly shifting, and its form is regularly displaced. With times temporal changes and altered scales, one’s experience of it changes, the way one exists within the dimension is manipulated. One can experience time within their own environment and scale, confined to their body, controlled by their spatial experiences and emotions. One can also be influenced by global displacement of times sense, adjusting their practices and lifestyles to dwell within their newly shifted time-space continuum. Space cannot be experienced without a temporal relationship with time. The spatial environment in which these dimensions are amalgamated can manipulate the existential experience of space and time. Thus, time is critical to one’s temporal experience of space; without time, space does not exist; it remains a place. A place waiting for the interjection of movements and velocities, measured and experienced through time, to displace it into a space of architectural opportunity and experience.

The research project will be separated into three chapters; each chapter will explore a viewpoint and a specific scale. The first chapter will explore the first-person viewpoint, a viewpoint from within or close to the specific spatial event. The second chapter will investigate the role of the witness, the narrator and the third person viewpoint play within the relationship between the experience of time, space and their subsequent spatiotemporal qualities. The third chapter will explore the global, historical scale of time and its influence upon the experiences and practices of those who dwell within it. All three chapters will critique specific case studies where the relationship between time and space are interwoven into the fabric of the specific event. The case studies will focus specifically on: Literary, architectural and artistic works. These chapters will also consider the relevance of scale and the effect it has upon the experience of time and space within specific moments of vast spatiality.

Literature uses narratives to create a vivid realm in which space and time coexist within spatial parameters. Often, literature depicts the configuration of time and space with greater cohesion and visuality through the boundless realms of a narrative. This research project will explore spatialities found within the temporal time sequences of explosive moments, events whereby the conventional experiential values of normality become distorted and warped under stress. The research will focus on literary, artistic, architectural and cinematographic case studies. Specific case studies where an unpredicted intervention of energy sculpts the perception of time and thus unfolds a spatiality previously unexplored. The temporal relationships between time and space in the case studies will be critiqued and explored through the literary theories of Mikhail Bakhtin, Michel de Certeau, Maurice Merleau-Ponty. Through their theories, the project aims to reveal commonalities between literary and architectural theory and the spatial opportunities revealed through the configuration of time and space. The use of literary theory as a keystone to the research project aims to understand the spatiality within these emotional moments with greater architectural clarity. 3

LITERARY PROTAGONISTS

LITERARY PROTAGONISTS STRESS

DISTORT

tr.v

1. Importance, significance, or emphasis placed on something. 2. A condition of extreme difficulty, pressure, or strain. 3. A condition of physiological or psychological disturbance to the normal functioning or well-being of an organism, occurring as a response to any of various environmental or psychosocial stimuli.

POISE

1.To twist out of a proper or natural relation of parts; misshape. 2.To cause to deviate from what is normal, reasonable, or accurate.

FLUX n.

v. v.tr.

1.To carry or hold in equilibrium; balance 2.To cause to be ready or about to do something.

v.intr.

1.A continuing movement, especially in large numbers of things: a flux of sensation. 2.Constant or frequent change; fluctuation.

TENSION n.

1.To be balanced or held in suspension

INFLECTION POINT n. 1.A moment of dramatic change, especially in the development of a company, industry, or market.

1. a. The act or process of stretching something tight. b. The condition of so being stretched; tautness. 2. a. A force tending to stretch or elongate something. b. A measure of such a force 3.Balanced relationship between strongly opposing elements. 4.The interplay of conflicting elements in a piece of literature, especially a poem.

WARP

SUSPENSE

v.tr.

1.To turn or twist out of shape; deform. 2.To alter from a normal, proper, or healthy state; twist or pervert.

v.intr.

1.To become bent or twisted out of shape 2.To become altered from what is normal, proper, or healthy.

1.The become twisted or bent out of shape. 2.A distortion or twist. 3.A mental or moral twist, aberration, or deviation.

1.Anxiety or apprehension resulting from an uncertain, undecided, or mysterious situation. 2.The quality in a work of narrative art, such as a novel or film, that causes the audience to experience pleasurable excitement and anticipation regarding an outcome. 3.Archaic The state or quality of being undecided, uncertain, or indecisive.

n.b all definitions have been sourced from: (Ahdictionary.com, n.d.)

LITERARY PROTAGONISTS continued

DESTRUCTION n.

CONFUSION n.

1. a.The act of confusing or the state of being confused b.An instance of being confused

a. The act or process of destroying b. The condition of having been destroyed 2.The cause or means of destroying

PURGATORY n. pl purgatories 1.A place or condition of suffering, expiation, or remorse 2.Roman Catholic Church A state in which the souls of those who have died in grace must expiate their sins. adj. 1.Tending to cleanse or purge

LIMBO

2.Psychology A mental state involving impaired orientation with respect to time, place, or person.

CON Adv

In opposition or disagreement; against: debated the issue pro and con. n.

1.An argument or opinion against something. 2.One who holds an opposing opinion or view.

FUSION n

n. pl limbos 1.A condition of prolonged uncertainty or neglect

CONVULSION

CONTORT

v. v.tr

1.An intense, paroxysmal, involuntary muscular contraction. 2.An uncontrolled fit, as of laughter; a paroxysm. 3.Violent turmoil.

TRIPTYCH n.

a.A work, such as an altarpiece, consisting of three painted or carved panels that are hinged together. b.A set of three related works, as in photography, painting, or literature. 2.A hinged writing tablet consisting of three leaves, used in ancient Rome.

a.The merging of different elements into a union b.A union resulting from fusing

1.To twist, wrench, or bend out of proper or natural shape. 2.To cause to deviate from what is normal, proper, or accurate.

SCENOGRAPHY n.

The art of perspective representation especially as applied to the design and painting of stage scenery

n.b all definitions have been sourced from: (Ahdictionary.com, n.d.)

LITERARY PROTAGONISTS continued

METAMORPHOSIS n.pl.

1.A transformation, as by magic or sorcery. 2.A marked change in appearance, character, condition, or function. 3.A usually degenerative change in the structure of a particular body tissue.

TRANSMOGRIFY v. v. tr.

To change thoroughly, as into a different shape or form.

v. intr. To be thoroughly changed

TEMPORAL adj.

1. Of, relating to, or limited by time: a temporal dimension; temporal and spatial boundaries. 2. Of or relating to the material world; worldly 3. Lasting only for a time; not eternal; passing 4. Secular or lay; civil: lords temporal and spiritual. 5. Grammar Expressing time: a temporal adverb.

TRANSIENT adj.

adj.

1.Passing with time; transitory 2.Remaining in a place only a brief time 3.Physics Decaying with time, especially as a simple exponential function of time. Spatiotemporal

1. Of, relating to, or existing in both space and time. 2. Of or relating to spacetime.

n.b all definitions have been sourced from: (Ahdictionary.com, n.d.)

A FIRST-PERSON VIEWPOINT &

THE BODILY EXPERIENCES OF TIME-SPACE

INTRODUCTION Time is a malleable construct. It can become warped. It is elongated; its perception can be distorted. However, it is elastic. Time will always return to a perceived normality. When pressure is applied, time becomes distorted, times form is displaced, and one’s sense of it is lost. This displacement can render the sensation of a second as an hour. The application of pressure, thus, causing stress will lead to a loss of ‘time sense’, a sensation where the elasticity of time is stretched, and one becomes acutely aware of the lapse of time and the loss of it. Time can distort and warp our perception of space, as time becomes distorted one’s perception of the space before them becomes altered. The relationship between time and space are intrinsic, and one cannot be experienced without the other. Time influences one’s perception of space and space, manipulates one’s perception of time. This chapter will explore through two case studies the relationship between time and space and the influence the experience from a first-person perspective during an explosive moment has on the spatiotemporal qualities of the scene. The first case study explores times influence on one’s perception of space. The other, exploring one’s personal influence on time and space within an architectural landscape. This research will be done through the use of literary and architectural theories, extrapolating the key spatial moments within explosive moments, born out of a simple second.

1.1 THE WALL

A House Collapsing on Two Fireman by Leonard Rosoman (Imperial War Museum, n.d.)

BY WILLIAM SANSOM

“narrative structures have the status of spatial syntaxes.” (de Certeau, 1984, p.115)

TIME SENSE And the

Loss of.

The Wall by William Sansom, 1941, acts as a literary manifestation exploring the spatial-temporalities of time and its ability to be distorted within specific incidences. Sansom explores the malleability of time through the retrospective analysis of an elongated and stretched moment. Sansom enables literary mechanisms to accentuate and explore the phenomenon of 'time sense'. Within The Wall (Sansom,1941), Sansom's perception of the world has been displaced by "an unusual sound" (Sansom, 1941, p.1). The 'unusual sound' is a five-storey building breaking from its axis and falling towards him. The wall exiled from its purpose as a homogenous part of a building became Sansom's temporal incident. A spatial event that gave the narrative a calibration. The calibration became the starting point, a place to fix the narrative and thus allow its alternative progression to proceed. The ‘unusual sound’ proceeds what Mikhail Bakhtin calls an adventuristic ‘chance time’, which is the moment in a novel where “irrational forces intervene in human life…” (Bakhtin, 2000, p.94), within Greek Romance novels, the external forces are often: gods, demons and sorcerers. The irrational forces in Sansom’s short story is a more tangible and wholly more physical force; it is the displaced Victorian wall, hanging over them as if a demonic creature made of brick and mortar. This event proceeding the explosive moment renders everything before it in The Wall (Sansom,1941) obsolete, the “indefinite hours of waiting” (Sansom, 1941, p.1) fade into obscurity and the second is expanded into a perceived timelessness. The events prior to the “an unusual sound” (Sansom, 1941, p.1) hold a pivotal role. The amalgamation of events accentuates the “timeless second” (Sansom, 1941, p.1) before the walls loss of place in the world. Sansom distorts the sensation of time to suggest a meditative state of boredom. The first two paragraphs are sculpted around waiting, shaped through abstracted observations and speculations found within hours of boredom.

Times elasticity is pulled to a moment of high tension, where the events of a whole night are condensed into a minute, confined to two introductory paragraphs, waiting to be catapulted into a continuum initiated by "a hundred solid tons of hard, deep Victorian wall…" (Sansom, 1941, p.1). Initiating a 'chance rupture', that is often seen within Greek Romance novels, where a "…pragmatic and pre-meditated…" (Bakhtin, 2000, p.92) moment is interrupted by an "opening of sheer chance…" (Bakhtin, 2000, p.92), this time is categorised in The Wall (Sansom,1941) by 'Very Suddenly'. Thus, propelling the moment into an alternative timeframe, a timeframe of a single, "simple second" (Sansom, 1941, p.1). Within this simple second, the scene is thrown into a timeless state of spatial flux and hypervigilance, bodily emotions, all of which enable rich spatial digestion. A sustained period of hypervigilance allowed Sansom to digest “…every detail of the scene.” (Sansom,1941), p.2), combined with a loss of time sense, Sansom speculated the static nature of the moment unfolding before him. He surmised the walls lack of velocity was a deception manifested during the pressured moment. This endless moment enabled a forensic level of observation. The stretching of time enabled Sansom the “leisure to remark many things.” (Sansom,1941, p.2). Sansom noticed that an iron derrick was now a violent, menacing projectile. The alleyway was no longer a threshold to safety, as the wall slowly shut out all light and chance for survival. Here Sansom began to depict a profoundly spatial moment in a similar manner to that of Michel de Certeau. de Certeau states, in The Practice of Everyday Life (de Certeau, 1984) that space is “…actuated by the ensemble of movements deployed within it.” (de Certeau. 1984, 117). The actuating factor that de Certeau cites is depicted in Sansom’s short story, as the sudden and unpredicted displacement of the wall and the ‘frozen’ moment that proceeds it. De Certeau continues to elaborate upon the categorisation of space. He states that within literary works, ‘space’ unfolds from ‘place’ when the narrator delves into “…vectors of directions, velocities, and time variables.” (de Certeau, 1984, p.117).

SPATIOTEMPORAL EVENT Unravelled Within A Timeless Second

“A minute before I would never have distinguished it from any other drab Victorian atrocity happily on fire. ” (Sansom, 1941, p.1)

“This wall fell flat as a pancake. It clung to its shape through ninety degrees...” (Sansom, 1941, p.2)

The buildings form becomes warped akin to time and space within the explosive event. Within a state of timeless hypervigilance Sansom unravelled the spatiality before him.

“We had been lucky. We had been framed by one of those symmetrical, oblong window spaces.” (Sansom, 1941, p.2)

The velocity of objects in movement initiates a loss of time sense & unfolds the events spatiality.

“Six yards in front stood the blazing building” (Sansom,1941,p.1) William Sansom’s approximate location “New eyes opened at the sides of my head so that, from within, I photographed a hemispherical panorama (Sansom,1941,p.1)

THE

ALTERING SCALES of time and space within an explosive event

“Shows how architectural value can be apparently recovered from still smoking ruins.” (Mellor, 2011, p.125)

“a hundred solid tons of hard, deep Victorian wall, pivoted over towards us.” (Sansom, 1941, p.1) “The night grew darker as the great mass hung over us.” (Sansom, 1941, p.1)

William Sansom’s digestion of the moment traversed multiple scales. Focusing on the entire wall, to singular bricks, signs and free, safe spaces. The windows spacious sanctuary becomes apparent when taking Sansom’s perspective as the first-peson viewpoint The spatial event dictated the spatiotemporal qualities of the scene, whilst also editing the space itself. “The last resistance of bricks and mortar at the pivot point cracked off like automatic gun fire.” (Sansom, 1941, p.2)

A sensory overload of displaced forms dissecting the moment and the spatial parameters of William Sansom’s gaze.

with William Sansom’s proximity to the spatial event, his personal scales of time and space become condensed into minute time-spaces.

“Ton upon ton of red-hot brick hovering in the air above us numbed all initiative” (Sansom, 1941, p.2) “To the other side of me was a free run up the alley. “(Sansom, 1941, p.2)

CONCLUDING REMARKS Sansom’s depiction of his hypervigilant state explores the conditions for the unfolding of spatiality. A spatiality unearthed during his personal experience of an explosive moment. Sansom’s observations gave the scene directionality, it gave the moment a velocity and thus, it activated the events spatiality. A spatiality of transitory moments found within an architectures’ catastrophic failure.

NOTES and references

REFERENCES:

IMAGE REFERENCES:

1. Bakhtin, M. (2000). The dialogic imagination. Austin: University of Texas Press. pp.92-94

1. Imperial War Museum (n.d.). A House Collapsing on Two Fireman, Shoe Lane, London, EC4. [image] Available at: https://www.iwm.org.uk/collections/item/object/23296 [Accessed 3 Mar. 2020].

2. de Certeau, M. (1984). The practice of everyday life. Berkeley: Univer-sity of California Press.pp.115-117 3. Mellor, L. (2011). Reading the ruins. Cambridge (GB): Cambridge University Press. p.125 4. Sansom, W. (1941). The Wall. pp.1-2

1.2 SCALA REGIA

BY GIAN LORENZO BERNINI

“We dwell in time as much as in space, and architecture mediates equally out relationship with this mysterious dimension, giving it human measure.” (Pallasmaa, 2016, p.52)

ORCHESTRATED ASCENTION an altering of scales in time and space

Scala Regia by Gian Lorenzo Bernini is the architectural manifestation of the literary device, narrative deacceleration and the associated evoking of a loss of time sense. A loss of time sense through the use of an architectural illusionistic ensemble.Scala Regia is a ceremonial staircase designed by Gian Lorenzo Bernini, an artist, sculptor and architect. The ceremonial staircase was designed to lead the occupant into the Vatican Palace. The ceremonial staircase progresses through an awkwardly shaped passageway that is “long, comparatively narrow, and has irregularly converging walls.” (Pevsner, 1990, p.253). Bernini manipulated these constraints to advantageous gain on a theatrical and architectural scale. Bernini utilised theatrical devices such as optical illusions and scenography, which are “amongst the most characteristic devices of Baroque architecture.” (Pevsner, 1990, p.250), to accentuate a sense of exaltation upon entering the Vatican Palace. Bernini’s Scala Regia uses many tunnel-vaulted colonnades that reduce in size as the vista nears its background. Elongating the temporal experience of the ceremonial staircase accentuated a sense of exaltation as the perceived length of the ascension is lengthened. This architectural experience reflects Sansom’s use of narrative de-acceleration, and its use to evoke a sense timelessness. Scala Regia used architectural optical illusions to warps one’s perception of time-sense. The occupant experiences a prolonged pause as they ascend into the Vatican Palace, a perceived pause initiated by an architectural spatial event of static objects. One’s directional gaze down the passageway initiated the architectural de-acceleration. Mikhail Bakhtin stated that in Greek romance novels, “Human movement through space is precisely what provides the basic indices for measuring space and time ...” (Bakhtin, 2000, p.105). Similar to the Greek Romance novel, human participation in the orchestrated spatial event of Scala Regia initiated Bernini’s desire for a perceived de-acceleration of time when ascending through to the Vatican Palace. Therefore, not only does Scala Regia draw direct similarities to William Sansom’s personal spatial experience, but it also embodies a literary device. A literary device that allows narratives to “to jump between different timeframes” (Havik et al., 2018, p.160). An architectural threshold of shifting timeframes and alteration of times perceived scale as one transitions through the ceremonial Baroque threshold. 31

Scala Regia by Gian Lorenzo Bernini, (Pevsner, 1990, p.252) An ascention to the Vatican, an spatial event influenced by an architectural strategy.

A LOSS OF TIME SENSE. the architectural manifestation

Narrowing columns creating a vanishing perspective and alterings one’s perception of time. A centre of focus. An energetic gaze. A single aspect viewpoint.

One’s view widens as they ascend . A widening of view as the staicase narrows, applying an architectural pressure.

An architectural stoppage accentuating one’s perception of distance and thus time.

As one ascends up the staircase, their perception of time becomes increasingly more warped.

One’s time sense is warped. A pregnant pause unfolds.

time sense scale bar

NOTES and references

REFERENCES:

IMAGE REFERENCES:

1. Bakhtin, M. (2000). The dialogic imagination. Austin: University of Texas Press. pp.105

1. Pevsner, N. (1990). An outline of European architecture. 7th ed. London: Penguin Books. p.252

2. Havik, K., Hernandez, J., Oliveria, S., Proosten, M. and Schafer, M. (2018). Writingplace. Rotterdam: nai010 p.160 3. Pallasmaa, J. (2016). Inhabiting Time. Architectural Design, 86(1), pp.50-59. 4. Pevsner, N. (1990). An outline of European architecture. 7th ed. London: Penguin Books. pp.250-253

1.3 Kurt Schwitters’ family apartment, (Gamard,2000)

KURT SCHWITTERS And the cathedral of exotic misery “Absolute space is located nowhere. It has no place because it embodies all places, and has a strictly symbolic existence.” (Lefebvre and Nicholson-Smith, 2000, p.236)

SPATIOTEMPORAL ARCHITECTURE born out of a prolonged pause

Merzbau, a profoundly emotive architecture, grown from an intimate moment, an expansive moment of emotion and artistic intent. Schwitters' explosive moment created the foundations for his perpetually evolving and ambiguous work. A piece that remains unclear due to, as Elizabeth Burns Gamard, states in 'Kurt Schwitters' Merzbau', his incessant "habit of disassembling and assembling artefacts and drawings…" (Gamard, 2000, p.89.) ensured the moment of inception and locus for Merzbau's growth remained unclear. Schwitters’ practice and artistic intentions; were apparent throughout Merzbau, Schwitters believed that Merzbau was never finished, always capable of developing and re-forming, it became “…a vast organic enterprise destined to grow unchecked.” (Gamard, 2000, p.6). Schwitters’ desire to continually evolve his work embodied his artistic philosophies, Merzbau became an extension of his body, in an accelerated, self-controlled evolution. Thus, there was a “seamless interplay between his life and his art.” (Gamard, 2000, p.4). Kurt Schwitters’ Merzbau grew from the interconnectivity of fragments; it constantly altered the spatiality of his apartment. The spatiotemporal experiences altered as Kurt Schwitters’ began to create inter-connected relationships with paintings and sculptures, “ He started with string, to emphasize this inter-connection.” (Gammard, 2000, p.94), it then evolved into wire, then they were “replaced with wooden structures which in turn, were joined with plaster of paris.” (Gammard, 2000, p.94).

A palimpsestic column, (Gamard,2000)

These inter-connections proliferated, filling rooms, traversing stairs, and engulfing the apartment. Their connections created synapses of artistic and architectural information, transferred through the structures connecting them. As the connections multiplied, the temporal experience(s) of the apartment were displaced, they were warped and altered from a family apartment to a ‘Cathedral of Exotic Misery’, the architecture itself altered. A family apartment which was once a dwelling full of light and space was now a dark, angular and claustrophobic grotto.

A detail of Merzbau, an architectural history of Kurt Schwitters, (Gamard,2000)

THE

ARCHITECTURAL MANIFESTATION of the rabelaisian chronotope

The apartment, its belongings, and Schwitters' inhabitation informed Merzbau, and thus Merzbau became the architecture. Merzbau became the artistic embodiment of Schwitters' approach to art and the intrinsic relationship between art and his life. A manifestation of artistic intent that was an internalised moment, but the moment transgressed into, a protracted pause spanning over a decade, a "…indefinitely prolonged present." (Bakhtin, 2000, p.148) that was incubated to the confines of Schwitters' family apartment, and itself manifested into the growing form of Merzbau. Mikhail Bakhtin’s The Dialogic Imagination (Bakhtin, 2000) explores explicitly the chronotope, which is described as the various configurations of space and time and their representation within literature. In this, Bakhtin investigates ‘The Rabelaisian Chronotope’. A form of the chronotope that draws many similarities to Kurt Schwitters’ Merzbau. Specifically a similarity between Rabelais’ novels and the value of everything within them and how “…everything that is valorized positively, must achieve its full potential in temporal and spatial terms, it must spread out as far and as wide as possible” (Bakhtin, 2000, p.167). Gamard stated that Schwitters’ Merzbau was “essentially limitless” (Gamard, 2000, p.8) and like Rabelais’ novel(s), everything of importance must grow and grow without the restriction of spatial parameters. Merzbau, like the Rabelaisian chronotope, increased, it “started to sprout through the outer shell of the house (stretching finally) from subterranean to the sky” (Gamard, 2000, p.7), it grew as its importance increased, its importance increased as Schwitters continued to develop it. Furthermore, with this, the space became distorted; the continually evolving Merzbau controlled its spatiotemporal atmospheres. Windows became voids to grow from; stairs became connections to new spaces, new rooms. The apartment was controlled by Merzbau and Merzbau grew as its significance to Kurt Schwitters increased. The apartment became a cathedral, grown out of a bodily experience of artistic intent. Thus, Schwitters’ active participation with his work and his artistic actions within the apartment drew similarities to Bakhtin. Bakhtin’s belief that there is a “special connection between a man and all his actions, between every event of his life and the spatial-temporal world.” (Bakhtin, 2000, p.167) Schwitters’ spatiotemporal world embodied his events, his actions and his beliefs. The forming and reforming of its architecture changed as Schwitters’ changed, adding palimpsest and haptic depth to his work, unfolding an archaeology of time, as Merzbau slowly “…reveals its layered architectural narrative. “(Pallasmaa, 2016, p.55) 41

The threshold into Merzbau, (Gamard,2000)

A detail of Merzbau, (Gamard,2000)

SPATIOTEMPORAL WORLD warped by human intervention

The apartment was controlled by Merzbau and Merzbau grew as its significance to Kurt Schwitters increased. The apartment became a cathedral, grown out of a bodily experience of artistic intent. Thus, Schwitters’ active participation with his work and his artistic actions within the apartment drew similarities to Bakhtin. Bakhtin’s belief that there is a “special connection between a man and all his actions, between every event of his life and the spatial-temporal world.” (Bakhtin, 2000, p.167) Schwitters’ spatiotemporal world embodied his events, his actions and his beliefs. The forming and reforming of its architecture changed as Schwitters’ changed, adding palimpsest and haptic depth to his work, unfolding an archaeology of time, as Merzbau slowly “…reveals its layered architectural narrative. “(Pallasmaa, 2016, p.55) An architecture grew out of a bodily explosion, isolating Kurt Schwitters’ apartment from external forces and influences, thus engulfing the apartment in a prolonged present. An elongated time scale that enabled Merzbau to grow and edit the spatiotemporal experiences of Schwitters’ apartment. Concluding that one’s personal experiences and intentions can manifest itself into a spatiotemporal event that manipulates and distorts the environment dependant on the inhabitants personal experiences.

A distorted architecture & subesquent architectural experience, manifested out of a bodily emotion, (Gamard,2000)

WALDENHAUSENSTRASSE , 5 ground floor plan

Through forming and reforming, Merzbau grows out of an instantaneous bodily event, distorting the apartments spatiotemporal atmosphere

20740mm

Potential point of Inception & location of first column.

1 5 2

11690mm 4

7 6

Shading area’s denote confirmed area’s of Merzbau’s growth.

Location of Merzbau’s second column. A second valorized object, given freedom to grow unchecked.

SPATIAL KEY OF KURT SCHWITTERS’ APARTMENT:

First studio

Unknown Room

Entrance Hall

Principle studio

Kitchen

Street Entrance

Balcony

Kitchen

N.B: Drawing is an estimate based on sketches of Kurt Schwitters’ apartment, sourced from (Gamard,2000)

ADDITIONAL PHOTOGRAPHS

Internal View: A warped spatiotemporal form and experience, (Gamard,2000)

A photograph depicting Merzbau’s ability to distort and enhance the atmospheric qualities of the apartment, (Gamard,2000)

ADDITIONAL PHOTOGRAPHS

depicting Synapses of artistic & architectural information(Gamard,2000)

An architectural detail of Merzbau, (Gamard,2000)

The grotto within Merzbau, (Gamard,2000)

NOTES and references

REFERENCES:

IMAGE REFERENCES: (All images above are from the below)

1. Bakhtin, M. (2000). The dialogic imagination. Austin: University of Texas Press. pp.148-167

1. Gamard, E. (2000). Kurt Schwitters’ Merzbau. New York: Princeton Architectural Press. preface

2. Gamard, E. (2000). Kurt Schwitters' Merzbau. New York: Princeton Architectural Press. pp.4-94 3. Lefebvre, H. and Nicholson-Smith, D. (2000). The production of space. Malden, MA: Blackwell. 4. Pallasmaa, J. (2016). Inhabiting Time. Architectural Design, 86(1), pp.50-59. 5. Sansom, W. (1941). The Wall. p.1

CHAPTER ONE:

conclusion

Through analytical research and the critique of specific case studies, one can conclude that the role of a personal, first-person experience during an explosive moment provides an intensely rich opportunity to extrapolate spatiotemporal qualities. Spatiotemporal qualities that unfold upon the intertwinement of time and space. Explored through William Sansom's, The Wall (Sansom,1941), a proximity to the explosive moment, in this case, the displacement of a Victorian wall, warps Sansom's sense of time, and thus his perception of the space before him unfolds. The stretching of Sansom's perception of time allowed the incident to become shockingly spatial, his bodily emotions dictated his experience and perception of time and space and subsequently, the entire architectural landscape unravelling before him.

Merzbau as an architecture grew out of a prolonged present, stretching over a decade. Merzbau grew from an instantaneous moment that stretched over a decade, and thus the spatiotemporal qualities unfolded slowly and methodically. The space in which Merzbau inhabited became warped and distorted as it grew, growing from Kurt Schwitters’ bodily explosion of artistic intent. The apartment embodied Kurt Schwitters’ artistic practice, his beliefs, his interests, and therefore his experience of the spatiotemporal world he inhabited. Whereas, Sansom’s spatiotemporal landscape unfolded as a consequence of experiencing the explosive moment. His bodily reactions sculpted the spatiotemporal moment. Merzbau was sculpted, manipulated and shaped by the internal, bodily explosion of Kurt Schwitters, controlled by his artistic intent and practice. These case studies explored, with reference to literary theory, the relationship between time and space. One was highlighting the spatiality found within a timeless second, the second from an internal explosive moment, born from a single second, that stretched over a decade. Both case studies manifested themselves from a single incident, harnessing the energy to create their own depictions of a visceral personal experience. Thus, this chapter highlights the pivotal role that time, and the often-warped perception of it within a single human’s experiences acts as a catalyst to analyse, extrapolate and investigate the time-space witnessed before them.

A THIRD PERSON VIEWPOINT & THE SPATIAL IMPLICATIONS OF THE WITNESS

INTRODUCTION The narrator, an observer, are witnesses. For the purpose of this research project, they will be called the witness. A witness to the events unfolding before them. The witness gains a detached and distanced perspective of the events unravelling before them. They edit the scene with control, rewinding, slowing down and circumnavigating the moment to focus upon many details from multiple points of view. With every decision, the witness opens up a spatiality, a space for the observer. A spatiality born out of; incidents, moments of tensions, events shaped by the displacement of human or architectural form. These temporal moments of inflection offer a spatiotemporal opportunity. An opportunity evolved from the observing of the unfolding events. Regardless of the duration, the viewer can extrapolate spatial information's. Information presented to them by the witness. This chapter of the research project aims to investigate the role the witness plays. Exploring the influence a thirdperson viewpoint has in creating a descriptive narrative in which one can extrapolate spatial-architectural opportunities and experiences. This chapter will analyse the witness and their curation of spatiotemporal experiences. Analysing their role with reference to examples of a witness in both literary and cinematographic works. In the interest of focus and refinement this chapter analyse: Gian Lorenzo Bernini’s sculpture Apollo and Daphne (Bernini, 1625), The Chair (Saramago and Pontiero, 2012), by Jose Saramago One Week (Keaton,1920) by Buster Keaton. These case studies are chosen for depicting an explosive moment, bursting with temporality and full of spatial opportunity. This chapter aims to extrapolate spatial praxis’ found through the role of the witness and the spatiotemporal opportunities found through a distanced, observational role within cinematography and literary works.

apollo & daphne by Gian Lorenzo Bernini

the chair by Jose Saramago

one week by Buster Keaton

an ascention in scale

2.1 APOLLO & DAPHNE by OVID Scare had she made her prayer when through her limbs A dragging languor spread, her tender bosom Was wrapped in thin smooth bark, her slender arms Were changed to branches and her hair to leaves; Her feet but now so swift were anchored fast In numb stiff roots, her face and head became The crown of a green tree; all that remained Of Daphne was her shining loveliness. 59

A MOMENT OF CRISIS a Displacement of the Human Form

‘Apollo and Daphne’ by Gian Lorenzo Bernini depicts an internal moment, a rupturing from within the confines of the human form, initiating metamorphosis. A metamorphosis from a nymph, a supernatural female figure, to a laurel tree. Daphne’s metamorphosis from woman to tree provided a sanctuary, a shelter; from which Daphne is safe from Apollo. The myth of Apollo and Daphne described poetically by OVID was manifested into a sculpture by Gian Lorenzo Bernini, naturally draws similarities to that of the Greek romance novel chronotope. Bakhtin investigates the temporalities of the chronotope in The Dialogic Imagination (Bakhtin,2000). Bakhtin references metamorphosis and its metaphorical significance to an individual’s life. Bakhtin states that metamorphosis portrays the entirety of one’s biographical life during their “more important moments of crisis…” (Bakhtin, 2000, p.115), it is a means to show “…how an individual becomes other than he was.” (Bakhtin, 2000, p.115). Metamorphosis within Greek romance novels condenses the entirety of one’s life into an intensely short time-space. Bernini’s work manifests this intense transitory moment of multiple inflection points, suspending them in an eternal pause, solidified in a metamorphic material. The bodily gestures, their energetic gazes, and its curation embody the metamorphic explosion of Apollo’s physical displacement. Renaissance sculpture like the chronotope of Greek romance novels, adopts similar devices to consolidate a moment of importance in one concentrated energetic action. Sculpture, specifically Bernini’s Apollo and Daphne, in this case study, control the single viewpoint, forcing one’s glance, creating an energetic action of seeing a moment of high tension. Capturing one’s bodily transition and emotional stress in a single concentrated gaze. Therefore, similar in philosophy to the concentrated nature of metamorphosis and its literary significance within Greek romance novels.

Apollo and Daphne, a symbiotic inflection point, (Wittkower, 1981, p.53)

THE WITNESS, AN

ACTIVE PARTICIPANT Initiating a Metamorphic Spatial Event

Gian Lorenzo Bernini utilised the single viewpoint to orchestrate a moment, a moment that captures the witness as “an emotional participant in the spectacle…” (Wittkower, 1981, p.7). Bernini’s spatial choreography created a climactic moment for the beholder. It was revealed by a single aspect viewpoint, focusing on the climax of the action. Bernini’s spatial orchestration captured the energy of Daphne’s metamorphosis, allowing the witness to embody the energy and sensuality of this internal climatic explosion. The witness became an active participant of the moment; the event does not exist without passing through the threshold and engaging their gaze with the most energetic instance of the sculptures symbiotic point of inflection. The witnesses single aspect viewpoint and the energetic reveal of a point of inflection born out of metamorphosis distils the witness’s energy into one focal point. In addition to Bernini’s belief of the single point of focus, Juhani Pallasmaa investigated the reductive focus within contemporary architecture and the de-sensualisation of reality within contemporary culture as a result of “The ceaseless bombardment of unrelated imagery leads only to a gradual emptying of images of their emotional content.” (Pallasmaa, 2012, p.35), thus emphasising the relevance of focused imagery and viewpoint within Bernini’s Baroque sculptures, specifically Apollo and Daphne in Galleria Borghese.

A transitory moment of metamorphosis, (Wittkower, 1981, p.53)

DIRECTIONAL GAZES.

an energetic action.

Apollo’s bewilderment as he witnesses Daphne’s metamorphosis. (Wittkower, 1981, p.59)

Daphne’s horror stricken gaze upon Apollo’s touch. (Wittkower, 1981, p.58)

A CLIMACTIC MOMENT. spatially unfolded by a witnesses participation Single Aspect Viewpoint: A climatic reveal.

Multiple Points of View: A spatial interaction, A climatic reveal lost.

Daphne

Apollo

Daphne

Visitors approach

Daphne

Visitors approach

Daphne

Apollo

Daphne’s direction of gaze Apollo’s direction of gaze Visitors initial view

Here the diagram depicts the current curation of Apollo and Daphne. The energetic moment between sculpture and viewer is lost as the principle viewpoint is distorted. The viewer is no longer an emotional participant in the transitory moment found within Daphne’s metamorphosis. One can however circumnavigate the sculpture, digesting new levels of detail. Apollo

Visitors initial view

Movement through Galleria Borghese

Daphne

Visitors approach

Apollo’s direction of gaze

Visitors approach

Daphne’s direction of gaze

The diagram explores the original curation and spatial interaction of Apollo and Daphne. The visitors initial gaze unfolds the entirety of Ovid’s poem in one energetic moment, a single viewpoint that visually depicts the emotions and reactions of both Apollo and Daphne in a single energetic moment. Apollo

Visitors approach

Movement through Galleria Borghese

Visitors approach

CONCLUDING REMARKS Akin to Mikhail Bakhtin’s explorations of the chronotope and the time-spaces that unfold upon crisis points in a novel’s narrative, Gian Lorenzo Bernini’s sculpture bursts into a deeply spatial moment. A spatial moment that erupts upon the witness’s participation. Spatial participation initiated by the climatic and curated gaze between the viewer and the sculpture, bound by the exhibition space.

NOTES and references

APOLLO AND DAPHNE

IMAGE REFERENCES: (All images above are from below)

1.Bakhtin, M. (2000). The dialogic imagination. Austin: University of Texas Press. p.115

1.Wittkower, R., Hibbard, H., Martin, T., & Wittkower, M. (1981). Gian Lorenzo Bernini: the sculptor of the Roman baroque. Oxford, Phaidon. pp.53-59

2. Ovid and Melville, A. (1998). Metamorphoses. Oxford: Oxford University Press. p.17 3.Wittkower, R., Hibbard, H., Martin, T., & Wittkower, M. (1981). Gian Lorenzo Bernini: the sculptor of the Roman baroque. Oxford, Phaidon. p.7 4.Pallasmaa., J. (2012). The Eyes of the Skin. 3rd ed. New Jersey: John Wiley & Sons. p.35

2.2 THE LIVES

OF THINGS by JOSE

SARAMAGO

“Around this nucleus of an organic coherence, which is the centre of time because it is the centre of space…” (Lefebvre and Nicholson-Smith, 2000, p.234)

THE NARRATOR. a spatial curator

Jose Saramago’s literary work depicts the moment a chair breaks and begins a seemingly slow, inevitable trajectory towards the floor, taking with it an unnamed but apparently seated man. The juncture initiated by the breaking of a mahogany chair, and the fall that proceeds the chairs displacement. At this moment, movement is initiated, with the movement of the chair, the place it inhabited unfolds and opens into space. A space that bursts with explosive bodily and spatial moments. Unravelling a moment that becomes spatial once it is witnessed. With the chair's movement, spatial and temporal information begins to become available, with its abundancy one begins to: observe it, record it, calibrate and understand it. The narrator in Saramago's chair is a witness, a distanced observer watching the chair fall and gleefully remarking that "…we cannot help receiving this grace, for as we stand there watching, we do nothing and continue to do nothing to stop it from falling." (Saramago and Pontiero, 2012, p.8). The witness becomes the curator, taking a controlling role, manipulating the incident to extrapolate a more detailed spatial description. As the witness’s depiction of the fall gains more descriptive qualities, the space around the chair unfolds, the room gains a higher spatiotemporal value. Jose Saramago enables a more spatially descriptive narrative through the stretching time, creating literary gaps to observe literary spaces that were previously missed. Saramago’s narrative de-acceleration and resultant stretching of time allow the narrator to digest far more diverse spatial information.

REWINDING, REPLAYING & EDITING. ALTERING SPATIOTEMPORAL MOMENTS

The witness urges the chair to fall, but with patience as “there is still plenty of sunshine in the sky.” (Saramago and Pontiero, 2012, p.17). Sunlight becomes a metaphor, symbolising the spatiotemporal details still to be extracted from the scene. Spatiotemporal details that become clearer and more evident once the scene slows to an apparent halt. Thus, allowing the witness to critique the indefinite moment drawing the reader’s attention to pertinent spatial information. Information at varying scales of time and space. Such as the space between the chair and the floor. The narrator draws the readers focus to this minute point and states that “If we measure it, we will be shocked at the tiny amount of space there is to cover, not even enough space for a finger” (Saramago and Pontiero, 2012, p.18). At this moment, time becomes a tangible entity. By measuring the space left to travel, the distance travelled becomes tactile. Time has therefore been granted indices for measurement, the space left to cover measured by parts of the human anatomy; also measured through time, the time needed to cover the space in which “a fingernail, a shaving-blade, a hair, a simple thread…”(Saramago, Pontiero and Saramago, n.d., p.18) could only fill. The interwoven relationship between time and space means that, as Mikhail Bakhtin stated in The Dialogic Imagination (Bakhtin,2000), that “Time becomes, in effect, palpable and visible…” (Bakhtin, 2000, p.250) through the effective use of chronotopes within a narrative. The palpability of the scene broadens within a set of distinct spatial parameters. For example, a single room, involving one chair and one person’s point of inflection. Saramago states the importance of Bakhtin’s chronotope, “by using verbs such as to classify or categorise, we will prevent it from falling, or only let it fall very much later… (Saramago, Pontiero and Saramago, n.d., p.3) Furthermore, stating the importance, the narrative and narrative de-acceleration has on controlling the recollection of a seemingly instantaneous moment. Without the use of a descriptive narrative and a controlled chronotope, the event would have happened, passed by without the chance to remark upon the spatiotemporal qualities of one chair’s perfect and individual fall.

THE SCENE and the spatiality

Adjacent is a diagrammatic drawing of the space in which Jose Saramago’s chair inhabits. The diagram has refined the space to only key spatiotemporal devices used within the narrative, by the witness. Each item when engaged by witness upon different points through the narrative unfolded a visceral literary landscape where time and space are interwoven to create an opportunity for a spatiotemporal investigation.

EDITING TIME SENSE The witness manipulates one’s sense time through narrative de-acceleration. A timeless second unfolds the spatiality of a slow and inevitbale inflection point. the chair The focal point. The centre of an energetic moment bursting with spatiotemporal moments. Circumnavigating the moment. The witness circumnavigates the incident, rewinding the event, taking altering viewpoints to increase one’s spatiotemporal experience as a reader. The Route. Introducing the space in which the incident inhabits, thus creating spatial parameters to focus the narrative. altering scales & refining focus The witness edits and alters the scale of focus, remarking upon the chairs fall within the elongated second.

CONCLUDING REMARKS Therefore, as previously explored in the works of William Sansom, de-accelerating the narrative allows one to delight upon a multitude of details, at differing scales of time and space, found within an indefinite moment. The narrator similarly used the luxury of an indefinite second to control one’s viewpoint by: circumnavigating the scene, bringing into focus additional details and defining one’s experience of the incident. The narrator distorted and focused upon varying spatial atmospheres, removing and reintroducing details when necessary to further amplify one’s spatiotemporal experience of the incident. Thus, the narrator played an active role in one’s experience of the moment, they edited, rewound and orchestrated the chairs demise, controlling the spatiotemporal experience of the chair, the man and the space that it exists within.

NOTES and references

1. Bakhtin, M. (2000). The dialogic imagination. Austin: University of Texas Press. p.250 2. Saramago, J. and Pontiero, G. (2012). The lives of things. Brooklyn, NY: Verso Books. pp.3-18 3. Lefebvre, H. and Nicholson-Smith, D. (2000). The production of space. Malden, MA: Blackwell. p.234

2.3 ONE WEEK by buster keaton

Above: Three stills taken from One Week (Keaton 1920), depicting a moment in which the architectural threshold initiates a bodily moment of crisis and inflection point. (Keaton, 1920)

BUSTER KEATON

BUSTER KEATON and the threshold

In ‘The Dialogic Imagination’(Bakhtin,2000), Mikhail Bakhtin explores the chronotope of the threshold, specifically critiquing it as a point of encounter unravelling a moment of crisis within the narrative. Bakhtin describes the threshold as a place of viscerally rich experiences sculpted by the protagonist’s decisions and actions. These moments of crisis and breaking points have been previously explored through the adventure time chronotope. The chronotope where the major intervening moments within the narrative, interject along a road during the protagonist’s journey. Pivotal moments of intense spatiotemporal qualities within narratives are also found at the threshold of bodily inflection points. The threshold becomes a pivotal space of the narrative progression during a novels trajectory; this is because, as Bakhtin states, the configuration of time and space at the threshold are intertwined with the theme of “encounter, but its most fundamental instance is at the chronotope of crisis and break in a life.” (Bakhtin, 2000, p.248). The temporalities that coexist and dwell within the threshold create a moment in the narrative that unfolds the spatial praxis of the chronotope. The unfolding of the chronotope of the threshold and subsequent spatiotemporal qualities of the event are manifested through the temporal influences experienced by the witness. The protagonist’s experiences at the threshold amplify the moment, enhancing the spatial qualities of the scene. Katja Grillner and Klaske Havik discuss in ‘Between Sites and Stories, Between Texts and Times’, (Havik, 2018), that the protagonist’s interactions at the threshold be it an archway or a corridor connect the narrative to a space. The threshold gifts the moment “more depth and richness…” (Grillner, Havik, 2018, p.158) through the intersection of experienced contrasting temporalities, and external intervening forces. Points of inflection, moments of stress and pressure are bound to specific spatial parameters within novels. For example, Bakhtin noted that in Fyodor Dostoyevsky’s literary works the threshold was often a place of crisis where “the falls, resurrections, renewals, epiphanies, decisions that determine the whole life of a man.” (Bakhtin, 2000, p.248). These moments of intense spatiotemporal value to the narrative will often be located on a staircase, within a corridor or in a front hall. 89

Above: A series of images from One Week (Keaton,1920). The cinematographic and architectural manifestation of Mikhail Bakhtin’s threshold chronotope. The scene’s threshold is a misplaced door, creating an involuntarily transition prompting a point of crisis. (Keaton,1920)

THE DISPLACEMENT of form & the unfolding spatiality

This chapter will explore the threshold chronotope in Buster Keaton’s cinematography, as a means of focus, one particular scene in the film One Week (Keaton,1920). Through the critique of Buster Keaton’s film One Week (Keaton,1920), the chapter will explore the commonalities and diversions in practice of inhabiting and transitioning through the threshold, with reference to literary and architectural theories. The chapter will simultaneously explore the spatiotemporal opportunities that are found within moments of crisis at the threshold. Keaton like Dostoyevsky, uses the threshold as a mechanism to make evident rich chronotopic values and thus spatialarchitectural value. Keaton uses thresholds within his cinematographic works as a symbol of uncertainty, a space of bodily flux, a point of crisis within the plot. Keaton’s work not only captures the chronotope of threshold through bodily experiences, but Keaton also engages the architecture of the threshold as a means of controlling the chronotopic qualities of the scene. Keaton’s work becomes not only a space of uncertainty; it becomes a malleable space itself, an ever-changing environment, a place where Keaton “…disrupted the expected usage of architectural elements.” (Jennings, 2019). A space where the buildings form is regularly displaced, a wall will become a deadly projectile as it breaks from its binding as part of a house, a window will become an exit, a point of escape, a transition to a sanctuary. The uncertain state of the architecture in Keaton’s work becomes a defining and controlling protagonist in the temporal experiences of the threshold, and subsequently a spatial praxis in itself. Keaton’s cinematographic work becomes a spatial practice as the unexpected state of the architecture in his films, constantly evolve; they are ever altering in form. This constant flux-like state creates an architecture of displacing forms, an architecture that’s continuous change distorts and warps the scenes spatial atmospheres. This malleability of Keaton’s architecture kept his “…his viewers in a state of restlessness, farcical shock and awe.” (Jennings, 2019), as they placed themselves in Keaton’s body and witnessed the scene unfold before them.

Above: A series of images from Buster Keaton’s film One Week (Keaton, 1920) depicting moments of crisis as one witnesses the human form disturbing one’s experience of the built form. (Keaton,1920)

ONE SCENE

one second, infinite spatiality

In One Week (Keaton,1920), there are several instances where a threshold is used to depict a moment of crisis, a transition from uncertainty to safety. Akin to Mikhail Bakhtin’s chronotope of the threshold. Keaton also used the architecture’s manipulability and the threshold to initiate intense spatiotemporal moments. Will Jennings explored Keaton’s desire to constantly alter the form of the architecture in his article on Buster Keaton, Buster Keaton: Anarchitect (Jennings,2019). Jennings stated that Keaton had a mistrust towards the stability of architecture, and did not trust “the surface solidity of the built form…” (Jennings, 2019), he continued to suggest that regardless of the architectures perceived permanence,”…it was always fraught with a potential for the accidental and the absurd.” (Jennings, 2019) The following bodies of text in this chapter will focus upon one specific moment, a spatial event where Keaton’s mistrust in the solidity of the form of architecture is most prominent. A mistrust that unfolds an opportunity to explore and delineate the spatiotemporal qualities within a climatic spatial event. Mikhail Bakhtin described the threshold as a highly charged moment with high emotional value. He believed the threshold had significant metaphorical meaning, an instance in literature whereby a decision had the potential to alter one’s life. The example Bakhtin gave was “the fear to step over the threshold.” (Bakhtin, 2000, p.248). Keaton creates similarly intensely charged fleeting moments, bursting with suspense and tension. Keaton manifested the metaphorical significance of the threshold and produced deeply spatial moments through the manipulation of the form of an architecture. In One Week (Keaton,1920), Keaton explored his cynicism of an architecture’s solidity through the medium of a flatpack house that the protagonist (Keaton) and his wife built. Keaton’s threshold unfolded when the newly erected timber wall burst from its rightful place in a vertical position and fell through him, saved only by the void left where a window should be. At this moment, Keaton reimagines Bakhtin’s analogy of the threshold. Keaton does not step over the threshold, but the threshold passes over him, as it falls flat upon the floor.

Above: A series of images from One Week (Keaton,1920). The spatiality of the scene unfolds as the architecture’s form is displaced. The wall remains intact but its purpose has been altered. (Keaton,1920)

Within this “simple second” (Sansom, 1941, p.1), the space of the scene is unravelled. The space revealed by the intervention of external forces, forces which insight an eruption of emotional energy from a lived bodily experience. Keaton’s bodily experience resonates with Adam Sharr’s theoretical explorations of Martin Heidegger in Heidegger for Architects (Sharr,2007). Sharr stated that Heidegger believed the building was “…set out around human presence, configured by it but also configuring the activities of that presence over time.” (Sharr,2007, p.9). The human presence during a walls displacement of form initiated an awareness of the scenes spatiotemporal qualities, a bodily presence and thus the architecture of the newly created scene. The human presence is also present in Greek Romance novels. Bakhtin states that human movement actuates the space; the body is the tool for measuring space and time within a spatial sequence. Although the human movement is not present, it is the lack of movement amidst the movement of the wall that actuates the space in ‘One Week’. The scenes spatiotemporal qualities are witnessed through the viewer and Keaton. They are witness to the altered spatial landscape. They encounter a disturbance in the experience of a building. A disturbance that begins with an architectural “transition from equilibrium to disequilibrium” (Havik et al., 2018, p.18). A wall’s transition from verticality to horizontality. The scene then inhabits a newly manifested spatial and architectural quality. The wall, now a floor plate marks different spatial parameters upon Keaton’s bodily movements and thus applies spatial boundaries to the narrative of the scene. Spaces that were enclosed as domestic spaces are now boundless, once protected by the domestic bulwark of a timber wall, now open to an uncertain world—creating an architectural transition from the perceived sanctuary of domesticity to the ambiguity and insecurity of an open landscape. The spatiality of the enigmatic second where the domestic wall lunges towards Keaton in One Week (Keaton,1920) actuates spatial qualities through the wall’s trajectory and misplacement. The second that bursts with spatial opportunities draws commonalities with that of Michel de Certeau and his theories of activating spaces within urban landscapes. de Certeau stated in The Practice of Everyday Life (de Certeau, 1984) that “Space is composed of intersections of mobile elements.” (de Certeau, 1984, p.117). Therefore, the space within this moment is actuated upon the walls mobility as it rotates upon its axis through ninety degrees. Once initiated by movement, one’s experience of space is amplified by the intersection of Keaton’s domestic timber wall and his body. 95

Above: A series of images from One Week (Keaton,1920) fracturing an instantaneous moment of architectural flux. The wall passing over Keaton and finds a place in the world, as a spatial boundary, altering the parameters of the scene and thus the spatiality. (Keaton,1920)

CONCLUDING REMARKS The critique of this case study revealed Keaton’s intent on engaging the viewer as an active participant of architecture in an unpredictable state of material flux. The built form’s instability in Keaton’s cinematography throws the scene in an unpredictable space. A space that unfolds upon moments of crisis, points of inflection and architectural displacements. These climatic moments unfolded an opportunity to reimagine the spatiotemporal opportunities that manifest out of the intervention of unforeseen forces. The architecture’s loss of place in the world initiates new spatial parameters, a fallen wall is now a floor plate, where there was space there is now an architectural obstacle. The unpredictable misplacement of architectural elements in Keaton’s film not only created an opportunity to view an architectural landscape differently, but it also engaged the viewer through a connection between Keaton. A connection born out of bodily emotions and spatiotemporal experiences, combining to create an alternative experience of a cinematographic scene of architectural flux.

A still from the film One Week by Buster Keaton (Keaton, 1920), depicting the displacement of an architectural wall place in the world unfolding new spatial parameters. (Keaton, 1920)

NOTES and references

BUSTER KEATON:

IMAGE REFERENCES: (A images above are from below)

1. Bakhtin, M. (2000). The dialogic imagination. Austin: University of Texas Press. p.248

1. One Week. (1920). [film] Directed by B. Keaton and E. Cline. USA: Comique Film Corporation.

2.de Certeau, M. (1984). The practice of everyday life. Berkeley: University of California Press. p.117 3.Havik, K., Hernandez, J., Oliveria, S., Proosten, M. and Schafer, M. (2018). Writingplace. Rotterdam: nai010 uitgevers/publishers. pp.18&158 4.Sharr, A. (2010). Heidegger for architects. London, Routledge.p.9 5.Jennings, W. (2019). Buster Keaton: Anarchitect | Lapsus Lima. [online] Lapsus Lima. Available at: http://www. lapsuslima.com/buster-keaton-anarchitect/ [Accessed 10 Feb. 2020]. 6. One Week. (1920). [film] Directed by B. Keaton and E. Cline. USA: Comique Film Corporation.

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CHAPTER TWO:

conclusion

The role the witness plays is a pivotal one when experiencing spatiotemporal moments. The witness observes with the ability to edit, repeat and re-watch the moment. The witness who takes a distanced and overarching viewpoint, watches the explosive moments with impartiality, gaining a broader view of the incident. The ability to traverse and circumnavigate the incident allows the witness to assimilate the spatiotemporal details of the scene, ingesting the moment and processing the time-space opportunities.

All three case studies have explored explosion moments, bursting with spatiotemporal qualities found during an elongated second. The witness observed the displacement of form, displacements of architectural and bodily form, extrapolated the spatial information through their subjective experience of the timeless moments. In all three case studies, there would not have been a spatiotemporal opportunity were it not for the witness. Daphne was not aware of her Lignification; the man was unaware of his bodily demise and Keaton of his sanctity and safety within a windowless void. The witness’s observation and ability to edit the scene allowed time to be controlled and thus space as well. The witness in the three case studies were: a narrator, a sculptor, a reader, an artistic or cinematographic viewer. The experiences of the witnesses provided the moment’s indices to discuss, explore and extrapolate spatiotemporal opportunities. Spatiotemporal opportunities found within a timeless second. Witnessing the critiqued moments allowed an ability to edit the moment. Their directed gaze and connection to moment amplified the spatiality through active participation and emotional embodiment. Therefore, the witness, their participation and their third-person viewpoint unravelled the spatiotemporal opportunities of the explosive moments. 101

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historical time scale

“Time is thought of us before its parts, and temporal relations make possible the events in time.” (Merleau-Ponty, 1945, p. 481)

HISTORICAL TIME And the

Effect on Individual time.

individual time scale

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104

INTRODUCTION

In periods of crisis, specifically in this research project, the Second World War, one’s perception of time is warped. Often when a maelstrom of destructive forces engulfs large parts of the world, an individual or many individuals will realise the uncertainty of their environment. This realisation immediately applies a pressure, a global scaled pressure, the pressure alters their perception of time. A perception that transcends past fragmented moments, it creates an ambiguity to the length of one’s life. The pressure and the life span ambiguity create an intensity; it increases a desire to create works in the knowledge that their environment is forever shifting and thus their lives are also altering. This chapter will explore the consequences of external pressures on a historical and global time scale, and their influence on the actions, experiences, activities of on an individual, at a human scale. This chapter will be analysed with reference to Mikhail Bakhtin’s The Dialogic Imagination (Bakhtin, 2000), where he investigates the relationship between Historical time and Individual time within literature. Bakhtin explored a multitude of scales and their associated literary chronotopes. Bakhtin understood that the perception of time would alter dependent upon the scale in which it was viewed. Bakhtin also understood the influence these alterations would have on one’s biographical time. This chapter will investigate the influence Bakhtin’s ‘historical time’ has on one’s individual life, specifically artists, writers and sculptors, within the of a historical global crisis, namely the Second World War.

TIME SCALE BARS: The time scales will act as a visual reference throughout this chapter. The scale bars will depict the points in which historical time intersects and influences one's individual time scale. Influences their personal spatiotemporal experiences, and practices during a global crisis.

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WILLIAM SANSOM And the spatiotemporal influences of a global crisis

The first protagonist within this exploration is William Sansom. William Sansom was an author before the outbreak of the Second World War. Upon the unfolding of a global crisis, Sansom became a firefighter, working in London during the Blitz. Sansom was a prolific and incessant author; he worked with hast, ensuring that his work had a finality. Leo Mellor stated in Reading the Ruins (Mellor,2011), that “his most interesting and complex works...”(Mellor, 2011, p.49) were when he was a ‘fireman-writer’, where he would read and write out the war during gaps in time between shifts. The slivers of time that presented themselves to Sansom created a space in which to write short stories, stories of his memories, viscerally rich and spatially luxurious experiences from amongst the fire and rubble.

Sansom furiously wrote of the bomb sites, capturing the moments of their creation. The stories were short, enabling Sansom an opportunity to publish his works, but “also to compose works that embraces or accepted uncertainty, a contingency on a grander historical level…” (Mellor, 2011, p.50) A historical scale of enormous pressure. A pressure applied through an uncertain future and a gravely dangerous present in which Sansom and many other creatives inhabited. The pressure and uncertainty created gaps in time, as the global scale of ‘historical time’ became stretched and warped, creating elongated pauses at a personal scale and unravelling opportunities for literary creation. Sansom capitalised upon a stretched moment of rest to write his most famous short story, The Wall (Sansom,1941). It is speculated that Sansom wrote this vividly suspenseful vignette on his only full rest day in April 1941. Sansom capitalised upon moments found within his personal life, his individual time scale, measured not by the fires he put out; but by the short stories he had published throughout the war.

The intervening historical force

A loss of time sense, an unfolding spatiality

A spatially intense event

A momentary global pause

The simple second

Writing in literary gaps of time

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GLOBAL FORCES creating literary spaces

THE WALL by WILLIAM SANSOM, 1941

"However, that night the blank, indefinite hours of waiting were sharply interrupted — by an unusual sound. Very suddenly a long rattling crack of bursting brick and mortar perforated the moment. And then the upper half of that five-storey building heaved over towards us." (Sansom,1941,p.1)

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GLOBAL FORCES creating literary spaces

Air Raid Damage in London,1941, (Imperial War Museum, n.d.)

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GRAHAM SUTHERLAND And the practice of working in historical time-space gaps 1

Akin to Sansom, Graham Sutherland; a surrealist painter, experienced the Blitz first-hand. Sutherland worked and painted bomb sites and ruins. Sutherland painted in the gaps between air raids, venturing into still smoking ruins to find his industrial muse. Sutherland capitalised upon similar gaps of time as Sansom. He worked amongst the global pauses found during the war, pregnant pauses between air raids became opportunities to paint, collage and draw the surrealist spatial taxonomies of bombsites. The flux like state Sutherland found London in was anxiety-inducing, he found himself, commissioned to paint the bomb sites, as “a time-sensitive reporter…” (Mellor, 2011, p.117) like many other artists, cast across the United Kingdom to capture the country scenes as there was a universal “...anxiety over whether there would be anything actually left to paint.” (Mellor, 2011, p.116). Sutherland’s subjects were the remains, often the damp, smouldering wrecks. Found after Sansom had gleaned his literary nuances and personal experiences from the attempts to put them out.

Bakhtin suggests that in Rabelais’ novels, specifically the Rabelaisian Chronotope, one’s personal life “is separated from the time of the collective historical life of the social whole…” (Bakhtin, 2000, p.208). Although separated, the two life scales could intersect each other but at “specific points (war, the marriage of a king, crime), and took off from these points in a multitude of different directions.” (Bakhtin, 2000, p.208) Within these intersections of drastically different time scales, the grander, all-encompassing historical time will influence and displace the perception of one’s human-scaled, individual time, as explored in reference to William Sansom and Graham Sutherland. The events of a historical scale completely warp Sansom and Sutherland’s time scale. This is seen within their speed of practice, finding opportune moments of pause. They were working in gaps found in-between unpredictable interventions of historical times systemic alterations. They were creating works to depict their spatial-temporal experiences of moments of intense personal stress found in the shifting forms of historical time.

William Sansom and Graham Sutherland worked within an environment whereby time was pressured, the material flux London was in during the 1940s applied a pressure to create due to the uncertainty of everyday life. They inhabited an everyday maelstrom of the adventure time chronotope where “The unexpected, and only the unexpected is what is expected. The entire world is subject to “suddenly,” to the category of miraculous and unexpected chance.” (Bakhtin, 2000, p.152). These unpredictable moments created an opportunity to explore the spatiality of volatile external forces and their temporal characteristics. The constantly unexpected forces that infiltrated normal life broke the long stretches of mundanity induced by normality and opened a spatial world for Sansom and Sutherland to carve their fragmented works. At the same time, the precarious metropolis they inhabited reinforced the internal pressure to create, to create with hast in contingency to the universal acceptance of an uncertain future. 2 1

The expected unexpected historical time

A work based hast, an awareness of one's finality

An applied external pressure

Opportune moments of pause

The artistic time-space

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HISTORICAL TIME SCALES And the distortion of individual spatial experiences

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HISTORICAL TIME SCALES And the distortion of individual spatial experiences

Devastation, 1941: An East End Street, by Graham Sutherland (Tate 2007)

“For Sutherland the urban environment could not, until the war, produce for him anything of resonance comparable to that which was already nature.” (Mellor, 2011, p.117)

Devastation, 1941: East End, Wrecked Public House by Graham Sutherland (Tate 2007)

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KURT SCHWITTERS an artistic response to the historical time scale

The application of sustained pressure lead to a global stretching of time, it created gaps. Gaps for creation, moments in time, perceived to be pregnant pauses where one captures the spatiality of an ever-altering city. Whilst Sansom and Sutherland worked in and amongst the maelstrom of a global crisis, reacting to the grander historical time by working faster, with greater intensity and awareness of an acknowledged uncertainty. When the prolonged moments of global crisis cease to exist, the overarching, global pressure and stress is released. The releasing of pressure propels times perception back into a continuum of normality, and thus the hast to produce under a desire for finality with a grander contingency in mind, is removed. Times global ‘normality’ allows for longer, more methodical works.

Merzbau embodied the turmoil and instability of a financially ruined country. Thus, creating space out of turmoil, growing and developing Merzbau from uncertainty, he became “…fully engaged in the possibilities inherent in change.” (Gamard, 2000, p.32). Schwitters responded to the relinquishment of a global pressure, the removal of an overarching pressure enabled him to work to a personal time scale, an individual time and from this grew Merzbau, an architectural piece that evolved over a decade. Merzbau grew out of refuse and became a seminal piece for Schwitters. Merzbau continued to grow until the outbreak of the Second World War, when Schwitters had to flee Germany to Norway and then finally England.

Kurt Schwitters’ artistic practice evolved out of a response to a historical scaled time, he found inspiration in the end of the First World War and the subsequent end of the Wilhelmine Empire. In Kurt Schwitters’ Merzbau (Gamard, 2000) by Elizabeth Burns Gamard, Gamard remarks at Schwitters’ awareness that he as an artist “…could transcend his context, but as someone who was deeply immersed in the turbulence of post-war Germany” (Gamard, 2000, p.24), thus signifying an awareness of the global scaled influences and their influence on his creativity. Unlike Sansom and Sutherland, where a War, its global shift in consciousness, slowing of historical time and the uncertainty of one’s own time on a personal scale, did not influence his artistic and architectural practice. It was the end of War that created a catalyst for creativity.

Schwitters’ was quoted in Kurt Schwitters’ Merzbau (Gamard, 2000) as saying “I felt myself freed and had to shout my jubilation out to the world.” (Gamard, 2000, p.26), the release of pressure enabled Schwitters to create, he began to celebrate through refuse, collaging and creating works from the refuse he found within his environment. Schwitters’ work became a response to post-war Germany. 1

A release in global pressure

A methodical, considered practice

A reaction to an end in global crisis

A stretched biographical time-space

An alteration in artistic practice

Merzbau by Kurt Schwitters (Ohliger, Huneck and Truempler, 2013)

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CHAPTER THREE:

conclusion

As Mikhail Bakhtin stated (Bakhtin,2000), historical time in novels often influenced and intersected with that of one’s own time scale. Intersecting and often controlling the time scale of someone on a biographical level. The influence of historical time on a biographical scale has been explored through three case studies of three individuals’ lives. Individual lives and artistic practices that were altered by global events, specifically war. Their lives lost security, and their finality became uncertain. As a result, William Sansom and Graham Sutherland worked within these stretched gaps in time found within the intersections of a historical time scale, gaps which were warped by a global crisis and a universal loss of time-sense. The artists worked within and around the historical time scale, influenced by the pressure and strain applied from an international flux-like state. They worked with a ferocity and hast influenced by global forces, proving that in times of global crisis, the shifting historical time scales influenced and warped their experiences. Therefore, the content of their work depicted the shifting environment they inhabited.

Similarly, Kurt Schwitters was influenced by an altering of historical time scale, but Schwitters’ reacted to the lifting of pressure, stress released at the end of the First World War. The ending of a global crisis meant that one’s personal time scale regained its control, and intervening external forces were not as regularly present. Thus, the uncertainty subsided allowing Schwitters to work within a more methodological manner, reacting to the jubilation as opposed to in fear. Therefore, one’s experience of time and space is influenced by the changing of a historical time scale, their perspective of time and space becomes warped by the intervening forces unfolding before them.

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NOTES and references

REFERENCES:

IMAGE REFERENCES:

1. Bakhtin, M. (2000). The dialogic imagination. Austin: University of Texas Press. pp.152-208

1. Imperial War Museum (n.d.). Air Raid Damage In London, 1941. [image] Available at: https://www.iwm.org.uk/ collections/item/object/205065224 [Accessed 29 Feb. 2020].

2. Gamard, E. (2000). Kurt Schwitters' Merzbau. New York: Princeton Architectural Press. pp.24-32 3. Mellor, L. (2011). Reading the ruins. Cambridge (GB): Cambridge University Press. pp.49-117 4. Merleau-Ponty, M. (2010). Phenomenology of perception an introduction. London [u.a.], Routledge. p.481 5. Sansom, W. (1941). The Wall. p.1

2. Ohliger, A., Huneck, K. and Truempler, B. (2013). Reassembling Schwitters. [image] Available at: https://www. architectsjournal.co.uk/reassembling-schwitters/8641804. article [Accessed 29 Feb. 2020]. 4. Tate (2007). Devastation, 1941: East End, Wrecked Public House. [image] Available at: https://www.tate.org.uk/art/ artworks/sutherland-devastation-1941-east-end-wreckedpublic-house-n05735 [Accessed 29 Feb. 2020]. 6. Tate (2007). Devastation, 1941: An East End Street. [image] Available at: https://www.tate.org.uk/art/artworks/ sutherland-devastation-1941-an-east-end-street-n05736 [Accessed 29 Feb. 2020].

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CONCLUSION The research project drew commonalities between three instances of time, space and their influences on spatiotemporal landscapes. The case studies were analysed with reference to critical literary and architectural theories, with direct reference to Mikhail Bakhtin’s exploration of the chronotope within literary novels. The first chapter analysed an individual’s bodily reactions and the influence of time and space on one’s personal spatiotemporal experience, in the context of an explosive moment expanding out of a seemingly simple second. The second chapter explored the role of the witness and influence a third-person perspective has on the spatiotemporal experience of an explosive spatial event. The chapter investigated the witness’s ability to editorially control the moment, influencing one’s perception of time and space. The third chapter critiqued the influence of global crises and their historical time scale had on the individual’s existing within them and their respective individual time scales. The chapter explored the global effect scales of time have on an individual practice and their experiences of spaces in material flux. Investigating one’s time-based responses to intervening, external forces and their effect of the spatiotemporal landscape. The research investigated the symbiotic relationship between the bodily perception of time and space. Intrinsically intertwined temporalities that influenced and edited the other one’s perception. The altering of time unravelled an opportunity to experience spatial events differently. They warped an individual’s perception of time, elongating a second, allowing the spatiality within a second to unfold within a perceived timeless continuum. While the perception of time edited one’s experience of a space, the space in which time inhabits similarly controlled time. The research project critically analysed spatial events. Spatial Moments that were sculpted by architecture in a material flux of displaced form. The investigation of intense spatial events revealed that the movement of dislocated architectures and their subsequent velocity provided the indices that distorted one’s perception of time. Spatially warped through intervening forces of pressure and stress, the forces created a loss of time sense. Therefore, revealing the interwoven relationship between time, space, and the spatial events that initiate them. Spatial events that are born out of moments of sudden intervening forces, displacing the form of the architecture, distorting the inhabitant’s... 125

...perception of the spatial parameters and temporalities within the moment. A spatial event unravelled by the unforeseen and enhanced by the uncontrollable. While extrapolating a temporal symbiosis between time, space and the subjective perception of the two temporalities, the research project analysed the spatial events at altering scales. Scales of time and space that differ continually. The spaces explored in the case studies were often minute. The gaps between Apollo and Daphne, the chair and the floor, and William Sansom and the wall, were incredibly small. Infinitely minute, yet vast, external and bursting with spatiotemporal opportunities. These minute scales are often overlooked within architecture and architectural practice, but they provide a scalar opportunity to rethink spatialarchitectural experiences. An opening to speculate upon the spatiotemporal and architectural consequences optimising climactic spatial events. Spatial events that collate spatiotemporal qualities from vastly changing scales. Scales that focus upon one second, and one millimetre, focusing on events that encompass and extrapolate spatiotemporal experiences from the entire space, and the parameters in which the event takes place. The research found opportunities to reconsider architectural design practices, a reconsideration that generates spatial experiences that encompass the single second. Spatial experiences that expand out of minute spatiotemporal moments into choreographed architectural events. The research project has prompted a development for an architectural design practice where different scales of time and space are considered in symbiosis with that of the form of architecture. Designing for time and space in the same way as an architect composes architectural junctures, hinges, walls and floors. Architectural elements of altering scales, that are collated to form a homogenous architectural experience. Unfolding an alternative architectural design practice where one will consider architecture as a series of homogeneous events, utilising time and spaces’ symbiosis as a means of designing spatial sequences which embrace and enhance one’s personal spatiotemporal experience. Thereby, creating a design practice that embraces the minute, expanses of time and space within spatial events. Spatiotemporal events of different scales, forming an assemblage of viscerally rich and haptically diverse architectural spaces. Spaces born out of discreet moments bursting with spatial potential. An opportunity realised when all scales of time and space are considered and observed, all at once, all at the same time.

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REFERENCES books, articles

& journals

1.Bakhtin, M. (2000). The dialogic imagination. Austin: University of Texas Press.

15.Sharr, A. (2010). Heidegger for architects. London, Routledge.p.9

2.de Certeau, M. (1984). The practice of everyday life. Berkeley: Univer-sity of California Press.

16.Wittkower, R., Hibbard, H., Martin, T., & Wittkower, M. (1981). Gian Lorenzo Bernini: the sculptor of the Roman baroque. Oxford, Phaidon.

3.Gamard, E. (2000). Kurt Schwitters’ Merzbau. New York: Princeton Architectural Press. 4.Havik, K., Hernandez, J., Oliveria, S., Proosten, M. and Schafer, M. (2018). Writingplace. Rotterdam: nai010 5.Jennings, W. (2019). Buster Keaton: Anarchitect | Lapsus Lima. [online] Lapsus Lima. Available at: http://www. lapsuslima.com/buster-keaton-anarchitect/ [Accessed 10 Feb. 2020].

REFERENCES film

One Week. (1920). [film] Directed by B. Keaton and E. Cline. USA: Comique Film Corporation.

6.Lefebvre, H. and Nicholson-Smith, D. (2000). The production of space. Malden, MA: Blackwell. 7.Mellor, L. (2011). Reading the ruins. Cambridge (GB): Cambridge University Press. 8.Merleau-Ponty, M. (2010). Phenomenology of perception an introduction. London [u.a.], Routledge. 9.Ovid and Melville, A. (1998). Metamorphoses. Oxford: Oxford University Press. 10.Pallasmaa, J. (2016). Inhabiting Time. Architectural Design, 86(1), pp.50-59. 11.Pallasmaa., J. (2012). The Eyes of the Skin. 3rd ed. New Jersey: John Wiley & Sons. 12.Pevsner, N. (1990). An outline of European architecture. 7th ed. London: Penguin Books. 13.Sansom, W. (1941). The Wall. 14.Saramago, J. and Pontiero, G. (2012). The lives of things. Brooklyn, NY: Verso Books.

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IMAGE REFERENCES 1.Gamard, E. (2000). Kurt Schwitters’ Merzbau. New York: Princeton Architectural Press. preface. 2.Imperial War Museum (n.d.). A House Collapsing on Two Fireman, Shoe Lane, London, EC4. [image] Available at: https://www.iwm.org.uk/collections/item/object/23296 [Accessed 3 Mar. 2020]. 3.Imperial War Museum (n.d.). Air Raid Damage In London, 1941. [image] Available at: https://www.iwm.org.uk/ collections/item/object/205065224 [Accessed 29 Feb. 2020]. 4.Ohliger, A., Huneck, K. and Truempler, B. (2013). Reassembling Schwitters. [image] Available at: https://www. architectsjournal.co.uk/reassembling-schwitters/8641804. article [Accessed 29 Feb. 2020]. 5.One Week. (1920). [film] Directed by B. Keaton and E. Cline. USA: Comique Film Corporation. 6.Pevsner, N. (1990). An outline of European architecture. 7th ed. London: Penguin Books. p.252 7.Tate (2007). Devastation, 1941: An East End Street. [image] Available at: https://www.tate.org.uk/art/artworks/ sutherland-devastation-1941-an-east-end-street-n05736 [Accessed 29 Feb. 2020]. 8.Tate (2007). Devastation, 1941: East End, Wrecked Public House. [image] Available at: https://www.tate.org.uk/art/ artworks/sutherland-devastation-1941-east-end-wreckedpublic-house-n05735 [Accessed 29 Feb. 2020]. 9.Wittkower, R., Hibbard, H., Martin, T., & Wittkower, M. (1981). Gian Lorenzo Bernini: the sculptor of the Roman baroque. Oxford, Phaidon. pp.53-59

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1.Althaus, F., Bacon, F., Geitner, A., Joannides, P. and Morel, T. (2015). Francis Bacon and the masters. London: Fontanka Publications. 2.Aronson, A. (2004). Their Exits and Their Entrances: Getting a Handle on Doors. New Theatre Quarterly, 20(4), pp.331-340. 3.Bakhtin, M. (2000). The dialogic imagination. Austin: University of Texas Press. 4.Barr, A. (1936). Cubism and abstract art. [New York]: Arno Press. 5.Barrow, R. J., (Rosemary J.), & Silk, M. S., (Michael Stephen). (2018). Gender, identity and the body in Greek and Roman sculpture. https://doi.org/10.1017/9781139600439. 6.Bierce, A. (1890). An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge. 7.de Certeau, M. (1984). The practice of everyday life. Berkeley: University of California Press. 8.Evans, R. (2000). The projective cast. Cambridge, Mass.: MIT Press. 9.Franck, K. (2016). Architecture timed. London: John Wiley & Sons. 10.Gamard, E. (2000). Kurt Schwitters' Merzbau. New York: Princeton Architectural Press. 11.Hauser, K. (2007). Shadow Sites Photography, Archaeology, and the British Landscape 1927-1955. OUP Oxford. 12.Havik, K., Hernandez, J., Oliveria, S., Proosten, M. and Schafer, M. (2018). Writingplace. Rotterdam: nai010 uitgevers/publishers. 13.Higgott, A. and Wray, T. (2016). Camera Constructs. Taylor & Francis Ltd. 14.Hill, J. (2003). Actions of Architecture. Routledge. 16.Lefebvre, H. and Nicholson-Smith, D. (2000). The production of space. Malden, MA: Blackwell. 17.Libeskind, D. (2001). The Space of the encounter. London: Thames & Hudson. 18.McQuaid, M. (2002). Envisioning architecture. New York: Museum of Modern Art. 19.McQuillan, M. (2000). The narrative reader. London: Routledge. 20.Mellor, L. (2011). Reading the ruins. Cambridge (GB): Cambridge University Press. 21.Pallasmaa, J. (2016). Inhabiting Time. Architectural Design, 86(1), pp.50-59. 22.Pallasmaa., J. (2012). The Eyes of the Skin. 3rd ed. New Jersey: John Wiley & Sons. 131

23.Pevsner, N. (1990). An outline of European architecture. 7th ed. London: Penguin Books. 24.Rainer, R. (1969). Letters Of Rainer Maria Rilke, 18921910: 001. W.W. Norton and Company, Inc. 25.Rawlinson, M. (2005). British writing of the Second World War. Oxford: Clarendon Press. 26.Sansom, W. (1954). Something terrible, something lovely. New York: Harcourt, Brace and Co. 27.Sansom, W. and Bowen, E. (n.d.). The stories of William Sansom. 28.Saramago, J. and Pontiero, G. (2012). The lives of things. Brooklyn, NY: Verso Books. 29.Shields, J. (2014). Collage and architecture. New York: Routledge. 30.Spender, S. (1945). Citizens in War - And After. George G. Harrap. 31.The South Bank Show: Francis Bacon. (1985). [video] United Kingdom: ITV Studios. 32.Tschumi, B. (2001). Architecture and disjunction. Cambridge, Mass.: MIT Press. 33.Webb, M., Frampton, K., Sorkin, M., Wigley, M. and Woods, L. (2018). Michael Webb - Two Journeys. Lars Muller Publishers. 34.Wittkower, R., Hibbard, H., Martin, T., & Wittkower, M. (1981). Gian Lorenzo Bernini: the sculptor of the Roman baroque. Oxford, Phaidon. 35.Woods, L. (1997). Radical reconstruction. New York: Princeton Architectural Press. 36.Yates, F. (1966). The Art of Memory. United Kingdom: Routledge and Kegan Paul.

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1. Ahdictionary.com. (n.d.). The American Heritage Dictionary. [online] Available at: https://ahdictionary.com/ [Accessed 6 Mar. 2020]. 2.Artspace. (2016). Cold Dark Matter: An Exploded View. A work in progress, Cornelia Parker | Artspace.com. [online] Available at: https://www.artspace.com/cornelia_parker/colddark-matter-an-exploded-view-a-work-in-progress-1 [Accessed 28 Jan. 2020]. 3.En.wikipedia.org. (2020). Scala Regia (Vatican). [online] Available at: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scala_Regia_ (Vatican) [Accessed 23 Jan. 2020]. 4.Encyclopedia Britannica. (2019). Cubism | Definition & Characteristics. [online] Available at: https://www. britannica.com/art/Cubism [Accessed 27 Jan. 2020]. 5.Gersh-Nesic, B. (2019). Do You See the Clues in Analytic Cubism?. [online] ThoughtCo. Available at: https://www. thoughtco.com/analytical-cubism-183189 [Accessed 27 Jan. 2020]. 6.Gersh-Nesic, B. (2019). How to Identify Synthetic Cubism. [online] ThoughtCo. Available at: https://www.thoughtco.com/ synthetic-cubism-definition-183242 [Accessed 27 Jan. 2020]. 7.Jennings, W. (2019). Buster Keaton: Anarchitect | Lapsus Lima. [online] Lapsus Lima. Available at: http://www. lapsuslima.com/buster-keaton-anarchitect/ [Accessed 10 Feb. 2020]. 8.Jones, J. (2009). What artist Frank Auerbach dug out from London’s primaeval clay | Jonathan Jones. [online] the Guardian. Available at: 9.Jones, J. (2014). Frank Auerbach: a painter’s painter of horrors and joy. [online] the Guardian. Available at: https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2014/aug/29/frankauerbach-painters-painter-freud-tate-retrospective [Accessed 26 Jan. 2020]. 10.Kimmelman, M. (2009). City, and Artist, Under Construction. [online] Nytimes.com. Available at: https:// www.nytimes.com/2009/11/26/arts/design/26abroad.html [Accessed 26 Jan. 2020]. 11.Krén, E. and Marx, D. (2020). Scala Regia by BERNINI, Gian Lorenzo. [online] Wga.hu. Available at: https://www. wga.hu/html_m/b/bernini/gianlore/architec/scalare2.html [Accessed 23 Jan. 2020]. 12.Lubbock, T. (2009). Frank Auerbach - in the thick of it. [online] The Independent. Available at: https://www. independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/art/features/frankauerbach-in-the-thick-of-it-1817175.html [Accessed 28 Jan. 2020]. 133

13.Lucarelli, F. (2015). Fracturing and Displacement of Form: Daniel Libeskind’s Early.... [online] SOCKS. Available at: http://socks-studio.com/2015/11/08/fracturing-anddisplacement-of-form-daniel-libeskinds-early-collagedrawings-1967-1970/ [Accessed 31 Jan. 2020]. 14.Pomeroy, M. (2014). Consequences of war | Blog | Royal Academy of Arts. [online] Royalacademy.org.uk. Available at: https://www.royalacademy.org.uk/article/consequences-of-war [Accessed 16 Feb. 2020]. 15.Sabine, M. (2013). Review: The Lives of Things by José Saramago. [online] Ceasefire Magazine. Available at: https:// ceasefiremagazine.co.uk/books-review-the-lives-of-things/ [Accessed 6 Feb. 2020]. 16.Sanger, A. (2019). ‘Stressed Photograph’, Nigel Henderson, c.1950 | Tate. [online] Tate. Available at: https://www.tate.org.uk/art/artworks/henderson-stressedphotograph-p79309 [Accessed 15 Nov. 2019]. 17.Sebag-Montefiore, C. (2019). Steamrollers, explosions, and ‘cartoon violence’: the artistic eruptions of Cornelia Parker. [online] the Guardian. Available at: https://www. theguardian.com/artanddesign/2019/nov/13/steamrollersexplosions-and-cartoon-violence-the-artistic-eruptions-ofcornelia-parker [Accessed 28 Jan. 2020]. 18.Tate. (2020). Cubism – Art Term | Tate. [online] Available at: https://www.tate.org.uk/art/art-terms/c/cubism [Accessed 27 Jan. 2020]. 19.Tate. (2020). The Story of Cold Dark Matter – Look Closer | Tate. [online] Available at: https://www.tate.org.uk/art/ artworks/parker-cold-dark-matter-an-exploded-view-t06949/ story-cold-dark-matter [Accessed 27 Jan. 2020]. 20.Tate. (n.d.). Analytical cubism – Art Term | Tate. [online] Available at: https://www.tate.org.uk/art/artterms/a/analytical-cubism [Accessed 31 Jan. 2020]. 21.Thomas, E. (2012). MoMA | In Search of Lost Art: Kurt Schwitters’s Merzbau. [online] Moma.org. Available at: https://www.moma.org/explore/inside_out/2012/07/09/insearch-of-lost-art-kurt-schwitterss-merzbau/ [Accessed 13 Feb. 2020]. 22.White, J. (2019). ‘Untitled, Providence, Rhode Island’, Francesca Woodman, 1976 | Tate. [online] Tate. Available at: https://www.tate.org.uk/art/artworks/woodman-untitledprovidence-rhode-island-ar00357 [Accessed 15 Nov. 2019].

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BIBLIOGRAPHY film

& video

1.Imagine: Anselm Kiefer: Remembering The Future. (2014). [video] United Kingdom: BBC One. 2. One Week. (1920). [film] Directed by B. Keaton and E. Cline. USA: Comique Film Corporation. 3. The South Bank Show: Francis Bacon. (1985). [video] United Kingdom: ITV Studios.

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RESEARCH METHOD STATEMENT

ADAM STACEY

University of Greenwich London, United Kingdom

Thesis Supervisor - Simon Withers 137

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RESEARCH topic

AN EXPLOSIVE SECOND Expanding Spatiality The thesis will research specific instances and depictions of spatial events that expand from an instantaneous moment, a single, explosive second. Case studies of specific expansive spatial events will be critiqued and investigated, exploring the qualities of time and space within the explosive moments. The research project aims to extrapolate the spatiotemporal devices used to unfold a deeply spatial event. Through case studies, the thesis aims to understand the architectural spatial qualities that expand from fleeting moments, born out of a single second, expanding within a minute space, with the hope to extrapolate devices that will inform an alternative architectural design practice. The thesis will focus on seven key case studies, studies which depict varying explosive events, moments depicted in varying mediums. Such as: literature, art, sculpture and cinematography. The case studies will be analysed in conjuction with theorists, scholars and philosphers who have based research and investigations around the interwoven relationship of time and space. A still taken from the film Steamboat Bill Jr, (Steamboat Bill Jr, 1928)

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RESEARCH parameters & focus

The research project will focus on a concise number of case studies in order to analyse in detail the commonalities and differences in the use and depiction of time and space within each explosive moment. The critique of the case studies will focus on specific spatiotemporal influences, shown below.

Spatial parameters enclosing the explosive moment.

The displacement of form and influence of objects in flux. The indices of time and the subjectively perceived distortion within an instantaneous event. The scene’s spatial opportunities, and their temporal qualities that are found within the moment.

The influence of the one involved or witnessed the experience of the event, and the control it has on the spatiotemporal qualities of the scene.

Untitled, Providence, Rhode Island, 1976 by Francesca Woodman (Woodman, 1976)

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RESEARCH questions & assumptions

This research project will investigate the symbiotic influence of time, space and the body. Through focused case studies the thesis aspires to understand the relationship of time, space and the body within specific explosive event that expand spatially from an instantaneous moment. With this focus, the investigation aims to extrapolate the temporalities, spatialities and devices used to influence them both at varying scales in order to speculate upon an alternative method of architectural design. A design practice that will consider architecture as a series of homogeneous events, utilising time and spaces’ symbiosis as a means of designing spatial sequences which embrace and enhance one’s personal spatiotemporal experience.

Time

Body

Space The influence one’s perception of time has on the personal experience of space when time becomes distorted through intervening external forces.

Space

Time

Body Space & Time and the influence on one’s bodily experiences of the two malleable temporalities.The interaction of the body within spatiotemporal events can influence time and space

Space

Body

Time The influence a space in flux has on one’s perception of time when experienced within a spatial event. A body within an explosive spatial event will distort one’s perception of time and thus space.

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THESIS structure

Abstract Introduction The introduction will introduce the key research topics and the relevant theories and philosophies for the thesis.

Literary Protagonists This section will introduce and collate the relevant definitions gleaned from literary research centred around explosive moments.

1. A First-Person Viewpoint & The Bodily Experience of Time-Space This chapter will explore the relationship between time, space and the influence the experience from a first-person perspective during an explosive moment has on the scenes spatiotemporal qualities.

2. The Third Person Viewpoint & The Spatial Implication of the Witness Chapter Two aims to investigate the influence a third-person viewpoint has in creating a descriptive narrative in which one can extrapolate spatiotemporal opportunities and experiences.

3. Historical Time & Individual Lives Chapter Three aims to investigate the influence a third-person viewpoint has in creating a descriptive narrative in which one can extrapolate spatiotemporal opportunities and experiences.

Conclusion The conclusion will assemble the vital points that were found throughout the thesis and reflect upon their significance as spatiotemporal devices to enhance one’s experience of time and space.

References & Bibliography

Abstract

Introduction

Literary Protagonists

Chapter One

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Chapter Two

Chapter Three

Conclusion

References & Bibliography

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CONSTRUCTIVE RESEARCH methods

Primary Sources of Information Literature

Literay analysis will be used to explore the depiction of time and space within novels and non-fiction literary works.

Film & Media

Film and media as a medium will be critiqued, investigating the spatiotemporal opportunities found withn the depiction of explosive moments, unfolding from an objects displacement of form.

Photography

Photographic manifestations of spatial events will be analysed and critiqued, exploring transitory moments held in a prolonged photographic pause.

Art & Sculpture

Similarly to Photography, art and sculptural works of art will be analysed aiming to explore the relationship between the artist, their experience and manifestation of explosive moments through their artistic mediums.

Diagrams

Diagrams will be used to explore the spatiotemporal devices used in the above research sources to better understand the devices and techniques used to expand the spatiality of specific moments and explosive events.

Articles

Secondary sources will be used to critique and confirm the research and analysis from primary sources information. This research project aims to use literary, architectural and philosophical theories to investigate the qualitive information found through primary research sources. Academic journals, articles and websites will be used to support the primary sources of information, using contemporary sources of information.

Secondary Sources of Information

Academic Journals Websites Literature

Tertiary Sources of Information Literary Definitions

Literary definitions will be amalgamated from primary and secondary sources of information. The definitions will be used to gain a greater insight and knowledge into the terms and devices used throughout the thesis.

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PRIMARY SOURCE research methods

The research of this thesis will develop literary works, works depicting explosive moments. Spatial events that alter the perception of time and space, either through the depiction of an event or the literary devices used to describe an instance of intense spatiotemporal quality. From the initial literary research the thesis will develop specific artistic, architectural and sculptural case studies that will be analysed symbiotically with the literary works.

Cornelia Parker British Artist

Kurt Schwitters German Artist Investigating spatial experiences that expanded out of explosive moments, & their depiction through literary research.

The research intends on exploring artists that depict their experience or reactions to explosive moments through their artistic mediums.

Reading the Ruins

The Stories of William Sansom

by Leo Mellor, 2011

by William Sansom & Elizabeth Bowen

Graham Sutherland British Artist

The Wall

The thesis aims to extrapolate literary devices and techniques used to depict specific spatiotemporal experiences within an explosive moment.

Gian Lorenzo Bernini Artist, Sculptor, Architect

The Lives of Things

by William Sansom, 1941

by Jose Saramago, 2012

The Chair

Apollo and Daphne

by Jose Saramago

by Ovid

Concise research aims to understand the expanding spatiality found from the sudden displacement of forms within an object in material flux.

Buster Keaton Cinematographer

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Francesca Woodman Photographer

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SECONDARY SOURCE research methods

As stated earlier, secondary sources of information will be used in conjunction with primary sources of information and research. Secondary sources will be used to add greater depth in the understanding of the specific research topics of this thesis. The books and academic journals below are initial points of interest that will be investigated, as the thesis develops further sources of information will be gained and analysed.

Secondary Sources of Information Articles

Inhabiting Time by Juhani Pallasmaa

Academic Journals Websites

Writing Place by Klaske Havik, Davide Perottoni, Mark Proosten

Literature

The Practice of Everyday Life by Michel de Certeau The Dialogic Imagination by Mikhail Bakhtin Phenomenology of Perception by Maurice Merleau-Ponty The Eyes of the Skin by Juhani Pallasmaa

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IMAGE REFERENCES

1. Steamboat Bill Jr. (1928). [film] Directed by C. Reisner. United States of America: United Artists. 2. Woodman, F. (1976). Untitled, Providence, Rhode Island, 1976. [image] Available at: https://www.tate.org.uk/art/ artworks/woodman-untitled-providence-rhode-island-ar00357 [Accessed 5 Mar. 2020].

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