material assemblages & affective atmospheres
architecture+philosophy activity book by Anna Burgaya
affective atmospheres FIG.5 ceramics in my feet FIG.6 ceramical roof FIG.7 aggressive atmospheres on pottery bibliography
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material assemblages FIG.1 the ceramic brick wall FIG.2 how to make a ceramic figure FIG.3 Ceramic, the substance and Tile, the form FIG.4 life of piggy
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introduction
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table of contents
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introduction
What you will find here is a compilation of the posts I made in the blog “archandphil.wordpress.com” during an autumn semester in the seminar “Material Assemblages and Affective Atmospheres” led by Hélène Frichot. The result of all these posts’ compilation is this activity book. All the thoughts written down here relate the discussions in the seminar with one materiality: ceramics. In this way all the writings have a subject in common. I chose ceramics because it is a common-used material in the traditional architecture in the culture I come from. It has also a very moldable way of being produced so one can appreciate it in many different forms. The book has seven chapters. Each chapter includes a drawing (figure) and some text. They both are based on ceramics and the readings discussed in the seminar, mentioned in the bibliography. They deal with material-form and affective atmospheres concepts from a philosophical + architectural point of view. At the end of every text you will find a proposed activity related with the aforementioned concepts and the figure. This is why I called this an “activity book”. Sometimes you will need to complete it; be as creative as you want. I hope you enjoy readingthinking and doing it.
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Anna
FIGURE 1
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material assemblages
the ceramic brick wall
“orthographic drawing describes only form, and relegates material to the empty spaces between the lines” Katie Lloyd Thomas, introduction in “Material matters”, page 1.
We are also influenced by forms first, and how things look like. We get thousands of images everyday, via media, friends, companies,... but it is difficult to see beyond them; the stories behind, processes, their “history of development”. We set above our sight rather than the other senses. But sight is sometimes confusing. The architects are becoming images sellers. When they give too much importance to the drawing aesthetics, the building “craft” is negatively affected. To solve this, architects and builders need to cooperate, like the shape with the material and form with matter.
And now the ceramics shows up... as a brick. The architect draws a wall. She draws a rough sketch with the first ideas, dimensions, forms, shapes,... just lines. Oh! and it will be made out of ceramic bricks. She forgets about brick’s materiality; its surface texture, its weigh, its origins, every piece has a different tone due to the process of manufacturing. An only brick has an appearance but a larger ammount of them, one piled above the other with cement inbetween, creates a totally different surface and effect on the wall. How should the builder pile the bricks then? Is it up to her knowledge and own decision? What if the drawn wall has some structural mistakes? What tonality of color would she decide? A dialog is needed! ACTIVITY - FIGURE 1 [the brick wall] Can you draw the brick wall thinking about its materiality? Here is a clue: forget about the contour lines.
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This first reading introduces with a concept: hylomorphism, privileging of form over material. Hylo as material and morph as form have an evident relation and they might be perceived equally and balanced. But hylomorphism tends to focus on the formal perception and so the matter gets degraded.
FIGURE 2
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material assemblages
how to make a ceramic figure “We know nothing about a body until we know what it can do” Jane Benett, preface in “Vibrant Matter”, page 7.
I can remember the first time I thought about matter as an animate thing. It happened during a physics lesson in the school. The teacher started enumerating the different states of the matter; solid, liquid, gas. This was nothing new to me but then he went further on, introducing the term of atom and how it is directly related to the matter’s different states. Since that day when I try to understand the environment and its matter it comes to my mind an amount of millions of particles. And depending on the matter’s state they appear: quiet and joint but in tension for solids, partly moving or vibrating for liquids, and separated, flying free filling the atmosphere for gas. But somehow even before the ‘atomic lesson’ I was aware of the vibrancy of matter when as a kid (and the high curiosity involved) I played with deformable materials, discovering different matter’s characteristics.
And now the ceramics shows up... as a figure. I used to model figures with a plastic and resistant material; clay. When I had the desired shape I put them in the oven and heated them until the clay became hard but fragile; the result was a ceramic figure. Eventually one day I threw away the figure and it broke; the result was an amount of small ceramic pieces spread on the floor. Every action upon the material produced a visible change on it so I could in some manner perceive animation in matter. Because of the action-reaction principle everything is constantly changing and moving even though we don’t notice. There are changes that happen too fast or too slow for us to be aware of them. For a dragonfly that lives one day humans might never change. We don’t see a mountain changing its form because the process is too slow for our perception. The matter keeps changing and it is in movement. ACTIVITY - FIGURE 2 [three states of a ceramic figure; moldable, hard fragile, broken] Experience the vibrance in ceramics by making a clay figure yourself. Leave it outdoors. Observe it and notice its changes day after day.
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The Jane Benett’s Preface in Vibrant Matters is an appeal to make the reader realize the vitality of matter and how “lively powers of material formations” can alter our moods and environments. But her goal is more ambitious; she defends that if we were more aware of an animate “vibrant matter” our modes of consumption and production would become “more ecological and more materially sustainable”.
FIGURE 3
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material assemblages
Ceramic the substance
Tile the form
“there is something deeply wrong with this treatment of the micro and the macro as absolute scales. A more adequate approach would be to treat them as relative to a particular scale.” Manuel DeLanda, “Deleuze, Materialism and Politics”, page 166
In his Chapter 8 “Deleuze, Materialism and Politics” DeLanda introduces us some concepts related to materialism from Gilles Deleuze and Félix Guattari works. The process of double articulation, concerning the materiality (substances, territorialisation) and the expressivity (forms, coding) of a stratum. Although these concepts are different they are tightly linked and they affect each other in a reciprocal way.
And now the ceramics shows up... as tiles.
According to the writer all identities are historical and because of that they are changeable; he remarks its importance in the human politics’ context and the possibility of social changes.
Ceramic is the Tile molecular scale. But the Ceramic Tile can be composing a ground, this ground may be defining a balcony area in an apartment, the apartment is the fourth dwelling in a floor... And you could keep going till... guess what? ACTIVITY - FIGURE 3 [On the left, the molecular scale of tile and molar scale of ceramical matter. On the right, the molecular scale of a ground floor and the molar scale of a balcony] Can you think about other examples of molecular and molar scales in objects/society/nature/...? Try to draw them in both scales.
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Finally he names the term of spatial scales distinguishing between the molecular and the molar levels as a way to define different approaches to the identity properties. But most of the times the same body can be both a whole and a part of a whole. It depends on the point of view one is using.
A Ceramic Tile consists of a certain amount of mineral materials, mainly clay, and these define its physical properties, what it is made of, its substance, Ceramics. Furthermore this matter has a shape, a form, we can percieve and sense its expressivity, the Tile.
FIGURE 4
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material assemblages
life of piggy
“That which matters about an object is its matter.” Judith Butler, “Bodies that matter”, page 31.
The association of feminity with materiality, matter with mater and matrix, suggests the concept of generation in the configuration of matter. What matters about a body is its origins, how and why it matters. In reproduction women may contribute the matter (hyle) and men the form (morpho). In architecture builders may contribute the hyle and architects the morpho. The Greek term “Schema” means “the shape given by the stamp”. How does one give schema to hyle?
And now the ceramics shows up... as a piggy bank. Like the man in the Bible I was made out of clay. My creator gave me shape and life. But there was a reason. My mission was to save money, to store coins and notes for the creator. My looking was like a fat pig but my skin was ceramic and I had a slit in my back, big enough to let the largest coins get in. When I was a newborn I was empty inside, but then when I grew up day after day I was getting increasingly fuller. Finally one day I was so full that no coin was able to get stored in my stomach. The creator took me and threw me to the ground, breaking me into a thousand pieces and taking all the coins I had saved. Luckily all of my fragments were recycled properly. Now I am part of the foundations of the most beautiful building in the city. ACTIVITY - FIGURE 4 [the ceramic piggy] Be the creator of Piggy and give him shape connecting points along the right order.
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Judith Butler calls into question why materiality is meant to be a sign of irreducibility, why this exclusion?
FIGURE 5
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affective atmospheres
ceramics in my feet “Although feeling and affect are routinely used interchangeably, it is important not to confuse affect with feelings and emotions.” Eric Shouse, “Feeling, Emotion, Affect”.
Both readings introduce the lector to the term “affect-affection”. There are many ways of describing it but they always agree in the fact that “affection” is an abstract term, “unformed and unstructured”, and because of that it can be transmitted between bodies. So we can say that bodies affect other ones.
However, not every user would be affected in the same way. It depends on the personal experience and cultural backgrounds. A clear example is the general wish of having natural lightened spaces in occidental cultures and on the contrary the shadow’s search in oriental cultures.
Our body is affected by many other extern agents in our environment. How can a space influence in our conduct? It is dark outside. Why do I switch off the general light in this room while writing these words? I only turn on the bed table light next to me so that the atmosphere is less aggressive, my body –my eyes– prefer to work in this kind of space, otherwise it would be too shining and could not focus on the task because they would not be comfortable.
Even so there are many other aspects in a space, apart from lighting, that affect our body; the temperature, smells, material and its texture, … and every user will experience it depending on culture and memories.
Ceramic tiles in a space affect me in a positive way; because of their neutral smell, the warm color, the cool surface, and the traditional aspect in the region I come from, they all are good affections for my body. And after being affected my brain process the information given to my body, and then my “soul” starts to feel. ACTIVITY - FIGURE 5 [when the atmosphere is too hot ceramic tile is an appeal to take my shoes off and walk on its cool refreshing surface] Draw your feet in surfaces you are affected by.
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Lighting is from my experience one of the most relevant aspects when talking about space and its affection on the user’s body. When it is 5 a.m. and the nightclub is about to close they only need to turn on the lights and people automatically stop dancing, even if the music is still going on. Light also affects the colors and we are constantly affected by them everywhere.
And now the ceramics shows up... as tiles again.
FIGURE 6
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affective atmospheres
ceramical roof “A perceived work of art expresses a certain bundle of spatial-temporal relations” “The space and time which we find there are not structures of an organized world but qualities of an expressed world” Mikel Dufrenne
Below I describe one of my favorite atmospheres I have ever been affected by.
Sounds: the birds, the waves, a dog barking sometimes, distant footsteps, friends’ talks and laughter, an airplane taking off.
And now the ceramics shows up... as a walkable roof.
Textures: the ceramic tiles I am sitting on are warm thanks to the sunny day. They adapt to the wavy roof and so does my body.
Sights: I can see the watchdogs lying on the garden’s grass from above. I am surrounded by the green of big pine trees, higher than the top of the house. The horizon shows a fine seafront and a deep blue clear sky. Some friends are sitting around too. Smells: the pine needles and the salty mediterranean water.
I have the sense that it was the right time and the right place, adding an amount of details that put together made me experience positive vibrations in that atmosphere. It would not have been the same if those friends had not been there or the sun was not shining or the pine trees were bushes. Only my memory let me remember that atmosphere and how I experienced it in that space and time. My favorite atmospheres are based on my personal experiences. So the combination of one’s senses, memories, mood, etc. defines the way an atmosphere affects the subject. ACTIVITY - FIGURE 6 [my friends and I on La Ricarda roof] Find the 7 differences between the drawings.
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Site: “La Ricarda” house or “Casa Gomis” by the architect Antoni Bonet in El Prat de Llobregat. Its roof is covered with 20x20cm ceramic tiles (a very specific old ceramic brand with unique characteristics) and has an ondulated shape. I am sitting on it.
FIGURE 7
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affective atmospheres
aggressive atmospheres on pottery “The discovery of “the environment” took place in the trenches of World War I” Peter Sloterdijk, in Terror From the Air, page 18.
In the past, the aggressor used the body’s strength to fight against the enemy. There was no distance between fighting bodies. Then they started to produce weapons so that this distance began to increase. However, they had still values like honor and courage; wars were something big and memorable, that’s why we can visit nowadays hundreds of monuments and appreciate artistic objects, exalting the figure of the hero. And now the ceramics shows up... as a heroic greek pot. Some ceramical examples of reminders for these memorable battles or historical facts are the Greek heroic pottery, Roman mosaics, Xian Warriors,… Then we get introduced to the term “atmoterrorism” that was first practiced in the 20th century. It refers to the “violence against the very human-ambient things”, affecting the atmosphere. Attacking the
enemy’s atmosphere makes him feel confused and vulnerable. This kind of attack generated a sense of fear over the victims because it had no physical evidence to protect them in time. So the distance between bodies became much wider than before since the aggressor did not need a direct contact with his objective but its geographic situation. Finally the 21st century arrived with a new feature: the digital technology, internet and all the things involved in it. A new way of aggression was born; every single internet user is being attacked through this digital atmosphere, via publicity, pop-up windows, viruses, etc. It can make us change our behavior or become dependent on it. So now the distance between bodies is not relevant as it is not meant to be. History has gone from the analog heroic pottery to the digital era, from the very close contact between aggressive bodies to the use of virtual atmospheres to affect human way of life. Which will be the next atmosphere to conquer? ACTIVITY - FIGURE 7 [heroic greek pottery] Complete the drawing after reading and thinking about these new and subtle ways of aggression. How would you represent them graphically, as a commemoration?
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Aggression between bodies has always existed. The rain water eroding the ground, lightning causing fire, the animal hunting its prey, ... humans against humans. Human history is full of aggressive episodes and conflicts. But there have been different ways of aggression along the centuries.
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This is the end of the book. I hope these thoughts and activities have been helpful to let you think about new points of view and understanding, or at least to make you ask yourself some questions related to your perception of the environment. Thank you,
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Anna
bibliography FIGURE 1
Katie Lloyd Thomas ed. ‘Introduction’, Material Matters: Architecture and Material Practice, London: Routledge, 2007
Diana Coole and Samantha Frost, ‘Introducing the New Materialism’, in Diana Coole and Samantha Frost, eds, New Materialisms: Ontology, Agency, and Politics, Durham and London: Duke University Press, 2010
Philip Beesley, Hylozoic Ground
FIGURE 2
Jane Bennett, ‘Preface’ in ‘Vibrant Matter: A Political Ecology of Things’ Durham and London: Duke University Press, 2010
FIGURE 5
Nigel Thrift, ‘Spatialities of Feeling’ in Non-Representational Theory: Space, Politics, Affect, London: Routledge, 2008 Eric Shouse, ‘Feeling, Emotion, Affect’, in Melissa Gregg, ed. ‘Affect.’ M/C Journal 8.6 (2005). 25 Nov. 2011. Melissa Gregg, ed. ‘Affect.’ M/C Journal 8.6 (2005). 25 Nov. 2011
FIGURE 6
David Gissen, ‘Part One: Atmosphere’, in Subnature: Architecture’s Other Environments, New York: Princeton Architectural Press, 2009
Ben Anderson, ‘Affective Atmospheres’, in Emotion, Space and Society 2, 2009, pp. 77-81
FIGURE 3
Manuel DeLanda, ‘Deleuze, Materialism and Politics ’, in Ian Buchanan and N. Thoburn, eds, Deleuze and Politics, Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, 2008
FIGURE 7
Peter Sloterdijk, ‘Atmospheres of Democracy’, in Bruno Latour and Peter Weibel, eds, Making Things Public: Atmospheres of Democracy, Cambridge, Mass: MIT Press, 2005
Manuel DeLanda, A Thousand Years of Nonlinear History, New York: Swerve, 2000. Excerpt
Peter Sloterdijk, ‘Gas Warfare–or: The Atmoterrorist Model, in Terror From the Air, LA: Semiotext(e), 2009
FIGURE 4
Judith Butler, ‘Bodies that Matter’, in Bodies that Matter: On the Discursive Limits of Sex, London: Routledge, 1993
Elizabeth Grosz, ‘Feminism, Materialism, and Freedom’, in Diana Coole and Samantha Frost, eds, New Materialisms: Ontology, Agency, and Politics
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