C.A.U.S.E. Studio 2.3 - ECOVENTION

Channeling Displacement

“In life and its affairs, there are typically two energetic systems of interdependence: One is the system that use it energy to open or close the faucet or gate or relay; the other is the system whose energy ‘flow through’ the faucet or gate when it is open.” -Gregory Bateson, “Criteria of Mental Processes”

Channeling Displacement restates actions embedded in the landscape by pulling them to the surface and revealing them. It uses the division of land use native to the Parish structure as a guidin g principle but aims to articulate these divisions through a co nceptual lever tied to the innate qualities of the site and territory. Smithson insisted the existence of a place hinges on its representation, so this “ecovention” is an articulation of forces, a re-representation. This is done through the imposition of a log spiral grid on the site’s water source: a rainfed well located directly uphill which also serves to med iate valve-like a relationship between the site proper and the community forest to the East. The terracing operation is an expression of the natural slope’s relationship to the offsite well. The resultant walls are porous but retentive, propagating laminar flow through the fiel d area. The terrace heights are determined by the elevation of the surrounding landscape. The grid is thus an inflection and reflection of its context, much like the phenomena created and translated in Yucatan Mirror Displacement. The channels/channeling in question reflects Bateson’s description of two energetic systems. The formal construct of the system acts to direct and intersect as many syste ms of flow as possible. Its tectonics both divide and open new and unseen existing channels.