Silent Tales A tribute to imperfections Emilie Diers
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Silent tales Who has never dreamt away, as a child, standing in front of the ruins of a house? Imagining its silhouette when it stood complete? Contemplating about its vibrant life at its time of glory? The attraction to ruins has been, during the romantic period, a way to face, with delight, the passing of time and memory of the past. Nowadays, ruins are the sign of a temporary state before demolition or renovation. Imperfections continue to provide us with stories and tales, in silence. Imperfection, silent sources of knowledge and emotion The concept of imperfection differs in the East and the West. In the West, perfect is something at its most successful, to which nothing can be added or subtracted. It is «complete» in the true sense of the word. Imperfection is the opposite in every way: it is what is flawed, incomplete and does not meet any expectation. In the Far East, the vision of perfection is different: Sabi is a Japanese aesthetic concept that describes the beauty of the old and refers to the alteration caused by the decay of aging, where time improves everything. «I suppose I shall sound terribly defensive if I say that Westerners attempt to expose every speck of grime and eradicate it, while we Orientals carefully preserve and even idealize it. Yet for better or for worse we do love things that bear the marks of grime, soot, and weather, and we love the colors and the sheen that call to mind the past that made them. » [1] Deciding what is perfect or imperfect, therefore, varies according to the values and culture of society. That which is perfect for some is imperfect for others, and vice versa. The series of photographs that accompanies this text highlights what evokes imperfections and the questions they can raise. Imperfections carry the imprint of time, affect materials and record past experiences. They give various information about the previous life of a material, the traumas it suffered, or clues about its making and manufacturing process. They tell a story and initiate questions: What happened? How it was built? What is it made of? How does it stand? What was there before? How did it disappear? Why? How does it evolve over time? What kind of physical mark did time leave?
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«The Chinese also love jade. That strange lump of stone with its faintly muddy light, like the crystallized air of the centuries, melting dimly, dully back, deeper and deeper are not we Orientals the only ones who know its charms ? We cannot say ourselves what it is that we find in this stone. It quite lacks the brightness of a ruby or an emerald or the glitter of a diamond. But this much we can say: when we see that shadowy surface, we think how Chinese it is, we seem to find in its cloudiness the accumulation of the long Chinese past [...] » [2]. A quiet time machine Imperfections belong to a bygone time, embody the persistence of memory as opposed to oblivion, and reveal the past as much as they remain in the present. They are conducive to daydreaming and give rise to emotion. They tell us life stories, remind us of the power of nature and the uniqueness of every minute, pushing us towards the future.
[1] : Junichiro Tanizaki, In Praise of Shadows [1933], ( Translated : Thomas J. Harper and Edward G. Seidensticker), Chicago : Leete’s Island Books, 1977, 244p. [2] : op. cit.
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The scar raises the question of the reasons and processes of the making. It testifies to underground infrastructure. Washington D.C., USA, 02/02/2009, photography.
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Cracks, regarded for what they are, impress with their design. A cracked wall tells two stories: the tragic experiences of trauma and a lighter story. Some cracks are as touching as prehistorical paintings. Paris, France, 01/24/2008, photography.
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Memory of a meeting. Boulogne, France, 09/22/2009, photography.
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Accepted diversity. Disparity is more welcoming and reveals new uses. London, England, 02/02/2008, photography.
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All pictures by Emilie Diers. This series of images belongs to a work : In Praise of imperfection in which the traces of time are classified as injuries applied to architecture, according to the following themes: The scars, the burns, wrinkles, prostheses, etc. ... Biography Emilie Diers, an architect, was born in Paris in 1982. She graduated with a master’s degree in interior design from ESAG Penninghen design school in Paris and a master’s degree in Architecture from Marne la Vallée national school of architecture in France. Her architectural experience includes collaborations on international and prestigious projects in Marocco, Taiwan and throughout Europe. Photography and sculpture have always been key activities side by side with her work as an architect, nourishing her sensitive and architectural approach. She lives and works in Tel Aviv as an independent architect. Sincere thanks Sincere thanks to Chloe Aragon, Helen Eastwood, Dana Gez, Hanna Kaminski, Hagit Pincovici and Tatsumi Taeron for their support throughout the implementation of this project.
© 2013 Atelier Emilie Diers
Imperfections act like time machine. They remind us stories from the past and push us toward the future. Š 2013 Atelier Emilie Diers