Observing Air

OBSERVING AIR

TEAM

MOHAMMED ALHAMOUDI BRADEN COOPER

JACOB GASPER

MARY LE

WHERE BLACK CONTEMPORARY: WORLD ARTIST’S ARCHIVE AMES, IOWA, USA

WHEN FALL 2020

COURTESY OF PETER P. GOCHÉ

FOUNDER AND DIRECTOR OF BLACK CONTEMPORARY

Black Contemporary is a rural field station, located south of Ames, Iowa, dedicated to the research of spatial phenomena. The rural architectures at Black Contemporary do not exist as volumes of mass placed on the landscape, but instead operate as skins wrapping the atmosphere. Functionally, this invited air is what makes these passive machines operate.

Observing Air seeks to reveal the omnipresent atmosphere moving through and around the existing seed bins. Wind enters through vents and is diffused as it circulates throughout the space.

Layers of trace paper held in tension are carved by the moving air, creating voids and unplanned topographies. This consensual destruction results in the manifestation of spatial situations not usually seen.

The assembly is a constructed framework that, through continuous weathering, articulates and brings clarity to the natural elements of the larger context.

The observed griddedd flatness of Iowa’s farmland is purely visual. In all other aspects, this landscape is a constantly shifting mass sculpted by an ever present volume of air.

…imagine that the entire upper surface of its earth is being steadily blown...

PROCESS

Many of the skin systems, are systematically designed to allow a volume of air to pass through the buildings. While we think of them as solid, they think of themselves as...

...rather than the container itself.