FINE ART ESSAY

Fine art essay/ Maryam shariff

HOW HAVE THE ARTISTS STEVEN WILLATS, IAN BREAKWELL AND WRITER, JG BALLARD POTRAYED THE CONCEPT OF ARCHITECTURE INFLUENCING AND CONTROLLING THE SOCIALEMOTIONAL EXPERIENCE? Architecture for some is seen as a vocation or a passion, nowadays it is being described as a social art, providing a sense of place and support to all types of human activities. ‘Art is a form of self-expression with absolutely no responsibility to anyone or anything. Architecture can be a piece of art, but it must be responsible to people and its context.’ While some may agree with this statement I believe art in this day and age has great deal of responsibility in addressing the ideologies and philosophies in present times that future generations will be able to translate. However the positions of both architecture and art have become increasingly parallel as they start to consider and communicate the many aspects of everyday life we struggle to appreciate and acknowledge. Architecture has all types of purposes, promoting health and well being, enriching lives aesthetically and spiritually, providing economic opportunities to creating legacies that reflect and symbolize culture and traditions. It can range from physical objects to spaces, products and components within the urban realm. The interaction and choices we make in our everyday lives specifically in urban environments will ultimately be effected by the architecture around us. The link between control and architecture has been prevalent in society since the beginning of existence.

Architecture can serve as a regulatory force (Shah and Kesan, 2007) and has been used to influence and control public behavior through embodying power in a number of ways. Direct use of architecture to change the economic or demographic make-up of areas ranges from policies of shopping centers and Business Improvement Districts to shift the social class of visitors to an area The concept of an object, space or particular environment being present within a area already recognises the possibility of control and direction. Contemporary artists such as Steven Willats, Ian Breakwell and texts such as JG Ballard’s High Rise reflect and represent themes within the realms of control and social architecture. Their works all have similarities in the sense that they are rather conceptual allowing individuals to interpret the work from their own perspective, taking into account their identity within society, questioning the influences placed upon them by what surrounds them. What these works all have in common is the dystopian outlook on social architecture and urban settings. And although many of the works of the following artists and writers are from the mid 20th century, the majority of the concepts, theories and ideologies are precisely prevalent in today’s urban culture. Through this essay I will compare the works of various artists and writings in a attempt to investigate the forms of which architecture affects and controls the methods by which we communicate and the influences it has on our behavior. ‘Physical structure has significant effect on human behavior. As humans find themselves spending more time enclosed within walls of structure, it becomes valuable to design structures integrating features of the natural environment and structural landscape features into the human-made environment’ (Joyce, 2007).

Born in London in 1943, Stephen Willats was one of the very few serious representatives of international Concept Art in England during the sixties and seventies. Willats has situated his pioneering practice at the intersection between art and other disciplines such as cybernetics, communications theory and computer technology and architecture. In so doing, he has constructed and developed a collaborative, interactive and participatory practice grounded in the variables of social relationships and settings. Willats' creates multi-sensory, multidimensional environments to encourage viewers to engage with their own creative and cognitive processes. Using the everyday as a site of investigation, his work presents a vehicle of exchange through which viewers can re-examine and transform the way they perceive the fabric of existing reality. Willats concerning our present way of living tells the story of our own neighbourhoods. In one of the pieces ‘living with practical realities’ Willats

Fine art essay/ Maryam shariff

aims to create a ‘communication network’ on social-spatial environments among the participants of the project through photographs, collages, questionnaires and face to face interviews in order to share information and find agreements. One piece from the series involves Mrs Morgan, an elderly resident of a west London estate. Willats investigates the

realities of living on a tower block and how building can stand as symbols for our culture and behaviour. Mrs Morgan expresses her thoughts and worries concerning her wellbeing of everyday life on the estate from her point of view. On the sheet in which the time spent with Mrs Morgan is displayed, Willats collectively presents her thoughts simultaneously through a number of connected diagrams which include the photographs of the spatial environment of the estate where Mrs Morgan spends either spends most of her time in (her flat) and the spaces in between in which she is a constant passer-by on her way to carry out errands.

The spaces photographed all have a caption along with it expresses one of her many worries and behaviour patterns. The sheet is titled ‘ living without the certainty that I will see someone tomorrow’ along with a photograph of her sat in what seems to be her main living space within her home. Beneath this, ‘For company I usually have to wait until people come to visit me at my place. What do you propose is the way fro me to form new relationships within this isolated tower’. This causes us to acknowledge the limitations of life in tower blocks for elderly and individuals living alone in secluded surroundings. The tower itself seems, from what Willats depicts in his photography, to confide individual life resulting in minimal interaction, as homes are almost cell like encouraging privacy and isolation. The social spaces available to non tower block residents aren’t simply confined to either total exclusion of oneself from the other residents or social inclusion though in a communal format allowing other occupants overexposure to peoples activities and happenings which for most isn’t desirable resulting in this constant state of seclusion. We also learn that there are many social issues that might be directly or indirectly affecting Mrs Morgan whether its psychologically such as trying to forget ‘the fear of travelling on lifts at night’ or stating that she ‘never leaves the house after schools finish’. I think what Willats creates or even the transfer of information he facilitates is an aspect of his work that many can relate to.

Especially as most of his pieces such as these were from the periods between 1960’s – 1980 acquire get a sole understanding as to how many of the common urban environment stereotypes existing a time many of us wouldn’t of thought they had and most importantly how they perceived back then. ‘A work of art can consist of a process in time, a learning system through which the concepts of the social view forwarded in the work are accessed and internalised’ (Willats 1960) Ian Breakwell was a world renown British fine artist. From his early performances in the 1960s, Breakwell worked with a diverse range of media, from painting to film, video, performance and installation. He has exhibited widely and his paintings are in public and private collections including Tate Gallery, Contemporary Art Society, Victoria and Albert

Fine art essay/ Maryam shariff

Museum. He has produced films for television broadcast and is well known for his writing, which includes: Ian Breakwell's Diary 1964-85 where he was a prolific artist who took a multi-media approach to his observation of society. He records incidental details of his life including carefully observed moments of absurdity, pathos, incongruity, alienation and mundanity. Breakwell was part of group who set out to place artists in wider social context beyond galleries, museums and the art market by establishing relationships with companies and government departments. In one of his most famous works ‘The walking man Diary’ Breakwell records the repeated appearance of an unknown man walking a regular route

around the Smithfield area in the City of London, where Breakwell was living at the time.

From the window next to his desk, the artist spent much time gazing out at the scene below.

Breakwell creates a video footage allowing us to understand how the man is just as purposeful as those around him but not engaged in any business except that of walking continuously on a circuitous and regular route around the market area. ‘He had white closecropped hair and a stubbly beard. He was dressed, whatever the weather, in a long heavy overcoat, thick trousers and boots, but he was not a tramp because he carried no baggage ... Sometimes he would suddenly halt, freeze in one position for perhaps half an hour, then start walking again at the same relentless pace, his head bowed, never looking to either side.’ By Breakwell using background voices of what he describes as ‘’normal’’ people’s responses to sighting him walking around his daily route, we begin to acknowledge how the man was depicted by those around him and the perceptions that he was not level with the rest of those of society. ‘Do you see him?, There he goes again, made as brush!’ are some of the words uttered by the people who regularly watch him complete his routine. This allows us to see the way in which he was portrayed as a stranger to an environment he was so accustomed causing us to ask the question of who’s in the wrong and why his harmless action seem to be a nuisance to us? To ‘engage’ and what happens as a result of not doing so with your surroundings is an important theme that Breakwell raises throughout his work. The walking man causes us to ask questions as to whether there are prejudices against the way we look according to the environment in which we are. In this piece, the Smithfield area has always been an area of institutional importance. A short walk from St Paul's, the Grade II listed Victorian covered market provided meat for central London’s butchers for decades with several institutions such as London’s Charterhouse and many Banks and offices nearby, the man’s presence became provoking to most as he reflected the actuality of London and class structure. I think Breakwell truly acknowledges architecture as a social indicator channelling various analyses of everyday inner-city life. The walking mans shadowy

Fine art essay/ Maryam shariff

silhouette creates the illusion that he is automatically living a hopeless, dejected life. The faint grey and black inks printed onto the paper poorly as a result of the printing technology of time resonates the perception of loneliness initiating a sense of sympathy as well as empathy In the sense that you somehow are forced to relate to the man through replaying past incidents in your life that made you feel depreciatiated. The sense of reportage is heightened by a circle superimposed over the images to isolate and draw attention to the position of the man. The diary records a process of observation that yields frustratingly little real information about its subject. Even where a photograph of the man has been enlarged, it is too grainy to reveal more than a shadowy outline. Breakwell reveals the limitations in the depth of knowledge gained through this kind of looking. The concept of conforming to a certain or minimum standard in order to fit in with your surroundings is a concern that is constantly within communities specifically in urban areas. This is concern has grown greater throughout the recent decades as a result of urbanisation and the rise in urban decay ad antisocial behaviour inbred into cities such as London’s poorer suburbs.

Lastly I will consider JG Ballard’s High Rise a 1975 novel that takes place in an ultramodern, luxury high rise building in London. ‘The building seems to give its well-established tenants all the conveniences and commodities that modern life has to offer: swimming pools, its own school, a supermarket, and high-speed elevators. But at the same time, the building seems to be designed to isolate the occupants from the larger world outside, allowing for the possibility to create their own closed environment.’ One of the many ‘obsessions’ running through Ballard’s work is the effect of architecture on the individual. Ballard dissects architectural influence on his characters with technical precision, both intricate and dynamic. Throughout this essay I’ve used architecture in a wide sense, including the whole of the constructed environment, technological and social aspects. HighRise very clearly explores the way that architectural decisions can directly impact on human behaviour; it also concentrates on the effects of constructed social and psychological environments on their inhabitants/users. Ballard uses the tower blocks and the multi-storey car park many of them “very large structures” which recur throughout his work, with aspects of their geometries both a cipher for the possibilities of human relations and a method of reinforcing the obsessive thought-processes of the characters involved. The architecture also acts as a structure for the story, being incorporated tightly to the plot, this way; Ballard makes the link between behaviour and social architecture obvious to the reader. As architectural and technological flaws such as minor power failures and petty annoyances over neighbours begin to spur, the high-rise occupants divide themselves into the classic three groups of Western society: the lower, middle, and upper class, but here the terms are literal, as the lower class are those living on the lowest floors of the building, the middle class in the centre, and the upper class at the most luxurious apartments on the upper floors.

In conclusion of analysing Steven Willats ‘Living with practical realities’, Ian Breakwell’s ‘The walking man diary’ and JG Ballard’s ‘High Rise’ I have learnt that Physical structure has profound effects on human behaviour. Architecture has many forms by which it can influence and control the way we present ourselves. This can vary according to the environment in which we are in, altering and adjusting our emotional experiences. Architecture, a symbolic and intentional endeavour seems to reflect the psychology of its designers regardless of time, culture and perhaps even species. Like Anthon Royal, the architect in JG Ballard’s High Rise, Ballard allows us to examine an architect meeting the consequences of his work, there being an apparent lack of conscious reflection by the architect on the actual architectural effects involved admitting the implications of his intentions to be somewhat of a perverse experimental stance. Ballard conveys the social ills that result of poor architectural design, and the boldly outlines the connections between behaviour and design. While this is overall a message learnt from Willats ‘living

Fine art essay/ Maryam shariff

with practical realities’, Willats on the other hand allows the viewer opportunities to conclude what they believe he is trying to suggest. This is the main difference between Ballard’s and Willats pieces, however as Ballard presents the various channels a comparison between architecture and control can be communicated in ways other than fine art. Breakwell too demonstrations the range of media’s that can be utilised as he presents his piece ‘The walking man diary’ to us through a short film where he explains to us his story of the walking man, but from his on perspective rather than the mans direct point of view which is what Willats did. Breakwell also produces and curates his film screenshots as a printed collaged form. In addition to photographs of the old man (walking, standing, sleeping or sometimes only his shadow) the collages combine cutouts from calendars and diaries, photographs of a wristwatch on a wrist, handwritten questions and typewritten fragments of descriptive text.

The sense of reportage is heightened by a circle superimposed over the images to isolate and draw attention to the position of the man. The diary records a process of observation, which yields frustratingly little real information about its subject. Even where a photograph of the man has been enlarged, it is too grainy to reveal more than a shadowy outline. This aspect of very little ‘real’ information about it’s subject being obtainable is a similar running theme through Ballard’s ‘High Rise’ as he displays the architects lack of ‘consciousness’ throughout the book even when conditions start to deteriorate and get out of hand. In contrast, Willats ‘living with practical realities’ plays with the role of the artist handing over complete control to the interviewee, encouraging them to forward their personal judgments and feelings. The lack of transparency of Ballard’s characters and Breakwell’s ‘Walking man’ echo’s the question as to whether we really have control to what is designed around us or if it’s what is designed around us that has control over us?

Fine art essay/ Maryam shariff

 BIBLIOGRAPHY Joye, Y. (2007). Architectural lessons from environmental psychology: The case of biophilic architecture. Review of General Psychology, 11(4), 305-328. doi: 10.1037/10892680.11.4.305 http://www.archdaily.com/337603/how-to-make-architecture-not-art/ - Dessen Hillman http://www.victoria-miro.com/artists/11-Stephen-Willats/ Whitechapel Gallery: Stephen Willats: Concerning Our Present Way of Living http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ian_Breakwell http://www.ubu.com/film/breakwell_diary.html - Film for Channel 4 http://www.tate.org.uk/art/artworks/breakwell-the-walking-man-diary-t07701/text-summary http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/High_Rise https://www.google.co.uk/search?q=high+rise&espv=2&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ei=iL uHU9XSKqSV7AaS1oDgBg&ved=0CAYQ_AUoAQ&biw=1373&bih=646&dpr=0.9#q=jg%20 ballard%20high%20rise&tbm=isch&facrc=_&imgdii=_&imgrc=wIGqKEdA_a7RRM%253A%3 BMVYcrFIoREw6nM%3Bhttp%253A%252F%252Fecx.imagesamazon.com%252Fimages%252FI%252F61ncxFqnWPL.jpg%3Bhttp%253A%252F%252Fw ww.amazon.co.uk%252FHigh-Rise-J-GBallard%252Fdp%252F0586044566%3B313%3B500 - image