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Architecture for an Extinct Planet Dr Polly Gould

Design and Creative Practice Research Folios School of Architecture, Planning and Landscape

Project Details Architecture for an Extinct Planet is a series of speculative art works in watercolour, fabric, glass and paper that relates to past visions of the future in science fiction and architectural design to make comments upon contemporary debates regarding climate change. The research method mixes archival research with practice-based outputs that apply visual assemblages of historical and contemporary imaginaries. How do the histories of ‘paper architecture’ as a mode of architectural design of unbuildable realities that were never meant to leave the page, intersect with the paper-based art works and paper-based writing of speculative fiction and manifestos? The work has been presented in three art fairs in London and New York and has been developed as the content of a solo show at Danielle Arnaud, London and Venice for the Architecture Biennale 2020.

Artist

Polly Gould

Title

Architecture for an Extinct Planet

Output type

Artefacts, artwork and exhibition

Location

London, New York

Gallery

Danielle Arnaud

Exhibition type

London Art Fair, VOLTA NY

Dates

2017-2020

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Statement The title Architecture for an Extinct Planet refers to three historical texts: one a science fiction pamphlet, the second a novel by an architectural critic, and the third a visual architectural manifesto. By looking back to these late nineteenth and early twentieth century visions of the future this research poses questions to current design practices that anticipate a future in which our survival or extinction is under question, combining becoming refugees in a changing climate and the contemporary alpine hut as a dwelling on a mountain peak that offers a ‘refuge’ to climbers. The material practice includes; watercolours of mountain peaks with coloured geometric structures; coloured glass and magic lantern-slides, copper and solder in geometric shapes; blackout-fabric sculptures that reference some iconic building shapes; printed paper sewn structures made from watercolours of alpine mountains with coloured geometries that become wearable dresses to re-introduced into their referenced environments. This research explores how art practice can address histories of utopian architecture and science fiction and architectural practice to produce insights on current imaginaries relating to climate change. It asks whether a synthesis of elements in the histories of fashion and architecture can be used to investigate how we relate to our environment through dwelling and wearing. The methods are practice-based, developing creative works as outcomes of the research, by a process of visual investigation with on-site observation and image sources found in photos, postcards, the archives, documents and text sources. The studio-based making in watercolour is combined with field trips and using architectural design programmes, and pattern–cutting programmes to develop patterns for a paper garment installation works. The work has been presented at international art fairs, London Art Fair, Volta New York, solo show in London, in public presentations as the topic of lectures. This work offered specialised insight into synergies between art and fashion and their shared histories that can be generalizable to larger relations between fashion and architecture and the environment.

Alpine Architecture: Dent de Géant, 2017, watercolour on paper, 38 x 58 cm

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Design and Creative Practice Research Folios School of Architecture, Planning and Landscape

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Introduction The title Architecture for an Extinct Planet references the science fiction leaflet Utopia; Or, the History of an Extinct Planet Psychometrically Explained by Alfred Denton Cridge, published in 1884. The researches visualisation relates to Bruno Taut’s Glass Pavilion and his publication of utopian designs Alpine Architecture – a series of watercolours that depict an extraordinary building fantasy set in the high mountains of the Alps. Taut’s work was connected to the utopian architectural writing of Paul Scheerbart, Glass Architecture, 1914, in which he promises that building in coloured glass will allow for wide-ranging cultural transformation. Scheerbart’s related fiction The Gray Cloth with Ten Percent White: A Ladies’ Novel, is a fiction on glass architecture, 1914, describes an internationally famous architect who builds in coloured glass but then contracts his wife to promise to wear only grey and white so that her fashion will not detract from his architecture. The history of clothing worn in early days of alpinism, show archival images of women climbing snow-covered mountains in full length dresses. The research began with remaking new versions of the alpine architecture of Taut with peaks of individual mountain-tops with the disproportionately large geometrically patterned and coloured shapes.Following the visual aesthetic put forward by the early twentieth century ‘paper architecture’ of Bruno Taut, the research poses questions around current design practices that anticipate a future in which our potential extinction is in question – sustainability and changing environments –the contemporary alpine hut, dwellings on mountain peaks that offer a ‘refuge’ to those becoming refugees in a changing climate. The context of this work are working between fashion, art and architecture – sustainable fashion – clothing and dwelling ADIFF – Angela Luna, Helen Storey, and historically the works of Bauhaus Oskar Schlemmer 1922 , Lygia Clark. My contribution is these works are in the main, realised as designs on paper or as a book of fiction and a manifesto.

Aims and Objectives The aim of the research is to create artwork in paper, glass and fabric that combines aspects of history in architecture and fashion to suggest how we might think differently about contemporary approaches to sustainability. The combination of dwelling and clothing: shifting from dwelling, the alpine hut, the utopian architecture as refuge to the wearable clothing of the refugee without a home.

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Questions

Methods

How can art practice address histories of utopian architecture and science fiction and architectural practice to produce insights on current imaginaries relating to climate change?

The methods are creative practice methods developing exploratory works in watercolour, fabric and paper that elaborate upon the historical and cultural archive.

Can a synthesis of elements in the histories of fashion and architecture be used to investigate how we relate to our environment through dwelling and wearing?

Dissemination

Context Moving between fashion, art and architecture, this research touches upon current discussion on sustainability in both architecture and fashion –dwelling and clothing. The extreme environment of alpine mountains were chosen by Bruno Taut as a site for the building of a utopian society in which the effects of glass architecture would support the ideal society. I presented work Monument to Folly, a wall-leaning sculpture in white blackout cloth, watercolour, wood, brass hinges, and gold leaf, that derives its shape from the Trump Tower, Fifth Avenue. Made in sewn fabric it also recalls the building Trump Tower replaced: The Bonwit Teller & Company ladies fashion department store, built in 1907. There, artists worked as window dressers, and Jasper Johns first presented his flag painting as a backdrop to fashion mannequins. The public facade of the Trump Tower is referenced in Monument to Folly and is paried with its companion piece Trophy, a wallbased piece, pink threaded pubic-like triangle, and shown with Liberty’s Pedestal, a sewn version of the plinth that supports the iconic NY statue, and also refer to this nexus of fashion, femininity and architecture, is influenced by Scheerbart’s, The Gray Cloth’. but in a specifically New York context and in the moment of Trump’s first year in office. Other works in contemporary fashion that are hybrid practices include Helen Storey’s work - a dress made from decommissioned United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees Tent presented in Fashion Week 2018. Clothes tents, floatation devices ADIFF Transforming Tent Jacket Angela Luna, jacket converting into a tent or sleeping bag jacket-tent hybrid; Rick Owens Fall 2018 Spring 2019 collection tented shirt. There are cross-overs between architecture fashion and performance in the work of Oskar Schlemmer, 1922, and the Bauhaus ballet, as well as the mid-20th century costumes by Brazilian artist Lygia Clark (1920-1988) whose work included sculpture and performance and whose practice made a transition from the geometric abstraction in painting to body performances.

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• International Art Fairs • Solo Show Exhibition at Danielle Arnaud, London and Venice

Bibliography Denton Cridge, Alfred (1884) Utopia; Or, the History of an Extinct Planet Psychometrically Explained Scheerbart, Paul (1914) The Gray Cloth and Ten Percent White: A Ladies’ Novel Taut, Bruno, (1917) Alpine Architecture

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Design and Creative Practice Research Folios School of Architecture, Planning and Landscape Content Š Polly Gould