Cubism and Surrealism Collage - A Situational Understanding of Space by otto1126

Cubism and Surrealism Collage

A Situational Understanding of Space

C u bism a n d S u rrea l ism Co llage A Situational Understanding of Space

Chung Ho Yin, Otto

2020 - 2021 Dissertation Essay School of Architecture, The Chinese University of Hong Kong

Cubism and Surrealism Collage - Situational Understanding of Space

Acknowledgement

Content

I would like to thank Professor David Dernie for his guidance

Acknowledgement

and advice for this dissertation. The exploration into the practice

Content

of art, particularly on Cubism and Surrealism provide a chance

Bibliography

for me as an architectural student to understand how isolated

Introduction - Contemporary Situation of - A Phenomenon of Fragmentation

our professional industry is and more importantly what we can

Chapter 1: Situational Relationship of Cubist’s Fragments

learn from varies professions.

Chapter 2: Surrealism - Metaphor and Automatism

Chapter 3: Shop 191

Conclusion: Situational Understanding of Space

List of Illustrations

104

Shop 191 Installation group

Julia Wong Leslie Tsang Otto Chung

Cubism and Surrealism Collage - Situational Understanding of Space

Bibliography

Apollinaire, Eimert, et al. Cubism. New York : Parkstone International, New York, 2012.

Heidegger, Martin, et al. Off the Beaten Track. Cambridge : Cambridge University Press, 2002.

Breton, André, and Simon Watson Taylor. Surrealism and Painting. Boston, Mass. : MFA Pub. ; New York, NY : Distributed by D.A.P./Distributed Art Publishers, 2002.

Hopkins, David. Dada and Surrealism: A Very Short Introduction. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2004.

Breton, André. Manifestes Du Surréalisme. {Paris : Gallimard, 1972. Breton, André. Nadja. New York: Grove Press INC, 1977. Brodskaya, Nathalia. Cézanne. New York: Parkstone International, 2010. Cran, Rona. Collage in Twentieth-Century Art, Literature, and Culture: Joseph Cornell, William Burroughs, Frank O’Hara, and Bob Dylan. Farnham: Routledge, 2014. Dernie, David. Architectural Drawing. London: Laurence King Publishing, 2010. Ernst, Max. The Hundred Headless Woman, New York: George Braziller, Inc, 1981. Forceville, Ch. (Charles), and Inc Netlibrary. “Pictorial Metaphor in Advertising.” 1996. Freud, Sigmund. The Interpretation of Dreams (Translated by A. A. Brill). La Vergne: Neeland Media LLC, 2017. Freud, Sigmund, and A. A. (Abraham Arden) Brill. Totem and Taboo : Resemblances between the Psychic Lives of Savages and Neurotics. London : G. Routledge & Sons, 1919. Greene, James, et al. Juan Gris : the Breakfast Table. Germany: ArtHaus Musik, 2012. Heidegger, Martin, et al. “Being and Truth.” 2010.

Joyce, James. Dubliners. E-booksDirectory.com. https://www.gutenberg. org/files/2814/2814-h/2814-h.htm Kavky, Samantha. “Authorship and Identity in Max Ernst's Loplop.” Art History, vol. 28, no. 3, 2005, pp. 357–385., doi:10.1111/j.01416790.2005.00468.x. Kavky, Samantha Beth, et al. “Authoring the Unconscious: Freudian Structures in the Art of Max Ernst [Electronic Resource].” Thesis (Ph.D.)-University of Pennsylvania, 2001., 2001. Kear, Jon. Paul Cézanne. Vol. 132, London: Reaktion Books, Limited, 2016. Kwon, Miwon. One Place After Another: site-specfic art and locational identity. The MIT Press, 2002. “Max Ernst and Alchemy [Electronic Resource] : a Magician in Search of Myth.” Austin : University of Texas Press, Austin, 2001. Merjian, Ara H. Giorgio De Chirico and the Metaphysical City : Nietzsche, Modernism, Paris. New Haven : Yale University Press, 2014. Middleton, Robin, and Architectural Association (Great Britain). The Idea of the City : Architectural Associations. London : Architectural Association ; Cambridge, Mass. : MIT Press, 1996. O'Donnell, Thomas D. “Robbe-Grillet's Métaphoricité Fantôme.” Studies in 20th & 21st Century Literature, vol. 2, no. 1, 1977, doi:10.4148/23344415.1046.

Cubism and Surrealism Collage - Situational Understanding of Space

Robbe-Grillet, Alain. Snapshots. Paris: Northwestern university Press, 1962. Robbe-Grillet, Alain. Le Jealousy. Roland, Penrose. Max Ernst’s Celebes. Newcastle upon Tyne: University Press, 1972. Sharr, Adam. Heidegger for Architects. London ; New York : Routledge, 2007. Sennett, Richard. The Fall of Public Man. New York : W.W. Norton, 1992. Shields, Jennifer A.E. Collage and Architecture. Taylor and Francis, 2014. Ricoeur, Paul, and John B Thompson. Hermeneutics and the Human Sciences. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2016. Rowe, Colin, and Fred Koetter. Collage City. Cambridge, Mass. : MIT Press, 1978. Rowe, Colin, et al. Transparency. Basel : Birkhauser, 1997. Unknown. ‘Juan Gris’ in L’Esprit Nouveau. Paris, 1923. Vesely, Dalibor, and Inc Netlibrary. “Architecture in the Age of Divided Representation : the Question of Creativity in the Shadow of Production.” 2004. Walman, Diane, et al. Max Ernst : a Retrospective.New York: The Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, 1975.

Through my lens, the differences between man and fish are blurred . Much about their simliarities in the souless facial expression and the emptiness of the eye. When people lost the sense of being, their life become mundane and terribly mechanical.

Cubism and Surrealism Collage - Situational Understanding of Space

Introduction

Introduction: Contemporary Situation - A Phenomenon of Fragmentation Over recent decades, the technique of collage has fallen into the category of art practice and has become less associated with architectural and other forms of spatial practice. The majority of our industry favours computer generated perspectival renders that lure the viewer by the hyper-realistic materiality and spatial quality. In recent years however, the method of digital collage, as a ‘style’ or illustration, has been re-discovered by various young practices and at schools of architecture. While this can be seen as a response to mundane perspectival renderings, we must not treat collage as merely visual representation to help illustrate our imaginative designs. Observing collage images by current architectural practices, it is clear that the traditional understanding of the possibilities of metaphorical - or analogical/ relational structure - to architectural and spatial practice beyond the physical representation has clearly been overlooked. While Dalibor’s book ‘The Divided Ages of Architectural Representation’ explained the crisis of contemporary architectural representation in becoming instrumental, self-associating,

Fig 1: Collage representation of House in Rua do Paraíso by Fala Atelier.

Cubism and Surrealism Collage - Situational Understanding of Space

Introduction

abstract and reductive.1 American architect and educator, Perry Kulper challenges the representation of architecture from all levels through collage and drawings, with the combination of construction lines, overlapping shapes and fragments of words and numbers. Each of these fragments, line, pattern, paint and image reacts together and communicate an ambiguate and mysterious intervention to the reader. In ‘David’s Island Strategic Plot Drawing’ (1996-7), the drawing seems to be illustrating a site plan and the aqua-scape that surrounds it. Yet, superimposed on the plan are colour plates and some are even appears to have material quality, suggesting proposed buildings or infrastructure that grows from the land mass. (Fig. 2) Line work not only have suggested boundary and indicate possibly the process of the planning, the pictorial space in Kulper’s drawing becomes dense and reflectional, not only as a mean to explain the instrumentality of the design but as a vehicle for further suggested realities beyond the frame of the drawing.2 Working along the same lines as Kulper, this essay aims to explore the long tradition of collage since the early decades of the twentieth century, not as merely art works, or illustrations of an idea, but also as a way of thinking about the metabolism of places and structures of everyday 1 Vesely, Dalibor., and NetLibrary, Inc. Architecture in the Age of Divided Representation : The Question of Creativity in the Shadow of Production. Cambridge, Mass.: MIT Press, 2004 2 Dernie, David. Architectural Drawing. 1st ed. London: Laurence King Publishing, 2010.

Fig 2: David’s Island Strategic PLot Drawing, Perry Kulper.

Cubism and Surrealism Collage - Situational Understanding of Space

Introduction

reality - an approach that might bridge the fragmented and often

emerging medium film, communicated ideas about time and a

overwhelming external environments of contemporary cities and

range of artists from Purists to Cubists, Surrealists and Dadaists

their landscapes and which builds on the innovative work of

are among those that are most interested in experimenting with

Kulper and others in the recent debates on representation and

new techniques of collage in painting, photography, film and

architectural practice and education.

literature. Moreover the invention of photography and later film,

The word ‘collage’ was first coined in the modern period by the

allows collage to further evolved into montage.

poet Guillaume Apollinaire in the French verb of ‘Coller’, meaning

Collage is not a mode of representation but a technique that helps

While collage is a mix-media art technique

artist to explore the metaphorical potential between things to

that always involves in overlaying juxtapositioning cut out

order to generate new meanings. Fragments and the encounters

papers or images. Collage provides artists a means to explore

between various fragments, sometimes accidental, sometimes

analogical relationships between fragments of reality through

deliberate can point towards dream-like analogies between

mythology or other unconventional methods. Collage is a form

materials and objects, suggesting situations that frame new

of spatial practice that explores relationships that cannot be fully

and poetic realities. Therefore, we will first discuss the nature of

explained by science and logic. Its relevance to architecture is

collage – ‘fragmentation’ and acknowledge the suggestive power

precisely because architecture belongs to the same tradition-

of fragments.

‘to glue/stick’.

the humanities – and particularly the visual arts - as a mimetic art. Collage is also adapted by a range of artists, writers, and

The modern definition of fragmentation is always reductive and

musicians, whose work helped to dismantle the barriers between

relates to isolation, disintegration and thus potential chaos.

their disciplines. During the first decades of the 20th century,

However, through history of contemporary art, music, literature

artists and writers became fascinated with time, the mechanistic

and architecture, the phenomenon of fragmentation has always

imagination: from Picabia’s Nude descending a Staircase to the

been existed to generate new understanding to matters. As

Futurists’ Manifesto, the modern age was to harness movement,

Dalibor Vesely has mentioned the representation of collage

or alternatively to arrest it’s menacing threat. Collage, like the

is far from being meaningless and random which has existed

3 Cran, Rona. Collage in Twentieth-Century Art, Literature and Culture : Joseph Cornell, William Burroughs, Frank O’Hara, and Bob Dylan, 2014.

throughout the last century in creation of art. ‘The fact that in

Cubism and Surrealism Collage - Situational Understanding of Space

Introduction

so many areas of culture apparent fragmentation has played an

and the problem of categorizing and isolating materials into mere

opposite role, contributing to the formation of meaning and the

physical objects, which meanings and relationships between

sense of wholeness.’ 4 For instance, the works of Synthetic Cubism

everyday objects have reduced to a minimal and it is only through

and Surrealism embraced the practice of collage and through

the situational understanding of spatial condition in collage that

the process of fragmentation and juxtaposition of fragments to

the restorative meaning of fragments can be re-enacted.

explore the multiplicity of meaning generated between fragments.

The rise of collages in early 20th century can be interpreted in part

Therefore, in different conditions, fragments altogether can

as a response to the radical fragmentation of the culture – both

then be recognized as complex, subtle and contradictory, thus

physical and mental - and the loss of faith in what Vesely refers

generate a sense of ambiguity, which is essentially the nature of

to as ‘pre-establishing harmony’.

fragmentation and collage. ‘It is clear that the ambiguous meaning

the original meaning pre-established harmony left behind only

of elements or fragments is a manifestation of a much deeper

mathematical law of reality, the promise of universal knowledge

ambiguity related to a more authentic notion of the meaning or

and isolated perceptions… The reality of the modern world is

an object of work of art.’ 5 The ambiguity of fragments has also

divided into relatively isolated areas of specialized knowledge

been discussed by Andre Breton which he called ‘crisis of the

and specific production of more fragmented reality.’

object’ in his book, ‘Surrealism and Painting’, arguing that the

fragmentation as such starts at the start of the 19th century – or

contemporary world has rendered objects into mere quantifiable

the so-called long 18th century. Western civilization before 18th

matters that is disembodied from the reality and any experience

century Enlightenment was predominantly structured by religious

What Breton is saying here reflects one of the

belief and their institutions. This monolithic authority was seen as

major crisis of modern representation – instrumentality of things

the single and absolute entity that superseded and suppressed

or meaning.

‘The gradual loss of faith in

Urban

other practice of politics, art and social values. Although the rise 4 Dalibor Vesely, ‘Architecture and the Ambiguity of Fragment,’ in The Idea of the City: Architectural Associations, ed. Middleton, Robin. London: MIT Press,1996.109.

of Renaissance and Reformation of church by Martin Luther

5 Ibid,. 109.

7 Dalibor Vesely, ‘Architecture and the Ambiguity of Fragment,’ in The Idea of the City: Architectural Associations, ed. Middleton, Robin. London: MIT Press,1996,. 111.

6 Breton, André, and Simon Watson. Taylor. Surrealism and Painting. 1st ArtWorks ed. Boston, Mass. : New York, NY: MFA Pub. ; [Distributed By] D.A.P./ Distributed Art Publishers, 2002.

8 Ibid,. 111.

Cubism and Surrealism Collage - Situational Understanding of Space

Introduction

suggested changes and resistance against the church. It is not

character. ‘Specialization is not the consequence but rather the

until the Enlightenment that various scholars start questioning the

ground of the progress of all research.’

divine power of the Christian church and responded with a new

on the result from scientific research does not merely come to

method of reasoning and more importantly comes the possibility

an end but rather informs new procedures of research, thus

to think differently - a scientific, mathematical and logical thinking

contributing to further isolation and fragmentation towards our

that categorized our world into specific fields of proto-scientific

understanding of matter. ‘In these processes the methodology

study such as physics, chemistry, biology, psychology… Each

of science is circumscribed by its own results. More and more,

of these fields of knowledge can be seen as an isolated ‘world

methodology adapts itself to the possibilities of procedure itself

view’ - a fragmented realm of understanding of reality, or as ‘pre-

opens up. This having to be based on its own results as the

establish harmony’ thus creating the foundation of our current

ways and means of a progressing methodology, is the essence

fragmented urban condition. ‘The objectivity of the figure and its

of the character of research as constant activity. That character,

eidetic characteristics, which remain unchanged in all projective

however, is the inner ground for the necessity of its institutional

variations are based on the assumption that the essential

character.’ 11

He then elaborated

structure of reality is mathematical and that it can be grasped Vesely then continue explained

Progressing into 20th century, incidents like the two World Wars

Leibniz’s 17th century concept of monad which each of these

and the Holocaust in particular, impacts on human confidence

individual monads represent an isolated and self-sufficient reality

on these ‘pre-established harmony’ gradual loss of faith in

that express differently about the same universe. Fragmentation

meaning in these isolated realities. Thus matters are rendered

is a process that cannot be avoided and it is an unwanted by-

into mere quantifiable state without poetic quality and symbolic

product of modern science. Martin Heidegger explains this

meaning. Richard Sennett’s ‘The Fall of Public Man’ emphasised

a priori and as a finite entity.’

phenomenon as the necessary by-product of scientific research focuses on a bonded object domain, thus creating an individual

10 Heidegger, Young, Haynes, Young, Julian, and Haynes, Kenneth. ‘The Age of World Picture’, in Off the Beaten Track. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2002,. 63.

9 Dalibor Vesely, ‘Architecture and the Ambiguity of Fragment,’ in The Idea of the City: Architectural Associations, ed. Middleton, Robin. London: MIT Press,1996.

11 Vesely, Dalibor., and NetLibrary, Inc. Architecture in the Age of Divided Representation : The Question of Creativity in the Shadow of Production. Cambridge, Mass.: MIT Press, 2004.

Cubism and Surrealism Collage - Situational Understanding of Space

Introduction

the obsession of human’s retreats from community to ‘self’ and lacks understanding and participation to the public realm, which perfectly explains the fragmentation of our modern society. While science and mathematical thinking are further embraced and later becoming industrial revolution that drives our modern world into emphasis of production and machinery. 12 In the field of visual art, commentators have observed that the romantic artist tended to retreated from the world as the industrial revolution turned cities into machines for capitalist growth and the heartlands of colonial enterprise. Mass migration into urban centres, now structed as conduits for transport, monuments to the glories of empires, left landscapes barren: in short the integrity of an early 18th century city, with its decorum, ways of life and communities held somehow, together, was already a city of fragments and at the onset of the 20th century. The gaping wounds that had been opened (what was to make sense of life in such conditions? What is history? What is the nature of a mechanized world?) were to be addressed by artists, film makers in one of the most fertile artistic periods of recent times. Key to the techniques of inquiry was collage. One of the first artists to seriously address the problematic condition of urban settings was Giorgio De Chirico. (Fig. 3)

Fig 3: The Enigma of the Arrival and the

12 Sennett, Richard. The Fall of Public Man. New York: W.W. Norton, 1992.

Afternoon, Girogio De Chirico. 1912

Cubism and Surrealism Collage - Situational Understanding of Space

Introduction

Although his works cannot be considered as collage per se,

that structure given reality, setting or urban assemblage. The

his works are mentioned here as they have set an influential

origins of this thinking has its deeper roots in romantic poetry

milestone for generations of artists after him, such as Max

of the European tradition, for which Baudelaire is a ‘point

Ernst and other Surrealist on exploring the metaphysical world,

zero -: his collection of poems in “Fleurs du mal’ contain his

or the latent world through the technique of collage, exploring

‘Correspondences’ and the idea that beneath visual reality lie

the connection between human experience and meaning in the

a hidden web of interrelationships, a structure that included the

contemporary world emerging from the smokes of industrial

possibilities of synesthetic experience (relationships between

might.

De Chirico suggested the modern world more as an

the senses).

urban assemblage than a harmonized or rational space, a collaged spatial condition. The era that De Chirico experienced

Professions in the creative industries also acknowledge the

was the time when village population was rapidly migrating

fragmented nature of our reality. In fact, we must appreciate the

into urban quarters. At the same time, technology had also

depth of each scene and the broad use of metaphor that goes

invaded our cities with structure like train stations, railway… All

beyond the physical establishment. Film directors like Andrei

these newly erected structures contradicted with the statues,

Tarkovsky and David Lynch, not only create movie that explain

arcade and architecture of the past, symbolizing colonization,

their theories and concept, but also communicate with viewers

bureaucracy… De Chirico essentially observed and raised the

through a collaged setting of objects, often with the absence

fundamental image of a fragmented and disembodied spatial

of architecture, in order to create a setting that communicates

condition through a construction of a fictive space in canvas. It

with their audience through a collection of references. In Lynch’s

is also worthwhile discussing the metaphysical quality of these

‘Twin Peaks’, the scene of the room above the convenient

canvas, depicted to convey a sense of anxiety through a deeply

store represents a fictive space accessed through dreams

dis-quietening setting. The Surrealists embraced De Chirico’s

unconsciously by characters in the drama. This room can be

inquiries into fragmented reality and the possibilities of finding, in

referred to as a ‘walk in collage’, with each fragments projects

the ‘sur-real’ or beneath-what-you-see, the poetic relationships

our perception as viewers from one reality to another (dream

13 Hopkins, David. Dada and Surrealism. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2004.

and drama) proven the metaphysical depth of the scene and

Cubism and Surrealism Collage - Situational Understanding of Space

Introduction

as an incarnation for audience’s anticipation and imagination’s

a collaged setting has been raised as a problematic issue since

freedom. In the field of literature, James Joyce and Allan Robbe

the early 20th century. In contradiction to an architect’s approach,

Grillet who tell stories and plots with describing the detail

our environment speaks a different language which proves

of everyday rituals and object-hoods can also be refer as a

architecture is not as heroic as we thought and the real world has

representation of collage in literature. In Robbe Grillet’s novel

little resemblance to the perspectival renders we created. The

‘Jealousy’, the author has only vaguely describe the place

world has always been formed by fragments collaged together

where the story happens and not even paint an overall picture

in complex and unexplainable manner but still be considered as

of the villa surrounded by banana plantation. Yet, we can piece

a holistic image that we called ‘home’. Through the 20th century,

together an image and totally experience the jealous husband

our profession has not been able to escape the obsession of

stalking his wife and neighbour around different corners of the

totality of design with no concern and tolerance towards the

house and collage these moments together and becoming

situational understanding of our world. Generations of architects

a powerful image. As Grillet once mentioned his stories are

imagined themselves as creators by bulldozing existing

different compare to Charles Dicken’s which he claims the latter

condition and re-organize environment in a scientific, logical

does not require a reader at all. 14

and programmatic manner, connecting the landscape physically and communally. Therefore, the creation of architectural setting

The problematic nature of our profession is that the contemporary

further disintegrated into objects that are isolated and alienated

architect has ventured into a realm of pure instrumental thinking

from the reality and further contributes to the fragmentation of

and the convention of traditional illusionism, and perspectivity.

the reality.

Moreover, we have also viewed architecture as an isolated reality that promotes positive meanings that in truth is very different

In short, the main aim of this essay is to discuss the importance

in the context we have explained previously, a fragmented one.

of situational understanding of spatial practice through the

This lack of acknowledgement in architectural design as part of

technique of collage in contemporary art practice. The essay will be structured in chronological manner by examining the

14 O’Donnell, Thomas D. “Robbe-Grillet’s Métaphoricité Fantôme.” Studies in 20th & 21st Century Literature 2, no. 1 (1977): Studies in 20th & 21st Century Literature, 1977-09-01, Vol.2 (1).

works of Analytic Cubism, Synthetic Cubism and Surrealism.

Cubism and Surrealism Collage - Situational Understanding of Space

Introduction

The first chapter will explore Cubist interest’s in collage and

and collects fragments from streets to explore the ‘Strange’

the fragmented formation of matters that moves away from the

condition of daily life, such as: wet market, religion and the

traditional perspectival still life representation and the imitation

local hardware industry… that will soon be disappearing. These

of its epistemological form. In later Cubist canvas is realized

fragments are then seen as relics and catalyst for the team to

through reaction between multiple fragments in canvas to form

interpret and recreate and exhibit in the shop. The progressive

a sufficient critical point of reference for viewer’s interpretation.

transformation of these imaginative collage into spatial practice

At this point it can be argued that the basic situational

that literally becomes a ‘walk-in collage’.

understanding of collage is formed but lack direction and still

The conclusion of this essay will return to discuss the current

restricted in connotative association. The second chapter will

state of architectural representation, which as Dalibor mentioned

look at Surrealists who took the initiative to explore a more

as a crisis, disembodied and fragmented. While science and

specific situation - pictorial metaphor and juxtaposition of images

technology has fuelled the movements of Modernism and

that enable collage to generate new meaning and restore the

Functionalism which concerns very little about the value of

symbolic meaning of objects. The multiplicity of situations in

objects and the humanly connection between the both. It can be

Surrealist artwork was also raised in this chapter that causes

argued that the understanding of situation from collage becomes

ambiguity and the understanding of temporality in experience.

the key for our profession to offers a continuity with the deep

The Surrealists also highlighted collage’s ability to connect with

connections between architecture, the humanities and especially

the deep unconscious of human being by their adapting their

visual arts and philosophy.

interest in psychoanalysis works from Sigmund Freud. The third chapter is fashioned in a manner of Ernst’s novel to explain an installation exhibition in a ruined shop called ‘191’ situated in Tai Kok Tsui, Hong Kong. This group project responds to the previous discussion and findings about the importance of situational understanding of a place. In contrary to an architect’s site investigation, the team experimented on the art of collage

Cubism and Surrealism Collage - Situational Understanding of Space

Chapter 1: Situational Relationship of Cubist’s Fragment

Chapter 1: Situational Relationship of Cubist’s Fragment The practice of collage is not mentioned in history until the early 20th century. However, collage did come in different forms of practice and frankly not from the field of art but old science and alchemy. The cabinet of curiosities was a place where scientist collected and reassembled found fragments, ranged from animal carcass, plants or objects that people felt doubtful in the origin of life. These rooms filled with fragments unconsciously became a walk-in collage that projects thoughts beyond the cabinet or the room containing it. (Fig. 4) The 20th century marked the a departure of art community from tradition perspectival representation that no longer suited the progressively modernised society thus influenced the Cubism movement. There is no doubt that Cubism and collage has an apparent relationship that fuelled most of the art movements in the later eras, which commonly circulates around the nature of fragmentation, a topic that will be discussed before venturing further into the works of Cubist. Although the 3 periods of Cubism: Analytic Cubism, Synthetic Cubism and Late Cubism, each featuring varies technique to form a collage of paints, torn

Fig 4:

paper or newspaper and wallpapers. Cubist painters tended

curiosities, Carel van

Ole Worm’s cabinet of Mander. 1606.

Chapter 1: Situational Relationship of Cubist’s Fragment

Cubism and Surrealism Collage - Situational Understanding of Space

to breakdown simple perspectival and imitational reality thus

that is reflective or metaphorical. Dalibor Vesely also stated the

leading to images that capture many angles of a subject – ‘all

importance of aphorism, ‘because the level of articulation that

perspectives at once’ – allowing the observer to interpretate the

can be achieved in aphorism cannot be followed to the same

Yet, one might

degree in any other domain, aphorism remains for all fragments

question the necessity of the intentional fragmentation of the

a measure of possible articulation as well as measure of their

painted subject and re-represents it in a partly recognisable

latent restorative meaning. It is with this relationship between

manner on the canvas. This is because the intention of

aphorism and fragment in mind that we can see the real difference

fragmentation in Cubism or any art of collage is not aiming to

between the positive and negative meanings of fragments and

generate its instrumentality, or the mere physical appearance or

assess their restorative or reductive role.’ 16 In short, what Vesely

representing the scientific fact of the matter itself. Neither artist

clarifies is that the reading of collage helps to articulate fragment

should concern about the construction of a final illustration that

or series of fragments to form a holistic picture and discover our

contains certain meaning of its own. What is important to know

own interpretation of meaning that might be different from the

is through the fragmentation process, the artist explores the

common statements or believe we once possessed.

ambiguity among the intertwined fragments.

restorative and symbolic meanings of fragments or among the superimposition of varies fragments that projects meanings to

Working along the same approach as non-perspectival collage,

other realities that is beyond the frame of the paintings.

early Cubism had also constructed fictive space from still life.

We should now discuss how collages represent a means to

This period is called Analytic Cubism, which varies artists like

capture ‘restorative’ and symbolic meaning –even generates

Pablo Picasso and George Braque had explored the possibility

new meanings, where fragments cease to become fragments

to reduce secondary details of the subject and using stokes of

which are open to be interpreted through a highly individual

lines and shades of paint to form a relief-like canvas. The result

engagement in the ‘openness’ of the work. In this process of

forms the painted subject almost dissolved into the background

interpretation of fragments, the common believe or statement

but still has some resemblance of its former whole. As Guillaume

has then been challenged and superseded by a new reading 15 Apollinaire, Eimert, Podoksik, Eimert, Dorothea, and Podoksik, Anatoliĭ. Cubism, 2012.

16 Dalibor Vesely, “Architecture and the Ambiguity of Fragment,” in The Idea of the City: Architectural Associations, ed. Middleton, Robin (London: MIT Press,1996).,111.

Chapter 1: Situational Relationship of Cubist’s Fragment

Cubism and Surrealism Collage - Situational Understanding of Space

Apollinaire stated, ‘They no longer painted an object viewed from one perspective, but rather layered views from many angles in order to capture the subject from all sides. They analysed the object and brought it to the canvas as a fragmented picture. Shape and space melted into one another in one composition of enmeshed, intersected and dissected surfaces. Instead of creating volume, the painters focused on revealing facets and constructing surfaces. The situation captured in the painting became far more indefinite.’ 17 In fact, this reduction of the realism in painting has been adapted earlier by French impressionist, Paul Cézanne in late 19th century, Braque was highly influenced by the former’s landscape paintings. Although Picasso and Braque were acknowledged as the founder of the Cubism movement, Cézanne had since started to create works that abandoned the traditional perspectival pictorial space in canvas and ventured into represent a more flattened frontal view. In particular, his canvases that represent the landscapes of southern France, we can see the simplification of strokes and lines, with reduction of secondary details compared to the traditional ways of painting that foreground a more realistic sense of the subject. Mont Sainte Victoire painted in 1902 (Fig. 5) clearly shows the attempt to blur the physical geometries of mountainous landscape, fields of wheat and rural houses. Rather

Fig 5: Mont Sainte-Victoire,

17 Apollinaire, Guillaume, International, 2014,. 61.

and

Dorothea

Eimert.

Cubism.

Parkstone

Paul Cézanne. 1902 04.

Chapter 1: Situational Relationship of Cubist’s Fragment

Cubism and Surrealism Collage - Situational Understanding of Space

than viewing each of these elements individually, which renders

art a harmony that parallels that which he perceived as existing

the shades of colour into meaningless fragments, the painting

in the nature of his native Provence…’ 20

can only be perceived and articulated as a holistic sensation

20 Ibid,. 185.

of nature in shades of colour.

‘Cézanne portrayed it from

various vantage points, exploring its different ‘physiognomies’ and expressing a variety of responses to it, which convey alternative effects and moods. The mountain is presented in different lighting conditions, ornately framed by other elements, or presented more starkly and frontally, as Cézanne explored multiple ways of presenting his motif, alternately depicting it from high and low vantage points, up close and far away, centrally or from a sideward angle.... Sometimes it is the dominant presence of the mountain that is the motif, but other times it is the relationship it has to other natural and man-made elements in the landscape.’ 19 Mont Sainte Victoire has historically regarded as a symbol of Aix, the area where Cézanne was born, lived and worked. The reason that varies landscape paintings has also shown the featuring of the mountain is based not only on portraying the physical appearance but personal affection to the place. ‘Above all, Gasquet’s Cézanne is a painter deeply and mystically attached to his native soil, aspiring to achieve in his 18 Dalibor Vesely, ‘Architecture and the Ambiguity of Fragment,’ in The Idea of the City: Architectural Associations, ed. Middleton, Robin. London: MIT Press,1996. 19 Kear, Jon. Paul Cézanne. Vol. 132. Critical Lives. London: Reaktion Books, Limited, 2016., 197.

Chapter 1: Situational Relationship of Cubist’s Fragment

Cubism and Surrealism Collage - Situational Understanding of Space

Analytic Cubism can almost be referred to as a continuation of Cézanne’s exploration of fragmentation of the visual world on canvas. As Colin Rowe has also mentioned about this apparent relationship between the two, ‘Frontality, suppression of depth, contracting of space, definition of light sources, tipping forward of objects, restricted palette, oblique and rectilinear grids, and propensities toward peripheral development are all characteristics of analytical cubism.’

Yet, this early Cubist

moment can only be taken as an exploration of form and more importantly a dissolution of original form. Unlike Cézanne’s landscapes, early Cubist paintings lack a spatial setting. Most of these paintings featured one character or subject that is isolated and only can be read in isolation. George Braque’s ‘Mandora’ (1909) shows the artist tendency to de-construct original imagery of possibly a man and guitar and dissolved the bodily form into a background of shapes of grey. (Fig. 6) Although fragmented into shards, the subject remains to represent only the still life of a man with a guitar. There is also the problem of reduction of features to become too abstracted in shapes and thus refers very little to any situation and context of realities. The lack of projection of reality remains to be a problematic issue in the early Cubist movement and it can be 21 Rowe, Colin., Robert. Slutzky, Bernhard. Hoesli, and Werner Oechslin. Transparency. Basel: Birkhauser, 1997. Fig 6: Mandora, George Braque. 1909 - 10.

Cubism and Surrealism Collage - Situational Understanding of Space

Chapter 1: Situational Relationship of Cubist’s Fragment

said that these painting can only be seen as an exploration of fragmentation of form. This technique also appears to be literal and can only be seen as a mediating representation of the later stages. ‘There is still a tendency to read the work too literally, too much like aesthetic objects, or simply like a differently structured Trompel’œil. In such reading, the nature of fragment remains enigmatic and potentially negative.’

Yet, there is no doubt that the

stage of Analytic Cubism has allowed the reader to perceive objects transformed into a differently structured or fragmented composition, which create sense of ambiguity and become a fictive space that can be articulated in a realm of imagination. As Braque has once described the phenomenon as a transformation of object and space and the essential idea of relationship between fragments. ‘The space between seems to me to be as essential an element as what they call the object. The subject matter consists precisely of the relationship between these objects and between the object and the intervening spaces. How can I say what the picture is of when relationships are always things that change? What counts is this transformation.’ 23 Apart from the transformation of form, Cubists were also working 22 Dalibor Vesely, ‘Architecture and the Ambiguity of Fragment,’ in The Idea of the City: Architectural Associations, ed. Middleton, Robin. London: MIT Press,1996., 113. 23 G. Charbonnier, LeMonologue du peintre. Entretiens avec G. Braquw, Paris 1959,. 10-11. Fig 7: Daniel-Henry Kahnweiler, Pablo Picasso. 1910.

Chapter 1: Situational Relationship of Cubist’s Fragment

Cubism and Surrealism Collage - Situational Understanding of Space

on the flattening of perspective and the superimpositions of fragments to create the depth within their canvas. In ‘Daniel - Henry Kahnweiler’ painted by Picasso in 1910 shows the exploration of positioning fragments in layers to form the depth of this fictive space that portray Daniel’s body. (Fig. 7) Again, the use of fragments here plays with illusions of fictive shadows so to create the mass requires for the reader to recognise the figure of a person. This is seen to be an aesthetic consideration than to do with any assertion of meanings or projections of realities, if any this meaning can only be inclusive. This transparency used by Picasso is what Colin Rowe described as ‘literal transparency’ than ‘phenomenal transparency’. According to Rowe, Analytic Cubism tends to ‘dissolves the possibilities of so distinct a closure of space. Too specific a procedure leaves the latent ambiguities of the form exposed without reference, unresolved.’

While

phenomenal transparency treats the superimposed plains of colour and geometries as catalyst and restricted the ambiguities of pictorial space locally, this method always considers a numbers of fragments and explore not only the physical form of fragmentation but also the relationships between fragments thus always given reader a solid and contextualised background rather than explicit, reductive, personal and self-derived setting.

24 Rowe, Colin., Robert. Slutzky, Bernhard. Hoesli, and Werner Oechslin. Transparency. Basel: Birkhauser, 1997., 29.

Fig 8: Glass on Table, George Braque. 1909 - 10.

Chapter 1: Situational Relationship of Cubist’s Fragment

Cubism and Surrealism Collage - Situational Understanding of Space

Now we have reached the issue of relationships between fragments. Here we must identify the essential difference between describing a thing as an ‘object’ and a ‘fragment’. Andre Breton once mentioned the problematic nature of perceiving things as objects, which is the problem of modern science that promoted the instrumentality and scientific facts about an objects and render object into merely quantifiable matters.

Here we refer to a representation of ‘fragments’ not as a mere imitations of themselves, but as an image based on dialogue between ‘things’, potentially containing a deeper ambiguity and symbolic meaning beneath physical appearance. Collage is not an illustrational picture of a certain object that exists in the reality. Collage is essentially a technique that situates fragment within a alternative/fictive space and time, allowing both artist and viewer to explore the new relationship that it might generated. Fragments placed in different settings will appear differently, so the relationship is always fleeting, sometimes imaginative and unrealistic or even unthinkable depending on situations. However, it always projects our thoughts out into other realities and opens up new possibilities of imagination that is not restricted by the artist canvas.

25 Breton, André, and Simon Watson. Taylor. Surrealism and Painting. 1st ArtWorks ed. Boston, Mass. : New York, NY: MFA Pub. ; [Distributed By] D.A.P./ Distributed Art Publishers, 2002

Fig 9: Still life with Chair Canning. Pablo Picasso. 1912.

Cubism and Surrealism Collage - Situational Understanding of Space

Chapter 1: Situational Relationship of Cubist’s Fragment

This relationship between fragments is referred to as the ‘Latent world’ by Dalibor Vesely. 26 He argued that the visible world is not constituted by epistemological ‘ground’, the scientific examination of matters, but through features of orientation, physiognomy and situational settings that we construct spatiality through source and stream of reference or memories. Although one might think of this latent world as personal and self-conscious, Vesely mentioned that there is no doubt that this implicit web of relationship, the latent world is far from dreamy and unrealistic, but highly structured and organised, constructing the situational relationship of the world.

This situational relationship can be

found in late works of Picasso and Braque that was referred to as Synthetic Cubism. ‘the formation of space in Synthetic Cubism and in the early development of collage is almost entirely determined by the situational meaning of individual fragments.’ 28

Compare to the earlier works (Analytic Cubism), the canvas

had broken free from the traditional still life observation of a person or object and represent it in a deconstructive manner. In Still Life with Chair Caning, drawn in 1912, (Fig. 9) Picasso has created a canvas not only out of paints, but actual material 26 Vesely, Dalibor., and NetLibrary, Inc. ‘Towards the Poetics of Architecture’ in Architecture in the Age of Divided Representation : The Question of Creativity in the Shadow of Production. Cambridge, Mass.: MIT Press, 2004. 27 Ibid. 28 Ibid., 113.

Fig 10: Still Life with Checked Tablecloth. Juan Gris. 1915.

Cubism and Surrealism Collage - Situational Understanding of Space

Chapter 1: Situational Relationship of Cubist’s Fragment

fragments. In this case, the rope becomes the frame of the oval shaped canvas, and the chair canning at the bottom right corner. All these fragments create a material nature for the work and deepen our understanding of the artist’s intention. Picasso then painted over the chair canning with paints a more familiar composition of fragments in his early stages of exploration of Cubism. However, it is worth noticing the attempt not to imitate still life but rather to draw a series of fragments from the everyday setting - coffee cups, jugs and possibly newspapers. 29 Throughout this period, we can also find artists such as Picasso, Braque and Gris has progressively adopted words and language into their works, which should be further discussed in the next chapter, whereas the chapter will focus on the importance of establishing a situational relationship in collage. Juan Gris has also work along the same direction with Picasso and Braque in the exploration of power of collage in Cubist paintings. Gris interests in creating works that circulates around different tables, each presenting a very different situation through the use of fragments can be seen as the artist concern of the complex daily life and how it can be represented through fragments. Among the series of table paintings, we will specifically discuss Gris’s ‘Still Live - The Table’ (Fig. 11) and ‘The Breakfast Table’. (Fig. 12) Painted in 1912, ‘Still Live – The Table’, the artist 29 Shields, Jennifer A.E. Collage and Architecture. Taylor and Francis, 2014.

Fig 11: Still Life: The Table. Juan Gris. 1914.

Cubism and Surrealism Collage - Situational Understanding of Space

Chapter 1: Situational Relationship of Cubist’s Fragment

portrayed with a few critical reference that projects our thought for a coffee table, with fragments of cigarette, smoking pipes, books, wallpaper and newspaper. It is also worth noting that Gris has painted timber textures on top of the newspaper or purposely applying fictive shadows to the layering of fragments to create the contradictory between space of fictive and reality. The artist has also intended to remain a sense of incompleteness with a textured cigarette contrasting with a cigarette drawn in strokes of lines. This incompleteness of the painting reveals an uncertain, indefinite and constant movement between fragments or fleeting of thoughts further contribute to a deep ambiguity. We view fragments in a collective sense to generate a possible situation of a table in a living room or café. The other collage ‘The Breakfast Table’ (Fig. 12) painted by Gris in 1914 reflected the everyday life during the Great War. As usual, the artist has represents fragments of a coffee pot, egg container and cowl in the centre position of the canvas that sits on top of the timber veneer textured wall skirting, probably suggesting a calm and posh Parisian interior. At the same time, the artist has drawn shades of military green with the texture of metal machinery and positioned it in a diagonal manner that introduce a sense of movement and chaos that contrast to the still and clam setting of the breakfast table. Although, the Fig 12: The Breakfast Table. Juan Gris. 1914.

Chapter 1: Situational Relationship of Cubist’s Fragment

Cubism and Surrealism Collage - Situational Understanding of Space

newspaper at the bottom left was not dated but given the context

In conclusion, the chapter should end with a quote from Juan Gris

of the background, this fragment acts as a sign of time and

himself expressing his view on the matter of Cubist collage and

the awareness of the incidents happening around which then

painting, which perfectly describe the importance of situational

projects reader to the wider context of the Great War. 30 Although

relationship between fragments in art of collage. ‘Cézanne turns

both collages by Juan Gris were portraying a similar setting of

a bottle into a cylinder, I turn a cylinder into a bottle. It seems

a table in a Parisian interiors, it is obvious that the symbolic

that he wants us to take a similar approach to his picture. We

meaning of same fragments of daily life within the collage

start with abstract shapes and plains and end with a situation we

orchestrated with a particular situation to form a certain theme

recognise from our own experience.’ He further explained ‘I work

that generates different atmosphere and illustrated a variable

with spiritual elements with the imagination, I attempt to make

situational understanding. Therefore the situation or theme of

the abstract concrete to move from the general to the particular.

a collage is essentially more important than the properties of

In other words, I start with an abstraction and end with the real

individual fragment, there is no doubt these collages present

object.’

a metaphysical depth and projects relation to the actual reality. The combination of actual fragments and lines drawings create tension between real and fictive space, projecting the pictorial space into reality of everyday life.

30 Greene, James, Moritz, Reiner, Bönnhoff, Torsten, and Stürzer, Erwin. Juan Gris : The Breakfast Table. Masterworks: Centre Georges Pompidou, Paris. Germany: ArtHaus Musik, 2012.

31 Gris, Juan. ‘Juan Gris’ in L’Esprit Nouveau., 586.

Chapter 2: Surrealism - Metaphor and Automatism

Cubism and Surrealism Collage - Situational Understanding of Space

Chapter 2: Surrealism - Metaphor and Automatism

this statement is true in reality which then brings us to interpret

While Cubists were interested in the deconstruction of forms, the

the reader to start finding of similarity between the both terms. In

simultaneity of human experience, Surrealism has less concern

this process, the implicative complex of B term is then projected

about the construction of complex visual form - they were more

to A term only base on the context and the imagination of one

interested in the metaphorical statement that can be produced by

person who uses the metaphor.

collage. It is the Surrealist who perfectly adapted and developed

merely an epistemological and explicit representation of matter

the technique of collage as not only representation but a

in words as it will not be sensible and render the metaphor into

methodology of creative thinking and imagination, establishing

meaningless and strange words. It is only through interpretation

our contemporary understanding of collage, a method heavily

and certain subjective connotations that we can explore

concerned with layering, superimposition, and juxtaposition of

the implicit meaning of metaphor. ‘Interpretation has certain

images.

subjective connotations, such as the implication of the reader

the tension that the 2 terms have raised. In the process, the conventional meaning of A is less concerned and thus provoke

Therefore, metaphor is not

in the processes of understanding and the reciprocity between Before we venture any further into the relationship between

interpretation of the text and self-interpretation. This reciprocity is

metaphor and Surrealist collage. It is essential to understand

known by the name of the hermeneutical circle, it entails a sharp

metaphor not as a mere ornament of words but in fact a structured

opposition in to the sort of objectivity and non-implication which

elements that can guide reader through text thus presenting

is supposed to characterise the scientific explanation of things.’ 33

new meanings. Through Max Black’s theory, Black exemplified

Working along the same line, through juxtaposition of fragments

metaphor by proposing ‘A man is wolf’ as A and B term. (A = Man

in collage, the original meaning of fragments matter very little for

and B = Wolf) The A term of man is a mortal creature that is not

Surrealist. As Andre Breton stated in Manifestoes of Surrealism

metaphorical and thus is framed by the B term, which is being metaphorized. At this point, the original self-contained facts, properties and associations of both terms are no longer useful in a metaphorical statement. Moreover, there is no point that

32 Forceville, Charles. ‘The Case Pictorial Metaphor: Rene Magritte and other Surrealists’ in Pictorial Metaphor in Advertising. Routledge, 2002. 33 Ricoeur, Paul. Hermeneutics and the Human Sciences. Cambridge University Press, 1981., 165.

Chapter 2: Surrealism - Metaphor and Automatism

Cubism and Surrealism Collage - Situational Understanding of Space

‘By the very fact that the image of the exterior object was caught

and the metaphorical power of language. ‘This power would not

mechanically, in conditions that produced a resemblance that

be conveyed by images, but by the emergent meanings in our

was immediately satisfying and that, moreover, was indefinitely

language. Imagination could thus be treated as a dimension

perfectible, the representation of this object was to cease to

of language.’

appear to be an end for the painter.’ 34 It is the use of metaphor

the difference between literal metaphor and pictorial metaphor

that Surrealist has achieved to create new realities or fictive

(collage). He argued that collage provided an extra layer or

space of imagination and brought back the symbolic meanings

depth of context to the metaphor which will open up more diverse

of fragments with the attempt to provoke ones’ unconscious has

meanings to its reader. ‘Directionality of pictorial metaphors

further developed the potential of what Cubism has to offer. ‘The

would seem to be far more dependent on context than in verbal

metaphorical vision of the given reality depends on productive

once. It is context which guides our processing of the metaphor.’

imagination and on the existence of a world which is always

present as a latent world waiting for articulation.’ 35

merely a visual impact but is related to the deep unconscious

However Forceville has clearly demonstrated

Therefore, the juxtaposition of fragments in collage is not

of a particular person and the perception over a metaphorical Once we have understood that collage and literary metaphor

situation that is more complex than the verbal presentation of

are highly related because both actions required two different

the work itself. This emphasis of human unconsciousness is not

elements that represent contrasting ideas in order to generate a

a coincident but a reflection to early 20th century which marks the

metaphorical statement. The former juxtapositions images that do

start of a fragmented world that was supposed to be structured

not belongs to a same category of classification, the latter being

in a scientific and logical way. It is through the exploration of

words that do not form a sensible statement or phrase. Yet, it can

modern psyche that the Surrealist desired to connect the ruined

be said that the interpretation of collage is determined by literal

landscape again.

metaphor. Paul Ricoeur has argued art creation in contemporary practice should not be originated from imagination but language 34 Breton Andre, “Surrealist Situation of the Objects,” in ‘Manifestoes of Surrealism’., 273. 35 Dalibor Vesely, ‘Architecture and the Ambiguity of Fragment,’ in The Idea of the City: Architectural Associations, ed. Middleton, Robin. London: MIT Press,1996., 111.

36 Ricoeur, Paul. Hermeneutics and the Human Sciences. Cambridge University Press, 1981., 181. 37 Forceville, Charles. ‘The Case Pictorial Metaphor: Rene Magritte and other Surrealists’ in Pictorial Metaphor in Advertising. Routledge, 2002., 160.

Chapter 2: Surrealism - Metaphor and Automatism

Cubism and Surrealism Collage - Situational Understanding of Space

The Surrealist favoured the use metaphor in collage in order to portray the strange condition of the world by the juxtaposition of fragments that are unlikely to be situated together and penetrate the deepest layers of the imagination.

The Surrealist group

in Paris was founded by Andre Breton in 1924 upon the publishment of ‘Surrealist Manifesto’.

The group consisted

of prominent figures such as Salvador Dali, Man Ray, Rene Magriite, Joan Miro and Max Ernst. In the wake of Dadaism the Surrealists ventured into the mind, the irrational, emotional side of human being and further empathy the strangeness of the modern world. As Max Ernst explained, ‘For us, in Cologne in 1919, Dada was first of all a mental attitude… our aim was total subversion. A ghastly and senseless war had cheated us out of five years of our lives. We had seen all that had been held up to us as good, beautiful and true topple into abyss of ridicule and shame. The work I produced in those days was not meant to please but to make people scream.’ 40 Moreover let us not forget the artist himself participated in the Great War in Germany as an artillery technician and Breton was a served in psychiatric wards in frontline of France during the trench war, treating

38 Breton Andre, “Surrealist Situation of the Objects,” in ‘Manifestoes of Surrealism’ Michigan: The University of Michigan Press, 1972. 39 Ibid. 40 Dusseldorf. Kunstverein fur die Rheinlande und Westfalen. Dada : Dokuente einer Dewegung. Exhibition. Catalogue complied by karl Heinz Hering and Ewald Rathke. 1958; reprint, New York, Arno Press, 1968.

Fig 13: Loplop Introduces Members of the Surrealist Group (Loplop présente les membres du groupe surréaliste) Max Ernst, 1931.

Cubism and Surrealism Collage - Situational Understanding of Space

Chapter 2: Surrealism - Metaphor and Automatism

the patients that suffered from Shell shock.41 These personal experiences of the artists and the generation of people lived in Europe at the time, had been forever scared in their mind and deeply affected their confidence on human achievements since the enlightenment, or the long 18th century and the machinery age which abolished the traditional culture, religion, myth and superstitions in the process.

To some extent, the Surrealist’s

attempt to re-establish our connection between human and the strange aspects of life can be seen as a response to Martin Heidegger’s concerns of ‘being’ in the modern age when modern machines has taken over much of our live thus contributing to the graduate loss of meaning of life. 43 This also explains perfectly the Surrealist’s particular interest in the earlier ‘metaphysical’ canvases of Giorgio De Chirico that portrayed the composition of Italian plaza, trains, classical statues, a contradictory urban place that is growing strange and unfamiliar in its transformation. ‘Gare Montparnasse’ (The Melancholy of Departure) (Fig. 13) was painted in early 1914. It depicted the light conditions of an autumn afternoon, the 41 Hopkins, David. Dada and Surrealism. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2004., 16. 42 Dalibor Vesely, ‘Architecture and the Ambiguity of Fragment,’ in The Idea of the City: Architectural Associations, ed. Middleton, Robin. London: MIT Press,1996. 43 Heidegger, Martin, Gregory Fried, Richard F. H. Polt, and Ebrary, Inc. Being and Truth. Studies in Continental Thought. Bloomington, Ind.: Indiana University Press, 2010.

Fig 14: Gare Montparnasse. Giorgio De Chirico. 1914.

Chapter 2: Surrealism - Metaphor and Automatism

Cubism and Surrealism Collage - Situational Understanding of Space

emptiness and silence of the train station creates a deeply

of the restorative meaning of fragments. It also reminds us of

unsettling atmosphere and contradicts with our perception of a

the essentiality of matter in our real world and bridges the gap

busy and crowded settings of a public space. The painter did not

between art world and reality in the progressively fragmented

depict the elevation of the façade of Gare Montparnasse and

world, where technology and machinery dominates the reality

instead drawn the porch of the station from an angle, rendering

and art becomes a secondary elements that hovers in the realm

such heroic structure into an ambiguous civic structure. The

of pure imagination. Collage acted as the essential technique of

banana on the block of bricks might suggest a fruit stall or even

representation to project our perception of aesthetic appreciation

a balcony at De Chirico’s studio, but this fragment remains

back to the reality.

to be unresolved and provoke a sense the loss of scale and

Drawing on the sensibilities of De Chirico, Max Ernst’s collages

architectural dimension (dialogues between natural and built,

allow us to access to the deepest human unconsciousness

flesh and stone, unformed and geomentric). The couple opposite

through the strange juxtaposition of images and thus a new

the station react rigorously with the steaming locomotive at the

reality is formed. Many readers might find the artist’s work to

vanish point, which steams suggest the machine is moving and

be dreamy and personal and sometimes dark and ultimately

about to arrive to the station, creating what the melancholy

strange and unexplainable on their first sight. Although these

departure. The sense of arrival and departure represented in

collages and paintings are drawn with specific situation dated a

forms of locomotives and ships are always depicted in the De

century ago, reader will still be able to react and interpret these

Chirico’s canvas, which represent a sense of departure from

collages differently base on their own experience and memory,

one place to another, or even different realities, projecting one’s

thus allowing his work to be timeless. This connection of human

thoughts from fictive space to elsewhere in reality. ‘The fitful,

mind is hugely related the field of psychanalysis by Sigmund

still incoherent urbanism of Montparnasse seems also to have

Freud’s ‘The interpretation of Dreams’, ‘Unconsciousness’ and

offered Metaphysical painting localised strategies of framing and

psychic automatism. Before we further discuss the automatism

estrangement…’ 44 It is through the sophistry of mislead still life

in Ernst’s collage, we should explore this dream-like reality

(fragment), space and time that constructed a situation that is

and why not only Ernst has favoured such usage but also the

more specific to portray the contemporary world and the finding

rest of the Surrealist in all kinds of art creations. According to

44 Merjian, Ara H. Giorgio De Chirico and the Metaphysical City : Nietzsche, Modernism, Paris. New Haven: Yale University Press, 2014.

Chapter 2: Surrealism - Metaphor and Automatism

Cubism and Surrealism Collage - Situational Understanding of Space

Freud, dream is not merely imagination and a clear segregation cannot be made between state of dream and reality. Although, dream as a situation does not appear in our sleep as an exact imitation of our experienced reality, by proclaiming dream as pure imagination that is isolated and secluded from the outer world is a false statement due to the construction of this so called ‘imagination’ is composted by the elementary material from what we have seen in the reality. Therefore it can be said that no matter how strange the dream is, the material that constructed this dreamy situation is ultimately related to one experience and then interpretated through the dream state. ‘However strange the dream may seem, it can never detach itself from reality, and its most sublime as well as its most farcical structures must always borrow their elementary material either from what we have seen with our eyes in the outer world, or from what has previously found a place somewhere in our waking thoughts; in other words, it must be taken from what we had already experienced either objectively or subjectively.’

Therefore,

what Freud has theorized is that dreams and imagination of one being is not a fantasy that cannot be understood or interpreted as these realities are always composted by things that the dreamer has experienced and thus comes from reality. In truth, the Surrealists adapted the Freudian theory of dreams and moved a lot further than their contemporaries of the time with 45 Freud, Sigmund. The Interpretation of Dreams (Translated by A. A. Brill). La Vergne: Neeland Media LLC, 2017., 16.

Fig 15: De Horde. Max Ernst. 1927.

Chapter 2: Surrealism - Metaphor and Automatism

Cubism and Surrealism Collage - Situational Understanding of Space

literally no restriction in art creation. ‘Andre Breton conceives of

to Automatism to invent varies technique of collage. Ernst’s

the nightly dream-state as an alternative and continuous reality

works are not seeking for solution but more about encounter,

existing on par with, not supplementary to, waking existence.’ 46

observation and discovery. In 1921, Ernst started to use the

In order for Surrealist to analyse the irrationality of dreams and

technique of Frottage through placing a piece of paper onto

to execute their art creations, another Freudian theory is then

found materials ranged from timer to crusts of breads, rubbing

adapted by the group - psychic automatism. A key technique

on their surfaces with pencil or crayon. These textures then

for such analogical or associative and irrational development of

becomes a catalyst and point of departure and assigned with

visual language was automatism. Surrealist and Dadaist, Max

situations to transformed into landscape, objects and creatures

Ernst once explained “The collage technique is the systematic

of Ernst own vision. Frottage was not adopted as an systematic

exploitation of the accidentally or artificially provoked encounter

working method until 1925. ‘ Frottage permitted Ernst to move

of two or more foreign realities on a seemingly incongruous level

beyond the spontaneous improvisational aspects of automatism

– and the spark of poetry that leaps across the gap as these two

to a more calculated method with which to achieve the surrealist

realities are brought together.’

Automatism as a practise of art

ideal of merging two planes of reality.’

Ernst has later

creation is highly developed in the Surrealist group, which is a

discovered the technique of Grattage in the same year, a similar

term that the group has borrowed from field of physiology, where

process as Frottage but with oil paintings. This time rather than

it describes bodily movements that are not consciously controlled

superimposing textures and line, the artist painted on fragments

like breathing or sleepwalking. Although the generation of new

and then scrapped away the paint to reveal part of that original

meanings are accidental, it is far from being random, as the

texture with an over painted of contour in detail brushes. 49

exploration of the in between space (void) between fragments represents a logic method to explore the complex and intertwined

In Max Ernst’s early collage, the metaphor is generated by the

contemporary world. Max Ernst’s work between 1920 – 1927 marks his response 46 Kavky, Samantha Beth., University of Pennsylvania, and College, Academy, Charitable Schools of Philadelphia. Authoring the Unconscious: Freudian Structures in the Art of Max Ernst [electronic Resource], 2001., 1. 47 Ibid.

48 Waldman, Diane. “max ernst’ in Max Ernst - A Retrospective. New York: The Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, 1975., 37. 49 Ibid.

Cubism and Surrealism Collage - Situational Understanding of Space

Chapter 2: Surrealism - Metaphor and Automatism

art of alchemy.

The is not only seen in the use of alchemical

symbols in his works but the demonstration of his obsession of creating hybrid of half man and half creatures, ranging from birds, animals and machine parts can be found in some of his surrealist novel. ‘La Femme 100 têtes’ (The Hundred Headless Woman) (1929), (Fig. 15-17) The novel resembles a loosely narrative sequence of collages made by cutting up and reassembling 19th century Victorian engravings and altered them into bizarre images through juxtaposition. Within these collage comes ‘Loplop’, the superior of all birds, a bird-man figure that first appeared in the novel and will continuously reappear in later works throughout his career. The Bird man itself already becomes a metaphorical exercise, the notion of a bird and a man, it stands for this mysterious figure of creation and ultimately refers to Max Ernst himself. ‘Loplop traverses the boundaries of subject and object, or interior and exterior, for he holds the liminal position of an outward projection of the interior workings of the artist’s psyche.’ 51

First we must understand Ernst always create his work in the

third person. The disembodiment and distancing of his own ego, the reality. According to Spies, ‘One is especially reminded of Ernst’s introduction of a doppelganger, the bird-creature ‘Loplop”, 50 Warlick, M. E. Max Ernst and Alchemy. Texas: University of Texas Press, 2013. 51 Kavky, Samantha. “AUTHORSHIP AND IDENTITY IN MAX ERNST’S LOPLOP.” Art History 28, no. 3 (2005): 357-85. Fig 16: Illustration from ‘The Hundred Headless Woman’ Loplop presents. 1929

Chapter 2: Surrealism - Metaphor and Automatism

Cubism and Surrealism Collage - Situational Understanding of Space

Fig 17:

Fig 18:

Illustration from ‘The

Hundred Headless

Woman’ Loplop presents.

Woman’ Loplop and the

1929.

beautiful gardener. 1929.

Cubism and Surrealism Collage - Situational Understanding of Space

Chapter 2: Surrealism - Metaphor and Automatism

and his transference to him of the role of superego, an aesthetic figure of projection and reflection who assumed responsibility for the artist’s work and life.’

Samatha Kavky has also explained

that Loplop is modelled upon totem as defined by Sigmund Freud in ‘Totem and Taboo’ published in 1913. (Here we are not going to detailly examine this Freudian theory) She argued that the role of Loplop is a clan totem of Ernst’s will of freedom in creation. The bird symbolise is the embodiment of Ernst’s creation and the man’s body as a reminder of the struggling in creation. ‘Loplop’s constant visual and iconographic metamorphoses, ranging from whimsical humanoid to menacing bird, threaten to achieve this marvellous escape. I suggest that Ernst develops Loplop in answer: as a cipher for his own artistic identity, whose very existence places that identity in question.’ 53 ‘The Elephant of Celebes’ (1921) (Fig. 18) portrayed a pictorial puzzle for the viewers with a series of odd fragments, such as a mechanical elephant that also looks like a tank, an avant garde sculpture with an eye sitting on top of the elephant, a bull’s head that is wearing a gas mask that possible is an extension of the elephant’s trunk, an empty flag pole, a faceless woman with a red arm, a dead tree with a red stick that might represent a male 52 Spies, Werner. Max Ernst: Life and Work, London: Thames & Hudson, 2005., 9. 53 Ibid., 358. Fig 19: The Elephant of Celebes, Max Ernst. 1921.

Cubism and Surrealism Collage - Situational Understanding of Space

Chapter 2: Surrealism - Metaphor and Automatism

genital… All these fragments are drawn on a baren landscape

instinct, guided by memories of his childhood and the dream

that is yellowish and emptied. Although irrational and somehow

scape. This freedom is a prove of how the artist has work

unsettling, the fragments are actually filled with implicit meanings

rigorously with found situations and enables fragments to be

and connotations and more importantly cultural reference.

perfectly dissolved into the pictorial space of collage and create

According to Roland Penrose, the shape of body and legs of the

a new realities, a phantom reality. Ernst’s creative production is

elephant is derived from the African Konkombwa corn bin which

always derived from a pre-established situation, from Victorian’s

Ernst has discovered from an English anthropological journal.

illustration to textures of timber, all these fragments embodied

Yet, the use of such primitive association of African art is only

value and implicit meaning within, through Ernst’s reaction to

an explicit one. It is most possibly that the painted collage can

these fragments, materialised his work and moved away from

be interpreted as a representation of war whom the artist was

abstraction thus open the way for projections of thoughts.

involved. The use elephant and tank hybrid with the sculpture on

‘Ernst’s ability to manipulate his materials, his awareness of

top symbolize bureaucracy and connected to the Freudian theory

the potential resources of found objects, new textures and new

of ‘Totem’. While the faceless woman that seeming stopped the

working procedures, is but the prelude to the transformation of

tank seems to be the ‘Taboo’. This free association of forms and

materials into a new body of imagery.’ 55

ideas again proves the Freudian theory of automatism in Ernst’s work and allows deep implicit meaning to be hidden in fragments through the situational understanding of the collage as a whole. Many art critics have praised the Ernst for the inventiveness of how he paints without constrains and his contribution to collage technique. This is however not the focus in this chapter, the main aim should be circulated around how Ernst has avoided working objectively, allowing Automatism to lead his creative 54 Roland, Penrose. Max Ernst’s Celebes. Newcastle upon Tyne: University Press, 1972.

55 Waldman, Diane. “max ernst’ in Max Ernst - A Retrospective. New York: The Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, 1975., 61.

Chapter 3: Shop 191

Cubism and Surrealism Collage - Situational Understanding of Space

Chapter 3: Shop 191

Therefore, from observation and finding we have taken these

Shop 191 is part of a wider installation exhibition of 5 shops that

spatial practice that literally becomes a ‘walk-in collage’.

response to specific cultural and social topics regarding to the site in Tai Kok Tsui, Hong Kong which will be demolished and make way for redevelopment soon. In Shop 191, ‘strange’ is the word of departure for the investigation of this part of Tai Kok Tsui, where it is going to be undergone regeneration. This sense of strangeness we found is mainly contributed by the land reclamation through the years that rapidly changed the ship building industry in the area. From coastal area to a place surrounded by newer towers. Tai Kok Tsui seems to become an area that is out of place in this wider context. The fragmented nature of the physical landscape further contributes to the chaotic setting of the place. Items we found are abandoned carton boxes, bones and fleshes, rusting mechanical parts… These found fragments have very little connection and presents themselves in an odd and unorthodox manner. The normal architect’s attempt to investigate urban space through program and diagram no longer applies to this study. Despite of the strange condition of the place, we found these fragments are derived from the ordinary life of the community and can be seen as extremely poetic and beautiful in this certain context.

fragments as a relic or point of departure for creation. The progressive transformation of these imaginative collage into

Chapter 3: Shop 191

Cubism and Surrealism Collage - Situational Understanding of Space

Red is life, the future of the place. The

The street is a menu for us. Smells Great. I

owner of the shop next store told us.

like my meat medum rare.

Fig 20:

Fig 21:

Red Space.

Flesh Trading Space,

2020.

Chapter 3: Shop 191

Cubism and Surrealism Collage - Situational Understanding of Space

The Spirits of animal chanting and singing

That

icy

cold

meat

everywhere.

along the shelves of the meat store.

Illuminating the street and life of community.

Fig 22:

Fig 23:

A Funeral.

Flesh Light,

2020.

Chapter 3: Shop 191

Cubism and Surrealism Collage - Situational Understanding of Space

‘Death is upon us.’ the old man told the fishes who wondering around. The red is coming swollowing everything in their path. Fig 24:

Fig 25:

Red Shop.

The struggle between Old

2020.

and New, 2020.

Chapter 3: Shop 191

Cubism and Surrealism Collage - Situational Understanding of Space

Man and Fish is blured in this age. We looked at things through the eyes of a fish. Our life is boring and systematical, like machine. At least the fish-man still have a sense of flesh and sign of life.

Fig 26: Transformation of Man to Fish - How you look at the world? 2020.

Chapter 3: Shop 191

Cubism and Surrealism Collage - Situational Understanding of Space

We collect bones, all sorts of bones. Things

The great beast has since reincarnated

that are abandoned by people and see with

and swims in the shop called 191, looking

little significances.

for the sun.

Fig 27:

Fig 28:

Discovery of bones.

The Skeletial beast

Photo by Leslie Tsang

marching towards the Sun.

2020.

Photo by Leslie Tsang 2020.

Cubism and Surrealism Collage - Situational Understanding of Space

Fig 29:

Bones are beautiful. It looks like scuplture

This is our cave.

and has a poetic quality. I start wonder

2020. Fig 30: Skeletial Flower grow from a egg. 2020.

whether it is actually a flower and the egg is its seed.

Chapter 3: Shop 191

Cubism and Surrealism Collage - Situational Understanding of Space

The empty street is full of music and shadows of the past. The angel of death is lurking around the corner, dancing and chanting. Spirits were found in abandoned shops. Fig 31 The death songs of regeneration. 2020.

Fig 32: The Fictive Shadow of a hybrid machine – man. Julia Wong 2020.

Chapter 3: Shop 191

Cubism and Surrealism Collage - Situational Understanding of Space

Fig 33: Hardware shop Cabinet. Julia Wong 2020.

Chapter 3: Shop 191

Cubism and Surrealism Collage - Situational Understanding of Space

The murmuring of the old lady, the owner

Fig 34:

of the store next door. Like a poem of the

The Constant

place that speaks of the life of the place.

murmuring of the old lady. 2020.

Cubism and Surrealism Collage - Situational Understanding of Space

Conclusion: Situational Understanding of Space

The understanding of fragments is essential in this essay and

This essay is after all a dissertation that concerns about the

even be absurd to suggest the importance of ambiguity, which is

representation of architecture so this chapter will focus on the

the product of fragments. However, the nature of fragmentation

actual application and impact that the technique of collage

is unavoidable in the current world when space are designed

can offer our field of profession. The modern representation of

with little relationship established between context, culture and

architecture is proven to be problematic since the introduction of

history. Zaha Hadid’s MAXXI in Rome represents the architects

modern science that altered architecture into a representation

desire in creating curves and abstracted spatial condition, which

of its own instrumentality, and that can be further conveyed

is admirable and highly experimental. However, sitting in the

into abstracted numbers and data. In truth, modern architects

centre of the eternal city of Rome, where it marks centuries of

has been creating ‘objects’ that seized to be related to other

history and contains clusters of historical structure that is stained

spectrum and other fields of knowledges. Our profession

and as an embodiment of memories, on what level has the

favoured abstracted line drawings to represent the construction

white and shiny cladding encountered these above mentioned

of space or take pride in the reading of drawings. Although we

qualities of Rome? Upon experiencing the off-white condition of

cannot deny that architect will always start from the abstracted,

the interior, one might find it even more difficult to relate to any

it is important for us to understand that architecture never stands

existing experience. This abstraction has resulted in the lack of

alone as a heroic structure. Architecture should be highly relatable

directional communication between architecture and people thus

to the praxis of daily life, with embodiment of different layers of

might possibly lead us back to the instrumentality of the space

memory, history and culture. Therefore, the aim to re-discover

– a mere white space with curve walls. Therefore if MAXXI is

the technique of collage in the 21st century provides us a way

compared to the Surrealist metaphorical spatial construction,

to analysis and create space or should we say ‘situation’ with

it can be said that the museum space is lack of reference to

reference to the established reality and a closer anthropology

reality thus constructed a weak ground of association to one’s

relationship between the space and human.

consciousness and difficult to explore the metaphysical depth of

probably the most difficult aspect for our profession due to our practise of logical and systematically structured thinking. It might

Cubism and Surrealism Collage - Situational Understanding of Space

Chapter 2: Surrealism - Metaphor and Automatism

Fig 35: From Shop 191 to an architectural proposal. 2021.

Cubism and Surrealism Collage - Situational Understanding of Space

Conclusion: Situational Understanding of Space

the space. On the other hand, the brutality of modernist master

to interpret a setting of café or living room.

planning where space are designed to become identical thus resulting in a holistic unity is inhuman. It is therefore understood

The establishment of ‘material’ is important in the art of collage

that fragmentation is a process that is unavoidable in urban

because perceiver can have a better understanding through the

context and will progressively happen continuously in the future.

colours and textures of material than lines of plans and sections.

However, the acknowledgement of relationships between

The information of a line is constrained to an abstracted

fragments (space, history, human, culture) or the attempt to

identification of boundaries, resulting in formation of a shape.

design space in consideration of this relationship will ground

Yet the presence of materiality in drawings is more specific and

architectural representation and imagination to an established

suggestive in representation of certain idea (wood is wood, it

reality. This is not necessary meaning of imitations of what

is not a line with hatched patten), driving the perceiver into the

you see but an interpretation instead like what the cubists

material world where he or she finds a fragment relatable and

had explored in late 19th century who fragmented their still live

interpretable. This perception over certain fragment is never

subjects and represents on their abstracted canvas that meaning

restricted in its instrumental representation but much more

is still self-contained and reductive.

provocative and penetrate into varies layers of life accordingly.

In later stage of Analytic Cubism, the artists moved towards

One might ask how does the perception of fragment leads to

composing of multiple fragments into a relief like collage painting

the understanding of situation - the latent quality of material

that starts to tells a story about their works and situated fragments

world that is connected to our unconsciousness. It is the

in a setting that allows reader to have enough clue to wonder and

Surrealist’s juxtaposition of elements leads to a more structured

interpret the general meaning of the artist expression. For the

exploration of situational relationships between fragments

first time, collage was read as a holistic fictive space referencing

through application of pictorial metaphor. Together with the

situation that relates to memories and experience, as the first

primary interest of the Surrealist, the mind’s eye and seeking

attempt to fragment the epistemological representation of matter.

to connect with the unconscious of human being, Surrealist

Such can be seen as a critical point of reference like: coffee pots,

collage had not only achieved visual stamina but also restored

table cloth, books and Parisian interior, which then provoke ones

the symbolic meaning of imaginary and connects reader to the

Cubism and Surrealism Collage - Situational Understanding of Space

Chapter 2: Surrealism - Metaphor and Automatism

Fig 36 :

Fig 37:

The life of a Community

The Configuration of a

Kitchen.

plan for the Community

2021.

Kitchen 2021.

Conclusion: Situational Understanding of Space

Cubism and Surrealism Collage - Situational Understanding of Space

100

101

latent world through projection of thoughts to new realities by

of fragments that might derived from source of anonymous

metaphor. Therefore, situation remains and continues becomes

circumstances thus resulting a more rewarding and richer

the most important element in the art of collage and reminds

than the limited domain of personal experience and memory.

us the possibility of the suggestive power of fragments in the

Essentially, the Surrealist has discovered the primary source of

relativity of varies situations. The consideration of situation is no

creativity through the understanding of complexity of situational

longer restricted in the imaginative pictorial space of collage but

encounter.

also in reality through the venue that contains the work itself or the perceiver’s background, memory and experience will greatly

Over the years, the practice of architecture was so focused on

affect the interpretation of the work.

developing a specific set of instrumental representation and finally result in the creation of abstracted object that becomes

Within this framework of collage representation, the author

out of touch the praxis of life. ‘The day that modern architecture

offers a balance between their authority in representation but

had officially died’ proclaimed by Charles Jencks in 1972 should

also free space for others to interpret the work, generating a

not only be marked as the abandonment of Modernism and

more rewarding dialogue in pictorial communication. In truth and

progression to Post Modernism but reflection towards how we

practice, architectural representation and spatial design is never

think about building as ‘space’ before architecture and more

about one’s definition but how people interpret and perceive and

essentially the importance of understanding connection between

established space. For example, Richard Serra’s ‘Tilted Arc’ built

environment, city, architecture and human being, an overall

in 1986 in New York was removed due to public discontent in the

situational understanding of the world we live in. That is why

artist’s attempt in blocking the square with a heavy metal work.

the essay has raised the importance of realising the power of

Therefore, the incompleteness and ambiguity in collage should

fragments and ambiguity to allow us to explore the relationships

be maintained in order to create ownerships in both author and

of ‘things’ which is essentially to understand the current situation

perceiver. Ambiguity in architectural representation is rather

of our world.

important in spatial creation as we have discussed on Enrst’s frottage and grattage which works on unpredicted encounter

Cubism and Surrealism Collage - Situational Understanding of Space

Conclusion: Situational Understanding of Space

102

103

This essay will conclude in Juhani Pallasmaa’s statement on the relationship between collage and architecture, ‘In its inherent permanence and penetrating, preconceived order, the art form of architecture is conventionally not associated with the notion of collage. Yet, the very role of architecture as frames and settings for human activities turns it into a varying and variously completed entity, an ever-changing collage of activities, furnishings and objects.’

Therefore the art of collage and fragmentation is

probably the most suitable method towards the understanding and re-establishment of the relationship among human, city, natural environment and many other aspects of life. Working along side collage, an architect’s job might be less related to creating new space from abstract or even nothing, but observing and reacting to the richness of given fragments to form a more compelling scheme.

56 Pallasmaa, Juhani. ‘The World is a Collage’ in Collage and Architecture. Ed, Shields, Jennifer A.E. Taylor and Francis, 2014.

Fig 38: The Model Mock Up. 2021.

Cubism and Surrealism Collage - Situational Understanding of Space

104

105

List of Illustrations

Fig 1. Fala Atelier, House in Rua do Paraiso, 2013. Collage. Fig 2. Perry Kulper, David’s Island Strategic Plot Drawing, Unknown. 19961997. Private Collection. Unknown, Fig 3. Giorgio De Chirico, The Enigma of the Arrival and the Afternoon, 1912, 70 x 86.5cm. Private Collection. https://www.wikiart.org/en/giorgiode-chirico/the-enigma-of-the-arrival-and-the-afternoon-1912 Fig 4. Carel van Mander, Ole Worm’s cabinet of curiosities, Musei Worniani Historia, 1606, 37cm. History Institute. https://digital.sciencehistory.org/ works/rv042t91s Fig 5. Paul Cézanne, Mont Sainte-Victoire, 1902 – 1904, oil paint on canvas, 73 x 91.9cm. Philadelphia Museum of Art, Philadelphia. https:// www.philamuseum.org/collections/permanent/102997.html Fig 6. George Braque, Mandora, 1909-10, oil paint on canvas, 926 x 802mm. Tate Modern, London. https://www.tate.org.uk/art/artworks/braquemandora-t00833 Fig 7. Pablo Picasso, Daniel-Henry Kahnweiler, 1910, oil on canvas, 100.4 x 72.4cm. The Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago. https://www.artic.edu/ artworks/111060/daniel-henry-kahnweiler Fig 8. George Braque, Glass on a Table, 1909-10, oil paint on canvas, 582 x 620mm. Tate Modern, London. https://www.tate.org.uk/art/artworks/braqueglass-on-a-table-t05028 Fig 9. Pablo Picasso, Still Life with Chair Caning, 1912, oil on oil cloth over canvas edged with rope, 29 x 37cm. Musee Picasso, Paris. https://www. khanacademy.org/humanities/art-1010/cubism-early-abstraction/cubism/a/ picasso-still-life-with-chair-caning

Fig 10. Juan Gris, Still Life with Checked Tablecloth, 1915. Collage, 116.5 x 89.2cm. The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York. https://www. metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/646469 Fig 11. Juan Gris, Still Life: The Table, 1914. Collage, 59.7 x 44.5cm. Philadelphia Museum of Art, Philadelphia. https://www.philamuseum.org/ collections/permanent/53918.html Fig 12. Juan Gris, The Breakfast Table, 1914. Collage, 80.9 x 59.7cm. National Museum of Modern Art, Paris. Fig 13. Max Ernst, Loplop Introduces Members of the Surrealist Group (Loplop présente les membres du groupe surréaliste), 1931. Collage, 50.1 x 33.6 cm. Museum of Modern Art, New York. Fig 14. Giorgio De Chirico, Gare Montparnasse, 1914, 140 x 184.5cm. Museum of Modern Art, New York. https://www.moma.org/audio/playlist/1/95 Fig 15. Max Ernst, La Horde, 1927, 41 x 32.8cm. Private Collection, Switzerland. Fig 16. Max Ernst, Loplop presents, illustration from ‘The Hundred Headless Woman’, Museum of Modern Art, New York. Fig 17. Max Ernst, Loplop presents, illustration from ‘The Hundred Headless Woman’, Museum of Modern Art, New York. Fig 18. Max Ernst, Loplop and the beautiful gardener, illustration from ‘The Hundred Headless Woman’, Museum of Modern Art, New York. Fig 19. Max Ernst, The Elephant Celebes, 1921, 125.4 x 107.9cm. Tate Modern, London. https://www.tate.org.uk/art/artworks/ernst-celebes-t01988 Fig 20. Otto Chung, Red Space, 2020. Digital collage. Fig 21. Otto Chung, Flesh Trading Space, 2020. Digital collage.

Cubism and Surrealism Collage - Situational Understanding of Space

106

107

Fig 22. Otto Chung, A Funeral, 2020. Digital collage. Fig 23. Otto Chung, Flesh Light, 2020. Digital collage. Fig 24. Otto Chung, Red Shop, 2020. Photography. Fig 25. Otto Chung, The Struggle between Old and New, 2020. Mixed media collage. Fig 26. Otto Chung, Transformation from Man to Fish – How you look at the world?. Mixed media collage. Fig 27. Leslie Tsang, Discovery of bones, 2020. Photography. Fig 28. Leslie Tsang, The Skeletal beast marching towards the Sun, 2020. Photography. Fig 29. Julia Wong, This is our cave, 2020. Digital line drawing. Fig 30. Otto Chung, Skeletal Flower grows from an egg. 2020. Digital collage. Fig 31. Otto Chung, The death song of regeneration. 2020. Digital collage. Fig 32. Julia Wong, The Fictive Shadow of a hybrid machine – man. 2020. Digital media collage. Fig 33. Julia Wong, Hardware shop cabinet. 2030. Digital collage. Fig 34. Otto Chung, The Constant murmuring of the old lady. Sound installation of poetry reading. Fig 35. Otto Chung, From Shop 191 to an architectural proposal. Fig 36. Otto Chung, The life of a Community Kitchen. Fig 37. Otto Chung, The Configuration of a plan for the Community Kitchen. Fig 38. Otto Chung, The Model Mock Up.