OZAN CICEK SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA INSTITUTE OF ARCHITECTURE ISSUE NR 01
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OZAN CICEK SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA INSTITUTE OF ARCHITECTURE STATEMENT
OFF
Kind of, Slightly, Really
This thesis is about variation and syncopation. It explores the territory in which how making things OFF through variation in their materiality, scale, position, dimension can result in new formal and spatial conditions. It investigates the issue of being ‘off’ in three categories which as ‘Kind of OFF’, ‘Slightly OFF’, and ‘Really OFF’. In ‘Kind of’, it is about the quality of being uncanny through the change of material which evokes doubts of whether what is shown is real or not in viewers mind. References for this category include the works of Thomas Demand which includes photographs of very detailed models of interior spaces. Here, models being made out of paper and cardboard brings the viewer into a feeling of uncanny even though the color and the lighting is very close to a possible actual scene. In addition to Demand, it references Carl Andre where the simple blocks of wood or concrete are composed in various ways which connotates different objects or situations. In the category of being ‘Slightly OFF’, it investigates works of Sol Lewitt where the components that seem to make up a pure abstract cube are used in variations that shows each of these variations can pose different situations. Also, ‘Slightly OFF’ includes example of Swiss Pavillion in 2018 Venice Biennale where the interiors are slightly scaled up or down which put attention to the peculiarities of mudane interior spaces. And finally, in the category of ‘Really OFF’, it looks at situations of bizarreness such as the work of Erwin Wurm, which include big objects such as trucks tilted on the ground ana\d being used in different ways, or the incidence in which a comet had to be carried in Chester Streets. Finally, the experimentation for this study was carried out on a sculpture designed by Carl Andre made out of woodblocks.It was made ‘OFF’ through a series of formal operations similar to the ones done in the reference examples such as change in position, surfaces that makes up the overall form, the discrepancies between the form and the materials of things, and the ‘fatness’ of the object. ‘OFF’ explores the possibilities that can leak out of the uncanny crack between what things really are and how we domesticate them immediately after we perceive them.
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TABLE OF CONTENTS Kind of, Slightly, Really
Kind of OFF 8 12 20
Work of Thomas Demand Work of Carl Andre Work of Penique Productions
Slightly OFF 26 30 34
Swiss Pavillion in 2018 Venice Biennale Work of Sol Lewitt Diagrams of Peter Eisenmman
Really OFF 40 44
Comet in Chester Streets Work of Erwin Wurm
Experimenting OFF 50 52 54 56 58
Experimenting ‘Slightly OFF’ n01 Experimenting ‘Slightly OFF’ n02 Experimenting ‘Slightly OFF’ n03 Experimenting ‘Kind of OFF’ Experimenting ‘Really OFF’
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Chapter I
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THOMAS DEMAND
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THOMAS DEMAND
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OZAN CICEK SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA INSTITUTE OF ARCHITECTURE THOMAS DEMAND
Thomas Demand recreates interioir through physical modelinh with materials such as paper and carboard in a very detailed way. Then, he takes photographs of them and destroys the models. Therefore, these photographs become the only evidence of the fleeting existence of the models. They are ‘off’ because the materiality of the objects in them seem fake in the way that the whole scene seems uncanny. Moreover, absence of people reinforces the questioning of scale of these images.
CARL ANDRE
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CARL ANDRE
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OZAN CICEK SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA INSTITUTE OF ARCHITECTURE CARL ANDRE
Different compositions of wood blocks suggest different scales because they connotate different objects and situations in the viewer’s mind even though they are variations of the same simple object. -Svizzera 240: House Tour Design Team
CARL ANDRE
Materiality of the concrete blocks connotate heaviness and monumentality. Through using the same simple block in all of the composition, Andre achieves monumentality through simplicity.Like the wooden blocks, each composition brings another situation to the viewer’s mind and creates a specific scale as if the sculpture is a model of something bigger or larger.
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OZAN CICEK SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA INSTITUTE OF ARCHITECTURE CARL ANDRE
CARL ANDRE
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OZAN CICEK SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA INSTITUTE OF ARCHITECTURE CARL ANDRE
Poems of Carl Andre goes beyond the conventions of typography and let us perceive the text in a novel way in which our traditional habits related to read from left to right is challenged. They gain a new formal quality on the paper which is juxtaposed by the actual meaning of the words written.
INFLATABLES BY PENIQUE PRODUCTIONS
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INFLATABLES BY PENIQUE PRODUCTIONS
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OZAN CICEK SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA INSTITUTE OF ARCHITECTURE INFLATABLES BY PENIQUE PRODUCTIONS
Penique Productions apply inflatables in the interior spaces that plays with the materiality of them. By doing so, they let the use pervceive the interior in a rather formal way where use of things are blurred and they have gained a homogenious character. It is almost it makes the space lose its phenomenological character related to its materiality by adding this plastic layer, and allows it to appear purely formal.
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Chapter II
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SWISS PAVILION IN VENICE BIENNALE 2018
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SWISS PAVILION IN VENICE BIENNALE 2018
“We want to take the visitors on a house tour, which offers you an exaggerated architectural sensibility through which you see the peculiarities of your own home from the perspective of an outsider. We very much hope that this opens up new ways of reflecting on the role the apartments’ interior shell plays in shaping our lives and our identities.” -Svizzera 240: House Tour Design Team
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OZAN CICEK SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA INSTITUTE OF ARCHITECTURE SWISS PAVILION IN VENICE BIENNALE 2018
SOL LEWITT
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SOL LEWITT
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OZAN CICEK SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA INSTITUTE OF ARCHITECTURE SOL LEWITT
Incomplete Open Cubes of Sol Lewitt stands as a formal experimentation through variation of the components that seem to make up a cube. Each sculpture displays a distinct posture as the linear elements vary even though they are inherently the same component.
PETER EISENMAN
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PETER EISENMAN
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OZAN CICEK SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA INSTITUTE OF ARCHITECTURE PETER EISENMAN
The way Peter Eisenman works with the grid is to bering some regularity and order to the site on which to operate on. Then he carries out a series of formal operations on these girds and juxtaposes them which usually have implications of contextual traces os some sort. Here, we again see making the grid ‘OFF’, allows for an altered order that is specific to the site.
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Chapter III
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COMET 2 FUSELAGE TRANSPORATATION THROUGH CHESTER STREETS
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COMET 2 FUSELAGE TRANSPORATATION THROUGH CHESTER STREETS
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OZAN CICEK SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA INSTITUTE OF ARCHITECTURE COMET 2 FUSELAGE TRANSPORATATION THROUGH CHESTER STREETS
Everybody is looking at it. Because there is something ‘off’ about this situation. That huge thing is not supposed to be there. It is a threat to the usual order of the street. Nothing there has ever been deisgned for this scale. It is an urban alien. It is non-referential, yet there it is. It is suggesting new possibilities of engagement with the public space in a raw and rude way.
ERWIN WURM
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ERWIN WURM
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OZAN CICEK SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA INSTITUTE OF ARCHITECTURE ERWIN WURM
Erwin Wurm seems to have a problem with the conceivable traditions of the vernacular architecture where a wall is supposed to be vertical and flat. He is experimenting with the ‘fatness’ of these walls which gives the house whole new character as a single fat object that challenges the preconceptions about what a house is made out of such as walls, windows, doors etc.
EXPERIMENTATION ON CARL ANDRE SCULPTURE
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OZAN CICEK SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA INSTITUTE OF ARCHITECTURE EXPERIMENTATION ON CARL ANDRE SCULPTURE
EXPERIMENTATION ON CARL ANDRE SCULPTURE
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OZAN CICEK SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA INSTITUTE OF ARCHITECTURE EXPERIMENTATION ON CARL ANDRE SCULPTURE
As an experimentation on making the sculpture ‘Slightly OFF’, the tall middle piece is slightly rotated which pushes the side pieces slightly away which loosens up the overall orthogonality of the inital sculpture. Now, it seems like the pieces are scattered on the ground and it has a more mysterious presence with the inbetween spaces opened up inbetween them.
EXPERIMENTATION ON CARL ANDRE SCULPTURE
As a second esperimentation for making the initial mass ‘Slightly OFF’, a shift from a masive nature to one of surfaces is applied. The monolithic quality of the masses are broken with the explosion of their surfaces. With the surfaces floating around, it has a much more floating nature when compared to its initial state. It seems like it is shifting to every direction which gives the feeling that it is falling aparts.
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OZAN CICEK SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA INSTITUTE OF ARCHITECTURE EXPERIMENTATION ON CARL ANDRE SCULPTURE
EXPERIMENTATION ON CARL ANDRE SCULPTURE
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OZAN CICEK SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA INSTITUTE OF ARCHITECTURE EXPERIMENTATION ON CARL ANDRE SCULPTURE
As a continuation of the previous example, the surface quality of te overall sculpture is exaggerated by tilting them in various ways which allows glimpses towards the interior that alters the perception drastically.
EXPERIMENTATION ON CARL ANDRE SCULPTURE
Each of the volumes are tilted in one direction to break the orthogonality of the overall mass. However, the texturemap stayed the same as it was in the orthogonal setting. Therefore, this is an attempt to make the inital sculpture ‘Kind of’ OFF where the materiality of the volumes is in contradiction with the formal gesture.
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OZAN CICEK SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA INSTITUTE OF ARCHITECTURE EXPERIMENTATION ON CARL ANDRE SCULPTURE
EXPERIMENTATION ON CARL ANDRE SCULPTURE
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OZAN CICEK SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA INSTITUTE OF ARCHITECTURE EXPERIMENTATION ON CARL ANDRE SCULPTURE
In order to make the mass ‘Really OFF’, the weight of it exaggerated towards the bottom of it in order to give an overemhasized expression of gravity. The orthogonal monumentality is altered through this operation of making it ‘fat’, and a new gesture is created from the initial input geometry.
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