breakergraph
shanti s gollapudi my manifesto
01 26 2020
breakergraph ‘ ... this is a book about breaking and making...’
makergraph studio spring 2020
manifesto 1 release 2 chaos 3
balance
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cut
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pieces
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twist
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frozen
8 curious transformations 9
daily domestic breakdowns
10 home + 11 release 2.0
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release
An act of cleaning can be defined in many different ways across the world. In my culture, we use the method of burning and destroying waste objects collected during the previous year. At the start of every new year we “cleanse” the house of materials which aren’t required anymore to create a more pure and meaningful environment to live in. This stuck with me and has been an extremely significant way of thought for me. Somehow we had represented the act of destruction as a positive phenomenon. And I strongly believe that creating this positive atmosphere around me, was lifting a large weight off my shoulders and giving me the opportunity to release my trapped emotions. These simple actions like bursting bubble wrap were a metaphor for the storm inside me I was always waiting to let out. It was a cycle of peace and chaos, shanti and ashanti. As my name depicts.
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chaos Once I had understood that breaking for me was a path to calmness, I wanted to explore it further. Different ways in each objects can break, the end results of deforming or shattering matierals and the process of deforming things intrigued me tremendously. A millisecond of chaos could cause a piece to break into a million, the power of this simple act was beyond what I had ever imagined, and I just wanted to experience it more. I dare to use the word thrill in this scenario, but it wouldn’t be giving the feeling its due. Thrill is but a temporary rush, this feeling of calm is one which lasts and causes me to reflect beyond the action itself. It takes a million details and process to put together a glass, but nothing at all to destroy it. The value of an object goes from a necessity to worthless in the blink of chaos filled second. But I learnt that not every change of form erased value, some ways of modification just transformed the nature of value.
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balance The object was derived from a dream I had about a dense jungle with lots of tree barks. This lead me to explore the idea artistically for the second material exploration, wood. I started by laying out a lattice with 35 basswood strips to create modules that were 18” x 18”. These modules were then plugged and glued into each other by twisting the spaces around the central core. This created a maze in the center making that the space required by the spatial brief. The modules had wood extended upwards which created the ‘ jungle effect ‘ I had envisioned
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jungle 34
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stacked modules
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cut
My object isn’t just made from solo cups, it’s a play on the same “Solo.” Solo, a cup had its original use, but together, I was able to create a an object which represents a complete flip side to the idea. This object is called flip as it was the method of constructing. It was created by flipping each cup over, ripping them apart and then putting them together all over again, but this time as a whole and not individually. By practicing the aforementioned controlled chaos , the cups were cut up and stuck all over one side to represent a spikey texture and the other side was stuck with bubble wrap to represent a soft texture. The longitudinal flipping of the object can again as a metaphor to normal human nature, depicting everything which may seem harsh always has a flip side.
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pieces After satisfying my curiosity through various acts of breaking and modification, I realized that what was left behind post the process caught my attention as much as the process itself. Seeing the ashes, shards, pieces left behind aroused sensed in my brain which had not been explored before. This obsession of experiencing everyday objects in their raw form if I may call it, is as brutal as it is poetic. A mere glass of water is made of a million pieces of crystal, a can of soda can end looking like a alternative art sculpture. These realizations , pushed me to then start assembling back these fragments which I earlier created to build objects which my mind just led me to design, whether they were useful or not. It was a fascinating loop of destruction and creation.
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‘ .. i am curious of the various transformations ..’
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twist I was inspired by the aluminium cans I had leftover from my obsessions, leading me to choose this object for my metal exploration. As these objects were already modified - twisted, crushed, torn ; I started by stacking and sticking them over each other. The first phase was stacking the uncrushed cans to create a structure, much like how I started my plastic object. Then I used the twisted cans to create a U shaped design inspired by the existing transformation all while using the straight line as an anchor point. This object can be twisted along its longitudinal axis to study the U angle from both sides.
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‘.. crush, twist, stack, stick ..’
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frozen Inspired by my final chapter of curious transformations and the fabric material, my endeavour was to create something solid through which I could study the folds in a permanent setting. In a way trying to solidify the object mid transformation. I cut out 4 cotton squares of 16”x16” and 1 fabric piece of 24”x20” to create the primary material. I then dipped the pieces into a mix of glue and water to cast the pieces. After squeezing out the excess mix, I pinched the pieces upwards and left to dry overnight, after which I stacked the pieces over each other. Finally, the biggest pieces was laid on top which created the effect i desired ; floating and frozen mid transformation.
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curious transformations My curiosity peaked when I understood that objects could be transformed in innumerable ways. There were no rules when it came to exploring new ways of manipulation these fundamental materials we were given to work with. I automatically leaned towards using flexible bases, as my obsession stretched to creating new spaces and shapes out of the original core. Creating multiple occupations out of simple structures made me feel like an amateur magician, but with a wand which destroys instead of create. The peace I felt knowing I had the power to transform literally anything I could get hold off into a vision of my mind, has an unfathomable impact on me.
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domestic breakdowns After exploring the different ways in which I could transform an object or material, I decided to scale back to a domestic dimension. The infinite ways in which we transform or break a surface daily is endless, hence I thought it would be the perfect segue into identifying ‘break to make’ on the scale of a home. It got me thinking about the disposal of these broken pieces : where do they go? How do I dispose of them in a way that would bring me joy? I circled back to the ritualistic bonfire from my childhood, and how we would burn these wastes collected. I thought it was the perfect way of bringing that practice into my home : composting.
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home + After experiencing the stark contrast in the glory and absolute beauty of majestic Hawaii and the dreary and concrete jungle that is Manhattan, the difference was almost brutal. It had me itching to incorporate the beauty in my Manhattan courtyard and challenge the rules and laws of living in a busy city. My house would embody the two requirements I know I would need to survive - nature and the flexibility of deformation and expansion. This home becomes my playground of endless transformation, my home and my space of exertion.
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home 164
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home : section 166
trash chute
home : plan - 1 lvl inhabitable spaces 167
trash chute
home : plan - 2 lvl 168
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home exploded axon 170
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fitness courtyard 172
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courtyard section 174
courtyard : plan +1 lvl 175
courtyard : plan + 2 lvl 176
courtyard exploded axon 177
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sanctuary 179
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sanctuary plan: greenhouse lvl 181
sanctuary section 182 176
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sanctuary exploded axon 184
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home + exploded axon 186
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home + view from courtyard 188
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home + plan 190
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home + section 192
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home + isometric section 194
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home + oblique view 198
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home + release 2.0 Finally, circling back to the entity that started this journey for me : fire. The trash chute is a path to collected these objects I dispose of leading to the final act : burning & destruction. My home + is a cycle of peace and chaos, Shanti and Ashanti. A retroactive journey of me to myself in these small acts of destruction and transformation. I reject the notion that a space can have only one way of structure, I believe that my home would have multiple possibilities of transformation and introspection.
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makergraph studio spring 2020