Dormant Consilience

dormant

CONSILIENCE gonzalez

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neuhaus

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spiegel

special thanks to studio critic Peter P. GochĂŠ.

Without his kindness, time, attention, critical eye, and generosity in sharing the Black Contemporary Field Station with his students, we would have been doomed to a semester of drawing maps of Des Moines. Instead, our last semester at Iowa State was spent in joyful making.

Thanks Pete. We needed this.

contents

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the plot: experience

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latent aesthetic

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pragmatic reversal

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body fragmented

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an inventory of pieces

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PRIMER

In his text Precise, Anonymous, and Enigmatic, David Heymann posits that the landscape of Iowa was constructed with a ruthless commitment to pragmatic function of agricultural activity. This observation served as the initial spark of our investigation. The work we would carry out sought to resist the designed function of components on the site, creating room for the projection of a plurality of new subjective meanings.

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the plot

EXPERIENCE

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L A T E N T AESTHETIC

Regardless of design intent, the final image of the landscape is a decidedly aesthetic one, onto which we project ideas about the culture, and out of which the landscape was produced.

Our process of investigation was one of opposites, by inverting the constructive ethic of the farm, we rendered it visible and vulnerable.

Elements in space were configured in such a way that their pragmatic function was actively resisted.

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PRAGMATIC REVERSAL

Components that were intended for compressive contact were suspended, in space. Entities intended for human contact were placed out of reach. Line work passed through the transparent floor. Ultimately, the macabre reversal generates a number of critical conversations about the condition of contemporary agricultural practice.Â

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B O D Y FRAGMENTED

The final product recalls Jacques Lacan’s Corps MorcelÊ, by which we come to understand the feeling of disgust which washes over an individual as they stand before a body fragmented. In presenting fragmentation, the work incites a conversation about the phenomenon of fragmentation and precarious suspension as it occurs within the realm of agriculture.

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the cast

COMPONENTS

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steel aircraft cable

the staff

the bravo 30

the juliet

the cable-tie clip

the l.e.d. strip

the ladder

the pond-skater

the tango nylon rope 31

Studio Critic

Pete GochĂŠ

Guest Critics

Ross Exo Adams Jelena Bogdanovic Blake Fisher Julie Stevens Teresa Stoppani Andrea Wheeler Sharon Wohl

Peers

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Black Contemporary Studio of 2015

eric neuhaus | caleb spiegel | tony gonzalez

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