Preliminary Something

Crit Needed:

Ok so i needed to edit this post to explain it better.

I'm currently at general narrative stage...i have to deal with - - themes of...Searching, Secrecy, the Hidden, Absurdity, Life and Death. After this stage ill go into the finer detail...organizing the connections and the playing with the form work (wood) and the textures ill create on the concrete. I hope for the detail to express the other themes i discussed previously.

The change is that initially...the narrative was the story of Charon and Cerberus. However the story...is an integral part of opening the door...it is in a way the key to the door.

The story of Charon is that a newly deceased soul would enter the underworld but must cross the river Acheron to get to hades...however to get across Acheron you had to pay the ferryman (Charon) a toll. Usually a coin was put under a person's tongue before burial in order for them to pay Charon. After getting across Acheron ...the Gates of Hades was guarded by Cerberus...who made sure no one living got in and no one dead was able to leave.


so i enclosed a picture...ill draw it in axo soon and send it to you guys. and here is the legend:

green is concrete --- orange is wood

[ 1 - Is the decent from life to Death...its starts with a lever that needs to be released with a lock...and as it falls it swings and opens up the lock for the door...another piece of wood on a pin joint.

2 - Journey Across the Acheron - it is a rope...that is pulled down... and it is connected to a sliding panel (#5) however..in order for 5 to move... #4 (Charon) must be turned to allow the door to slide....Charon must be appease to allow movement

4 -Charon..you have to manipulate him in order for the pulley/rope in number 2 to move. The movement of the rope...there will be detailing in the door to should show the crossing of a river.

5 - is the sliding door which opens a hole into the door...and you're supposed to reach your hand into the dark hole...and feel around for the door knob which is on the door on the morgue side. i just wanted this experience of feeling around in the dark (the door of death being the door to the unknown). The door itself is Cerberus...if it doesn't move you can't get your hand into the hole (Hades).

3 - It is a Ball located in a cut out section of the door with a glass pane to keep the door in its spot...its supposed to be an allusion to Sisyphus...a man who in his deceit of the gods...was punished to roll a rock up a hill. But it would never reach the top and roll back down. It also is an allusion to the absurdity of man and has only narrative and formal connections to the door...however perhaps something can be done with it on the other side.

2b - Is a mechanism that works in tandem with the rope being pulled...on the other side of the door it should express a new soul coming to life. The idea that the cycle of life and death are connected...new souls being born as other souls die. ]

Sorry if everything sounds fragmented...and im sure im not explaining a lot of things...and please keep in mind this is a starting point...but anything u guys can throw at it. suggestions would be great...and if you completely abhor it...tell me...rip me up.

Door Suggestions.

These rhetorical questions were given to me by Jennifer...but i want answers :)

How would one open the door to death? to History?

any suggestions would be great.

My interpretation. A door to death explores the unknown. the inhabitant is to experience putting a hand on something unknown. feeling and prodding till he/she finds the path. An experience that eliminates the visual sense. and he or she is left to explore through touch.

Currently...one of the moments -- im exploring within the door i imagine to be...a panel that is slid away to reveal a hole in the door. The user must then insert his or her hand into the hole...and feel around to reach the "knob/handle" and figure out how to open it. an image of this occurs in those horror movies where the killer busts his (its usually a him) hand through the window in the door and reaches down to turn the doorknob. i sorta wanna simulate this sense...except express that u are putting your arm into a dark hole in the morgue door.

hopefully ill have drawings of this soon.

Back on course.

With a week long tangent exploring doors and door movements....im back on track. The track of doorknobs and locks. Back to the minute detail that i wanted to exlore. The lock, in its parts creating a story...each time a person opens the door.

The chosen site is the morgue door. I felt this was appropriate as the students' work is very much the identity of the school (or any school) and ties together with the search for self in Antin's art. The site...also has a deep narrative and the name itself conjures many images.

I'm a little worried about the huge mess of ideas that are to be incorporated into the doorknob:

Antins work - her search for Self (framework for the whole process)

the material - the contrast with a heavily concrete site...hopefully will give emphasis to the wood.

the element - doorknob/lock - keeping things secure.

the site - the morgue (dealings with the imagery, narratives, clockworks that are involved in the site)

myself - explorations in the absurd.

Right now...im thinking of incorporating...the story of Charon and Cerberus into the lock...as well as using the ideas of a columbarium.

Doorknob Background

Background

There are 114 million existing doorways in the United States, with about two million new ones added every year. Doors equipped with suitable hardware are used to close off these openings and protect the interior of the building from the environment. Very early doors were merely hides or textiles. Wooden doors were also popular in ancient Egypt and Mesopotamia. Other materials used for doors include stone, metal, glass, and paper. Doors open by swinging, folding, sliding or rolling. Many swinging doors are installed with a lever or doorknob to open them with.

Door knobs have been used around the world for centuries, and were first manufactured in the United States in the mid-nineteenth century. Though spherical or ball-shaped door knobs are considered the hardest to turn, this shape is still the most common. Egg-shaped door knobs are the easiest for most people to use. Doorknobs have been made of many materials, including wood, ceramic, glass, plastic and different types of metal. Brass is one of the most popular materials because of its excellent resistance to rust.

The average doorknob is 2.25 in (5.715 cm) in diameter. The basic components are the knob rose, shank, spindle, and knob-top. The knob-top is the upper and larger part that is grasped by the hand. The shank is the projecting stem of a knob and contains a hole or socket to receive the spindle. The knob rose is a round plate or washer that forms a knob socket and is adapted for attachment to the surface of a door. The knob is attached to the spindle, a metal shaft that turns the latch of the lock.

Lets click some knobs...

Types of Doorknobs

Entrance:
These door knobs are typically used on exterior doors and include keyed cylinders.

Privacy:
Typically used on bed and bathrooms, while they are lockable (unlockable with a generic tool), they do not have keyed cylinders.

Passage:
Also known as Hall or Closet, these knob sets do not lock and are used in hall or closet doors.

Dummy:
Single knobs that mount through backs of doors with single screws. These types are used for ball catch doors or other applications where a latch mechanism is not needed, but the look of a doorknob is desired. (info provided by wikipedia.org)

Detail Selection Process

Using the same idea of 'exploration through contradiction,' instead of making a detail solely of wood (to express wood) perhaps the qualities of wood can be expressed by using in conjunction another material that opposes the woods properties. Taking from experiment #1 the opposing material could be one that needs to be cast (concrete, plaster, resin).

Perhaps the wood can necessitate an action (i.e. movement - moving element) that another material could not perform unless married with wood. In this respect the qualities of wood would be expressed without building a completely wood construction.

The Detail

Expanding on this observation I decided a doorknob would be a good detail to express the qualities of multiple materials as well as be able to incorporate a further narrative with the act of opening the door. The finicky and small mechanisms for the lock and turning mechanism could be cut and crafted with higher strength wood (which would not have been as easily achieved by casting small pieces of concrete, plaster, steel....). Again applying the opposing material...a handle could be cast which would be difficult to create with wood. This is just a point of departure as the whole idea of the of the doorknob can be expanded upon and created new.

Drawing Progress

arms and feet to come soon...



i guess i lied.

Wood Exploration #1

Experiment #1:


Objective:

I guess to make wood...not wood. I'm going to try and reduce it to a more fundamental form...so i went into the organic bins at school and collected some sawdust. The first experiment is to make and cast a wood brick or be able to cast wood in general.

Materials:

-sawdust (impure)
-blender (black & decker)
-flour
-wood glue

Departure

The point of departure for the rest of the project begins with a summary of eleanor antin's work as a "search to discover ones self." Her work ranging from honest narratives, plays concerning her own identity, and colourful photos which depict historically ironic themes may point to a non-explicit searching for self....that perhaps some of her other works which do not contain an air of 'self discovery' are actually the ones that tell the most of herself.

Triumph of Pan (after poussin), From Roman Allegories, 2004.

Taking this idea and expanding it to the other elements (the material, the moving element) the approach is to look at what makes the wood or the 'moving element' what it is...by experimenting with what it is not. Similar to Eleanor Antin's explorations in her plays as a black ballet dancer or as a King.

Eleanor Antin, King , 2000.

So my initiative is to understand something new about wood by removing the 'woodness' from the wood and making something from the resultant. Sort of an exploration by contradiction. As for how this will lead into the next exploration, hopefully something will occur through my explorations with the material to hint at a moving element. If not perhaps it is to apply this 'discovery through contradiction' into a given moving element and see what it can do to the wood.

No Pants

100 boots. No pants. Lets see where this takes us.