critical
Critical Studies Three
Tomás Saraceno – In Orbit
Tomás Saraceno’s piece, In Orbit, is a truly fascinating display of interactivity, design and style. In Orbit was opened to the public on 22nd June 2013, it is a construction of steel nets which are laid out in three levels. Within the nets are half a dozen spheres, the spheres are up to 8.5 meters in size and have been placed within the installation. The net structure overall covers 2,500 square meters and floats over a 25 meter drop within the gallery. Visitors to the gallery can enter the installation and walk between the three layers between the spheres.
In Orbit is designed to be a network which moves and flexes when the viewer walks around within it; when more than one person walks within the space, the movement of one person effects the others, making the piece act as a sort of spiders web; every connection connected to itself, constantly altering the piece to accommodate the viewer, due to the vibrations of the viewers. Saraceno talks about his piece as a new hybrid form of communication, with reference to the vibrations being transferred from person to person.
In Orbit was planned over a three year period, and was constructed with the help of engineers, architects and biologists. Out of all of Saraceno’s work, this piece Is the most complex, and weighing in at three tons on the net structure alone, is one of his heaviest pieces. Saraceno, for years, has researched many species of spiders, and the structure of their webs. Saraceno has studied the network construction technology of webs and uses the functionality, strength, and beauty within his own artistic practice.
Every single piece of Saraceno’s work, including In Orbit, is a part of a larger project ‘Air-Port-City’, a floating city of the future; a utopia in response to global pollution, growth, and dramatic ecological problems, which is making the Earth an increasingly uninhabitable place.
In conclusion, Saraceno’s piece is a construct of years of research and thought, which is beautiful in its architecture and design. A truly fascinating concept, for which we may have to take inspiration from if the world does in fact become uninhabitable.
Critical Studies Two
Martin Pfeifle – The Artist Who Inspires Me
Martin Pfeifle is a German Artist who over the past decade has appeared in dozens of exhibitions with a variety of Sculptural Installations. Pfeifle started his professional practice in 2000, even though he only graduated with his degree in 2004. I first discovered Martin Pfeifle while working on my A Levels; it was during the Personal Study unit, which meant that I could create my own theme to follow, allowing me to explore anything I desired (within reason).
Martin Pfeifle inspires me because I am greatly interested in Installation, and Pfeifle shows how you can explore the environment using installation and how you don’t particularly need the environment to create a solid sculptural installation. I’m using ‘particularly’ because the majority of Pfeifle’s work uses its environment, but if you were to have it in a wide open area, he could construct a piece that is completely different and stands out above the rest. I guess, in a way, this is how he inspires me; when Pfeifle creates his art, he leaves room for the viewer to think of their own definition of the piece.
To be completely honest, I just can’t choose which of Pfeifle’s works I adore the most; there are some which don’t grab my attention, but the number of works that do… If, and only if I had to choose one, I would choose the one I found first, Ichoderdu ROTEMARTHA; mainly because I was amazed by the scale of the work. Ichoderdu ROTEMARTHA, in my opinion, shows that there is always a heart within a structure that may show no life or feeling, that there is always one section open to let those in who are worthy of entrance. I may be babbling here but with this piece being the first I saw of Pfeifle’s, I just love it, how it wraps and hides and covers an area, making the viewer curious of what’s on the other side.
I can’t say I know what each of Pfeifle’s works is about or where it comes from as his website doesn’t contain this information, but I assume that his work is based on his thoughts and his research into the topic. That aside, his work influenced mine by expanding my knowledge and understanding of a special awareness and how art fits into its environment. I definitely look more closely now at how I present my work and how it interacts not only with the environment, but with the viewer as well.
There is not much to say about how Pfeifle uses his materials; simply because he uses them to only to underline their everyday uses, nothing more and nothing less; the simple approach. To me his work does make me feel warm inside; knowing that there is someone else with similar interests in sculptural installation as I do.
In Conclusion, Martin Pfeifle is an amazing artist who I will look up to and gather inspiration from.
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