Tapestry Design Prize for Architects 2021
‘GESAMTKUNSTWERK '
John Wardle Architects and Durbach Block Jaggers.
The Phoenix Central Park is an integrated performance space, garden and art gallery.
The performance space and gallery are entered through and linked by a central garden.
The buildings and gardens are linked at many levels, above and below ground,
allowing for an intense interlocking of performance, nature and art. The space has been
allowing for an intense interlocking of performance, nature and art. The space has been
envisioned a space in which architecture, interior design, visual and performing arts would
each enhance and embrace the other for an immersive total experience –
a ‘gesamtkunstwerk’,or ‘total work of art’.
Entry 1: LOOK
LOOK' is visualized in Site 2 which boasts a double heighted gallery. The abundant natural light and transitional corridor widths, invites increased bodily movement and consequently, an immersive embodied experience. The golden daylight glimmers on the tapestry, neutralizing the blue tones while illuminating the white spaces.
The Gallery can be approached via the connection bridge, through the small corridor OR from the bookshelf. Both routes are greeted with the colossal oculus that the user instantly relates to the façade. In that moment, the association is fresh and would be gratifying when seen again. The piece ‘LOOK’ creates a challenge to spot the frame set up in the artwork. The cognitive association, with ocular fenestration, urges the viewer to look around the gallery. As soon as the person looks up, they have puzzled it out.
Amidst a pandemic, an unconventional perspective of ‘looking’ in a gallery, encourages mindfulness and appreciation of one’s surroundings. The monochromatic colour palette rests easy on the eyes while still having enough contrast for the gaze to linger and explore. The area of contrast creates a rhythm as the eye travels through the artwork. Monochromatic yet dynamic.
The organic transition between the blue tones and the crisp white, realized through curves and filled solids, reifies a legato approach, and sets the tone for the tapestry.
Site: Double Heighted Gallery
Entry 2: AT FACE VALUE
The piece ‘AT FACE VALUE' is designed in response to the Asian hate experienced during the pandemic. The value continuum of the hues- white to dark brown, is visualized in Site 1, obscure and unapparent, in the Basement Gallery. A seamless installation in the space is achieved, analogous with the casual racism around the world. The paneled wood flooring, concrete walls, harsh track lighting and diffused sunlight creates a mellow yet ominous atmosphere.
The site reinforces the quality of space the architects envisioned- “through marked elements of surprise in the gallery ... have been created through the expression of ‘containment’ and ‘release’”.
The most novel quality about tapestry is that the structure and the image are created simultaneously. Such temporality is expressed through the tangible value continuum using pure wool tapestry yarn from the Australian Tapestry Workshop. Using three gradient stops, the closest yarn colours available in the shop are white, No.316 and No. 302.
The piece ‘At Face Value’ utilizes the spots where the white warp peeks i.e., lice. Lice can be achieved by choosing a thicker weft for the warp sett or by deliberately putting 2 wefts in a single shed. Since the weft has a gradient, lice are visible only on the darker areas of the tapestry. This metaphorizes the ever existence of colour bias passed onto generations tainting self-identity and indigenous attributes. The technique meet-and-separate weft interlock can be employed to achieve the gradient.
The design consequently invites people to interact with the tapestry by intimately observing the white specks on a neat gradient that spurs curiosity.
The design consequently invites people to interact with the tapestry by intimately observing the white specks on a neat gradient that spurs curiosity.
Site: Basement Gallery
