Georgia State University ScholarWorks @ Georgia State University Art and Design Theses Ernest G. Welch School of Art and Design Spring 4-15-2013 Installation Art as a Means of Exploring Place and Activity Fragmentation in Interior Environments Resulting from Contemporary Digital Technology Cotter D. Christian Follow this and additional works at: https://scholarworks.edu/art_design_theses Recommended Citation Christian, Cotter D., "Installation Art as a Means of Exploring Place and Activity Fragmentation in Interior Environments Resulting from Contemporary Digital Technology." Thesis, Georgia State University, 2013. doi: https://doi.57709/4039470 This Thesis is brought to you for free and open access by the Ernest G.
Welch School of Art and Design at ScholarWorks @ Georgia State University. It has been accepted for inclusion in Art and Design Theses by an authorized administrator of ScholarWorks @ Georgia State University. For more information, please contact scholarworks@gsu. INSTALLATION ART AS A MEANS OF EXPLORING PLACE AND ACTVITY FRAGMENTATION IN INTERIOR ENVIRONMENTS RESULTING FROM CONTEMPORARY DIGITAL TECHNOLOGY by COTTER CHRISTIAN Under the Direction of Timothy Nichols ABSTRACT This thesis explores how information and communication technology creates activity fragmentation within the interior built environment.
This paper analyzes the work of psychologists, philosophers, architects, artists, designers, and others who have considered our relationship to physical space as well as how technological advancements alter our behavior and perspective. In addition to reviewing current thinking on the topic, the research conducted also looks at how architects, artists, and designers, particularly of the late 20th century, responded to notions of fragmentation and disconnectedness often spawned by modernization. Through precedent analysis, a strong relationship between architectural design and installation art emerges. This thesis paper provides a foundation for a gallery installation that creates an experience for visitors, challenging their relationship to interior space.
INDEX WORDS: Interior design, Installation art, Digital technology, Place INSTALLATION ART AS A MEANS OF EXPLORING PLACE AND ACTVITY FRAGMENTATION IN INTERIOR ENVIRONMENTS RESULTING FROM CONTEMPORARY DIGITAL TECHNOLOGY by COTTER CHRISTIAN A Thesis Submitted in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Master of Fine Arts in the College of Arts and Sciences Georgia State University 2013 Copyright by Cotter Douglas Christian 2013 INSTALLATION ART AS A MEANS OF EXPLORING PLACE AND ACTVITY FRAGMENTATION IN INTERIOR ENVIRONMENTS RESULTING FROM CONTEMPORARY DIGITAL TECHNOLOGY by COTTER CHRISTIAN Committee Chair: Timothy Nichols Committee: Dawn Haynie Stan Anderson Electronic Version Approved: Office of Graduate Studies College of Arts and Sciences Georgia State University May 2013 iv ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS This thesis project process owes much thanks to my thoughtful, creative, challenging, and supportive committee, Tim Nichols, Dawn Haynie, and Stan Anderson. Our engaging conversations opened my mind to ideas that will stay with me throughout my career, and I only hope that I can be as inspiring to my own students in the future. Most importantly, I’m grateful for the patience of my partner, Josh, tirelessly supporting all of my endeavors, willingly offering critique, and challenging my ideas on a daily basis. v TABLE OF CONTENTS ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS.
INFORMATION AND COMMUNICATION TECHNOLOGY .1 Terminology and Limitations .2 Mobile ICTs and Human Interaction. SENSE OF PLACE .1 Working definition of place .2 Technology, Activity Fragmentation, and the Perception of Place .1 Technology as a Spatial Concept .2 Modern Technology is Changing Association with Place .3 Concept of Disjunction.4 Activity and Place .5 Place and Time .6 Augmentation of Place. POSTMODERNISM AND MEANING .1 Reaction to the Modern Movement .2 Bernard Tschumi and the London Conceptualists .3 Superstudio: Radical, Italian Neo-Avant Garde Architects. METHODOLOGY AND JUSTIFICATION FOR THESIS DESIGN PROJECT .1 Installation Art as Methodology for conceptual exploration of Interior Design Topics.2 Relational Aesthetics as Context for Installation Art Methodology.
SHOWHOUSE 1: YOU ARE [T]HERE. VISITOR FEEDBACK AND INSTALLATION CONCLUSIONS. 91 Appendix A: Process Imagery and Diagrams. 91 Appendix B: Installation Photographs.
106 vii LIST OF FIGURES Figure 1. Church Used as Shopping Mall in New York City. The Members of Superstudio. Third City in the Twelve Cautionary Tales for Christmas: New York of Brains.
Superstudio, Quaderna Table. The Continuous Monument: On the River, Project Perspective. Glo atl study #2. Example of a site-specific installation.
Filled-space installation: Waste Not. Tate Thames Dig. Institute of Contemporary Art, Boston – Digital Media Center. Institute of Contemporary Art, Boston – Digital Media Center.
Rikrit Tiravanija, Untitled, 1995 (Still). Thomas Hirschhorn, Concrete Shock. Installation Postcard Design. Text at Installation Entry.
Welch School Galleries “Small Gallery. Installation Photograph, Living Room. Visitors Looking at Projection in Gridded Area. Installation Photograph, Gridded Area Projection.
Installation Photograph, Video Delay on Television. Initial Ideation Sketch. Digital Marker Rendering. Digital Marker Rendering of Revised Scheme.
Digital Marker Rendering. Digital Marker Rendering. Early Mock-up of Signage for Stencil Version. Vinyl Glass Graphic Mock-up.
Wall at Entry Corridor Vinyl Lettering Mock-up. Still from Time-lapse Video for Projection Behind Sofa. Postcard Front Used for Publicity Purposes. Pubicity Postcard Back View.
Entry Show Title Signage on Glass Storefront. Vinyl Text at Installation Entry Transition Space. Installation Photograph of Living Room Area. Installation Photograph of Gridded Area.
Installation Photograph Showing Relationship Between Zones. Visitors Interacting With Projection of Other Visitors Seated on Sofa. Close-up View of Projection on Back Gallery Wall in Gridded Area. Visitor on Sofa Watching Live Delayed Video on Television.
View of Television, Camera Enclosure, and Table. Visitors Engaging With Video Delay and Gridded Projection Area. INTRODUCTION Our contemporary world is one of personal technology, instant connectivity, and globalization, disconnecting us from our attachment to place and ultimately, generating a sense of fragmentation. Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) allow us to communicate and connect with anyone, anywhere, anytime, but what is the consequence of this constant connectivity? The types of interactions that these devices afford allows us to be connected to more people simultaneously than ever before, but these interactions lack the unexpected and spontaneous nature of those which occur in a non-technologically mediated way.
Additionally, the prevalence of ICTs in everyday life allows users to conduct their lives anywhere, adding to a sense of disconnection between activity and space. Through this review of literature, I hope to explore how modern, personal digital technology fosters a sense of fragmentation between users and the spaces they occupy. The nature of our modern society, aided by ICTs, allows us access to resources and each other anyplace at anytime. This constant connectivity challenges the notion of a static concept of place.
By looking at place attachment theories, and how we use these personal communication devices, I intend to draw conclusions that consider what impacts these relationships have on interior space. This idea will be explored through the design and execution of a gallery installation that simulates a fragmented interior space, calling attention to technology’s role in challenging our concept of spatial place attachment. I will begin by attempting to develop a working definition of sense of place as well as what specifically is the relationship between information and communication technology and this theory. The next section will begin to explore some historical precedents related to questioning the modern condition and fragmentation of user experience within the built environment.
Looking to postmodernist 2 art and architectural theories via the work of Bernard Tschumi and neo-Italian avant garde architects Superstudio and Archizoom, I hope to establish a precedent between this reaction to a perceived fragmentation and today’s similar modern condition. Finally, contemporary installation art will be explored as it has relied upon interactivity and user experience to explore notions of fragmentation and the dislocation of the viewer. By looking at conceptual definitions of installation art as well as researching and evaluating Relational Aesthetics, I hope to gain an understanding of how space-based art installation can influence user experience. Historically, installation art has also been used by architects as a means of exploring conceptual ideas outside of the client-oriented built environment.
Building on this precedent, it is my hope to produce a gallery installation that is a manifestation of this analysis, presenting visitors with a hyperbolic experience of fragmentation mediated by technological intervention questioning the relationship between our activities, the built environment, and ultimately each other. This topic is relevant to the field of interior design in that we are concerned with the experience of users in the built environment. The types of interactions that occur in the spaces we design influence the way that people perceive these spaces. Having an understanding for how our contemporary condition is impacting our relationships and perception of space is important for understanding how we can design interiors that best meet the needs of humanity.
Also, there is the potential to infuse spaces with conceptual ideas that precipitate positive social change, ultimately benefitting more than those with the firsthand experience. INFORMATION AND COMMUNICATION TECHNOLOGY 2.1 Terminology and Limitations In less than one hundred and fifty years, we have advanced from Alexander Bell’s first call on the telephone1 to an America where over one hundred million people older than thirteen use a mobile smartphone.2 This shift from place-based technology to a predominantly mobile platform is changing the way in which we engage with each other and challenging the meaning of place. In addition to facilitating our ability to access information anywhere, anyplace, and at anytime, these devices create a divide between the built environment, how it is used, and its impact on our activities within. Since any innovation, from printed media to radio is considered “technological innovation,” for the purpose of this exploration I have chosen to focus the scope of technology on Information and Communication Technology or ICTs.
This type of technology includes devices such as smartphones and other personal communication devices and has changed the way in which we communicate with one another. Unlike a place-specific, domestic technology like television, these devices provide freedom from place dedicated activities and rely on some type of interaction, as opposed to a media that is delivery information in only one direction. We tend to think of mobile, personal ICTs as something that exists only within the palm of our hands, but because these devices rely on support infrastructure, they occupy spaces and places beyond our personal sphere. “Technology is essentially a spatial concept because its operation depends on the 1 “America’s Story from America’s Library,” The Library of Congress, accessed October 12, 2012, http://www.gov/jb/recon/jb_recon_telephone_1.
2 “comScore Reports January 2012 U. Mobile Subscriber Market Share,” comScore, March 6, 2012, http://www.com/Press_Events/Press_Releases/2012/3/comScore_Reports_January_2012_U._Mobile _Subscriber_Market_Share. 4 mobilization of human and non-human resources that exist in different places.”3 More importantly, though these devices are changing our interpersonal relationships and creating a world in which our experiences are disjointed from our physical surroundings. So while there are potential areas for exploration with regard to the unseen spatial requirements of mobile technology, this paper will focus on the connection between the user of a mobile ICT and their surroundings within the context of the built environment.
Another unique development that merits acknowledgement and possible future exploration is how technological developments have aided surveillance. Whether self-surveillance through social media check-ins and updates or city-wide networks of cameras, we are constantly moving through a highly monitored world. Understanding the social and spatial impacts of this surveillance will not be exhaustively discussed in this paper, but deserve mention as there may be an interpretation suggesting a connection to digital surveillance in the proposed gallery installation.2 Mobile ICTs and Human Interaction It is important to consider human interaction when reviewing technology’s impact on our perception of place in the interior built environment. Later in this paper, the idea of ‘sense of place’ will be discussed more thoroughly as well as the apparent lack of empirical analysis of this very subjective perception.
It is my view that among the number of other factors which may impact our emotional connection to a physical space, the interpersonal interactions (or lack thereof) which we encounter with others play a significant role in shaping our lasting impression of that place. Moore, “Technology, Place, and the Nonmodern Thesis,” Journal of Architectural Education 54, no.