Provocation:
an action or speech that makes someone annoyed or angry, especially
deliberately.
I'm testing out Heatherwick's Spun chairs |
Perhaps
Heatherwick planned for his art to be unique in such a way, that would elicit
intense emotion from the viewer. Maybe that is why his architecture, his art
and his designs appear to be strange, to be… alien, in a way. The art and
architecture in Provocations was
truly unique, ranging from buildings whose structures regularly appear in
science fiction to a truly delightful chair that uses the moment of inertia and
balance to keep from falling over.
The Garden Bridge, stretching over the River Thames, is already in progress |
Heatherwick’s
architecture, however, is not for specifically art buildings. Structurally, his
designs work to benefit the purpose of the building. For example, one of
Heatherwick’s designs for a bridge creates a structure that traverses the Thames
River in London, while supporting gardens simultaneously. This is a clear
representation of combining science and art into a single form that serves
multiple purposes. Architecture is an artform that naturally utilizes
mathematics and physics to stabilize structures and minimize damage and death.
Heatherwick takes this one step further, adding an additional purpose in the
form of a garden.
Heatherwick’s
Spun chairs, composed of polyethylene, maintain a certain balance that is only
possible due to its perfect symmetry and rotational form, a topic we covered in
Lecture 2. The focus on a perfect symmetry is reminiscent of the symmetry that
exists in nature’s Golden Ratio.
Me with the Provocations sign at Hammer Museum |
Going to
Heatherwick’s exhibit made me realize how much I’ve learned from taking DESMA 9
this quarter. Every exhibit I saw, in addition to those I’ve described in this
posting, reminded me of something I learned in lecture, or in reading fellow
student’s blog.
Website:
http://hammer.ucla.edu/exhibitions/2015/provocations-the-architecture-and-design-of-heatherwick-studio/