In one of the previous readings titled Space and Place, it describes how we perceive space in relation to our body. By placing it at the centre, we are able to divide space into different segments and directions.
In Illuminating Embodiment, it also talks about the body in relation to space, but more so on how it is interconnected with architecture. The reading shows this through interactive works done by the artist Rafael Lozano-Hemmer. Basically, the works mentioned show that despite being separate entities, bodies and architectures are receptive to alteration; they change in response to one another.
Displaced Emperors, Relational Architecture 2
I used to think of architecture and buildings as being fixed; they were made for a particular purpose and to only serve as such, like a monument, for example. However, In the artist’s relational architectures, he shows how these seemingly fixed narratives can be altered through the use of technology, “superimposing audiovisual elements to affect it, effect it and recontextualise it.” I find it interesting, how technology is able to breach this gap between separate beings or objects, allowing them to interact with one another, while not necessarily having them physically touch one another. For example, in Displaced Emperors, Relational Architecture 2, the participants can virtually wipe away the exterior surface of a building, changing it and exposing its internal layout. Or how portraits projected on a building in Body Movies: Relational Architecture 6 can be interacted with through the shadows cast by participants. On any other occasion, these architectures and people coexist without any noticeable interaction; its just a space that a body passes through. But through the artist’s unique use of technology, the experience within the exact same space is changed drastically, with participants taking in a foreign narrative of a previously familiar place. I supposed this is what Lozano-Hemmer meant by creating “anti-monuments for dissimulation”.
Body Movies: Relational Architecture 6
“The performativity of the participant as well as of the technology ensures that both play a part in their own remaking.”
This quote, to me, is pretty much what the reading is mainly about. It’s how both the audience and the artwork play a part in creating and achieving unique results and experiences together. Overall, I’ve learnt that, although separate, there is a connection between space and body, how they interact, and how they constantly affect each other.