Reconfiguring dwelling: A spatial explorations of surface and surface depth projection as a viewing chamber

Date
2018
Authors
McGrath, Mitchell
Supervisor
Gallagher, Sue
Item type
Thesis
Degree name
Master of Design
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Auckland University of Technology
Abstract

The viewing chambers enact a series of scenic reversals that reconfigure relations between background and foreground and orient the viewer differently to the sites. The intimate assembly of the viewing chambers brings the background surface, typically a scenic background element, to the fore as the core attentive element, a fabricated blue screen. It aims to enhance and expose the intersubjectivity of the viewer and the world they inhabit. By investigating the body in space, cinematic framing and the relationship between the pictorial body disembodied in advancing technological image, this research project aims to reimagine the spectatorial experience we encounter, the effects of the cinematic apparatus, in a design proposal centred around a public display. In doing so, I aim to answer how can the rendering of the body through cinematic methods and mediums, establish a transformative experience of dwelling? How can a sense of embodiment be emphasised in dwelling in the context of the cinematic? Exploring the physicality of cinema, this research project considers the work of the materiality of the filmic surface. This idea recognises the corporeal realities of the celluloid matter, as a light-sensitive veil which light exposes and time encodes. From these investigations, two public viewing chambers will explore the condition of reframing our existing world through notions explored in a spatial design-led inquiry into the cinematic. Two sites were selected for their edge condition, land/sea and sky/ground, which will formulate the chambers in response to their locale. I wish to propose these as temporary dwelling spaces which house the event of viewing as embodied sensoriums. The purpose of which will enable a unique dwelling experience for the participants and allow reconsideration of their surroundings. Rendering the locale within a new context, a focal point framed within the viewing chamber.

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Keywords
Dwelling , Spatial , Surface , Viewing chamber
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