Spreepark
Art Space

Model Making

My next round of making involved exploration using intuitive photography, model making and collage using materials found in Spreepark’s forest. My aim was to investigate how these materials can be perceived and expressed as architectural vignettes; humanistic scale and moments of interaction captured in the coalescence of natural and man-made. A series of models were constructed to imagine organic and manufactured matter meeting as architecture- intertwining, overlapping, wrapping, undulating, adhering to each other and becoming space. These models were photographed and sketched over, adding figures and gestures to speculate how these spaces can become a structure and used by those who engage with them.

A larger-scale model was made to explore an increase in scale and how the outer skin/facade of our installation may take form. A collage of transparent paper and plant matter was formed over copper wire and suspended from the ceiling. The malleability of wire and delicate paper, coupled with the natural forms of branches and leaves resulted in an undulating form that draped over the wire like a fallen leaf fluttering in the autumn wind. The model was photographed in various lighting conditions, also being utilised as a medium of projection for footage of our forest walks and observations of Spreepark. Collages were made using the videos and photographs taken of the model, exploring the interplay of textures, lighting, shadows, transparency and colours captured in this object.

Though our future explorations may not take the form of the investigations undertaken in these making sessions, we found certain elements of these models can be reinterpreted and further developed towards the physical manifestation of our conceptual thinking.

A Walk Through Spreepark

The sun sat low in the sky, resting atop the forest canopy as it took respite from the monotony of illuminating the day. Ushered into the confines of the park, we began our exploration.

Alone, we traced our own paths along the undulating,evolving skin of the park. Clusters of construction equipment, detritus, and the remnant rubble of once was were scattered across the lush tapestry of nature. Clouds of breath filled the air as we walked, mirroring the smoke stack in the distance.

Tyre tracks tattooed the earth.

Vines of ivy encasing the man-made musculature of the park like veins.

The familiar face of the Spreeblitz Tiger greeted us with its captivating stare and cavernous maw . Christina decided to trace a path around the perimeter of the structure, while I approached to greet it. The sinking sun peering through the trees coated the winding steel of the roller coaster in a dappled sheen of light. Branches entangled among the architecture as both weaved haphazardly together where nature deemed suitable. Thick patches of ivy cloaked the coaster canopy as if to provide warmth from the biting winter air.

Graffiti persistently stuck to any surface it could, remaining as mementos of occupants past. Evidence of the park’s tangible yet ineffable presence that magnetises many to its landscape.

As the sun descended over the horizon, we made our way back to the park entrance.

Peeling layers of paint. Pipes resting in trenches carved into the ground, dormant for now.

New terrain rising from the earth mimicked the shedding of foliage as new life waits in anticipation to sprout forth in the looming spring.

Form/Material/Touch

This series of work explores the possible material qualities that our interactive sculpture can evoke. These works are expressed as a series of vignettes that capture the interaction between form, structure, lighting, and human touch, emphasising the subjective ephemeral qualities found in one’s sensory dialogue with the sculpture. 

The interplay of light and texture is used to suggest the melding of architectural ‘skin’ and naturalistic motifs found in the forest surrounding Spreepark. Moments of intimate touch are expressed in the shadows that reach across the undulating surfaces of sculptural form; one’s body distorted and draped across the billowing layers of fabric, adorned with the palette of the forest. These vignettes invite one to be immersed, to experience the evolving landscape of Spreepark and the forest, following an intuitive ‘desire line’ unique to each individual. 

Desire Lines & Interactive Paradigms

'Desire Lines' describe the formation of unplanned trails through an urban or natural landscape – usually arising as paths of least resistance, or as the most direct route between two places. They are the navigational arteries forged by humans and animals.

We are fascinated by the many desire lines that snake through Plänterwald forest. Some are functional; offering us a shortcut to our destination. Some are pleasurable; taking us off the well worn path and encouraging us to wander deeper into the forest. We feel safe walking these desire lines, assured by the visible evidence that others have been here before us, and that the trail will surely lead us somewhere – even if we cannot be sure exactly where. At the same time, these desire lines tempt us with wanderlust. They whisper that we too could strike out in a wholly new direction, and, in doing so, set the beginnings of a new path that others may eventually follow.

We see links between these paths and the indefatigable vines that find their way from the forest floor to the top of its tallest trees, to the leaf veins that ferry nutrients across the body of the plant, and to the mud tracks left by the excavators and dump trucks as they reshape Spreepark.

Conceptually, desire lines also serves as a practical metaphor for the interactive paradigms we are adopting in our research. Our sculpture offers two distinct but complementary forms of interaction: Defined Paths and Undefined Paths.

Defined Paths are clearly visible lines that run along the ‘skin’ of the sculpture. These paths are constructed using either a custom printed flexible touch strip, or discrete sections of conductive wire. People can touch and trace these paths with their hands, and doing so triggers an evolving soundscape.

For this to function seamlessly, we will make a series of musical cells and place them along the path; touching a specific spot along the touch strip or section or wire will trigger a specific musical cell. People can run their hand along the path and progress the music from one cell to the next – however, they can also change direction, playing the musical cells in reverse order. They can even skip steps along the path and trigger musical cells in a non-linear fashion. This form of interactivity draws heavily on practices adopted in the video game industry for dynamic and responsive soundtracks.

The second form of interactivity are the Undefined Paths. These occur when people go ‘off road’ and let their hands drift off the clearly obvious pathways that cover the skin of the sculpture. As they trace randomly across the surface they also trigger sounds, textures, and musical fragments by accidentally crossing ‘Trigger Lines’. In contrast to the Defined Paths, Trigger Lines are hidden within the skin of the sculpture and should only be discovered through play and experimentation.

Crossing a single Trigger Line will produce audio randomly selected from a bank of ‘low intensity’ musical cells. Crossing multiple Trigger Lines, within a defined timeframe, will produce audio selected randomly from a bank of ‘medium intensity’ musical cells. Finally, if a large amount of Trigger Lines are crossed within a defined timeframe then these Trigger Events are grouped together and then used to produce audio randomly selected from a bank of ‘high intensity’ musical cells.

In this way, the interaction is cumulative – the more a person physically explores the skin of the sculpture, and the more Trigger Lines they cross, the more the intensity of the sound will become.

With these two paradigms working together, we can offer people established audiovisual desire lines that journey the hand across the sculpture, but also the capacity to wander and way-find in a truly free and spontaneous manner.