I was awarded two grants by the Cornell Council for the Arts to design and build art installations displayed around campus. These included “Doors” during the Spring of 2017 and “Queer Rocker” during the Fall of 2016.
Doors
March 2017 - April 2017
Art Project in various medium
Project built in collaboration with Justin Foo & Elie Boutros (Advised by Professor Andrea Simitch)
We will investigate the spatial and theoretical implications of the door as a human construct that frames the limbo between two spaces. These investigations culminate in a series of physical installations of thresholds in the Sibley Dome. The door as a hinged, sliding, or revolving barrier is very much a human construct that is designed to provide both enclosure and circulation. It is taken for granted within a space but seldom ever critically examined. We intend to scrutinize the door as the critical intersection between space, movement and the human figure.
Our process will first begin with historical research on typologies and histories of the door. We will then synthesize this information in the form of preliminary conceptual sketches that investigate different thematic and theoretical concerns. These concerns include: light and dark, front and back, inside and outside, private and public, movement and stasis. As one of the last connections between architecture and the human body, the door has the potential to physically recondition our habits and to force the body to rewire new spatial and conceptual relations to its surroundings. The installation is not merely meant to be looked at, but to be touched, transformed and inhabited.
Our project was funded entirely through Cornell Council for the Arts (CCA) Individual Grant Program. ‘Doors’ was selected over 70 project proposals. Award funding was competitive and based, among other considerations outlined in their guidelines, on the artistic merit of the project, the degree to which the work expands the boundaries or knowledge of an individual creative discipline and the impact of the project on the wider campus community.
Knock Door
Knock Door
Peep Door
Knob Door, Knock Door, Slit Door and Peep Door
Slit Door
Close up of Knob Door
Knock Door
Knob Door & Slit Door
Early sketches of door types
A Queer Rocker | Freddie
February 2016 - March 2016
Plywood, Anti-slip tape & Red Painted Accents
Project designed and built in collaboration with Tommy Musca
“What? Freddie Mercury?” - That was the response I got from Tommy when I told him that I was designing a queer rocker. I was chosen to collaborate with Cornell Council for the Arts (CCA) and artist in residence Caroline Woolard to make a queer rocker. She provided the material, and the original, open sourced design for a flat pack rocking chair. The miscommunication between Tommy and I generated the design for “Freddie” - you stand on “Freddie” and rock, to become the legend himself. The project was selected to be displayed alongside other queer rockers at the CCA Biennial during Fall of 2016.
This was the original open source chair designed by Caroline Woolard. We were tasked to make a variation of the chair, inspired by her social intentions behind the project. Woolard wanted to contribute to grassroots LGBTQ organization that cannot afford to purchase furniture, and furnish these gathering spaces with unusual objects. She wanted to contribute to an economy that celebrates racial, sexual, and economic justice. From the baby’s cradle to the retiree’s rocking chair, this form calms people of all ages.
Images of Freddie Mercury from the band, Queen. His infectious energy, performance style and habit of swaying from side to side inspired our design.
Our modifications of Woolard's original design. The user would step into the rocker and rock side to side, similar to how Freddie Mercury would sway.
