In the everyday grind and grid of cell phones, www, ipod, digital tv, email, facebook, twitter we are connected more than ever, right? - but at what level and what loss? As human beings we work, play, and dwell among one another within physical spaces, some of which are in nature, others constructed to varying degrees via the disciplines and practices of architecture and construction. I like to think of architecture as an artistic practice which places organizational emphases on the meeting of two needs within society; the physical/spacial and utility/function. Both of which are vital to addressing daily needs of being human and possessing a concrete sense of self. To have no understanding of one's physical or spacial is to be purely metaphysical or metacognitive [which is altogether impossible and it denies us of the physical part of ourselves]. This brings me to wonder about societal utility and function. These words are wholly descriptors of physical tasks. Within a building an elevator is constructed and installed to carry the physical self up and down within an elevated structure. A chair is built and made to provide a comfortable seat for a human body. All things considered, our world is full of historical fixtures and practices to support the needs of the physical self. Why then, are we so incredibly addicted to the new virtual realm of digital, simulation, and virtuoso? What is it satiating within us that is worth the denial of our analog selves?
I'm asking myself these questions as an artist because I'm feeling a loss or void of my physical self and all that is grand about the physical world - anything that is still "real". I'm feeling a need to make work which evokes an appreciation for bodily sense of self. An articulated sense of real vs simulation [in compared to... or perhaps within the context of...].
I'm currently working to alter a window and a bench as a way of working out these issues. This work will also be part of my graduating MFA show. Wish me loads [lots of them] of luck. This is a very tall order.