Sculptural Forms Research Articles

The Comfort of Melancholy: Understanding the Experience of Absence at American Memorials

There's comfort in melancholyWhen there's no need to explainIt's just as natural as the weatherIn this moody sky today....Well I looked at the granite markersThose tributes to finality to eternityAnd then I looked at myself hereChicken scratching for my immortalityJoni Mitchell, Hejira, 1976The battle of Gettysburg and the 9/11 terror attacks, 150 years apart, produced memorials that share a common theme: each expresses absence as its memorial theme. The dead cannot be seen, even in sculptural form: they have vanished into abstraction. At Gettysburg, the dead and numbered in the thousands. Survivors saw their colleagues vaporized (Faust 128). The damage and poisonous stench after the three days of battle in 1863 created a discourse about death of the magnitude that circulated in the aftermath of 9/ 11. The title of the winning design for the 9/11 memorial-''Reflecting Absence-made explicit a theme that has implicitly made its way into public spaces of mourning in America since Gettysburg's response to its tragedy provided the visual vocabulary of absence: relying on combinations of earth, stone, water, and names, rejecting the figurai, they establish a memorial vernacular of the missing. Gettysburg, the 9/11 Memorial, and two others that express this visual trope-the U.S.S. Arizona Memorial at Pearl Harbor and the Vietnam Veterans Memorial-are all among America's most prominent memorial sites, and all evoke the comfort of melancholy.From Gettysburg to 9/11 : The Visual Language of Absence at American MemorialsGettysburg's Civil War burials were the result of America's first experience with mass mourning. The 9/11 Memorial shares with Gettysburg features that in 1863 were unprecedented: a shared community of mourners, still reeling from the enormity of the event, produced a message of equality and absence combined (Faust 69, 100-01; Haas 49; Wills 29-30). At Gettysburg's National Soldiers' Cemetery, the flat markers are identical in shape and typeface, and all are embedded in the soil. Unknown appears interspersed with names and ranks. The dead are indistinguishable from one another, the absent equally absent. Conveying the message of missing in turn relies on abstraction: its lines are rectilinear and nonfigural, inviting looking inward or imagining beyond. Precluding hero worship, Gettysburg relies on evenly spaced semicircles of headstones to convey its message. The first American memorial commemorating violent mass deaths evokes absence through abstraction.This same visual message is found at America's memorials to imponderable mass tragedies that occurred after Gettysburg: the attack on Pearl Harbor, represented by the U.S.S. Arizona Memorial; the Vietnam Veterans Memorial; and the National 9/11 Memorial and Museum. The U.S.S. Arizona visitors' center is a simple rectangular box built on the waters above the sunken ship Rising bubbles from the ship's leaking oil tanks, visible in an open well inside, and the round armament that once housed one of the ship's turrets are the only surface signs of the graveyard of the ship's rusting hulk below. The memorial structure does not touch the ship (Delgado 77). The bodies of the dead remain out of sight and out of reach. The Vietnam Veterans Memorial lists the names of the dead in order of their deaths on a planished wall embedded in soil. From the northwest approach, the nestled wall is invisible. The first memorial to mark a long war, rather than a single event, with the message of absence, the wall of names represents a variation on Gettysburg's heritage: the community marked the tragedy both of the deaths and of their political ambiguity (Haas 16).Other memorials to the lengthy process of war and their dead do not speak the language of absence. Memorials to the dead of World War II and the Korean War are exemplars of figurai presence, that to the Korean War Memorial literally, and that to World War II implicitly. …

Anđeo štitonoša s grbom obitelji de Judicibus – još jedan nepoznati suradnik Bonina Jakovljeva iz Milana

Anđeo štitonoša s grbom obitelji de Judicibus – još jedan nepoznati suradnik Bonina Jakovljeva iz Milana

The innovative solutions in new building for education architects in Lublin

The article provides a few new and innovative system solutions a realized extension of the DB&A of Lublin University of Technology called Eastern Innovation Centre of Architecture. The object is “an integrating zone of practical education.” The form of the spatial sculpture of object was achieved via significant overhanging of the assembly hall accommodating 200, supported by the slanted wall, coming from the line of the facade and three cubic elements firmly in the construction of the building. The interior patio emphasizes “the unity of the aims of open education” and also provides additional light for the exhibition space. The mobility of the interior divisions allows “flexible shaping of functional divisions”. The external shutters being electronically controlled, in particular sections on the facade allow for “interactive participation” of the users in the aesthetic creation of the facade. In case of strong winds the external shutters are shut automatically.

Developing fractal curves

Many fractal curves can be produced as the limit of a sequence of polygonal curves, where the curves are generated via an iterative process, for example, an L-system. One can visualize such a sequence of curves as an animation that steps through the sequence. A small part of the curve at one step of the iteration is close to a corresponding part of the curve at the previous step, and so it is natural to add frames to our animation that continuously interpolate between the curves of the iteration. We introduce sculptural forms based on replacing the time dimension of such an animation with a space dimension, producing a surface. The distances between the steps of the sequence are scaled exponentially, so that self-similarity of the set of polygonal curves is reflected in self-similarity of the surface. For surfaces based on the constructions of certain fractal curves, the approximating polygonal curves self-intersect, which means that the resulting surface would also self-intersect. To fix this we smooth the polygonal curves. We outline and compare two different approaches to producing and smoothing the geometry of such a ‘developing fractal curve’ surface, one based on using Bézier splines and the other based on Loop subdivision of a coarse polygonal control mesh.

Making Sculptures Audible through Participatory Sound Design

A research group explores rendering sculptural forms as sound using echolocation and the participation of members of the visually impaired community.

A Comparative Architectural Study of the Structural Form between Two Religious Buildings in Brasília: The Cathedral and the Tibetan Stupa

Brasilia, born of the urban plan by Lucio Costa and of the unexpected concrete structural forms designed by Oscar Niemeyer, knew how to adapt to the new forms that came from the country's religious syncretism. This article aims to compare, through religious symbolism, structural forms and architectural spaces, two sacred monuments: The cathedral of Brasilia (1958-1967) and the stupa of the Tibetan Buddhist Center, inaugurated in 2006. The millenary construction form of the stupa, one of the primordial sacred structures for all Buddhism traditions, the sacred symbol of enlightenment, must obey some construction rules according to its lineage's Buddhist tradition. In this way, the stupa is the opposite of a strong and fearless structural form embodied in the cathedral, with its 16 revolution hyperboloid concrete pillars and its subterranean entrance. Although built in concrete both are unusual forms of architecture with distinct spatial conception and sculptural form structures. While respecting religious differences, it is noticeable a real commitment between form and structure, volume and religious symbolism. At the conclusion, it is perceivable how distinct forms—the Cathedral and the Stupa—can respond in analog manners to the necessity of a gathering space where visitors go in search of expressing their faith. Along with them, Buddhism and Catholicism are rooted in Brazil's new capital.

“I Needed to Go to this Tabernacle of Ignorance”

On his 2011 comedy album This has to be funny, Marc Maron includes a routine in which he describes a visit to the Creation Museum, located in Petersburg, Kentucky just south of Cincinnati. Maron employs his typical combination of smart and angry wit as he satirizes the Museum and its agenda. This criticism takes the form of describing some of the Museum’s displays, and then reacting to them. The displays he spends the most time critiquing include the Garden of Eden room, animatronics of Old Testament figures, and the Noah’s Ark room. Bergson says that one source of laughter is seeing “the mechanical encrusted on the living” and this seems apt for understanding maron’s critique of displays such as these. Dogmatic religious believers can seem comical when their own beliefs interfere with their ability to adapt to new information—and this is exactly how the displays of the Creation Museum appear, thus making them targets for satire. Further, the museum, with its well documented and unscientific animatronics and dioramas (triceratops with saddles, tyrannosaurus rex eating a pineapple) creates its own dissonance when putting its ideas into sculptural forms. Museums often employ what Barbara Kirsehblatt-Gimblett has described as either in situ or in context display strategies, but both of these seem like empty, hyperreal rhetoric in the pseudoscientific position advocated by the museum.

Ghada Amer’s New Sculpture

Ghada Amer’s 2010 work 100 Words of Love is the product of a tactical realignment with aesthetic principles evident in her early work, and a radical rearticulation of those principles as groundwork for new sculptural forms. While it is impossible to predict the works’ reception and impact on Amer’s reputation as a contemporary artist, they testify to a newfound confidence in her abilities as a sculptor poised to stretch the horizon of her aesthetic fields, even as she returns to the foundational formal and conceptual principles on which her work of the past two decades has been based.

Fencing as a Part of the Urban Context of the District Blasewitz in Dresden

Every city has its unique urban context including the objects that form the historical environment of the city; the material elements represented by buildings, constructions, sculptural and architectural forms, elements of spatial surroundings of monuments and terraced houses; the atmosphere, the landscape elements, and the visage as an element expressing the real nature of the visual object, that is the city space (the open space “enclosed” by material elements). The city of Dresden is not an exception. In its district Blasewitz, one of the most important aspects of urban context is expressed by the fences of the Gr u nder Epoch. These pompous and fine constructions separating the street space from the park villas have remained since the middle of the XIX century. The article explores the origin of villas as an urban ensemble of the Italian architecture, the development of this type of architecture in the 18-19th centuries and the methods of preservation of all the elements of this structure, including fences. It describes the fences remained in the district Blasewitz and their unique features.

Analysis of Current Situation of Digital Sculpture Development

Digital sculpture is an emerging sculpture form. The current digital sculptures are dominated by abstract modeling and digital sculpture should also be conducted by simulating the method of traditional realistic sculpture. 3d printing technology still lacks application experience in making large-size digital sculptures, while digital controlled sculpting technology has some limitations for sculpture modeling. In instantiation of works, how to maintain digital characteristics of digital sculpture is an issue that requires in-depth discussion in the field of digital sculpture. 3d scanning technology has realized transition from traditional sculpture to digital sculpture and changed the method in which digital sculpture depends on software.

Portrait of a Polymath — A Visual Portrait of D’Arcy Thompson by Will Maclean

D’Arcy Wentworth Thompson’s interpretation of the natural world has profoundly influenced the visual thinking and sculptural forms of the Scottish artist Will Maclean.Will Maclean RSA MBE (born 194...

From Baskets to Bodies: Innovation Within Aboriginal Fibre Practice

This essay is concerned with the emergence of Indigenous fibre sculpture, a movement within contemporary Australian Aboriginal art. Here I discuss the work of key practitioners including Lena Yarinkura, Marina Murdilnga and Anniebell Marrngamarrnga from Central Arnhem Land; Yvonne Koolmatrie and Treahna Hamm from the Murray River region; the Central Desert artists Kantjupayi Benson, Ivy Hopkins, Jean Burke and the Utopia artists. Many of these fibre artists developed their sculptural forms through mastering and combining long practised techniques while simultaneously pushing the boundaries of material and form. I argue that it is the urge of fibre artists to bring their connection to country, cultural heritage and contemporary life into the foreground of their artistic practice that has led them to the sculptural form. Making fibre sculpture allows the artists to pass on cultural knowledge and skills and in doing so helps to ensure the sustainability of their cultures and local economies. I also argue that ‘going sculptural’ has helped re‐position Aboriginal fibre art in the art market and its re‐evaluation as fine art; an important step toward establishing a sustainable art practice within the wider art market.

Présence de la Scupture Funéraire de la fin du Moyen-âge et des Débuts de L'époque Moderne Dans L'œuvre Narrative de Samuel Beckett: Du Motif Artistique Religieux à Sa Laïcisation Scripturale

This article examines the relationship between the character-narrators of Beckett's , , , , and funerary sculpture of the late Middle Ages and the early modern period. In the German Diaries, Beckett expresses his admiration for this particular form of religious sculpture, in which the dead are represented as “senile,” “humble,” and “collapsed,” and perceives its kinship with his own world. The first part of this article explores the affinities between Beckett's supine characternarrators and prone funerary statues. The second part analyses the process of secularization that Beckett's writing inflicts on this religious artistic motif.

The Terms of Craft and other Means of Making: Lee Bontecou's Hybrid Trajectory

In 1958 Lee Bontecou began experimenting with a technique for making sculpture based on binding fabric to thin steel frames or armatures. Executed first on a small scale that oscillated between the form of the model and the form of table-top sculpture, the works were emphatic in their distance from the shape and tenor of the dominant field of welded metal sculpture. These initial ambiguities were retained, exaggerated even, as their scale changed.

Sculpting a Skyscraper

A structural and aesthetic tour de force that stands as the tallest skyscraper in Kuwait, the Al Hamra Firdous Tower is distinguished by a unique sculptural form created by a spiral slice of a prismatic volume and with form given by reinforced concrete.

Exploring Stone Sculpture: A Behavioral Analysis

An example of complex behavior, stone carving, is analyzed in behavioral terms, based on the author’s experience while making stone sculpture. Conditioned seeing is suggested as a possible origin of the author’s experience of visualizing an image of the desired sculptural form within the stone. It is proposed that the perception of bringing the shape of the stone closer and closer to the visualized image of the desired form is analogous to the concept of parity as proposed by Palmer. The notion is presented that creative behavior might entail the combination and reorganization of fragmentary stimulus response relations, or minimal repertoires (Skinner, 1957), that may have different histories and may even be covert, such as relations that include conditioned seeing.

Turning community stories into community art

There is a growing interest in community art, yet few resources are available for art teachers to develop curriculum material in this area, and there are few opportunities for students to engage in community arts-based learning. This article reports on an innovative community art project that engaged narrative, and sculptural form, as a way of learning about community, Place and identity. The project is explained from the perspective of an art educator, researcher and artist who was employed in the project both as community artist and as facilitator. This 'insider's perspective' aims to afford some context to relevant theories through which such projects can be understood as potentially beneficial to art education – particularly in the way people have used narrative to communicate issues of Place, and the ways in which artists have translated community narratives into sculptural form. The author's insider perspective is a lens into how community arts could offer students an opportunity to learn about contemporary art whilst at the same time learning about ways of engaging in community.

The structure of free-forms

The current situation, characterised by an impressive advance of conceptual, design and construction techniques, together with an establishment of a digital culture, has led to the architectural development of the so called free-forms. This paper evaluates the diverse development of different types of free-forms, and the role of the structure in each case. Four conceptual approaches are considered to tackle the design of free-forms as a function of both the process of generation and the influence of the structure in its development: sculptural forms, forms of concurrent structural adaptation, forms of structural algorithmic generation, and parametric forms. Starting from this analysis, four issues are presented for discussion: the process of development of free-foms, the design approach considering the multiplicity of factors in current projects, the response and relevance of the structure in free-form architecture, and finally, the potential of digital architecture and the role of the structure in its development.

A framework for digital sunken relief generation based on 3D geometric models

Sunken relief is a special art form of sculpture whereby the depicted shapes are sunk into a given surface. This is traditionally created by laboriously carving materials such as stone. Sunken reliefs often utilize the engraved lines or strokes to strengthen the impressions of a 3D presence and to highlight the features which otherwise are unrevealed. In other types of relief, smooth surfaces and their shadows convey such information in a coherent manner. Existing methods for relief generation are focused on forming a smooth surface with a shallow depth which provides the presence of 3D figures. Such methods unfortunately do not help the art form of sunken reliefs as they omit the presence of feature lines. We propose a framework to produce sunken reliefs from a known 3D geometry, which transforms the 3D objects into three layers of input to incorporate the contour lines seamlessly with the smooth surfaces. The three input layers take the advantages of the geometric information and the visual cues to assist the relief generation. We have modified the existing techniques of line drawings and relief generation, and then combine them organically for this particular purpose.

Contemporary Sculptures: Decoding the Body of Aesthetic Knowledge Suitable for Public Parks

Problem statement: The contemporary sculptures are constructions in public parks for people to use and appreciate. These are new things which Thai society has just known. The knowledge and understanding of the matter as mentioned are still in the limited circle. However, there is a lack of research study to seek the body of aesthetic knowledge suitable for constructing sculptures in the public park in Thailand. The purpose of this research was to examine the background, current condition, problem and decoding the body of aesthetic knowledge of contemporary sculptures suitable for public parks in Thailand. Approach: The research area covered Bangkok, Chiang Mai, Phuket, Songkhla and Ubon Ratchathani provinces in which there are constructions of contemporary sculpture permanently installed in the public parks. The research procedure used the qualitative research methodology. Data were collected from related literature and field studies using survey, interviews and focus group discussion from a group of totally 203 informants. The findings were presented by means of a descriptive analysis. Results: There are constructions of contemporary sculptures permanently installed in 15 parks with totally 101 pieces in Thailand. Saphan Hin Park in Phuket is the first place where there was a construction of a contemporary sculpture in 1969. In Bangkok there were 8 parks with totally 40 pieces of sculpture. In Chiang Mai there were 2 parks with 43 pieces. In Phuket there were 2 parks with 2 pieces. In Songkhla there were 2 parks with 15 pieces. And in Ubon Ratchathani there was 1 park with 1 piece of sculpture. At present it has been found that there are 98 contemporary sculptures in all the public parks. In Bangkok there are 39 pieces. In Lanna King Rama IX Park, Chiang Mai, 1 piece was stolen and 1 piece is not at the point of installation. In Saphan Hin Park, Phuket, the area has been adjusted to be the grass lawn. However, the sculptures in the other parks are in complete conditions and are well cared. The problems found generated from a lack of linking data concerning the background, importance and care-taking, causing a lack of understanding the matters as mentioned. Also, there were problems of sculpture's forms which are abstract art as personal characteristics of artists. There is appreciate, causing people to be unable to appreciate the aesthetics as they should. There were 3 aspects of aesthetics of the contemporary sculptures in the public parks: contents with subject matters which could mediate beauty, the way of life and local culture as things which everyone could appreciate and understand; semi-abstract art sculpture's form which people could appreciate the aesthetics more easily than the abstract art and the use of the form expressing the beauty of different visual elements which could respond to the content and environment and in the environment, there were designs and adjustments of the environment to suit and relate to the sculpture and activities of the people who used the services and to enhance to generate aesthetics of sculptures and environment. Conclusion: The aesthetics of the contemporary sculptures in the public parks consists of 3 aspects: content, sculpture's form and environment to be relate to activities of the people who use services in the public parks to be able to appreciate aesthetics of the sculptures completely.