Simon J Winters

Vestigial Anatomies _ The Visceral & The Sartorial

2010-06-22T05:16:00.001-07:00

issuu doc link
http://issuu.com/simonwinters/docs/issu_report_01

2010-06-22T05:13:00.001-07:00

Open publication - Free publishing - More design

Map Room Sketches

2010-06-21T08:04:00.000-07:00

Livingstone's Body and Other Curios

2010-06-21T07:30:00.000-07:00

No.1 Savile Row......a bit about

2010-06-21T07:25:00.000-07:00

No.1 Savile Row was originally constructed as the family home of the Fairfax family and was the first to be built during the second phase of Burlington’s estate development in the 1730’s, designed by famed architect William Kent. On September 29 1870 the building was sold to the Royal Geographical Society (for £14,400). According to records, some £3798 were spent on alterations to make it suitable for occupation by the Royal Geographical Society. These alterations included the construction of glass clear-storied map room in the former courtyard of the premises that remains the focus of the building to this day.(Sheppard FHW, 1963) By 1881 a small astronomical observatory had been constructed on the roof of the building. In 1912 the premises were gifted to Gieves and Hawkes, sold to the outfitters for a cut rate in honour of their services to British Explorers. The business itself dates from the late 18th Century, formed by the amelioration of the two revered establishments of James Watson Gieves and Thomas Hawkes. Indeed before joining forces, separately Messrs. Gieves and Hawkes had a long and illustrious career outfitting a veritable who’s-who of British explorers, royalty and ‘the great and the good.

section through no.1 savile row, showing the ground floor map room and roof top observatory

Central to the premises of no.1 Savile Row is the grand ‘Map Room’, constructed during the buildings occupation by the Royal Geographical Society. As previously intimated, the change of use of the premises presented an interesting juncture in the project, and alluded to richer analogic opportunities that were absent when the project focused on the generic Savile Row tailor. During the Royal Geographical Society’s time at no.1, the Map Room was a hot house for British explorers and many of Britain’s legendary expeditions were cultivated within its walls- from David Livingstone to Robert Falcon Scott. So that ‘even when 1 savile row passes away the spirit of geography must surely continue to haunt that corner’ (Mill, 1930)

Concordantly, during occupation by the Royal Geographical Society, cartographic practices played a central role in the buildings workings, with a particular focus on the teaching of map projection, plotting, and drawing. (Markham, Sir C.R, 1891) The building was laden with numerous drawing rooms, instrument rooms and map mounting rooms, and on the roof of the premises was a small observatory that contained a transit theodolite, a 5 inch theodolite; a sextant; an artificial horizon: and a hypsometrical apparatus

The Map Room

2010-06-21T07:12:00.000-07:00

The Map Room of no.1 Savile Row in its current guise, the focal point of Gieves & Hawkes tailors and outfitters.

The Map Room circa 1911

abstract cartographies & nascent anatomies

2010-05-26T06:23:00.000-07:00

projections

2010-05-26T06:16:00.000-07:00

earlier work. latex back-projections

Procedural Drawings pt.2

2010-04-20T06:44:00.001-07:00

Procedural Drawings pt.1

2010-04-20T06:39:00.001-07:00

The Cutting Room_drawing studies

2010-03-03T23:41:00.000-08:00

sewing experiments pt.1

2010-03-03T23:32:00.000-08:00

continuous lineworks_initial investigation and exploratory linework positing the sewing machine as a drawing tool, working into prior transfers and images.

A Sartorial Lexicon_'patois of the row'

2010-02-27T08:26:00.000-08:00

Some of the 'jargon' used by the tailors of savile row

Tools of the Trade

Baby _stuffed cloth pad on which the tailor works his cloth.
Banger_piece of wood with handle, used to draw out steam and smooth cloth during ironing.
Board_ Tailor's workbench.
Dolly_Roll of wet material used as a sponge to dampen cloth.
Goose iron_hand iron heated on a naked flame.
Mangle_sewing machine.

Balance_adjustment of back and front lengths of a jacket to harmonise with the posture of a particular figure.

Baste_garment roughly assembled for first fitting.
Basting_tacking with long stitches to hold garment parts together.
Bespoke_a suit made on or around Savile Row bespoken to the customer's specifications. A bespoke suit is cut by an individual and made by highly skilled individual craftsmen. The pattern is made specifically for the customer and the finished suit will take a minimum of 50 hours of hand work and require a series of fittings.
Bundle_components of jacket or trousers bundled together for making-up.

Canvas_a cloth usually made from cotton, flax, hemp or jute and used for providing strength or firmness.
Coat_jacket. (Only potatoes have jackets - it used to be said).
Cutting system_method of pattern preparation using a particular process of measurement and figure evaluation. Scores have been devised since methods of working out the proportions of the figure were first explored in the late eighteenth century.
Draft_sketch or measure plan of a garment.
Gorge_where the collar is attached.
Interlining_material positioned between lining and outer fabric to provide bulk or warmth.

Made-to-measure_garment made to a customer's individual requirements, to some extent, but not necessarily by hand.
Pattern_a template model used for cutting garments.
Rock of eye_Rule of thumb: using instinct born of experience, rather than a scientific cutting system.
Scye_the armhole: from 'arm's eye'.
Skirt_part of a jacket that hangs below the waist.
Striker_Assistant to a cutter.

Balloon...having a balloon_a week without work or pay.
Bodger_Crude worker. Common to other trades.
Boot_loan until payday. Can you spare the boot? - can you give me a loan? Dates from crossed-leg days, when a tailor recorded the loan by chalking it on the sole of his boot.
Bunce_a trade perk, like mungo and a crib (see below).
Bushelman_Journeyman who alters or repairs.
Cat's face - a small shop opened by a cutter starting out on his own.
Chuck a dummy_to faint. Allusion is to a tailor's dummy tumbling over.
Clapham Junction_a paper design draft with numerous alterations or additions.
Codger_Tailor who does up old suits

Cork_ the boss.
Crib _ large scrap of cloth left over from a job, usually enough to make a pair of trousers or a skirt.
Crushed beetles_ badly made button holes.
Cutting turf_ clumsy, unskilled working.
Doctor_ alteration tailor.
Drag...in the drag_ working behind time.
Drummer_ trouser-maker.
Have you been on the board?_ are you experienced?
Hip stay_ old-time name for wife.
Jeff_ a small master: one who cuts out his garments and also makes them up.
Kicking_ looking for another job.
Kicking your heels_ no work to do.
Kill_ a spoiled job that has to be thrown away.
Kipper_ A tailoress. So called because they sought work in pairs to avoid unwelcome advances.
Log...on the log_ piecework: the traditional and complex system of paying out-workers.
Mungo_ cloth cuttings, which by custom the tailor used to retain to sell to a rag merchant for a little extra income.

On the cod_ gone drinking.
Pig_ an unclaimed garment.
Pigged_ a lapel which turns up after some wear.
Pinked...pink a job_ making with extra care.
Skiffle_ a job needed in a hurry.
Skipping it_ making the stitches too big
Small seams_ warning call when someone being discussed enters workroom.
Soft sew_ an easily worked cloth.
Tab _ fussy, difficult customer.
Trotter_ fetcher and carrier: messenger.
Tweed merchant_ Tailor who does the easy work: a poor workman.
Whipping the cat_ Travelling round and working in private houses: common practice in old days when a tailor would be given board and lodging while he made clothes for a family and their servants.

pattern display_elevation studies

2010-02-25T03:05:00.000-08:00

iterations_further experiments with transfers, acetate, manila paper, linen

variants 

The Visceral & The Sartorial pt.III

2010-02-25T02:58:00.001-08:00

anderson & sheppard_plan

2010-02-25T02:42:00.000-08:00

plan (street level) of existing layout anderson & sheppard, illustrating in particular the arrangement of the cutting room.(workshop level to follow)

The Visceral & The Sartorial p.II

2010-02-22T15:18:00.000-08:00

acetate print, acrylic

acrylic transfer, linen, acetate

acrylic transfer, ink, linen

acrylic transfer, acetate

acrylic transfer, gelatin, linen

The Visceral & The Sartorial p.I

2010-02-22T14:58:00.000-08:00

2010-02-17T16:05:00.000-08:00

2010-02-17T15:56:00.000-08:00

Andersom & Sheppard bespoke tailors

2010-02-17T15:44:00.000-08:00

Savile Row_thoughts & words

2010-02-16T15:36:00.000-08:00

from The Savile Row Story: An Illustrated History by

'and so to the famous formula of sedate propriety, of the exquisitley prosaic, constructed around an image of perfect manhood that has stayed constant since tailoring began.'

Well's pattern room- 'Savile Row's ultimate secrets strung out like kippers in a smoke house'

'nothing is more hidden than the ways of making a Savile Row suit, which is far from the immutable creation of popular imagination . There is no agreed method of construction, the ritual as properly performed calls for the cooperative efforts of a cutter, trimmer, coat-maker, trouser-maker, waistcoat-hand, finisher and presser. The measurements taken, the cutter drafts a patten on stout manila paper and uses this to cut out the cloth. The parts for the jacket and the trousers are bundled separately and passed with precise instructions to the specialist tailor of each garment. Within a few says, the suit is basted (the basic components are crudely patched together with temporary stitching in white cotton) ready for the first fitting.'

'the bespoke tailor is a sculptor in the way he fashions a hollow shell to accomodate and flatter a particular body with all its oddities. The suit is given shape, bounce and further individuality through umpteen unseen stitches worked into its innards.'

Tailor_etymology

1296, from Anglo-Fr. tailour, from O.Fr. tailleor "tailor," lit. "a cutter," from tailler "to cut," from M.L. taliator vestium "a cutter of clothes," from L.L. taliare "to split," from L. talea "a slender stick, rod, staff, a cutting, twig," on the notion of a piece of a plant cut for grafting.

"Although historically the tailor is the cutter, in the trade the 'tailor' is the man who sews or makes up what the 'cutter' has shaped." [OED]

The verb is recorded from 1662; fig. sense of "to design (something) to suit needs" is attested from 1942. Tailor-made first recorded 1832 (in a fig. sense); originally "heavy and plain," as of women's garments made by a tailor rather than a dress-maker.

The cutting room at Henry Poole c. 1940s

Sartorial_etymology
"pertaining to a tailor," 1823, from Mod.L. sartorius, from L.L. sartor "tailor," lit. "patcher, mender," from L. sart-, pp. stem of sarcire "to patch, mend." Sartorius as the name of the long leg muscle is because it is used in crossing the legs to bring them into the position needed to sit like a tailor.

Fabric room at Anderson & Sheppard c.1970s

Bespoke
"custom or custom-made, made to order," of goods, as distinguished from ready-made, 1755, earlier bespoken (c.1600), pp. of bespeak, in a sense of "to speak for, to arrange beforehand," a sense attested in bespeak from 1580s. Now usually of tailored suits.

Savile Row Illustrations

2010-02-14T13:02:00.000-08:00

A series of mixed-media drawing 'experiments' of various aspects of Savile Row upon first visit. The motivation was to implicate the drawing as a 'surface' in itself, intimating a materiality- so the drawing, potentially, begins to resonate on levels beyond representation. The 'grungy' (for want of a better word) patina is at odds with the perceived sartorial elegance of the row.

A contrast of the visceral and the sartorial.

Contextually, the drawings deal with spaces below street level- the workshop spaces, whose sewing-bench aesthetic contrasts with the opulence of the Savile Row showroom.

The drawings initiate a number of techniques, whose potential I seek to explore in further iterations and develope a unique representational tactic.

No.13 Savile Row, Pencil, Acrylic Transfer, Acetate

No.11 Savile Row, Ink, Acrylic, Pattern Paper

initiating context

2010-02-14T12:29:00.000-08:00

The Site_ Savile Row, London

map_01 initial aerial map showing immediate context and extents of the street

http://www.savilerowbespoke.com/History/History_of_Savile_Row/

Bespoke_A garment cut by an individual, for an individual, by an individual is one definition of the word that is synonymous with Savile Row. A bespoke suit is cut from a pattern made specifically for a particular client (i.e the material is spoke for), whereas a made-to-measure suit is cuit from a standard pattern and amended to suit the contours of the individual.

Visceral Vicissitudes III _ 'a tailor's anatomy'

2010-02-04T01:59:00.000-08:00

'a fold, a crypt, a wrinkle of insideness in the fabric of nature's externality' (Robert Pogue Harrison)

vicissitudes

Visceral Vicissitudes II

2010-02-04T01:49:00.000-08:00

Drawing experiment. Pencil, ink, trace, tissue & PVA

Visceral Vicissitudes

2010-02-04T01:46:00.000-08:00

alginate, latex, scans, creased, crinkled & fold.

Thoughts and Words- what? how? why?................mk II

2010-01-28T01:56:00.000-08:00

What?
My architecture seeks to synthesise a milieu of ideas concerning the body- its tectonic surfaces, mechanics of motion and relations to space, and the performative roles of the anatomy within a larger techno-ecological framework. This coupled with a preoccupation in futurist notions of representing (or indeed the misrepresenting in the traditional sense) the anatomy/anatomical surface in ‘movement space’, delineates my current architectural agenda.
The title is a reference to the ‘tropes’ of cyber-theory. Which as a discourse on the reflexive relationship of corporeality and technology, propagate a hyperbolised, neo-cartesian idea of metaphysics that connotes the separation of body and mind - in which the body exists as a lesser mechanism (‘the meat’) distinguished from an ontologically superior mind, and experience of the world is mediated via ‘consensual hallucinations’.1

Using the skin as a conceptual and thematic frame extrapolated from Maurice Merleau-Ponty’s 3 notion of the phenomenological body that contests the cartesian model founded on the corresponding dualism of the mind and body; ‘res extensa’ and ‘res cognitans’. For Merleau-Ponty the body is not simply a material location from which we perceive. He positions perception as a fundamental ‘corporeality’ rather than as a result of the actions of a disembodied thinking. Merleau-Ponty talked of the body as ‘flesh’, of the same ‘flesh’ of the world. Where ‘flesh’ in this instance becomes an extended meaning of skin and, accordingly, skin not as surface or membrane, but rather like ‘a place of minglings’.4 Thereby implicating a notion of three-dimensionality that is manifested through the material landscape of skin. It is an indeterminable organ state - its visibility/invisibility congruent with a categorical separation between seeing and touching.5 It is the Visible and the Invisible. The skin begets a primary architectural state- one of encapsulation, protection, coverage. Mechanically and thematically it is placed within the aforementioned theoretical framework, thus becoming an expression of complex relationships and dialectic nature of the forces shaping it. a spatial filter between states demarcating properties of interiority and exteriority (the traditional being of architecture.)

How?
The project hopes to function on a number of levels in terms of theory, material and representation.
In one instance, imagining a coalescence of skin, fabric, flesh (or indeed fabric/clothing as an extended/second skin as McLuhan would have it)6 and utilising contemporary developments in textile sciences, coupled potentially with theoretical biotechnologies as a process of material research. This would be either the use of actually biological materials to propagate a skin(s); and/or the use of a specific bio-mechanical function of the skin as a model for which to develop synthetic systems/textile/material.
In terms of representation, an aesthetic trajectory is defined that conveys said visceral surfaces and emergent bodies, and recalls such visuals as Francis Bacon’s tortuous anatomies, Ansele Seam’s slit-scan distortions and Caravaggio’s deft rendering of the veil. Materiality is implicated through scanning, folding, creasing, layering and blending; scale is questioned, and a visceral landscape suggested.
A further layer is embellished with a narrative arc of the myth of Marsyas and Apollo re-read through contemporary theoretical ideals, namely the Deluezian notion of Leibniz’s fold (articulated in the work of Didier Anzieu 7 and Stephane Dumas 8). The myth can be deployed as a potential symbolic overlay or a conceptual ‘diaroma’. Pertinent is the depiction of said event by Juseppe de Ribera (, wherein the two figures are depicted in stark contrast with the radiant apollo towering above the prostrate Marsyas. Flesh and fabric merge into one another, where the billowing material recalls fleshy fruit and becomes a sort of carnal landscape enclosing the figure of Apollo before flying off the frame of the picture. There are obvious aesthetic resonances in the visceral nature of the image, but moreover a recapitulation of the scenario with the protagonists and the myths own symbolism re-imagined to convey the wider, pervasive agenda of the work

Why?
The project will serve as a commentary on such aspects of corporeality, and seek to potentially reconcile conflicting notion of phenomenology and technology. where the so-called surfaces of biology and technology are being interleaved in ways which question the tenets of materiality and confront the portrayal/postioning of the ‘body’ within architecture/architectural representation, wherein the tectonics of the anatomy serve as a dialectic on wider issues of human ‘being’. Nigel Thrift articulates that ‘the object surfaces which interpose with our bodies are forming a new kind of carapace, a matrix of informational surfaces which by the combination of machine and theory creates a new inside which is also simultaneously an outside.

Visceral Surfaces III

2010-01-27T23:00:00.000-08:00

Visceral Surfaces II

2010-01-27T22:51:00.000-08:00

Visceral Surfaces I

2010-01-27T22:45:00.000-08:00

composite images recalling the material aesthetic illustrated in Ribera's painting Apollo Flaying Marsyas, (and concordantly the motif of the red veil in the work of Caravaggio see 'The Incredulity of St.Thomas' for example) Also the contemporary photography of Solve Sundsbo, and the tortuous anatomies of Francis Bacon.
.....a coalescing of skin, flesh and fabric- the dialectic nature of the forces shaping it.

Apollo's Veil & Visceral Surfaces

2010-01-27T22:38:00.000-08:00

Apollo Flaying Marsyas, Juseppe De Ribera

Apollo's Veil, composite

Apollo's Veil, topographic sketch

Thoughts........The Greek Myth of Marsyas

2010-01-26T10:50:00.000-08:00

employing mythology as a potential narrative anchor or creative protagonist.......

Inspired by the re-reading of the myth as a psychoanalytical device in 'The Skin Ego' by Didier Anzieu and in 'The Return of Marysas: Creative Skin' by Stephane Dumas

According to Dumas, the myth of Marysas offers a exceedinglg rich medium for reflection 'that is at once anachronistic and of great current relevance in respect of creative visual arts.' The myth, told in Ovid's Metamorphoses, tells the story of a musical battle between Apollo and Marsyas. In the contest between Apollo and Marsyas, the terms stated that the winner could treat the defeated party any way he wanted- Marsyas naturally lost and was flayed. Marsyas' intact skin was preserved at the foot of the citadel of Celaenae: it hung in cave whence the river Marsyas, a tributary of the Meander, rises. The hide, hanging in the cave remained sensitive to the music of the river.
Pertinent is Dumas's rereading of the painted of said event by Juseppe de Ribera, that depicts the two figures in stark contrast with the radiant apollo towering above the prostrate Marsyas. Flesh and fabric merge into one another. The billowing fabric recalls fleshy fruit and becomes a sort of carnal landscape enclosing the figure of Apollo before flying off the frame of the picture. Dumas elaborates on the myth that extends it to realms of phenomenology and aesthetics, envisaging an interpretation that is vastly different from the neoplatonist reading that prevailed during the Renaissance. Dumas proposes that 'our relationship to the world is based upon a kind of suspended touch, which jean-luc nancy terms tact 'from before any subject', setting and removal, the rhythm of the body's coming and going in the world. Tact is more of a 'weighing' than a mere touch. If our relationship to reality is too distant, too smooth, too suspended, it ends up becoming fossilized. If the virtual no longer bears any relation to the actual, to the actual body, it is in danger of disappearing or becoming projection tending to appropriate reality in a tyrannical way. As if Apollo, as portrayed by Ribera, were irremediably detaching himself from Marsyas' body and the ground on which he is standing.(Dumas)

Dumas proceeds to construct a precise reading of Ribera's painting in terms of Deleuze's thinking on the fold, which of course is built up around Leibniz and a baroque world view. 'For Apollo and Marsyas do indeed seem to be unfolding on either side of the horizon from one and the same fabric. Deleuze's notion of folding is understood as simultaneous form and process. this doubled movement-structure is the mode in which, he suggests, baroque thought understood matter to be organised. Folded in its structure and form, matter cannot be divided into atomistic units but instead is both continuous and differentiated- matter dynamically contracts (enfolds) and extends (unfolds) as it grows and decays.

A myth develops by means of a double process of encoding - of an external reality on the one hand (botanical, cosmological, socio-political, toponymic, religious etc.) and inner physical reality on the other. In that process, inner psychical reality is brought into correspondance with the encoded elements of external reality. In my view , the myth of Marsyas is an encoding of the particular reality I call the Skin Ego. What actually interests me in the Marsyas myth, and what constitutes its specificity in relation to other Greek myths, is, first of all the movement within it from the sound envelope to the tactile envelope; and secondly, the turning of a tragic destiny into a beneficient one. (Anzieu)

Thoughts and Words....the story so far

2010-01-26T07:21:00.000-08:00

...........What is my Architecture? Defining my own architectural intent

Vestigial Anatomies & Vicarious Prosthesis............(a working title)

".......Man, has as it were, become a kind of prosthetic God..... when he puts on all his auxiliary organs he is truly magnificent." (Freud)

To begin....

My architecture seeks to synthesise a milieu of ideas concerning the body- its tectonic surfaces, mechanics of motion and relations to space, and the performative roles of the anatomy within a larger techno-ecological framework. This coupled with a preoccupation in futurist notions of representing (or indeed the misrepresenting in the traditional sense) the anatomy/anatomical surface in ‘movement space’, delineates my current architectural agenda.

Thus far my work has be preoccupied with the body’s relative positionings in space, through how its physicality is thus subjugated through so called prosthetic navigations, and concordantly adopting 'futurist' notions of representation, where body exists continually in a movement state.
Thus, as bodies move they trace out a path from one locale to another and these paths constantly intersect with those of others in a complex web of biographies. These are not just human bodies but also all other objects that can be described as trajectories in time-space.

"Who can still believe in the opacity of bodies, since our sharpened and multiplied sensitiveness has already penetrated the obscure manifestations of the medium....... A profile is never motionless before our eyes, but it constantly appears and disappears." (Boccionni)

Theoretically the trajectory of the work drew comparisons between futurist ideas and late 20th century cyber-theory, exploring the ‘trope’ of corporeality dissolving through ‘extensions of man’, a reference to Marshall McLuhans seminal text ‘Understanding Media: The extensions of Man.’ Wherein electrical technologies are analgous to prosthetic extensions of the central nervous system.
Such prosthetic apparatus modulate physical change multiply and extend bodily relations to the world- which, exhaustively discussed, is positioned as a new media of disembodiment. Flirting with ideas of cybertheory as a discourse on the reflexive relationship of corporeality and technology, and as means of reifying the idea of the Vestigial Anatomy.

The progenitor of these cyber-theories William Gibson (and cyber theorists in general) propagates a hyperbolised, neo-cartesian idea of metaphysics that connotes the separation of body and mind - where the body exists as a lesser mechanism (‘the meat’) distinguished from an ontologically superior mind.

Conversely Maurice Merleau Ponty challenges the cartesian model founded on the corresponding dualism of the mind and body; ‘res extensa’ and ‘res cognitans’; the subjective and the objective- purporting instead ‘the phenomenological body’. For Merleau-Ponty the body is not simply a material location from which we perceive. He positions perception as a fundamental ‘corporeality’ rather than as a result of the actions of a disembodied thinking. Merleau-Ponty talked of the body as 'flesh', made of the same 'flesh' of the world.
'Flesh’ in this instance becomes an extended meaning of skin and, accordingly, skin not as surface or membrane , but rather like ‘a place of minglings’(Connor.) Thereby implicating a notion of three-dimensionality that is manifested through the material landscape of skin.

The largest organ of the body, the skin is made of dead and living cells that act as our environmental envelope. It is an indeterminable organ state - its visiblility/invisibility congruent with a categorical separation between seeing and touching. It is the Visible and the Invisible. The skin begets a primary architectural state- one of encapsulation, protection, coverage. There is however no such thing as a boundary, in that all spaces are porous to a greater or lesser degree. Bodies caught in freeze frame may look like defined envelopes, whereas in actual fact they are punctured bags of water constantly shedding off pieces of themselves.

The skin is not only a structural sheath for the functioning of the body or an envelope maintaining homeostasis, it is also a fundamental sensory organ and it contributes to the delineation of a body in the phenomenological world - a spatial filter between states demarcating properties of interiority and exteriority.(a fundamental tenet of architecture?)
To be continued.......

emergence........drawing experiments

2010-01-21T00:20:00.000-08:00

the following drawings are a recapitulation of prior images in order to uncover/suggest meaning previously overlooked and through a coalescence of techniques, set about defining an 'aesthetic trajectory' of sorts.

'modern man has an epidermis rather than a soul' James Joyce

2010-01-21T00:10:00.000-08:00

experiments

nascent bodies

2009-12-11T05:15:00.000-08:00

Sketch Studies for a Drawing....vestigial anatomies/vicarious prosthesis

2009-12-11T05:09:00.000-08:00

sketch studies for a chronogram-esque drawing, attempting to coalesce futurist ideas of portraying the body in space/time, notions of visceral surfaces and the contrast of anatomical and cartesian geometries. It is also hoped that the drawing will allude to ideas of 'vicarious prosthesis' that generate around limbs, appendages -potentially evoking Mike Webb's Suitaloon, or other 'mobile/personal architectures'.

vicarious skins and vestigial bodies........models

2009-12-11T05:04:00.000-08:00

'inlucent transubstance of flesh' (cruz)

hyper-dermis........studies; experiments; sketches

2009-12-11T04:55:00.001-08:00

generative skins experiments, alginate, latex, mould, colourings

Diaphanous Skins and blurs mk II sketches

2009-12-11T04:47:00.000-08:00

Etymology of an Idea.....

2009-12-08T03:23:00.000-08:00

An etymological breakdown of the primary terms/titles/canticles used thus far, to clarify one's own agenda, suggest apparent trajectories or offer tangential potentials.....

Vestigial Anatomies & Vicarious Prosthesis

continue reading....

Vestigial: of, relating to, or being a vestige
_Vestige: from the Latin, vestigium meaning footstep, footprint,
track.
_A visible trace, evidence, or sign of something that once existed but exists or appears no more
_Biology A rudimentary or degenerate, usually nonfunctioning,
structure that is the remnant of an organ or
part that was fully developed or functioning in a preceding
generation or an earlier stage of development

Anatomies: (Anatomy pl.) from the Latin anatomia meaning 'a cutting up'
_the science dealing with the structure of animals and plants.
_the structure of an animal or plant, or of any of its parts.
_dissection of all or part of an animal or plant in order to study its structure.
_a plant or animal that has been or will be dissected, or a model
of such a dissected organism.
_a skeleton.
_Informal. the human body.
_an analysis or minute examination.

Vicarious: from Latin vicārius meaning substituting, equiv. to vic(is) interchange, alternation
_performed, exercised, received, or suffered in place of another:
_taking the place of another person or thing; acting or serving as a substitute.
_felt or enjoyed through imagined participation in the experience of others
_Physiology. noting or pertaining to a situation in which one organ performs part of the functions normally performed by another.

Prosthesis: from the Greek prósthesis meaning a putting to, addition, equiv. to prós 'to' + thésis 'a placing'
_a prosthesis (plural prostheses; from the Greek πρόσθεσις meaning literally "addition") is an artificial extension that replaces a missing body part. It is part of the field of biomechatronics, the science of using mechanical devices with human muscle, skeleton, and nervous systems to assist or enhance motor control lost by trauma, disease, or defect. ( see also cosmesis http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cosmesis and/or neuroprosthetics http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neuroprosthetics)

Diaphanous Skins and blurs

2009-12-07T08:00:00.000-08:00

skin: The membranous tissue forming the external covering or integument of an animal and consisting in vertebrates of the epidermis and dermis.

epidermis: Anatomy. the outer, nonvascular, nonsensitive layer of the skin, covering the true skin or corium from Latin meaning surface skin and Greek epidermís 'upper skin', Greek dérma meaning skin.

'....one has to understand 'flesh' as an extended meaning of skin and, accordingly, skin not as surface or membrane , but rather like ' a place of minglings', as the English theorist Steve Connor has put it. This implies a sense of three-dimensionality that is manifested through the materiality of skin in which embedded matter, along with a variety of wrinkles, bulges and orifices mark their presence......' (Marcos Cruz, Synthetic Neoplasms, AD Nov/Dec 08)

hypodermis_hyperdermis_cyberdermis

hands. iterations.....moving through space/time

(some) maps for these territories........

2009-12-03T02:50:00.000-08:00

somatological slipstreams....photographs mk II

2009-12-03T00:34:00.000-08:00

'Movement vision is sight turned proprioceptive, the eyes reabsorbed into the flesh through a black hole in the geometry of empirical space and a gash in bodily form. Vision is a mixed mode of perception registering both form and movement. For it to gain entry into the quasi-corporeal, the realm of pure relationality, it must throw aside form in favour of unmediated participation in the flesh.'

Brian Massumi

Somatological: pertaining to somatology

_ the branch of anthropology that deals with human physical characteristics.

Slipstreams:

_the airstream generating reduced air pressure and forward suction directly behind a rapidly moving vehicle

Slippage:
_The act or an instance of slipping, especially movement away from an original or secure place.
_The amount or extent of slipping.
_A decline in level, performance, or achievement.
_Loss of motion or power because of slipping

somatological slipstreams....photographs

2009-12-02T23:20:00.000-08:00

'the action of energy in the midst of matter......an extreme vision of reality, where everything is merely a transition of energy' Giovanni Lisla
strategy: transcribe the human form in space/time.
tactic: 40 red light emitting diodes affixed at equidistance along one side of the body.

for more visit flickr photostream here

http://www.flickr.com/photos/31370427@N07/

a strip of 40 red LEDs are attached to the human form in an effort to transcribe the territory of the anatomy and its residual fields as it moves through space/time. The resultant effect connotes a striated anatomy of slipstreams, seen once as demarcation of movement and an extension/ hyper-visualisation of Edward T Hall's notion of proxemics and the anthropology of space.

photostream

2009-12-02T18:42:00.003-08:00

http://www.flickr.com/photos/31370427@N07/

somatological slipstreams....paintings

2009-12-02T17:05:00.000-08:00

'the work of art is valuable in so far as it is vibrated by the reflexes of the future' Andre Breton

somatological slipstream I, gouache & ink

somatological slipstream II, gouache

refer to http://simonwinters02.blogspot.com/2009/11/technical-manifesto-of-futurist.html#more

"a fluvial futurism"

2009-12-02T16:18:00.000-08:00

The fixed biological body is remapped as a dynamic force field of speeds and intensities, ‘traversed by a powerful, nonorganic vitality’ which includes the mind. (Deleuze & Guattari)

The body-without-organs imagined by Deleuze is ‘affective, intensive, anarchist’ in nature. Amoeba-like, it is open to surrounding matter, which it incorporates.

Vestigial Bodies......annotated pt 2

2009-12-02T16:14:00.000-08:00

Vestigial Bodies......annotated

2009-12-02T16:06:00.000-08:00

vestigial bodies I, photograph, gouache & ink

vestigial bodies II, photograph, gouache & ink

vestigial bodies II detail, photograph, gouache & ink

vestigial anatomies......sketch study

2009-12-02T14:10:00.000-08:00

A project within a project

2009-11-26T00:38:00.000-08:00

An assemblage of samurai armour, British Museum

As aforementioned, I chose the artifact in question for a number of reasons. It has definitive corellations with my studio interests and design leanings thus far. As I have been looking at the bodies relative positionings in space, and how its physicality is thus potentially subjugated through prosthetic navigations. In effect, exploring the 'trope' of corporeality dissolving through 'extensions of man'. Conversely, the suit of armour represents an affirmation of the human anatomy through stylised means. It connotes an augmented anatomy, an object with transformative potential imbued with a spiritual nobility.

The actual suit in this instance is an assemblage of parts - pieces of armour from three eras of japanese history- A triptych. The resultant response was envisaged as a sculptural triptych taking cues from the somatological implications of the armour and its inhabitant. The armour is a protective exoskeleton, a carapace for its wearer that affirms the physical nature of the human being and implicates almost supernatural potential for the wearer. The piece in response takes the form of a trialectic exoskeleton, that suggests an anatomical schema transcribed through a series of striations. The adoption of the suggestive striated pattern, was an aesthetic gesture recalling the lamellar structure of the armour itself, that so characterises its protective potential. The form was also inspired in part by the work of artist Claude Heath (http://www.claudeheath.com), who in his work 'Thorax' articulates the human thorax as a succession of structural wrappings unravelling. Similarly japanese designer Issey Miyake envisages a structural encircling of human form. The proliferation of these forms also calls to mind the notion that the armour itself is only as successful as the spaces between. The idea of having three elements to the piece is an acknowledgment to the fact that the suit itself is a composite from three eras of japanese history. The three individual parts of the piece connote and suggest either specific anatomical locales - the head: the thorax : the arm which correlate directly to the components of the suit that are from the three eras - the helmet; the cuirass and the sleeve. Ideally I would have liked to a established a more profound distinction between the components- be it material or time (in a way to suggest evolution or development- in a way, the formal language of the pieces in succession suggests growth or development).

sideways in reverse....an adjunct

2009-11-20T09:42:00.000-08:00

The 'artefact' I chose for this project was an assembled suit of samurai armour from the British Museum.
Late 16th Century (cuirass and sleeves), 17th Century (helmet), 18-19th Century (remainder)

from http://www.britishmuseum.org/explore/highlights/highlight_objects/asia/s/set_of_armour.aspx

"From Japan, Momoyama period, late 16th century (cuirass and sleeves; Edo period, 17th century (helmet), 18th-19th century (remainder)

This composite suit of Japanese armour brings together items from different periods.

The helmet, though made in the seventeenth century, is in the tradition of earlier pieces which were often given a hideous face-mask with bristling whiskers to strike terror into the enemy.

With the arrival of firearms in the sixteenth century new bullet-proof cuirasses were developed in Japan, copied from European models. The example here is signed by Unkai Mitsunao. This and the silk sleeves covered with chain-mail and iron plates were made in the late sixteenth century. The neck-piece, shoulder flaps, divided skirt and leg pieces are made of lacquered iron platelets held together with cords and colourful silk braids. They were made in the eighteenth and nineteenth century.

In the Edo period (1600-1868) armour was generally more ceremonial, and made of lighter metals. However, some provincial lords, especially the Date clan of Sendai, kept up the appearance of being always prepared for battle, possibly in memory of their ancestors' defeat by the Tokugawa clan under Ieyasu in the decisive battle of Seki ga Hara (AD 1600). "

I chose this for a number of reasons. It has definitive connotations with my studio interests thus far. As I have been looking at the bodies relative positionings in space, how its physicality is thus subjugated through prosthetic navigations. In effect, exploring the 'trope' of corporeality dissolving through 'extensions of man'. Conversely, the suit of armour represents an affirmation of the human anatomy through stylised means. It connotes an augmented anatomy, an object with transformative potential imbued with a spiritual nobility.

The actual suit in this instance is an assemblage of parts - pieces of armour from three eras of japanese history- A tryptych.

A Fork in the River

2009-11-20T09:38:00.000-08:00

Diversionary tactics.

An effort to expand our horizons and pallette, and remove ourselves from our supposed 'comfort zones'.

brief: IMAGE, AUTHENTICITY AND PERFORMANCE

AS ABOVE, SO BELOW (PROJECT WITHIN A PROJECT)

a saying attributed to polymath, 20th century socialite, latter day alchemist Aleister Crowley and a mantra favoured by the occultists whereby the micro and macro cosmos are seen as the same during the alchemical transformation: " that which is above is the same as that which is below"

Bearing this in mind, you are asked to go to the national gallery/ british museum et al, choose a painting, sculpture, objet d'arte etc and add it as if defining a performative artefact of your very own.
You are to take the paiting/artwork you find but you are not to reproduce it in presenting your artefact. You can add to, remove and replace- you are to create an intervention that describes interests carried through your work so so far as well as 'performance, identity and image'.

vestigial anatomies.....sketches

2009-11-20T09:36:00.000-08:00

Proprioception ( from Latin proprius, meaning "one's own" and perception) is the sense of the relative position of neighbouring parts of the body. Unlike the six exteroceptive senses (sight, taste, smell, touch, hearing, and balance) by which we perceive the outside world, and interoceptive senses, by which we perceive the pain and movement of internal organs, proprioception is a third distinct sensory modality that provides feedback solely on the status of the body internally. It is the sense that indicates whether the body is moving with required effort, as well as where the various parts of the body are located in relation to each other.

vestigial anatomies

2009-11-19T01:49:00.001-08:00

ghosts mk III

2009-11-19T01:45:00.000-08:00

nascent animations mk III

2009-11-19T01:38:00.000-08:00

nascent animation mk II

2009-11-19T01:12:00.000-08:00

nascent animation

2009-11-19T01:07:00.000-08:00

air st : nocturnus 'of the night'

2009-11-17T04:00:00.000-08:00

ghosts mk II........nascent anatomies

2009-11-16T16:30:00.000-08:00

excavation

2009-11-16T15:28:00.000-08:00

Chthonic (from Greek χθόνιος — chthonios, "in, under, or beneath the earth", from χθών — chthōn "earth"[1]; pertaining to the Earth; earthy; subterranean) designates, or pertains to, deities or spirits of the underworld, especially in relation to Greek religion.

Greek khthon is one of several words for "earth"; it typically refers to the interior of the soil, rather than the living surface of the land (as Gaia or Ge does) or the land as territory (as khora (χώρα) does). It evokes at once abundance and the grave.

ghosts of air street

2009-11-16T15:23:00.000-08:00

corporeality dissolved......dissolution and distortions

2009-11-15T09:06:00.000-08:00

'No Maps for These Territories' (Gibson)

2009-11-15T07:42:00.000-08:00

can⋅ti⋅cle
[kan-ti-kuhl]
–noun
1.
one of the nonmetrical hymns or chants, chiefly from the Bible, used in church services.
2.
a song, poem, or hymn esp. of praise.

nine canticles will set the tone for my upcoming investigations. Intentionally ambiguous and tenebrous, they serve merely as beacons in as yet uncharted territories.

_Vagrant Anatomies

_Vestigial Bodies

_Vicarious Prosthesis

_The Visceral and The Visible

_The Invisible and the Indeterminable

_Res Extensa

_Liminal Embodiment

_Techno-Excressence

_Networked Technologies of Nascent Theatres

Lavender Hill

2009-11-07T04:28:00.000-08:00

Air Street mk 2

2009-11-07T04:21:00.001-08:00

development of ecological model

Panoramics 01- Lavender Hill

2009-11-05T03:04:00.000-08:00

A wet sunday morning in Air Street

2009-11-02T06:39:00.001-08:00

Air Street

2009-11-01T09:56:00.001-08:00

Air Street I, photograph & pencil

Air Street II, photograph & pencil

Air Street III, photograph & pencil

offshoot.....a blog of links

2009-10-24T02:35:00.000-07:00

This blog will be a collection of links, images, anecdotes, musings etc, that may or may not be related to my current body of work but are interesting none the less.

http://simonwinters02.blogspot.com

Lavender hill

2009-10-19T04:37:00.000-07:00

I want to walk eternity,In through the land of make believe. And watch the clouds roll over me, And let the sun shine down on me. The only place that I wanna be, Lavender Hill for me.http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5MnykaXMNlk&feature=PlayList&p=A7BFB9F69A1092C7&playnext=1&playnext_from=PL&index=52

First Post

2009-10-15T11:46:00.000-07:00

reading this

listening to this