Burning the Inert

Stine Sundahl (Udvikler), Niels Grønbæk (Andet)

Publikation: Bidrag der ikke har en tekstformVærkForskningpeer review

Abstract

Materials are vibrant and have agency; they have the capacity to affect and to be affected.

This claim is central to my research and this project will attempt to unfold its idea and themes.
Materials are always in a process of generation and degeneration – materials are vibrant.
Materials are affected by the surroundings but they also have their own agenda - materials has agency.
Houses are material assemblages - vibrant materials with different agencies put together creating more or less conflictual meetings accommodating external demands in relation to conditions like among others climate, construction and aesthetics.
Cross laminated timber (CLT) is a relatively new engineered wood material where low quality soft wood is glued together in layers eliminating the anisotropic qualities of the wood creating a uniform isotropic and fully calculable and reliable material.
Considering a completely different and affirmative approach to the anisotropic qualities of wood Brian Massumi writes about the woodworker. The signs are the qualities, which envelop a potential; the capacity to affect and to be affected. When reading these signs, the woodworker interprets the wood and develops what is enveloped in the sign.


The model is a lamination of wooden boards; a homemade CLT where all the knots, bends and bulkinesses of the wood will be absorbed, and balanced in the assemblage of the boards and glue, neutralising its signs. It removes agency from the wood forcing it to take any form upon it.
The model forms, with thick and solid walls, an outer figure with inner spaces cavities and chimneys.
I see fire as an inherent quality of wood and to reclaim its agency (on behalf of the wood) the model is partially burned. In the action of burning the fire is considered as an aesthetic performance and the documentation of the process is displayed at the showcase next to the model.

Wood is conceived as THE natural, living building material. To say that wood is a living material will be agreed by most. Then to state that wood is an isotropic, predictable fill material to put in between our inner and outer cladding can be a radical statement, but nevertheless a reality when concerned with new engineered wood materials like CLT.
To discuss the qualities of CLT, in the way it is currently used one is left to discuss it on a macro-level. CLT can lower the CO2 emission if it replaces materials like concrete and steel because of its ¨lower production energy and lighter weight (transport). Wood has gone from a sensuous natural material conceived 1:1 to an abstract conceived matter discussed on a macro society level.
CLT is designed to pose as little resistance as possible when opposed to a form. The material behaviour and qualities of the wood is oppressed. For what reason? Is it for the convenience of a building process? Is it to enhance the control of the material? Probably both, but with the gain of convenience and control the creativity of the material is lost.



OriginalsprogEngelsk
Publikationsdatoapr. 2017
PublikationsmedierInstallation
Størrelse2x2x1 m
StatusUdgivet - apr. 2017
BegivenhedWORKS+WORDS 2017: Biennale for kunstnerisk udviklingsvirksomhed i arkitektur - The Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts, Schools of Architecture, Design and Conservation (KADK), Copenhagen, Danmark
Varighed: 23 mar. 20175 maj 2017
Konferencens nummer: 1
https://kadk.dk/workswords

Konference

KonferenceWORKS+WORDS 2017
Nummer1
LokationThe Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts, Schools of Architecture, Design and Conservation (KADK)
Land/OmrådeDanmark
ByCopenhagen
Periode23/03/201705/05/2017
Internetadresse

Kunstnerisk udviklingsvirksomhed (KUV)

  • Ja

Citationsformater