“Alexandria”, a new digitally fabricated installation by Jonathan Henry + Arseni Zaitev from Anonymous Studio, will be placed in the Architecture Gallery of the Southern Polytechnic State University to open its biannual exhibition of young professional work. As part of the “Summer Salon 2010,” the architecture/art/sculptural installation seeks to raise conversation across the various design communities through its contemporary approach to creating space.
More images and more about the installation after the break.
The installation hovers inches above the floor and dramatically drapes across the gallery, creating a strong spatial diagonal that transitions from a simple canopy system into an object occupying the space. “The symbolic disillusionment with the political datum of the ground relinquishes the installation from prescriptive idealizations. Alexandria’s canopy will not be tainted by agendas but will be appropriated but those who are most likely to contribute to it,” explained the studio.
The installation provides a physical framework for students to layer their own projects onto the panels, thus, physically joining the surface with visions of the students. “It will be a place of storing and retrieving the ongoing studio work that occur concurrent with its lifespan,” added the studio. The design lends itself to the presentation of student work as the arrangement of panels creates a system of layering that allows the work of the student to fade and the work of the artist to appear, or vice versa, depending upon the viewing angle.
“The increased opacity, thinner panel coverage, allows the viewer to see the paneled surface behind the students work and creates two surfaces, the surface of the exterior screen element and the reverse surface of the opaque presentation area. This internal/external dilemma is produced with its internality prohibited from occupation, creating an imagined space of occupation surrounded by the amassed knowledge of the higher education system,” explained the designers.
