Islands of compression in a sea of tension
2014
Islands of compression in a sea of tension
Site-specific installation
2014
Description
Struts, unwaxed linen thread, pita fiber.
Variable dimensions
Location
CACiS – Center for Contemporary Art & Sustainability
March 10 - 30, 2014
Woods (Calders, Spain)
The intention is to keep learning from nature, from its own laws, its geometry, its materials, and its possibilities.
The artwork rises from this fascination towards nature, in order to observe it and try to understand it to generate related works. The same interest, that previously led me to explore fractals and natural materials used in architecture now leads me to research the possibilities of these materials in lightweight structures.
The installation is named after the definition of tensegrity by Buckminster Fuller.
The structures of tensegrity (tensional integrity) are systems formed by elements that don’t touch each other (normally struts) connected by tensioned elements (generally cables), which look quite different to the ones we are used to seeing.
The tensegrity principle affirms that the balance depends exclusively on tension and compression forces.
The first sensation is, maybe, being witnessing a magic event, while you are observing it you cannot be totally sure about how it is supported. I am drawn to the elements which seem to be floating in the air, as if they were suspended, organizing a lightweight structure of balanced elements not touching each other. I feel attracted to its poetic ability and effectiveness of its geometric structure. Do more with less. These characteristics are also present in natural structures, which look for and achieve efficiency with a design centered on that.
The aim is to explore this structural system, relating it with the supposed complexity of nature in an intuitive way.
The human body is under the same compression and tension strengths.
The dorsal spine or the cell structures could be explained by tensegrity.
Last update:
August 22, 2024
The history of the tensegrity is 50 years old. The most part of the tensegrity structures and sculptures have been made with industrialized materials as aluminum or steel.
Why not look into these structures which can explain the strength distribution in the dorsal spine - an element of our human nature-with materials also present in nature?
Why not building a tensegrity structure with natural materials?
It is not about resolving an optimal structure from the formulation of the logical calculus, but to start an intuitive inquiry.
First I collect fallen branches from trees or canes that are found in the surroundings, those are the struts or sticks.Then I choose and clean up the material to begin the experimental phase in the studio doing sketch model makings.
While I am doing model makings, I am also choosing an outdoors place where to build. It is not about placing a predefined volume, but to adjust it to the outdoors.
This residency is the result to a first approach and inititiates the research.