Living Grid I presents a speculative architectural interior that is oriented by structural elements of the gallery. In this space, I ask what fundamental spatial elements the human body needs to exist. Walls, ceiling and floor-based timber forms trace the bounds of the interior. Central to the installation is a gridded tapestry, at least, it visually expresses a grid from one side. The vertical threads of this grid sit atop the tapestry, isolated from the woven horizontal lines. So too, the threads that trace a grid overhead in a kind of pitched roof, do not touch. Nor do the wall of threads hanging vertically from the ceiling, untethered to the ground. Only when moving the body through the space does this become apparent. The grids in this installation are not connected or complete, they only appear to be. The order is an illusion. In this speculative interior there is also speculative furniture. A form that is bench seat height sits in a corner of the room. It features curved base, rocking as the body sits. Its unstable nature challenges the body to feel where and how it is in space. Questions posed by the installation as a whole. A living grid is an architectural embodiment of the foundations of space that sustain human life.
Location: VCA Artspace, University of Melbourne, Southbank
Photography: Astrid Mulder