Abandoned Space.. Let the Search Begin...

 Over the Christmas holidays I have been searching Dublin for somewere to hang and display my ropes just like I did in my studio. I wanted to find somewere that was abandoned, house, carpark etc, somewere that would be the last place you think of seeing this bright coloured piece! I seen an image in a book I got from the library it was an Installation in an abandoned house in Incheon, Korea, Sadong 30 (see image below), What struck me most about this is how noticeable although these objects are very small the impact they have on the dull abandoned room, why? because of there colour! I am so fancinated with colour and how it can just change this dull, dirty and depressing place and make it something you want to look at and then it got me thinking were is this place? why is it abandoned? the whole story behind it, just becomes something so interesting, to me this is all to do with the colour.
 While searching for a place I had this image in my head but unlike this artists work I have to find somewere I can tie my rope too so an abandoned house is no use to me it has to be something open maybe carpark somewere abandoned with trees or polls around, I searched afew carparks but some were too busy and others too wide, I searched parks, playgrounds but all with similar problems.

I want the rope to take over the space like it did in my studio with the lines being geometric and spread out like a blanket not like the lines I had taken over the unoccupied space on the stairs in my perious installation. My biggest fear before I took down my installation piece in my studio was that I would not be able to set up the ropes and fabrics the same as I did, (see below image) I no it will not be the exact same but I wanted to make it as similiar as I could with the same amount of rope and fabric. I just had to find the right place to set up! It was a risk I had to take.

Unoccupied Space...The Staircase....

I filled a staircase in my college using the same material (rope) as I did with the last one, Like the perious piece I only took over the unoccupied space on the stairs so it wasnt in anyones way! I liked that when I looked down at the piece from the top of the stairs I was still getting these geometric lines but they were overlapping eachother and in some of the photos the staircase acted as a frame for the piece which I thought was interesting! But in this installation to me although when I take the photos from the top of the stairs or the bottom it creates similar geometric lines but when you are standing on the stairs looking directly at the piece it is more like a spider web which is what I think took away from it! The colour also didnt stand out that well againist the walls but the most sucessful part of this experiment for me was the photographs!

 

A student changed the colour of the room by covering the window in red, I decided to take advantage of this take some photographs

                    Below is the most sucessful photograph as it is almost like a drawing on the wall..

Working into the Negative Space

Experimenting with different materials and Lines..

Light wool filling in the negative space in which the rope has created, making a zig-zag line

                                                          Using different Yarns

Lines by Day..Circles by Night..

I had successfully taken over my space with the rope but even with a good quality camera I still could not capture the full effect because I had to photograph it in sections, I thought of another way of capturing just how much space the lines had taken over by attaching glow sticks to each line were it connected to another to see if it also capture the impact it had on the space and highlight the direction of each line!

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For me this was also a success only it still was more effective when I was standing in the studio than on photographs and video but what I liked about this experiment was that it did capture the movement of the lines and were each one connects but it turns the piece into a completely different one! But they both have one thing in common that is colour! By day it is these colourful geometric lines taken over a whole space by night its floating circles that have depth and structure to them. This is what I liked most about it! Throughout my work this year I have been experimenting using lines different type of line and circles and it was nice to combine these two shapes into one piece!

I was not happy with how the video turned out as so many of the glow sticks didn’t turn up on it! It was disappointing!

Why Green?

After I took away my desk I covered the wall space with a long piece of fabric (calico), the reason I hand dyed the calico green was because in my pervious out door experiment were I worked with my clothes (below image), I liked how the colours looked against the grass, I thought if it was any other colour than green then the colours of the clothes might not stand out as much! Also grass links in with my theme as I started out with underground space looking at grass roots.

I created these paper circles and coloured them in with oil pastels reason being the colour comes out very strong on paper and I wanted to include a different material that I had not done before. Adding in circles instead of line to create a divide in the piece although they are connected I wanted to experiment with the fabric piece and change it around. I placed the circles big to small so it’s as if they are falling down the fabric but in a root like motion. I thought of the circles being like the source that holds all these colours together and as they move down the piece each one getting smaller, I had the idea that the colour separates and bleeds into the rope (twine) dying each piece of rope a different colour.

Then I started to experiment with the fabric so I took away most of the circles leaving one and added another smaller piece of fabric dyed a different shade of green, then using the rope I attached the fabric as if it was coming of the wall and making a u shape as if it had moved. 

After I dyed each piece of rope I placed them separately onto pieces of paper because I thought it was interesting the marks that they left. Most pages had just one rope and they all left these nice lines and splashes of colour. I cut up the large pieces of paper different scales and made a book and I am currently using them as my design work. Going back to using line as a shape instead of circles, I cut out these small rectangle pieces of the paper and placed them on the fabric in a more structured way. What I liked about this was that the paper was decorated by the ropes therefore connecting the installation in another way.

Experimenting with video...

Taking Over a Space..

My aim in this Installation is to take over a space, in this case it is my studio! I thought about the roots as they grow and multiply they also take over there space I thought it was time I started to do the same. I used the ribbons in a pervious piece and had them taking over my desk, this time I took away my desk given me more room to display and hang my work! I am working with rope as it is more organic and when manipulated these little bits of rope stick out and kind of reminds me of roots, almost like small hairy bits! It also takes great to nylon dyes!

I am moving further on with my project and taking it to a new stage instead of having the lines flow and overlap like the roots I am taking the idea of the connecting lines and negative space it creates but changing the direction of the line making them geometric and spreading the lines across the room as if it is like a large sheet covering this unoccupied space! By connecting the lines I can keep adding and adding more rope till It takes over the whole space! Using the rope as a drawing tool I plan to then document this process and using the images as if they were drawings and creating something with them.

Colour is also a big element in this piece I am again using these femine colours each piece of rope hand dyed a different colour when there joined together the colours all connect just like piece itself! I then plan to take this piece and place it somewhere abandoed/unocuppied were you would never except to find femine colours let alone this take over of rope! I have also hand dyed pieces of fabric and attached them to some of the rope just to highlight the negative space and make the viewer more aware of it when looking at this piece! It also makes the piece more interactive and some people can’t help but touch the fabric some have even said that is reminds them of a hammock, parachute and various other things and by doing this they are interacting with the piece it is getting them to think and have there own opinion!

As can be seen in these images each line is connected to a different colour. I never attach a line going straight accross to another one I have to attach it at an angle because when roots spread out they never grow in a straight line and they always grow out from another root.

Following a line..

Also the colour element again people have been saying that the colours brighten up the space that is makes the space more inviting, makes them feel good and even makes the space more cosy so It will be interesting to see what the response is when the piece is placed somewhere cold and out of context will it brighten it up or look out of place will soon see...