While doing research for a project on memory and commemoration, I came across the Disapora exhibition designed by designer Ini Archibong, the exhibition build a pavilion for the African diaspora to represent people who “don’t have a flag to represent us”. It’s appearance looks like a huge conc, as designer came to the idea of the conch shell when thinking about the fact that, no matter what shores people ended up, we assemble when the rallying call is made。
“The concept of a shell washing up on the shore and someone picking that up and sending off a rallying call to all of the tribes of the diaspora to assemble in this place is really where this concept started.”
His concept of the conch shell also inspired me. People’s memories are like conch shells scattered in their minds, some beautifully shaped and some broken, and I want clients to share their ‘memory conchs’ with each other, so that people can talk to each other and relieve themselves of the trauma of the pandemic.
His concept of the conch shell also inspired me. People’s memories are like conch shells scattered in their minds, some beautifully shaped and some broken, and I want clients to share their ‘memory conchs’ with each other, so that people can talk to each other and relieve themselves of the trauma of the pandemic.
In another project, I was also inspired by the uncertain memories of a Shanghai designer. In this case, as the construction time was only seven days and the exhibition had to be dismantled and transported to other regions after contact, the installation used a steel system widely used for pipe hanging, which can be assembled with only prefabricated three-dimensional steel elements and screws, and can be quickly dismantled and recycled after the exhibition is completed. As more and more projects rely on digital technology and complex construction processes, urban architecture built on a large scale also tends to exhibit a direct replication of standard techniques. As soon as this becomes commonplace, the otherwise poetic technical forms gradually lose their constructive power. In the installation ‘Uncertain Memories’, the architects hope to challenge the ubiquitous over-reliance on technology by relying on basic building tools and materials.
The designer has therefore chosen soft and interactive silk threads, which are woven into a screen, to create a sensual quality from a universal rectangular form through the interaction of silk and light, breaking the homogeneous space of the Expo Park and making this small square a place to stop and explore.
To maximise the role of light in the installation, the designer has used vertically staggered transparent sun panels to form the façade of the installation, softening the daylight at different times of the day and allowing multiple light and shadow flows. Within the installation, the structure serves the space in a thoroughly linear form. A staggered layer of sunlight panels is distanced from the external façade and together they form a composite interface, altering the uniform transparency of the sunlight panels while retaining the remnants of the material’s transparent texture. During the day, the strong reflections bring out the form of the panels first and foremost, and the eye no longer seeks to penetrate but remains on the surface, the panels becoming the object of view. More than 12 kilometres of filaments are used inside the installation, flickering slightly with the wind and showing four gradations of colour in the daylight; the right density creates a translucency that acts as a filter for natural light and delays the rush of vision towards the interior.
The light within the installation is repeatedly refracted by the composite interface, creating dramatic colour shifts. The sunlight panels capture the light and activity on either side, revealing and blurring the sequence of images, half-obscuring the interior world as a blurred and dreamy shadow installation that plays out different stories, becoming a transient sculpture of light.
And the design of the space with the silk threads guiding people, and the way people cannot concretely perceive each other, enlightened me and made me think of how some people with deep inner trauma, perhaps difficult to talk to when they are familiar, prefer to share with a wall, a flower, or a stranger, and heal themselves in this way. I wanted to simulate this by allowing people to talk to each other about their trauma in a state of complete defensiveness. So I set up the phone booths and made the facade vertically staggered with sun panels so that people could only see each other’s silhouettes.
When setting up the corridor, through testing various aspects, I realised that I could not apply this approach in the corridor. I wanted to make the corridor a combination of display and experiential interaction, but this approach would greatly compress the space for people to walk and create a waste of space. I therefore preferred to use walls to carry more interactive functions.
Noting the importance of graffiti in recording memories of the city, I found graphic street art can tell historic tales. clerkenwell design week 2019 celebrates the rich yet sometimes dark historical tales of its neighborhood with a collection of temporary graphical street installations. titled ‘once upon a time’, the series details stories from six locations that have been interpreted into highly visual designs by graphic design communication students from UAL. from radicals to prison bombings, The artists have created iconic graffiti on seven historical points on the street wall. providing a modern memorial for each event. 设计师alba skottowe marks a highly informative illustration outside farringdon station. the image represents the old metropolitan railway line with the original stops marked along its winding path. this graphic also reflects the timeline of the railway’s history, where additional imagery depicts the various events that happened. within clerkenwell’s winding fabric of old streets and buildings, rory brown has created a graphical representation of the history of the passing alley. And as the latest convicted criminal will be escorted through the alley with a beer, he brings this culture and memory to life through graffiti.
Maxim cook creates an interactive project that encompasses the past and future of the location. visitors are able to scan each QR code on the objects to find out more about the alley. facts and stories from the past few centuries will be unearthed.
And I wanted to allow people to interact with the wall by painting on it to uncover their innermost experiences and share them to achieve emotional resonance with others.