tryharderfailbetter

I've been trying to plan the actual physical construction of my piece for the T.A.A. event, which is proving a little harder than I first assumed.  My work tends be be on quite a large scale, indeed the last piece I did pretty much needed and entire room to function properly, and when it went to Liverpool, it was a logistical nightmare moving it across country. I even had to break one of the sculptures up for the return journey.

For this project, I won't know where the space is until I have to install the work, I don't know how much space there is, and there might not be any electricity. This adds up to quite a bit of practical thinking, which, in all honesty, I'm not used to. My plan was to throw something together, transport it half built to the space, and then stick it together there, but even simple tools I take for granted like a glue gun or drill are ruled out without electricity.

I had two plans, one being some large scale prints, and the other being some kind of sculptural construction. I've been mulling over this idea of the sculpture for a while, as I like the idea of making a sculpture that will decay over time, or will barely support it's own weight, swaying and twisting and eventually falling in on itself, etc. Messing about in SketchUp last night yielded these results;

Which I quite like, although I went a bit overboard with the old Copy and paste there so the finished result might not be so impressive. Alas the scale is way, way out, if this was actually built it would be about 14 metres high, which is about the height of 7 tall people standing on each others shoulders. So I'll be dong a more realistic one at some point. Considering the practical elements I also SketchedUp this shape

Which shows the elemental unit I'd be using to construct this thing, if I used timber as my material. Problems with timber include, it being heavy and thick, and it might end up looking too well made, and I'd lose the spindly aspect I'm imagining in my head.

Something like the B of the Bang, or tatlin tower, Or some beautiful Sarah Sze type stuff
Whose work I went to see at the Baltic last November in April, and obviuosly still haven't gotten over. i'm really in love with the idea of a temporary monument to nothing specific, especially considering the recent debate on the subject in Art Monthly.

I'll upload a more realistic SketchUp later on. Now It's time for some lunch.