Duncan Will
What: Feathered Edge, Ball-Nogues Studios, 2009
Where: MOCA, Pacific Design Center, Los Angeles
The new installation by Ball-Nogues Studios entitled Feathered Edge further explores the obsession that Benjamin Ball and Gaston Nogue have with impermanent architectural design. With the third installation in a series entitled “Suspensions”, Ball-Nogues have continued to explore the ability of everyday materials to modulate space in a sensational manner that encourages social interaction; however, Feathered Edge builds upon their past works by combining digital technology, mechanized production, and hand-craft techniques.
Upon entering the MOCA gallery at the Pacific Design Center, the viewer is surprised by a seemingly endless form of colorfully dyed string hanging from the ceiling. The work initially appears to be rather haphazard in its assembly, but it quickly becomes apparent that the complexity of this form could only be achieved through a meticulous design and assembly process. The process began with new computer software that was developed in collaboration with Pylon Technical to create “custom parametric modeling tools” which allowed the artists to explore the spatial configurations that the string is capable of.[1] After the digital rendering of the project was finalized, a machine was built specifically to cut and dye the string segments. Finally, the digital design and the mechanized production were married through a labor-intensive process of installation. On their website, the artists write that they use “the prowess of the computer to push the limits of the hand.”[2] The computer aids in the design process and enables the artist to create forms that would be too complex without software, but it is their own knowledge of the properties of string that conditions the digital design. The resulting work creates an impermanent form constructed of 21 miles of strategically dyed string that is designed with the aid of digital software and mechanic process but still responds to natural forces like light, wind, and movement.
In contrast to the intensive design process, the installation has an organic quality to it as the strings occasionally sway as a result of movement in the gallery and the form is conditioned by light and other atmospheric conditions. When viewed from different perspectives within the gallery, the form of the work changes with the orientation of the viewer. Therefore, Ball and Nogues, have utilized mechanical processes to guarantee complete control over the resulting form of the string catenaries yet those highly manipulated catenaries have a life of their own that is inherent in the properties of the string material. The artists have effectively created an architectural form that is at once permanent and adaptable to changes in its environment. Feathered Edge makes a statement about the versatility and resulting sustainability of architecture as it becomes clear that everyday materials can be re-imagined for an infinite variety of uses, each of which reinforces the longevity of the material because its value is multiplied with each reincarnation of the material.
According to a statement on the artists’ website, the viewing experience is constantly changing because “the gallery space becomes activated by people, movement, and light.”[3] This statement clearly aligns Ball-Nogues with the aims of California’s Light and Space movement of the 1970’s. Consider a quote by California Light and Space artist Robert Irwin, “I’ve seen shadows more beautiful than anything I’ve ever made, there’s a richness in being aware of it. It’s totally free, it’s there all the time.”[4] Just as the Light and Space artists shifted the focus away from the glorification of the artist to the sensory experience of the viewer, Ball-Nouges’ design envelopes the viewer within the viewing experience so that the work focuses on the reinterpretation of space. In this paradigm the glorification of the artist-genius is not a concern, but rather the ability of a designed space to bring viewers together in revelry of the space. The artwork of both Ball-Nogues and Light and Space artists, such as Robert Irwin, encourages the viewer to take this new knowledge about the relationship between form and space and to apply it to their everyday lives so that they have a heightened awareness of the forms that define our common experiences. Feathered Edge proves that form is most likely intentionally constructed to create a deliberate experience yet frequently the perception of the form is conditioned by forces that cannot be controlled by the designer such as the amount of people in a space or the way shifting patterns of light the aesthetic quality of a form. With Feathered Edge, Ball-Nogues were explicity aware of these changes in environmental conditions and their impact on the perception of the work.
Within the gallery context, the work forces a reevaluation of the empty spaces that exist throughout the conventional gallery experience that can be defined by two-dimensional imagery hung on walls. The string is not the primary focus, but rather it serves to emphasize the negative space that exists between the catenaries and throughout the gallery and our everyday lives. The ephemeral three-dimensional forms created by the string patterns further asks the viewer to reevaluate vacant space and the radical way that design can transform perceptions of a space.
[2] Ball, Benjamin and Nogues, Gaston, Feathered Edge, www.ball-nogues.com/feathered_edge. Accessed 9/24/09.
[3] Ball, Benjamin and Nogues, Gaston, Feathered Edge, www.ball-nogues.com/feathered_edge. Accessed 9/24/09.
[4] Hunter Moskowitz. An Afternoon with Robert Irwin. http://www.artbabble.org/video/afternoon-robert-irwin.
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