Jewellery & Metal (MA)
Vito Alberto Cinquemani
Born and raised in Italy, Vito obtained an MA in Architecture from the University of Florence. He has been living in the UK for five years.
Sponsors
Behrens Foundation
From the dawn of history man has been investigating the rules and laws which regulate his presence and existence in the world with the aim of unifying reality through logical and geometric principles.
Geometry was born precisely from this need for organization and division of space. Using geometric principles our ancestors planted the seed of civilization in the arid and uncultivated land, ensuring the birth and development of societies. Through the use of forms and measurements, man endeavored to create a world "in proportion", encapsulating nature into precise numerical connections.
The relationship between the body or form that nature has provided us and the three-dimensional space in which we are "forced" to live, is the basis of my research.
As living beings, we are constituted by various forms of matter and energy, which are also the means we use to interact and relate with the world around us. We should see reality in its totality: a dense network of relationships and exchanges, made up of matter and energy; a "magnetic field" in which we are constantly immersed and where the variation of a single element corresponds to an interconnected modification which in turn is matched by infinite others.
Everything is connected even if invisible to the eyes.
Think, for example, of the motion of bodies, including our own: in every moment of life shifting, coordinating, moving, changing direction and intensity, producing and also absorbing energy which is invisible to our eyes but perceptible in our deepest self. Arguably even what we call “inanimate” connects constantly with the world by an uninterrupted dialogue.
From this vision, the three chapters of the research have come to life, through which I have tried to allow the contemporary man to better shape and understand his essence and build a new concept of the future.
Sketches
Steel reinforcement mesh, bungee cords, CLS studwork timber
Using the cube, the three-dimensional space of reality is subdivided into perfect modules, making visible what naturally is not, materializing the forces and the fluid matter that envelops us.
The perfection and conciseness of the geometrical shape are opposed to the imperfection and naturalness of the body. The realm becomes modular, consisting of strings which interact and respond to the movements and stresses of the human model. This architecture occupies the space and makes it possible to read and understand it. An authentic “space machine" which, like a score that makes the representation of sounds possible, in turn makes the void and movement readable.
Sketches
Sugar glass, jewellery wax, silicone mould
Sugar glass, jewellery wax, photography studio set
Sugar glass sheets, acrylic box
Bodies in motion create new relationships and reinterpretations, not only of themselves but of everything around them.
How do forms change in relation to their movement and speed?
And how in turn do they transform their surroundings?
How could such movement materialize and become tangible in all its parts?
In this new experiment, space not only becomes visible but also enters into a close connection and in a relationship of rupture with the element “time”. Space deforms itself in time and movement creates in it a visible and distinguishable trace. The motion becomes tangible and material in every part or "frame". Space, time and subject, therefore, merge into a single new element that affirms itself in its three-dimensionality.
Sketches
Growth factors applied to the 3D scan of the body. The values vary from 1 to 11, based on the different intensity of emotions recorded in the various anatomical areas. From top left to right: Happiness, Sadness, Anger, Fear
Recorded effects of the interaction between body and space modules
Happiness (glass, clear resin)
Sadness (glass, clear resin)
Anger (glass, clear resin)
Fear (glass, clear resin)
In everyday reality, in which we are absorbed, we realize that these hypotheses are not satisfied, but without any doubt, the relativity of space and time is something that the human being can experience even if not physically approaching extreme speeds.
What makes this possible is a series of invisible forces which not only belong to man but also to all the other elements that adorn and fill the world. These energies are imperceptible to the eyes can be synthesized into what we call emotions.
Le Corbusier attributed the ability to excite to the field of architecture. In reality, everything in the world is capable of generating energies, both positive and negative. How do these elements relate to space and time and how do they in turn change? They are aspects with which we interact incessantly and simultaneously, they allow us to connect totally with the world around us. They are like extensions of our limbs but also auras that envelop every single object. Emotions, understood as energy, are able to modify not only the mental but also the physical state of matter.
At this point, therefore, the research finds the limit of the materials and for this reason, an approach capable of bypassing the physicality becomes necessary. Now the spatial elements become virtual and intangible, and at the same time they guarantee a response to the inputs generated by our bodies. The grid, previously metallic and solid, becomes a proportional element that maintains the relationship between space and the corporeity of the human being. The four basic emotions turn into an explosive mixture able to interact with space and time, functioning as generative material for new possibilities and concepts. This propulsive mechanism has to be understood as a double verse. It is true that each individual and object emanate energy towards their surroundings, but in the same way, what surrounds the thing has a precise and often overbearing influences on itself. Therefore, it is a bidirectional motion that creates exchanges and interrelationships.
Let's try to imagine, even for a single moment, the power and possibilities opened up by such a worldview. The Situationists, as well as the Surrealists, had already hypothesized emotional exchanges between reality, human beings and psychogeography as precisely the result of such point of views. Let us think, for example, how objects in different scales and sizes (be they buildings or blocks of rough stone), can influence reality and also ourselves through such energy flows. Emotions come from space, but what if space can derive from emotions? Can it literally be sculpted through them? We could imagine a completely different real world and this could be the missing link for the development of the civilization of the future.
As for the cubic modules, they can be adapted to different proportions following the Vitruvius treaty in the hope of a new Humanism. Due to that, changing the character, the modules would also change and consequently the proportions and scale of the project itself.
A new "Modulor" works not only according to productive and economic needs but mainly depends on social and qualitative urgencies. Everything should be rethought, redesigned and repositioned in society with this new perspective, avoiding deeper divisions with ourselves and the world around us. In this new system, art should guide and also reflect this transformation in all its aspects, abandoning the galleries in order to take back reality as a whole.
Currently, we are looking to the future but living in the past. Only through a total revolution of both artistic and design principles in their entirety, we could truly reconnect with the essence of our time.
WITH SPECIAL THANKS TO DIGITAL ARTIST HENGSHI KANG (https://drsouil.github.io/Portfolio), AND INTERIOR
DESIGNER MARCO BENEDETTI FOR GRACIOUSLY PROVIDING SUPPORT WITH C# CODING AND RENDERINGS,
RESPECTIVELY.
Behrens Foundation
Jewellery & Metal Event Panel Discussion: The Body Alive