eltono | traces

Characteristically simple, subtle and effective, Eltono hits us again with his lateral take on the surfaces and inscriptions of the city. Traces

projection mapping / light space

Pablo Valbuena - Medialab Prado, Madrid

First brought to our attention via the digital archive slowly building on the excellent ICASEA blog attached to the UK/JP electronic art label, the work of artist/architect Pablo Valbuena challenges the perception of space by the direct manipulation of light to create complex geometric illusions. The use of form, space and light, highly conventional architectural terms, as layers of intervention and re_presentation through sculpture and projection mapping in his work is well removed from the prevalent employment of such.

Perhaps of most interest here are the interventions in urban space, rather than those in interior environments. The animation of the hard rectilinear landscape outside of the Medialab Prado in Madrid (2007) is a post-Tron digital dissection of space. It is remarkable how the aesthetic of cybernetic art has returned to a minimal and binary position. The works of Carsten Nicolai and Ryoji Ikeda have consistently relied upon a retreat to minimal linear and geometric form that can be easily perceived as not too distant from the pioneering work of Lloyd Sumner and Roman Verostko.

Ryoji Ikeda - Datamatics

freeway amour / motorway love

A recent visit to Seattle, Washington left the author with some serious early morning syndrome as he struggled to adjust to Pacific time. With internet access this time proved invaluable in terms of researching a days activity. A particular fascination with the interstitial space beneath freeways had emerged that week as the US has much more in the way of aerial roads. Trawling the internet for Seattle freeway information brought to light this amazing shot by Matt Finnish on Flickr.

It is part of a set, one of them has the intriguing tag line “offramp with no destination in Seattle’s Montlake area“. This statement brought to mind the ‘stubs’ of junctions planned for Mancunian Way [A635(M)]  Photos here. A googlemaps search and subsequent examination of the satellite images revealed a most surprising piece of public intervention.

The date of available satellite imagery online is always questionable, just look at your own city and try and find buildings that you know have been recently constructed. The idea of making messages large enough to be seen from aircraft is not a new one either. Commercially, just near to Manchester Airport, the offices of the Renold Chain company bore their name from 1954. The building itself was an RIBA award winner by Cruickshank and Seward. There are undoubtedly numerous examples of the same commercial use globally. The idea has even perpetuated grafitti culture, Steve Powers, in his book The Art of Getting Over first brought to the author’s attention the 350 foot long piece by Saber at LAX. The story was further illuminated by Saber himself unpon the publication of Mad Society. This however appeared to be a different event, one of an appreciation of a surface and its visibility without regard for publicity or infamy, apparently an uncontrolled expression of deisre and a sound local knowlegde of available tarmac.

Renold Chain Company offices (1954) seen from above in the 1970s. Image from Cruickshank and Seward archive.

Saber, LA River, visible on approach to LAX. Image from Streetbombing.

A visit to the site was definitely in order to record this strange intervention and to see if time, or the authorities, had eroded the marks to the point they were no longer visible. The weather was typically Mancunian (that fine rain that soaks you through) and the exploration unusually rewarding.

Date stone of incomplete freeway works.

Access ramp with temporary (permanent) concrete barriers in place.

Words; you can make out ‘GINA’

Big heart

The walk back revealed a good piece of adaptation by the local skateboarders who had fashioned a ramp, using minimal material, to the rear of the concrete barrier.

Probably one for the Temporary Services crew.

Upon return an internet search revealed local press had picked up on the act of love and were asking the question ‘Who is Gina?” The comments make for an entertaining read, whilst not reaching a conclusion.