Lawrence Abrahamson has recently completed a research project with the Digital Creative Centre at Nanyang Technological University in Singapore that focuses on how space is perceived and experienced in Asian cultures. Explorations into ways of demonstrating and applying aspects of an Asian perception of space led Lawrence to develop a methodology of creating temporary site-specific installations with flagging tape.
Highlighting places hidden in the environment and outlining forms already existing in the setting, the invisible becomes visible. The installations bring awareness to voids by filling them and set them on display for viewers to observe, contemplate and absorb. The aim of the installations is to reveal a sense of the Japanese spatial understanding of Ma, a “consciousness of place”, and is based on the Eastern notion that activity plays an integral part in place-making, that space is created not necessarily through built forms but through the experience of them.
The installs are an active experience requiring time and movement to bring life to the work and a willing audience to make the spaces live on. A 360-degree rotation around the pieces allows the individual planes to push and pull against each other as the solids and voids of the environment mix. The dynamic objects and spaces sit quietly until one happens upon them. As the viewer circulates around the work, it begins to move, its mechanics swinging into action as it comes to life. The surrounding area is now activated and engaged as the context for a temporary event.
An intriguing aspect of an Asian perception of space is that the mind becomes a vital instrument in constructing and containing place. Developed through the patina of program, a space becomes richer and more layered when activity happens in it, when a humanizing element is introduced. Utilizing the flagging tape installations as moments in the environment, a void is activated and patina is cultivated within the space. Observed installations provide experiences for the viewers that, depending on their level of engagement, produce different meanings and attachments. Once removed, a lingering residue of the form remains, the “retina burn”, forever transforming the site in the mind of those who experience it. An invisible sense of solidity in a visual void, the installations create a virtual sense of space.
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