Increments of translation
This is a proposal for a network of translational artifacts in Union Square that seek to overlap, overlay, and superimpose the diverse set of movements inherent to the site. These artifacts provide a means of translating oneself in all spatial axes by utilizing the stair: a metaphor for incremental time and an inherently transitional object. The stair artifacts awaken individuals to their own speed of movement and to the complex networks of velocities and itineraries around them. Opportunities of slowness and speed are juxtaposed. Rather than moments of intrusion or intervention, these stair artifacts are interludes along one’s path that internalize and index qualities of light and movement.
The thesis is perhaps more about the process, though, than it is about the final proposal. In addition to a final proposal for a series of stairs in Union Square, I explored and produced a method for representation through an iterative process of translation. The title Increments of Translation, then, refers to both my proposal and my process of exploration.
The final proposal is intimately linked with my initial exploration of slowness and pinhole photography. See more about the slowness experiments here, and about pinhole photography here. I thought of my stairs as conceptual pinhole cameras, objects that internalize the light and movement qualities of the surrounding environment and produce or contain indices of that environment.
In this thesis slowness is just as important as speed, experience just as important as stair, and process just as important as proposal.
Here, the thesis is presented in 4 parts, from top of the page to bottom:
Slowness Experiments
Catalogue of Stairs
Precedent Analysis
Proposal - Sketch, Collage, Drawing, & Model
To learn more in depth about this thesis, please read the book that I compiled after the completion of the project by clicking the button below.