Competition Things
"Origami Sukkah" for Sukkah City NYC [2010]
The decisive symbol of perpetual mobility and temporality is the nomad, one who carries all her needs on her back. This project explores the formal and aesthetic qualities of nomadism with an origami structure that doubles as both a garment and the temporary structure of the sukkah. The triangular and psuedo-pyramid forms of the origami also plays with the reversal of the symbolism of structures built on the backs of the Jews (the pyramids).
The folds of the translucent mylar forms denote upward movement and ascension, while a roof of bark from the paper birch--native to New York and used by the Indians in canoe building--reconnects the structure back to it's native locale.
Ideally, the walls would be worn by a rotation of nude, gentile urban-nymphs, with the base of the wall wrapped around their bodies, and the height of the wall unfurling into the sky.
Realistically, the walls can be worn by anyone, for as long as they occupy the sukkah.
Voice Box [2007]
Voice Box is a wooden crank instrument which releases a pre-recorded sound upon impact. In this maner, one's voice is literally thrown.
The word "ventriloquism" comes from a Latin rendering of the Greek word engastrimantis or engastrimuthos, literally "belly-prophet" or "belly-speaker" respectively, a word which first appears in texts from the classical period of the fifth century BCE. The most inclusive modern definition of ventriloquial practice is the vocal production of sounds or voices that appear to come from somewhere other than their actual source. However, from antiquity to the present, the cognates of ventriloquism have been associated with such disparate phenomena as demon possession, necromancy, the imitation of multiple and remote voices, belief in a rare natural ability to "throw the voice" or to speak inwardly, and the tendency of humans to mislocate the source of a sound in response to visual and auditory cues.
The two basic types of vocal modulation associated with ventriloquism as a mimetic technique are vocal transformation and acoustic perspective. The former designates a change of voice that is in contrast either to the speaker's normal voice or to other assumed or imitated voices. Acoustic perspective is the principle behind not only the voice-throwing illusion or distant ventriloquism, but also the auditory signification of space and movement in the sign systems of radio drama or cinema sound tracks. The voice-throwing illusion foregrounds the normally unconscious structural operation through which the voice is localized as a speaking agent.
The key to the voice-throwing illusion is vocal imitation of the modulation that sounds undergo traveling between points of distance or through obstacles. These vocal signs sometimes function effectively to misdirect the hearer to a signified source of a sound even without visual cues and purposeful misdirection.
"Midori-no-sumi" for Muji [2005]
A corner planter for freash herbs grown right in your kitchen. What else would you use wall corners for?
Version one: Polymer paper recycled from plastic water bottles--waterproof and tearproof
Version two: Pressed wool felt
"Token" for Bombay Sapphire Glass Competition [2005]
My friend Emmett Feldman and I worked on this; we really thought it would win something...
Inspiration for Token is the essence of lemon peel in Bombay Sapphire. A slit is provided where a lemon twist will sit and always stay in place. The surrounding area of the slit is dimple textured, like peel, fading into the smooth finish of the clear glass. The exterior assymetry and inside shape of the glass is brought on by the weight of a supposed lemon, molding and forming a standard glass. Glass ht 6-3/4". For other dimensions see drawing.
Never again will I throw my pearls before swine!
The decisive symbol of perpetual mobility and temporality is the nomad, one who carries all her needs on her back. This project explores the formal and aesthetic qualities of nomadism with an origami structure that doubles as both a garment and the temporary structure of the sukkah. The triangular and psuedo-pyramid forms of the origami also plays with the reversal of the symbolism of structures built on the backs of the Jews (the pyramids).
The folds of the translucent mylar forms denote upward movement and ascension, while a roof of bark from the paper birch--native to New York and used by the Indians in canoe building--reconnects the structure back to it's native locale.
Ideally, the walls would be worn by a rotation of nude, gentile urban-nymphs, with the base of the wall wrapped around their bodies, and the height of the wall unfurling into the sky.
Realistically, the walls can be worn by anyone, for as long as they occupy the sukkah.
Voice Box [2007]
Voice Box is a wooden crank instrument which releases a pre-recorded sound upon impact. In this maner, one's voice is literally thrown.
The word "ventriloquism" comes from a Latin rendering of the Greek word engastrimantis or engastrimuthos, literally "belly-prophet" or "belly-speaker" respectively, a word which first appears in texts from the classical period of the fifth century BCE. The most inclusive modern definition of ventriloquial practice is the vocal production of sounds or voices that appear to come from somewhere other than their actual source. However, from antiquity to the present, the cognates of ventriloquism have been associated with such disparate phenomena as demon possession, necromancy, the imitation of multiple and remote voices, belief in a rare natural ability to "throw the voice" or to speak inwardly, and the tendency of humans to mislocate the source of a sound in response to visual and auditory cues.
The two basic types of vocal modulation associated with ventriloquism as a mimetic technique are vocal transformation and acoustic perspective. The former designates a change of voice that is in contrast either to the speaker's normal voice or to other assumed or imitated voices. Acoustic perspective is the principle behind not only the voice-throwing illusion or distant ventriloquism, but also the auditory signification of space and movement in the sign systems of radio drama or cinema sound tracks. The voice-throwing illusion foregrounds the normally unconscious structural operation through which the voice is localized as a speaking agent.
The key to the voice-throwing illusion is vocal imitation of the modulation that sounds undergo traveling between points of distance or through obstacles. These vocal signs sometimes function effectively to misdirect the hearer to a signified source of a sound even without visual cues and purposeful misdirection.
"Midori-no-sumi" for Muji [2005]
A corner planter for freash herbs grown right in your kitchen. What else would you use wall corners for?
Version one: Polymer paper recycled from plastic water bottles--waterproof and tearproof
Version two: Pressed wool felt
"Token" for Bombay Sapphire Glass Competition [2005]
My friend Emmett Feldman and I worked on this; we really thought it would win something...
The heat of their passion molds one into the other. Like a feather in his cap, a token of their liaison, the lemon twist is perched atop the glass. Never again will she drown in her tears...
Inspiration for Token is the essence of lemon peel in Bombay Sapphire. A slit is provided where a lemon twist will sit and always stay in place. The surrounding area of the slit is dimple textured, like peel, fading into the smooth finish of the clear glass. The exterior assymetry and inside shape of the glass is brought on by the weight of a supposed lemon, molding and forming a standard glass. Glass ht 6-3/4". For other dimensions see drawing.
Never again will I throw my pearls before swine!