Khim's research on Lucio Fontana and Urbanscreen



Lucio Fontana 
(1899-1968)




Career:  Italian painter, sculptor, and theorist
Recognized as:  The founder of an art movement, "spatialism"
Work:  Known for making "Tagli" (slashes) and "Buchi" (holes) on canvas



Spacial Concept, 
Tagli, 1960 (left) and Buchi, 1968 (right)


He has been intrigued with the idea of virginal state
and to 'deflower' the purity of the flawless monochrome surface.
[Mentioned via his close friend, Milena Milani]


Working Method: Tagli and Buchi


His work of the Spacial Concept series were mainly compromised of 
monochromatic surfaces getting slashed or penetrated with holes. 
Given the name "an art for the Space Age", it was also mentioned that 
the slash was done to open up a new space, which will be accessible only 
after the monochrome canvas (virgin) has been slashed open (deflowered).


This is how the sequence goes:



"The purpose of the cut or the slash was to reveal a new and
unexplored terrain that lay beyond the canvas, but in order
to arrive at this new conceptual purity it was first necessary
to deflower the 'purity' of the flawless monochrome surface."

From the book "Lucio Fontana" by Sarah Whitfield, p.18;
from Milena Milani, a close friend of Lucio Fontana



Spacial Concept, Conzetto Spaziale

To aid the understanding towards the effect of Tagli on a plain surface,
I tried to do a mock-up animation to see how a monochrome canvas can be disrupted


What I have discovered from Lucio Fontana's work is that his work creates an impact in which became more emphasized due to the fact that the surface is "clean, mundane, and monochromatic". Within the canvas itself, the display is simply a plain surface; however, once the damage is done (whether by slashing or penetrating), the result from the action appears to be the main attraction and the attention from the viewer involved would likely be shifted towards the tainted area and remains there. The more "pure" the surface was, the more "impact" it creates when the original mundane space got altered.




Urbanscreen
(Since 2005)




Recognized as:  A team of 8 contributing artists involved in large scale projection
Work:  Sydney Opera House Projection; Lighting the Sails


Working Method: 3-Dimensional Projection



Approaches towards the projection includes an assistance of 
3-Dimensional mapping programs such as MadMapper, which 
may be used in coordination with Resolume and Modul8




The basic requirements includes projector(s) which may be aligned in 
a parallel format facing towards the target or according to the axis, 
cameras which may vary upon the project scale, a mapping 
program (ie. MadMapper), and the movie clip for projection.


 Mock-up models are used in relation to the movie clip 
filmed to be projected towards the target.



The mock-up model of Sydney Opera House and the performer

In order to be able to project the image onto the real surface more precisely, 
measurements of the target were taken, scaled down, and produced into 
a mock-up model where the performer(s) were placed against 
during the filming to achieve maximum accuracy.



The "projected" image of the performer towards the real target


Towards Urbanscreen, the effect that was applied to their work could be described as impacting and ephemeral. The impact is what was directed towards the audience, and by ephemeral, it is the damage that was directed towards the building. I have found the installation to be "brief and rebound-able" due to the fact that the target building was not permanently altered and as soon as the projection ended, it returned to how it once was. 

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