Lost Lives at the Desk Memorial

This work is a statement portraying my desire to work in the industry of landscape architecture, whilst not being confined to a world behind a computer. This aspiration for an alternative experience in the landscape is driven by an understanding of the haptic sensation’s I enjoy in my daily life, being touched by sun and the wind, seeing trees move, hearing birds calling. It seems the outside offers a much more interactive space then static environment of a building.

Acknowledging the fundamental reasons for why we work in these environments, I have decided to bring some of the sensory experiences associated with the outside, into a workspace. For this reason I propose to install vegetation into this conceptual workspace, creating a more tactile sensorial experience whilst behind a computer. This alternate experience of a computer work station with vegetation signifies our need as humans to be in contact with “nature” and not living a synthetic lifestyle. When installing the "natural" into the synthetic, the vegetation could be perceived as synthetic, as its existence in a computer is unreal. This work also comments on the limited use vegetation can play in our field of design. As Landscape architects we have the opportunity to use the most highly developed and diverse material on earth “vegetation”, but the use of this material is often overshadowed due to our design process through computers.

 

 How will people respond

The majority of materials that I have used have come from hard waste. This annual affair in our suburbs will undoubted work in favor of my installation, as it is not uncommon to see random pieces of furniture placed out of context in our urban environment.

Someones response to hard waste" Monitors in Discussion".

I predict that people will make a correlation between my installation and the objects that are currently waiting patently around the streets, much like I did a few years ago when I came across this display of monitors in discussion.

DESIGN IN PROCESS

Although the conceptual design of this installation was completed before undertaking construction, it was through the process of creation that the final design emerged. Like any design one must start somewhere. If I was go through this process again, the result would be different, but the approach and process would alternately be the same. This is due to the visual guidelines I undertake in applying the La Pok aesthetic.

Built in my backyard.

Intervention installed on site.

 By placing this desk installation on a concrete box, rather then on the grass, the eye of the viewer is more likely to recognize the work station. According to the reading “Open Spaces”, “giving form reduces the amount of individual pieces of information to be absorbed, Thus have our mind clear for additional information”. Forming means reacting to connections and creating them. Now that the work station is easily distinguished from its surroundings, the user can then to make out the components of the installation and began to unpack what it is that they see. It is this process of recognition that has inspired me to paint the work. As if I had not, it would be much easier to comprehend, that this is a desk with a computer on top, filled with plants. If this was as easily recognized it would certainly create less interest by passes by. 

I couple of months later I was searching to see if anyone had posted the memorial. I was pleasantly surprised to find an  article in the Northcote leader. If you want to check it out click here.

Pok Sculpture

 Thinking about how to place La Pok into the Landscape I decided to take a Pok Man for a walk.

Roberto Burle Marx (AWESOME)

Looking back on my precedents and thinking of "how I can be a Landscape architects as the artist La Pok?", I realized I have forgot to reference one of my favorite Landscape architects, the late but great Roberto Burle Marx.

He is someone whom has succeeded in translating his artist style directly into landscapes, through form and materials. His extensive use and knowledge of vegetation is also something I aspire to achieve in my professional practice. 

 

Caemi Foundation Rio De Janero

Safra Bank Headquarters Sao Paulo

Largo da Carioca, Rio De Janero

The images above have been sourced from the book "The Legacy of Burle Marx".

 Reflecting on Burle Marx's work it is evident that his designs stem directly from his painting style transformed into plan, whilst considering specific site condition's. I think I might select a park around Melbourne and trial different designs, with this approach.

Pok Man "The Chase"

The short film POKMAN "The Chase" made in 2009, was an exploration in placing La Pok into the urban environment. The chase as a plot enabled the characters Pokman, Fft and Chicken Heart to move through different landscapes. Their costumes juxtapose their surroundings, creating unexpected scenes in familiar settings. I don't have the movie at the moment, but will post it soon...

As we moved through different scenes, peoples reaction where varied. Little kids stared in amazement, some people applauded some people ignored us and one security guard escorted us out of the Northcote Plaza.

POK MAN

CHICKEN HEART

Ffft

This was my first attempt at making a short film and was a lot of fun. It was interesting to see what we could come up with using a minimum of materials. Basically cardboard, string and paint. From here we have begun planing another movie APokAFari, which will be shot at Tambo Station. 


 What I have learnt making this short film is that we need more durable customs, as they did not wether well. However we intend to still use found and recycled materials for costumes and sets.  

Tambo Dreaming

Annual Australia Day party at Tambo Station. Each year has a different theme, dressing up allows us to be transported to another place and time, but Tambo always comes with us.  The process of crafting our costumes is also important, this year most of us had to fashion our outfits from things around the farm, like 'Little Feather' whose headdress was fashioned from a retro Bolle ski helmet and rams horns.

For the first time this year saw the introduction of sculpture into Tambo's landscape. Above is a dream catcher standing roughly 5 meters tall made from young eucalyptus trees, poly pipe, and shredded chaff bags. Sculpture is something I've always wanted to implement into Tambo's working landscape.

Pok O Rama

The purpose of the Pok O Rama is to take the first step in making LA Pok Escapes. The idea is to extruded elements from 2d paintings and drawings I have completed in the past. Extruded they will create a life size 3d diorama or in fact a mini landscape. By doing so I hope to portray a better understanding of what La Pok escapes could be for myself and my school mentors. 

The rocks in my work will be an easy element to stagger creating depth in the Pok O Rama. They may also be used on the background.

The grass in the foreground on the right and below is also a good element to use, and and easy way of representing vegetation. although i do still wont real plants in the landscape.

I would also like to use fake and real vines through the landscape. The Pok representation of vines are shown left. The image below is Pok and Chicken Heart, otherwise known as Chickpok.

The above images are of some precedents of diorama styles.

 The first Pok O Rama I am going to build is inspired from above.

By creating this work I have realised that I have began trying to disguise the boxed space that the landscape is placed in. I have achieved this by rolling the sky over onto the roof of the box. This is something I wish to test further.

 

I am pleased with the illusion the ground pattern has on the sloped surface. I have hung vines in this work that i wished to test in a Pokorama, but am not sure if it works well in this instance. I think this box needs something else in the foreground so as to balance the work.

When I made the work above I imagined the bands across the top as bridges and the background the sky, as if looking up. When this work was translated into a Pokorama it took on a vertical format instead of a horizontal.

Although I am working towards doing more then just offsetting panels to create depth, I ended up doing just that in this work. What I like best about this work is that it is more abstracted then just representing a scenario.  

Painting the background in this work has proven successful in working towards the illusion that this space is not a box.

 

The forth painting I have extruded into a Pokorama

aims to remove the squared edge at both the bottom and top of the back of the box.

Having the piped form hanging off the sky has also worked well in changing the dynamics of the boxed environment.