Abstract
This project holds fascination in the unmasking of truth, in our post colonial cities, through identifying contradictory co-equals, where one matter cannot exist without the other, such as light and darkness, social ill and social good, leisure and labour, reality and fiction. This is done by using spatial tools to render these visible and suggest alternate relations between these two entities. Contradictory co-equals navigates itself in different ways within this project: here versus there, outside versus inside, above versus below, now versus then, remaining versus remains. This speaks about space, perspective, time and a state of being. These are processed by straddling the threshold of the ‘fourth wall’ as a supersurface, and resultant adjacent heterotopias which are produced, particularly in the context of Gold Reef City in Johannesburg. In places of performance, we find the articulation of the invisible ‘fourth wall’, a concept, as brought to light by Dennis Diderot (1713-1784). This device is used as a term to specify the division of space between the performers and spectators, usually present to allow a very specific frame of observation for spectators. This concept is important in providing a framework of engagement in which these two parallels may be juxtaposed and decoded; revealing overlaps, collisions, similarities, and contradictions of the co-equals. Michel Foucault (1986:24) writes of heterotopic sites as the in-between or other sites. This is a position, one might argue, that is in opposition with that of ‘utopia’, “heterotopias in Foucault’s conception are real places that exist like “counter-sites”, simultaneously representing, contesting, and inverting all other conventional sites” (Iwan Sadrudjat 2012:29). Drawing from this concept the project argues that the ‘fourth wall’ is not only a scale to measure difference, but also acts as a “counter-site” (Iwan Sadrudjat 2012:29) resisting polarisation; a space for unexpected encounters and occurrences. In this project, heterotopias are understood as worlds within worlds, which often operate with sophisticated spatial apparatus, including those that convey systems of illusion, suspend or subdue time, juxtapose seemingly congruent narratives, and open and close to the world it embeds itself in within particularly managed apertures or access ways. This project, in a sense, uses an exaggerated form of a heterotopia as a kind of didactic tool, a new way of seeing the spaces we encounter, many of which have dark hidden pasts. This project is understood through a heterotopic site viewed as “playspace as modality” (Steffen Walz 2010:27). Playspace as modality is determined beyond a subjective experience; holding qualities that can be physical, virtual, or a hybrid of these two settings (Walz 2010:18). The aim of this project is to exaggerate dualism but also expose the third of things. By looking at celestial and infernal, one does not exist without the other in a linguistic way, but then the third of this is earthly, one which is the in-between, the holistic, the more inclusive matter that we deal with. This is made with the intention to create grounds for hypothetical supersurfaces of familiarity. Moreover, the project may take on vivid dream-like fragments as a network of the depths of the supersurface. Central Research Question: If the surface is just a skin, facade or frame to hide, protect or hold together the depth of the matter, how might the effective use of the ‘fourth wall’ create a more responsive relationship between the contradictory co-equals within a spatial setting? Methodology: “Virtual reality is all about illusion. It’s about computer graphics in the theater of the mind. It’s about the use of technology to convince yourself you’re in another reality.” - Primintel and Texiera (1995:7) This project is envisaged as an interactive work involving an immersive landscape through the use of Virtual Reality (VR). It allows the fourth wall to not only be a flatline of division and projection but further creates an interactive realm/sphere in which the wall becomes an immersive and interactive space with depth and dimension. ‘Inhibition’, an immersive performance-based exhibition, created as part of the Interactive Architecture lab by Zoe Diakiki and Marina Mesiadou (2021), will be researched as a precedent of a playspace of modality (Walz, 2010:27). Through the use of VR, ‘Inhibition’ succeeds in creating an immersive experience which “invites the audience to become performers exploring their sense of agency” (Mersiadou. M, Diakaki. Z, 2021). The explorer becomes an observer of the virtual heterotopia which in return becomes observed by spectators. This is relevant to the research as it provides practical methodologies of engagement and observation; exposing the parallels of the fourth wall whilst users are submerged in the virtual event. The project aims to adopt such techniques into the framework of the ‘fourth wall’, where architectural tools may be used to extract and acquire meaningful data. Through the exploration of heterotopias, the counter sites reveal the parallels of contradictory co-equals.
M.Tech. (Architecture)