Intricacy

Among artists. designers. and architects there is all emerging sensibility of intricacy. Partially heralded by the digital and genetic engineering revolutions, the term inu-icacyconnores a new model or ccnnecticnisrn composed of exu'eruely small scale and incredibly diverse clements. lruricacy is the fuslo» of disparate elements into continuity. the becoming whole of components thar retain their status as pieces in a larger composiuon. Unlike simple hierarchy, subdivision, comparunemnlizauon or modularity, intricacy involves 2 variation of the pans. that is not reducible 10 the structure of the whole.

During the last twenty )'I',HS archhecrure 11<15 been particularly aucrnive LO developments in the visual arts.jnlmarily sculpture. Since the ~ g8o~ sCIIJpLOrs.sl1c1L as Donaldjudd and Vito Acconci have proposed a nd realized building designs. There has always been a close relationship of exchange between architects and artists, and not.only because the), are forced to collaborate ill dose spatial proximity. The tumultuous and productive relationship be tween Richard Serra and Frank Cehry is but one example of mutual influence. More often than not, it is the sculptors \.'1'110 host the conversation, as is the case with <l.1·tiSLS like Judd. James Turrell rind Daniel Burell. The arclrirecrs, for their pan. have translated their techniques in architecture while refining generic forms and fetishizing their detailing. The focus on. celebration and isolation of detailed connections has dorninuted the conversation between ;1I·ch'LeCLUlT and sculpture for a group of architects as diverse as D,l\Iid Chipperfieldjolm Pawson. Tadac Ando, Peter Zunuhor, Diener and Diener and Richard Meier. Apart [J·Ot1l these minimalists, who remain spatially and formally close to the simplicity of minima] sculpture, there are architects of greater spatial and formal complexity whose work is equally invested in material detail: Sleven Hell, WilI iams and Tsicn, Machado Silveui, WiJI Bruder, Stanley Saitowitz and Rafae! Monee to namejust a few.

The term inl'l"ic;;cy lsimended to move away from this umlcJ·slandil1g of the architectural detail as all isolated fetishized instance wi thin nn olheiwi!><.: minima! framework. Detail need 1101. be the reduction or concernration of arc hi tectural design iruo it discrete moment. In an inu-icate network. there <Ire no details per se. Detail Is everywhere. ubiquitously disuibured and couunuously variegated in collaboration with formal and spatial effects. Instead of punctuating volumetric minimalism with discrete details, intricacy implies all over complexity without recourse LO compositional contrast. Intricacy occurs where macro- and micro-scales or components are interwoven and interuvined.

Since Robert Venturi and Denise Scon Brown's Compif'xil)' mul Contradiction ill Architecture (1966), ir has been important fcrarchuecurre LQ define compositional complexity. This exhibition attempts 10 move beyond Venturi's pictorial collage aesrheucs, as well as the Iorrual and spatial collage aesrheucs th<'ll constituted the vanguard of complexity ill architecture, as epitomized byjohnson and Wigley's "DeconSlructi\·i<;lArchjtcclur'e~ exhibiuon m The Museum ofModem Art in I g88, III [his '>1',1)' the exhlbirion is a return 10 many of the conceptual issues raised in the book F(Jldillgi~l ArcMMr;;('IIft' (i~J93) that I edited ten re<ll·s ago. Having had no experience as a curator. I approached the show hom my experience as an editor. The show is intended 10 function within a didactic diruenslon Lhal epitomizes the formal, MWCIUI"~'I.lJ'Id material connection between objects pla-ced in conversation. A less explicit connection to the Folding hi A rchilrrl111r! book is {hal the term iuu-icacv is 3 derivelive of "pli," much like [he ether terms-c-complcx, complicated, pliaru-c-all ofwhich imply compositional

practices of weaving, foldifig andjoinmg

CliralOI

Most of rhe objects 111 "Jmricacy" employ dignaj 0[. pbotogruphic manufacturing and design rechulques The exhibition relies on contemporary machine processes dUH allow for both it monolithic materiality and form while maintaining an incredible fineness or detail and connection. Because of this machinic focus, the show has some kinship with the '"]dachille An" exhibition ,Il The Museum 01" Modern An in 1934. curatcd br Philipjohnson. HOWC\'CI·, instead of proposing a machine aesrheuc I"O!· QUr age, one that would certainly be digital. these works outline a compcs.rional. orgnnizutional. visual and material sensibility that is facilitated by, but not simply reducible to, digital design, vlsualizatlon or manufacturing tools. ThiS exhibition includes only those designs that have achieved a rigorous. nmste'1' or digital design technique. Rather than using the computer fOI- its expedience and potcnual to realize forms and spaces lh<tl. would be otherwise too complicared. messy orconvoluted (0 produce otherwise, these works make a claim towards ekgunce. rigor, expertise and, dare sa)" beauij-. Therefore, wub one exception, norte of these objects n~jr 011 pl"Ocess as a valldauon or explanation of their genesis. The exception i.'i Karl Chu, whose reliance on Frnctal-liku Lindenmaycr geometries gives his procedurally de -r ived forms it coherence lacking ill other process-based indexical architectural projects. Much interesting work b)' architects was nOL included in the exhibition because of this criteria.

Happyaccldcrns and all tcmauc processes arc certainly the precursors to fine grain, derailed, ccrulnuous compositions. The lauer demands a fusion Ih;)1 is not possible without a theory of synthesis and unnj- rhnr maintains detail as a discrete moment that participates intensively in the consuucuon ora new ki nd of whole. In th!s way, a theory ofiruricate form is drawn from Lelbniz's logic ofruonadotogy and Deleuze's subsequent theories or "le pll," 01· ftle/ora. The works in the eahibiuon mark a multi-race led approach towards detail, structurc and form relying on slippages between complex interconnectedness and singularity, between homogeneity at n distance and IlCM formal incoherence in detail, beuvecn disparate interacting systems and monolithic wholes. and finally between mechanical components and voluptuous organic surfaces.

The works exhibited here display <If' almostmyopic rigor within their own disciplines while maintaining ,II, aucrulou LO technical innovauon outside their respective fields. The instnltarlcn's logic draws On similarilief; ill form, material and process and treats disciplinary limits with great degree of expansiveness. Indeed. "Intricacy" aspires 10 disassociate a number of common Ionual and structural techniques from the mlllcu 01" any particular field. A common thread in I he show is an advanced notion of'drafung and dimension, whether constructed, drawn, photographed, or modeled, In rhis way. it is quite important ihar the exhibition be hosted by archhecture, 'where qualities ofdrafting, assembly, and volume are so germane.

Greg Lynn

Rube Goldberg-like schematic drrn'ving ooonesv Greg lynn FORM

Pendulum clock schematic dral'oing COIJ:rtssy Gr-e-g tvnn FOAM.

Intricacy's ViSU:1I senslbillry ernerges from technique rather than ftgur .. nion or cement. The most obvious connections between the works are formal. Marcrial sirnilaruy is also prevalent: almost all of the works arc realized in plastic. ferexample. The drift from monolithic objects ro infinitesimally scaled componenLS explains the technical similarity where man}" of the projects use CNC-colllrolled robotic technologies for their construerion. Despite these atfinlrlcs, this exhibition should not be seen ,IS yet another digital architecture exhibition rbai auempts ,0 define a newstyle based on sirnplisuc formal and material commonaliues gennanc LO the use of'computer aided design tools. Unlike the International Style, which was defined by rectilinear masses rendered in glass and steel, intricacy docs not rely on material Or formal categories for its a priori definition.

Because of rhe ubiquity and availability of rhe computer. inu-icacy can 110 longer gain its force due to the management ofincredible complication and labor imcusivencss. Manually assembled work mono and more is an aesthetic decision and therefore labor value in an must be understood as a choice. Folk or labor intcnstve work was discouraged fOT this reason, as it makes computer designed objects appcu exotic while reinforcing the laborious value of the artistic su-uggte. The robotic ease widl which Roxy Paine's S'wmaJi (2001) forms WCL-e ImIS~ produced makes the labor value associated with gluing together a cloud of packing peanuts less Lel<:'·'IIlL than the geomcu)', density, structure and properties ofthe object itself. No object is 1I10re forceful in LUi statement of modular lnu-lcacy than TOIll Freidman's sculpture U'llfrlfed (acoa). The value of these works becomes a value of ccnsnucrion concept rather than simply complication and labor.

Intricacy evokes a particular kind of cohesion. continuity, holism and even organicity. Intricate structures are continuously connected and intertwined through Ime grain lccal Hnkages such lh:>.t a totality UI· whole is operative. Neither LOp down. nor bonom up, the method of orgnnlzarto» is irrelevant for intricacy. Rube Goldberg conu-aprions, for instance, nrc not intricate, they arc merely complicated: collages oftragmerus that operate in mechanically independent motions. ThL)' are comparuncnralized. Iuu-icate compositions art! organic ill the sense that each and every pal'l and piece is interacting and ccmmurucauug sirnultanecusly, so that every instance is effected by every other inSI(lI11;C. Conunpiions of the Rube Goldberg variety mar be flue grain, disparate, complex and imerdependeru, yet each pan is 20 closed S),SlCIll rhar could be modularly CUL and replaced. Rotc ma-chines and gizmos without the ability to incorporate feedback are 1I0t. intricate. lnu-icncy C,,11 use the techniques of collage b~11 makes 110 appeals to disjunction.

Many of the artworks ill the exhibition, those by James Rosenquist. Fabian Marcaccio and David Reed especially, show how collage techniques can yield continuous field paintings where figures Fuse and merge on a single surface rather than invoking a plctortal space of dtscrete elements. In Rosenquist'S l-lo!Ii'S FI{"}fwr"S (1984), the collaged shards are iudisringulshable from the fields they overlay as. the color. texture and flgurmlon of the flowers and the women's faces. blur and fuse in a single pictorial plane. Similarly, Reed's #.292 ('989-9') works multiple overlaid strokes across and along delineated gridded fields so thatlocally disparate strokes align on seams while also transparently overlaying one another. In a more detailed and flgurauve manner, Marcaccio's PailltI'l'iall{lgem£lti Dmwil'g.~ (lg88-presenL) connects the weaving of the CalH'::IS, the strokes themselves and larger figures along their edges into a whole. These various forms of cohesion counter collage techniques and mnke thewcrk complexlyccnnecred rather than merely complicated. IsSlIl:S of hierarchy and synthesis become mnre important than fragmentation andjuxtaposiuon. The familiar disjunction of cull age isjeuisoned ill favor ofamonclnhic smoothing together of forms and figures such thar individuation and difference arc maintained with hierarchy and coherence

The fusion of dlspararc systems into a continuous rhythm is best explained by the- concept of entrainment.

In L 663, Christian Huygens, the inventor of (he pendulum clock. formulated the UIW or Emrninmeut after observing the behavior of clocks placed adjacent to aile another in the sallie room. Despite their individual movements, overa relatively short time the clocks' pendulums began to swing in a single synchronous rhythm, Through subtle canceltadons, adaptations and modulations the pauern of these disparate mechanisms entrains into a stable, rhythmic, singularity. It was not the clocks, themselves, in their finely constructed mechanism and movements. where intricacy dwelled; it was in the abililY for their minute motions ro subtly modify and adjust to other adjacent paltcl"lu. There arc two preconditions fer emrainmeru. First. the objects rnust be nearly modulating, or nearly modular, and second. the objects must be in the same field

lrnricacy is the logic of fused ecologies, ln biology there is an urueuable but nonetheless tasclnaung concept of the organism as symbiotic. colony of previously free living organisms that adapt 10 reproduce together. II is one otihc most provocative concepts 'ID combat the idea of the simplistic corurapuon or collage. In the book Micmmsm()s: FourBitlian )YearsojEvoi'lliionjmm OIlI"MiCl'(JvirrIAnci!:ifOl"S (1997), Lynn Margulis argues. that higher life forms arc colonies that fuse rogcrherand evolve La reproduce as a single higher level organism For instance. the shell of a calcium-dcposiuug organism becomes a skeleton, an ammonia precessing organism becomes .1 kidney. and other symbiotically linked organisms in an ecosystem become organs if) ~'1 larger organism. Atrophy and hypertrophy of individuated elements. in synchronicity with lite ;:mergence of the whole organism leads to a new body composed of mutually adapted irreducible parts- This becoming-whole is vastly differem From legislated organiciw defined by symmetry. proportion, modularity, hierarchy, or ether forms of global orgnnizauou. II. also differs From infinite organlciry defined by extension, addition. subrraction or multiplication ofsegrnenred modularcomponents

AGGREGATES AND t\SSEiVIBLACES

There are (WO types of connected Pl'lI·LS that <Ire intricate: aggregations and assemblages. Assemblages are non-modular consu-uctions where each and evel)' part is unique in shape and dimension. Varladons are nOI random but an:' derived [rom the overall composition Of;1 whole. Aggregations are instances where modular components are complexly connected 10 produce a mass or form that is not simply reducible to a single

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Tong.MJan Model, liongxlan, China. 2001 assswcod

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CJ;lur1e!lY 01 OffICe CiA, Basion

Office clA is. <'I Boston-based archhecture finn founded in Ig87 by Monica Ponce de L~on (b. ~cL:ezu~la) and Nader Tehrani (b. England}. The work ofOI'11<:e dA ranges from urban design (mel II1t~-astl ucture ro architecture. interiors, and furniture design. Ponce de Leon and Tehrani have won Illlln~rous awards for their residential and furniture designs and have exhibited their proposals widely. Currently, Office ciA is developing a master plan tor the Town of Weyland, l\:ass~'Chl.Ls-eLls, 3~ld an Asian COlllnlunityYollth Ccntcr in downtown [l.oston. The firm is also compklmg the I-~novatlon or Lhe I-Ia ..... :ud GntdUale School of Design offices and galle'l'_ PonCe de Leol' and Teh r?1lL bOlh teach al the H;uvanl Gl-adualc School of Design.

PrinClpalarctlitecls·

Monica f\Mc:e de Leon. Wader Tehr.ani Project coordinators

J8f1As.anz.a, Timolhv ClruK

Randellllg iS8m

Hall",',' Lul Bener, Chrisiioo M.ueller, Krisien Gianmillasio

Fabricaiion ~eam~

Achille Ros$~l"Ii. Hamad AI·Su'ltall. Hadijanto JoJo, T91i, Bueiller, Abeer Seikaly. Chris .Arner, Chns Ors-eg~

·Inlricacy· mstanauon ViBW5

Peter Bsenman ercnsect

Hous-e II AxonDmelrlc Drawing, 1967 Deline;;tor, Cbns Cbmeca

modularlogic of assembly, Examples of nggregmion are the masonry panerus of Office dA·:; TOl1gxicm IVfodrd (aces) and Friedman's assembled packing peanuts. Assemblages are 110l1-IIIOthd,:l]" and include Paine's Sklilllflks and Bl(JbSlu(iic£as well ;IS the structural trusses of designs by Reiser + Umemoto and For-eign Office Architects.

The SIIItIJl{I/.i is. all nsseinblage machine and Iollows an artistic logic of self-criticality. In physics, a critical point is a 110illL where a system radically changes its behavior or Structure, lor instance. From solid to liquid. In standard critical phenomena. there is a control parametcT which all experirnerucr can ">1.1},!O obtain this radical change in behavior. In the case of'mclting, the control parameter is temperature. The S!;ulI/{lkobjecls Freeze the u-ansiucn from liquid to solid at variable rates thus achieving vari.uicns in form. The cruieal state ofthe SJiIDfI(lii rom] s is determined by the inu-insic dynamics of the paint in its surface tension. drying rate and slumping. as well a s b)' the feed rate of the paint r hat is drawn by Paine in the rlispen<;ing CN"C (computer numerically corurclled) machine. Like Ih!: archetype or self-organized critical systems, tile sand pile, the SkUIIIUHSfol"!ll results from mlnlsculc changes in feed rate that u-anslare uuc catastrophic variutinns in overall Form, as well as an irucrnal similnruy and coherence that leu; them be understood as or rbe same artistic species. tamily or typology.

VOLUPTUOUS SURF,ICES AND UNDULATING LATT1CES

Disavowing the disjuucuon or collage. imricacy privileges fusion by either suprrimpositinn Dr surgical connections along edges. In different ,\'ay~, the Rosenquist, Marcnccio and Reed pahutngs ull achieve ccruinuitiea where figures Fuse and iYlctgC (Ill ,I single pictorial surface while muiruainiug muhiple discrete figurauve vocabularies. The fusion of strokes in Reed through complex transparency and fusion across sltcecl grid fields, the mingling of facial features with nOh'CI' petals through ccllaged shards by Rosenquist, and die local braiding and convolutions or brush strokes by Marcaccio, are all examples of fused cohesiveness in paimiug. 'By working complex ccnnecuons rather than complication the figures in these paimings Fluctuate between being cllscrerc clements and smooth pictorial flows. ln archirecuu-e a similar-composition is effected by voluptuous undulating surfaces- composed oflndlviduarcd pHI·lS of'coplanar structurallauices. space Frames or load bearing trusses. Works. by COOP H[~dMELB(L)AIlJ, P(;II.!r Eisenman, FOITign Offlce Architects. and Karl ChI,._] achieve a fusion of elements On a surface \'1..:1)' similar to the photographs of Adam FllSS_ The Hickering between monolithic surface and ::1 collection of structural components raises issues of hierarchy and synthesis rather than fragmentation andjuxtapcshlon.

Though not included in the exhibition, the fiberglass dress made by fashion destgucrHusse!n Chalayan is an cxnmple of Icrm simplified lure a single smooth unarticulared surface. The scams, connections, feauu-cs, colors, pattern and general articularion of a typical dress arc smoothed ituo a singtc plastic form, ThIS conunI.IOUS surface is rhenincised and CHI into panels with a freedom of shape. edge nnd scale that would nOL have been apparent had the dress been thought III conventional flat surfaces seamed together. AL rhe CLIl areas. hardware is used 1.0 hind and connect the rands. This combination of SHiOOlh surfaces and mechanical methods of connection is further extended ill Clralayun's Remote COJ~t1'(j1 JJr"~s, where mechanisms opel! and close the panels or rhe dress. These topological surface studies of the form ofn dress as pure surface, along ~i ... ith rbe new pnuems th;l~ emerge through their incising and rcconnecuon, become tile template for enning and tailoring of a [01I(,Clio11

Since the mid-iqxos. Peter Eisenman has drawn formal inspiration from the apparem and latcru figures of H site and its history. In his design for the wexner Center for the Arts, nil the campHS of Ohio State University in Columbus. Oh!o {J 989), forms from the archaeology ofthe site. such lLS an .urnnry. arc collaged with rhe city '"IIlc1 campus grids, the landscape, and existing builrllngs lO form a rcccmbinatorialmarrix of references and signs. Eisenman's earlier work, rhe now canonical series ofnumberecl houses for Instance, was characterized b)' 3 rigorous explorarion of geometric operations and uansformauons, primarily of Lshnped g-rids. This spatial and structural research iruo rbe complexities of grid HrI,lCLILI"t:S has bCl:11 gradually fused with the mnrc FiguraLive 311d symbolic references of projects like the \Vexnel· Center. where archeological shapes From the ground arc vertically extruded or literally reconsuucaed. Much like Chalayan, Eisenman in his competition emryfcr the Quai Brnnlev Museum in the center of Paris. makes a leap from both vertical extrusion and reconsuucrloe into a smoorhing ofmuhiple comcstualresponses 10 the e::.:i=-.ting historic site. primarily in section. with a folding and bending surface. The familiarcontext is resurfaced topologically to connect the intervemioniuto the site, from building ic landscape, from historical city rc su'eet, all with a single smooth surface. Like a P>ISLI)'chet: smoothing frosting with a knife, Eisenman »iodulares surface into monolith. In order to open the 1"00[(0 light, cn uv and view, this voluptuous surface is shredded and split along a lengthwise bias. Eisenman draws" representational connection 1.0 the adjacent Eiffel Tower by fillillg the voids between these shreds with a space frame that follows the undulatlcus ol'the surface. Where the monolithic ccnnccuvc surfacc is pulled <:Ipan, what \V";1S a vertical tconlc structuralsign in the Eiffel Tower becomes a dense network OI"SI.n1CIUI<11. components WOH!ll into a space frame. Instead 0["1 hierarchical relationship between a primary SU-UClLlI'C and building panels, here the structure and surface are woven together into a continuous variegated system. Both lite surface ofthe building's IOOIS-S and the in ternalized structure affiliate themselves with the Elffe! Tower and the eight ~~or}' building fabric of Parts without becoming simply iconic 01- symbolic. Their alignruems arc subtler ftlle! ll,lI1!>f"orm along the length of the building. ',\'hat W'lS:1. connection LO a vel'lical building find .'HI-eel. become:s an alignlTIent to <1 h(lrif.Ollt~11 plaz". What w ... .s all (llig!1J11enl to lbe \'el-liclil sLructl.lre orlhe Eilfe! Tower becomes Clnri alignlllCll1 10 an elltry

These wm'k~ 31·e pl'-edol1lit1<1Il11)' about sUlf:tccs and tb~ir ;u~ticlilal.iolJ Ih,'ol.lgh subdivision, modlilmioll. p.(il~eliz~lIion. slructure :Hld massing, There <'il-e simikll· iS~lIe.> of cOllnC"Clioll and fusion of multiple profiles ocwrring nOl ill the thrfe-dimensional &J1:ice of ali Lll1dl.llaLillg SlIr(:lce hLIL ill (he pictorial space of litre]"); of p3inL The Illultiple hl,,('I·S of Reed's pailHil1g #292 illll'kalely cOnnect in IWO \'·:'\)"5; :'Ilong seam~ alld through

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Black & White- P!ot of YoKohama

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FaJShid Moussa-vi and

Pori Terminal, 2002

D'gitalpnr'll so ~ 32'

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Adam FI.JSS Untitled 1994

Unique ccacnrore photog/am

ccwtesv onne arust ere cnern 8. Read New York

b. 1970, Port Jefferson, New York; uves New York

1;30rliiilE C()llUI<~~

Bonnie Collura utilizes a varier), of'matcrials including styrene. paper, wood, glut'. paint, puuy, fO~lll and plasucene, 10 create sculptures tlutt dynamically meld together reren!lI.ces 10 D.iStlcy IUQ'~es. flil:I)~ tales, Greek myths and the Baroque. Characterized hy a disjointed narr,alln.· q~m.ltty,_ b~l- sculptures _,lowly unfold ;IS the viewer moves around rhem.Jmage after nuage building all t.h~ Pll"'lOll:_ ?ol1l1ra IHl~ had solo exhibitions in Germany. New York <Inc! Dallas and her work has been included In. About the Bayberry Bush.t the Parrish An Museum, Southhampton. New York (aooo) .. "Dialogues. .. \~ralkelArt CCl1lef.l\Hnne<'opoli::. (enoo) and "Rendez-vous." Musee d'Art Ccrnerrrporaln, Avignou, Fiance,

Bonnie Collura Sk)'W<llkl;!!r.2002

SiainieS5 steel. wood. ePQXY, pulty. eqoarestn. plexiglas, paint

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overall dimensions are variable Courtesy of Ihe artist \1~l;;!lI~nion ll'iew)

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Bonnie Collura Skywal~-er. 2002 (Detail)

superposition. The gridded field. n consistent trait in Reed's paintings. is seemingly the division of rbe color Fields and. [he foil across which strokes float. In fact, what appear to bot' continuous su-okes are disparate gestu r ex rhar sever along the gridded field and align at a razor's edge. Reed's paiurings blush at rhe moments where strokes at multiple depths commingle on "single surface.

VITAL MECHANISMS

luu-icacy ofmovement is one of the characteristics of a I'egifnt: of machines lhat began to express a new kind or mechanical complexity in the r Sth century and conunues LO do so today. The robot is, and has been. the ultimate expression of a machine capable of detailed organic movements. The mnquene built by Chris Cunningham for the Bjilr!.:. video "All is Full or Love' lISCS 1'\,1'0 Car assembly robots to lIHH'C lind control two humanoid robot. s made of smooth while surfaces connected by mechanical joints and armatures, The l'ObOIS fuse monolithic surfaces. often associated with sculpture, and assemblies or mechanical structural members, often associated whh architecture. The surfaces of the robou s are scored to suggesl detachable panels, while the apertures of rbe surfaces suggcst openings LO an interior, The parts al-e connected with rnechanical jolnn and armatures that allow degrees or freedom and motion similar to biological joints. The most exhilarating image is when a digili'i.l composite of a face is combined with the head of these robots and the alabaster while plastic like skin seems to have the musculature and elasticity of a human face capable of emoting ami expressing feelings. This literally expressive robot is joined by more abstractly expressive works ill the exhibition, Hke the robots that manufacture Paine's SHlllllaks, the surfaces of Eisenman's roof rOr'T1iS, the gradiated density of Friedman's sculpture and the digital technologies cfrnanufacrure and drawing used by the architects to build the micro scale models. All the work in this exhibition is in one w"r or another robotic.

FUSED FORMS

There arc inu'icate lauicc networks of two types, modularand non-modular: the first creates intricate series of components, lhl:" second creates intricate masses or overal) shapes. From identical elements. The (Ion-modular components construct surfaces or Frames, and [he modular networks (;Ol~~tnlct more amorphous clouds. There is .1 third kind of mass rbat is more of an intricate monster, a combinauon of pans that are inextricably smoothed together und fused as a surface. This more sculptural inu-icacy is apparent in the objects ofBonnie Collura, Marcaccio, Cunningham and Preston SCOH COhen. From Collura's nine headed SJIJIQ(ifke,- (:2002) dozens of facial features emerge anamcrphlcally as one moves around the piece. III Iaet, each head is a multipliciry of faces fused iruo a single surface. Unlike a Boccloni sculpture, that attempts to Freeze motion i n all instant, and more like the anamorphic paintings of Holbein, which conceal information in a one: point pen;peclive and reveal images only to oblique view. the Sh:J'walkedigurcs can only be seen in <111 unamorphlc motion without any single privileged point of view. The} insugurc continuous oblique roving \'iS1I31 motion. Anamorphic projection is also a critical rea lure ofP"eSI,OIl Scan Cohen's Eycbeam Competition entry (2002). where tubularvolume . ., brunch nnelmuhiplyvolumetrically like n bifurcating rangeutlal shrub. Neither one nOI many, these intricately monstrous objccts corualn a plernitude offigures smoothed togetheras a Single surface.

II is with the combination or these WOI-ks. by Collura. Paine. Cunningham and Rosenquist thai tile mechanical violence and biological erotica oliruricacy are manifestly combined. Although the- con lent and form of Collura's women's fa-ces in their agonizing expression come [rom classical SOUI·ces., their multiplication. mutation and fusion consuunes an ahogeuier new form ofsculptural cohesion one precedent of which are the paintings of'Francis Bacon. This cohesion brings (hem close 10 the Paine's Slrlwlfffts,dlilc their conrcm unlocks the violent sensuality latent in the abstraction ora uew kind of form created with vital machines, Milch has been made ofmechanical reproduction ill an and architecture. Like the modern vision ofidenrlcal glossy modules, inu'icate reproduction is stilt dependent on a model of the machine. But instead of a mechanism or simple repetition. an inu-icate reproduction machine is a wet machine charged wirh free erH'=J'gy, variation, <and subtlety. Where rhe mechanical is characterized by rote, encoded, repetitive operarlona on a sequence: of ldemicalmcdular units, a different Form ofreproduction characterizes the biological. In a word, an lnulcare machine is a vital rather than mecharucal ccnstrucr. Inu-lcacy evokes an eroticism fur the machine and a desire to make it reproduce organically, both in the variauon or subtly variegated brothers and sisters as well as a differentiated complex ofdiscrete org"llls that nonetheless 'Coheres ill LO a beautifully symheslxed whole.

b. 1964 North Olmsted, Ohio; lives Venice, California

Greg Lynn II'> [he principal of Greg Lynn FORM. an architecture and design office specialixlng 111 exouc form and cuuing cdge manufacturing and ccnsirucrion techniques germane to the aeronautic, automobile and 111m industries of Southern California. Published and exhibited widely, Lynn's designs include the Korean Presbyterian Church of NcwYork (in collabcmuon with Mich .. el Mcinturf and Douglas Garofalo) and a proposal far the World Trade Center Site competition (with United Architects). His work 'was represented in the Uuued Stares, Austrian and hnlian Pavilions in the eeoc Venice Bicnnale of Archhccrure. The author of F'oldJ, Bodies ami Btabs: Cotiected Essays {I 998) and Animate Form (l998), Lynn was Professor or Spatia] Conception and Exploration at the ETH in Zorich from 1992-1999, He is presently Professor at the Uuiversiry for Applied Arts in Vienna; the Davenport Visiting' Professor ill Yale Univcrsuy, a Studio Professor ill. UClA.; and a visiting Professor at Columbia Uni v ersuy.

RoxyPalne

Scumak No. z. 2001 steer plaS1ic, computer B3 ~ 1SS x 52'

Courtesy James Cohen Gallerr. New YOrk

Preston Scott cceen

Eyeb,eam Model, ccmpettttcn Prcpeset tor Eyeb,eam MLJseum or Art and TechnollQgy, New York. 2001

Designed by~ Presion sccu Cceen Fabricated by; Cameron Wu

and !<.awn D'jnnocenzn

113 J! 11 '/~ 'X, 'B '12' (Delai~

Counesy 01 Presion seen Col1en af\Ij Cameron Wu