Magnifying Glass Sculpture Idea

 Portobello road is a diverse and contrasting space, which has colourful houses that seem to have come out of a children’s book on one side, ethnic shops with vivid colours and fabrics, interesting relief textures found on brick walls and unusual doors and there is another aspect, much more peaceful, with toned down hues of an earth palette that creates a completely contrasting effect with the rest of the area. Significant architectural buildings are present and it seems to the viewer that you are walking from one space to another, almost as though you are walking through time. As I have already made a series of collages that link together these different elements and have worked in Cinema4D to make a video that shows the shattering of glass reflections of the space, I am thinking of capitalizing the idea of reflections in this area. I have the idea of how to bring together disparate parts of the site, so that a person when walking through the street, can experience all aspects of it, without having to walk around the entire area. Taking the idea of fragmentation and collage, reflection and glass, I have come up with the idea of making a sculpture with magnifying glasses that will reflect the area. The lenses will be placed at various heights and will consist of various sizes that will include short lenses as well as long ones, so that “hidden” parts of the area will be revealed and others will be highlighted or dimmed down. As the site already has a rich and colourful palette, I do not want my construction to impose another on it. Glass is reflective and completely neutral, so will be an ideal medium to use for the sculptural intervention. Given the site’s ties with the artistic community, having a sculptural construction, fits in with its history and cultural context.

 

Portobello Drawings-Collages

Another Point of View

Based on the kaleidoscopic perception, this image brings together the disparate aspects of the site and emphasizes the fragmented way in which we view things when walking around a place. Each section is clearly defined within the geometric shapes, but altogether it gives a general impression of the place and not a specific flat image.  

Broken Environment Animation

Image Based Texturing

As I said on the post below when I accidentally dropped the device, while I was looking at the broken pieces of the mirrors on the street the reflections from the buildings on them caught my attention. Because I have already tried exploding in the shape of a sphere a couple of images, this time I wanted to do it in a different way. I wanted to make a representation of how an image can break and the pieces just drop inside the 3d environment I have created of the same image, but in a way that kind of shows what happens when a mirror break and just drops on the floor. 

The process is the same as in the last 3d video I made with the project camera mapping, what changed is that instead of a sphere I added 3 planes of the same image and I fractured it (broke it into 20 pieces) and by using dynamics I was able to simulate the pieces dropping on the floor. By animating the camera I created a movement inside the 3d image.

 Geometry with photograph projected on it. You can also see the position of the camera where the picture was taken.

The plane with the photograph shuttered in 20 pieces inside the 3d environment.

3d Video Animation

Comp 1 from evelyn on Vimeo.

Final Attempt - Device # 5

Improved Version of The Mirrored Cylinder

Site Testing 

I used the same cylinder as I did for my other experimentation but this time I placed the mirrors inside it more carefully and as much accurate as I could. I needed more depth in the pictures and also the different perspectives and angles to be clearer. I folded a mirror sheet into the cylinder and placed the mirrors on top of it instead of the cardboard texture. I left a side without pieces of mirrors because the illusion it creates, makes the pictures really interesting.

When I went to my site to test it I dropped the device and all the mirrors inside it broke and I didn't have the chance to take any picture. I was really frustrated at first but while I was staring at the broken pieces  an idea came to my mind which led my to my next step. 

I remade the device by putting new pieces inside the cylinder in a similar way (not as good) and the outcome is what you can see in the pictures on top. I am satisfied and excited with the result, I think the perspectives/angles work better than they did in all my other experimentations and I love how I get a different effect by just turning the device or by focusing each time on another mirror. These images show the analysis of the site through an "illusion".