2022

The Experiential 'Sublime': Inhabiting the threshold between Reality and the Imaginary

Janae Van

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Exploring thresholds between life and death, reality and the imaginary, this thesis engages with embodied emotional spatialities to propose a 'sublime' journey within an evocative experiential space.


The 'Sublime' involves an overwhelming sensory experience that raises our consciousness through the duality of both pain and pleasure. Therefore, this thesis focuses on evoking threats to our reality with reference to loss and mourning.


Human existence has long been concerned with questions of life and death. This project provokes the notion that these are not meant to be answered but rather deeply experienced.

 
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This thesis proposes an architectonic of grief through an evocative sublime journey by exploring the body, liminality, non-linearity, scenography, darkness, as well as relationships between above and below, and seen and unseen spaces.
Installations
Spatial Intermedial Installations: through these performative objects, this thesis explores methods of image-making, narrative storytelling and scenographic installations to investigate how these can inspire the spatial embodiment of experiential existence - to reveal the emotional relationship between people and spaces.

Everyday spaces and experiences can reach far beyond just the physical and the tangible where there exists a coalescence of reality and the imaginary. This thesis aims to achieve a heterotopic space of collective imagination, memories, time and emotions.

 

The design proposes a series of liminal spaces to provide a break from the rapid pace of the city – for a moment of slow movement and rest; a space for self-reflection.

 
SITE
Within the context of Tāmaki Makaurau, there is a major loss in indigenous cultural spirituality and this is seen in the expansion of a colonial city where there has been an exploitation and mistreatment of landscapes and seascapes.
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A progressive experience through liminal spaces that embody each stage of grief.
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A space that embodies the element of fire through the materiality of copper, scoria and basalt in reference to the volcanic landscape.
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This is an embodiment of dreams and fantasies - it is designed for an immersive virtual environment with reflective surfaces, video projections and digital art exhibitions.
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A space that is a representation of our bodies in pain due to mental and emotional trauma. Water as a symbol of the body and the tears we've shed.
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Liminal space that provides moments for self-reflection and silence.

The Darkness in this project symbolises The Real, the unknown, the universal void, pain, trauma, loss of one's meaning of life, and the inevitability of time and death.

 

The light emerging from darkness is a representation of the cuts and the wounds we've endured in our darkest days – a symbol of hope.

 

The Experiential 'Sublime' proposes a safe space for self-reflection, to confront reality, to find light and meaning, and to express any possible suppressed emotions within a public realm.