Diagrams - performance centre phase I

First attempt of many...

 

Looking a little like that opera house in Sydney, inadvertently...or sails...meant to be slabs of rock with fissures.

Materials

Concrete, stone
Carved out of the site, perhaps also rammed earth (do research)

See Fernando Menis work (Menis Studio), for example his Holy Redeemer Church Iglesia del Santísimo Redentor
http://www.menis.es/holy-redeemer-church/
http://www.menis.es/proyectos/#cultural

A big entrance ramp surrounds and swings around the building in order to give access to the square and the first floor of the church. Large independent rocks (big concrete volumes), characterize the whole project. The spaces between these rocks turn into “patios” with natural light and ventilation.
“When entering into the church, the feeling of coming from the darkness to the light is experienced, I mean, from death to life.
The concrete had volcanic chip added to provide a rougher surface, thereby providing a greater degree of sound absorption compared with normal concrete.

Materials - exterior cladding, wood slats, brick

See this link (for the pine slat exterior)
http://www.archdaily.com/360605/the-green-pine-garden-scenic-architecture/
and this one
http://www.archello.com/en/project/garden-studio

Research - Textures, Materials

Like flax/palm leaves.
Wooden slats as a rain screen over concrete and glass - looking through the glass will give feeling of being in the bush, a difuse view outside.
All structures will have this in some shape or form to give a coherent flow between them.

Similar to my favourite NZ house, the Pohutukawa House by Herbst Architects

Materials

Qualities:

• Solid, like they've been there forever such as stone, concrete, rammed earth
• Able to weather and change over time such as corten steel, copper, but also any natural material - particularly if in the harbour, showing tide marks, algae growth...

Malae space:

• Sand or gravel for marae/malae space to show imprints of past events, footprints etc

Contrasts of heavey and light, for example concrete/rammed earth and glass or wood slats

Imprinted concrete - eg. site contours. Experiment with this.

Form - Performance centre, holes in rocks

Qualities:

• feeling of weight above
• solidity
• carved out of rock by sea and/or wind

http://architecturalmoleskine.blogspot.co.nz/2012/09/tadao-ando-maritime-museum-abu-dhabi.html

Ando's Maritime Museum

Samoan Tattoo

Project relevance - Va, tattoo the site, tatto the building - text on the buildings etc..

See this text by Albert Wendt on Tattooing ' "Tatuaing the Post Colonial Body":
http://www.nzepc.auckland.ac.nz/authors/wendt/tatauing.asp

The tattoo or tatua = pe'a because of its charcoal dark colour, the colour of the flying fox.

"I'm sure that one of the reasons why we're fascinated with tattooing is because it is to do with blood, human blood, with deliberately bleeding the body...
In a deep psychological, mythological, symbolic way, tatauing is the act of printing/scripting a genealogical/spiritual/philosophical text on the blood of testing to see if it can bear the pain of being in a human, of storying it, giving it human design, shape, form, identity, yet risking all of that if the tatauing results in your bleeding to death or your contracting AIDS.
Our words for blood are toto, eleele, and palapala...also our terms for earth/soil/mud/earth.  We are therefore made of earth/soil.  Our blood, which keeps us alive, is earth.  So when you are tatauing the blood, the self, you are re-connecting it to the earth, re-affirming that you are earth, genetically and genealogically.
This may help explain why despite the enormous fear of AIDS, tattooing never stopped.  Undergoing the tatau is challenging death, risking it."

"What is the Post-Colonial Body? It is a body 'becoming,' defining itself, clearing a space for itself among and alongside other bodies...By giving it a Samoan tatau, what am I doing, saying? I'm saying it is a body coming out of the Pacific, not a body being imposed on the Pacific. It is a blend, a new development...a blend in which influences from outside...have been indigenised, absorbed in the image of the local and national, and in turn have altered the national and local."

Tatua & Va

(from Albert Wendt's essay above)

Va = the space between, the betweenness, not empty space, not space that separates but space that relates, that holds separate entities and things together in the Unity-that-is-All, the space that is context, giving meaning to things.

• The meanings change as the relationships/the contexts change. A well-kown Samoan expression is 'Ia teu le va.' Cherish/nurse/care for the va, the relationships. This is crucial in communal cultures that value group, unity, more than individualism: who perceive the individual person/creature/thing in terms of group, in terms of va, relationships.
• Other terms:
• manava = mana/va = stomach (mana = power, va = space)
• manava = breathe
• vasa = ocean (va - space; sa - forbidden/sacred)
• vanimonimo = space that-appears-and-disappears

So tatauing is part of everything else that is the people, the aiga, the village, the community, the environment, the atua, the cosmos. It is a way of life that relates the tufuga ta tatau to the person being tataued and their community and history and beliefs to do with service, courage, masculinity, femininity, gender, identity, sexuality, beauty, symmetry, balance, aptness, and other art forms and the future because a tatau or a malu is for the rest of your life and when you die your children will inherit its reputation and stories, your stories, stories about you and your relationships.

The tatau and the malu (women's tattoo)  are not just beautiful decoration, they are scripts/texts/testimonies to do with relationships, order, form. When they were threatened with extinction by colonialism, Samoa was one of the few places where tatauing refused to die.
Thus, tatau became defiant texts/scripts of nationalism and identity.

Samoan Material Culture (Te Rangi Hiroa  (P. H. Buck)

 http://nzetc.victoria.ac.nz/tm/scholarly/tei-BucSamo-t1-front1-tp1.html

By virtue of his occupation, the tattoo artist ranks with builders as the companion of kings (angai o tupu).

http://nzetc.victoria.ac.nz/tm/scholarly/tei-BucSamo-t1-body1-d15-d2-d3.html

Previously. custom, personal status, and the approbation of men and women were the incentives to undergoing tattoo.
In modern times, approbation is still sought. The fear of pain is overcome by the keen desire to bear the marks of manhood and to be able to hitch the kilts a little higher at the evening dances and so demonstrate superiority over the untattooed. As maturity follows and the young man succeeds to the position of matai (chief), he has the satisfaction of feeling that he is truly one of the elect for he can bare his knees with assurance as he sits cross legged before his wall post in the circle of the titled.

Tattooing did servie as a decorative purpose - areas that receive more attention are those more likely to meet the eye.

• of the thigh areas described, the upper and external parts are the least artistic while the lower front, inner, and back parts receive considerable attention in the use of various motifs.
• the darker upper area is covered by the kilt but that in sitting cross-legged in the kava circle and meetings with the kilts tucked up to free the knees, the lower anterior and inner surfaces of the thighs with the belt and bird's-head areas were well exposed. Good tattooing had thus an excellent chance of being displayed and admired.
• The Trochus (shell) triangles and the atingi vae were seen from the back and the common habit of wearing the kilt short at the back appears to originate from the natural vanity of displaying the decoration of those areas.
• Pubic area - 'punialo' The aso fa'aifo lines descend to terminate or form the boundaries of the back patterns when produced forward. They descend towards the pubis on either side. The middle part of the abdomen between the descending lines is the alo or belly. The tattooed triangle base upwards is put in to close (puni) the (alo) space and hence the name of puni alo. From its name, the punialo was probably at one time always filled in last of the important areas but later became used as a primary endurance test.

The tattooing was finished with a mark made over the navel (pute) which showed that the work was done. to the patient it was the symbol of endurance and manhood, for no youth gets the navel mark until his full tattooing is completed.

Women - The tattooing artists formed an influential guild in their day. The patron deities of the craft were Taenia and Tilafainga. In the myth recorded by Fraser, these deities were Siamese twins from Manua who went from Tutuila to Fiji. There they became friends with two tattooing artists named Tufou and Filelei from whom they obtained tattooing instruments as well, evidently, as a knowledge of the craft. These women returned to Falealupo in Savaii where Tilafainga became the war goddess Nafanua. Taema swam back to Tutuila where she settled down at Poloa and followed the occupation of tattooing. In the land of Tufou and Filelei, it was the custom to tattoo the women and not the men. Taema kept repeating this during her swim, but ended up by getting the order reversed. Hence her song on arrival at Tutuila was:

Tupu le tane, ta le tatau.

When a male grows up, tattoo him.
Tupu fafine, fanafanau.

When a woman grows up, let her bear children.

See also a review of Mark Adams exhibition of photographs
http://www.arts.auckland.ac.nz/webdav/site/arts/shared/Departments/asian-studies/gjaps/docs-vol4-n02/Skrine-Review-vol4-2.pdf

Form - ancient circular structures

Stonehenge...

Form - the circle & marae atea

The circle & the Marae atea

 (from the Journal of Polynesian Society Volume 108 1999 > Volume 108, No. 4 'Marae and implications for a modern Maori psychology', by Mason Durie, p 351-366)

http://www.jps.auckland.ac.nz/document/Volume_108_1999/Volume_108%2C_No._4/Marae_and_implications_for_a_modern_Maori_psychology%2C_by_Mason_Durie%2C_p_351-366/p1 

The shape of a marae is often like a rectangle or square, but the movements and symbolism which bring life to the physical form have a stronger resemblance to a circle.

• communication between hosts (tangata whenua) and guests (manuhiri) reflect a circular pattern:
• whether the custom is for speakers from one group to speak immediately after each other before listening to speakers on the other side, or for speakers to alternate, a circular relationship is established. In a systematic way it includes all speakers, usually finishing near where it started.
• often the order in which orators stand to speak also suggests a circle, starting from the very first speaker and moving around to the last. By then the marae itself has been encircled.

The existence of a circle can also be demonstrated by the custom of koha.

• After speeches, visitors to a marae have the opportunity to recognise the significance of the occasion by publicly placing a gift, koha (usually money these days), on the marae. If the hosts agree that it is indeed a significant occasion, then the gift will be retrieved in a similarly formal manner. The nature of koha is less about the generosity of the donor than about the obligations placed on the receiver.

Reciprocity is an integral part of Māori custom and philosophy and continues to guide thinking and interaction in contemporary times. The philosophical framework does not conceptualise encounters as acts of linear purpose; the pattern is circular and understandings evolve from the creation of orbits rather than the projection of solitary missions.



 

 

 

Ideas - Porciúncula de la Milagrosa Chapel

Daniel Bonilla Arquitectos

 

Moveable walls, flexible spaces, a still and a mobile volume...my performance space should represent this somehow.Steel, glass and wood versus stone.

 

See other work by this architect: http://daniel-bonilla.com/menuproyectos.html



Ideas - Ofis Arhitekti, Farewell Chapel

• cut into the landscape, opening onto the open space in front (marea atea)
• textures
• following the form of the landscape

Choreographing experience

See, for example, Peter Zumthor's thermal spa in Vals

Or Aldo Van Eyck, and his famous Orphanage and Mothers House in Amsterdam - his buildings contain many possbilities for children and adults to appropriate small places for their own use eg. edges thickened to provide the possibility of seats, shelves, places to settle and put things down on. Steps or sills can become seats, shelves can become hiding places and play areas. Small windows to give glimpses of a view.

Relationship to my project

1. The journey to the main theatre/performance building:
• a walkway over the mangroves, to give a separation between the real and perhaps the imagined world, between the ground-based world and the spiritual, watery world
• take people away from the malae/marae area
2. The journey to the meeting house/whare nui:
• a path down into the sunken space, clearly demarcated but no actual fences or gates, just a threshold
• crossing this large open space requires invitation, or purpose: you will feel uncomfortable unless you have a reason to be there
• an open space
3. Public through to Private/Intimate/Spiritual; noa to tapu
• workshop & carving studio accessed directly from the carpark; these are more public spaces
• the creche/playcentre/homework spaces will also be accessed from the carpark but also with links to the malae area
• the whare kai/dining hall/plus associated ablution block can be accessed off to one side from the malae space, quite separate though

Space or place

Notes from 'A Choreographer's Handbook' by Jonathan Burrows, one of the UK's leading choreographers.

• the philosopher Susanne Langer has said 'The primary illusion of dance is a virtual realm of Power - not actual, physically exerted power, but appearances of influence and agency created by virtual gesture'
• the space of dance also has this virtual quality - the placement of a person on a stage can approximate to a narrative or emotional force, a dancer can render a small space infinite

Performance space

• how you handle the space in which you perform is part of the contract you make with the audience - a more relaxed space invites a more relaxed gaze while clean surroundings demand sharper attention (though the reverse can be true).
• surroundings are in dialogue with, and affected by, the performances that take place within them.
• the space itself is not the performance

Audience

• the relationship with the audience is a circular thing - I give them clues as to how they might sit and they, in turn, give me permission to relax and do best what I've come to do
• it is possible to use the situation of the unreality of a theatrical stage to become something extraordinary. This is one of the great pleasures of performing or watching performance - that suspension of disbelief/to suspend doubt.
• our thinking about direction is in constant negotiation with compass points and square rooms. The audience is usually in front of you and facing them is one possibility but not the only one, and it isn't a guarantee of communication
• another way to meet the audience is to confront them. The strongest confrontation is gently conscious of its purpose. Confrontation does not guarantee communicaton any more than facing the front...
• the gentle aim of the following principles, written by the composer Christian Wolff, is to liberate both audience and performers:
• a composition must make possible the freedom and dignity of the performer
• it should allow both concentration and release
• no sound or noise is perferable to any other sound or noise
• listeners should be as free as the players

Research - the language of religious architecture

Sacred buildings, more so than any other building type, are about ideas.
The building itself is the bearer of meaning.

• Introverted spaces of refuge & contemplation
• 'silent' contemplation - a naked sense of space that speaks out
• restful eloquence that rejects any sense of theatre

Client meetings - Lemi Ponifasio & MAU

Notes from Lemi's talk at Auckland University (15th March) & Mau Workshop on site (5th April)

The MAU Performances

• 'not a dance company, not a theatre' - though it is all about 'theatre' - not in the fake/acting sense but in the creation of a particular feeling and atmosphere
• 'a kind of opera...'
• a 'provacation'. The projects in general are to make people think - how to think about your own existence, not a commentary/criticism/expression. Not a story telling exercise.
•  Theatre is about finding a different reality.

"dance is an instrument to another place" - activating an awareness of the truth of your existence

• dance is rather a means to make the audience aware of truth
• the performances are not designed for you to enjoy but rather to make you stop and think, 'be', exist, interrupt your thoughts to be 'still'
• MAU is about asking the question: how do you respond to the world around you?
• not about functionalism or serving the arts
• it is up to the audience to decide what it is they are seeing/watching
• often no language or a language that is not common (eg. ancient Greek) - 'language is a barrier'
• the dancers are there to mark the space, shift the space
• "MAU is a community, not a dance company"
• Role of the MAU community
  
  • making relationships with other people from different places, having a sense of empathy rather than tolerance
  • individual identity includes where you are from (spatially, relating to the land) rather than what you do etc

The Body

• the body, for MAU, is a body of ceremony, a body that serves the space
• theatre should NOT be about the person performing per see. No divas.
• therefore, it is not prepared like that of a dancer or an actor
• 'being' not doing

the body should be 'silent' that is, allowing the performer and audience to become aware of the immense world around them rather than observing the body's movements per see

Specific Performances

• 'Le Savali' - wrestling with power (whether you have it or not), religion sometimes = power
• made for Berlin' interviewed gypsies and migrants rather than 'everyday' Berliners
• rehersals were done in a cemetary
• stage included a large sloping wall to perform on
• 'Stones in Her Mouth' - new project not yet completed
• what they (Maori women) want from the environment; nature is amplified
• slow movement, making the workshop women more aware of the environment around them and the sounds they make
• 'Prometheus' - Greek story of Prometheus (see first post), based on the 1968 opera score by Carl Orff, using Aeschylus' original Greek Prometheia.
• Venue for this was huge - an old Power Station: 170m long (used the whole space), with a glass floor measuring around 60-70m long = the long stage
• approx 1000 people in the audience
• walls were around 6m high in the performance area

The Space

The poetics...

The building  or space will:

• facilitate an awareness of nature/our existence/silence
• allow silence, contemplation of our existence 

[silence - not the absence of sound but rather a 'silence' which does not call you to look or analyse your surroundings in a loud manner but allows you to reflect]

• facilitate relationships between many people
• be a place which allows you ask 'why am I here?' - like a church
• have the same qualities of a church that makes you slow down
• be in reverence of the universe, a spiritual feeling
• at one with your ancestors
• have a sense of beauty, and the poetic
• a powerful space
• able to be very dark - when dark, your other senses are sensitised and more aware (hearing, smell, touch).
• a space in which people are encouraged for find a new reality - a 'no memory' kind of space.
• Va - in the state of being aware...transported into another reality.
• surprise people that it's in South Auckland - be a statement of confidence -"I Am"

"the poetic & aesthetic is a very gentle way of waking people up"

Perhaps the first thing you feel is 'space' (in the dark)
From this black space, something is created (in the beginning there was darkness)
In the theatre, always trying to create a space where Tagaloa would be.

The practicalities...

The space (centre) will:

• be a place of meetings & ceremonies
• allow different activities which people feel comfortable doing within that space:
• weddings, ceremonies, carving, learning/education, theatre, temple-like activities
• follow the concepts of a marae - not the phyisical concepts as such, but the way the marae exists as a series of relationships, time, rather than an object in space to look at: it is a 'place' (see Pallasmaa's definition of place)
• give you clues about how to behave within it
• as on the marae, the relationships between buildings is important
• the emphasis is on greeting and welcoming onto the marae, cues on 'how to be' with each other
• be a 'big' space that could allow eg. the funeral of a Tongan or Samoan king to take place there
• be authentic
• have a performance area that can give a sense of a large space, cosmos, sparse, with lots of black space/voids possible
• When the stage is very dark, it is important to have silence.
• Voice is used to cut through this space, to signify this space, give the space dimensions (you hear the echos and subconsciously recognise this). ((Is is possible to manipulate this feeling?))
• The stage should be large enough (or seem so) that your concentration is on the total landscape of the stage rather than just focusing on the performer. Many of their performances are outdoors so the sky and landscape is part of this.
• When outdoors, it is good to have something to focus on, a focal point.

 Ceremony rather than ritual.

"I used to dance in secret, alone, but now I want to work in amongst the community - not in secret anymore."

So, from this...

Investigate ways to create 'atmosphere', to create or reflect certain values, architecture that allows you to reflect, be quiet/loud/happy/reflective/aware/ and 'be'
Mutability
Authentic
Sustainable, close to nature - ecological in a quiet way
A place that has a presence, calm & serene but also confronting

• Light, sound, acoustics
• Thick walls, tall spaces
• Light from above
• 'Journey' from the entrance to the final destination to allow casting off of normal everyday concerns before you arrive at the final place
• Trees, landscaping  

Research - Models; openings

Models of different openings, horizontal, vertical
Thick walls...