For my paper I chose to research projects by Tomas Saraceno and Mark Hauenstein. The two are very interesting to compare because they are such complete opposites. The works by these two artists really are the difference between “micro” and “macro”. As with most artists, they are constantly exploring however one is seeking a goal whereas the other is rapidly moving from one idea to the next simply for the sake of learning.
Tomas Saraceno is an unusual artist; he is most definitely a visionary. I’ve come to terms with the fact that I probably cannot explain his work in a simple paper but if you get the over-all principle then this will be successful. He has been working on one single project for years and it is a very interesting piece. This work is really an intellectual piece, more than anything, in that it will almost certainly never come to its final goal but the project is suppose to make people think about what it stands for. The goal is to build a floating city. The name of this project is “Airport City” although it is much less concrete than the name sounds. The idea is to have people with their own personal floating bubbles that come and go and move about the city freely or even just let the air and the wind move them. In this scenario the city would be constantly changing shape as the individuals move around, much like clouds.
The principles of this city have meaning in different aspects. The idea of a free-form city floating hundreds of feet in the sky defies the nature of man inhabiting the earth. I feel that part of this project’s purpose is to break the rules. Even the ever-changing shape being affected by nature steps outside of the normal concept of a city with structure and built with solid concrete. Most important of all the conventions of normal living is the political separation. Saraceno’s idea is to live in a drifting community that has no ties to any nation and people from all over the world can live there.
Saraceno has been building scaled down pieces of his vision. Obviously not with the ability to live in them but people can be inside his floating structures. He has an architectural background which is evident in his work and he really has some impressive aspects in the designs. He spent months studying spider webs from eight different types of spiders to find the best techniques for binding together his structures. He not only has personal structures for individuals but also large ones that would act as buildings to hold several people for whatever social interaction to take place. One such building that Saraceno has constructed is approximately four stories tall.
There are definitely some technical problems in the way of making these things an environment in which people could live for long periods of time. It’s likely that this vision will never come to be a reality but simply the idea is enough to make people think about our way of life. Imagining a sort of utopian society that is environmentally proficient and isolated from any war makes this work of art emotionally intriguing whether the audience realizes it or not.
Going in a completely different direction with art and exploration, we can look at Mark Hauenstein with another interesting style. Hauenstein has been working and experimenting with video and electronic art for the past decade and unlike some artists, he’s not goal oriented. His projects move along like a kid with ADD. Through the piles of work that he has on the internet the one that stuck out to me was his computer set up to blend, merge, and play dozens of videos simultaneously.
Unfortunately He doesn’t seem to have a video of it anywhere and I haven’t been able to get in contact with him yet. He has doen several collaborative works with other artists who work in mediums like audio to combine for a really interesting feel. The comparison of these two artists is very clear. One has been traveling around the world working towards a goal that is seemingly out of reach while the other spends his time in his garage working with no specific goal just trying to learn and experiment. Both artists have very interesting work. I made have made it sound like a bad thing, but no discredit to Mark Hauenstein. How far your work reaches doesn’t determine it’s quality or dedication.
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