DEFINING A UTOPIA?

According to Noble, for a work of art to be considered utopian, that are two contradicting pre-requisites that has to be fulfilled:

‘A vision or intimation of a better place than the here and now we inhabit, and on the other, some insight into what Bloch terms ‘the darkness so near’, the contradictions and limitations that drive our will to escape the here and now in the first place.’

Source: Noble, R, Introduction: The Utopian impulse in contemporary art. In Documents of contemporary art, pp. 14, Whitechapel gallery and MIT press, Massachusetts, 2009.

While experimenting on the straw pieces, I attempted to create an immersive space as i had a structure which i could play around with.

The dark installation that attempts to illustrate what Noble described as an intimation of a better place and the same time, the limitation that drives our will to escape. The intimation of a better place was suggested and inspired by the litre of light project where plastic bottles served an alternative function of helping improve quality of life. On the contrary, the dark and narrow wall that surrounds the work eludes the feeling of the need to escape before being consumed. The immersive space would allow viewers to experience the effectiveness of the sun bottles. The roof and walls of the installation were layered and slightly melted bags to capture and fix the texture of the bags in its crinkly and creased form.

The sun Bottles were inspired by the Isang Litrong Liwanag’ project. The utopian dimension of bringing comfort and luxury into everyone’s reach was exemplified in the project.

The litre of light project, uses unwanted Polyethylene terephthalate bottles , commonly known as PET bottles to provide affordable and sustainable solar lights to people with little or no access to electricity in the impoverished slums in the Phillipines.

Due to the tight and closely built living quarters, the sun was unable to shine through into the houses. Residents were exposed to hazards caused by the lighting of kerosene lamps indoors and also fire-related accidents for those who were lucky enough to have access to electric grids. Lllac Diaz first improvised a way to utilise the simple bottle and filling it with water and bleach to create indoor skylights. With that, natural light can be refracted from the outdoors or light source into homes and they can produce lights as bright as a 60 watt light bulb.

The plastic bottles made an excellent conductor as it has a high level of wear resistance, allowing the bottle fixtures to last longer and the high level of stability makes the bottles stronger and more versatile. This imitative technology has improved the quality of life for thousands of impoverished families.

The dark wall was inspired by Artist Vilde J. Rolfsen .She has defamiliarized the subject matter by taking it out of their usual context and placed it in this artificial, stylistic environment. Her work transports its viewers into an alternative dimension as she captures abstract the highly crinkled textures and colours.

Instead of just presenting the image or a flat work that embodies the various elements of my work. The shift of presenting and arranging my works on a two-dimensional surface, to, creating a space where the viewers are able to engage and interact with the work by being part of it. By exposing the audience the unknown and unfamiliar space created by the material, hopefully viewers will be able to be able to rid their minds of their former opinions about the material.