Abstract

My interest in architecture and design began on a subconscious path that runs through three generations of my family. But like many paths we set foot on, I came to an unexpected junction with an equally unexpected destination in media art. I have not just come to an understanding of how our world is built and how we fit into it, but most importantly how, by means of technology, we can become the architecture we desire, or as my unbeknownst-to-them mentors, Madeleine Gins and Arakawa, describe best: how we can become an architectural body.

Philosophical questioning of one’s reason to perform in a certain way ultimately leads to revolution and I am fueling my revolution in studying the limits of the relationship between an organism and an occupiable body‚ be it the I and the physical body, the body and architecture, or architecture and nature. I began exploring these relationships of mind, body, nature, and (architectural) space within media arts, specifically VJing and creating immersive environments. I find the merger of media and architecture to be a beautiful embodiment of tentative architecture‚ architecture that can happen at any time and at any point in space.

My current research in tentative architecture are in thread and fabric, as well as paper maquettes and videos. In future studies I will be utilizing reactive hardware and software such as smart fabrics, photovoltaic cells, infrared sensors and custom written software. The media-architecture concepts I develop are in support of emergent architectures where form arises from natural pattern; and nomadic systems where organism and form are all encompassing, becoming one, and adapting to multiple states.

Xarene Eskandar Biography

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