Workshop at China Academy of Art

I taught a 5 week workshop to 20 architecture students at the China Academy of Art. Some images of the work are shown here and thoughts on the workshop are in the post above, called, “Something out of nothing, sense out of nonsense & finding your way . . .”

There was very little English. Each class we would develop a glossary of terms on a blackboard.

Jiang Weihua, CAA Faculty who taught with me

Required reading was Out of Control by Kevin Kelly which, lucky for me was recently translated into Chinese. The entire book in English can be found online here. The reading served as the situation of the project, which, as I stated in the problem statement was here and now. First the students made individual blocks:

Then they had to address a neighboring block:

This is where it got interesting and where I think Kevin Kelly had a big effect. Instead of merely addressing each other’s block with a common face or joint…it was if the genes of the two blocks combined in forming a new mutation:

Teaching Assistant, Jeremiah Watson

 

 

 

 

Drawing was key in looking through the thing towards its pure potential. First the drawing was quite literal depictions of the work done so far and then it drew out  the abstract generative order.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Group Drawing of Abstracted Order

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