Envelop: kwodrent x farmwork: fabricworks25-3

Grace, Tan

Lilian, Chee

Peter, Sim

Torrance, Goh

ScholarBank@NUS

lilian chee [phd], assistant professor, department of architecture, national university of singaporegrace tan, principal, kwodrentpeter sim, director, FARMWORKtorrance, associate, FARMWORKlilian how does this collaboration work? is it an equal partnership? peter it was grace who initiated the conversation with us. in that sense, i would say that   she led this process.grace right from the beginning when we talked about collaborating, i felt strongly that        FARMWORK should not exhibit their portfolio. instead, the idea was for us to  come together to create something for this occasion. it’s a very organic process   of working. the eventual paper structure is purely farmwork’s. peter not really because it’s made through a process of working, thinking and talking   with you. if it weren’t for your input, perhaps we wouldn’t have done that.torrance so in that sense, rather than producing our own thing, FARMWORK’s paper  structure is really reacting to grace’s method.lilian grace, do you see yourself as a kind of arbitrator to the overall installation?peter she hated everything we presented to her. [laughs]grace no. the only thing i told them was, look, it’s a very small gallery space and i’m    showing my fabric art. i thought that FARMWORK’s contribution had to be in  equilibrium with kwodrent’s pieces. it should never be about two entirely separate   things. ideally, a visitor who’s not from a design background should be able to  immediately feel that everything comes together as one although practically the   installation consists of two separate components – the fabric art and the  architectural space.lilian did the original brief for this exhibition demand a collaboration? dialoguekwodrent x FARMWORK with lilian cheegrace    no, there was actually no brief, i mean i wanted to show these things and i       could’ve just done another of my own shows. but for me there’s no point in       doing that……peter    i think grace could have done a solo exhibition of her own portfolio but she     intentionally wanted to use this event to work through ideas with another practice.     it’s quite a brave, if not risky, experiment for her.torrance    we were keen to work with grace because her methodology is almost     architectural. she works both systematically and intuitively with materials. for          example, she intentionally uses rectangular pieces of cloth, tears by hand       rather than cuts the fabric, and her work constantly emphasizes the handmade. peter    we are intrigued by how grace meticulously records her stitching points. it’s highly      mathematical. but at the same time, she’s very hands-on with the fabric she’s     working with.  grace    one is working with something one is usually very familiar with. but this     collaborative exercise is not superficial. it’s not that i’ve finished this thing, and     now i hand it over to you and you collaborate with it. the whole process is about      how ideas are translated between the two parties.peter    yes, we’re also inspired by the idea of ‘design’ as a verb. design is not just a     product you see at the end. it’s more process-driven.grace    it’s a means to an end….lilian    tell me a little more about your new work.grace    i’m showing n. 243. it’s a set of 7 pieces. the new work is different from the     previous collections in that it moves away totally from functionality. it behaves       more like fabric sculpture. i created these purely out of experimentation with the      material. they are not meant to be worn. when arranged, each forms a circular       shape but in its original structure, it’s actually a strip of fabric, consisting of four     panels with one stitch line that joins the four panels together.lilian    so what do you call these pieces?grace    i call them fabricworks.peter    actually how would you describe what you do?grace    now i tell people i’m both a designer and an artist. i do commercial jobs, like     uniform commissions. i consider those jobs as design work. but kwodrent is not a      fashion label. i didn’t expect myself to be doing what i am doing now. but just last      year i told myself i would still make these functional pieces but i also wanted to     use the work to purely express my ideas. when things are purely expressive for      me, that’s art. a designed object can be art, but art may not always be design.     that’s how i see the difference. but at the same time, i’m trying not to pigeonhole      what i do. i would rather say that this is my work and my intention is to make this,      and it’s an experiment. if you are buying it, it’s up to you to decide if it’s a fabric      sculpture or installation or an artwork or something purely derived from clothing. lilian    if FARMWORK has gained from engaging your methodology and vocabulary, how     has working with an architectural practice influenced you?grace    i’ve gained from the whole experience… obviously with FARMWORK’s     contribution, the moment you enter the gallery, you’re hit by this whole spatial          composition. i think that’s what i wanted. i mean someone could just go in and      look at my work. that’s good enough too. it has its own merits. but the paper       sculpture is like a cloud formation which is suspended from above while my work      seems to be growing from the ground. so you almost have this earth-sky     landscape. for me, it’s visually evocative but it’s also a key experience to absorb      the work. together, we’ve made a landscape which grounds the fabric pieces and      the paper sculpture.lilian    it’s common when working with another discipline for example, landscape     architecture or art, that architecture, if nothing else because of its scale, could     potentially overwhelm the partner’s contribution. in some ways it requires a lot of      confidence on grace’s part not to be concerned that FARMWORK’s installation      might unintentionally do the same. is there any kind of tension there?torrance    no. right from the start, we worked strictly with grace’s parameters.peter    i think we were very conscious of the balance that needed to exist between       grace’s pieces and our installation. and rather than competing, we conceptualized     the installation as a complete experience, to be seen and felt in tandem with the      fabricworks. it’s not a white cube space where things are framed individually.       we’ve tried to make a space where the two works – kwodrent’s and     FARMWORK’s - may be appreciated as an overall composition.torrance    yes, and also even before the design was initiated, we began to think through the      theme of the exhibition which is ‘envelop’…lilian    and ‘envelop’ is a joint idea? torrance    we actually brainstormed over it. petergracetorrance    the word ‘envelop’ not only means to spatially enclose but also alludes to grace’s      method of working with regular, rectangular pieces of fabric.  peter    i think ‘envelop’ works on several levels. one is the material, that is paper which      we are using, and the other is suggestive of the act of encompassing. lilian    so the paper folds are emerging from the ceiling like clouds and the fabric folds      are growing from the floor like land formations, and they come together to     envelop the visitor?grace    yes, something like a scene from a chinese landscape painting… you know now      how architects usually work on computers so they are very hands-off. but this       installation is very tactile. naiyan [from FARMWORK] was forced to fold and join      paper with his hands. so suddenly it’s a very primitive, very organic, spontaneous      and intuitive way of working that you can’t achieve with the computer.lilian    grace, there’s a kind of paradox in your work because you start working intuitively      with a new material but you also have a predetermined set of rules which you put      together to create these organic forms. grace    yes the pieces are controlled by all those regular stitch points, but it’s also how      you put them together, that’s the organic bit. it’s like chinese painting or     calligraphy - you know all the methods but you have to also work intuitively. it’s a      combination of order and intuition which gives the ultimate form.peter    with this project, i think we were trying to reflect a parallel process. we chose to      use a4 pieces of paper because it’s something very common. we are     transforming a 2-dimensional surface into a 3-dimensional object through folding.      it’s all very experimental because although we start with the a4 paper, we still       need to figure out the exact geometry through making the installation itself.torrance      to be honest, we don’t know exactly how this paper structure will manifest itself.      it’s happening as we make. in fact it is through conversation with grace that we     realised the structure is spiralling down from the ceiling. but the exact shape is      still pretty much intuitive.  grace    you might only know when you are installing the paper structure on location. peter    hopefully not.torrance    that’d be too late, grace. [laughs]lilian    these fabric works are defying functionality. and fabric is something quite     functional. fabric is clothing. it is traditionally functional. i’m wondering where       FARMWORK sees itself in relation to the question of function? torrance    it’s really an experiment for us to create something we imagine using certain     parameters we know of grace’s work. we have had the liberty of not dealing with      function in this situation. it’s a rare freedom.lilian    i wanted to ask FARMWORK two questions. art and architecture – how do you      feel that the disciplinary constraints of architecture are enabling or disabling you      from participating in art? because there are certain requirements of what an     architectural practice does, and art doesn’t really fit into architectural practice. the      second question: architectural practice is a capitalist activity – it intends to make      money. does engaging in art subvert this capitalist drive? peter    i think we are not artists, right?torrance    no, we are not artists.peter    we are architectural designers. we don’t make art. i think that’s what grace does.      we are trying to enlarge the boundaries of the practice or to make unclear the       definition what an architect or what a designer does, how a designer works in     terms of processes, and how architectural language, programme and forms are     developed. lilian    so are you questioning the whole premise of an architectural practice including its      preoccupation with function, originality, genius, and design ownership?peter    [laughs] hopefully… i guess this particular design is an installation. it’s not some     thing we see ourselves doing as the only design activity in the long run.torrance    we are still very conscious about budget. so in that sense, we’ve not been able to      subvert the capitalist trap. 

Dialogue: kwodrent x FARMWORK with Lilian Chee

http://scholarbank.nus.edu.sg/bitstream/10635/79522/3/2008-dialogue_kwodrent_x_farmwork_lilian_chee-pub.pdf

Dialogue: kwodrent x FARMWORK with Lilian Chee

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