Field Anfractuous - Retrospection on Fluid Architecture and Difficult Arts

Abstract

“Difficult Arts,” a post-AI era term, is closely related to a particular style of architecture that gained attraction and quite a favorable reputation in the mid-nineteenth century. Given its characteristics, techniques, and methods, Fluid Architecture almost falls under the category of difficult art like its subset. As we encounter more technological breakthroughs, we become a more inclusive society with non-binary and non-colonial standards; this thesis proposes to take a retrospective look at fluid architecture with newer analysis methods which doesn’t hold modern or traditional architecture as a metric to gauge its success. This thesis investigates the characteristics of the fluid and curvilinear architecture that moves away from the notion of “how a fluid wall is built?” to the idea of “what that fluid wall does?”. Field Anfractuous proposes an Artist Residency and Playground for artists working towards rarefied and inaccessible crafts and techniques to create “difficult art.” The field is conceived as a cultural project that hosts canonical artists from various backgrounds and is envisioned as a projective ground that becomes a voice for artists and creators worldwide. The binding idea of this thesis project is to function as a political device, working at an intersection of art, fiction, and culture. The project features a field of 16 nodes, each with a specific character. The playground is envisaged to function in a certain way. An artist or a group of artists inhabits each node for a particular period, where the artist forms a story around or through the assigned node. The playground will be a space whose character is unknown; it will change according to the witness and challenge architecture’s perception and legibility.