Andrea Ray
Ventilation Room technical: The interior space of ‘Ventilation Room’ contains nothing other that a concealed air filtration system that constantly hums the white noise of a ventilation fan. The installation is composed of a large vent on the ceiling, forced air and white walls with nothing on them than grills for returning air to complete the filtration cycle. ‘Ventilation Room’ exists as a sculpture/model until it is built in full-scale. content: There is a curious relation between modern architecture's vision of a new society for health, hygiene and efficiency and today's reality of paranoia about public and built space. Le Corbusier and Marcel Breuer are cited as modern architects who created forms designed in part by consideration to timely diagnoses of certain illnesses, namely TB. These designs included formal manoeuvers that were very visible and very direct: light, air, exercise and rest equate health. Today, the actual architecture is often held responsible for creating symptoms of illness. (i. e. old ventilation systems that spawn contagions, new chemicals found in stain resistant carpets that incite allergic and asthmatic reactions, or the general hype that develops founded on nothing in particular). Architectural space becomes the enemy, the carrier of disease and the focus of complaint, at times hysteria, of symptoms that may be both real and imagined. In place of a modern architecture that in its formal design directly represented health, now the building materials themselves are the focus of attention – a focus of an illness that is less visible. Andrea Ray New York |
