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Summer Show 2023
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A World of Fragile Parts

Project details

Programme
Year 1

“Likeness is not identity; orthographic projection is not orthography; drawing is not writing and architecture does not speak.” Robin Evans, The Projective Cast: Architecture and Its Three Geometries


The project title is drawn from an exhibition in Venice in 2016 by the V&A which explored ideas of copying, digital preservation and replication in relationship to the V&A’s Cast Courts.


Using a historical lens and reexamining museum casts in a new light offered students an opportunity to project forward and explore opportunities for how architecture could reassess its role, critical position and practice in wider society, through drawing and making. Using plaster casting as a technique for exploration, the methodologies capture a singular moment of an original object’s life.


This project has focused on the fragment/part to introduce students to ways thinking and designing in a rich spatial way.

Students

Alexander Harrison, Recasting Brutus

Exploring the delicacy of drapery on Brutus's bust in the V&A Cast Courts with the hardness of the marble, the project explores the use of fabric as formwork and recasts a reinterpreted drapery inspired by Brutus.

Alexandros Photiou, Artificial Nature

The sculpture draws from the carved ivy that embraces the Apprentice Pillar yet goes beyond mere replication. The resulting sculpture is a meticulous analysis of microscopy and a study of diverse natural elements.

Dhruva Menon, A Study of Decay and Weathering

The project explores processes of decay and erosion, focussing in particular on the cast of a resting bear on a plinth at the base of the Portico of Glory.

Eleonora Vena, Revealing the Unseen

Revealing the unseen focuses on the fragmentation of a cast by separating its different layers. The separation of the layers allows for what is usually hidden to be revealed, in this instance the relationship of fabric with the body.

Eleonora Vena, Revealing the Unseen

Eleonora Vena, Revealing the Unseen

Irina Pirvu, How could the gate of light open to the world?

The recreation and recasting of the floral tile carvings on the Gate of Heaven in the V&A have been the focus of the project.

Irina Pirvu, How could the gate of light open to the world?

Elliot Woolard, A World of Fragile Parts

Karina Lacraru, The Sightlines of The Three Graces

Karina Lacraru, The Sightlines of The Three Graces

Luke Osborne, Motion of a Throw

Michelangelo shows the figure of David just before he throws a sling, as opposed to just after victory. The project explores the motion of a throw, speculating what would ensue in the seconds after
David’s frozen stance as seen in the Cast Courts.

Luke Osborne, Motion of a Throw

Huang Yang, A World of Fragile Parts

In this project, two plaster casts of the negative parts of a mid-15th-century candle bar in the V&A museum were developed using a variety of mould-making and casting techniques.

Atehsu Nkohkwo, World of Fragility

A door handle, designed and cast for a Scandinavian doorway in the Cast courts, embodies a narration of the historical foundation of Scandinavia, centred around themes of conflict, community and culture.

Stanislav Luo, Where Material has been Removed

Tina Xian, Story Behind Emotions

Inspired by the column-bearing lion from Giovanni Pisano's pulpit in Sant'Andrea in Pistoia, the project explores the emotional mechanisms in facial expressions.

William Li, A World of Fragile Parts

This is an investigation into piece mould casting that furthers the understanding of positive and negative space. This relationship is understood through the casting and dissection of the hand.

William Li, A World of Fragile Parts

Oscar Brice, Compressing Form and Space

The project is inspired by Michelangelo’s 'Crouching Boy', sculpted in 1524 and cast in 1884. An unfinished piece originally intended for the Medici Chapel, the final cast is a study of tension and compression in the original cast.

William Warwick, A Study of Voids

Yuan Biana, Erosion of Replication

This project investigates the replication process of casting a decorative pulpit fragment using the alginate mould, exploring how it damages and loses details as the casting progresses.

Yumeng Yang, Floating Up

Through observation of the cast of a column head excavated in Nazareth, the project transformed this
artefact through casting. The final cast integrated elements from the original piece with visualization of leading, floating, and ways of seeing.

Yumeng Yang, Floating Up

Yury Balabin, Artefacting

The broken negative of the cast forms a set of artefacts, unintentional byproducts of the casting process. The broken pieces represent the fragility of the positive mould's artefacting proces.

Ethan Chen, Spiral Fragments

The project dissects the spiralling motion depicted by the Mercury and Psyche cast in the V&A Museum. Their body parts forming the spiral are translated into a series of casted hand fragments that break down frames of a continuous motion.

Ethan Chen, Spiral Fragments

Ella-May Levi, Casting Performance

Milda Knabikaite, Vestige

The chosen object is a doorway portal of a Norwegian stave church in Urnes. A fragile and translucent cast represents the doorway as a vestige: a trace of an object that is gradually disappearing.

Bonnie Irvine, A Tale of Duality

The project focuses on the duality of the Angel cast in the Cast Courts and its two sides which reflect contrasting qualities such as light and dark, original and copy, seen and unseen.

Maggie Lee, A World of Fragile Parts

Oliwia Skakun, A Relationship Between Fluid and Rigid Form

Inspired by the steps of the Pulpit by Giovanni Pisano, and through various material testings, a model of two new steps has developed, focussing on the fluidity and delicacy of fabric paired with the rigid and heavy nature of plaster.

Muraco To, The Three Moses

The three plaster casts of Moses made by Michelangelo Buonarroti have inspired the design of an interactive piece which utilises recast fragments of Moses' figure.

Alastair Ang, A Hand at Work

The project investigates three casts of Pauline Bonaparte as Venus Victrix, exploring the impact of the material on the appearance of Pauline's hand. Through a process of casting and recasting, the outcome is an upscaled, distorted representation.

Alastair Ang, A Hand at Work

Allysha Alaq, In Repetition: Loss and Erosion

A study of the representation of contrast and transition of power, focusing on the V&A cast 'Perseus with the Head of Medusa' by Benvenuto Cellini.

Gigi Lane, Fragments of Power

A study of the representation of contrast and transition of power, focusing on the V&A cast 'Perseus with the Head of Medusa' by Benvenuto Cellini.

Gigi Lane, Fragments of Power

Hannah Bailey, Manifesto in Light and Shadow

An exploratory analysis of the internal space inside the cast of the Trojan Column, focusing on the filtration of light and casting of shadows.

Anoushka Sarma, Frozen Gestures

This project is based on a cast of 'The Sorrowing Virgin', which depicts the Virgin Mary lamenting. The project focuses on recreating her gesture through the fabric and the final casts show an uncanny indication of her frozen position.

Hayley Chan, Acanthus Leaves

The image represents three plaster casts of a clay model of Acanthus Leaves. It investigates
how much detail is lost through casting negative and positive spaces through drawing.

Hayley Chan, Acanthus Leaves

Karina Lacraru, The Sightlines of The Three Graces

This project analyses the textures, forms and light of the 'The Three Graces' in the V&A Cast Courts and investigates how the sculpture situates itself in relation to the surrounding casts in the courts.

Marisa Lau, Nature's Survival

The 'Apprentice Pillar' has prompted Project 1 to explore the complex relationship between humans and nature. This includes how they interact and where nature survives and flourishes despite human destruction.

Pink Tongyai, Sanctuary Knocker

The project investigates the cast of a 12th century sanctuary knocker, exploring the textures of the cast. The final piece recreates the knocker using repetitive textures and patterns borrowed from the original cast.

Ryan Shao, Deconstructing Santa Maria La Blanca

This project explores the process of creating objects/space through replication and repetition, focusing on the cast of an arch in the Santa Maria Synagogue.

Ryan Shao, Deconstructing Santa Maria La Blanca

Sora Aoki, Gradual Erosion

The project focuses on a pulpit by Giovanni Pisano and replicates the decorations from the pulpit, carefully recreating the fragility and decay of the original cast.

Yuhaan Wu, Erosion from Shadows

The project investigates the nuanced interplay between light and the environment surrounding the artefact, rigorously examining intrinsic characteristics of shadows and lighting to skillfully generate and deduce intricate details from the artwork.

Yau Yan Chai, Sebaldus' Snail

Deconstruction of a snail detail from the lower section of Saint Sebaldus’ Tomb and recasting of textures and patterns.

William Warwick, A Study of Voids

Tianyi Bao, Fragmented Narratives

Gideon Mbowa, Spinal Column

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The Bartlett
Summer Show 2023
23 June – 8 July 2023
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