GAMELAN ARCHITECTURE

Tue, 23 Jan 2007 17:29:53 +0000

"A gamelan is a set of instruments as a distinct entity, built and tuned to stay together. Instruments from different gamelan are generally not interchangeable.
The word "gamelan" comes from the Javanese word "gamels", meaning to strike or hammer, and the suffix "an", which makes the root a collective noun" (Wikipedia)

GAMELAN ARCHITECTURE would be a set of two architectural structures and two choreographies, sharing a common musical score and being created by two groups of young people in Spain and the UK.

Working creatively together through a number of workshops, the participants would use dance, movement, and music to assemble randomly and organically a number of elements that would eventually come together as a unique architectural feature.

The project is inspired by ideas of ritual and community, and it reflects on how the built space conditions our movements and social interactions.
• This ritual interaction with objects that leads to a transformation of a space through a creative activity generates a sense of community.
• The exploration of movement and visual arts as a form of expression for the untrained participants defines the final structure.
• The group/community shapes the space through a non-Cartesian design process.
• Music, dance and movement help them to generate new architecture rather than inhabiting an existing one.
• Gamelan Architecture draws on different vernacular traditions and establishes a dialogue with contemporary Art practice to create a shared experience and explore new building and relational processes.
• Architecture becomes a record. This three-dimensional “map” of people’s activities can also be used as a “score” from which new music could be generated. And new movements. And new architecture.Dance, music, architecture and collective creation would embark on a journey into a new direction.

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GAMELAN ARCHITECTURE