Laniakea: Design Adjustment

After I had decided the design of the fantasy aquascape, I started to think about how to present the work. Since the tank is going to be quite big, I prefer the steel framed stand to a big chunk of wood plinth. A 1x1x1m plinth would be overly eye-catching.

As some of the work need to be hung in the air, some of the designs have the structure for hanging if there is no existing structure in the show space. Also, I thought about other forms of the tank, bringing some changes rather than just having a square tank. 

After the tutorial, I began to question myself that whether the current design can tell the story. Still, the concept is a little chaotic. It feels like I rubbed too many ideas together but haven't digested them. The design is too safe as well, in term of innovation. 

Based on what I thought, I had two new ideas. 

One will still use the square tank, but the world inside will be divided into three parts. These worlds are in different dimensions. Things to one are like something else to the other. The living beings who live on the bottom of the tank are collecting rocks from rocky mountains pointing down from the sky. To them, the mountains provide rocks for their clothes and houses, but in another aspect, the mountains are universes. They just exist in a mountain form. These mountains to another group of beings living underneath the water surface are sacred that they sacrifice themselves and sustain the mountains. However, to the beings living above the water, the world beneath them is just a reflection of their own world. They are talking and chatting, having no idea that their speech bubbles become new universes. 

The second idea is around the idea of parallel universe bubbles. Say some beings are chatting, no idea that their speech bubbles split into more and more universes. But these beings are also in one of the universe bubbles. I am not going to use glass tank. The tank will be made of ceramic, and with a glass in the front. Ideally, by giving a background to my other ceramic work, there will be a strong connection between the tank and the work. However, there are some technical problems I need to figure out. 

Considering the reality, I listed out the things I need or works I need to make for different designs.

After I had a tutorial with Maiko, I decided to go for the final design. So I refined the design a little. Influenced by a book called A Graphic Cosmogony, I introduced some geometric elements.  

Laniakea: Sketch and Concept Development 2

To give myself a better understanding of how my design would look in three-dimensions and explain my ideas better to others, I built some 3D models with Google SketchUp. 

1. Square tank

This design shows two types of creating parallel worlds in my imagination. One is by speech bubbles generated while talking; the other is by sacrificing their body as the bricks for building the parallel universes. In the following images, the pieces in dark colours will be made of ceramic. The rest that look transparent will be cut acrylic sheets or twisted sticks. 

The design also shows what types of fish I may keep in the tank. I would like to have Corydoras and Glass Catfish. The first one love sand, which is what I am going to use as the substrate. As to Glass Catfish, they are transparent, like ghosts. The acrylic sheets and sticks represent fundamental elements that construct the world of the tank. The Glass Catfish are chosen for the same purpose.

The reason I want to create a desert-like realm is due to most aquascapes are simulating green land with thriving water plants. I am planning to try other landforms, like the desert, rocky land, glacier and such.

2. Bowl tank

If I really stick to the bowl tank, I need to think about the distortion caused to my work by the glass and water. Also, I need to find out how much and where can I get a customised tank like this. 

This idea was influenced by a story I heard before sleeping when I was a kid. The story is about a naughty wealthy boy has a bowl with a mini town sitting in the water. There are mini people living in there. One day, due to the boy's long-time mistreatment, all the mini people escaped from the bowl. When the boy came back, there was only an empty town left.

These are two designs in the process that there is a lot I need to think through.

Laniakea: Form Experiment 1

In my concept, each clay object represents a single universe. They might be the same, or have similar shape, but different size, or totally different. The concept is still in the middle of developing, while I was suggested to make some prototype. Because sometimes, sketches are one thing, but making them into 3D and specific material.

Here is the original sketch. I designed four types of them. The one in the right-hand corner on the top shows disc like universes, on the separate branch of 'world trees'. Sand fro the top universe will drop down to the universe below. And for the one in the same corner on the bottom, they are mountain like the universe, representing ridges of the mountain. Their triangular shape and the way they distribute are more or less inspired by religious, or monumental architectures, such as Torii at the entrance of or within a Shinto shrine, or Egyptian Pyramid. 

I decided to start with the triangular one. Mainly because I am more sure about the concept of this one. 

In the beginning, I rolled a slab and carved it into the triangular shape I want. Then I built the structure on the side. After that, I rolled another slab, forming the details and attaching them together. 

The effect was not too bad, but there were some problems. The two slabs collapsed to each other, which twisted the form and caused standing trouble. I should have let the clay dry a bit more before connect the two slabs. 

Then I made the second one, letting the first one dry before I do any adjustment further. Because I want a cut-off effect on the hypotenuse, so I started to build the object from it this time. I cut slabs into different size and shape, and built the two walls of the object at the same time.

I got more control in this way. However, when I made it stand upright, there was something wrong with the shape of the bottom that it was not stable enough. It was alright when it was wet, since wet clay is more sticky, but not after drying. I need to find a way to fix this next time.

Besides, I made some simple paper model to get a rough idea about how they might look like when I put them into right position.

Then I started to manipulate the model. Paper was too flexible in this case, but it provided me some new perspective. 

These are some small samples I made when I designed the form, so that they look quite different from each other. There were made of Milliput Clay. It was not the best option to work with in this case, and these samples were too small for me to control the shape. However, I found them quite interesting. 

Theme exploring - Laniakea: sketch and concept development 1

During the holiday, I have been thought about the themes I had come up with. From the very beginning to the recent one called Frozen, they all seemed to be not right.

The following images show how the idea has been developed.

I thought about adding elements from the temple to the shape of the mountain, such as columns. Because mountain has its relation to many myths and religions. Ancient Egyptians thought the mountain is the first land appear from the chaotic sea, which is a place of paradise.

The wine glass tank in the image belongs to Horniman Museum. I was attracted by it since the first glance. Its form is so special, which has a sense of dramatic and romantic that is different from normal glass tank. I hoped I can show my works in this tank, but they rejected my proposal, considering health and safety issue to the animals.

I thought about that the universe are plants, which can grow bigger and bigger if watered properly. Then I considered using three basic shapes to design the form of the universe.