uchi-soto
内 - 外
This prototype sculpture was made as part of my Phd research.
Uchi - Soto - 内 - 外 is a sculptural response to a discussion with a participant about their housing project ‘E-House’. I began constructing the piece from a block of hinoki wood which is a reflection of E-House’s block stairs which separates the bathroom from the central living area. In the thesis I explore how this material site is a potential space of ma and an example of an interior en boundary. Both ma and en are examples of spatial Japan-ness and are fundamentally intertwined with expressions of uchi-soto.
While uchi-soto is found with Isozaki’s theory of
Japan-ness through the conceptual separation of Japan and the ‘ness’, this piece, challenges this separation and presents an alternative configuration, where the line between the two is blurred and the space in-between is dynamic and full of potential.
Japan-ness through the conceptual separation of Japan and the ‘ness’, this piece, challenges this separation and presents an alternative configuration, where the line between the two is blurred and the space in-between is dynamic and full of potential.
15 steel rods were then set within the wood block, representing the 15 lines my participant drew during our interview to explain the critical role which a flexible approach to uchi-soto played in the studio’s conceptualisation of the E-house. In this drawing, the lines intersect, demonstrating the way that the house collapses uchi-soto into one another through a variety of spatial moments. The steel mesh which encases the rods within the wood’s borders reflects E-House’s steel outer mesh wall which functions as a privacy barrier - protecting the privacy of the occupants while simulatenously allowing them visual access to the neighbourhood. Kimono fabric weaves through both the rods and the mesh, folding in on itself in a constant state of uchi-soto. As such, it emulates the intersecting lines of my participant’s drawing, but challenges the rigidity of the linear form through producing malleable shapes. Kimono fabric as a flexible material was used as E-House was inspired by fabric folding used in women’s fashion (in part due to the client being a costume designer).
Zooming was mobilised as an artistic approach through examining the micro relationship created by the interaction of the three materials. The wood, the steel and the fabric each offer contrasting narratives which when brought in one spatial field produces a by-product of tangible tension. I noted this same material tension during site visits to the house itself - particularly in relation to the main structure and the mesh wall. While the two forms are static, natural foliage weaved among them, actively blurring their uchi-soto designations. To engage with this explictly, I have mirrored the blurring through the kimono fabric. As a result, uchi-soto is no longer binary but rather continually manifesting as a unified form.