ARCHITECTURE, TEXTILE, SCULPTURE, PERFORMANCE: HEIDI BUCHER AND THE FLESH OF THE SPACE

Year 2022, Volume: 36 Issue: 2, 672 - 692, 29.06.2022

Fulya Asyalı Büyükerman

https://doi.org/10.48070/erciyesakademi.1094487

Abstract

Heidi Bucher is an artist who made moldings with latex and fabric on the walls of architectural spaces and made sculptures by recombining these fragments, which are called ‘Skinnings’, sculptures which became synonymous with her in the 1970s. Bucher's art, in the production process of sculptures, has a relevance that arouses interest again in today's art, with its plastic results reflecting the hybridity between architecture and body, as well as the opposite structure and performative aspect of applications that require both sensibility and physical strength. After her textile education at the School of Applied Arts, Zurich, Bucher made silk-print collages and fabric sculptures for he first time. After moving to the USA, she worked on the concepts of memory and metamorphosis within the diversity of contemporary art trends in those years, and turned to sculptures that involve interventions for architectural space and performance. Bucher's works reveals that she was deeply influenced by German architect Gottfried Semper (1803-1879), who argues in his writings that the origin of architecture lies in weaving; and that architecture functions as a living membrane, a second skin. Bucher refers to Semper's theories by combining architecture, textiles and skin.The texture and colors of these sculptures are reminiscent of a body that ages and starts to deform with the transformation of latex material: Although it maintains its flexibility for a while, the changing appearance of latex, which eventually darkens, wrinkles and hardens, resembles skin. Benefiting from the metaphor of the skin as a house or a shell that surrounds the self, Bucher's sculptures feature a hybridity created by the interaction between architecture and body, surrealist effects, as well as a postminimal attitude by using the structural features of the material, making fragility and temporality visible. Having a unique approach to the definition of the ambiguous space between body and space, Bucher's latex sculptures that give the effect of 'rooms with skin walls' visualize the traces of memory and the theme of metamorphosis with the transformation of material in the process.

Keywords

Space, Memory, Metamorphosis, Flesh, Sculpture

MİMARİ, TEKSTİL, HEYKEL, PERFORMANS: HEIDI BUCHER VE MEKÂNIN TENİ

Abstract

Heidi Bucher, 1970’lerde kendisiyle özdeşleşen ‘Skinnings’ adlı heykelleri için mimari mekânların duvarlarında lateks ve kumaş ile kalıplamalar yapan ve bunlardan elde ettiği fragmanları birleştirerek heykele dönüştüren bir sanatçıdır. Bucher’ın sanatı, heykellerin üretim sürecinde hem hassasiyet hem de fiziksel güç gerektiren uygulamaların karşıt yapısı ve performatif yönüyle olduğu kadar, mimari ve beden arasındaki melezliği yansıtan plastik sonuçları ile günümüz sanatında da tekrardan ilgi uyandıran bir güncelliğe sahiptir. Zürih’te Uygulamalı Sanatlar Okulu’nda aldığı tekstil eğitiminin ardından önce ipek baskı kolajlar ve kumaş heykeller yapan Bucher, ABD’ye taşınması sonrası o yıllarda çağdaş sanat eğilimlerinin çeşitliliği içinde, hafıza ve metamorfoz kavramları üzerine çalışarak, performans ve mimari mekâna yönelik müdahale içeren heykellere yönelmiştir. Bucher’ın yapıtları, Alman mimar Gottfried Semper'in (1803-1879), mimarlığın kökeninin dokumada yattığını savunan yazılarında; mimarlığın canlı bir zar, ikinci bir ten olarak işlev gördüğü fikrinden derinden etkilendiğini ortaya koyar. Bucher, mimariyi, tekstili ve teni birleştirerek Semper'in teorilerine atıfta bulunur. Bu heykellerin dokusu ve renkleri lateks malzemenin dönüşümüyle yaşlanan ve deforme olmaya başlayan bir bedeni anımsatır: Esnekliğini bir süre korusa da sonunda koyulaşan, kırışan ve sertleşen lateksin değişen görünümü teni andırır. Tenin; benliği kuşatan bir ev ya da kabuk olduğu metaforundan faydalanan Bucher’ın heykellerinde mimari ve beden arasındaki etkileşimin yarattığı melezlik, sürrealist etkiler taşıdığı gibi malzemenin yapısal özelliklerini kullanması, kırılganlık ve geçiciliği görünür kılması ile postminimal bir tavır da yüklenir. Beden ve mekân arasındaki muğlak alanın tanımına özgün bir yaklaşımı olan Bucher’ın ‘ten duvarlı odalar’ etkisi veren lateks heykelleri, hafızanın izlerini ve malzemenin süreç içinde dönüşümü ile metamorfoz temasını görselleştirir.

Keywords

Mekân, Hafıza, Metamorfoz, Ten, Heykel

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