Week 1: Idea:

• Vital Featured Artist https://www.vitalclimbinggym.com/les-art

  • Select an interesting space to you (e.g., your fav park, local street anomaly, dreaded hallway). Ask yourself:- Why does this space interest you?- What’s its current function, and how do people interact with it?- Is it smooth (open, fluid) or striated (structured, controlled)?

    • There are many walls in this building, and most invite you to touch them, but a few don’t.
    • A very striated space, has very rigid geometry in the structured space of a locker room or bathroom.
    • Liminal space between gym and restroom.

  • Spend time observing your space:- How do people move through it?- What rhythms or patterns emerge?- Are there barriers or obstacles shaping behavior?- What emotions or behaviors does it evoke?Take notes or sketches.

    • These are by far the most neglected and ignored walls in the room.

  • Consider:- Is the space smooth (open, dynamic) or striated (structured, hierarchical)?- How can elements of the opposite type be introduced for tension or transformation?For example: If it's striated (grid-like plaza), introduce smooth elements (flowing fabrics, organic shapes).

    • First photo especially looks like it could be in ANY other building. Many people aren’t even aware that there is a bathroom back here.
    • Can I create a more smooth dynamic that invites people to the area and makes it more welcoming? Playing with textures and tactility?
    • Creating a better transition between the dynamic, fluid space of the climbing gym and the structured, sterile organization of a locker room.
    • There is a bench there… I wonder if literally anyone has sat on it ever.
    • photo op?
    • little stuffed amigurumi climbing holds??? 🥹
    • Yarn bombing something

  

  

  

Week 2: Proposal and Planning

Title: Soft Send

Brief Summary:

Plush imitations of climbing holds made from crochet yarn, arranged as a normal climbing route. It will fill blank walls of Vital Climbing gym, and draw people into spaces of the gym that are normally overlooked.

Conceptual Framework:

I want to take the striated, rigid space of the area near the lockers and bathrooms, and add some more fluidity to the space. The addition of colorful objects that are relevant to the context of the space will create a more inviting environment than the current blank white walls. The material will also subvert the usual expectation of the form, turning something we expect to be firm, rigid, and supportive into something that is warm, soft, and cute.

Site Analysis

The site I am interested in creating this piece for is the blank wall between the two rear bathrooms. It is currently monochromatic, uninviting, and easily overlooked.

In a building where most of the walls are highly loved and appreciated, these few are especially neglected.

An art installation will bring more of a purpose to this liminal space between the gym and the restrooms.

Reference Imagery and Mood board

amigurumi texture

climbing spray wall

plush inanimate objects are always cute

Initial Prototypes