Cornelia Stehling

-time

/PROJECT 2: time

»Time« is a series of studies to materials which show or conserve time as being a moment of a constant process.

The collection of materials is part of the bachelor thesis. Based on sociological and ecological research it's trying to change our understanding of availability. The illusion of a persistent availability of goods fuels our cultural consumption and has been leading to the situation we are in now – from a ecological as well as from a sociocultural point of view. The experiments and »Interim« make time the resource to evaluate the value of products and activities. The materials are chosen due to their ability to capture temporality and momentariness.

1) The leaves of trees are dramatically speaking the snapshot of an always moving process of birth, death and rebirth as the tree looses its' leaves, grows them, looses them and grows them again. For the experiment the leaves were worked with like paper. The basis were leaves which were glued and pressed together with paste. Once dried the amount of air in between the leaves made it unstable and impossible to work with.

2) Kombucha is a symbiosis of yeast and bacteria. The main ingredient Gluconacetobacteryxlinum produces nanofibers, which gather in a nanostructured textile-like material. In Asia Kombucha is a traditional healing drink, which is brewed from the Kombucha culture, vinegar and sweetened black tea. The nanofibers gather on the liquid in a white translucent material. Once it has reached a certain thickness the Kombucha can be harvested and dried. It looses a lot of its volume and turns into a leather sort of looking structure. It keeps the structure until it's again transferred back into a humid milieu. It then starts growing again and the process starts all over again. Due to its organic origin its appearance is only the extractional moment of a constant process.

3) Algies most recently have been having a comeback in the fashion, design and food industry. They are almost globally available and have very limited requirements in the place they grow. The experiment is trying to utilize their autonomosity in growing as the algies themselves fill up the gaps in a woven net into a textile-like material. By minimizing the influence of the designer in the process, it becomes a natural structure which represents a certain slowness.

4) In our environment salt is a very common resource. Sodium chloride shapes transparent octahedral and cubical crystals. Stirred up in water the salt settles in bigger crystals on the medium available. For the experiments silver yarn and textiles were chosen in order to test the effect on the crystals. Depending on the temperature as well as on the concentration of the solution different shapes were growing on the basis medium. Due to the lack of water resistance the shapes are very fugitive. The result of the slow process of growing from liquid to solid is always endangered by the potential of fully being re-liquidized into water. The result is a certain fugitiveness which changes the value of the material as it is not always available.

5) Sugar is a regrowing natural resource. It generates translucent crystals which due to the refraction of the light are most commonly known as white powder. In other aggregate states it turns into light brown caramel. When the temperature is further and longer increased the sugar burns and turns into a black and red, brittle material. It sounds like glass and breaks very easily. The structure it has hardened in is shaped by the gravity and the room temperature. The aesthetic seems to perfectly summarize the movement and the dynamic of the process.

6) Concrete is a sort of artificial stone. As a architectural basis material is represents stability, static and monumentality and therefor a certain consistency. As a contrast the experiment focuses on the liquidity and dynamic of concrete. Its high viscosity slows down the drying process and the movement seems to be frozen in a very aesthetic way. The concrete is poured down a steel rod which collects the drops and puddles into a stable socle.

7) The paper experiments are based on a theoretical consideration and the observation of my personal discrepancy of the research on sustainability and a sustainable lifestyle itself. The research itself led to masses of paper with sketches, concepts and ideas piling up with coffee to go cups in an overfilled bin. Sociologists call this Jevon's Paradox. The material papier-mâché is trying to close up again the circle of the creative process by gathering what before had fallen out of it in a solid material. In this way it conserves time in a very bold and simple way.