There is no there there.
2018
Architects give interior designers a bad name.
The common narrative suggests that architects work theoretically with rigid, enduring materials while decorators rely on instinct and movable objects in delicate fabrics. A paradox emerges: furniture sits at the intersection of mutual necessity and conflict. Architects need furniture to fulfill programmatic needs but often distrust it as an interruption of form. Interior designers, in contrast, embrace furniture’s ability to soften the austerity of architecture. This tension reveals deep-seated norms and hierarchies around gender, sexuality, and class.
There is no there there nods to Gertrude Stein’s lament over her demolished childhood home. This project breaks down the binary between interior decoration and architecture, focusing on the role of furniture in both private and public spaces—particularly in homes and train stations. It celebrates continuous domesticity within the urban fabric, allowing public and domestic spheres to blend in a seamless narrative.
Dollhouse Furniture
Miniaturization abstracts the ordinary, turning a dollhouse chair into something uncanny. Even when enlarged in photographs, subtle inaccuracies like stitching that is too thick or arms that are too high create a sense of absurdity. This study raised a question: could this aesthetic be pushed further to transcend the social barriers traditionally represented by furniture?
Collage study of dollhouse furniture
Collage study of dollhouse furniture
Vacuum-formed study of dollhouse furniture
Compose it.
The dollhouse furniture was carefully arranged on a flat surface, forming a formal composition. The intuitive response to the geometries of these readymade objects initiated a playful, yet deliberate study in abstraction.
Vacuum it.
The next step involved vacuum-sealing the composition in matte white plastic. This process transformed the individual pieces into a singular, cohesive mass, abstracting their forms and creating a unified visual language.
Invert it.
A fortunate discovery emerged: the interaction between the vacuum-sealed plastic and the furniture resulted in unexpected distortions. Bubbles and swells appeared around the angular objects, lending an organic quality to the otherwise rigid composition.
A House of Furniture
Drawing from these early studies, the design of a small dwelling emerged, where fixed architecture flowed directly from the furniture itself. The inverted vacuum models inspired poché walls, blending furniture into immovable structure and questioning the boundaries between temporary objects and permanent architecture. This subversive approach highlighted the tension between furniture as frivolous decor and its structural potential.
Home decoration is political resistance.
Home decoration is an act of political resistance. Both women and gay men have faced similar prejudices due to homophobia’s roots in misogyny. For transfeminine individuals, these biases are compounded. Embracing the feminine—whether through home decor or self-expression—challenges societal norms and upends traditional power structures.
This project draws on Joel Sanders’ Curtain Wars, which reclaims the term 'decorator' much like the LGBTQIA+ community has reclaimed 'queer.' Throughout history, the act of decorating has allowed marginalized groups to resist oppression by reshaping their environments, creating spaces that reflect their own identities and ideals.
Bosse, Abraham. “Bureau De L'emploi.” The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1633, www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/390003.
The Politics of Taste
The industrial revolution transformed the home into a feminine space, as men moved to factories and women remained at home. Taste, once an expression of class, became democratized but retained its classist undertones. The evolution of taste, as theorized by Pierre Bourdieu and Georg Simmel, continues to reflect the preferences of the ruling class, despite the rapid spread of trends through modern platforms like Pinterest.
Train Stations
Domesticity meets public space.
The exploration of furniture and architecture extends beyond the home into public spaces like train stations, where the dynamics of power and control are amplified. As the project moves from the domestic to the urban scale, it reveals how both private and public spaces shape societal values through design, merging the personal with the monumental.
The Western Train Station
Western cities build monumental objects like soaring train stations and city halls to assert their power and artistry. Roland Barthes, in L'Empire des signs, notes that these objects create hierarchy and centeredness in urban life.
The Japanese Train Station
In contrast, Tokyo's train stations lack a central entrance or hall. They are intricate, sprawling networks of underground corridors, unanchored by singular monuments. This exploration culminated in an animation highlighting the station’s disorienting sprawl, where spaces blend, refusing to conform to Western architectural norms.
This model, created for the Miniatures exhibition at Hauser & Wirth, is an abstract formal study of a Japanese train station's egress diagram. The design overlays deconstructed cutouts of readymade domestic objects, creating a layered composition that explores the intersection between public infrastructure and intimate, personal space. The model's stark black and white contrast highlights the chaotic, yet organized nature of Tokyo's train stations, with its fragmented forms suggesting the complexity of navigating these spaces. By placing domestic elements into the context of urban transit, the work underscores how public and private realms can blend, offering a unique perspective on urban design.
On June 6, 2019, the esteemed Los Angeles art gallery Hauser & Wirth held a one-day pop-up exhibition titled Miniatures. This model—a formal study of an egress diagram of a Japanese train station—was overlaid with deconstructed cutouts of readymade domestic objects.
Lubow, Keith. "Installation view, ‘Zeng Fanzhi,’ Hauser & Wirth Downtown Los Angeles, 2023." Hauser & Wirth, 2023, https://d3k2f0s3vqqs9o.cloudfront.net/media/7F8951FF-19D4-45D4-B982D6125B7E7BD3/4B276EAF-522B-4238-81B9A58DA72F42FD/webimage-EB11051D-7BB3-4971-8764A601D817F944.jpg. Accessed 19 Sept. 2024.
The event marked a culmination of this study into public and private space and how objects shape the perception of place. The juxtaposition of architecture and furniture underscored the fluid boundary between domesticity and urbanism.
Exhibiting at Hauser & Wirth, which has locations in Zurich, Hong Kong, London, and more, was an honor. With artists like Annie Leibovitz and Louise Bourgeois in its roster, the gallery has become a central force in the art world.
Motion
In the exploration of placemaking and gender, the shift to animation became crucial. The fluidity of motion allowed an investigation of how movable objects play into the creation of space. Domestic objects from earlier model studies were abstracted into urban landscapes, blending public and private spaces, challenging rigid ideas of place and structure. This animation, set to Brice Davoli's Love Stream, reflected the fluid, ambiguous nature of these spaces and their relationships to gendered roles.
Sculpting Larger-Than-Life Models
The final phase returned to physical models, but this time on a grand scale. Enlarging the dollhouse studies into architectural installations highlighted the power of scale to shift perception. The models evolved into immersive sculptures, blurring the boundaries between furniture and architecture. This transformation allowed the research to culminate in a statement that questioned long-held biases about interior decoration and architecture, ultimately challenging the hierarchical nature of the disciplines.
A Collaborative Effort
The success of this project was made possible by the incredible support from a dedicated team. Special thanks to Devyn Weiser, Marrikka Trotter, and Florencia Pita, whose insight and guidance helped push this exploration into new, uncharted territories.