Archaeology of the Digital: Complexity and Convention is the third exhibition related to the development of a strategy for collecting and preserving digital archives at the CCA. The Archaeology of the Digital program comprises twenty-five projects for which digital materials are integral to an understanding of the design process. For projects included in the first two(...)
11 May 2016 to 16 October 2016
Archaeology of the Digital: Complexity and Convention
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Archaeology of the Digital: Complexity and Convention is the third exhibition related to the development of a strategy for collecting and preserving digital archives at the CCA. The Archaeology of the Digital program comprises twenty-five projects for which digital materials are integral to an understanding of the design process. For projects included in the first two(...)
In this lecture, Christophe Girot discusses digital landscape models: A quiet revolution has taken place in digital landscape design and analysis over the past decade, caused by the introduction of digital point-cloud models. The scope and precision of these digital landscape models, created with terrestrial laser scanners and mobile and airborne lidar, lead to new(...)
Paul Desmarais Theatre
6 October 2016, 6pm
Unravelling the Digital Landscape
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In this lecture, Christophe Girot discusses digital landscape models: A quiet revolution has taken place in digital landscape design and analysis over the past decade, caused by the introduction of digital point-cloud models. The scope and precision of these digital landscape models, created with terrestrial laser scanners and mobile and airborne lidar, lead to new(...)
Paul Desmarais Theatre
articles
Origins of the digital
The Greg Lynn Show
It’s Greg Lynn, in conversation with architects of seminal digital projects included in the exhibition Archaeology of the Digital: Complexity and Convention. Conversation has been a big part of the CCA’s Archaeology of the Digital program. Greg Lynn has spoken with the architects of projects produced from the late 1980s through the 2000s to develop an archaeological(...)
11 May 2016
The Greg Lynn Show
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It’s Greg Lynn, in conversation with architects of seminal digital projects included in the exhibition Archaeology of the Digital: Complexity and Convention. Conversation has been a big part of the CCA’s Archaeology of the Digital program. Greg Lynn has spoken with the architects of projects produced from the late 1980s through the 2000s to develop an archaeological(...)
In this lecture, Amy Kulper locates architecture’s “digital turn” in 1988, when Thomas Knoll invented Photoshop. Originally developed as an image-editing software, Photoshop fit neatly within the long history of optical correction in the discipline. Yet its ubiquity today also prompts new questions. Does Photoshop simply introduce logics of adjustment, correction, and(...)
Paul Desmarais Theatre
9 June 2016, 6pm
Amy Kulper: Architecture’s Digital Turn and the Advent of Photoshop
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In this lecture, Amy Kulper locates architecture’s “digital turn” in 1988, when Thomas Knoll invented Photoshop. Originally developed as an image-editing software, Photoshop fit neatly within the long history of optical correction in the discipline. Yet its ubiquity today also prompts new questions. Does Photoshop simply introduce logics of adjustment, correction, and(...)
Paul Desmarais Theatre
DR2017:0019
Description:
Model reproduced by CCA from STL files in the Preston Scott Cohen Eyebeam project records (AP190) for the exhibition Archaeology of the Digital: Complexity and Convention, 2016.
2016
3D printed model of Preston Scott Cohen Eyebeam competition entry
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DR2017:0019
Description:
Model reproduced by CCA from STL files in the Preston Scott Cohen Eyebeam project records (AP190) for the exhibition Archaeology of the Digital: Complexity and Convention, 2016.
articles
Origins of the digital
That digital tools have changed the very nature of designing and making buildings is unquestioned. Yet formal innovation and ingenuity—and the technical competence needed to achieve those ends—are not merely a function of the virtuosity of form-making. Rather, they also make evident the dramatic impact that digital capabilities have on the roles, responsibility, and(...)
Paul Desmarais Theatre
20 October 2016, 6pm
Sound Advice and Clear Drawings: Design and Computation in the Second Machine Age
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That digital tools have changed the very nature of designing and making buildings is unquestioned. Yet formal innovation and ingenuity—and the technical competence needed to achieve those ends—are not merely a function of the virtuosity of form-making. Rather, they also make evident the dramatic impact that digital capabilities have on the roles, responsibility, and(...)
Paul Desmarais Theatre
When Gordon Matta-Clark assembled the titles to and documentation of a dozen-odd small, vacant parcels of New York property between 1974 and 1977 (later assembled and exhibited as Reality Properties: Fake Estates in 1992), it was with no well-formed agenda—other than his view that the availability of vacant and underutilized parcels [was] a direct reminder of the fallacy(...)
Paul Desmarais Theatre
22 September 2016, 6pm
Nicholas de Monchaux: Local Code
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When Gordon Matta-Clark assembled the titles to and documentation of a dozen-odd small, vacant parcels of New York property between 1974 and 1977 (later assembled and exhibited as Reality Properties: Fake Estates in 1992), it was with no well-formed agenda—other than his view that the availability of vacant and underutilized parcels [was] a direct reminder of the fallacy(...)
Paul Desmarais Theatre
Series
AP168.S1
Description:
The Project records from Neil Denari series, 1994 – 2004, consists of records produced by Denari for his show “Interrupted Projections” at Gallery MA in Tokyo, Japan. It documents the development and final design for the principal architectural installation built on the third level of the gallery, as well as related materials displayed on the gallery’s fourth floor. The series also contains photographic and video documentation of the exhibit, the show catalogue, and promotional materials. The series includes 4003 digital files (1 GB), 53 slides, 21 transparencies, seven drawings and/or reprographic copies, two VHS video cassettes, one exhibition catalogue, and a small amount of promotional material comprising one large and two small posters, one postcard, and one t-shirt. The majority of records date from 1994-1996. Denari used a combination of physical drawings and digital modelling to draft the design for Interrupted Projections. The series contains one ink drawing and one transfer print with plans and sections of the third floor gallery space, two reprographic copies of drawings with elevations and plans of existing conditions of the third and fourth floors at Gallery MA, and three graphite hand drawings of the installation. Digital files in the series include two original Softimage databases containing full and partial 3D models of the installation, as well as one forward-migrated database containing models compiled from the two original databases. The original models were created in Softimage ’95 on Windows NT and will not open in contemporary versions of Autodesk Softimage. The forward-migrated model database was created by members of Autodesk’s Montreal office for the Archaeology of the Digital exhibition Complexity and Convention and will open in Softimage 2014. Each Softimage model database is made up of several directories that contain information necessary to render all models and their animation into a “scene” (such as textures, lighting, camera movements, etc.). When the Interrupted Projections models were migrated, the information from all directories in both original databases was compiled into the Scenes directory of a single database. These updated scene files (SCN) contain all the elements needed to render the models without the need for additional directories. Each scene file has a corresponding scene TOC file (scene table of content), which can be used to further modify the information in the scene. Scene files in the migrated database contain full and partial models for Interrupted Projections, including one animated scene that follows a camera path through the interior and exterior of the final model. These files document the various stages of design work for the project, as well as Denari’s use of animation features in Softimage to visualize and study the spatial character of his drawings. Project collaborator Duks Koschitz created additional animations of the model that were edited and shown on the fourth floor of the exhibition. A compilation of his work is included on a VHS tape in the archive. The video, which spans one minute 16 seconds, contains four animations that move around the 3D gallery space. Koschitz attempted to reflect the concerns of the project in the movements of the camera, focusing on details such as the fictional company logos or curvatures in the surface of the model. The majority of photographic materials in the series are digital renderings of the model, comprising 38 slides, 14 diapositives, and seven digital images. Photographic materials also include images of the completed show, including seven diapositives that document the built work from various views on the third floor of Gallery MA, as well as the exhibition of materials on the fourth floor. A small number of slides document the exhibit open to the public, and include images of visitors interacting with the Sony Navicam. Most of the diapositive photographs and a small number of slides were taken by Fujitsuka Mitsumasa, a photographer of architecture based in Tokyo. A second VHS tape in the archive provides in-depth documentation of the Interrupted Projections exhibition, containing 45 minutes of raw video footage that explores Gallery MA and surrounding areas of Tokyo. The Interrupted Projections book contains in print the text and images from the installation and website. It was written by Denari and designed by Michiharu Shimoda, a graphic designer and underground trip-hop artist who was also responsible for the design of the fictional logos used in the exhibit. The book acts as an extension of the content of the show, as well as exhibition catalogue, and covers Denari’s other projects represented in the show. The series also contains a small amount of promotional media for Interrupted Projections, including one large and two small posters, a postcard, and a t-shirt.
1994 - 2004
Project records from Neil Denari
Actions:
AP168.S1
Description:
The Project records from Neil Denari series, 1994 – 2004, consists of records produced by Denari for his show “Interrupted Projections” at Gallery MA in Tokyo, Japan. It documents the development and final design for the principal architectural installation built on the third level of the gallery, as well as related materials displayed on the gallery’s fourth floor. The series also contains photographic and video documentation of the exhibit, the show catalogue, and promotional materials. The series includes 4003 digital files (1 GB), 53 slides, 21 transparencies, seven drawings and/or reprographic copies, two VHS video cassettes, one exhibition catalogue, and a small amount of promotional material comprising one large and two small posters, one postcard, and one t-shirt. The majority of records date from 1994-1996. Denari used a combination of physical drawings and digital modelling to draft the design for Interrupted Projections. The series contains one ink drawing and one transfer print with plans and sections of the third floor gallery space, two reprographic copies of drawings with elevations and plans of existing conditions of the third and fourth floors at Gallery MA, and three graphite hand drawings of the installation. Digital files in the series include two original Softimage databases containing full and partial 3D models of the installation, as well as one forward-migrated database containing models compiled from the two original databases. The original models were created in Softimage ’95 on Windows NT and will not open in contemporary versions of Autodesk Softimage. The forward-migrated model database was created by members of Autodesk’s Montreal office for the Archaeology of the Digital exhibition Complexity and Convention and will open in Softimage 2014. Each Softimage model database is made up of several directories that contain information necessary to render all models and their animation into a “scene” (such as textures, lighting, camera movements, etc.). When the Interrupted Projections models were migrated, the information from all directories in both original databases was compiled into the Scenes directory of a single database. These updated scene files (SCN) contain all the elements needed to render the models without the need for additional directories. Each scene file has a corresponding scene TOC file (scene table of content), which can be used to further modify the information in the scene. Scene files in the migrated database contain full and partial models for Interrupted Projections, including one animated scene that follows a camera path through the interior and exterior of the final model. These files document the various stages of design work for the project, as well as Denari’s use of animation features in Softimage to visualize and study the spatial character of his drawings. Project collaborator Duks Koschitz created additional animations of the model that were edited and shown on the fourth floor of the exhibition. A compilation of his work is included on a VHS tape in the archive. The video, which spans one minute 16 seconds, contains four animations that move around the 3D gallery space. Koschitz attempted to reflect the concerns of the project in the movements of the camera, focusing on details such as the fictional company logos or curvatures in the surface of the model. The majority of photographic materials in the series are digital renderings of the model, comprising 38 slides, 14 diapositives, and seven digital images. Photographic materials also include images of the completed show, including seven diapositives that document the built work from various views on the third floor of Gallery MA, as well as the exhibition of materials on the fourth floor. A small number of slides document the exhibit open to the public, and include images of visitors interacting with the Sony Navicam. Most of the diapositive photographs and a small number of slides were taken by Fujitsuka Mitsumasa, a photographer of architecture based in Tokyo. A second VHS tape in the archive provides in-depth documentation of the Interrupted Projections exhibition, containing 45 minutes of raw video footage that explores Gallery MA and surrounding areas of Tokyo. The Interrupted Projections book contains in print the text and images from the installation and website. It was written by Denari and designed by Michiharu Shimoda, a graphic designer and underground trip-hop artist who was also responsible for the design of the fictional logos used in the exhibit. The book acts as an extension of the content of the show, as well as exhibition catalogue, and covers Denari’s other projects represented in the show. The series also contains a small amount of promotional media for Interrupted Projections, including one large and two small posters, a postcard, and a t-shirt.
Series
1994 - 2004