Statement of intent
BRIDGING THE VERTICALS of ART
From a functional point of view, the staircase may be thought of as the spinal cord of a building, while on a psychological level it may be read as a choreographed stage-set rich in metaphoric and symbolic overlays. Although physical connectivity was always the overriding consideration, over time staircases acquired greater aesthetic value, as they evolved into conspicuous artistic elements, prominent, embellished and ornate.
We begin to perceive stairs not as a structure, but as a unique event where we are physically and spiritually on a journey. On stairs we can be completely absorbed in a multi-input sensorium of light, sound (or abject lack of it) and space, an experience that concurrently combines all aspects of both here and there. As an event, they share similar performative qualities with the corridor and the door, in that both can be places for serendipitous, unstructured encounters, and thresholds between realms. On stairs alone, however, we are temporarily suspended in time and space – between the moments of departure and arrival – where signals from the surrounding environments can be suppressed, providing a respite in the stream of a particular setting.
As a photographer, I started from stairs but sought to elevate them to something beyond the mundane, beyond architecture, into a fine art panel based on texture, shape, pattern and light. The value of these transactions is in their brevity and we can encourage such encounters through a thickening of space, light and tones, just enough to pull out of the flow, but not so much as to predetermine the nature of the transaction.