CONOR STOSIEK
Writing Response 1
Passage by Patrick Quinn
The performance by Patrick Quinn in studio B of EMPAC was an audio-visual experience that took the viewer along a path compiled of travelogues, field recordings, and sound synthesis. The piece reflected on the short story “The Library of Babel” which contains all that has ever been written or could be written. This is incorporated as a projection of data on an adjacent wall while the travelogues are displayed, distorted on a third. The sound synthesis accompanied the distorted images and further removed the viewer from “reality”. I found that it served to imitate or transport me to a place where there is an overwhelming amount of information, impossible to grasp, much like the infinite information that might be found in the Library of Babel. The experience was very intriguing and immersive as well as slightly frightening.
Writing Response 2
Architecture Lecture Series – Mark Jensen
This lecture was one of the first this semester for the RPI Architecture Lecture Series. The speaker, Mark Jensen, is a principle architect in a firm based in San Francisco. His firm has a unique approach to architecture that strives to bring art, architecture and building technology together while creating a dialogue though design around culture and identity. I found the firms work to be very interesting. Their use of color and unique installments in their designs lend themselves well to their objective through design. They also had very high attention to detail that resulted in a very clean, modern aesthetic. I enjoyed the lecture although I would have preferred to hear more about the cultural influence that they were shooting for and how effective they felt they were being.
Writing Response 3
Latin America Study Abroad Exhibit and Presentation
The Latin America Study Abroad Exhibit and Presentation was put on by the professor who accompanied the students traveling to Latin America for a semester. I was particularly interested in this exhibit as a comparison to the work presented by my group of peers at the China Study Abroad Exhibit. The exhibit consisted of a number of drawings and models but it was the models in particular that caught my attention. They had displayed a number of 3D prints from the semester’s work that had focused on sustainable approaches to building. The simplicity and elegance of the designs were what caught my attention and how they enhanced the diagrammatic drawings that they accompanied. In comparison to the China Exhibit, I found that we were lacking on the design side and focused much more on the cultural experience and I do wish that we had somehow incorporated more of both.