REEF

Background Architectural drawing has traditionally been a portal to space beyond it, projecting imagined arrays of material, form and events. Drawing in this sense is poiētic, they are fields of marks ‘belonging to ‘bringing-forth, to poiēsis’ (Heidegger 1977:5). The ‘Reef’ works expand the field of drawing: how might installation, digital virtual environments, including spatial sound, be deployed to create irresolute, temporal worlds that operate with the openness of a traditional sketch? Contribution This question informed a large-scale installation art-work (Tin Sheds Gallery, 2020) inspired by the sudden appearance of new reef caused by the Kaikora earthquake, Aotearoa NZ. Over 450 individually cast objects (matter sketches) were suspended within the spaces, in conjunction with spatial sound composition, video projection, alongside VR and AR abstractions of the reef. My contribution was the production of the video, AR and VR works while L. Harvey composed the spatial sound. The temporal aspects of the work were explored via video and exhibited in a subsequent online exhibition (Drawn to Time, 2021) Significance Reef is the second major collaborative work by researchers who are extending the theoretical and methodological practice of drawing. The matter sketches extend the gestural aspects of the sketch ‘enabling matter to become expressive…to intensify - to resonate and become more than itself’ (Grosz, 2008, 10,11). In parallel we explore the complex ‘matter’ of virtual environments and sound in a way that amplifies or extends tacit spatial conditions present in hand drawn sketches. The installation was commissioned through peer review and interview, the associated video work was curated into an international exhibition (I of 30 selected from 370 submissions), with both works underpinning subsequent scholarly publications.