Cultural Spaces

I was introduced to the Cultural Space brief, in which I  had to explore ideas of exhibit my artwork. So I started my research by visiting some museums and libraries, exploring their interiors and the exterior,  and seeing which one suits my concept best. My favourite was (MCL) Manchester Central Library. The building is a mid-century structure with a bustling place and welcomes people of all ages; I thought it was perfect for exhibiting my artwork.

I was asked to create a new cultural space where people could interact with my artwork while visiting the place. I found the area very interesting. It has a beautiful stairs way, a transparent glass elevator and huge windows where natural light reflects, making this place even more attractive. Therefore, I started to take photographs from the site as I decided to focus more on the stairway, walls and ceiling.

Idea Development

For this brief,  I wanted to bring nature's ideas inside. The intention is to see people interacting by touching and feeling it. To archive this, I started to explore contemporary artists and techniques and see which one suits better to my idea. I came up with the idea of exploring butterfly cocoons as I was inspired by their shape and how they are tied, and this gave me the idea of creating my "cocoons" using textiles techniques. Everything started with a pencil and charcoal drawings which I experimented with some methods to develop my ideas.       

After exploring ideas and techniques for my final piece, "The Cocoon" shape was made of crochet to be more attractive and exciting. I produce it by using different colours and yarn types to build this beautiful and colourful pattern. Visually it looks very vibrant with opaque and vivid colour combined with a delicately textured surface when touched. Styrofoam was the material I chose to fill inside to be easy to manipulate, as I wanted people to be involved by playing and have some fun while visiting the new cultural space in the Manchester Central Library.

Making the cocoon

Visualisation image This is the version of what I wanted it to look like and presented to the public as I had the opportunity to explore Photoshop before making my final outcome.