Roomograph

source: alexschweder

Roomograph is an inflatable, room-scaled installation made from a combination of clear and photosensitive materials. As people interact with it, Roomograph works like a photogram, its photosensitive surfaces are blocked from light as occupants linger. When the lights go out, occupants see their outlines as shadows on a glowing field. Roomograph is comprised of two forms, one occupied at the perimeter and one at the center, encouraging individual and group experiences respectively. In the dark the previously illuminated/ inflated form is displaced by its counterpart. During this shifting, the glowing portions will be all a visitor sees as they witness their shadowy trace become incorporated into the architecture. This work was made with support from the Graham Foundation and the deCordova Museum.
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source: grahamfoundationorg

Roomograph is an inflatable, room-scaled installation made from a combination of clear and photosensitive materials. When lit, it looks like a puffy space with places to sit or lay. As people interact with it, Roomograph works like a photogram, its photosensitive surfaces are blocked from light as occupants linger. When the lights go out, occupants see their outlines as shadows on a glowing field. Roomograph is comprised of two forms, one occupied at the perimeter and one at the center, encouraging individual and group experiences respectively. When the lights are out, the previously illuminated/ inflated form is displaced by its counterpart. During this shifting, the glowing portions will be all a visitor sees and occupants will witness their shadowy trace, as it becomes incorporated into the architecture—until there is no way to distinguish between the body and the building.

Alex Schweder La has been experimenting with time- and performance-based architecture including Flatland at New York’s Sculpture Center, Its Form Will Follow Your Performance at Gallery Magnus Muller in Berlin, A Sac of Rooms All Day Long at the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, and Counterweight Roommate at SCOPE Basel 2011. Schweder La’s projects have been collected by several eminent individuals and institutions including the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art. He is has been artist-in-residence at the Kohler Company and the Chinati Foundation, and is the subject of the film Space Time Performance. Schweder La holds a MArch from Princeton University (1998) and a BArch from Pratt Institute (1993), and was a Rome Prize Fellow in Architecture (2006). He now teaches at the Southern California Institute of Architecture and the Institute for Art and Architecture in Vienna.
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source: alexschweder
Alex Schweder works with architecture and performance art to complicate the distinction between occupying subjects and occupied objects. These projects include Practise Architecture at Tate Britain, Flatland at New York’s Sculpture Center, Its Form Follows Your Performance at Berlin’s Magnus Muller, A Sac of Rooms All Day Long at the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, Counterweight Roommate in Scope Basel, Roomograph at the deCordova Museum, and The Rise and fall in the Marrakech Biennial. The Pollack Krasner and Graham Foundations have funded his projects. Schweder is the author of Stalls Between Walls included in Ladies and Gents, the Gendering of Public Toilets and Performance Architecture included in Urban Interiors. He is a three-time artist in residence at the Kohler Company and was in residence at the Chinati Foundation and American Academy in Rome. Schweder has been a guest professor at the Southern California Institute of Architecture, Pratt Institute, and the Institute for Art and Architecture in Vienna.
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source: the-gopher-hole

Biography: Alex Schweder La’s projects have been exhibited internationally including the Netherlands Institute of Architecture, Henry Urbach Architecture in New York, The Sculpture Center in New York, the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, and Magnus Muller in Berlin. He is the recipient of numerous awards including a Rome Prize fellowship in Architecture and a Pollock-Krasner award. Schweder La holds a masters degree in architecture from Princeton University and has taught at the Southern California Institute of Architecture in Los Angeles.