Proximity: representations of fragile space through hapticity and vision

This research paper investigates the phenomenology of touch and its relationship to my sculptural practice. My studio research has been engaged in site-responsive interventions developed as a series of ephemeral artworks. Core to this is the relationship between vision and touch. My paper charts the evolution of this and how I consider these factors when making art. My process stems from my engagement with the notion of hapticity-how we understand the tactile experience of space and place through sensory perception- and of how I see, the condition of a tactile gaze as analogous to perception. My studio research, the creation of temporary propositions for sculptural activity, has been a personal pursuit in an attempt to understand both the intervention within architectural parameters and to uncover my personal motivations for why I create the work that I do. This activity allows me to contemplate my place within that space and the outcome as a locative device. The thesis charts the evolution of my process into site­ responsiveness and engagement, where my interventions produce a meditative space in which to create. These interventions act as spatial engagement with site and body, explored through a number of strategies, such as: mapping, mensuration, casting, drawing and video. The document is divided in two sections: Part One contains the written exegesis, which provides a conceptual explication through some of the visual research, while Part Two contains the body of my visual research.