The desire to create a different space for one’s self in a 21st century context seems very like the desire to stay close to Earth. There seems to be an almost primeval longing to cocoon oneself in an approximation of something ‘Earth’; trees, bark, stone, rock or wood. In some instances, this is underscored by the double container, where Earth is both container and contained, as in the reflecting surface that covers the box home in the Netherlands. Am thinking, what drives us then to do this sort of thing?
A very understandable need to be free of the material chains that cloy and bind ? The need to rediscover something less plastic ? The need for complete immersion into Nature, which in this case translates to suspension or insertion into a shell of trees or rock or air.
Freedom in the context of an increasingly screen-connected society seems to imply a complete disconnect from screens and ‘the other’ as more and more ecologically-aware builders and creators ideate and create living spaces that keep them away from the hurly burly of life and its continuum of demands. So while it is perhaps a mark of human perversity that desires an escape from the things that gave us the capacity to create the escape, it’s also a creative force that has spawned the strange and lovely spaces we show in this edition of IFJ.
For those of us who might not be able to create escape spaces, may we gently suggest to the Powers-that-are in political residence that they can help with supporting shared green spaces for children to play in and for us to enjoy a moment of grass-under-one’s-feet and moments of quiet (yes of course its possible ! with a simple mandate to appropriately schedule noise-producing things such as trucks, or even televisions). If this is all too Big Brother, and one can’t really create one of these fabulous spaces for one’s self, one could carve out a moment as a gift to oneself, and exult in the rejuvenating power of Nature, silence and screenlessness.
Sylvia Khan
I look forward to hearing from you. Please send your thoughts to me at sylvia@ifj.co.in