CONSTRUCTIVE COLLABORATION - Slovenian artist works with DAAP

<a href=newsrecord.tuc.uc.edu>The News record Original posting date: 5/28/2003 Vina Parel Ayers Senior Reporter

Credit: Vina Parel Ayers / The News Record DAAP students cut board for the roundhouse project which took the team of DAAP students about three weeks to complete. ------------------------------------------------------------------------Twenty DAAP students and two professors began work on a collaborative installation May 12 for the Contemporary Art Center's opening exhibition.

Award winning Slovenian artist Marjetica Portc met with the students in April to discuss her design and the piece's concept. The volunteers, primarily architecture students, worked together to build a roundhouse 14 feet in diameter.

The roundhouse is one of the many exhibits in the CAC's opening show, which begins Saturday, May 31. Typical of Portc's work, the roundhouse is a South American shelter, reconstructed in a gallery setting using readily-available materials, including Astroturf. This allows the original object to take on new meaning in a slightly altered form.

"It's an interesting juxtaposition between a traditional hut and a modern building," said Will Yokel, a first-year architecture student involved with the project.

The students heard about this opportunity at a School of Architecture and Interior Design all-school meeting at the beginning of Spring Quarter.

"I was interested because of the CAC. I wanted to be able to be there at the opening," said Dan Lash, a fifth-year architecture student.

"[Portc] seems really passionate about what she's doing… It's not about the process or form, it's just about the idea."

Professors Terry Boling and Marc Swackhamer assisted the students and supervised the progress while keeping in close contact with Portc via e-mail.

During the construction process she was in Caracas, Venezuela working on another project.

The students began assembling elements to build the structure in the DAAP building. They began by cutting wood pieces for the walls and roof, then welding the steel cage for a vent in the roof.

The project coincides with the CAC's construction. At the beginning of the building process, Boling had concerns with the limited space.

"It's going to be so big that we're going to run out of room if we're not careful," he said at the time.

Groups of students simultaneously began work on separate tasks.

The second day of construction proved to be more difficult than the first.

"We're learning the hard way," Boling said. The original kits came with a type of oriented strand board designed to curve in one direction, whereas the wood they used did not. To compensate for this, they attached slats of wood they called "Band-Aids" to the sides of the walls.

"This is an experiment to see what it takes to actually make one without a kit," Boling said.

Thom Collins, curator of the CAC, said, "The CAC's opening exhibit is thematic, tracing international art from the past 10 years."

Collins first heard of Portc's work after she won the Guggenheim Museum's 2000 Hugo Boss Prize.

After researching Portc's work, he became interested in her ideas and contacted her to create an exhibit. Knowing that she typically works on collaborative pieces, Collins contacted Boling and Swackhamer. "They have become our de facto design gods," Collins said.

Boling and Swackhamer started their relationship with the CAC a year ago by designing and building the frame work for Ecovention, an exhibit that was on display last summer. They have recently contributed with other projects such as the design of the main sign for the opening and the creation of a sound barrier out of hanging felt strips.

The roundhouse is scheduled for completion Wednesday night and will be on display to the public starting June 7.

Web-posted 5/28/2003 9:22:37 PM