Brick Collapse

Andrew Burton

Cathedral by Andrew Burton

Using many thousands of tiny bricks I intend to create a changing series of more or less stable structures. These might vary from simple rings and walls to more complex matrices. Over the two days of the event maybe two or three - or more - structures can be assembled sequentially, one structure assembled from the ruins of its forbear. The bricks themselves are irregular, hand made items that do not lend themselves to much structural integrity. They don't stack properly. How should they be held together? Perhaps with a painted surface which will, as a rather delicate membrane, provide enough adhesion as a surface for the structures to hold together.

These structures need to be collapsed periodically, and I want to experiment doing this using sound - perhaps at ultra-low frequencies. Once collapsed, the structures will be rebuilt, but each new structure containing the painted history of its previous incarnations.

The whole sequence of events should be recorded using still photography, and, during the moments of collapse, video.

The collaborators I would like to work with could be a structural engineer, with whom I would define the nature of the structures: what might collapse nicely, and how? What would the painted surface need to be like? And then a musician, or sound engineer who can devise the audial environment which will affect - eventually detrimentally, the integrity of the structure. Finally, I would like to work with painters - maybe graffiti painters - who can create a history for each structure.

With thanks to European Ceramics Work Centre