From The High Line’s information page on this work-
Simone Leigh presents Brick House, a 16-foot-tall bronze bust of a Black woman with a torso that combines the forms of a skirt and a clay house. The sculpture’s head is crowned with an afro framed by cornrow braids, each ending in a cowrie shell. Brick House is the inaugural commission for the High Line Plinth, a new landmark destination for major public artworks in New York City. This is the first monumental sculpture in Leigh’s Anatomy of Architecture series, an ongoing body of work in which the artist combines architectural forms from regions as varied as West Africa and the Southern United States with the human body. The title comes from the term for a strong Black woman who stands with the strength, endurance, and integrity of a house made of bricks.
Brick House references numerous architectural styles: Batammaliba architecture from Benin and Togo, the teleuk dwellings of the Mousgoum people of Cameroon and Chad, and the restaurant Mammy’s Cupboard in Natchez, Mississippi. The sculpture contrasts sharply against the landscape it inhabits, where glass-and-steel towers shoot up from among older industrial-era brick buildings, and where architectural and human scales are in constant negotiation. Resolutely facing down 10th Avenue, Leigh’s powerful Black female figure challenges us to consider the architecture around us, and how it reflects customs, values, priorities, and society as a whole.
Leigh works across sculpture, video, installation, and social practice, stitching together references from different historical periods and distant geographical locations. As a sculptor, Leigh works predominantly in ceramics—a medium that she mastered early in her career—continually pushing the boundaries of her chosen material by working in new methods and larger scales. In her intersectional practice, Leigh focuses on how the body, society, and architecture inform and reveal one another. She examines the construction of Black female subjectivity, both through specific historical figures such as Josephine Baker and Katherine Dunham, and more generally through overlapping historical lineages across Europe, Africa, the US, and the Caribbean.
The High Line’s website also has some excellent videos and additional information on the making of the sculpture well worth checking out. This work was on view until May of 2021.
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Simone Leigh - Brick House
June 2019 – September 2020
Location
On the High Line at the Spur, at 30th St. and 10th Ave.
Simone Leigh presents Brick House, a 16-foot-tall bronze bust of a Black woman with a torso that combines the forms of a skirt and a clay house. The sculpture’s head is crowned with an afro framed by cornrow braids, each ending in a cowrie shell. Brick House is the inaugural commission for the High Line Plinth, a new landmark destination for major public artworks in New York City. This is the first monumental sculpture in Leigh’s Anatomy of Architecture series, an ongoing body of work in which the artist combines architectural forms from regions as varied as West Africa and the Southern United States with the human body. The title comes from the term for a strong Black woman who stands with the strength, endurance, and integrity of a house made of bricks.
Brick House references numerous architectural styles: Batammaliba architecture from Benin and Togo, the teleuk dwellings of the Mousgoum people of Cameroon and Chad, and the restaurant Mammy’s Cupboard in Natchez, Mississippi. The sculpture contrasts sharply against the landscape it inhabits, where glass-and-steel towers shoot up from among older industrial-era brick buildings, and where architectural and human scales are in constant negotiation. Resolutely facing down 10th Avenue, Leigh’s powerful Black female figure challenges us to consider the architecture around us, and how it reflects customs, values, priorities, and society as a whole.
Leigh works across sculpture, video, installation, and social practice, stitching together references from different historical periods and distant geographical locations. As a sculptor, Leigh works predominantly in ceramics—a medium that she mastered early in her career—continually pushing the boundaries of her chosen material by working in new methods and larger scales. In her intersectional practice, Leigh focuses on how the body, society, and architecture inform and reveal one another. She examines the construction of Black female subjectivity, both through specific historical figures such as Josephine Baker and Katherine Dunham, and more generally through overlapping historical lineages across Europe, Africa, the US, and the Caribbean.
The High Line Plinth presents a series of art installations that rotate every eighteen months. Designed as the focal point of the Spur, the newest section of the park that opened in spring 2019, the Plinth is the first space on the High Line dedicated solely to new commissions of contemporary art.
https://www.thehighline.org/art/projects/simoneleigh
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In this phase. I focusing on the same material and pottery technique. Which I choose to build the houses for the worker at the factory pottery in Ratchaburi.PHASE 4 - EDEMICHOMES DEVELOPMENT
All of my project. I focusing on the same material and pottery technique.Which I choose to build the houses for the worker at the factory pottery in Ratchaburi.
Musgum Hut - Cameroon, Africa.
Here is the first diagram that roughly present overall ideas of roles and resources of Musgum people. As you can see in the pictures, Musgum people or Mulwi live in the house that created by muds. Each unit is represent as a room for a single person that connected by Toupouri or mud fences in a circle shape. In each day, Mulwi will go harvest plants, fishing and raise animals.
In Cameroon, they have 3 season, which are cool, hot, and rainy season. This diagram indicate the rainfall of Africa, which I found that the location that Musgum hut built have less amount of precipitation if compare to the nearby. Thus, the Mulwi can have a dry land and houses that surround with wet mud land. In which, this mud become a main materials that the Mulwi use for making a habitat.
Nowadays, the Musgum people still live in the Teleuk or dome mud structure. Teleuk are inspired from the beehive and anthill. Mostly, the Mulwi using their bare hand to construct and create the ornament both inside and outside the house.
The construction begins with select the grass and mix it with the leave,soil and animal dung. Then let them ferment for at least a week and start to build the foundation. In each layer, the mud require to dry before put another layer on top. In which, this kind of construction called coil pottery technique.
And this is a plan of Musgum hut that consist of living unit, kitchen, and living stock. It basically arrange in a circle. For the living unit, it can be classified into 3 different type of user, which are householder, first wife and adult son. In case of the family that have wife more than 1 person, they have to live with her children in a same hut.
For the activities, men will mostly required to construct a building, hunting, and making a basket. While the women have a direct role to train the children, prepare a food and do household activities. In addition, children also have to take care the animal and help their sibling and parents.
The Musgum huts can be classified into 2 differences type which are Teuluk that used clay as a material and Delemiy that have straw roof on top. Both of them are specific inspiration from human body. Relating to the diagram.
Moreover, the ornament outside the huts have 2 differences design, which are straight line and V shape. Both of them have it owns function consisting of scaffolding for construction and drainage system. In addition, the hut that made by clay materials will have a property to cool inside the huts even when temperature outside are quite hot.
Domestic Device - Using Technique of pottery factory in Ratchaburi.
Musgum people or Mulwi live in the house that created by mud. Each unit is represent as a room for a single person that connected by Toupouri fences in a circle shape. Basically, Mulwi will go harvest, fishing and rising animals.
Which I found that the location that Musgum hut built have less amount of precipitation if compare to nearby. Therefore, the Musgum people can have a dry land and house that surround with wet mud land. In which, this mud become a main materials that the Mulwi use for making a habitat.
The construction of Musgum mud huts begin with select the soil, sand and straw. (as you can see in the diagram) . The Mulwi use the adobe as a main technique. Which they mix the mixture with water by stepping on the materials to combine and set it as brick form. And let the them dry for a while.
For the construction, they lay a foundation on the gravel or stone. Then use mud mixture as a mortar between bricks and use the texture outside building for scaffolding until finish.
“ Which this diagram show the relationship between case study and context that I’m interested in the materials and technique that done by hands and tools. “
Starting with collecting the soil form the local area and mix it with water until its ready, then put in the milling machine to make clay more soft and preset. They making pottery by using willing and coil construction technique. Then after it dry, it time for decoration which they will put the pottery in the kiln.
Ratchaburi is a context that I choose, which pottery factory use the similar technique and earth materials like in the case study.
Moving to phase2, for designing the design proposal, I’m interested in changing of scale from architectural elements in case study to object and back to architecture.
As you can see in the diagram, the final design come from the clay materials from the pottery, and I try to understand the possibility of using pottery technique. For the example, some of my design use both technique and some use only one.
Which I think that the challenging things in this project is how can I bring architectural elements from case study to design the object and how can I transform the object to architecture.
As you can see, I try to bring some part of the object to apply to the architecture. Like this design!!!
Which I combine the hole from type 2 with the texture from type 3 and it become the facade that allow light and wind to transform within this diagram.
PHASE 3-4 : ENDEMICHOMES
In this phase. I focusing on the same material and pottery technique. Which I choose to build the houses for the worker at the factory pottery in Ratchaburi.
Overall Diagrams
The reason why I design to build the houses for them because since the last time I visit the site. I saw the house of workers at the back of factory are very old and crowded. Therefore, I come up with the idea that they can bring the materials and objects in this area to build houses.
This diagram show the possibility of how they can bring the object to create the house, which they are ceiling, facade, column, and wall
Firstly, the column is created by the various size of the pottery that stacking up to support ceiling and beam. As you can see in the section diagram, inside of this stacking pottery have metal or wood as a supporter and clay at the bottom to make them stronger.
Secondly, the construction of a wall is similar to the column but in this case they use clay as a connector to connect it together. Which all of the pottery do not have to completely attach, they can have a gap to let the wind flow.
Thirdly, the facade…. The facade have 2 designs which on the left is similar to a wall but instead of stacking pottery in vertical way we stack it in horizontal way. They can use it as a storage. Moreover on the right, the sequence of the arrangement that not too big and too small, this idea can be place as a partition.
Fourthly is the ceiling. In this design pottery act as an ornamentation that have it owns function of letting the light and wind in, which the void of the ceiling will create a pattern when the sun is shading as well
I try to bring the concept from the phase 2 that
I’m focusing on changing scale from architectural elements in case study to object and back to architecture. Which dome is just one idea… that can be use as a storage room.
This diagram show about how the building grow.
Step 1- use wood beam and column as a scaffolding of construction.
And then add the ornament and function to the house.
Step 3- after finish this unit you can remove the scaffolding and set the programme by yourself, which it can be a workshop room
Lastly, if you want to extend the unit more you can repeat as same as the first step.
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