“We live in a world populated by structures - a complex mixture of geological, biological, social, and linguistic constructions that are nothing but accumulations of materials shaped and hardened by history. Immersed as we are in this mixture, we cannot help but interact in a variety of ways with the other historical constructions that surround us, and in these interactions we generate novel combinations, some of which possess emergent properties.” Manuel De Landa, ‘A Thousand Years of Nonlinear History’
The insights of Manuel De Landa in his book ‘’A Thousand Years of Nonlinear History’ are becoming highly inspirational for me and my research. The more I contemplate his writing the more I find my work evolving with his thoughts in mind.
De Landa, in comparing the creation of urban centers with the biological manifestation of bone mass, states,
“The human endoskeleton was one of the many products of that ancient mineralization. Yet, that is not the only geological infiltration that the human species has undergone.
About eight thousand years ago, human populations began mineralizing again when they developed an urban exoskeleton......”
“This exoskeleton served a purpose similar to its internal counterpart: to control the movement of human flesh in and out of a town’s walls. “
The following sketches are part of a possible animated work that is exploring individuals existing within social and cultural structures. The work is a metaphorical reference to our created social structures as “hive” while at the same time an expression of our inner structures or “skeletons”.
Saturday, February 23, 2008
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