Madeleine Ang Wong
March 16, 2014
HMS 103
Prof. Sacha Frey
Andrea Zittel’s “A-Z Carpet Furniture vs. de Cetreau and
Foucault
Andrea Zittel’s “Carpet Furniture” project depicts the idea of
having furniture by eliminating furniture itself. Zittel’s method of
manipulating space to me was something that intrigued me because it almost felt
like everything in the 3-Dimensional space was being flattened into a
2-Dimensional space- everything that required space suddenly didn’t. Zittel
turns furniture into a carpet while still keeping the idea of furniture intact.
The carpet shows an image of a flattened bed, chair and table. These objects
all in a way represent the sense of comfortability in our lives. These objects
that represent relaxation takes us to the next step where it is better to have
an idea of something, reduced to a flat surface than to have everything but
with the risk of losing space. Although that space that used to be occupied is
physically empty, by keeping a plan view of the furniture, it is as if nothing
has changed except that we are mentally liberated.
I think that this project in relation to Foucault makes sense when
Foucault talks about the idea of discipline, enclosure and the coding of space
where a body is confined to a specific space. I think Zittel eliminates the
physical idea of this enclosure. The segregation of a body is void when that
space the body is confined to is reduced to a carpet. Zittel deals with the
constraint of Foucault’s claim that we are locked up in an area where we are
reduced to being controlled by the space. According to Foucault, our bodies, in
space are oriented on a way that we are directed to someone of authority and
respect and that our bodies are blocked away from each other. If we were to think
of desks and chairs in a classroom reduced to a simple carpet, would this idea
of discipline still have the same affect? Is it not the way we perceive space
that restricts us?
In relation to de Certeau’s “Spatial Stories” as well as looking
at Zittel’s work as a spatial story, the notion the “if we limit ourselves to
the home….. one can’t do anything in them”
and that a long lost attic “could be used for everything” ; how these
are “treatments of space” is similar to Zittel’s focus in “Carpet Furniture” in
that a space, when manipulated but at the same time still maintaining the idea
of that space. It is not the space that defines our limitation or our
liberation but it is how we treat the space that gives us the mentality of
space as a limitation as well as liberation. Also, according to de Certeau, “it
is the partition of space that structures it”; by keeping the idea of the
partition constant even when reducing furniture from a three dimensional object
to a two dimensional, the structure of the space is maintained. There is still
the differentiation between spaces even without the physical division itself.
It is the ‘treatment of space’ that defines the spatial quality of a certain
space. In the case of the “Carpet Furniture”, the ‘treatment of space’,
although the space physically changes, the way the space is treated is
unchanged.
“What makes us
feel liberated is not total freedom, but rather living in a set of limitations
that we have created and prescribed for ourselves”
“Things
that we think are liberating can ultimately become restrictive, and things that
we initially think are controlling can sometimes
give us a sense of comfort and security”
Zittel’s statement above, in a sense is
ironic because she says that we are only liberated when we are under
circumstances controlled by us. If these circumstances or situations or rules
are prescribed by us, then why do we constantly long for freedom or liberation?
The idea that a self-imposed restraint is what frees us but at the same time
keeps us from being completely liberated. Our desire for control over the
situations we experience is what stops us from being free but at the same time
the idea of being able to control our circumstances is what makes us feel free.
I think that reducing
the amount of material does not necessarily mean that there is a sense of
liberation and freedom especially the 'rules'- the representation of that
object is still existent. I also think that liberation is not necessarily a
good thing. I think the limitation exists in order for use to appreciate
liberation. The reduction of material in Andrea Zittel's carpet furniture still
represents the idea of limitation through the boundaries of each 'flat'
furniture but at the same time liberates us of the space
normally occupied. Even though furniture no longer exists, furniture
virtually still exists. Although the idea of liberation is presented through
Zittel’s work, we are ever really completely liberated because the fact that
the organic essence of the furniture is still kept through the appearance of
the carpet. How the carpet was shown is evidence that there is still a boundary
between complete liberation and discipline.
Through her work, Andrea Zittel raises the issues of using
furniture to define a certain type of space. She makes use of her work to
inform us of the importance of the spatial conditions and how simple
arrangement of furniture within a space can define human movement. This can be
seen through her ‘Comfort Units’ as well as her ‘Homestead Units’ and ‘Management
Maintenance’. Her work directs us towards the focus of not only being able to
manipulate and orient furniture in the way we choose to define space but she
uses her work to bring across the fact or the realization that we can choose to control our furniture or
our space. To be able to control the way we create space is an indication of
what kind of space we wish to create. For example, Zittel’s project “Homestead
Units’ where a home or a certain purpose of a space is compressed into a single
unit that is dedicated on a single human need- Zittel takes away the
unnecessary and combines what is needed in to a singular space; through this
she gives her spectators the idea of what is could be like when a space is
defined by its occupant’s need or desire and therefore the space controlling
the occupant.
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