EXISTENCE OF BEYOND WITH MASKING STRATEGIES IN ART AND ARCHITECTURE

Abstract

As of the twentieth century, some artists and architects question the need for matter in their designs through the sensation they arouse in the subject. It is desired to emphasize the meaning of the object only belonging to the viewer, without depending on a single interpretation, by some artists and architects. Within the framework of this purpose, designers who try to distance their work from storytelling and symbolism seek ways to conceptualize the object with the materials they use. Thus, designs that move away from a way of thinking based on a common understanding of observation turn into a means of accessing everyone and offering an experience of freedom. Especially after the 1960s, this understanding became evident in the field of art movements and architecture, and it is observed that approaches that give priority to the subject that feels its originality over the existence of the object have also been produced. The viewer, who tries to position her/him own existence in a temporary space with the object removed from its materiality, settles in a threshold that allows her/him to find various meanings. Jacques Lacan explains this process, which is observed in the oscillations between the imaginary, symbolic and reality features of the object, through the 'L-Scheme'. Lacan claims that the space created for the viewer to find their own reality in the 'L-Scheme' can only be realized with the notion of the mask. Bernard Tschumi, who has a similar saying with Lacan, wants to eliminate the lack of desire in architecture with the notion of the mask. For Tschumi, the architectural object masked, turns into an incomplete existence by being left between contradictions, oppositions, and conflicts. The paradoxes that emerge from the unity of the object and the mask, arouse a sense of desire in the subject, allowing different interpretations to emerge. Concealing the truth with another truth, in other words, as a result of the dialectical relationship established between appearance (mask) and beyond (subject -object), the subject settles in the subconscious realm. Consequently, the subject, which creates numerous meanings by falling into the space of desire, becomes the mediator of the transformation of the object into a timeless substance. In this context, the contradictions applied with different methods in Marcel Duchamp's art object Etant Donnes and Frank Gehry's Santa Monica House are associated with the notion of the mask. In both designs, the effects of the mask, which is both dependent on the object and changing it, are investigated within the scope of this study. In addition to critiques of masking strategies in Etant Donnes and Santa Monica House, potentials that will support and nurture the concept of envelope, which is a contemporary discourse in the field of architecture, are presented.