Looking for Brunelleschi

Looking for Brunelleschi – 寻找布鲁内莱斯基

Yung-Ho Chang 张永和, Atelier Feichang Jianzhu 非常建筑

This is an attempt of making an instrument that can repeat in the urban context of today the famous perspective experiments by Italian architect Filippo Brunelleschi in Florence between 1415 and 1420, which marked the beginning of a scientific construct of space. When one tries to establish his/her position within the contemporary city, most likely, he has to look at a building facade and even into someone’s apartment, a scenario vividly portrayed in Alfred Hitchcock’s film The Rear Window. This very moment, when Filippo meets Alfred or the baptistery of Florence meets the residential block of New York, is what we like to capture with this viewing machine. Specifically, this piece of equipment allows one person to look through a peephole onto an elevation of a multi-story building in the reflection of a mirror, which can be pulled forward or pushed backward with a crank operated by the observer, who may want to adjust the distance between him and the observed. In the end, what he discovers is his own eyes in one of the windows on the wall and realize that the window he sees is exactly the same as the one of his own room and he himself is the reference of his existence.

Technology has been both the relief and source of contemporary urban anxiety. Thus, this project takes on technology by resisting it in two ways: 1. Interactive design with only manually powered movement and without electronics; 2. Taking a selfie of one’s eyes as part of the building facade is impossible because of the size limitation of the peephole.

本装置可被看作一次在当代城市场景中重现意大利建筑师菲利波·布鲁内莱斯基（1377-1446）著名透视实验的尝试。该实验于1415-1420年间在佛罗伦萨展开，开创了以科学方法构建空间的时代。如今，当个人试图在当代城市里定位自己，他很可能需要观察建筑的立面，甚至像阿尔弗雷德·希区柯克（1899-1980）在电影《后窗》里所鲜明描述的那样，窥视他人的居所。在这个瞬间，布鲁内莱斯基与希区柯克相遇了，或者说，佛罗伦萨洗礼堂与纽约的公寓相遇了，这正是我们希望利用视觉装置捕捉的场景。具体来讲，本装置让观察者通过视孔在镜子的反射下窥视一栋多层建筑的立面。观察者可通过摇杆来控制镜子的位置，调整自身与被观察对象之间的距离。在这个过程里，他会邂逅上面提到的两位艺术家：他会在建筑的窗子中找到自己的眼睛，并意识到那正是自己房间的窗子，而他是自身存在的依据。

科技是当代城市焦虑症的救赎，也是根源。本项目试图从两个方面对其进行抵抗：其一，视觉装置不设电动部件，完全依靠人力运转；其二，当自己的眼睛与建筑立面交汇时，碍于窥视孔尺寸的限制，观察者将无法进行自拍。

Credits:

Yung Ho Chang 张永和, Bowen Zhang 张博文